Greedy April/May

Places to which I will return

Greedy Eating is my ongoing project documenting restaurants to which I would return, for paid subscribers. There will be a monthly list of places I have eaten at recently, and where I have eaten before – I’m a third of the way through my recommendations for NYC. All restaurants are added to the Greedy Eating Google Map along with descriptions – link at the bottom of this page. Find my other guides and previous monthly round ups here.

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April was not blessed with ready funds, so I ate out infrequently, until I went to New York and had the yanky dollar pressed into my shaking hands. May went by in a blur – an attempt to catch up with what had been neglected while away, then my birthday, more catching up and two events. So I didn’t eat very widely – exhaustion sees me stick to home, eating raw vegetables or ordering sushi from Sushi Show – but there were still places to which I would return. To these I have added some old favourites. NYC has its own list.

Gothic Bar

St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Euston Rd., London NW1 2AR

The St Pancras Hotel is the sort of Victorian excess that proves that epoch to be one of immature perversion. Its massive hallways and staircases look like an American built them, and remind one of nothing more than Hogwarts. Whoever is in charge of the current decor should be shot, for into this obscene imaginarium have been chucked the sort of furniture fit for a mid-market airport hotel.

The best bit is the Gothic Bar, where Victorian whimsy is taken to the nth degree. Painted ceilings, chandeliers, pillars, dark corners and an excellent outside area – blocked off from the roar of the road outside – for sitting and smoking. And decor that doesn’t completely clash, indeed almost compliments. I was there for a private party, so can’t speak for the quality of the clientele, but I imagine they’re quite like the sort who visit the Standard across the street, most likely their less cool equivalents. Still, go for a drink and admire what people with excessively cheap labour and endless money can construct.