Infamy, street markets and German sausages – it can only be our weekly roundup!

New Lists

Broadway Market Forever – We love London’s hippest food and fashion market so much, we made a list of the best stalls, pubs and restaurants it has to offer.

Street Food: Eating on the Go: New York is the city that never sleeps and in order to keep up with it’s fast talking, fast walking citizens, the city has some of the best ‘fast food’ restaurants. From Currywurst to dumplings, sherylnyc shares some of her favourite places to grab food while on the go.

New Places

Viajante – Foodies have been flocking to Bethnal Green to sample Nuno Mendes’ fantastic taster menus.

Filthy McNasty’s – Plenty of character and plenty of characters in this infamous East London venue.

The Standard Grill – The hottest grill in NYC right now. In terms of coolness, literal temperature of cooker unknown at time of writing.

Kurz and Lang - A small outlet of German sausage greatness in Clerkenwell.

Mews of Mayfair – An elegant wine bar in a refined part of town.

New Twins

Kurz and Lang and Weschler’s Currywurst and Bratwurst – Germanic food to go.

Vinopolis and City Winery – learn to distinguish between ‘the finest wines available to humanity’ and ‘the cheapest wines available to be bought at a corner shop at 2am’.

The Peasant and Back Forty - No longer will you be forced to make the choice between ‘gastropub’ and ‘real ale pub’ as these bars excel in both areas.

Photo by newyork808 used under a Creative Commons License

Round up, round up, get yer new Metrotwin recommendations here….

New Lists

Beer Gardens in New York – When the weather is gorgeous you should leave indoor socialising to the goths, vampires and those with chronic hayfever. New York has some fantastic European-style beer gardens, and Jennifly has created a list of her favourites.

The Best Coffee Bars in London – This is a hugely contentious subject, but shiny new contributor mrfionn has weighed right in with his top choices, and I think you’ll agree it’s a formidable line-up.

Where to Watch the World Cup in London – This list was originally created by Bon Vivant to accompany this blog post on sophisticated places to watch the World Cup in London. We’ve updated it to include all the places I wrote about in my blog post ‘Where to Watch the World Cup II‘ which focussed on venues ex-pats can head to, to watch their home team in action.

New Places

Arbutus – Michelin starred eating ground of the Soho media elite.

Counter – A vegetarian/organic restaurant/wine bar in New York. How unusual/cool.

The Marathon Bar – It’s a kebab shop. It sells beer. This news is pretty much irrelevant until about 1am, at which point it becomes the stuff of headlines.

The Old Post Office Bakery – Local bakeries, much like hot cakes, are much loved and disappearing fast.

The Hoxton – A rather hip hotel. You’ll never guess where it’s located…

Twins

Saf and Counter – Because vegetarian food doesn’t have to mean a brown cardboard box full of mung beans.

Tupelo Honey and Cafe Grumpy – Artisanal coffee that can be savoured inside or out, weather and space permitting.

Dunn’s and Glaser’s Bake Shop – As mentioned above, it’s ruddy hard for an independent bakery to stay open in these days of supermarkets. Both Dunn’s and Glaser’s have somehow managed to keep going for over a century.

The Toucan and McCoy’s – If you fancy spending warm summer day indoors writing frightening verse, you do this AND sup a pint of the black stuff at either of these Irish pubs.

Photos by karensandler and toadiepoo used under a Creative Commons License

Observez! Une nouvelle liste sur Metrotwin de nos restaurants français préférés à New York!

What I am trying to tell you, in the language of love (and with a lot of help from that Cyrano de Bergerac of the internet, Yahoo Babel fish) is that there is a new list on the site of our favourite French restaurants in New York.

From fois gras to champange, haute cuisine to Michelin stars, it could be argued that France sets (and then judges) the standard for good eating the world over. It’s the perfect choice for a special dinner on the town, perhaps at a restuarant like La Grenouille or Le Benardin, because impeccable service and surroundings come as standard,  so much so indeed that mobile phones are a strict ‘non non’ at the former.

It is, however, perfectly possible to dine on sophisticated French food without taking out a new mortgage or entering onto a six month waiting list. Bistro Les Amis in NoHo and Jubilee in Midtown East are both friendly family-run restaurants serving traditional Gallic cuisine in a more laid back atmosphere.

Cafe culture is big in France, so it’s not unexpected that New York houses a few excellent and authentic French cafes. At Le Gamin you can order a delicious big bowl of cafe au lait, and they even have a mobile truck too, should you feel like hunting down your morning croissant. We also recommend Brown for their ‘magnifique’ espresso.

Photo by chrisgold via Flickr used under a Creative Commons License

We love a bit of quirk, here at Metrotwin Towers, so very much enjoyed Arland Penchant’s list of London oddities. A nice blanket term that covers places as diverse as magic shops, collections of medical curiosities and clubs housed in Victorian Turkish-style bathhouses, it’s worth checking it out if you fancy seeing something a bit different this week. After all, when you’re tired of London, you’re tired of life…

Photo of the Circle of Lebanon in Highgate Cemetery by belowred via Flickr used under a Creative Commons License

‘Saint whonow?’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘When is it?’ are just a few of the responses I have had from friends and colleagues when I mentioned St George’s Day, earlier on in the week.

I have to admit I can only claim intellectual superiority due to my staggeringly dull heritage and the fact that it falls the day after my Mum’s birthday, but for those still in the dark – think of St Paddy’s Day but, like, English.

Yes, the Great Saint George, presumed born in Palestine, probable Roman soldier and alleged slayer of dragons is definitely the patron saint of England (and Ethiopia, Georgia, scouting and some small Mediterranean islands) and his feast day is tomorrow!

It is perhaps understandable that New Yorkers don’t celebrate St George’s Day with the same vigour as Ireland’s national day, what with the latter country making up a significant part of New York’s cultural past and the former being booted out the country somewhere in the 18th Century, but even in London we don’t do a whole lot to celebrate the day.

Efforts are being made this year, however. ‘St George himself’ will be leading a parade around the Square Mile from 11.45 on the day and there will be a free day of music and celebration in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 24th.

Of course, here at Metrotwin we never ignore an excuse to celebrate (‘What’s that you say? National Pie Week? To Mother Mash we must go!‘) so we fully intend to spend Friday eating fried food, drinking copious cups of tea, using curious incomprehensible slang words and not brushing our hair so we resemble proud lions. A usual Friday in Metrotwin Towers, then.

We have also created a couple of lists to celebrate this glorious day:

NotForTourists has created a list called ‘An Englishman in New York’ which is full of places to get a fix of the UK in the city – from bars showing football (soccer) to shops selling Cornish pasties.

Bon Vivant, meanwhile, has listed the best places in London to celebrate St George’s Day. A collection of fine restaurants including the likes of St John and Hix Soho, it just goes to show that it is perfectly acceptable to celebrate one’s country without the use of face paint, beer and klaxon horns.

Photos by paullew and  macspite used under a Creative Commons License