Kensal Rise has it all!

I'll restrain the cynicism that Ms Phillips is looking to sell, and instead direct you all to her article - working title "Kensal Rise is the best place in the world evah!"

Out and about

We went for a Kensal Rise stroll today - and a few things are worth mentioning.

It began in the library, which has had a refurb and although my initial sceptical view was that it would mean fewer books, and I'm not entirely sure that isn't the case, the automatic machines to get books out are amazing. Once you scan in your library card, you simply put ALL the books below the machine, and it immediately recognises all of them without any scanning or opening etc. I assume this is RDS technology, but it's very impressive.

Next we went to Retrouvius, a tardis of a second-hand furniture/collectables place. It's quite trendy and is featured a lot in magazines such as Living Etc, and well worth a visit from time-to-time.

Then we looked in the window of Ammonite2000, and then moved on to the William IV. This was refurbished last year and we liked it, although it doesn't quite work - it falls a bit between being the Paradise and being a All Bar One style place. The menu looked good though and I'm glad there are pubs still showing the football.

Finally, back on Chamberlayne Road we asked at the pizza place that was opposite Tesco what was happening. Apparently it is going to be the same people running a pizza place, but this time a restaurant, and it will also do Mediterranean food, whatever that is.

Miro's Bar & Kitchen

We went here for dinner last week - a range of Tapas and small plates. The food was good - we had Baba Ganoush, chicken wings, Arabic salad - and we thought reasonably priced. The wine remains excellent, with good sized glasses for 3/4 pounds (although the Prosecco could have been slightly colder). There was a nice ambience in the place but we noticed a lot of tables had been reserved, and while we got a table no problem it might be difficult around 8pm or later.

The Diner, a review

We went to the Diner last night. It was opening night I think, and very busy, but our overall impressions were good.

We had two burgers, one with cheese and bacon. Fries, and "Diner Fries", black beans, a cheesecake and one Margherita and one "Diner lager".

I can only speak for myself but the burger was excellent, tasted of beef and fitted into its bun. I find burgers (Gourmet burger is a good example) which you can't eat with your hands to rather miss the point. It also didn't come with too much sauce or so on. The chips were good, and portions large, you could probably do with one between two unless you are very hungry. 'Diner' fries were thicker chips (I'm not sure the menu made that clear) and coated cajun spice. My cheesecake was also a perfect New York style baked cheesechake. The service was good and the room pleasant, noisy but not too noisy.

The two downsides were the Margherita, which apparently 'tasted like lemsip', i.e. too sweet and artificial. This is a little strange as it clearly wasn't made with lime cordial but fresh limes (I saw them). The 'Diner' lager was a solid thirst-quenching beer. Second criticism might be that the cheesechake was rather small, I wondered whether it was because they were running out.

Still all that came to about 30 pounds plus service, which seemed reasonable. Also having the burgers, whilst something one often does, ignores the fact that there was a lot of diner-style food - chilli, hot dogs, tacos, and American-style breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, eggs in any style) that are much harded to find in Kensal Rise. Thus I think it's an exciting addition.