tod

cymbeline -
My recommendations for good food but cheap are:
In the Marais -
L'Oree du Marais,
29 rue Francs Bourgeois.
I had the "suggestion de Chef" which was Boeuf Bourginon served with taglietelle. A glass of house wine & an espresso. Bill 19.50euros.

Off Blvd.St.Germain at 16 rue Gregoire de Tours you will find Restaurant L'Insulaire.
Small, busy & cheap. Go earlyish for dinner or try and reserve a table.
Tel;0143547695.

On the corner of rue de Charonne & Ave Ledru Rollin is Le Bistrot du Peintre.
Devine food! Main course, wine & desert about 29euros. The best Tarte Tatin I have ever eaten.

I did not think much of the grilled chicken & chips I had at Chartier.
You have no choice of seating and may be seated with other people at a table.
We did not mind that too much but the waiters seemed rushed and not at all patient.
I'm looking at the Chartier menu in front of me right now.
Starters are anything from 1.70euros for egg mayonnaise to snails for 11.60
Mains from 7.70 for chicken & chips to grilled rump steak for 9.40.

tod

Oops! Gotta tell you about Marche` St.Germain which takes up the space between rue Clement, rue Mabillon, rue Lobineau and rue Felibien (all just off Blvd.St.Germain).Metro- Mabillon.
It is an old covered food market which opened in 1818 taking over the site which was originally a fair ground.
Naturally it has been upgraded by renovation but here you can ready made meals, produce & wine.

julia_t

My bargain for London eating depends on whether you like Indian food. If so this place cannot be beaten for value for money, and it's easy to find too.

The Indian YMCA at 41 Fitzroy Square. More info here...

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/3000.htm

http://www.timeout.com/london/restau...views/236.html

also www.indianymca.org

Bree

If you're willing to make lunch your big meal while you're in Paris, you can eat very well at Pre Verre (8 rue Thenard, in the 5th) for under 20€. They have a prix fixe menu for both lunch and dinner, but the lunch menu is significantly less expensive. If I remember right (I was last there in November 2005), the two-course lunch was 12€, and I believe that included coffee and a glass of wine.

The food at Pre Verre isn't traditional French, it's a sort of Asian-inspired fusion cuisine. I thought it was very good, and very good value for the price.

PalQ

Has the Wagamama fad in London faded? These Asian-food buffets, all over London, were the rage on Fodors a few years ago but rarely mentioned now. I see KateW gives it a passing mention but no one else. I don't know much about the food as i've never eaten there but it seems to fill your bill.
The ones i've seen are always packed and offer good enough food for a bargain basement price. In fact some of them are in basements!

MissZiegfeld

In London, West End Kitchen and the other one, think it's called Stockpot? right across the street from eachother on Panton Street not far from Piccadilly Circus. Both are CHEAP. Actually there's a few restaurants on that street that are pretty affordable, including I think a Thai restaurant.

YO! Sushi is fun, with a few different locations in London, including one in Harvey Nick's. Wagamamma is a noodle shop with several locations in London..ditto Pizza Express (I really like their pizza, and I'm a pizza snob)

Lots of Indian and Thai places with good lunch AND dinner specials.

CanadianJane

When we were in Paris, we had the best cafeteria lunch at the Louve. Fresh make your own salads and sandwiches and a fairly good price. We got the Passe Muse which allowed for unlimited access to most popular museums/galleries, by-passing lines, so we actually returned to the Louve one day just for lunch since we were close by.

BTilke

Wagamama has many competitors. Also, we find their standards have been slipping a bit. The last couple of times we've eaten at Wagamama, the noodles in the soup were undercooked, very dough-y. Too bad, we used to like them a lot. The noodle bar that just opened in Maidenhead is actually a lot better than the nearest branch of Wagamama.
My husband sometimes grabs a snack at the Paddington Yo Sushi, but if we want Japanese, we can get much better quality for about the same price by taking in the lunch specials at Mayfair's Kiku Restaurant, located just off Picadilly. Very popular with the staff from the nearby Japanese embassy.
http://www.kikurestaurant.co.uk/

hopscotch

marking

fuzzylogic

Hi cymbeline,

I think you need to branch out a little. In London you can stick to all chose chain places or you can do something completely different. Indian is the cheap and cheerful of the UK - like Thai is the cheap and cheerful in Australia.

There are loads of wonderful places in the suburbs but if you don't want to go too far afield - there's one I that I would REALLY recommend close to Euston Stn.

I could take you there, but as that's not on, you'll need exact address and I'll have to go looking for it - so if you are interested, post again.

HVH

Hi Cymbeline

I'm not so sure about cafeterias but there are loads of cheap but tasty eats in London.

I'd guess you'll want to be pretty central and not trekking too far out for you dinner so a couple of places I would have to recommend are:

Lunch:
World Food Cafe in Neal's Yard and Food for Thought on Neal Street, Covent Garden. Huge portions of healthy veggie food to set you up for the rest of the day.

Gilli Gulu is a great sushi place at the bottom of Monmouth Street (Leicester Sq area) that's very filling and reasonably priced.

For dinner, if you like Indian food, head up to Drummond Street (Warren St tube) where you can bring your own booze to cut costs.

Also, check out local markets and delis (i.e. not central london) for great take-outs for the evening. There's a fab Italian in Finsbury park with two take-out pasta dishes for £5 that you can eat cold or reheat. (if you're interested I can look up the name). Also, Borough on Fri/Sat and Spitalfields on sun do great buffet-type things.

I'm sure you can find much better places than cafeterias in London - anywhere on the tourist route (Leicester Sq, NPG, Tate, Selfridges) is bound to cost a fortune for mediocre food with loads of other tourists.

London's really not that expensive and that's a Yorkshire lass speaking! Have fun HVH x

Dukey

Thanks for the lists as we will be in the Uk next month so some of the recs may come in handy.

I would comment to Cymbeline that you are NOT in any way, shape, or form missing out on the so-called "foodie experience" IMO.

I am not convinced, and certainly not by some of the posts here, that there is any "uniform" definiton for the term "foodie" or "hip" or "chic" or "hip-chic" blah, blah, blah.

When I read posts with these rapturous sentences about how "Chef Nikko" (is he the one that shills for the "Super Snacker" with Cathy Mitchell on TV?) has "sculpted" mounds of mystery alfalfa sprouts on a plate so the partaker can reinforce their self-imposed wine snob reputation I begin to wonder if its the food that's important.

I'm not AGAINST "foodies" but believe there are a wide variety of enjoyable, culinary experiences and that they don't have to cost a bundle or require reinforcement from others to convince you that what you just ate was actually good.

saasadm

I use to live in Paris and have come back there very often. I'm in the process of writing an online guide for the city. Currently I'm updating the food section. Check it out at:

href=www.parislocalguide.info

Then click on "Eating in Paris" -> "Restaurants"


Look at Katherine Kass's Restaurant list. I've eaten at many places that she mention and her recommendations are excellent. That's why I put it there.

jaimeGL

Someone mentioned the eatery Stockpot for London cheap eats. There are plenty of them and they provide good, fast, cheap food. There should be one on Basil Street, just behind Knightsbridge TS. If you're looking to lunch at a Stockpot, you might have to wait as they are usual haunts for London office folks. Lots of good sandwich/salad bar places in central London. Sarnies (local lingo for sandwiches) are not quite so hefty as here in US, but they are often made to order, very good and not expensive. A good pub lunch is also an option and prices are often fairly reasonable. If you're in the Harrods area, frankly there's nothing nicer than something from their Food Hall, a little walk over to Kensington Gardens for a picnic!

lenny25

My favourite eatery in Paris is 138 Parnasse on Boulevard Montparnasse, for 18 euros or so you get a three course meal fit for a King, the choice of meats, fish etc is incredible and the dessert is mouthwatering. I used to live a couple of doors down and I've tried almost everything on the menu. Address - 138 Boulevard du Montparnasse.

It's excellent if you want to trapse through the Luxembourg Gardens in the afternoon looking at the art exhibitions and then walk into Montparnasse in the evening.

lenny25

Cheap eats in London - go to Brick lane, East end near Liverpool street. Excellent curry at the Standard Balti House, 71 Brick lane. Top quality and beats all the others around the area. Also Cafe 1001, you can get a plate full of healthy salads and hot dishes for £6 and it's enough to fill two people. Drinks are £3 though.

lenny25

I almost forgot, whilst in london get on the internet and go to www.toptable.co.uk, it gives you money off restaurants of all different quality, and has a view of the resto and the menu on it. It's fab. especially the 50% off discounts.

W9London

More entries for London chep eats.

Ekachai in the arcade right across from Liverpool St Station/Great Eastern Hotel. Thai/oriental food. Much better food than Wagamama, gets crowded during the lunchtime, closed weekend.

Itsu--various locations (Wardour St in Soho, Piccadilly, Hannover Sq nr Oxford Circus). Better sushi than Yo!. Boxed salad (seared salmon/tuna, beef tataki) and noodle soup. Small eat-in areas.

Fresh &amp; Wild on Brewer St, 1min from Piccadilly. This is an organic grocery store acquired by <font color="#00ff00">Whole Foods Market</font>. Hot/cold food counters, small eat-in spaces. We're supposed to get the <i>real</i> Whole Foods Market in Kensington High St. next yr.

Woodland in Marylebone. Vegetarian indian food, great stuffed savory pancakes (dosa), much better than Drummond Street Indian buffets.

Similar to pret-a-manger, EAT has changing daily soup menu, one vegetarian usually.

I'm also a big fan of picnicing with take-out foods from supermarkets and department store food halls (Selfridges, Harrod's) IF the weather is nice.

JimF

Marking for future reference

Kay_SD

Could someone please tell me the full name of BHV and where it is located?