2/11/25
by Amal Qazi
Shoreditch is so hip... had the best truffle pasta at Gloria and got flowers at the market. Cool place.
This is just a map of London kind of if you were making out all around town. That could be fun maybe but also making out on the Underground & DLR & Overground just seems a bit inconsiderate right...
Literally one line about Canary Wharf and I don't think I've ever consciously thought of Canary Wharf as a real place since it's quite out the way but considering how broke I'd be if I moved to London that'd probably be the closest I could get. I love Canary Wharf everything's so shiny!
Two years ago when I was in London during the summer I was exploring and exploring and decided I would write about places in London where the music is just as important as the food. Never wrote it but now that I have three songs to go along with the three places, here we are!
1. Ciro's Pizza Pomodoro, Knightsbridge
Went here with my sister and cousins while deciding whether or not to go out that night... We were all in mild club attire and you'd think we were overdressed but truly we weren't. We went in asking for a table and they had to check that there was enough space for us. We were ushered down a narrow staircase into a basement that was packed with as many people as their round tables would allow, with a stage to the left bustling with talent, hired or otherwise. I got a Caesar salad because I had become recently fascinated with the deep societal love for Caesar salads and wanted to partake in the simple joy of leaves and dressing. They have themed musical nights and I believe that night it was either musicals or just like older music though I couldn't for the life of me tell you 100% truthfully. There was a head table with what seemed to be about 15 close friends gathered there for one of their birthdays, and all 15 of them were very, very drunk. The singers were wishing the birthday girl, singing her a song, and allowing her friends to sing for her too. There were many drunk women in the bathroom as there should be at all leisurely establishments, to compliment you and ask how you are, etc. They really create a sense of camaraderie amongst strangers you seldom feel otherwise. The food was good but what I remember is the music, and how I was witnessing some London basement version of Mamma Mia.
2. Meat Liquor, Oxford Circus
Chicken shop! Oh beloved London chicken shop. Hot chicken in a dark room, complete with a bouncer, strobe lights, Jager buttons at every table, and a full DJ setup in the center of the restaurant. There was a photo booth in a portable toilet, which is a fantastic business model for the young and hip. These days all anyone can talk about is a photo booth in a niche location. The chicken was fantastic and I say that because when is hot chicken not, and even though I couldn't see nor hear due to the lights and the DJ, it was so incredible that I wish all clubs had both their chicken and their atmosphere. Compared to Ciro's live band, Meat Liquor definitely stands at the other end of the live music and sit down restaurant model. It provided every photo op one could want, with messily decorated walls, cool posters, and a bathroom down a scary hallway that was also covered in stickers. I want to know who came up with the idea of Meat Liquor, and why they haven't brought it to America yet.
3. Cafe 1001, Shoreditch
For our last stop on our music & food tour of London we've finally got some overlap with my song choices, though Shoreditch's song is definitely my least favorite of the three. Nestled in the heart of Brick Lane, where everything cool is, like the Brick Lane Vintage Market, Rough Trade East, and other music and thrifty type shops, is the delightful Cafe 1001. Every time I've gone I've been extremely scared of the staff and every patron inside, and wanted nothing more than to be them. As the name suggests, Cafe 1001 operates as a cafe with an upstairs level that has a DJ booth to one end against some chic bookshelves, and tables and booths lining the floor. As the other two places in this list, the vibe was endlessly confusing. When my sister and I first ventured out after seeing their posts of a DJ night, I expected more of a club scene. Instead, there were never more than 20 people loosely gathered around the DJ booth, sometimes swaying to the beat but mostly standing and gently bopping their heads. This is to no fault of the DJ or a judgment on the venue, instead a curiosity to me. Was I meant to be more nonchalant? Can DJ events be that casual? Maybe everyone else in Shoreditch has just mastered the act of seeming like they do these things all the time so why should they be any more enthused than they are, right? Anyways, while I can't clearly speak to the quality of the food or beverages they serve there (what kind of review is this, am I right), I do know that it was really super cool and I want to go back, either so that I too can be nonchalant or so that I can witness everyone, at last, busting a move.