Cantaloupe - Chilling Venue (Cantaloupe)

Member Name: LauraElliott

Product:	Cantaloupe
Date:	06/06/02 (398 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great atmosphere, Excellent Food, Known as 'classy' and popular with many, even though the prices are really good

Disadvantages: Can get crowded and smokey at it's most busy times, Toilet's are hard to find, Once you get comfortable on the relaxing sofa's, you won't want to leave!

The 'Cantaloupe' pub is situated in Hackney. You may think that Hackney isn't classed as
such a 'good area', but if you haven't been there recently, then you wouldn't know that it is currently undergoing a lot of redevelopment and is set to be a brilliant place. The first rough-edged former warehouse to inject life into Shoreditch's bar/restaurant scene was the Cantaloupe. It still attracts a huge crowd to this day, mainly because there is a raised restaurant area, which serves delicious food for relatively cheap prices. The cuisine there is of Spanish and North African origin. It's a trendy eatery just off the square mile. The staff are friendly and it's well worth a visit, so drop in for a tapas. All of their meats and eggs are free range, so you can feel assured of good quality.

Feel assured. The times that the pub is open are: 11.00am - 12pm midnight - Mon-Sat and 11.00am - 11.00pm Sunday. There is no charge to get into the pub, it is completely free and seeing as the prices of both drinks and food is reasonable, you have no excuse!
The Evening Standard has even rated this pub as 'top quality', making comments such as 'You could easily pay twice as much in the West End for food and drink that wasn't nearly as good'. According to Time Out magazine, in 1997, it was rated as one of the 'top bars'.

Cantaloupe is really easy to get to, many buses stop right near it, or it takes only a ten minute walk (more on the way back if you're completely plastered) to get to Old Street tube or rail station.
The Cantaloupe is well known for it's 'absinthe' (strong alcohol substance) which it serves in the forms of cocktails and other drinks.

Playing soulful Latin style jazz, you can lay back on a leather sofa and while your lunch hour away in the close atmosphere. Be warned, it does get very busy (and smoky) so get in early to avoid the rush for the bar. The
toilets are also a bit difficult to find, they are situated right underneath the bar, in a network of passages (not somewhere I recommend heading for at times of chucking up your last barcardi breezer!)

Having had massive success with Cargo and Cantaloupe in Shoreditch, the group that almost invented Hoxton nightlife back in the mid-nineties decided to bring their magic to the west end. Market Place shares Cargo and Cantaloupe's eclectic love of sounds, South American street food and fantastic drinks, making it the new meeting place when chilling in W1.

The exact address of the Cantaloupe pub, incase you ever want to drop by for a quick Beer, if you're passing is: 35-42 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, EC, and the phone number is: 020-7613-4411.

Just down the road from the Bricklayers, this immense bar and restaurant has a very mixed crowd from city boys to clubbers. It's a great place to meet up for a night on the town as there's always a lot going on.

If you want to check out more about this pub, then why not go and visit their official website: http://www.cantaloupe.co.uk, if you have any queries, you can even e-mail them at: info@cantaloupegroup.co.uk and they would be pleased to respond to you.

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