KidKruger

Eyes, balls, side of knees and insteps (stamps). If you absolutely have to. Forget about punching. And keep your elbows up around the sides of your head. Good luck !

I don't mind PeckhamPlex, but it is often filled with, well you know - riff raff. Probably because the tickets are so cheap I expect. I mean, I knew people like that existed obviously (I do watch documentaries you know), just hadn't seen it with my own eyes before going there.

I went to the place once and had the best Jalfrezi I'd had on LL, ever. So that was a winner for me. Shame it's closed - Foxy did you say someone told you it was raided ? I wonder if that was by health & safety, drug squad, or immigration / customs. Of those options, surely only a H&S raid could keep it closed ?

Anyone know why Xoco closed ?

What El Presidente said.

Strange that, I also saw a guy laying some cable down Gallery Road one night a couple of weeks ago. It looked like he'd pulled his car over and was sort of using it for cover as he curled one out onto the undergrowth by the tennis club. It was a dark stretch of the road but his machinations were easily recognisable. I beeped him and he waved. Wound the window up though.

Glad you got sorted after all !

Well, that's a start I guess !

robbin, I've unfortunately had various skirmishes of that nature so I'm not entirely blind to what it feels like (though my maximum is 3 on 1, with knives, and yes I was stabbed - but so were they). I've also come out on the losing end of other situations. I know how helpless you can feel - nearest I can describe it is the words of Down In The Tube Station At Midnight which for me summarises the feeling perfectly. All I'm saying is that cowardice doesn't come into it IMO. There's no concept of fair from the onset, that's never part of the proposition with mugging. It's just a procedure which has to succeed from the muggers' perspective. People can call them cowards if that helps, I guess. Yes this thread is about Andrew, who I hope doesn't let this nasty experience alter his social behaviour too much and heals well from the blows he took.

Careful, Foxy will be correcting your 'curry house count' if you're not careful !

These guys aren't interested in showing how tough they are, they just want your stuff and have more chance of getting it if they out number you and can get away without being caught. So they're being practical, this doesn't mean they're cowards. It's not like one of them alone is going to rob a group of three men, just so he doesn't look cowardly ! You may well find that one of them on his own could still do the job just as well, they use numbers because it's better certainty and they do multiple robberies because the spoils have to be shared amongst more people. Speculation over whether they are losers or not and what they'll experience in the rest of their lives is absolutely pointless. Who cares. Not everybody feels good knowing someone else doesn't have the options open to themselves, and anyway that's scant consolation for being robbed !

Gtothe, you'd have been quite within your rights to clout the guy, based on your description of what happened. This is how muggers get away with it so often - they know you won't raise a finger until after they've hit you and by then it may be too late or you're not in a position to fight back any more. I genuinely that kind of intimidation should be an imprisonable offence. Why should you have to wait until the last possible second when the guy approached you to find out whether or not he's going to wound you or your partner ? Too right he deserved to be owned for that behaviour.

DTR - Manjula's Kitchen is a great veggie Indian cooking source for recipes. We're still eating part-bastardised Indian food. When's the last time we had a curry in an 'Indian' restaurant made from karela ? A common Indian veg that we have probably never eaten.

Basically, you can't be reasonable expected to pay full price for less than reasonable food / service / waiting times. If this was enforced more by customers then standards would increase almost immediately. You're not going to feel like doing this unless you feel you have a very strong case anyway, in most cases I'd expect the restaurant management to recognise this too and make the necessary gesture. If they don't, then so what, it's just a disagreement - which can happy in any field where payment is due i.e. painting and decorating you're not happy with. This is one of very few trades where people politely pay, again and again, for what they are not happy with (just read the numerous threads on this forum !).

Cabinet Minister ?

Better at YMCA for lunch than evenings as far more choice of dishes.

Yeah Hotel for them is often an eatery. Number of time I've asked for rooms...

Yeah that strand place I remember reading about years ago, which reminds me I must reset my mind to try and go there one day soon. Anyway. Part disaster, part OK. On way up to RFH I checked this thread and had nowt suggested at that time, so I checked Indian restaurants in the Waterloo area on www. Closest was Chilli & Chutney (sounds like a curry house, right ?) so I called and booked a table for 10, so at least we had a table somewhere. Did the RFH thang then arrived at the empty, brightly lit, stark 'restaurant'. The menu included 'all day breakfast', 'chilli con carne', 'set curry meal with bottle of coke'. The 8x Indians I was with looked nervous, they were being polite but it was clear they thought the place was shite. The manager / owner was halfway through taking the orders when we just decided we had to go or we were setting ourselves up for a really cringeworthy time. We upped-sticks and the manager watched a couple of hundred quid walk out the door. Strolled along to Plan B, the 'Thames' curry house right by Waterloo station - a review I'd read earlier said 'worst service ever, anywhere'. Oh well. Turned out to be OK and the food was OK for a curry house and, by comparison to the C&C, actually saved the day. I was quite embarrassed to have not done a walk-by of the first place before dragging my homies in there. Lesson well learned and will not be repeated. Also I should have checked my thread, but recommendations noted for next time - thanks.

"places I ate in India recently" Seabags - were any of those places you ate between Madurai and Chennai ?

I'm meeting 8 or so Indian buddies in a bit at the RFH. Usually we head up to Euston for South Indian fare but I was thinking is there anywhere passable around RFH/Waterloo area ? Any suggestions appreciated.

Looks good Louisa - do they deliver ?

"I think I'm just tired of the old/standard/rut that's become the 'curry house' way. I love the food, but the rest is tired beyond belief." Innit. Everest Curry King on Loampit, Lewisham, ditches the tablecloth thang - but it ain't trendy. However, if you want decent Sri Lankan Tamil food, it's the bollox. Also there's a couple of Tamil shops ac ouple of doors down, so you can stock up /marvel at the stock ! (I've been called pretentious for suggesting this place before !). Foxy: "Are there..? Curry Cabin.. Tandoori Nights.. Dulwich Tandoori... Surma... Mirash... Where are the other two ?" You want me to start hauling you up too on your grammar, spelling and general accuracy ? No?

the only thing you can do is carry a tool. no one else is gonna look after you obviously. it's a shame, but lambs to the slaughter is not a reasonable solution.

I'm all for curry sans beer, but that model doesn't work outside central london unless in specific areas like East Ham, Southall, Harrow, Wembley, Basildon etc. where there are the appropriate non-drinking populations to sustain such a restaurant. Pretty naive and wasteful of money / effort to try otherwise. The public don't cater to your principles.

I think everyone has a right to their expectations. Expecting food to be cooked somewhere near right is reasonable IMO. In the U.K. what makes me laugh (and this is not specific to this restaurant or ED) is how paying customers are prepared to forfeit their hard-earned wages to prop-up a restaurant that cannot make the grade. So many unhappy customers smile politely, pay a tip, pay the bill and walk out without saying a word to the waiter/manager. When the waiter comes over (as they do, with the implicit expectation that you'll say 'fine, thanks') and asks how things are, tell them you're underwhelmed and will not be paying full price for a meal that's not full quality. If that'll cause a free cabaret in the restaurant so what, the restaurant need to know - there's a transaction here. You're under no obligation to treat businesses with kid gloves ! Basically restauranters must get a decent percentage of their income from pissed-off customers who're happy to just keep on paying (and returning) on the off-chance that one day they'll be lucky and a meal will eventually be OK. This is a lose-lose proposition, the restaurant doesn't get the feedback they need so don't improve where and when they should, the customer has unsatisfying experiences and pays for the privilege. How many of the unhappy posters above have told the restaurant with the detail posted here and why do you think it's OK to pay a restaurant full price repeatedly when they fall short ? - genuine question, I really don't understand the logic of this approach.