Tipped

can't stop going back for more...

June 18, 2008

This neighborhood pizza place is wonderful in every sense - character, personable + has fantastic and inventive thin crust pizza's. I am never disapointed by my pizza selection and there is a good size list to choose from - Parma being my favourite. Monthly pub quiz night + board games for guests. Enjoy!

Is it a pub?

May 28, 2008

I think The Regent deserves a new term of classification - Pub is wrong because in my mind pubs have ropey carpets, ale, old men smoking fags whilst nursing their Guiness and maybe a dog somewhere, probably next to the open fire. Gastropub is wrong because a Gastropub is essentially your old boozer with every item of furniture sanded to within an inch of its life, some Staropramen, some dudes with bleached hair reading the guardian and a menu printed on thick paper offering chicken ciabatta with roasted peppers and maybe a chicken ceaser salad for 14 quid!

The Regent has really simple decor, in fact from where I'm sitting it looks a little like a 1950's classroom but with a bar and some leather sofas and a free jukebox and free wi-fi. The pizza menu is large and they cook it all in a proper pizza oven - its really good pizza, as good as I've had in London. All of these things make me think it needs a new classification - something like work / lounge type place with a restaurant attached and they sell beer - its not very catchy but at least its accurate.

Tags: Wi-fi, Pizza, Jukebox

The launch of a thousand pizzas

November 10, 2007

Last night I went to The Regent for it's launch party. This was for local residents who were there in droves thanks to the free booze and pizza on offer! The place was packed and there was a lively but relaxed atmosphere - helped by the fantastic tunes blasting out of the free juke box.
Even if the food and drink hadn't been free this is somewhere worth visiting as its a great alternative to the usual Barnsbury gastropub scene. It is still very new and smells of paint but you can see that the place has the potential, as a place to go for a drink or to have one of the huge pizzas freshly prepared to order. At the time of writing they were offering 2 for 1 on pizzas, which is superb value considering they are very reasonably priced anyway (£6 - £10). A friend once told me that anywhere that has Peroni on tap is the place to go! I would before this place becomes too popular to enjoy!

Tags: pizza, free juke box, relaxed

I have an idea, let's open a pub!

November 07, 2007

It’s hard to believe someone thought it was a good idea to open a new pub/gastropub in this part of town, which has more than any neighbourhod in London, if not the world, and many are the city's best. I sure didn’t think we need another. I remember walking by just before they opened thinking, man they better get everything right or they're going to get crushed. Well turns out I think they did get it right.

Décor wise you wont be surprised to learn they sanded the floors, filled it with used mis-matched furniture, installed a fireplace, surrounded it with comfy chairs and lit a bunch of candles…not terribly original, but it works, which is why everyone does it.

Here’s where they break with tradition though, instead of the usual gastropub offering (or pretend gastro, where the menu reads the same, but the food sucks) they’ve gone for good quality pizza prepared in a special oven, plenty of the usual toppings, plus some like roasted chicken and calamari. I’ve had 2 now and both were superb. On another occasion I had a salad, to make up for the 2 pizzas previously, and it was perfect, fresh and made with all the stuff I love: artichokes, avocado, roast chicken, roasted peppers, etc. To go with the food they offer an average selection of lagers and ales, but manage to save themselves by offering St. Peters Organic and Bitter in bottles. St. Peters is almost certainly Britian's best beer by the way.

The staff are also off to a good start, friendly, making conversation, know the beers ok. My only complaint is I applied for a job and they said they’d get back to me next day, but never did. I’m gonna follow up and see what happened, and hopefully get a job.

The pièce de résistance though has to be the free juke box, which besides being free, seems to have music for all tastes, even good taste, like Johnny Cash, Cold War Kids, Graham Coxon, Radiohead and much more. A refreshing change from the pre-programmed pop crap you hear in way too many places.

And I didn't see a TV which hopefully means they don't have one.