The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Camden, Greater London*

Camden, Greater London Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• Best food in camden is the stuff you get in the camden lock market. Communal cooking pans for that authentic 3rd world look. Cant beat it!!
• 24 hour tesco on camden road. it's laughs in the face of munchies. there's something for everyone
• People, if you like falfel and vegetarian food go to the falafel bar in Stables market. The falafel there are the best i have EVER had! - the stall is opposite the arches, chalk farm road entrance with serve yourself salad bar! ps beware, others sell falafel too, but they are not all as good, ive tried 'em!
• Bar Vinyl on inverness street for the best breakfast in London - great beats, cheap and quality food and a lovely vibe. Camden Brasserie for the best restaurant food, although Wagamamas is good for a cheap & quick feed. Silks and SPice used to be good but has gone a bit formulaic these days.
• Belgo's - up near chalk farm, for nouveau bistro versions of belgian classics. Massivley overpriced but the food is decent and the beer divine.
• Go to Delicious on Ferdinand Street. It's a Chinese/Malaysian and the food is cheap and spicy. Leung is really cool too. Don't ever go to the Moroccan Cafe at the top of Parkway. The food is overpriced, bland and stodgy. The service is appalling and they still demand a service charge on top of the expensive food. Basically, they heat it up in a microwave. Avoid this place at all costs. Do not be fooled by the quite nice decor in the downstairs restaurant.
• Tasty Corner- but the falafels can be gross! Don't go to the eating place beside the tube station, the food there is clearly aimed at tourists as it sets in your stomach.
• The Jasmine Cafe on Castlehaven road - possibly the finest Yellow Thai curry you can eat for less than 3 squids. Believe me, it's the bomb.
• Bar Ganza (dunno if this counts as a restaurant) is completely marvellous - if you go there, try their frozen marguerita...they make it a slush puppy machine and it's almost too good to be true :) and the guy who runs the place is a star!
• plastic but soggy pizza from the street corner
• The best veggie burger on the planet is at the veggie bar located in the cobblestoned alleyway between the Lock and Stables markets. They're amazing, even if you're a die-hard carnivore!
• there's that little Mexican restaurant up Chalk Farm Road a ways... best mexican i had in London
• African food: there are lots of good restaurants next to kentish town tube (on Kentish town road).My favorites are the Moroccan & the Erythrean ones.
• New restaurant to recommend - Mango Rooms near the tube on Kentish Town Rd. Excellent Carribean grub and surprisingly reasonable (no I don't work there)
• George and Nicki's cafe on Parkway does some nice meals on the 'cheap'. (That's a lie, but compared to nearby places...). I read in smash hits (sorry) that all sorts of stars go there. Justin and Justine from Elastica, and the sort. wonder if that's true.
• Fish'n chips near Camden Market. Chinese in Camden Market
• Camden Brasserie is probably the best restaurant. Marine Ices is a good choice for a cheaper evening out. Amazing that Camden, despite having well-off residents and millions of visitors, has such a crap selection of places to eat. Belgo is vastly over-rated. Why queue up to spend only two hours in a vast cavern with crap service serving over-cooked mussels? It's no wonder you have to dull your senses with strong Belgian beer.
• Ravi Shankar is a restaurant specializing in South Indian cuisine. It is also reasonably priced. Their 'Dosas' are legendary! Ravi Shankar is also located on Drummond Street and is also minutes away from all the touristy type attractions that London has to offer.
• Diwana, located on Drummond Street (Euston Underground) has great Gujarati Vegetarian food. It's very reasonably priced and the location is great! Just minutes away from Euston! One dish I especially recommend is the "Thali". You get lots of different varieties of food and it's really good!
• The Enterprise close to Chalk Farm tube Station with a nice Thai restaurant on the first floor.
• Nice caff (Sara's Cafe) in Kentish Town Rd and a cool pub,
• Bar Gansa -- cool tapas near the veg market.
• Wonderful ice cream place - Marine Ices - opposite Chalk Farm tube. Historic ice cream for all the family!

Pubs

• the hogs head on a friday.
• go to lock tavern on chalk farm road. It has the best music in london, including djs like john carter and friends and family. THe food is also great, and reasonably priced! the best venue in Camden. check out the vibe at www.lock-tavern.co.uk
• The Spread Eagle (parkway) for the best beer, the Hawley for a chilled midweek atmosphere and a guaranteed seat (brilliant new chillout room upstairs), The Lock Tavern (chalk farm road) for the trendy set (Sara Cox et al) and the elephants head (Camden High Street) for an experience.
• The Devonshire Arms- London's Gothic Inne... THE hangout for goths in London. Cheap booze, obnoxious barstaff and lots and lots of weird looking people. Freaks, weirdos and general outcasts will all feel at home here. Occasional gigs and regular DJs spice up the atmosphere.
• Fusilier and Firkin have some really crappy bands at the weekends. Bartok is classy, The Good Mixer is a load of Britpop shite!
• Hawley Arms has great food cooked by a man called Declan, nice and relaxed without the real trendy trendies. Keeping it real in Camden with a mixed clientele good guiness and real ales alongside shooters, cocktails and so on. I recommend the mussels with fries, the fresh battered haddock or any of the pies on the menu.
• Go to the Royal Exchange in Camden for some herbal fun and wicked tunes playing - and the fire is the BEST in Winter
• The Lansdowne in Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill is a cool and wonderful pub serving terrific sometimes-Spanish influenced food and enjoying friendly staff and patrons. However the pub cat seems to have disappeared! Also the Stags Head in Camden is a cosy, jolly Irish pub if you fancy a pint of stout and some fiddlin'.
• The Crown and Goose is on Delancey Street and is probably Camden's nicest pub - good tunes and a wierd and quiet upstairs room. The Hogshead's reasonably nice, more lively than most Hogsheads, good Belgian beers. Bar Vinyl's nice, on Inverness St, if you're feeling for a trendy, dance-music based bar. The Edinboro Castle got renovated and is now more expensive and not as comfortable, but it's not bad. Good for the summertime.
• Just a quick and hopefully descreet "warning" to young single attractive females hanging around in the Good Mixer district of obsessive and possesive famous males!
• The Victoria,Mornington place nice calm pub to escape from the crowds, basic but really freindly staff and nice food
• The Liberties is a great pub, and the Crown and Goose.
• For the old-fashioned ppl, there is Rosie O'Gradys, Camden Road, which opens quite late (sometimes...depends on the manager's mood). but you definitely need to get there b4 11pm.
• Dillons. Go there, now.
• No matter how much you hate all the britpop fans, surely you've got to admit that the Good Mixer is a cool place to have in a town. The drinks are nice, the dukebox is the best I've seen, and it's small and cute. And who knows, you might bump into Graham from blur (as I have done on several occasions, or Jarvis, or somebody from menswe@r. Check the 'food 100th birthday' plaque behind the bar, and the Inverness street street sign on the wall. Go on, britpop haters, admit you're quite proud to live in such a cool place. it won't hurt you. We won't think any less of you, who wouldn't? camden is the best 'town in the universe that I have ever been to.'
• The Hawley Arms was an excellent pub, great Guinness, great people, but unfortunately it has been revamped and is another poser's paradise. Why don't we have a say when breweries want to change something good to something dire? The Stags Head is excellent for a good old Irish shindig, and the Guinness is marvellous.
• Good Mixer - it was great (jukebox) when I was there. Dublin Castle - even better, blokes are lookers! Spread Eagle - sorta quiet for my tastes, but my friend got chatted up by a tasty bloke.
• It has to be said that some of the best pubs in Camden are the ones away from the Britpop crowd. The Good Mixer is a complete hole and a definite no-no... so keep away from Inverness Street. The Spread Eagle on Parkway is alright - the beer's not too expensive and they have some good stuff. I suppose the really worst places are The Laurel Tree (Greenland Street) and Quinns (near Kentish Town Road). The attraction of these places is that they're open until 2am (Quinns only at the weekend) but this means that you're usually already pretty drunk by the time you leave The Dublin Castle/Spread Eagle/Monarch, but feel you could have 'just one or two more'. This is never a good idea. Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention The Lock Tavern on Chalk Farm Road. It's opposite The Stables market yard on Chalk Farm Road and in summer you can even go on the roof. Bargain.
• The Man in the Moon is a crap pub. Check out the Monarch Sundays until 6pm.
• The best place is "The Man in the Moon" a pub opposite the market on Chalk Farm Road. A great, extensive selevtion of ales and bitters, hardly a lager in sight. Must be visited for the good beer and friendly atmosphere.
• Pubs are without exception terrible. Spread Eagle used to be quiet, good beer etc, but now full of record-industry types. Avoid the Man in the Moon at all costs.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• sTArBuCks -yEY
• The parma cafe just next to the train station on Camden Road. It is the most amazing place on earth. the food is orgasmic and the proprietors great people. Probably my favourite place in london... and it's never ever had a single 'celebrity' eat there. WooHoo!
• Royal college cafe, royal college street - a real greasy spoon but cheap and cheerful
• Cyberdog! Wicked music!
• Tupelo Honey in Parkway serves killer sandwiches - the Honey Mustard Chicken is oarsome.

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Last updated: 2007-05-21