Is Aldgate The nearest tube station to brick Lane? And what cafés should I try there?

[Hellokittymania]

I'm visually impaired, and have a lot of trouble understanding maps. I tried to Google the nearest tube station, and I'm just double checking that I have the right one? I was thinking of going to the serial killer café, since I've heard they do a nice hot chocolate and I really want to try some different cereal. Are there any other little Places there that you would recommend? I love Asian food. But I am up for anything really.

Aldgate is fairly close but Aldgate East is nearer.

Just as a warning, me and DH love Indian food and went to Brick Lane a few years ago excited to try a Brick Lane curry. We found the food really over-priced and mediocre. Wouldn't bother again.

You’re better off slightly off Brick Lane. Tayyabs is fabulous but queues can be long. The Lahore Kebab House is the same people but slightly quieter. You can use either Aldgate East or Whitechapel.

I would recommend Whitechapel tube and Tayyabs too. Delicious food, you may have to queue but that’s a good thing.

You can book if you phone in advance.

For hot chocolate, try dark sugars - 124 brick lane. Yum. And spitalfields market is a short walk from there, and is nice. Agree that the Indian restaurants are a bit rubbish though.

Dishooms in Shoreditch is much better for Indian food get the Overground to Shoreditch High Street
www.dishoom.com/shoreditch/

Brick Lane was a major disappointment to me. We were pestered by waiters trying to get us to come in to their restaurants and when we finally chose one, the food wasn't any better than we'd get in our local restaurant/

Over-rated and over-priced imo

Another vote for Tayyabs. Just been there tonight, ate my bodyweight for £20. Queues can be big but also really easy to book.

I’d go to Liverpool st and mosey down from there. It’s not brilliant though - mobbed and over trendy three days.

Another vote for Dishoom. Really good food.

Brick Lane is a bit dated these days.

Can you use the Citymapper app? It's very good for planning routes on both bus and tube

Thank you for the suggestions here, and I just tried Citymapper… It only reads out half of the things on it… So very confusing. even to use it.

Did you know that you can order audio and/or large print guides from London Transport? You can also listen to them online. They're really good. They have guides to step-free stations, tube toilets, etc

tfl.gov.uk/forms/12387.aspx

Another vote for dishoom it’s really delicious

Tube station supervisor here.

Thanks @HundredMilesAnHour I was going to mention the maps!

Tube staff are trained to assist customers with extra needs. I have helped visually impaired customers, mobility impaired customers, people with mental health problems, and I've even planned a route from Clapham Common to Seven Sisters avoiding escalators (the customer was petrified of them). We can help you plan your journey, we can help you get the right train and we can ring ahead to your destination station to ask staff there to meet you and navigate up to street level. Please ask us to help you. It's part of our job to make the Tube accessible to everyone.

If you are on Twitter follow @TfLAccess.

Buses are also very accessible. If you carry an aid or have an assistance dog, other passengers are usually good about giving up their seat. The bus stops are verbally announced, but if you are not sure where to get off the bus, ask the driver, and they can alert you.

Aldgate/Whitechapel area: Brick Lane tends to be over-rated and geared towards a tourist trade with no return custom. I have had better curries in other parts of London. Dishoom is very good, but expect to wait. I've heard good things about Chutney Mary's near St James's Palace, Veeraswamy near Regent St (the oldest curry house in London) and Gymkhana in Mayfair too.

Otherwise, in the area, look out for the East London Mosque and Whitechapel gallery. Walking further down, see the street market and Royal London Hospital, home to the Elephant Man story, and opposite, the Blind Beggar pub, where the Kray brothers once hung out. Walking back towards Petticoat Lane and the City, get a bagel from Beigel Bake, the longest running and best bagel shop in London. They are open 24 hours.

Have a great visit!

Thank you 100 miles, and to the TFL supervisor. That is a really helpful piece of information. I didn’t realize there was a large print, and especially an audio guide to the TFL.

2nd beigel bake. Amazing and so reasonably priced.

Liverpool Street isn’t far. I haven’t been there for years, like decades, so can’t help with where to eat, sorry.

Does anyone know if the biegle shop is still there? It was run by a Jewish family and was always mega busy on Sunday mornings. They did/do proper traditional biegles as opposed to American style bagels.

Maybe I’m think of Biegel Bake, I never knew the official name, it was just “the beige shop” to us.

Biegel shop, not beige 🤦‍♀️

The app isn't letting me watch threads so I'm just commenting here to save it for later! Hope you have a lovely curry.

The Indian restaurants on Brick Lane are absolute crap. I used to live in India, but even by British standards, they are pretty bad. All the hipster-y bars and cafes are pretty far up Brick Lane. Though I usually get off at Aldgate East, it’s quite a long walk to get up that end. If you want good Indian food, Dishoom is very good (there are lots of them, pick whichever is most accessible from where you’ll be staying). There is also a nice South Indian place off Tottenham Court Rd called Chetthinad Palace I think. That’s also pretty good.

Agree about the asian food being awful...used to go in the early 80's when there were just few basic cafes and it was quite good...I did hear that one large kitchen prepares the food for about 10 of the restaurants and now its full of pushy touts and bogus offers....avoid...!!..people have suggested much better places to eat.

I would say don't go to the Cereal Killer Café. It's a real novelty place and a bit childish