Baby-Friendly Restaurants in London: Plaquemine Lock, Islington
By Emily Lawler
When I was 25, I went to NOLA for a weekend to party with a bunch of people who’d all done disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. Some of them loved it so much—even flooded to the waist—that they’d moved there. It’s just that kind of a place. Hell, I almost moved there after that weekend.
One night we went out to a crawfish boil at a dive bar and they got these huge bins of crawfish and dumped ’em out on a long line of plastic tables with loads of corn and a whole pig’s head. Everyone in the bar stood round the tables and ate, littering the concrete floor with crawfish shells. One of the messiest, most memorable meals of my life.
Plaquemine Lock is a beautiful ode to New Orleans Creole and Cajun cooking, without needing to hose their floors down after a meal. It’s taken residency in an old boozer on the Regents Canal and because it’s off the beaten track, it’s quiet. The food here is authentic, unlike say, The Big Easy, which is sort of Louisiana done by Disney. The portions here are decent and the whole place just has a really good vibe.
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What’s good? 1. The beignets. I’ve done a bit of googling and I can’t find anywhere else in London that does beignets right now. 2. All the crawfish and the collard greens. 3. The strawberry cream pie. 4. Did I already mention the beignets?
Kid friendly? Yeah man. They were more than happy to have us with our buggy, and my kid was mesmerised by the decor and soothed by the jazz playing. They’ve got baby-change facilities too. Max and I both dug it here a lot.
BABY-FRIENDLY RATING
– baby change facilities
– highchairs available
– cool with breastfeeding
– loads of other parents
– space for buggies
– kids menu
– toys/play area
