Qype: Prince Regent in London

London - Arts & Entertainment - Events - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars


Not a bad random pub to walk into! We were looking for something around Baker St station after leaving the dreadful dazed and confused party up there, and ended up here for a nightcap. It's been tastefully refurbished, and they've got a decent selection of real ale. Sadly, they don't do food at 2230 on a Thursday, so I have to settle for nuts and olives for dinner.

Check out my review of Prince Regent - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: The Royal Oak in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Pubs - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Bars


Haven't tried the food, but came in here for a meeting on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. I like pubs with a central bar, and they're keeping 3 ales behind this one reasonably well. Staff are really friendly. My gripes would be that it's a bit too cold, even next to a radiator, and it would be great if there was some free wifi, as there are some decent high tables for working. I shall return for an update.

Check out my review of The Royal Oak - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Royal Lancaster Hotel in London

London - Hotels & Holidays - Hotels - Hotels & Holidays - Hotels - 4 Star Hotels


This hotel really is a cracker. Although it looks like a horrendous tower block should you gaze upwards, the frontage does distract you from that so you might not actually notice. Don't look up. Once inside, you'll be frustrated that some idiot has decided to price the internet at 17 quid, and the staff have no real leeway to give it for free. On the plus side, they are a cracking bunch when it comes to upgrades, and I've had a fairly pimping suite each time I've come. Oh, to try and not get too used to the "Royal Park Suite"!

The views are fantastic, Hyde Park, the Diana memorial fountain, the London Eye - it's all there. The location is also fantastic to get anywhere really - 5 minutes walk from the Heathrow express and on the Bakerloo so you're at Oxford Circus in moments, or you can just walk. Tony Blair lives just around the corner.

Check out my review of Royal Lancaster Hotel - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Woyton in Oldenburg

Oldenburg - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops - Cafes


The meeting place of the great and the good of Oldenburg on a Saturday for sure. EVERYBODY knows each other in this town, which makes me slightly depressed about broken Britain and all that. The chai latte is very pleasant, but it can be difficult to find a seat.

Check out my review of Woyton - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Altes Kurhaus Dangast in Varel

Varel - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops - Cafes


This is a lovely old cafe on the shore of Nordseebad Dangast, where any local will tell you you must try the rhubarb cake! So I did. It's bloody delicious, soft, moist, with just the right dusting of icing sugar. That and a gluhwein on a freezing January day sets you up for a walk on the ice on the north sea. Yes, it's really that cold here! I wouldn't recommend actually walking on the sea ice, since I ended up falling through it, into the gloopy "vat", which is a rich dark freezing mud that's only found here. I'm sure in summer it's lovely too.

Check out my review of Altes Kurhaus Dangast - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Restaurant Gabriele im Adlon Palais in Berlin

Berlin - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Mediterranean - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Gourmet


I'm not sure if this is the restaurant at the front of the Adlon, but I think it is. If not, let me know and I'll move my review to the correct venue! If so, it's extremely overpriced and fairly average cuisine that awaits you. My rillette de canard on a bit of toast was reasonable for a starter, but at 19€ you'd struggle to recommend it! The salmon and pasta that followed was under-sauced, over-cooked and just very very bland. That was probably about 30€. The menu is full of really ridiculous dishes, like Kobe beef and caviar for about 150€. Ho hum. Still, the location is excellent! And if you want to work for free in the lobby, you can. Just remember not to order 4 cups of tea, cause that will be 45€.

Check out my review of Restaurant Gabriele im Adlon Palais - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: The Black Lion in Nantwich

Nantwich - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Pubs


Alas, I've discovered this place since the dogs are long gone, but it's still a bloody lovely pub. Walking in from a snowstorm outside to a blazing log fire is always a good thing, glancing to your right and eyeing the lineup of 6 ales adds to the magic. It's all set in a very tastefully restored half timber affair, with the grandfather clock out back still on time since who knows when.

I had the fish stew based on a recommendation from James and Simon, a couple of regular patrons who can be found propping up the bar and in a few of South Cheshire's other CAMRA-approved establishments, and indeed, it was delicious. So full marks to The Black Lion - I shall be back soon!

Check out my review of The Black Lion - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Käsespezialitäten in Hamburg

Hamburg - Shopping - Food & Drink - Delicatessen - Shopping - Food & Drink - Cheese Shops


Excellent cheese shop in the heart of the Schanze, who really do have a bit of everything, including cheddar. I was here to buy fondue bergkäse and, although not cheap, was bloody excellent. I also learnt a new German word, würzig, which I guess means, "cheesy"! How würzig would you like this, sir? Very!

Check out my review of Käsespezialitäten - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Park Hyatt Hamburg in Hamburg

Hamburg - Hotels & Holidays - Hotels


Fantastic hotel, well recommended for Hamburg business travellers.

Check out my review of Park Hyatt Hamburg - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Park-Cafe in Hamburg

Hamburg - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops - Cafes - Shopping - Food & Drink - Supermarkets


I'll say this less poetically than Mostro, it's not very good. The cafe has a lingering smell of death hanging limply around it, like a old people's home on an undercover documentary. The gluhwein is of suspect provenance. It's also your only choice...

Check out my review of Park-Cafe - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: The xx in Hambourg

Hambourg - Arts & Entertainment - Events - Arts & Entertainment - Theatres - Nightlife - Music Venues - Arts & Entertainment - Cultural Centres


Not only had the drummer (we guessed) left the band, but the remaining three members had the aura of a group of band who were, let's say, a bit bored of having played the same songs 300 times in a year. Interaction with the crowd was kept to a minimum, and they laboured through the shortish set with slightly dragging electronic drum triggers. The encore consisted of them putting a tape on and not actually coming back onto the stage, which summed it up really.

Check out my review of FABRIK - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: FABRIK in Hambourg

Hambourg - Arts & Entertainment - Events - Arts & Entertainment - Theatres - Nightlife - Music Venues - Arts & Entertainment - Cultural Centres


Fabrik is a really interesting venue to see many a "mid-sized" band in Hamburg. We went to see The xx last night, who happened to be fairly mediocre, but everything else here is great. You can buy food inside, there hardly a queue for the beer, no queues for the toilets etc.

If you want to get a better view there are 2 levels of gantry in the former factory, which makes this mindful of some set from the crystal maze industrial zone. Quality television, quality venue.

Check out my review of FABRIK - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Wem and Prees Medical Practice in Prees

Prees - Health & Beauty - Health - Doctors & Dentists


Went to see the fabulously-named Dr Fintan Arthur Romney Last over the Christmas break after spending 5 days in bed with what I had self-diagnosed as "death fever". Despite not being registered anymore, I waltzed in (not literally, I was really sick), and saw Dr Fintan Arthur Romney Last within five minutes, without and appointment.

Ten minutes and a truckload of tablets later, "death fever" was confirmed, and I was well on the road to recovery. We even got to chat about my fantastic work on NPfIT back in the day. Tip top!

Check out my review of Wem and Prees Medical Practice - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: The Calf in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Pubs


Looks a bit crap from the outside, well, not trad enough for my liking anyway, but I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. After having just finished a monsterous full English at the pavement down the road, I wasn't really ready for a roast, but they did look delicious. The ale was very drinkable, and there is a huge bonus of scrabble and trivial pursuit (new delux edition) to hand. What better way to spend Sunday afternoon?

Check out my review of The Calf - I am filchambers - on Qype

Installing Debian Lenny on an Alix 3D3 using your NSLU2

After having a bit of a nightmare getting any kind of live-system to boot on any mac in my flat (usb, cd etc), I realised that little sluggy which my brand new PC Engines board is due to, well not replace (particularly in my heart), but help out a little bit, was still faithfully sitting there.

The load average as usual was around 3-something, so this wasn't going to be that quick, but a hell of a lot more rewarding than burning coasters. So here we go:

umount /dev/sdb1

Then unplug your secondary disk from your slug for a bit. The 2nd half of Gladiator was going to have to wait.

fdisk /dev/sdc
d
1
n
1
b
w

e.g. delete the silly FAT partition, create a nice new linux one and write it.

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdc1
tune2fs -c 0 /dev/sdc1

Make yourself an ext3 partition that won't get checked all the time.

Now slightly trickier, you're on a different CPU architecture, so you'll need this debootstrap command:

debootstrap --verbose --arch i386 --foreign lenny /mnt/cf http://ftp.debian.org/debian/

I love the way debootstrap doesn't exit with any message at all unless you use --verbose !

Right, now it really gets interesting... you weren't planning to run any of those i386 binaries on your arm were you?

Wait for part 2, tomorrow!

Qype: The Westbridge in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Pubs


The Westbridge is very, very good. In fact, so good, that if it wasn't in literally the middle of nowhere I would give it five stars. We were over there for a birthday party on Saturday evening and had a booked an enormous table for much eating and drinking. My steak was delicious, full marks to the chef for the béarnaise and attention to cooking it rare. I think everyone else had similarly good experiences, although nobody got oysters. Must do that next time.

The ale selection consisted of a very well kept Adnam's bitter, plus a couple of interesting pints from the Wandle brewery locally, enough to keep most people happy. To top it off, there seemed to be many attractive women getting stuck into their real ale too. So, given that distance is relative, I'll give it 5 stars after all. I had come from Hamburg...

Check out my review of The Westbridge - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: The Harp in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Pubs


The Harp is as an authentic old school London drinking experience as you're going to get. I was shocked when I found out they're actually owned by Punch Taverns, don't let that put you off! The staff are lovely, two old dears (they'll hate me for saying that!) who are quietly efficient, quite the contrast from the usual useless Aussie's you get in most establishments. The beer is out of this world, they have 5-6 ales on at all times, well-kept and always something a little special to try. This was the first pub I tried the mythical Harvey's Sussex Best in (coming from The North as I do, you don't see it!), and boy was it worth wait. I practically sunk the first one in 30 seconds and went back for more. Moorhouse's incredible ales are also sometimes a fixture here, and once you've tried Pendle Witch's Brew, your life will never be the same. Why the hell am I living in Germany?! As for food, well, you can get a selection of English sausages in a roll. With onions. That's it - perfect!

It does get busy here, but get in early, and grab a seat by the window, and you'll have a evening to remember.

Best pub in London? Maybe.

Check out my review of The Harp - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: The Pavement in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops


The Pavement is a great stop for an impressively-sized full english breakfast come Sunday morning. If you can get my favourite window seat (when I'm not there), you'll have the added bonus of watching numerous folk waking up too. Tea is served in giant mugs using PG Tips pyramid bags left in and you add the milk, basically, just how I want it. Yesterday morning I had THREE cups, and my breakfasting counterpart hadn't heard of the 5 latest bands on my ipod, oh happy day! It's not really a competition though.

A tip: if you are faced with sitting downstairs, there is an impressive fishtank to cheer you up.

Check out my review of The Pavement - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Abaton Bistro in Hamburg

Hamburg - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Bistros


I'd love to give the Abaton a bit more than 3 stars, but I really can't! There is an incredible draught in this place that they know about, but apparently can do nothing about. You literally have to sit in a scarf to eat here. Not brilliant!

The schnitzel was OK, but a bit dry. On the plus side, the staff are really nice, so I'm not going to give them 2 stars. If they sort out the heating, and get some sauce like Erika's, this would be an ideal pre-cinema venue.

Check out my review of Abaton Bistro - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Zara Deutschland GmbH in Hamburg

Hamburg - Shopping - Fashion


Pretty decent Zara on the main shopping drag on Hamburg, just down from the central station. It's best to avoid like the plague on Saturdays and just nip out at lunch if you want a less stressful shopping experience. They have a consistently good and reasonably priced range of winter coats, hence why I've got my last 3 there!

Check out my review of Zara Deutschland GmbH - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Hotel und Restaurant Résidence in Essen

Essen - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Gourmet - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - International - Hotels & Holidays - Hotels - 4 Star Hotels - Hotels & Holidays - Hotels


I can't really recommend the Hotel Résidence enough. Just a short hop out of downtown Essen via S-Bahn, you would never expect to find a 2-star michelin restaurant and hotel here, but here it is!

The rooms are very well appointed and reasonably priced at around 100€, but that is of course, not what you're here for... ?

Don't, please don't, stay in the hotel and not eat at the restaurant. And remember to set aside around 5 hours to get through the epic challenge that awaits you. And, do try the 10 bottle wine degustation menu alongside everything else. Actually, by the end it was all a little bit much for me! But my dining companion managed to demolish most of the dessert trolley too, goodness knows how.

I must come back someday.

Check out my review of Hotel und Restaurant Résidence - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Hamburger Sparkasse in Hamburg

Hamburg - Services - Financial Services - Banks


Probably the best bank in the world! You get a personal bank manager, their email address, direct phone number and a little photo of them even appears on your internet banking. It's so much better than any other bank I've ever been a member of! You can even do international transfers online. Don't mess about with Citibank or anyone else. This is it.

Check out my review of Hamburger Sparkasse - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Qrito in Hamburg

Hamburg - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Mexican - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Latin American


Quality Mexican resto that's in the upper echelon alongside Kombüse and Jim Burritos as somewhere you really have to try! Actually I struggle to pick between them all, so I always go to the closest, but if you're in the area, definitely check it out.

Check out my review of Qrito - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Strada in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Italian & Pizza - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - Strada


Like everyone else says, food is generally quite good at Strada. I didn't really expect to spend NYE here, but it was the only place open locally to grab something pre-fireworks. My experience ordering something as plain as possible (veg risotto), as I had death-fever at the time was slightly coloured by the fact that I instantly threw it all back up everywhere, but I wouldn't blame that on Strada!

A bit soulless, and the seating could be better too, still, fairly reasonable prices.

Check out my review of Strada - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Flughafen Tegel in Berlin

Berlin - Transportation - Public Transport - Airports


An interesting oddity amongst airports in European cities at least. You actually get dropped off by your taxi outside the gate that your flight is leaving from! To facilitate this idea, there's a large parking space and electronic info board where your driver can stop to locate the flight before you drive into the airport.

The advantage is clear - you don't have to walk very far at all. On the downside, there's only 1 security scanner per gate (I bet they didn't use security scanners when Tegel was built!), so it can take a while to get through.

Go and experience this strange place whilst you still can, like Tempelhof before it, it's not long for this world.

Check out my review of Flughafen Tegel - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Byron Hamburgers in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - American


It's a chain! Well, I didn't know that before I came to Qype to review it, but, it's still going to get 5 stars from me. I'm not a big burger-eater, but these aren't your average burger, nor even your 'gourmet', but a cut above the rest. I should really upload a half eaten shot so you can see just how rare these things are.

Delicious, and you can wash it all down with a pint of London Pride. Should I mention the girls that work here? No, no I won't...

Check out my review of Byron Hamburgers - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Gyger in Thusis

Thusis - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops - Cafes - Shopping - Food & Drink - Bakeries


Excellent little cafe and bakery on the main drag in Thusis which happens to be open on Sundays! What a miracle. The cake selection is mighty impressive - check my photos!

Check out my review of Gyger - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Ship & Shovell in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Pubs & Bars - Pubs


An almost 5 star pub, blighted by it popularity and tiny size! I guess blighted is a strong term though, if you get holed up upstairs and get someone else to run to the bar for you, you'll have a fine time here. There are many fine drinking establishments nearby, but you should definitely have a look at this. It's worthy to note however, that it's not open at the weekend.

Check out my review of Ship & Shovell - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Gastro in London

London - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - French - Brasseries - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants - French - Eating & Drinking - Cafes & Coffee Shops - Cafes


Gastro do a very decent full English breakfast for those in a hurry. When I came in on Christmas eve, I told them I only had 20 minutes, and my breakfast and tea duly arrived in only 10, and I was out of the door on time and caught my train. The only small downside is the lack of beans! But the sausages were delicious.

Check out my review of Gastro - I am filchambers - on Qype

Qype: Restaurant Kirchenwirt in Wien

Wien - Eating & Drinking - Restaurants


Great little kneipe/pub that is famed locally for doing a mean schnitzel. There are other things on the menu, but that's what you want to order in here! If you happen to be a fan of Erika's Eck in Hamburg, this a close approximation in Vienna. Our first real schnitzel in Austria was a winner.

Check out my review of Restaurant Kirchenwirt - I am filchambers - on Qype