Belsize Kitchen

Modern Cafe & Restaurant at 68 Belsize Lane, London NW3. Fresh food for breakfast & lunch. Great coffee & cakes

Belsize Kitchen

http://www.belsizekitchen.co.uk

Spielburger Hampstead & Barnet

Free Weekend? A handy guide to Belsize Park | Kentishtowner

The changing face of Belsize Park: once the infamous Haverstock Arms, now a boutique hotel and restaurant Detractors would say it’s the safe bit “stuck in the middle” of more characterful areas, all endless hilly streets of samey – if gorgeous – stucco white villas.

For many centuries, the area’s focus was swanky Belsize House, rebuilt several times until it was pulled down in 1853 (it’s now a walled-off enclosure of eight houses, Village Close).

Booze: superior cocktails at The Hill, or rowdier sessions at legendary boozer Steele’s, where there’s always an eclectic crowd as well as weekly comedy and live music nights (though it’s not the truly bohemian pub it once was).

Arty quarter…Concrete and functional: the Grade 1-listed Isokon, Lawn Road.

Yes, remarkable as it may seem now, during the late 1920s and 30s the eastern corner of Belsize Park was a hotbed of artists, all dotted about in the Mall, Parkhill Road and, from 1934, the concrete, functional Isokon, the Grade I-listed iconic modernist building on Lawn Road.

Spielburger Hampstead review

Photo: PR The luxury Everyman cinemas in Hampstead and Belsize Park are always a treat.

The quite lovely Dach Sons closed quietly last year, but no such fate will await this place, with its prime location in the flickering Hampstead dining scene.

The last brilliant burger I can remember was from Mother Flipper, the streetfood boys who have a regular Friday set-up at Camden Town Brewery: juicy, pink, and packed with a real depth of flavour.

So: if the Flipper are Back to the Future, and reliable micro-chain Honest Burger is Gremlins, what movie’s Spielburger?

We paid £30 for two burgers, one chips, one slaw and two house glasses of wine (£4.50 each).

Beyoglu | Restaurants in Belsize Park, London

Venue name: Beyoglu Contact: Address: 72 Belsize Lane London NW3 5BJ Opening hours: Lunch served 11am-3pm, dinner served 6-11pm Mon-Fri.

Transport: Tube: Belsize Park Price: Main courses £8-£12.50.

Retsina | Restaurants in Belsize Park, London

Venue name: Retsina Contact: Address: 48-50 Belsize Lane London NW3 5AR Opening hours: Lunch served noon-3pm Tue-Sun.

Transport: Tube: Belsize Park or Swiss Cottage tube Price: Main courses £9-£22.50.

The Juniper Tree | Restaurants in Belsize Park, London

Juniper Tree bills itself an ‘organic kitchen’, but it’s not one of those health food spots that’ll have roast dinner lovers running for the hills.

This is a proper British restaurant serving proper British food – think Welsh lamb, Brixham crab and whole roasted plaice.

I started in style with a plate of West Mersea oysters – cool and wonderfully creamy, they had a delicately succulent saltiness redolent of the sea.

An 8oz rump was served beautifully pink and drizzled with rich red wine sauce, the tender sweetness of the meat a perfect foil to the creamy potato gratin and slightly bitter kale it came served with.

A single (though substantial) gripe is that Juniper Tree does lack atmosphere.