4 days in Stratford on Avon and 4 days in London...affordable restaurants please?

<BR>Enjoyed these two spots this past January:<BR><BR>Sofras--excellent mideastern/turkish food. With appetizer and main course, about 15 pounds/person<BR><BR>Pizza Paradiso in Covent Garden--garlic bread, 2 pizzas, one salad, pasta & seafood entree, 6 sodas, about 32 pounds

I suggest you repost this with both the words "London" and "Stratford" in the message line for a greater response. Good luck

Most pubs serve good inexpensive meals for both lunch and dinner. <BR><BR>For cheap excellent "fast food" look for the Pret a Manger chain of sandwich shops. Very good, unusual, freshly made sandwiches all day long.

Personally, I find Pret a Manger to be pretty crap. To call their sandwiches "excellent" is like calling McDonald's hamburgers excellent.

Hi Judith<BR>I live near Stratford and would recommend: 'Lamb's' 'The Opposition' and 'The Vintner's' all very close together in Sheep Street which is close to the theatre (leads down to the Bancroft Gardens and the River Avon)<BR>I'd suggest you reserve a table at any of these places as they're all quite small.<BR>Have fun.<BR>P.S. If you have transport I'd recommend 'The Fox and Goose' in the village of Armscote (south of Stratford) or 'The Howard Arms' in Ilmington

Affordable means many things to many people. There are folks on this Forum who think it's affordable to drop $250 for lunch and others who think $5 is just fine. You need to define your budget. What's affordable to one is obviously not to another. This is really too general a question. If you repost and say for example, "I don't want to spend more then $10-20-$100 per meal" you might get more answers.

For London, buy a copy of "Cheap Eats in London" by Harden's (a bit like Zagat), you can probably get it via Amazon, or look up<BR><BR>www.hardens.com<BR><BR>to order a copy. Alternatively, most large bookshops in London will sell it. Not to be confused with "Harden's Guide to London restaurants" which covers ALL price ranges.<BR><BR>Cheap, good food in the UK is generally either pub food or ethnic restaurants - Indian, Chinese, Thai. In London, look out for Wagamama's, a chain of japanese noodle bars popular with locals, students and tourists alike.

Judith<BR>Also worth noting that many good restaurants in Central London offer excellent pre theatre dinner menus at excellent prices, all that I have see are under &pound;20 for 3 courses, less for 2 courses.<BR>You don't have to be going to the theatre, but do need to be seated and order by a set time (different in different places) and sometimes, need to give your table up by a specified time.<BR>An example is Circus, near Picadilly Circus tube, which offers a great value set menu for less than &pound;15 for 3 courses. <BR>Watch out for drinks prices which is where they compensate for the lower menu prices!

Couple of other thoughts<BR><BR>In London, try Souk, 27 LitchField Street, Covent Garden, a Moroccan restaurant with basic peasant style Moroccan food and great atmosphere. Don't be put off by the dodgy looking entrance/doorway - downstairs it's an Aladdin's cave.<BR><BR>In Stratford, in my younger years a pub called the Slug & Lettuce did good food and had a very lively atmosphere. Don't know if it's still going. There's also a Pizza Express, a chain which does very good Italian style pizza.<BR><BR>And don't forget to visit the Dirty Duck, an old pub behind the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Be there for when the actors pile in after a performance. This way I managed to rub shoulders with the likes of the gorgeous Alan Rickman!

With the e-mail copy of this message I am attaching a note I have on disc on pub meals and other cheap meals in London.<BR><BR>Welcome to England<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London

In the Piccadilly Circus/Leicester Square area, there is a very inexpensive restaurant called <BR>The Stockpot. Nothing fancy, just a good, filling meal for under ten dollars. I ate there a few times before going to the theatre. They do not take credit cards. Tube stop is Piccadilly, address is 38 Panton Street (across the street from the Comedy Theatre). Enjoy!