London: King’s Cross, where to eat, drink and stay near the Eurostar station

12/11/2014
The King’s Cross area has seen much change since the Eurostar terminal relocated to St Pancras in 2007, with travellers now enjoying a wide range of eating, drinking and entertainment options, old and new
King’s Cross has undergone significant change in recent years as extensive redevelopment has added structures to its already dramatic skyline. The area directly around King’s Cross and St Pancras stations (the latter is where Eurostar services run from) has seen some of the most radical evolution – much of it for the better – with new office buildings, restaurants, street food projects, a state-of-the-art leisure facility, the relocation of Central Saint Martins college to Granary Square and improvements along the Regent’s canal.

However, much of the “old” maintains and flourishes amid the bright, shiny facades. What follows is a selection of the best of both – and which will enhance any time you spend around the Eurostar terminus.
Dishoom
The newest restaurant on the block – and one of the largest in London – is in a former transit shed, complete with cobbled floor from the original stables and an old steam engine displayed under the glass floor. Themed around the Parsi cafes of Mumbai – once ubiquitous but now almost disappeared – the walls are plastered with reproduction memorabilia of 1920s protest posters, graffiti and the owner’s original black-and-white family photos. If you’re sniffy about concept restaurants – Jay Rayner describes it as “a hunk of corporate image management” in his review – don’t go, but the selection of food we ate: the rich house black dhal, lamb boti kabab [sic], and masala prawns all hit the spot. Dishes range from £2.50 for crackers to the signature Nalli Nihari, a lamb-on-the-bone stew with or without lamb brain for £17/£21. 50% discount until 18 November.
• 5 Stable Street, dishoom.com. Open 8am-11pm, Fri-Sat till midnight
Caravan

Set in the 19th-century warehouse that also houses Central Saint Martins college, and the Grain Store restaurant, Caravan is symbolic of the new Kings Cross: trendy and buzzy with industrial-chic design. Fashion college teachers who look like they’re wearing their students’ designs, office workers and local mums with babies share tapas-style plates amid the steel columns, exposed pipes and factory lights. Chefs in the open kitchen prepare the small, often Asian-influenced dishes including crispy shell crab with red dahl and soba noodle salad with a sesame soy dressing (from £5-£9); stone-baked pizzas from £9 are as they should be: with a thin, chewy, charcoaly base; and full dishes (seared sea trout, confit duck) range from £14.50 to £21.50. The coffee is great – beans are roasted on site. In spring and summer sit outside to admire the square’s 1,000 fountains.
• Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, 020-7101 7661, caravankingscross.co.uk. Open Mon-Tues 8am-10.30pm, Wed 8am-11pm, Thurs 8am-11.30pm, Fri 8am-midnight, Sat 10am-midnight
Roti King
At the opposite end of the spectrum to Dishoom, this pared back (by necessity not by design) restaurant in a basement on a scruffy backstreet excels at fresh, authentic Malaysian food. As the name suggests its speciality is roti: layered, buttery flatbreads that are handmade in front of you. Chefs spin the stretchy, silken dough into the delicious, moreish folded bread, which you use to mop up dahl, laksa or curry. It’s not a place to linger but it’s a brilliant spot for a tasty and substantial lunch whether or not you’re on a tight budget.
• 40 Doric Way, 020-7387 2518, no website. Open Mon-Sat, midday-3pm, 5-10pm. Read Marina O’Laughlin’s review here
Paolina’s Thai Cafe
Inside and out, this miniscule joint is exactly the kind of dingy shack you’d come across in a shady corner of Bangkok. The kitchen appears to consist of two hobs behind a tiny bar, while downstairs in the dark, wood-panelled basement you’ll find room for about 20 people. But what it’s saved on interior design, you save on price. Expect to pay 1990s prices for the delicious, homely food, which you can wash down with booze from the off-licence. The salads are zingy and colourful, the Tom Yum soup is fresh and warming and the rich curries are perfect. A decent meal shouldn’t set you back more than a tenner, making it just the spot for a quick lunch, or a place to line your stomach before hitting the local bars.
• 181 King’s Cross Road, 020-7278 8176, no website. Open Mon-Fri midday-10pm, Sat-Sun 6pm-10pm
The Greek Larder
A new venture from Theodore Kyriakou, the chef behind Livebait and The Real Greek, the Greek Larder is a light, airy restaurant and shop, the design a checklist of foodie fashions: open kitchen, tapas-style ordering, well-sourced produce – extra virgin olive oil is from Kalamata, tins of tomato paste and honey line green wooden shelves. Open from 8am for breakfast of Greek yogurt (£4) and pastries, the rest of the day the menu offers small plates from £5-£7, such as marinated sardine and anchovy; octopus and fava (£7) or clams and yachni (onions, tomatoes and capers). Mains cost from £12-£18.
• Arthouse, 1 York Way, 020-3780 2999, thegreeklarder.co.uk. Open Mon-Fri 8am-10.30pm, Sat 10am-10.30pm, Sun 11am-5pm
The King Charles I

On Northdown Street, just off Caledonian Road, this is the kind of traditional pub you want to dash to, so you can grab a spot and settle in. It is no gastropub, it doesn’t sell food, but does allow you to order in from a nearby takeaway. Don’t be surprised to find yourself up-close and personal to a band playing in the cramped confines: this is a one-room style pub. The compactness does also provide proximity to the odd posters and decorations, and the bar, which does a neat line in local brews and bottled beers.
• 55-57, Northdown Street, 020-7837 7758, no website
The Queen’s Head
This is a traditional boozer just off the main drag running up to King’s Cross-St Pancras (Gray’s Inn Road) and a cosier option for a last drink than the usual soulless bars surrounding mainline stations. Although it underwent a refurbishment in 2010, it wasn’t overly gussied and many of the original well-worn Victorian features were retained: sweeping oak bar, wainscoting, tiled walls and wooden floors, stained-glass windows. There’s a choice of three rotating draft beers (Redemption and Camden Town are often championed), traditional cider from the pump, English and continental lagers, and a large whisky collection. Food includes a ploughman’s with Melton Mowbray pork pie, a British cheese board and a Spanish meat board. And there’s music from the piano on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
• 66 Acton Street, 020-7713 5772, queensheadlondon.com. Open Mon midday-11pm, Tues-Sat midday-midnight, Sun midday-11pm
Simmon’s
Not in the mood for a trad pub? Try this vintage-inspired bar where cocktails are served in teacups – don’t worry, boys, it also serves pints and bottled beers. Standard lamps, a skull disco ball and photos of Charles and Di set the tone for cocktails, such as the gin-based mirrorball, the sickly-sounding strawberry cake and the My Tie punch. Fuelled by those mixes and with a happy hour that lasts for five hours from (4pm-9pm Sunday-Friday), late-night opening till 3am every Friday and Saturday and a soundtrack of disco, 80s and 90s, this is a place to party.
• 32 Caledonian Road 020-7278 5851, simmonsbar.co.uk. Open Sun-Wed 4pm-midnight, Thurs 4pm-3am
British Library

To Prince Charles it’s a “dim collection of brick sheds”. We think it looks like a beehive. Regardless, the British Library is an epic institution, a bibliographic depositary holding 150 million books. If you’re interested in some serious research, the library and reading rooms are free to use but brace yourself to navigate a bureaucratic minefield before you can open the pages of anything. We suggest dropping by for the library’s regular exhibitions that make use of its vast collection. In the permanent “Treasures” exhibition you can lay eyes on the Magna Carta, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook and Shakespeare’s first folio. Currently, visitors can also check out an exhibition of rare objects related to the gothic tradition, including Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein manuscript and a Victorian vampire slaying kit.
• 96 Euston Road, 0330 333 1144, bl.uk. Open Mon-Thurs 9.30am-8pm, Fri 9.30am-6pm, Sat 9.30am-5pm, Sun and public holidays 11am-5pm
Wellcome Collection
Currently getting a lot of attention for its upcoming Sexology exhibition (opening 20 November), which tells the story of the study of sex through 200 objects and erotic art. But there’s more to the collection than antique sex toys. Medicine Now is a permanent exhibition exploring medicine and science since founder Henry Wellcome died in 1936. If you’re wandering along the Euston Road and in need of a refuel, pop in to the cafe or pick up unusual gifts in the shop or use the library (you have to register for it). An ongoing development project will expand the gallery space, and be completed in spring 2015, when the Medicine Man exhibition will reopen. Exhibitions are free.
• 183 Euston Road, 020-7611 2222, wellcomecollection.org. Gallery opening times Tues-Wed 10am-6pm, Thurs 10am-8pm, Fri-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 11am-6pm
Joseph Grimaldi park

If you’ve ever wanted to dance on someone’s grave (we won’t ask why …), then this is probably the one place in the world where you could get away with it without getting arrested. This small park – a haven just off Pentonville Road – is dedicated to the renowned 19th-century, anti-establishment pantomime clown who is buried here. In 2010, artist Henry Krokatsis created a monument above the grave, which consists of bronze tiles that chime when you step on them. The tiles are tuned to the song Hot Codlins – a ditty popularised by Grimaldi – which can be played if you hop your feet about in the right combination.
Skoob Books

Not in the immediate area but worth the 10-minute walk. The shopfront may lack pizzazz and it is part of the uninspiring Brunswick Centre, but walk down the staircase at Skoob (trying writing it backwards) and you’ll be amid a treasure trove of used and secondhand books: about 55,000 fiction and non-fiction titles, as it happens. Skoob also sells classic book cover posters, offers student discounts and if a title isn’t in store the shop’s website allows you to request it from its warehouse – and to inspect it before buying.
• 66, the Brunswick, off Marchmont Street, 020-7278 8760, skoob.com. Open Mon-Sat 10.30am-8pm, Sun and Bank holidays 10.30am-6pm
Entertainment
Scala
An old-school venue bang on the King’s Cross junction, Scala holds major gigs and club nights in its cavernous interior. During the week it’s a place to catch more mainstream pop and rock acts; the likes of Outkast, Robbie Williams and Foo Fighters have played there in the past, while on the weekend it’s taken over by club nights. With three bars spread over two floors, there’s a lot of room to play around with (and you’ll probably find yourself getting lost running up and down the oversized stairwells), but as any Londoner will tell you; if you’re a sucker for cheesy lineup and a late one (think UK garage revival or classic drum’n’bass until 6am) Scala is the one.
• 275 Pentonville Road, 020-7833 2022, scala-london.co.uk. Check website for event listings
St Pancras old church

Gigs rarely feel as intimate as they do inside St Pancras old church, quite possibly one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in the country and one of the capital’s most discreet music venues. Still an active church, the beautiful building is regularly taken over for concerts, usually with rock, indie or folk bands plugging in (or unplugging, to go acoustic) beneath the altar in order to play to an audience seated in its dark, wooden pews. Given the right performer, the atmosphere inside the church takes on a truly ethereal quality; you won’t forget it.
• 191 Pancras Road. For gig listings visit songkick.com and for information about the church visit posp.co.uk/old-st-pancras
The Invisible Dot
It’s not quite invisible but it is small. Launched in 2013, the Invisible Dot was the first custom-built comedy club to open in London in over two decades and it fills a blank, white square room concealed behind a sliding door on a King’s Cross side street. It may feel raw (and you might be a tad uncomfortable squeezed into a row of cheap plastic chairs with nowhere to put your beer) but the pop-up feel adds to the atmosphere as much as the quality of the programming. Indie comedy heroes Simon Amstell, Bridget Chrisite and Tim Key are regular fixtures on the programme, as are emerging, often leftfield, probably a bit weird, performers from the London comedy circuit.
• 2 Northdown Street, 020-7424 8918, theinvisibledot.com. Check venue website for event listings
Where to stay
Rough Luxe

The area’s two flagship hotels – St Pancras Renaissance and the Great Northern – are reinventions of original railway hotels, showcasing grand architecture, luxury rooms and sleek destination bars and restaurants. They don’t come cheap, though. Rough Luxe, a stone’s throw from these classic revivals is an eight-room hotel offering “a little bit of luxury in a rough part of London”. Art adorns deliberately distressed walls; furniture is vintage but bedding is luxurious.
• Doubles from £159 B&B, 1 Birkenhead Street, 020-7837 5338, roughluxe.co.uk
Clink 78
“As used by actual criminals” isn’t the kind of promotional slant you’d expect for most things, but at Clink78 – a former Victorian courthouse – guests are enthusiastically invited to dwell in a cell. As well as single and double prison cells, including original metal doors and a stainless steel toilet, the hostel offers mixed- and female-only dorms. Although it fills a 200-year-old building, Clink78 is definitely part of the “hip hostel” movement; it’s bright, modern and has a cool, late-night bar, as well as a chic open-plan dining area, with solid wood benches, to hang out and mingle in.
• Mixed dorms from £13 a night, 78 King’s Cross Road, 020-7183 9400, clinkhostels.com

Tune hotel
Tune isn’t a hotel to write home about but it has done well to make its no-frills approach to hospitality come across as appealing. It’s bright, clean and certainly cheap; if you want things like internet access, towels, toiletries or TV access, you need to pay extra. But any traveller would be hard-pressed to find such crisp dwellings in this location for the prices on offer.
• Doubles from £45, 324 Gray’s Inn Road, tunehotels.com

Fonte:http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/nov/12/london-kings-cross-eurostar-stay-eat-drink?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

LEGGI GLI ALTRI BLOG

• < Prec
• Succ >