Arrived in London today: have a few questions!
 

Hi everyone,

We arrived in London today, and will be here for 4 nights before moving on to Paris for 6 nights. We are staying at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel.

A couple of questions:

1. Can anyone recommend some good restaurants in the area for breakfast, lunch, or dinnner? We'd like within walking distannce, and of a "moderate" price. (The exhange rate is killing us!) Looking for lighter fare, such as soups, salads, sandwiches, etc...

2. Any internet cafes nearby? The wireless here at the hotel is very expensive.

3. Which of the major sites are closest to us, and where would you start?

Thanks for any help or direction you can give me. I've done lots of research leading up to the trip, but I always love getting first-hand tips from the Fodorites, and of course, there will be a trip report upon return :)

Good for lunch and inexpensive
Gohedwig

ICCO Pizza
46 Goodge Street
W1T 4LU
Fitzrovia
020 7580 9688

Goodge Street tube
Meals served 7am-11pm Mon-Fri; 8.30am-11pm Sat, Sun.
under £14

Did you know that the prologue of the Tour de France will be in London tomorrow? It will probably mean closed off streets and big crowds but it's pretty exciting.

We did know that, Grasshopper, thanks! It will be exciting, but you're right -- I didn't really think about closed off streets, etc....Thanks for the tip.

Look for Garfunkles, they seem to be all over London and wide range of food and prices.

Please DO NOT LOOK FOR GARFUNKELS!

Garfunkels are like Denny's in the US, but worse!

Walk over a few blocks to Victoria Street...on the way you will pass a Chez Gerard which has a moderately priced (for London) prix fixe menu...you will also find a pret a manger, a chain of sandwich shops...walk down Victoria Street and you will pass the usual chain restaurants (Pizza Hut, McDonald's)...several blocks down Victoria you will come to a very famous British pub, the Albert. Have a pint and you might want to lunch there...don't worry...they'll immediately realize you're a novice at British pub etiquette and they'll help you out....and best of all the new smoking law is now in effect and you won't have to put up with having the taste of your food and your drink ruined by cigarette smoke all around you.

Continue down Victoria Street past the new Scotland Yard and you will come to Westminster Abbey, the palace of Westminster and just across the bridge the London Eye. If you don't want to do the London Eye, you can turn down Whitehall past Tony Blair's old residence (and Gordon Brown's new residence), past the House Guards with the two guards on horseback all the way to Trafalgar Square. On the way you will pass several pubs as well as the usual fast food places (Pizza Hut, Mickey D, pret a manger)...you can walk from Trafalgar Square on the extreme left side towards Charing Cross Road...about 3 or 4 blocks up if you turn left you will come to Leicester Square and at the back of the park that is actually Leicester Square you will find the TKTS booth and can buy half price tickets for a show that evening.

Hopefully, you will have picked up an oyster card and can simply walk back to Charing Cross Road and take the #24 bus back to Victoria.

Personally, I have decided that the best type of food for me in London is Japanese....if you walk a few blocks up Charing Cross Road the block after Shaftsbury is New Compton...it is the street where the Prince Edward Theatre is located where Mary Poppins is playing (BTW Mary Poppins will be closing in London in January and tickets for Mary Poppins are now regularly available at TKTS!)...on that block you will find a great Japanese restaurant called Taro...good cheap food (try the chicken bento box or one of the raman's)...as a matter of fact if you buy tickets to MP at TKTS, you can use this as your dinner place before seeing the show. And to get back to Victoria, just walk back to Charing Cross Road and take the #24 bus. It is very doable, very easy, hardly very tiring and a great introduction to London!

And...What are Denny's like ? you know, I need a bit of American culture
and in addition, I want to now why Garfunkels are not suitable :)

xyz123: Thank you very much for that wonderfully detailed answer! That will be very helpful tomorrow morning when we wake up refreshed and ready to go :)

For a quick lunch we liked the Pret a Mange (sp) sandwich shops that are all over London.

kendrina..let's just say a McDonalds id preferable to a Garfunkel's or an Aberdeen House!

Oh....that's good to know :) At least, at McDonalds I know what I eat..or I think so ...

Denny's is a large chain found all over the USA, often times at exits along interstates (motorways).which has an extensive extensive menu (with a menu that large, most of the food is probably frozen not fresh)...they are well known for their breakfasts...as a student growing up I often fell back on Denny's and how many times I had their grand slam breakfast, two eggs any style, two pancakes, two sausage links, two slices of bacon at a very low price (but once you added on the obligatory for breakfast glass of orange juice and coffee (unlimited) the price was not dirt cheap but hardly expensive either (BTW, I always substituted 2 extra bacon strips for the sausage links and wanted my eggs scrambled)....and yes Garfunkels does remind me of Denny's!

And that's a breakfast...WOW !!! I suppose if everything were fresh..it would'nt be so cheap !! (at least eggs have to be ;) )

Beachgirl, I am eager to hear if you saw any of the prologue. What a great route.

Grasshopper: We did see part of the prologue! There were people EVERYWHERE in London today -- over 1 million spectators just for the Tour de France! It was amazing. There were police everywhere, and we walked along the route of Buckingham Palace, etc...Just gorgeous. We watched the actual start of the race on giant screens at Trafalgar Square, which was awesome! There are giant screens set up all in the parks, etc...with people just hanging out and watching the race. It was really cool to see. Lots of streets are blocked off, and they have giant "bridges" set up for pedestrians to walk up and over. It's an exciting time in London!

Well, Garfunkles are not for food snobs, but if you want to eat reasonable food for a reasonable price, or have children along, they are fine. Better than Dennys and PLUEZE McDonalds!

I have good reports about the cheap breakfasts at Weatherspoon pubs. Their website at www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/ will give you details.