Is anybody else addicted?

Is it just me, or is there something about Pizza Express food that gets you hooked, like the salty coke and hard seats at Mcdonalds?

Whatever the reason, I find their pizza hard to beat, and I've been to Naples, home of the Napoletana. Sure, the pizzas are wood-fired and crispy with fresh ingredients, but pizza express ones just taste better. 

So, if anybody out there knows the secret, do tell.

Treat the kids!

Just at the bottom end of the Northcote Road, this is a top end shop for new-borns to 4-year-olds.

This place is awesome. It looks great from the outside, and when you go in it's an aladdin's cave of goodies, from an enormous selection of car-seats, high chairs and prams, to shoes and clothes including baby Dior and Levis, and an organic clothing section.

It's also got some really cool stuff like mini pianos and a hanging bouncing chair called a moffi cradle. If I was a kid, I'd want one!

Buy Local, forget Asda!

This deli has got to be one of the best places to pick up some seriously good Italian produce.

From its home-made pasta and pesto, to the selection of Italian sausage and salamis, olives and cheese, everything is top quality. Also sells the most wonderful looking bushy topped fennel and pomodorino pachino tomatos which just melt in the mouth.

Fantastic, real Italian family-run place with great fresh authentic produce. Leave the big supermarket chains alone. Fare Visita!

Eat to Opera

From the outside, “Little Bay “ looks like a cheap strip joint in blackpool, lurid purple walls adorned with painted scrawls and an oppressive amount of scaffolding seemingly holding it together at the seams. But walk in, and you are transported into a camp theatrical wonderland, set-painted opera boxes for couples to dine in reside majestically above the other diners, who are surrounded by vibrant walls and a canopy of shimmering gold.

But nothing can quite prepare you for the highlight of the evening, the live opera: a tall blonde belts out Puccini arias and Gershwin smashes, seductively wandering from table to table as you contemplate whether you’ve ever experienced anything so wonderfully bizarre over a breadstick.

The food is good and surprisingly cheap for London, with main courses between six and eight pounds. I had goat’s cheese croquettes followed by pork fillet; both were well cooked and excellent value for money.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s no Chez Bruce, but for fancy on a budget it’s well worth a shot, and if you’ve ever wondered what steak tastes like with a soprano on you lap and your dad struggling for the harmonies, there’s nowhere else to go.

Book Shop-off!

THE BOLINGBROKE BOOKSHOP

The Bolingbroke is a lovely bookstore in the heart of the Northcote Road's busy shopping area.

Entering this shop, you are immediately struck by the sense of a relaxed small-scale bookstore, with no 3 for 2 offers or heavy sells being thrust at you.

There's a sofa to relax and take in a book, and a really good range of books, from the classics to children's, and a smattering of maps thrown in. Been around for over 25 years, so worth taking a look anyway to sample Old-school Clapham.

MY BACK PAGES

Now, I feel like I’m cheating on the Boligbroke Bookshop by saying this, but My Back Pages is my favourite bookstore in London.

Local, ram-shackle, small and crammed with all the books you could hope and dream of, with the offer of ordering any they don’t have in, this place is what book-worms wet dream about.

I sometimes come in just to browse, and am always staggered at the range of weird stuff they have. Also stock old cool looking books to sex up your book-shelves.

Come Diner With Me

Am I right in thinking that Bodeans, the American inspired BBQ and rib joint all over london, is a pretty awesome thing?

Whenever I come in this place, I walk out feeling like I've tasted some of the best from over the pond. And feeling like i don't want to eat again in a year.

Don't go for the fancy stuff, stick to the simple sandwiches, ribs and burnt ends, and you, like me, will truly know the meaning of The American Dream.

Will it be around in five years?

Ah, there’s nothing like a faux-italian café on Wandsworth High Road to get me excited.

How do joints like these stay open? It can't make much money. I occasionally come to this place for a morning coffee and the folks who run it are the friendliest around. In many ways, this makes up for the slightly odd-tasting coffee.

Paninis are good, though, and the jackets are also worth a try for the hungrier luncher, and the feel of the place is relaxed and friendly. Also, there’s a noticeable dirth of good luncheries around here, so it’s pretty much a case of ‘best of a bad bunch’. And if you don’t believe me, try some of the others!

Fast Food Misery

Hmmm. I must admit, I was feeling slightly down-trodden when my feet unwittingly led me over the thresh-hold of this KFC, wondering if it was the long lost cousin of the IRA or BNP.

Who am I kidding? I eat here a lot. Well, not this one, but the chain. Who can resist a zinger burger after the pub’s shut. But this was midday on a Wednesday. That’s right. I’d done it. I was eating fast-food at lunchtime.

What made it worse was that this branch is slap bang in the middle of the Wandsworth one-way system, smells bad, looks dirty, and feels depressing. Of my (obviously) Zinger meal, the chips were cold, the burger looked like it had been assembled by a toddler, and the pepsi was – well, actually the pepsi was fine. You can’t mess up a pepsi. And the tray had ‘matter’ on it. I ate my entire meal and left. I’m not going to waste food!

One of the least enjoyable eating experiences in my recent memory. If you’re around this area, go to The Pantry on Old York Road, or even Tony’s across the street is better. Just remember people, don’t eat it - it makes you feel bad. I just keep forgetting!

Where's Wandsworth?

What's the heart of Wandsworth? Can you spot it? Could you pick it out of a line up?

I think Wandsworth is about the most fascinating and frustrating area in London. It's sprawling, compact, beautiful, ugly, up-market and down-trodden all at the same time.

Walk along the Bellevue Road and you feel as if you're in a boutique gentrified neighbourhood with Gordon Ramsay popping out for a quick pizza, but trudge up Trinity Road to the one-way system and you're in hell. Traffic, pollution, noise, filth, burnt-out bins.

Ok, it's not that bad, but Southside shopping centre isn't the best place in the world to while away a lazy afternoon, and east hill aint a place to slide down on a toboggan!

And then you stumble across Old York Road, again boasting with it's Pizza Express and chic pub culture, before slamming into the horror of the roundabout and industrial estate.

It's weird. I don't get it, but in some ways I prefer the slummy Wandsworth to the posh bit.

Mr Clutch.

Mr Clutch. ‘Mister’ Clutch. Don Clutcheone. Big C. Yep, there’s a new kid in town, and he’s pretty mean. He can enable your gears to engage at a safe and acceptable speed! Lock up your young gear-sticks mums and dads, these clutch gangs are loose and they mean business.

I absolutely love the way these guys have humanised a clutch. I mean, of all the internal parts of a car, the clutch has to be one of the least exciting, without any discernible personality. And if I wanted my clutch fixed, an animated cartoon clutch wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice. He looks too cheery with his cheeky smile, maybe he wouldn’t take the job seriously. The fan-belt maybe, or the drive-shaft would probably make a good fist of it

Actually, this place is pretty handy, being slap bang in the middle of the Wandsworth one-way system, is big and professional looking and always fairly busy. And it does do what it says on the tin. So in that sense it’s no different from Burger ‘King’ or PC ‘World’ (what a fun ‘world’ that sounds – ‘hey, apparently there’s a rave round Mr Microchip’s hard drive, bring your portable storage device and let’s interface!’). Also does exhausts, tyres and brakes. With all that work to do, I guess Mrs Clutch does the cooking!

Tesco is taking over the world!

Tesco Metro. What's the deal?

The best thing about this Tesco is that it’s open late on a Sunday. Other than that, the selection of groceries is fine but don’t expect to go in with a Jamie Oliver recipe and come away able to cook it. It’s a pretty small one.

Also I find these stores more expensive than their big counterparts, which is odd considering they’re selling exactly the same produce and are the same retailer.

There is, however, the obligatory fresh-baked donut/cookie/bread-roll aisle which is always popular, and they do stock a lot of milk. But, like I said, it only really comes into it’s own late on a sunday when the hangover is wearing off and you want to cook a roast but everywhere else is shut. Oh, and it sells Dolmades. Why not?

Clubbing at fluid, Farringdon

Looking like a japanese sushi bar with big glass windows, Fluid is a welcome change from over-crowded sweat-fests. There seems to be a trend for these places, interestingly lit far-east influenced bars with affordable drinks and funky furniture.

Downstairs there is a cellar room where you can dance the night away and get as sweaty as you like, and upstairs big leather sofa arrangements. At the risk of sounding old and grumpy, the dj-ing upstairs was a little loud - to the extent that my voice hurts a little this morning - but there is a pac-man machine in the corner so you can game away all night if you fancy a break from the shouting.

Funky affordable clubbing in a cool and quiet area of London. Have a go.