Zaibatsu Returns

by | Oct 5, 2025 | Business, Community, Eating Out, Restaurant, Uncategorized

 

Zaibatsu Returns

The return of Zaibatsu is something that some people in Greenwich have been looking forward to, much like the second coming of Christ. However, unlike Jesus, Zaibatsu is actually returning to the people.

Some of you may be thinking, Who or what is Zaibatsu. Zaibatsu was one of the best Japanese Pan-Asian restaurants in Greenwich, which was forcibly shut down due to underhanded business practices.

Two years ago, Zaibatsu was a thriving business, providing the people of Greenwich with excellent and affordable Japanese and pan-Asian cuisine. However, out of the blue, their landlord decided to evict them, for what people assumed was no ethical reason.

There was a reason, you see. It was alleged that the landlord’s son wanted to get into the restaurant business, so the landlord and his family thought they would evict the thriving business, set up a small restaurant selling virtually the same cuisine, and steal all their loyal customer base. Unfortunately, they seemed to misinterpret the word “loyal”, and many of the loyal customers boycotted the new restaurant.

Some of the reviews gave the Cuckoo restaurant good reviews, but at the end of the day, even if you have fantastic reviews, what they did behind the scenes to achieve them was sneaky, underhanded, and diabolical.

Well, two years later, the Cuckoo restaurant seems to have closed down, and the original Zaibatsu has risen like a phoenix from the flames and will soon reopen at 242 Woolwich Road, in what was, until earlier this year, Peter’s Café.

I refused to review the new restaurant as I thought the way the landlord treated Zaibatsu was shocking. I had a review of Zaibatsu, but had to remove it when Zaibatsu closed. Never fear, a new review will appear as soon as they reopen and settle in.

Admittedly, the location is not as good as the old restaurant, and it will not attract as much foot traffic as it did when it was on Trafalgar Road. The new place is similar in size to the original site, so it’s still cosy and small, and booking in advance will once again be a must in the evening. The wife and I used to go to Zaibatsu after a workout in the gym in the afternoon, so usually they had space so booking was not necessary.

On social media, even some of its loyal followers are saying that it is too far or that there is nowhere to park, despite the large car park of the Greenwich shopping park being nearby, and the 177 bus route running just a short distance from the original shop to the new one.

Luckily for me, I live near the new site, so I plan to frequent it more regularly this time.

 

New Indian Restaurant

by | Jan 10, 2025 | Business, Community, Eating Out, Restaurant

New Indian Restaurant.

Whilst once again sitting in the River Ale House, in Woolwich  Road I noticed that just across the road as new restaurant and bar had been opened.

It is an Indian restaurant and going from reviews dates it has been opened for a few month now.

The name Jatt and Juliet seems to be named after a successful Bollywood film franchise  that at the moment is up to Jatt and Juliet 3.

The ratings are all 5 stars from 57 reviews.  This I find suspicious especially  when a lot of the reviews  are from people with the surnames of Singh, Kaur and Grewal.

I will have to reserve  judgement  until I do a review of this place.

This place used to be a Turkish restaurant  called ‘The Charcoal Meze House’ that also got a constant 5 star rating and I was also suspicious about those ratings too, until I actually went there with the wife and found it to be truly deserving of its constant  5 star rating. The food was excellent  and The detail to service  from the owners was second to none.

Unfortunately like a lot of businesses the Covid pandemic happened and the business could not survive the lockdowns and other forced business  constraints put on them at the time, the restaurant  closed and later became a pizzeria restaurant called Amore and Sapore, which also only lasted a few years.

Lets hope this place is a success and lasts longer. 

 

 

Use them or lose them

Use them or lose them

by | Oct 15, 2023 | Business, Eating Out, Restaurant

Use them or lose them.

Whilst trying to keep the list of restaurants within the borough up to date it struck me how much the restaurants of certain cuisines are suffering and struggling to stay afloat while in a cost-of-living crisis and the back end of the covid crisis.

I have already had a rant about the lack of British and French restaurants with the number of French restaurants now reduced to just one and even that one  I struggle to call a proper French restaurant. Another ethnic cuisine that has struggled are the Caribbean restaurants with now just two within the borough. They have either shut up shop or moved and set up as takeaways,

It’s very sad to see restaurants being replaced by takeaways who seem to be thriving. The borough has a fair size community of Caribbean decent who I am sure would love to experience Caribbean cuisine within a restaurant atmosphere.

You must ask yourself then, if this is the case why did a lot of them just disappear? The only cause I can think of is they weren’t being used. It seems a simple case of ‘use it or lose it’. I’m sure peoples lack of money during the current cost of living crisis and to a lesser extent now, the covid recovery have had a big effect on this situation.

Pub Bar

Where are all the French and British restaurants?

Where are all the French and British restaurants?

by | Sep 18, 2023 | Business, Eating Out, Restaurant

Where are all the French and British restaurants?

What the Royal Borough of Greenwich is in desperate need of are good French and British restaurants. Other surrounding boroughs have a few but we have hardly any considering we are a Royal borough that extols the virtue of British tourism.
We currently have one Café Rouge . which as very soon to be closed down and converted to a Banna Leaf restaurant which is a pan Asian restaurant, after the parent company of Café Rouge got into financial difficulties.

That will leave just the Champagne and Fromage Bistro which although technically a restaurant only really specialises in, you guest it Champagne and Cheese with maybe a few cold meats on the side. Hardly what you would call a proper French restaurant.
Then we have our British restaurants. I have had to delete so many British restaurants this year that I am reduced to scouring the locations of Fish and chip restaurants and Pie and Mash restaurants. These are no doubt worthy of being classed as British restaurants as many of us Brits regularly frequent these establishments, but what we really need are independent steakhouses or proper British restaurants.

Where is all the British grub you may well ask, and I will tell you. It’s in the Pubs of Greenwich.
We have great British food being served in style at places such as The Greenwich Tavern and the Cutty Sark and Enderby House in Greenwich and the Dial Arch and Guard House in Woolwich. In fact almost every pub in the Borough will serve British food of some sort you just have to do trial and error to find the good ones.

The Duke of Greenwich opening day.

The Duke of Greenwich opening day.

by | Jul 13, 2023 | Business, Eating Out, Pub

Duke of Greenwich opening day.

On a lovely sunny evening on Wednesday 12th July we went t the opening of the new pub called The Duke of Greenwich (formerly The Vanbrugh).

I was mistaken in my last blog when I said that I thought the pub had been gutted and was completely different inside. Inside the layout is still the same.

The selection of craft and real ale beers on sale is most impressive although the barman did seem to go into a state of mind confusion when the wife asked for a glass of Pinot Grigio. She settled for a Sauvignon Blanc, which he could handle. I being a CAMRA member wanted to try out the real ales on offer.

Most of the real ales on offer were from the Brew By Numbers brewery which brews excellent beers just down the road by the river.

My wife also tried a Portuguese wine called ‘Chin Chin’ which she said was very nice.

The main food on offer that day was supplied by the large BBQ stage set up in the gardens although I am sure other food was being prepared in the restaurant part but was largely being ignored in favour of the BBQ.

I will eventually get around to writing a review about this place, but it will not be based on the opening day as that would be unfair. Most pubs are different in vibe and ambience once the celebrations are over and a more normal way of life sets in.

Going forward even if they kept the pub as it was on the opening day, I would be OK with that as we enjoyed ourselves. I will also try out their food to see what sort of selection they have but I strongly suspect that they will keep it as a basic pub grub establishment, which is fine as long as the food quality remains good.

The only reason the Vanbrugh closed was the licensee retired and there was no one available to take up the reigns. Let’s hope the Duke of Greenwich is a success. I for one will be popping in occasionally.

Royal arsenal Summer Lates

Royal arsenal Summer Lates

by | Jun 3, 2021 | Community, Eating Out, Street Food

As stated in a previous post about the farmers market at Woolwich, the farmer market has now become more of a food festival rather than a place to buy organically produced raw fruit and vegetables, and now it would appear the organizers have come to realise this fact.

Starting this Saturday 5th June and repeating each first Saturday of the month throughout the summer period there will be on the same site a Street food festival along with live music, bars and other entertainment.

The weather is predicted to be fantastic this Saturday (but this could change) so the day should be a very, joyous, happy and entertaining event.

(See events calendar for dates and details)