BITE user comments - snorky
Comments by snorky
The Black Cherry Bar, East Dulwich
Actually, this is a review for the Bishop next door, but seeing as BITE wont let me post it without being approved by amod ( very odd ) , Ill post it here for the time being
The Bishop
"Yummy Mummy � that�s a phrase that make you grind your teeth and mutter vague obscenities at people on public transport isn�t it. I suspect that YM is on e quite happily tossed around by the �YM� themselves, even if they are far on the wrong side of 30, having lost their best years in climbing the greasy pole of corporate success. You never hear of single mothers on peckham estates being described as YM do you ?
Scummy mummy anyone ?
Hmmmmm
Anyway, the Bishop, If you like your YM hot n ready, the you will feel right at home here in the afternoons, where legions of buggies and their precious loads battle for space on the distressed oak beam flooring. The ramshackle mismatched tables and chairs will be piled high in bar food and swimming in drinks for mothers and children alike.
I witnessed a child barely broaching 2, snugly asleep in his buggy, proudly clutching what looked like his favourite book.� My first 1000 words in German�
I barely know 1000 words in English.
The interior is surprisingly spacious ( GCH Not tested ), with a bar big enough to make paying for drinks relatively hassle free � and they serve your change on a silver ( coloured ) platter. Nice touch. OK range of beers, including ubiquitous real ales and a decent range of bottles. The depth of the pub and the layout mean its quite easy to get nestled in and enjoy the evening. It does however, get rather busy at the weekends, with punters spilling onto the street, much to the chagrin of the local residents .
It�s missing something though. Not sure what � there�s nothing to get irked about, the staff are pleasant, beer good, service and foot quite acceptable, But that�s where it ends. Its neither a destination to aim for, nor a local to feel quite comfortable in � maybe the intrinsically transient nature of the evening crowd- early- mid 20�s renters and first time buyers don�t really cement the place.
The most memorable and oft commented feature of the Bishop is that it�s got a sleek dog that lurks inside. A weimaraner to boot � a hunting dog that�s doesn�t hunt any more, stuck in the seething melee of SE London.
Quite apt for the Bishop in some ways."
3 Oct 2007 17:04
How much for a Baltika ?
�4.50 !
I could get this in Kaliningrad for a about 4 pee.
Baltika prices aside, this isnt too bad a place. far enough up the lane to keep the verbose media types with their ironic haircuts and crocs, but not trendy enought to lure the estate agents in their cheap suits and bogus square toed shoes
Its certainly memorable, with the canary yellow paint job and upper LL position, just a lurch from the brutal grey concrete of the soon to be demolished East Dulwich cop shop.
Its more of a local than most, its location keeping it off the usual LL gastropub/winebar crawl route.
Its big enough inside to hold a few bodies, espcially when theyre showing Chelsea or another London Club, live on the big screen.
a gregarious mix of ABC types.Give it a go.
3 Oct 2007 13:25
This used to be a manky local pub, with hard man frosted windows and the lonely sound of pool balls clacking against each other in the gloom .
Its been jazzed up though.
Now its a manky local pub, with clear glass windows and the lonely sound of pool balls clacking against each other in the
gloom.Next to the brace of DJ decks.
But now its got Pizza.Homemade pizza. proper big, heart killing, cheese dripping pizza,BY the wheel or by the slice and not badly priced either.And devliishly hot chilli oil to boot.
Once more, rustic heavy duty tables and sturdy shop soiled chairs seem to have been retro installed to emphasise that this is still a pub.
Bespecled Mothers and boden clad kinder congregate in the cute boxed patio out back, where pub suplied ELC wooden toys lie scattered across the floor in a desperate effort to trip up the unwary of heavily laden.
A range of hand pulled flat stuff seems available and quite popular amongst the victims propping up the bar, cheefully chatting and skimming through the pub supplied sunday papers.I dont touch the brown stuff any more, as it stains my snow white beard & I have more than enough to moan about at the minute - The ever present the multinational chemical froth that calls itself fosters/stella / whatever is always available. I had a refreshing Staropramen in a bottle.
This is a local pub. I am shocked. people seem to talk to each other- at the bar even know each other.
A local bar in the reknowned shooting gallery of SE15 and I never got threatened, not even once. Not even a scowl for daring to trespass into someone elses manor.No chicken on a basket, no hookey gear on offer, no leather jacketed lumpy blokes weighted down with kilos of square cut 9ct Gold.No Ageing jags parked on the pavement outside
Tsk tsk tsk, what is society coming to.
National service would sort this lot out.
3 Oct 2007 11:58
I used to go here alot. usually on the way to somewhere else I recall.
its been revamped, but has retained the most memorable feature of its antideluvial predecessor- thats fact thats its not actually memorable at all.
Beer Ok
handy as a stop en route to somewhere else
2 Oct 2007 16:34
They serve beer here. Japanese stuff apparently.
It was hard to tell what I was drinking, as it was standing room only and I seem to have found myself lodged next to DJ equipment, where a scraggily bearded bloke in a wool beanie tried to lay down some "fat choons" and ironically mixing the grange hill theme between trax. Bad move DJ. You may also want to turn the volume down a bit, as it does make civilised chat awfully difficult, theres a good chap.
Nice little patio bit out the back, awash with heinous smokers , chugging expensive, but colourful cocktails and the ubiquitous " son of 1990's alchopop" Magniers and Ice combination that sets your teeth on edge.
Long n thin, there isnt much room to move on a weekend, but I hear the food is Ok if you can get a table - the little poufees & knee combination makes for a disaster scenario, especially if your meal contains peas.
The old skool lumpy doormen give a reasurring scowl when you leavem, rather tha than a cheery good night. It hardly makes me long to return in the near future.
2 Oct 2007 11:23
Revamped with ill matched rustic tables and wobbly chairs, but original wood panelling retained
Half bar / half resturant. Or is it ? I have yet to decide � OK range of beers though, but nothing interesting enough to make a long trip for.
Roll up, Roll up for the weekend extravaganza- gasp with amazement on a Saturday afternoon and find the restaurant end full of late 20� hetero couples, clutching an A-Z and a sheaf of photocopied estate agent sheets. Watch as the man shows signs of imminent boredom as girlfriend nominate a view of yet another overpriced lower ground flat with garden access
But wait. There�s more astounding action at the Palmerston
Return on a Sunday and as if by magic, find the whole resultant now occupied by young couples and one set of their parents. Laugh as the couples fruitlessly use the restaurant to assure the parents that SE London isn�t a crackngun infested wasteland, but ahs some good features ( and only 11 minutes from London bridge ). Blush as the parents try not to mention their concern that the youngest daughter seems to have set up house with a verbose cocky young man with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
There�s alot of offal on the menu. It may be jazzed up with Jus and served with onion mash, but its still a load of guts n stuff to some. Still, probably better than KP cheese and onion crisps as the highlight of the menu I suppose .
2 Oct 2007 11:13
Good beer including nice bottled White beers.
Service pretty good - even when its busy
Music has a propensity to do ones nut in after about 11PM - both in volume and taste - some nights worse than others - interesting back to back mixes of hawkwind & marvin gaye do test ones patience - I dont think the DJ/Owner will be taking up residency at the ministry of sound in the near future.
then again, nor will I.
Bogs can be rancid - but I dont pay to bathe in the place, so thats not too bad.
Lovely view of the Bus stop and the video rental place across the road and right next to the cashpoint machine.
very handy
1 Oct 2007 17:25
The Black Cherry Bar, East Dulwich
Oh dear.
Didnt Sartre say "hell is other people" ? - My personal hell is being surrounded by groups of verbose cackling late 20 single women, chugging their way through bottles of overpriced white wine on weekday evenings.
Food is pretty dull to be honest - and not exactly cheap , but as someone noted earlier, its not a resturant.
So if you are a single loud drunk, likely fairly stupid ( but sales orientated who likes working in a fast moving, success based environment with fantastic career prospects ), with a penchant for long trite mobile phone conversations with your equally trite estate agent friends, then this is the place to be - you can park your garish little company car around the corner as well.
How Perfect.
I may go back one day and check tha place out without the distraction of the Macbeth Witches.
1 Oct 2007 17:17
The Castle, Camberwell
meh
9 Oct 2007 10:57