Dave Humm

I finally got round to trying it last week, as I was on my own and in a bit of a hurry I tried the upstairs part, and got the special offer (10 quid for a slab of ribs, fries, coleslaw and a house beer or wine) = very impressed and happy punter.

There is the Palms of Goa in Charlotte Street which also has another branch in Soho, and is reasonable, but not as good as Mela and similarly priced so I prefer to walk the extra distance to Shaftesbury Ave. Dave

I'd also recommend Mela, though biggest group I've been in there is four, so only talking food recommendation. Cafe Naz on Brick Lane has an upstairs room that they will use for large groups. Got to admit food has been hit and miss. Used to go there for the eat as much as you can buffet on weekday lunchtimes when I used to work at Aldgate, but went in groups to it a couple of times for leaving do's/birthdays. I've been in Cafe Spice Namaste in a biggish group (12) before and they seated us in the main area, though they might have a private room. Food was good, but as this was about 3 years ago the price would be a bit different. Dave

The Lamb is still pretty good, and has a separate upstairs bar, it does tend to get a bit overrun at times. Closer to Euston is the Euston Flyer on Euston Road, big Fullers pub with decent beer (as you would expect) £2 a pint for London Pride and a few other drinks. Bit lacking in character though, but clean and directly opposite the British Library. Dave

Ok, time to stop lurking and put my two pennies worth in. Two resturants that I like as local resturants are Armadillo and Little Georgia, both on Broadway Market in Hackney. Brazilian and Georgian cusine respectively, and neither is more than 5 minutes from the Dove pub, which is also pretty good. Not really local to me as I'm in the culinary desert that is Tottenham Hale, but worth a mention as I've had decent meals at both for about 30-35 quid a head including wine. (Actually given the location that should problably be culinary marsh...) Dave