James B.'s Profile

I love Babur and moving away from this restaurant I used to eat in at least two nights a week was one of the worst things about moving away from London.

A special mention goes to their Achari Gosht, a pickle-based curry which tastes unlike anything else I've tasted.  Their take-way service is always prompt and consistently get the orders right.  Every order I've placed with them I always received a free side order, beer and sometimes even a main course.

The restaurant has a well-stocked bar and the staff are very friendly.  The restaurant itself is well presented but parking can be a stuggle in the surrounding area.  If you are not in the car, they are a little of the beaten track from the main cluster of restaurants in West Hampstead but it is worth the short walk.

We visited Zarin on a thoroughly miserable night and were one of only three tables in the restaurant.  The interior of Zarin is contemporary including a bubbly glass wall at the far end of the restaurant.

The menu is very comprehensive and includes a phall for those looking for the ultimate in heat experience.  Prices are a little high for the area (around £7.95 for a main course), but I have to say the food was great.

They serve one of my favourite dishes, Achari Gosht (a pickle-based curry rather like the Lime Pickle you have with poppadoms), which isn't available in many restaurants even in London.  
Service was attentative and prompt, the order was spot on and I will definitely be heading back there soon.

The Regency is one of two seafood resturants that are next to each other on Brighton seafront between Brighton Pier and the ruins of the West Pier.  The location is on Kings Road at the southern end of Preston Street, a road which is densely packed with restaurants.

The atmosphere is simple and unfussy and the staff are attentive but not overly so.  It is the perfect place for a Sunday lunch on a stormy day looking out over the English channel.

Parking is available adjacent in the form of an underground car park on Regency Square.

The Regency specialises in seafood and particularly worth a mention are the exceptionally large platters, with both a cold and warm varieties available.  Much of the fish is locally supplied and very fresh.  The wine selection is fairly classic and there is bound to be something to please every taste.

Oh De Hems, how I miss you.  I used to walk down all of the way from Hampstead past the watering holes in Camden to taste the fine ales of De Hems.  De Hems is right on the edge of Chinatown and just off Shaftesbury Avenue's theatre district and worth a visit if you are a beer connoisseur visiting London - but these beers have a kick being between anywhere between 1.5 to 3 times more alcoholic than you're typical English lager.

As other reviews have already mentioned, De Hems sells a selection of Dutch bar snacks - the sort of things you may buy from a FEBO Automat in The Netherlands.  They do a Dutch platter for around a tenner that will let two of you try a mixture of traditional snacks such as bitterballen, vlammetjes and kaasoufflees.  This is all served with frittes mayonnaise imported directly from The Netherlands.  I also recommend trying their Uitsmijter, a Dutch dish of eggs, ham and bread traditionally eaten for breakfast or a light lunch.

The main reason for visiting De Hems is the beer.  From rarities such as Rodenbach Grand Cru with its almost vinegar flavour (it is surprisingly nice) to teeth-scrapingly sweet beers such as Frulli.  They still have authentic Oranjeboom on tap and ask about the history of Kwak, which is traditionally served in glasses that resemble small 'yard glasses' with bulbous ends.  It was designed for coachmen to use and the Dutch tradition is to give in a shoe as a deposit on the glass, which is commonly hung over a lamp behind the bar.  They used to do this in De Hems but alas, the glasses would get broken or stolen anyway and now the only place to see the Kwak glasses and wooden stands are in a display cabinet behind the bar.  As with all Dutch and Belgian ales, they need the right kind of glass to suit each drink, De Hems excels in trying to get this right.

Space can be tight, especially if the upstairs bar is closed (it can be hired for functions) but you can normally seat groups downstairs if you get in early enough.  In the summer they open the half windows and often even have a beer tap outside.

For a proper Dutch atmosphere try and visit De Hems during an international football game when The Netherlands are playing, or even better buy a ticket for Koninginnedag.  Koninginnedag or 'Queens Day' (30 April or on 29 April if the 30th is a Sunday) it is a national holiday in The Netherlands and De Hems put on a good party.

When I am in London for work I take every opportunity to pop into what I class as my old local.  After covering BeNeLux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxemburg) for several years for work, De Hems is a welcome bit of The Netherlands in London.  I've always met interesting people in there, some of them very strange indeed, but every night was always memorable.

At my previous company one of my work colleagues organised an evening in Brighton starting with a meal at Donatellos a few years ago.  During the meal they managed to get my starter wrong and, despite having done that, then completely forgot my main course.  The restaurant was so busy that they were unable to cook the main course without it seriously delaying the evening's plan for the whole of the party.  We were a party of 8 - 3 of the orders were wrong and 1 completely missing.

Since that time I have moved to Brighton and as I am a forgiving kind of chap I thought I would give them another try - big mistake.  The starter order was wrong, my second choice was 'off' and despite coming in quite early in the evening, several items were off the menu.  

What of the order they did managed to get right was reasonably good faire for the money, but this restaurant is a tourist trap and gets enough passing trade that they'll never see again that they just don't make the effort.  They are plenty of much better restaurants in Brighton, take the effort to walk out of the tourist area of the Lanes and visit one.