Uncategorized
-
Banme @ BoxPark
Believe it or not, someone actually reads this fledging and not especially great food blog – and left a comment suggesting a couple of restaurants to try if I get bored of BoxPark. Well, here’s another review of somewhere in BoxPark for you – Banme. Also we are here to celebrate the renovation of the road near BoxPark. And here to celebrate Mayor Perry’s election win. Maybe. Well, he did win. I guess now the local/mayoral elections are over, that’s the end of the improvements to the area. Having A To-Do List It’s probably also time to have a to-do list, so I created a new page. Feel free to…
-
Saffron Indian Restaurant
I still haven’t quite got to grips with the point of this blog about the restaurant scene in Croydon, and whether I have enough to say about it. There’s part of me that would like to combine it with a look at some of the development (or otherwise) of Croydon – I did think about going to Trickle after the new pedestrian crossing to the Whitgift Centre opened, for example. Or maybe a look at Mithras, whilst celebrating the new railings separating the tram and road near East Croydon station that have been installed. Exciting read, huh? Yet none of those have happened, and I went for a walk up…
-
Brick Lane Bagel Co @ BoxPark
A shorter post this time, featuring Brick Lane Bagel Co – a bagel company that have outlets pretty much everywhere except Brick Lane. Of course, when I first saw Brick Lane Bagel Co in BoxPark, a little bit of me I thought it might actually be the same bagel shop from the actual Brick Lane. But I’ve lived in Croydon long enough (not that long really) to be a cynic, I’ve lived through enough Westfield plans to know better – and a quick read of their website suggests that they are “inspired by the famous bakeries in London”. Yeah, they have a story. Whatever, I just wanted food. Anyway, I…
-
Bob’s Your Uncle
I’m in two minds as to whether to totally sack off this blog, or to make more effort with it. There’s plenty of places on the internet where Croydon gets slagged off (hello every single Croydon Facebook page) – sure there are problems, but I don’t really want to add to the moaning. However, I’m not going to bs people – burnt toast is burnt toast and I’m not willing to dress it up in any other way. There are Instagrammers to tell you everything is amazing, I’m not one of those. What I wanted to do is have a tiny little presence to write about some of the more…
-
Afghan Caravan
Here’s a little tale about a Friday lunchtime at Afghan Caravan. It isn’t every day that one gets a charming experience in Croydon. Crackheads foaming at the mouth, Deliveroo drivers riding those motorised bicycles on the pavement towards you at 30mph, minutes spent walking past the giant tombstone that is the Nestle building. If you want it to be, Croydon can be a depressing place. But also, if you want it enough, you can seek out the charming experiences that are hidden away in Croydon. This time in BoxPark. Yep. Charming experiences in…BoxPark. BoxPark – the cultural home of throwing beer in the air, but it isn’t like that on…
-
Fern
So I did originally suggest that Eating Croydon would be more on the middle class side of things, and I’m not sure there is a restaurant more pretentious than Fern, in Croydon. It almost doesn’t seem like it belongs in Croydon (and the website does name itself as fernlondon.co.uk, so maybe it doesn’t actually want to belong to Croydon). It certainly does belong to the imposing yet quite glamourous-looking block of rental apartments. Under one of the towers there is a Starbucks. I shall not be reviewing a Starbucks. Under the other tower, there is Fern. In case you haven’t guessed, I shall be reviewing Fern. Croydon isn’t exactly new…
-
Shikumen Express @ Tokia Square
Well I’ve made it to review number 2, which ends up being Shikumen Express @ Tokia Square. The story of Croydon’s demise is a familiar one. It isn’t too difficult to find a pub or restaurant which has closed down – even easier to find a closed down retail premises thanks to the “efforts” of Umbargo-Unitail-Hammerson-HammerTime-Rebargo-Westfield or whatever they are called this week. And, of course, if you head into various spaces on social media you’ll find a Croydon that not only has no shops at all, but is some kind of hellscape on earth, roamed by foreign bandits waving machetes in every direction. Yet, back in reality, we apparently…
-
Crispy Dosa
Welcome to the very first post on Eating Croydon – a review of Crispy Dosa. I guess I have to start with explaining my intent with this blog. Why am I starting an occasional a blog about restaurants in Croydon? So I moved to Croydon around 18 months ago, yeah I’m one of those new residents in a relatively new block of flats that people on the Croydon subreddit occasionally complain just live here and spend their money elsewhere in London. And, yes, it is true that I spend most of my fun money (what is left after mortgage, bills, etc) in the rest of London. Have you seen all…
