Nay's Qype profile

This place is absolutely brand new, just off Camden High Street, diagonally opposite my fave pub the Crown and Goose.

As the blurb on their website says, 'Caponata is a family-run Sicilian Ristorante, Osteria and Bar with the added attraction of a live music venue at The Forge next door’.

It had been in development for ages and now it’s opened, it’s huge (check out the room plan etc on their website). But happily most of that room is open space - high ceilings (esp in the courtyard), well spaced out tables and a really relaxed feel.

I only went in for a coffee but am very excited about going back to try the food - the menu was short, looked really interesting and was surprisingly well priced (it looks like it will be really expensive). Plus the wine list looked superb. The staff have the eagerness of a newly opened place and were ultra friendly and happy to accommodate us. The coffee and biscotti were excellent, plus they made little hearts in the milk froth on my cappucino which I loved (it’s the little things…)

I really really hope this place works - it’s so sad to see new gorgeous places like this not very full. In fact, I’m going to go back this weekend. Especially if they have some live music on in the adjacent music venue.

So glad we found this place. Hardly anywhere good to drink round these parts but this pub is great. Looks small from outside but is actually pretty spacious and spread over 3 floors with a beer garden area upstairs. Plenty of choice of drinks and my friend says the food is really good too. Will be back here many times.

Dreadful awful place. Costs about $10 pp (only 50 cents for locals - huge mark up!) to go in and see lots of elephants straining to break free of their chains. Basically, this place was a proper orphanage, which looked after injured wild elephants or brought abandoned ones up until they could be re-released into the wild. This place is such a money-maker however, that the ethics have been dumped and lots of the elephants there are actually born there, never to be released. The elephants are chained up for most of the day - allowed once every other day to be escorted to the lake to wash - a big tourist attraction. There is another elephant orphange in Sri Lanka, except people aren’t allowed to go to it, because it’s actually about getting elephants re-released - they really shouldn’t come into contact with humans very much for this to be possible.

At feeding time, loads of mother and baby elephants are chained in a small area, just inches away from loads of visitors and watching the baby elephants rock back and forth in a pitiful attempt to move from their chains was heartbreaking. Perhaps even worse was the old, blind male elephant, shackled to a tree and never untied.

Dreadful.

Went to the beauty bit here and not the hairdresser, although as I was going in someone came out with a really good haircut so that’s a good sign! The place is much more luxurious than other places I’ve been. My beauty therapist was just lovely (name begins with 'T’ but I can’t remember her whole name). Took me into a room with calming music and really warm and relaxing. The wax they use there is amazing - it’s warm rather than hot, not sticky and it’s chocolatey - and it’s really not painful. Felt like I was a really valued customer and would definintely go back. They do loads of other treatments and stuff as well - all listed on their good website.

A great restaurant in the heart of Primrose Hill, serving Russian and Eastern-bloc food - served by authentic Russian/Eastern European staff! Dishes and ingredients that I hadn’t heard of since I was young (I hadn’t really made the connection between the food in my family and my Russian ancestry…) were on the menu, much to my delight. This stuff is simple food - stews, goulashes, fish, sour cream, beetroot - and it’s delicious. It’s not all peasant food though, I had raw salmon with smoked salmon and fish roe which I actually could not fault - the flavours were subtle and delicate. The main dishes are hearty and generous and none of it feels bad for you (apart from the obligatory side order of chips). The wine list is good and you can spend a lot if you want. We opted for the cheaper, and more 'authentic’ option of Bulgarian wine. Big mistake, and I can drink really horrible wine normally! Highly recommend. You’ll probably need to book if going in an evening. Plenty of lovely pubs nearby to drink in after.

Nice old building, shame it’s totally bland inside. Warm white wine. Outside area with seating.

If this place was in London, it would be loads more expensive, so even though it’s not cheap, being from London it seemed like a bargain, if you see what I mean. Big nice done-out pub, all wood and old pictures from ye olde times and real fire etc, set just by the Severn in Shrewsbury. We reserved for Sunday lunch at half 12 and by 1 the place was full. Big menu but not in a bad way - everything is top quality and freshly made, I bet they don’t even own a microwave. Pigeon wellington should have been amazing but the meat was overcooked and tough and chewy, and the pastry was a bit hard on the bottom and soggy on top. Soup came with a massive hunk of fresh bread and good butter. Roast dinner was giant and all top quality - think it was about a tenner and I reckon they don’t make a big profit margin on that. Ham hock with pork belly and cabbage was yum! totally fell off the bone, as it should, and far superior to a similar dish I had in Germany the week before. Yes, this place outdid the Germans on pork goodness. Lovely big bar, friendly good-looking staff, millions of ales and nice wines by the glass. Wunderbar.