Tendai - Secret London

Tendai shares his favourite places in central and north London.

Institute of Contemporary Arts
www.ica.org.uk
The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

This place is most definitely the art and culture hub of London. It’s a cinema, gallery, theatre, café, bar, nightclub all under one roof. The place is a melting pot for artists and creative people. I have forged long standing relationships with quite a few people I have randomly met there. The cinema is amazing – I have seen a wide range of films there that were never available anywhere else – from documentaries like Favela Rising from Brazil to Japanese films like Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl. I have memories of scaring myself shitless watching first run of The Ring in there many years ago (the Japanese original – not the Naomi Watts shabby remake).

The nightclub plays host to some very different nights. Live performances from people like M.I.A, nights like Charlie Dark’s Blacktronica, DJ Cliffy’s Batamacumba to many pretty amazing audiovisual sound and light show themed nights. It’s also standard to see 60% girls at some of these nights – it’s a good look.

They also host a wide variety of exhibitions, talks and plays.

Prince Charles Cinema
www.princecharlescinema.com
7 Leicester Place - just north off Leicester Sq and up from Häagen-Dazs

This has to be my favourite cinema in the West End. Their low ticket pricing is amazing. Tickets only cost a maximum of £4.50 or £3 for members. Their membership is the bomb – not only does it give you discounts on tickets and food in the place, you also get discounts at nearby shops like Forbidden Planet (for all you comic book freaks) and Belgos. I always look out on there for films that I have recently missed the run for in the cinema. The range of movies that they show here are really wide, from your mainstream Hollywood flicks, to documentaries, foreign movies, to sing-a-long Sound of Music!!! I remember having nights in there watching old school kung fu movies and the whole cinema packed and the whole place going nuts during every fight scene…….good times!!!!

Cottons
www.cottons-restaurant.co.uk/camden/default.asp
55 Chalk Farm Rd, London, NW1
Nearest Tube: Chalk Farm, Camden Tel: 020 7485 8388

This place is absolutely sick. It’s a West Indian restaurant and rum shack, but to be honest 99% of the time I am there it’s strictly for the cocktails. The place has 200 different types of rum, and the cocktail list is extensive and ever-changing, and there is always a band or DJ playing some rare groove in the place. The bar staff are real experts and will even create cocktails not on the menu to your own tastes. Had some really messy nights in there drinking a cocktail (that is not on the menu) aptly named the Zig Zag – needless to say that’s how we were walking afterwards.

Jen Café
4-8, Newport Place, WC2H 7JP

Although this café serves food – what it is renowned for is its huge selection of bubble tea. It’s the only place in Central London that has a huge selection. For those that don’t know bubble tea, it is a Taiwanese originated ice cold drink of various varieties with chewy tapioca pearls at the bottom – drunk through a huge straw so that the pearls come through as well. There are all sorts of fruit flavours like kiwi, mango, passion fruit, banana, Taro (my favourite), blueberry, honeydew etc. Defo something to try – you will like it.

Freud
http://www.freudliving.co.uk/cgi-bin/shop/page.cgi?user_id=11184&file=bars.html
198 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 9JL

Another tidy little cocktail bar. It’s the place we always hit before a night at The End. It’s pretty hard to find because it’s in the basement of a Sailors shop at the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Neal Street, but you should be able to notice it from all the smokers standing outside. The place has a real subterranean basement vibe with plaster effect wall and there is always a really good atmosphere in there. When it’s quiet it’s a good place to chat, and when it’s busy (which on the weekends it always is – sometimes overly) it’s a good place to jam. There is always some form of electronic music playing in the background and the place is also a gallery with the art in there changing every month.

Eatzone Noodle House
18 Fortess Road, London, NW5 2HB
020 7485 0152

It’s a pan-Asian restaurant that has it all. The food is really good, and at really good prices and round the corner from my house. Out of all the oriental restaurants I go to regularly there is something about the food in this one. Everything tastes so fresh; you can tell everything has been made there and then on the spot. The menu has over 100 different dishes from over Asia – Chinese, Japanese, Singaporean, Vietnamese and Thai. My favourite dish in the place has to be the Singapore Laksa Noodles. They also have a range of 100% fruit juice smoothies. If you are ever around Kentish Town and don’t know Eatzone – get to know!!!!

Bintang
93 Kentish Town Road, NW1 8NY
020 7813 3393

This is another local Kentish Town oriental restaurant – this one Malay / Indo / Thai. It’s the perfect place to take a girl. It’s a real small cosy little restaurant, quite dimly lit with red tinged lighting with candlelit tables and tribal masks on the walls – real intimate and romantic. Food is excellent – especially if you are a fan of seafood.

Misato
11 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6PG

This place is the bomb. Whenever I am in the West End and in need of some Japanese food – it’s all about Misato – forget about places like Wagamama. It’s a place to get some quick, cheap, really good food and the portions are huge. Misato can get real damn busy at times and a lot of the time there is a queue to get in, but the food is really good. There is a tidy selection of bento boxes, rice dishes, noodles and sushi. The place takes cash only so don’t make the mistake like many people do and only bring their card. If you are looking for more of a place to take a date with some real authentic Japanese food then I would recommend Asakusa (265 Eversholt Street, NW1 1BA).

Crystal Kebab
522 Holloway Road, London N7 6JP.

I’m not the biggest fan of kebabs etc – but in this sort of lifestyle hitting a late night kebab is inevitable. A large proportion of them are absolutely horrible, but this place Crystal Kebab is the holy grail of all kebabs, the place is world renowned, it was even featured in the BBC’s World Best Kebab shops. They have a wide variety of kebabs and stews etc in the place and the back of the place is an actual restaurant and whether you are eating in or taking away you will realise instantly that the quality and taste you are getting in there surpasses any other kebab out there. The place is so renowned that even my mum knows and loves the place.

Honourable Mentions:
Mayflower, 68 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1V 7DF
1997, 19 Wardour Street, London, W1D 6PL.

These 2 Chinese restaurants are renowned by the all post-Swerve crew (you know who you are!) Many a night have been spent at these spots in an attempt to regain some strength and try and avoid the inevitable hangover of the next day. They are walking distance from The End and 1997 is open 24 hours a day (Mayflower until 4am – but the food is a lot better there), so it’s the place that gets hit after a night at The End and we’re in need of some good food that is not from some crusty hotdog stand in Leicester Square.

Music and Video Exchange
http://www.mveshops.co.uk/
Various locations

With a lot of records stores around town dying out, this place has stayed strong ever since I started collecting vinyl. They deal only in second hand music and have different shops for different styles of music all over London. There are many gems to be found in these places and their bargain basements are the best. It is definitely my most visited record store. I will go to one of these branches 5 times a week. I’d reckon that at least 70% of my record collection is from there. Their selection of DVDs and CDs is also really good.

Sounds of the Universe Records
http://www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/
7 Broadwick Street, Soho, London, W1F 0DA,

This record shop is owned by Soul Jazz Records and is the place when looking for broken beat, funk, jazz, soul, world music (African, Brazilian and Latin), dubstep, disco, reggae. They have a huge collection of both vinyl and CDs and the basement also has a selection of second hand records.

Cheapo Cheapo Records
53 Rupert Street London W1V 7HN

Located in the seedier part of Soho and right next to a strip joint – this place can be easily be mistaken for a porno shop (which is how I first found the place – JUST KIDDING!!). If you are on a mission to find some vinyl, CDs, DVDs and VHS (if you still roll like that), then this is the place. They have both new but mainly second hand products and the place is a treasure trove. Their DVD selection is really cool, as well as modern day Hollywood flicks, they also have a lot of art house, foreign, kung fu flicks and box sets at prices which are soooooooo much lower than high street chains – I have rarely paid over £10 for DVDs in there. The collection of music in there is varied and also very disorganised – which is good, because you end up finding loads of things you were never even looking for. It’s a goldmine of music for 1980s vinyl. Like the title of the shop says – everything in there is super cheap.

Mash
73 Oxford Street, W1D 2ES

Tidy place to hit for all your urban clothing needs. Brands like Superdry, Mecca, Triple5Soul, LRG and their selection of jeans, caps and accessories is extensive. Menswear and Ladieswear, the place has them both.

Phillip Clothing
191 Kings Road, London, SW3 5ED

Kings Road is a very strange place to shop; most of the shops along there seem to be geared to people with the funds to spend £200 on a scarf. This one shop though is one of few “urban” shops on the street. The place has a wide selection of urban brand clothing from some of my favourite brands like Mecca, Triple 5 Soul, LRG and Stussy.

Published: 17/12/2007

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