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)

Enderby House

Enderby House

by | Jun 2, 2021 | Eating Out, Pub, Restaurant, Reviews

Enderby House

It’s great to be able to go into a restaurant to sit down and drink again, even if the Covid restrictions still limit group numbers to 6 people, and you have to book in advance and are usually limited to one and a half hours, but normality is slowly being restored, despite the Indian variant possibly delaying total freedom even further.
Taking full advantage of the sunshine this Bank holiday Monday we booked a table at the fairly new Enderby House pub along the river by the Greenwich peninsular.
Check out my review of the Enderby House on the pub review section.

 

Cattleya Restaurant

Cattleya Restaurant

by | Dec 29, 2020 | Eating Out, Restaurant, Reviews

,Cattleya Restaurant

Well, Christmas is over. Nothing happened, we just stayed in as we were instructed to do by our glorious leaders and adhered to the tier 4 rules. We stayed home, ate a lot, drank a bit more than usual and connected to our families via Zoom and WhatsApp.

I honestly do not think I can stand another year like this.

One of the few enjoyments over the Christmas period is when after you have had a Christmas left over roast for the third day in a row and you are sick and tired of washing up for the umpteenth time is to call out for a takeaway.

No pots and pans or roasting trays to scrub out and all you need to washup are two forks, two knifes and two plates. Heaven.

This is leading me into my first review, and I will review this place as I usually visit this place when it’s not in lockdown or tier 4 shutdown almost weekly, and we’ve been going there for over 12 years, and lately making use of their take-away service.

Cattleya Restaurant –  52 Charlton Church Lane, London SE7 7AB

Cattleya Thai Restaurant and Takeaway in Charlton, South East London (cattleyarestaurant.com)

It’s a Thai restaurant that also does basic Spanish tapas menus, as before it was a Thai restaurant it was a tapas café called Chu and Cho, and since the tapas side of the business was so popular with the locals, they decided to incorporate it into the Thai restaurant.

Over the years the menu has changed a little but not much and you will find all the usual Thai dishes found in many other Thai establishments.’

Before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, they would have monthly live music in the form of ‘SE7’ an amateur band formed of local musicians associated to the East Charlton residence association, playing on an ad-lib basis. Before ’SE7’ there were other local acts the Los Dawson’s and Gus Glen.

When we made a trip to Thailand, we deliberately compared the authentication of the food in Cattleya to the local establishments in Bangkok and Phuket and I was pleased to confirm the food was very genuine, although it has been noted that over the last few years, they have toned down slightly the heat and spiciness in some of the dishes to accommodate a more British palate.

The owner Nittaya these days leaves most of the front of house duties to others whilst doing the actual cooking especially now that the take-away side of the business is escalating due to the pandemic.

I would recommend this restaurant highly to anyone when you can eventually start going there again. In the meantime enjoy their takeaway service on Deliveroo.