The Queens Pub - Primrose Hill, London

The Queens is yet another gastropub but frankly they do serve good food. I've only ever eaten in the pub but you can also go upstairs for a more formal setting.

The food is pretty varied with things like Sea bass with Lemon Butter Sauce (£16), Venison Pie (£14) and so on. It's relatively English in nature but you get the odd anomaly like Cajun Chicken Burger (£8.50).

I know that if I'm going to the Queens to eat I'm in for a good meal. The menu is seasonal and all ingredients are fresh. There's no doubt about that. You can also order small plates if you're not too hungry, medium if you are, or large if you're feeling greedy.

It's a little fancy (I remember sitting opposite Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Kate Moss while eating my Ham Hock Terrine starter a few years back). That's what you get when going to a pub in the middle of Primrose Hill.

The decor is pretty understated but warm and welcoming nonetheless. It was very much my local haunt when I was younger. I liked the fact it was located right next to Primrose Hill Park, a stones throw away from London Zoo and a short walk away from Camden. We often headed over to the pub after a long lazy Sunday afternoon in the park. I have fond memories of those rare London summer days. A park, some sun and a good meal is definitely a recipe for a good day..

The Queens Pub
49 Regents Park
Primrose Hill
London, NW1 8XD
0207 586 0408
www.thequeensprimrosehill.co.uk

Bluebird Cafe - Chelsea, London

The Bluebird is apparently the place to be seen in Chelsea. This means it's posh, pretentious and expensive. The upstairs restaurant is all of the latter. It was packed full of expensively dressed snobs. We were downstairs in the cafe, but I did have to head upstairs to use the bathroom. When in there I saw 2 little 12 year old girls applying lipstick, a woman spraying so much hairspray that I felt nauseas, and another woman plucking her eyebrows. I couldn't wait to get out and rejoin Eddy downstairs in the less pretentious cafe.

So if it's so pretentious why did we go I hear you cry. Well firstly the price for a dessert was reasonable, and secondly we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I had the Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream (reasonable at £5.75), and Eddy had the Apple Crumble (£5.50). I'd rate neither.

My cake was dry and the sauce far too rich. Eddy's crumble was basically baby food with crumble on top. The only good thing was the ice cream, which I suspect wasn't homemade.

The cafe also offers breakfast, pasta, fish etc... I wonder if they'd do better at that, but I'm not sure I'd go back to find out.

The Bluebird Cafe
4/10
350 King's Road
London SW3 5UU
0207 559 1000

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