The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Hammersmith, Greater London*

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

Food

• MacDonalds, Cromwell's for kebabs, Burger King (only open during shopping hours in Kings Mall), Thai City (poor service) Light of Nepal (excellent.
• McD's. Burger King is only open when the mall but not always on Sundays.
• Pa's Head in Blythe Rd- does the best damn Thai food this side of Thailand!!
• A great place for Ice cream is a Van on the corner of Stevanige Road and bishops park Road. Just out side the bishops park gate. Thay have been their since 1888. Serving the park and Fulham and away supporters bye 4 generations of the same family.
• The Kebab Machine on Shepherds Bush Road - unique chilli/mint sauce.
• Iguacu at Fulham Broadway, great food, great host. Comfortable sofas for a spot of coffee, relaxed dining room for great food - and lovely artwork on walls for sale. Love it, and the hard working staff lots!
• The most awful Safeways in Britain, care in the community joint. La Strega - fine italian food, served by friendly italian people.
• Azou in King Street - top N African
• An awesome cheap meal can be had at the Best Mangal restauarant on North End Rd, just down from West Ken tube station. It's a barbeque Turkish restaraunt that has great food, low prices, great service and a good atmosphere.
• Los Reyes on King Street, Hammersmith: Good Spanish tapas if a little pricey. Welcoming place which seems to be solely run by Spanish ex-pat and his wife. Late-night Gibraltan tapas at The Rock on Fulham Broadway: cheap (£20 for a good-sized meal for two with a couple of pints of San Miguel). Very welcoming and nice waitresses ;)
• Il Pagliaccio on Wandsworth Bridge Road is excellent for good well-priced food and very friendly Italian waiters (yell "ayyyyyy!" and see what happens).
• Pow Wow opp. W Ken tube is great - fab food at bargain prices and a friendly laid-back atmosphere
• Kebab Kid, New King's Road, SW6 - is the best kebab takeaway shop in the world Emile's, Wandsworth Bridge Road, SW6 - top french food and excellent prices Joe's Brasserie, Wandsworth Bridge Road, SW6 - thirtysomething type bar, not bad
• The Blue Elephant famous for it's Thai food Good chippie across from tube station
• The kebab shop by the tube station is where Wimbledon FC used to go after a night out My mate went parked his (motor)bike outside and went to get a kebab - when we came out there was a bunch of louts eating kebabs off his bike seat - 'oi piss off you lot' he said, and so they did then I told him - 'do you know who that was - Vinny Jones and his mates !'
• Fulham Broadway boasts some excellent restaurants: Blue Elephant - very expensive Thai, and Formosa - my favourite Chinese. Also Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Italian and Spanish tapas.
• Cooke's Pie, Mash and Eel Shop, Goldhawk Road, next to Shepherds Bush Market, THE BEST pie and mash in London!
• Best place is the Half Moon Cafe in Fulham Palace Road, this is the finest greasy spoon yet discovered
• Best fast food - "Indian" take away opposite the Hammersmith & City Line tube station. Star Kebab, Shepherds Bush Rd.
• Lots of other places, from posh English to fast food.
• Chinese
  • Lams
  • Mr Wongs Wonderful House
  • The Colonial
  • All are very good.
• Indian - about a dozen, the best is Light of Nepal
• Japansese
  • Sumos (kind of a diner, has booths)
  • Yoshi (more posh)
• Thai - Sabai Sabai. This is a brilliant restaurant! (also another one I can't remember the name of)
• Hammersmith has the best vegetarian restaurant in London and possibly the UK. It's called 'The Gate' and it's in Queen Caroline Street (just round the corner from the Labatts Apollo or whatever it's called these days). (I have no connection with the restaurant other than that I eat there a lot and I like it).

Pubs

• Riverside pubs OK but more than a few young hooray-henrys.
• The laurie Arms (next to The Palais) is dee coolest place in town. Check it out!
• The Dove on river is olde-worlde and was where Dr Johnson used to party in the 17thC.
• Plough and Harrow, a new Weatherspoon enterprise with lousy layout, cold atmosphere & poor service; cheap food at lunchtimes though.
• I was recently in Fulham and was passing a bar called the Greene Room with a few freinds, when we decided to treat ourself to this very "Classy Jiont", I have a feeling the place is quite new but although this os ofetn a disadvantage to new Bars in this area, I have to say that The Greene Room was very achieving in the kind of atmosphere it was aiming for. The staff freindly, the food good and very reasonably priced for such a location. I can Only say that the Greene Room will be visited again and can only hope that others will follow me in my quest for the decent bar.
• Got to give a mention to the new-ish Puzzle pub on Fulham Palace Road... yes it's a chain, but brunch is very good, with Thursday Friday and Saturday nights packed with interesting 20 somethings.
• The Lawrie Arms in Shepherds Bush Road. Nice little Irish pub, can get very crowded when the School Disco runs on a Saturday night at the Palais but.........Phwooooaaar!!
• Seven Stars on Goldhawk Road. A bit 'upper class' for this part of town but a decent crowd and attractive scandinavian barstaff.
• Just to let everyone know that I was in a bar called ONE on Kings road on friday night and I've never seen a place like it!!!! It was amazing. I went in there at 9pm and there we're 5 really fit girls dancing their socks off on the bar, everyone was up for a great time and it's probably one of the best bars with the best atmostpheres I have ever seen!!!!!!!! Get there now!! Trust me you won't regret it! Well, maybe in the morning!
• The Vesbar on the corner of Shepherds Bush Green - pop art decor (including vesba's) and premium lagers.
• THe White Horse. See the old man collect your dirty glasses in record time. Dirty bloke drinks the dregs i bet.
• Despite the appearance of several smart bars and the homoginous chain/theme bars (slug and lettuce/O'Neils etc) the Bushranger still remains the only place to drink in Shepherd's Bush.It combines the appeal of a traditional,local pub with an upbeat lively atmosphere, good music and friendly staff. Just to update an item I spotted here, The Bottom Line in Shepherd's Bush has not been there for ages. It was replaced by the hugely successful Antipodean theme bar the Walkabout! If spending your weekends queing to be surrounded by very drunk, very loud Aussies and Kiwis is your thing then this is the place for you!
• Edwards Hammersmith is wicked pub/bar, where you find a dj wed-sat nights and bar staff who is all about dancing and having fun.
• Nice pubs on the river in Hammersmith
• MTs' Munster Rdend of Lillie Rd, you can drink till you drop, what ever time that might be
• Edwards. On a Saturday night it's full of young Australians and middle-aged city-types trying to get to know said Austrailians.
• The Mitre on Dawes Road is a good 'proper' pub if you want to get away from the crap wine-bar type places around Fulham itself. In Hammersmith the Thatched House on Dalling Road/Paddenswick Road does good food and real ale/wine, but is expensive and full of thirtysomethings.
• The William Morris on King Street is a Wetherspoons pub so VERY cheap beer and food, but does attract more than it's fair share of old gits. Good for getting in some early cheap drinks before moving on somewhere else. No TVs or music though. Good staff. Very popular with American and Japanese tourists who are staying at the nearby Novotel Hotel. They like to eat their Sunday lunches here!
• Legless Ladder, Harwood Terrace, SW6 - not your usual Fulham boozer and great food. The White Horse, Parsons Green - otherwise known as The Shite Horse or The Sloaney Pony, it can attract the very worst type of braying sloane!!! Having said that, the guest beers can be very good. Excellent in summer when they get the BBQ going
• All Bar One - awful place full of yuppies in pinstripes supping champagne and saying things like 'Ra Ra Ra, down with the oiks!' Bootsy Brogans - fairly decent Irish pub though a bit big with lots of different rooms Slug & Lettuce - always packed, very hot and sweaty. Venue for Antipodean & South African backpackers, good party atmosphere, best nights are Thursdays and Sundays. General rule is to drink here and then go on to Rosies
• Yuppy pubs include the White Horse, on Parson's Green. Guest beers, etc etc. Try the Slug and Lettuice if you like to play sardines!
• The George, Hammersmith Broadway, recently refurbished, large bar, good food, waitress service, good choice of beers.
• The Lawrie Arms, Shepherds Bush Road, small, friendly, can be busy if a gig being played at the Palais next door.
• Popular ones by the river include The Dove, The Rutland, The Blue Anchor, The Old Ship, The Black Lion. On King St The Salutation, The Hop Poles and many more.

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Space Bar Internet Cafe 194 King Street Hammersmith W6 0RA T 0208 563 9222 www.spacebarcafe.co.uk
• Costa Coffee, Benjy's
• Too numerous to mention. Almost every shop that closes down gets turned into a coffee bar.
• Brook Green Cafe - Best bacon rolls ever!! and cheap!!
• George's, 36 Blythe Road, open every day from 7a.m. for fry-ups.

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Last updated: 2006-11-28