Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 28 and Version 27 of King Edward VII, E15 4BQ

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 category='Beer Garden,Featured Article,Food Served Evenings,Food Served Lunchtimes,Function Room,Good Beer Guide 2008,Good Beer Guide 2009,Good Beer Guide 2010,Open Mic,Pub Quiz,Pub Quiz On Sundays,Pubs,Real Ale'
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Pub near Stratford Station, offering a rotating range of bottled beers as well as guest cask ales and interesting food. Also known as "King Eddie's" or "The Prussia", the latter being a reference to its pre-WWI name, "The King of Prussia".

Note: King Eddie's changed hands in June 2012; we haven't visited since, so some of the information below may be out of date.

It has three interior areas, as well as a beer garden out the back. The front bar has seating for maybe about 30-35 people, at sturdy wooden tables with upright chairs, and a small amount of standing room. The saloon bar isn't incredibly obvious, but is reached via a door to the right of the bar; it's sometimes booked out for private parties. Finally, there's another room reached via a half-flight of stairs to the left of the bar; this one is more spacious, with a couple of sofas too photo.

There are four handpumps on the bar, which on a March 2012 visit offered Eddie's Best (the house ale, brewed by Nethergate), St Austell Tribute (£1.70/half), Bombardier, and Woodeforde Wherry. The options have been roughly similar to this on all our visits, going back to 2008.

When Kake and James visited late on a Monday evening in March 2008, the place was quite full but we managed to grab a table in the back room. Background music was reasonably interesting, and just on the right side of "too loud". On a Thursday evening visit by Kake, bob, ilmari, and Ryan in September 2008, it was very busy and they'd closed the kitchen for walk-in diners since they had a couple of large groups who'd reserved tables for dinner and the kitchen had reached capacity. We again sat in the back room and this time had a little trouble hearing each other speak over the music and the conversations of others.

However, when Kake visited on a Wednesday lunchtime in August 2008, there was no trouble getting a table even though there were a fair few people in eating lunch. The music was jazz this time, quiet enough that it mostly hid behind the noise of conversation. On a Friday lunchtime visit in March 2012, it was much the same, with several people in eating lunch but plenty of choice of tables.

Food is served noon-10pm Mon-Sat and noon-9pm Sun. The menu changes regularly but examples can be viewed on their website or on Kake's Flickrstream: March 2008 menu, August 2008 menu, March 2012 menu. The style is pub food, but on the interesting side; it's not just freezer-to-microwave stuff. They also usually have some specials written up on a blackboard (the one on Kake's August 2008 visit was "mushroom soup with soft herbs" at £4.75).

Kake tried the food in August 2008. The lentil, mushroom, and coconut dahl with rice (£8.50) photo was quite disappointing. The dhal was overly sweet (it obviously had some kind of sweet chutney mixed in; I suspected this from the flavour and it was confirmed when I found a few chunks of the stuff). Extremely indistinct spicing too; I couldn't distinguish a single individual flavour. It reminded me of the curry powder/banana/desiccated coconut "curries" my mum used to make in the 1980s. The oddness of the dish was only amplified by its being served with rocket. The rice was fine though, and both rice and dhal were provided in generous portions. Another nice touch was the enormous linen napkin I got brought.

Pub quiz is on Sunday night, and there's an open mic almost every Thursday (but not every Thursday — call ahead to check).

Kake's verdict: I like this as a pub, though I much prefer it in the daytime to the evening. I do suspect my not-very-good lunch was a one-off "miss", as a couple of people have told me how good the food normally is, and I would be more than happy to give the kitchen another chance.

Accessibility: One step down to get in. Half a dozen steps up to the back room, from which the toilets are also accessed. Not sure about the saloon bar.

See also:

Last visited by Kake, March 2012. Opening hours and food times taken from the King Edward website, March 2012.

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