Lola Rojo to close after tomorrow (Friday) Post Reply

[jonathan @ hamptons]

I've just been speaking to Christine the owner of Lola Rojo and their last day is tomorrow as they complete to a new buyer on Monday. She will now concentrate her efforts on Rosita down the road which will extend their opening hours. Apparently the new owners will be opening a Caucasian restaurant which according to Google is as follows:

One of the unquestionable pluses of Russia's Soviet past is the sprinkling of restaurants serving cuisine from former USSR republics.

Of these the most popular both with locals and visitors is probably Georgian, but there are also Armenian, Uzbek, Azeri, and Kazakh places, as well as generalised “Caucasian” cuisine which appears all over the place. These cuisines provide a dash of spice and colour compared with often stodgy Russian dishes, and all are definitely worth experimenting with.

Although often characterised as quite meat-heavy - a staple of Caucasian and Central Asian cuisine in Russia is the fabulous shashliky (kebabs) which appear on every menu.

Food from this part of the world is also a good option for vegetarian visitors to the city, making use of the vegetables and pulses native to that part of the world.

Sounds interesting...!!!

Jonathan

Hamptons International
98 - 100 Northcote Road
020 7924 2170

[btcmum]

Thanks for the update Jonathan!

Any idea what is happening with the other empty units on the road? The pharmacy, Dandelion, Mayoral, Aspace, Harry's...

[juliantenniscoach]

Harry's is becoming an Iris womens clothes shop (big yawn from me sorry!) see:- http://www.irisfashion.co.uk/

As for the restaurant change, er.........well having been to Russia a few times, I would say that Georgian food is well worth the effort to try. Their version of 'hot-pot's are winter food heaven in the right place. As for the rest, I think I'll reserve judgement

[Bubs]

I'm sorry to hear this, we've had some fun times there! I hope Rosita continues to prosper for you.
Interested to try the Georgian though, my parents have one in their village and totally rave about it!

[supergirl]

Looking forward to trying it out although i disagree with the comments made about russian food (not talking about the sovietique era food). Petrossian and Daru in Paris, Russian Samovar and The Russian Tea Room in NYC serve some of the most refined food in the world. I ve been, I definitively recommend to try russian food.

[juliantenniscoach]

Frozen yoghurt shop has closed too.

[Hyde Ranger]

I'm really saddened by the closure of the pharmacy - it was so handy, and such a nice shop. I especially like their good range of quality skin care. I've been told it's going to be another coffee shop - well that'll be a comfort next time I suddenly need painkillers on Northcote Road, or a script filled out or plasters. Because there just aren't enough places to get a coffee in Northcote Road...

[SammyDuder]

The old pharmacy is going to be a posh ice cream shop apparently....

[BFW]

Walked down northcote road this morning for the first time in ages. There are so many empty shops!!! I counted 6? Presumably the rents will have to go down with all these empty spaces? The old mayoral shop has had a To Let sign for ages!

Cannot understand how another ice cream shop will survive? It must be such a tough seasonal business!

[juliantenniscoach]

Wow really another ice cream shop? With Odono's already? Tough sell. Not on Northcote but on the old Big Panda site, I had a good meal and excellent service at Valentina. Will definitely return there.

Also has anyone been to the Korean restaurant on Battersea Rise?

[jonathan @ hamptons]

We seem to be going through a number of changes at the moment - Aspace has gone back to just being online, Dandelion is being redeveloped, Harrys is being redeveloped (the Iris signs on it are just to say that the Iris next door is still trading rather than a second shop), Capsticks is going, Samba has gone, Raj at the pharmacy has reduced from two shops to one (he already owned Goys down near the Co-op, the Holy Drinker is apparently going to be an Italian restaurant (although the fit out appears to be taking forever). Printax is being redeveloped and Crew is closing down. Whilst some of these are being redeveloped, the rest of them are all going because of the cost of running them or because the landlords have hiked up the rents - unfortunately all part of the 'gentrification' of Northcote Road I'm afraid. Rumour has it that Knight Frank are taking one of the shops but I've heard that story for the last three years so we'll see.

Of course you can't stop change (progress??) but it does seem to be such a shame that so many of the shops are just clones of each other. I'm sure it can't be beyond the wit or imagination of someone to come up with an offering that is profitable and interesting!!

Jonathan

Hamptons International
98 - 100 Northcote Road
020 7924 2170

[mollys]

Juliantenniscoach - I've been to the Korean on Battersea rise ... It was pretty terrible! Flavourless, glutinous (sp?) food. even my husband didn't eat his ad that is saying something!

[juliantenniscoach]

Thanks Mollys.

[CheekychappieMum]

I have had 3 quite delicious take away meals from the Korean restaurant, a couple of the times with a lot of other people who knew it well and therefore ordered for me. I reckon I've tried a large part of the menu by now and I really liked it. There were some spicy prawns that were particularly excellent. Ordering was tricky though as the menu didn't have much of an explanation the time I was in charge of ordering it for a group at home so I had to cross reference the dishes with the names and images on the internet! Either way, I understand that some of the sticky sauces could be deemed gelatinous...perhaps they'd gone a bit cold? But I really thought on all occasions it was a great alternative to chinese and Thai food. There was definitely some anticipation to the uncertainty of what we were going to get!

[MrsSPC]

I also quite enjoy the Hana (the korean on Battersea Rise)! They have a great lunch deal too and the service, although a bit tricky with a slight english barrier, is great. They are always so nice to me and my family!