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The old adage that, if you want good "ethnic" food, look for a restaurant full of people from that ethnicity, is demonstrably wrong. In London in 2019, I saw packs of Chinese tourists descend from coaches and enter some of the worst Chinese restaurants London has. (It also has some of the best.) The restaurant is usually chosen by the tour guide or company, who may well not be, in this case, Chinese. Or it may even be chosen by the coach driver, who gets a nice commission. The coach then drives off to park.

Chinese tourists descending on a decidely average restaurant in London. July 2019 (My picture)

You walk past and see a restaurant packed with Chinese people and think that place must be good! Duh! And, another thing, how would you know those customers are Chinese. They could be another Asian nationality altogether. I know the ones I saw were Chinese; I heard them speaking to each other in Beijing-accented Mandarin.

Black "cab", London - image by Russ London; licenced under CC BY-SA 2.5

But I do have a better tip. Black taxi drivers (Not taxi drivers who are black!) I mentioned before that, before being licenced, they have to pass a rigorous exam after years of study of London, its streets, hotels, restaurants and public buildings etc. I mentioned that the North Sea Fish Restaurant was one restaurant all London cab drivers have to know. But they don’t only know it. At times, you can see lines of empty, driverless taxis parked in the surrounding streets. The drivers are having lunch or dinner. Especially, at night , you see scores of them.

Another example that springs to mind is Archway Kebab in north London. This takeaway shop is rammed all day and is often cited as the best Turkish kebab shop in London. In fact, it won the top prize in the 2019 British Kebab Awards. Every night, there are lines of black taxis outside. (The shop is at 26 Junction Road, London N19 5RE, very near Archway Station on London Underground’s Northern line – or take a taxi.)

And if you happen to personally dislike

On 6/13/2021 at 12:06 AM, jmacnaughtan said:

The sight of those grey elephant legs rotating sweatily

then don’t worry. There are many other kinds of kebabs and other dishes on offer, as there always is in these places. The Archway menu is here.

No one is pretending it is fine dining, but it is very good, reasonably priced, takeaway.

The old adage that, if you want good "ethnic" food, look for a restaurant full of people from that ethnicity, is demonstrably wrong. In London in 2019, I saw packs of Chinese tourists descend from coaches and enter some of the worst Chinese restaurants London has. (It also has some of the best.) The restaurant is usually chosen by the tour guide or company, who may well not be, in this case, Chinese. Or it may even be chosen by the coach driver, who gets a nice commission. The coach then drives off to park.

Chinese tourists descending on a decidely average restaurant in London. July 2019 (My picture)

You walk past and see a restaurant packed with Chinese people and think that place must be good! Duh! And, another thing, how would you know those customers are Chinese. They could be another Asian nationalit,y altogether. I know the ones I saw were Chinese; I heard them speaking to each other in Beijing-accented Mandarin.

Black "cab", London - image by Russ London; licenced under CC BY-SA 2.5

But I do have a better tip. Black taxi drivers (Not taxi drivers who are black!) I mentioned before that, before being licenced, they have to pass a rigorous exam after years of study of London, its streets, hotels, restaurants and public buildings etc. I mentioned that the North Sea Fish Restaurant was one restaurant all London cab drivers have to know. But they don’t only know it. At times, you can see lines of empty, driverless taxis parked in the surrounding streets. The drivers are having lunch or dinner. Especially, at night , you see scores of them.

Another example that springs to mind is Archway Kebab in north London. This takeaway shop is rammed all day and is often cited as the best Turkish kebab shop in London. In fact, it won the top prize in the 2019 British Kebab Awards. Every night, there are lines of black taxis outside. (The shop is at 26 Junction Road, London N19 5RE, very near Archway Station on London Underground’s Northern line – or take a taxi.)

And if you happen to personally dislike

On 6/13/2021 at 12:06 AM, jmacnaughtan said:

The sight of those grey elephant legs rotating sweatily

then don’t worry. There are many other kinds of kebabs and other dishes on offer, as there always is in these places. The Archway menu is here.

No one is pretending it is fine dining, but it is very good, reasonably priced, takeaway.

The old adage that, if you want good "ethnic" food, look for a restaurant full of people from that ethnicity, is demonstrably wrong. In London in 2019, I saw packs of Chinese tourists descend from coaches and enter some of the worst Chinese restaurants London has. (It also has some of the best.) The restaurant is usually chosen by the tour guide or company, who may well not be, in this case, Chinese. Or it may even be chosen by the coach driver, who gets a nice commission. The coach then drives off to park.

Chinese tourists descending on a decidely average restaurant in London. July 2019 (My picture)

You walk past and see a restaurant packed with Chinese people and think that place must be good! Duh! And, another thing, how would you know those customers are Chinese. They could be another Asian nationalit,y altogether. I know the ones I saw were Chinese; I heard them speaking to each other in Beijing-accented Mandarin.

Black "cab", London - image by Russ London; licenced under CC BY-SA 2.5

But I do have a better tip. Black taxi drivers (Not taxi drivers who are black!) I mentioned before that, before being licenced, they have to pass a rigorous exam after years of study of London, its streets, hotels, restaurants and public buildings etc. I mentioned that the North Sea Fish Restaurant was one restaurant all London cab drivers have to know. But they don’t only know it. At times, you can see lines of empty, driverless taxis parked in the surrounding streets. The drivers are having lunch or dinner. Especially, at night , you see scores of them.

Another example that springs to mind is Archway Kebab in north London. This takeaway shop is rammed all day and is often cited as the best Turkish kebab shop in London. In fact, it won the top prize in the 2019 British Kebab Awards. Every night, there are lines of black taxis outside. (The shop is at 26 Junction Road, London N19 5RE, very near Archway Station on London Underground’s Northern line – or take a taxi.)

And if you happen to personally dislike

7 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

The sight of those grey elephant legs rotating sweatily

then don’t worry. There are many other kinds of kebabs and other dishes on offer., as there always is in these places. The Archway menu is here.

No one is pretending it is fine dining, but it is very good, reasonably priced, takeaway.

The old adage that, if you want good "ethnic" food, look for a restaurant full of people from that ethnicity, is demonstrably wrong. In London in 2019, I saw packs of Chinese tourists descend from coaches and enter some of the worst Chinese restaurants London has. (It also has some of the best.) The restaurant is usually chosen by the tour guide or company, who may well not be, in this case, Chinese. Or it may even be chosen by the coach driver, who gets a nice commission. The coach then drives off to park.

Chinese tourists descending on a decidely average restaurant in London. July 2019 (My picture)

You walk past and see a restaurant packed with Chinese people and think that place must be good! Duh! And, another thing, how would you know those customers are Chinese. They could be another Asian nationalit,y altogether. I know the ones I saw were Chinese; I heard them speaking to each other in Beijing-accented Mandarin.

But I do have a better tip. Black taxi drivers (Not taxi drivers who are black!) I mentioned before that, before being licenced, they have to pass a rigorous exam after years of study of London, its streets, hotels, restaurants and public buildings etc. I mentioned that the North Sea Fish Restaurant was one restaurant all London cab drivers have to know. But they don’t only know it. At times, you can see lines of empty, driverless taxis parked in the surrounding streets. The drivers are having lunch or dinner. Especially, at night , you see scores of them.

Another example that springs to mind is Archway Kebab in north London. This takeaway shop is rammed all day and is often cited as the best Turkish kebab shop in London. In fact, it won the top prize in the 2019 British Kebab Awards. Every night, there are lines of black taxis outside. (The shop is at 26 Junction Road, London N19 5RE, very near Archway Station on London Underground’s Northern line – or take a taxi.)

And if you happen to personally dislike

6 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

The sight of those grey elephant legs rotating sweatily

then don’t worry. There are many other kinds of kebabs and other dishes on offer., as there always is in these places. The Archway menu is here.

No one is pretending it is fine dining, but it is very good, reasonably priced, takeaway.

The old adage that, if you want good "ethnic" food, look for a restaurant full of people from that ethnicity, is demonstrably wrong. In London in 2019, I saw packs of Chinese tourists descend from coaches and enter some of the worst Chinese restaurants London has. (It also has some of the best.) The restaurant is chosen by the tour guide, who may well not be, in this case, Chinese. Or it may even be chosen by the coach driver, who gets a nice commission. The coach then drives off to park.

Chinese tourists descending on a decidely average restaurant in London. July 2019 (My picture)

You walk past and see a restaurant packed with Chinese people and think that place must be good! Duh! And, another thing, how would you know those customers are Chinese. They could be another Asian nationalit,y altogether. I know the ones I saw were Chinese; I heard them speaking to each other in Beijing-accented Mandarin.

But I do have a better tip. Black taxi drivers (Not taxi drivers who are black!) I mentioned before that, before being licenced, they have to pass a rigorous exam after years of study of London, its streets, hotels, restaurants and public buildings etc. I mentioned that the North Sea Fish Restaurant was one restaurant all London cab drivers have to know. But they don’t only know it. At times, you can see lines of empty, driverless taxis parked in the surrounding streets. The drivers are having lunch or dinner. Especially, at night , you see scores of them.

Another example that springs to mind is Archway Kebab in north London. This takeaway shop is rammed all day and is often cited as the best Turkish kebab shop in London. In fact, it won the top prize in the 2019 British Kebab Awards. Every night, there are lines of black taxis outside. (The shop is at 26 Junction Road, London N19 5RE, very near Archway Station on London Underground’s Northern line – or take a taxi.)

And if you happen to personally dislike

6 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

The sight of those grey elephant legs rotating sweatily

then don’t worry. There are many other kinds of kebabs and other dishes on offer., as there always is in these places. The Archway menu is here.

No one is pretending it is fine dining, but it is very good, reasonably priced, takeaway.

The old adage that, if you want good "ethnic" food, look for a restaurant full of people from that ethnicity, is demonstrably wrong. In London in 2019, I saw packs of Chinese tourists descend from coaches and enter some of the worst Chinese restaurants London has. (It also has some of the best.) The restaurant is chosen by the tour guide, who may well not be, in this case, Chinese. Or it may even be chosen by the coach driver, who gets a nice commission. The coach then drives off to park.

Chinese tourists descending on a decidely average restaurant in London. July 2019 (My picture)

You walk past and see a restaurant packed with Chinese people and think that place must be good! Duh! And, another thing, how would you know those customers are Chinese. They could be another Asian nationalit,y altogether. I know the ones I saw were Chinese; I heard them speaking to each other in Beijing-accented Mandarin.

But I do have a better tip. Black taxi drivers (Not taxi drivers who are black!) I mentioned before that, before being licenced, they have to pass a rigorous exam after years of study of London, its streets, hotels, restaurants and public buildings etc. I mentioned that the North Sea Fish Restaurant was one restaurant all London cab drivers have to know. But they don’t only know it. At times, you can see lines of empty, driverless taxis parked in the surrounding streets. The drivers are having lunch or dinner. Especially, at night , you see scores of them.

Another example that springs to mind is Archway Kebab in north London. This takeaway shop is rammed all day and is often cited as the best Turkish kebab shop in London. In fact, it won the top prize in the 2019 British Kebab Awards. Every night, there are lines of black taxis outside. (The shop is at 26 Junction Road, London N19 5RE, near Archway Station of London Underground’s Northern line – or take a taxi.

And if you happen to personally dislike

6 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

The sight of those grey elephant legs rotating sweatily

then don’t worry. There are many other kinds of kebabs and other dishes on offer., as there always is in these places. The Archway menu is here.

No one is pretending it is fine dining, but it is very good, reasonably priced, takeaway.