Urban Food Fest at Montgomery Square, Canary Wharf
Craft London, Greenwich Peninsula
Friday night turned out to be an unexpected late one which lead to a sore head all day yesterday, but completely worth it! So Sam and I, and our friend Mark, checked out the final night of the Urban Food Fest in Montgomery Square. This small fest had everything you could need to enjoy a night out; fantastic food, bars, live music, and board games. All the food trucks were made from fancy old Volkswagen campers, or shipping containers. And apparently these food trucks are for hire (wish I knew about this before the wedding).
As we were on the tube (conveniently located in the square) I think we got a whole two stops before Mark suggested one more drink at Craft London. Classic last words to what was already a pretty drunken night. The appeal to it was really the 360 view from the bar which overlooked the O2 arena. If you got a glimpse of my Instagram story that night I was really excited about this as every snap from my story had something to do with the O2. As a New Yorker, nothing really comes close to Madison Square Garden but I have to say that the O2 is a beautiful sight. It also gave me and Sam the idea to check out the "Up at the O2" experience where you can actually climb on the top of the arena. Anywhoooo back to what happened that night. The bar was pretty much closing when we walked in as there wasn't a single other customer in sight, but the hostess told us we could go up to the bar since they weren't shutting the doors for another 30 minutes. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! We drank for those whole 30 minutes, and then some! We ended up making friends with the managers of Craft London and one of the bartenders. And as you do in that situation you talk about the classic question that comes up when someone hears my American accent "how did you guys meet?!" this is where I usually hand the conversation over to Sam because he tells the story much better than I do. It wasn't until our new manager friend bleeped in on his walkie to the hostess to lock up downstairs that I realised it was well past 1 A.M. We must have covered every topic of conversation in the 2+ hours since we had arrived there. I even had the guys hounding Sam about getting a dog! That is friendship right there. The bartender was a girl from Italy, and of course in my drunk mind it was the perfect excuse to say the 4 sentences that I know how to say in Italian, after taking 6 years of classes. So after I told her how much I like cheese, soccer, and dogs in Italian, I knew it was probably time to go home. Well that and as I went to go high five her I smacked the top shelf of wine glasses hanging over the bar. Oops! So I will say Craft London by far has the friendliest staff I have ever encountered, and the view really is a beaut too! I can only imagine how packed out that place gets on nights where the O2 is playing concerts. But to get an Uber cab over there is hard work. Lesson learned, know where your nearest parking lot is before getting charged £6 for an impatient driver. Or maybe not drink so late next time so we could have actually gotten the tube home. Another massive difference between London and New York, 24 hour subway system. To get a peak at the bar check out the link below.
https://craft-london.co.uk/bar/
So all in all Friday night was a massive success! These two places were perfect for our small group but really could be done with a larger group. But with every great night there is a price to pay as I was in fetal position most of the day. Would I have done anything differently you ask? Maybe just skip out on that G&T at the end of the night with the generous pour to it. Other than that I experienced two great venues and got plenty of ideas for the next few places I want to check out.
Craft London, Greenwich Peninsula
Friday night turned out to be an unexpected late one which lead to a sore head all day yesterday, but completely worth it! So Sam and I, and our friend Mark, checked out the final night of the Urban Food Fest in Montgomery Square. This small fest had everything you could need to enjoy a night out; fantastic food, bars, live music, and board games. All the food trucks were made from fancy old Volkswagen campers, or shipping containers. And apparently these food trucks are for hire (wish I knew about this before the wedding).
For dinner I got the pork classic gyro (kebab) from The 3 Little Pigs London, and used my newly found beer pairing skills and went with a pilsner from Signature Brew. Sam and I were lucky enough to meet the owner of the souvlaki greek truck and he was a really nice guy. He showed us around the VW bus and how he converted it into the perfect on the go business. The food had the just right amount of smokiness and was really filling. There was a lot of space to hang out with all the tents and tables around it was easy to grab a few seats. The live music for the night was a female singer and songwriter S.O.S. She was very talented and got the crowd going with her classic acoustic covers. There were loads of games to play at the festival but Sam, Mark, and I hung out until closing playing classic giant Jenga game. I attempted to teach the guys a classic American bar game "Shoulders" (they weren't into it). Now even though this fest will no longer be in Canary Wharf, it is scheduled to be in London at the Euro Car Parks every Saturday. The great part is also that it is free entry to get into the festival! To check out more about these vendors and the Urban Food Fest visit the links below.
As we were on the tube (conveniently located in the square) I think we got a whole two stops before Mark suggested one more drink at Craft London. Classic last words to what was already a pretty drunken night. The appeal to it was really the 360 view from the bar which overlooked the O2 arena. If you got a glimpse of my Instagram story that night I was really excited about this as every snap from my story had something to do with the O2. As a New Yorker, nothing really comes close to Madison Square Garden but I have to say that the O2 is a beautiful sight. It also gave me and Sam the idea to check out the "Up at the O2" experience where you can actually climb on the top of the arena. Anywhoooo back to what happened that night. The bar was pretty much closing when we walked in as there wasn't a single other customer in sight, but the hostess told us we could go up to the bar since they weren't shutting the doors for another 30 minutes. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! We drank for those whole 30 minutes, and then some! We ended up making friends with the managers of Craft London and one of the bartenders. And as you do in that situation you talk about the classic question that comes up when someone hears my American accent "how did you guys meet?!" this is where I usually hand the conversation over to Sam because he tells the story much better than I do. It wasn't until our new manager friend bleeped in on his walkie to the hostess to lock up downstairs that I realised it was well past 1 A.M. We must have covered every topic of conversation in the 2+ hours since we had arrived there. I even had the guys hounding Sam about getting a dog! That is friendship right there. The bartender was a girl from Italy, and of course in my drunk mind it was the perfect excuse to say the 4 sentences that I know how to say in Italian, after taking 6 years of classes. So after I told her how much I like cheese, soccer, and dogs in Italian, I knew it was probably time to go home. Well that and as I went to go high five her I smacked the top shelf of wine glasses hanging over the bar. Oops! So I will say Craft London by far has the friendliest staff I have ever encountered, and the view really is a beaut too! I can only imagine how packed out that place gets on nights where the O2 is playing concerts. But to get an Uber cab over there is hard work. Lesson learned, know where your nearest parking lot is before getting charged £6 for an impatient driver. Or maybe not drink so late next time so we could have actually gotten the tube home. Another massive difference between London and New York, 24 hour subway system. To get a peak at the bar check out the link below.
https://craft-london.co.uk/bar/
So all in all Friday night was a massive success! These two places were perfect for our small group but really could be done with a larger group. But with every great night there is a price to pay as I was in fetal position most of the day. Would I have done anything differently you ask? Maybe just skip out on that G&T at the end of the night with the generous pour to it. Other than that I experienced two great venues and got plenty of ideas for the next few places I want to check out.
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