Steve Davies - Contributor's Page

What a great find. Sitting on the cobbled street of Holly Mount for some 200 years, you can't help but be transported back in time by The Holly Bush. The exterior, although refurbished, is that of a traditional community public house from olde London and the inside even more so.

Being slightly off-the-beaten-track this place only ever gets packed at weekends, so you can enjoy a quiet beer most of the time. Something quite rare in the centre of town. A good selection of real ales, huge wine list (a blackboard with around 80 varieties on it) and classic pub grub. All good - and a nice change for this area.

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SAGAR RESTAURANT
Visited by Steve Davies, MyVillage

One of two newly opened West End branches, Sagar started life in Hammersmith touting itself as the finest restaurant in London to serve vegetarian Udupi dishes from Karnataka. With food so well prepared and an exceptional service, it really is hard to argue such a claim.
Idli served with sambar and coconut chutney was a light and delicate way to start. The dish wasn’t oily and perfectly complimented my lassi: a South Indian cocktail made from yoghurt and spices. To sample a selection of regional delicacies I chose a traditional thali consisting of ten small portions. Being a vegetarian restaurant the variation of dishes was somewhat limited but overall the food was tasty, generous and satisfying. The only tongue-burner was a fiery soup and, apart from slightly stodgy rice, the root veg, dhal, curry and raita were all faultless. The side dish of puri was my only real let down of the evening – far too greasy to enjoy.

Staff were extremely friendly and helpful, often recommending dishes to unsure diners, and the interior is modern and minimalistic. As for the cost, well, it’s hard to find food of this quality in Westminster at such low prices. Highly recommended.

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The Defoe is a charming pub with a genuine 'local' feel. The kind of place where you can relax, read your paper, chat with some friends and enjoy the food and drink without the need to shout.

The food menu is to a high standard with burgers, paninis and wraps as well as daily specials. Cask ales are available for the beer lovers, Japanese lager is another popular choice and the usual wines and spirits too. All are reasonably priced.

An excellent Sunday afternoon pub.

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OCEAN COLOUR SCENE
11/03/09 @ Hard Rock Café, London

Ocean Colour Scene are in many ways the forgotten boys of Britpop. Bursting on to the scene (ahem) in 1996 they notched up a string of top twenty singles and a million-selling album, Moseley Shoals. European tours and festival headline slots followed, Noel Gallagher claimed they were the ‘best band in Britain’ and their next album Marchin’ Already went straight in at No.1 too.

Inevitably the Britpop bubble burst. Some bands split, others changed direction but OCS stuck to their guns and carried on regardless. Eight albums on and The Scene still have a dedicated fan base, albeit slightly older, so it’s no surprise that tonight the Hard Rock Café is packed to the rafters with loud, sweaty groups of men and women eager to hear some retro rock.

After a charity auction for Nordoff-Robbins (the reason for tonight) lead singer Simon Fowler and guitarist/singer Steve Cradock finally make the stage to an army of cheers. It was a lively start by the Brummie duo kicking off with old classics The Riverboat Song and Travellers Tune. Both sounded as fresh and energetic as they did twelve years ago with the crowd singing every line and chanting their names.

In what was a solid performance the only real stand out moment was during Profit in Peace. After a turbulent week in world news, how poignant it was to hear 500 people sing ‘Hey hey hey, we don’t wanna fight no more’. Hairs-on-end stuff.

As good as Simon and Steve were, the set list was perhaps a little obvious. OCS have a tendency to play the hits and singles missing out some of their best work in the process: just one song was picked from their four most recent albums. No, this was a band reminding us of why we fell in love with them in the first place, the songs that we grew up with – beer in hand, arm in air and enjoy the music.

www.oceancolourscene.com
www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk

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The Askew is a stylish 'off the beaten track' bar offering good food, unique drinks and a laid-back atmosphere.

The popular pizzas, made freshly in a brick oven, are a cheap and tasty stomach-liner and the various continental lagers and wines are also a welcome treat compared to most other bars in this area.

Throw in some free live music and DJs at weekends and you have a pretty decent venue to spend some time in - whether it's your local or a tube journey away.

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