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Recommendations on eating in London
rndmhero
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The wife and I are planning a few weeks' getaway to the UK this April, and we're planning on spending a fair amount of time in London. Ideally, we would like to consume food while there. There are plenty of travel guides that talk about local cuisine, but they tend to focus on really high-profile (read: expensive) restaurants that garner food critic attention. As a recent graduate, these are decidedly not what I'm looking for.
So PAers from across the pond, help me out here. What are some interesting restaurants worth visiting that won't cost me an arm and a leg? What pubs do you frequent or take out-of-towners to? I'd love to hear your ideas on local tastes that might not show up on the front page of Google.
So PAers from across the pond, help me out here. What are some interesting restaurants worth visiting that won't cost me an arm and a leg? What pubs do you frequent or take out-of-towners to? I'd love to hear your ideas on local tastes that might not show up on the front page of Google.
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There is also a great place called My Old Dutch nearby in the Holborn area. They do these huge traditional dutch pancakes with all sorts of savory and sweet toppings. http://www.myolddutch.com/
Obviously neither of those are typical British cuisine, but they are the two places that people always enjoy and remember when we take them there.
Belgo has some pretty good offers sometimes, like the price of your dinner being the time you order it at certain parts if the week for example, can save you a few pounds if you have an early dinner.
Do you have any particular locations in mind or types of food you like?
You've picked a good year to come to London, as the restaurant scene has got pretty good even at the kind of price range that most of us prefer
He's a little more focused on the high end stuff but reviews a fair few low to mid price eateries as well.
The Roebuck in Borough is also a really nice place to eat. If you're looking for a chain you can find everywhere The Slug and Lettuce is an alright chain of slightly pubish restaurants and not too pricey. If you want a really cheap lunch walk into a Tesco or Sainsbury and buy a wrap/sandwich off their wall. Not the fanciest of meals but gets food in your stomach on the cheap when you need to.
Awesome, thanks. Belgo Centraal looks right up our alley, and any place focused on a range of microbrews is OK by me. My wife would probably flip for Dutch pancakes, too; she's definitely got more of a sweet tooth than I do.
I don't necessarily have a particular type of food in mind. I like trying new things, and I feel that part of the draw to such a large metropolitan center is all the various cultural offerings available. If you went to NYC and only ate ribs and apple pie, you'd be missing part of what makes that type of city so appealing.
As far as locations go, this will be my wife's first trip to the UK, so we'll be spending a lot of our time around the big tourist sites, probably Holland Park to around Tower Hill. I feel pretty comfortable with the tube system, though, so I'm not opposed to taking a short ride to somewhere worthwhile.
Maltby is an ally way that is pretty much entirely street food or small bars - sort of like Borough but without the greengrocer bit. There is a great waffle stall as well - that will do either sweet or savoury (they will fry the bacon and eggs for you while you wait!). It also has all sorts of neat other things too - good coffee, bbq, Jewish deli sandwiches (rare in London anyway), etc. If you want to see one of London's best craft brewers, Kernal then it is a couple of minutes walk away in the market expansion,
http://thekernelbrewery.com/
http://www.spa-terminus.co.uk/map/
For restaurants, well, Belgo is nice and all, but there are better nearby in Soho/Covent Garden. Try St Johns or the Hawksmoor - they are new wave British restaurants. Or maybe Kopapa/Providores. Belgo is a very busy place that seems to cater to large groups. If you are wanting a place just for the two of you it can be a bit much.
http://thehawksmoor.com/
https://www.stjohngroup.uk.com/hotel/
http://www.kopapa.co.uk/
So far as Holland Park goes, well, I didn't eat out a lot around that way, but I did live near there for a while, but we tended to go out to pubs. In that part of town most of the pubs make a nice meal for 10-15 pounds. The Castle is ok - good atmosphere, reasonable good. I think it is a little west (about a minute or so) of Holland Park tube station. If you can be bothered walking a little south east of Notting Hill station, head down Kensington Church Street to the Churchill Arms. It is slightly touristy, but very cute and the Thai food there is pretty good (There are about 5 or so Thai restaurants in a cooperative of some kind in W London and this is one). Failing that, head up Portobello Road and there are some ok pubs there, outside of market day.
If you want cafes - good coffee, brunch, that kind of thing, then try the following
Nude (2 or 3 sites from Soho east), Sacred, Workshop, Kaffiene or Monmouths are all pretty good. So long as you avoid Caffe Nero or Costa you should be ok.
Enjoy your holiday. If you get stuck for places send me a PM or something