The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Kentish Town, Greater London*

Kentish Town, Greater London Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• Cafe Bintang is great because you can take your own alcohol!
• Eatzone noodle bar on Fortess Rd, in fact most of the places on Fortess Road look like you'd get a decent cheap meal in them...and is the Hari Krishna van still delivering free hot vegan food to whoever wants it at the bottom of Islip St every lunch time?
• blue Moon every time
• Pane Vino (Italian, good, hope you like garlic) Le Pitit Prince (North African, couscous dishes)
• The Vine (Fortess Rd) does great food - but it's not cheap...Mind you MaccyD's is down the road if you're a pleb or teenager
• MC DONALDS ITS GOTTA BE THE BEST PLACE 4 GRUB IN KENTISH TOWN, SO WAT IF PEOPLE DONT LIKE THE LOOK OF IT? IT AINT THE ELECTRIC OPENING DOORS THAT IM INTRESTED IN EATING, SO THERE.
• One good place to go for a bit of a South East Asian type food is the BINTANG Malaysian down towards the Camden end of the Kentish Town Road excellent nosh and friendly service (if a bit slow). They have a nice ground floor eating area although the decor is tacky but who cares the food is keenly priced, Downstairs is another matter its a living hell of young 20 somthings who get the food over with ASAP then Drink and dance the night away to the pumping music. So take your pick, I know where I'll be.
• Bengal Lancer - In a head to head with Knights of the Empire, I'd be hard pushed to declare a clear winner. However, the Bengals Sunday Special of half price curries puts the top of the range Hallibad Prize (or whatever it's called) within financial reach - a venerable Kentish Town treat.
• Top curry home delivery from the Curry centre next door to the Tufnell Park Tube.
• Pane Vino is great stuff, if a bit pricey. On the High St.
• Knights of the Empire, directly across from the tube provides a cracking Chicken Madras.
• The best of Speciality food is available from Kentish Fare Producers and stockists. Please phone Kentish Fare for details on locally produced products at 01622-221928
• Try chicagos in Fortess road
• The Thai cafe on Fortess Road. Don't be put off by its exterior. The food is excellent.
• Saint Etienne do a little song about a cafe in Kentish Town (I think it must be Flapjack's cafe cause the lettering in the window is the same as the lettering to So Tough)
  [But] The name of the cafe in Kentish Town is Mario's cafe (unsurprisingly, 'cos that's what the song is called!!!) and not Flapjacks. Turn off Kentish Town Road by The Castle pub and there it is.

Pubs

• The Pineapple is simply the best pub in London. Indubitably
• Its gotta be the Tally, not what it used to be but the DJs on a friday night are definately creating an atmosphere!
• Best boozers- Bull and Gate, Auntie Annies, O'Reillys, Camden Brewery Co, The Murray Arms, Lord Stanley.
• The 3 best: The Vulture's Perch The Assembly Rooms The Pineapple (Leverton Street, trendy, food, garden)
• Junction Tavern now under new ownership & is now a 'gastropub',so no pool table but good food, decent wine(for those of us who don't drink beer,darling)& friendly atmosphere.Go before it gets rammed.
• the pineapple is set to reopen hooray! canīt tell you the date but sure you can find out
• The Highgate for trendy wannabe's, O'reilly (fit barmaid) and the Tally Ho for a fight and more trouble...
• The assembly House has now been refurbished (AGAIN !!!) and is now a far nicer place, but alas the new Governor and his Misses appear to be homophobic and have barred some gays!! When will Greene King get the balance right??
• The Pineapple has now been sold on to a new owner who is going to open it again as a pub (around the 8th May 2002)hopefully it will again be the gem it once was.
• The Pineapple is no more - Hatchet faced developers have bought it hoping to rip the heart out of Kentish Town but were foiled at the last minute by Camden Planning Office. Now closed and depressed the hope lives on for a buyer willing to run it as a pub. Alas...
• Best pub Top 5 in Kentish Town, 1. Jorene Celeste..... Still at number 1 in the Chart. 2. O'Reillys.......... A new entry, Phil & Alan leading the debauchery!(try sunday afternoon for a recovery session) 3. Auntie Annies.......Down from 2, still we know where the footie is. 4. Quins.............. Not to be forgotten if Speciality beers are your thing 5. The Tally Ho ...... A re-entry at number 5 they might just go higher in the chart yet, watch this space.
• ALL THE PUBS IN KENTISH TOWN ARE DRY! FULL OF THE GOLD SOVERIENGE BRIGADE - U WOMEN WITH UR BLONDE LOCKS KNOW WHO U R.. AND IF IT AINT THEM ITS ALL THE JUNKIES AND BACK STABBERS THAT KENTISH TOWN HAS ALL WAYS HOUSED....
• The Vulture's Perch is now known as The Jorene Celeste. With a fine yet reasonably priced Thai menu and a function room catering for all sorts of parties it is no longer the 'scary' place it once was. The manager Mark is a little gem full of charm and enthusiasm making this an attractive spot to eat and drink without the menace of big screen football and karaoke.
• Once again a Pub not mentioned is Quinns near the Camden end of Kentish Town road Very friendly service an amazing selection of beer from Belgium and Germany and the Check republic (or whatever it's called now). But Mr Quinn for god's sake if not for mine Please get rid of that black tarred carpet and chair coverings they don't owe you anything. Anyway some of the best beers and Bitters etc around in a great Pub.Check it out !!
• The Vultues Perch was a simply wonderful institution and not a scary place at all. If you want scary suggest drinking in The Whip in Leeds.
• Aunt Annies Porter House - AAPH wins the battle of the pubs every time. Classic Guinness, footie at the weekends, a Friday night buzz - leading the charge for keeping it real in Kentish Town O'Reillys - The old Dolly Fossets, is better now they choose to dim the lights Vultures Perch - The Nov 99 revamp took us all by surprise turning the previous pits of the town into a strange colonial style outpost. Eerie, and echoey, but progress will be watched with interest
• The vulture's perch is worth a visit now that it has been done out. It is very large and has a cosy fire in the winter.
• The Pineapple *is* hard to find, but it's far and away the best pub in a scary place. Turn out of the tube, right at The Assembly Rooms (crap beer) and left onto Leverton Road. Keep walking until you see the light(s)!
• The Pineapple is the best, and to enjoy it, you'll have to find it first!
• Also worthy of mention - The Junction Tavern - pretty good Guinness, friendlyish staff, and a half-decent pool table
• Dolly fossets
• Vulture's Perch: Twenty yards left from tube. Cheap. Very scary.
• Assembly House: Turn right out of tube. Good meeting point. Very large. Good Guiness. Big screen sport. Drunk post office workers.
• Dolly Fosset's: On the High Street, next to McDonald's. Least scary pub in Kentish Town. Young crowd (a local novelty). Decent cheap tucker. "Comedy" club upstairs at weekends.
• The best pub is probably the Assembly House. Very busy before gigs at the Forum. Then left to diehard regulars and winos who engage you in bizarre conversations. Unreliable pool tables, ok juke box. Beer used to be crap but getting better.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Mario's is the place. Off the High Street. Great food and chat. And Mario's such a nice geezer!
• cafe Euro=med, Mario's, Tony's Continental Cafe opposite the Forum is a brilliant classic greasy spoon (grumpy old men arguing about football), nice Portuguese place (tiny tho) on Fortess Rd can't remember the name, Expressions Cafe on Highgate Rd, flapjacks cos it's a good cause, Sam Widges
• The Literary cafe on Fortess Rd. Lovely homemade cakes and good coffee. Beats Starbucks any day x
• oh that one next to the Tally Ho...its blindin, must say im a regular of a hungover sunday morning!
• 1 Mediterranean cafe, which turns out to be Greek Cypriot, as you'll discover when you taste the coffee
• Cafe Renoir on the High Street does good food - and on a nice day yuo can sit outside and watch the (v. varied) world walk by!
• ALL of them in Kentish Town
• HOLES IN THE WALLS U MEAN... ID PREFER TO WAIT TILL I GET HOME FANX.
• Mario's Cafe in Kelly Street, best coffee and panino's in Kentish Town. Also nice owner, interesting art exhibition/sale and pretty street. Avoid Euro-Med and Renoir on the highstreet.
• Moonlight Cafe, Brecknock Road - More Tufnell Park than Kentish Town, which may offend the KT purists, however for a large helping of black pudding, chips, egg, sausage...etc I haven't found anything better in the so called 'euro' cafes on the Kentish Town Road.
• stacks of them

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Last updated: 2007-05-10