The North Pole Pub, Islington

An independent free house, The North Pole is everything a pub should be; comfortable, excellent beers from far and wide, excellent food and good tunes. There’s nothing left to say really. If it’s your local, and hell, even if it isn’t, don’t waste time anywhere else.

Indian, Pakistani & Bangladeshi dinner at Global Feast 2012

Balls and tarts out on display in Stratford on a Friday night? Hardly a midsummer night’s dream, but not out of the ordinary, either. Okay, try this- a gigantic scale map of the UK has been erected in the courtyard of the Old Town Hall, functioning as the table for a series of world food dinners, aptly entitled Global Feast 2012. And, tonight, we eat the Subcontinent.

Annie’s in Barnes

Don’t expect to leave discussing the cleverness of a cappuccino foam, the intensity of a wine reduction, the artfulness of the presentation. Annie’s in Barnes avoids every competitive, nonsensical expectation of gimmick-loving gastronauts. What it does is glammed-up home cooking, well-executed and fun, in a relaxed, rococo-mixed-with-rock-and-roll atmosphere. Joanna Biddolph urges you to brave the easy journey west.  

New Brewdog Beer

So those barmy blokes at Brewdog are at it again. This time aiming to’take the wheels off the corporate bandwagon’ of London’s summer of sport. With beer, of course.