I've gotten a Zagat's for London and am horrified that the "average" cost of a meal is $42.00! Is there anyway to avoid this and still not go hungry? Is it just as expensive in Paris?

I spent two weeks in London last December and didn't come close to pending an average of $42 on meals. Granted, I knew of a few restaurants off the beaten path from my college days in the city, but even a few upscale spots in Convent Garden and the Strand didn't stretch my budget.
Here are a few suggestions off the top of my head (I can check my journals later if you wish):
For Indian food at moderate prices ($15-20) try The Tale of India on New Row (Covent Garden) and Motijheel on Marchmont St (near Russel Square). There is also a fabulous Greek restaurant on Woburn Place between Russel Square and Tavistock Square which is well worth a try, particularly if you're visiting the British Museum. Otherwise, Dionysus on Tottenham Court Road has very good Greek food as well as fish and chips for a quick lunch near Oxford Street and many of the smaller Chinese restaurants in Soho have moderately priced fare. You might also buy the book Cheap Eats of London which includesvariety of moderately priced restaurants throughout the city.
I don't recall the restaurants that I visited in Paris off the top of my head, but the prices are comparable ($15-20 for a three course menu, sometimes with a 1/4 litre of wine). E-mail me if you would like these names and addresses.

Tom in New Orleans

In my last trip to London, I tried as many eating options as I could, ranging from street vendors to posh hotel dinners. With most restaurants posting their menus outside the premises, you can find inexpensive meals anywhere. I enjoyed the many pubs I dropped into. I had a most delicious vegetarian meal at a pub in England (!) As the above post hinted at, ethnic dining is very popular, at all price ranges. We stayed near the High Street Kensington Underground station, and found it a very convenient location. Enjoy your trip! London is a very enjoyable tourist destination!

I spent a week in London in September and found the "pub grub" was generally very good, and quite inexpensive. Unlike our bars in the states, the pubs have a couple of different "dinner" type foods they cook all day and every place I sampled, was excellent! Like anywhere - you can spend a fortune on "fine dining" but if you're willing to look around a little, you'll find good food at reasonable prices.

Can children eat at these Pubs?

May, we just returned from London in late Oct. Bought "Cheap Eats in London" by Gustafson. Very good book. We ate every meal from restaurants provided in the guide and we never paid more than $20 for a great meal and we were never disappointed. You can buy this book up in any large bookstore.

Sandra Gustafson has also written "Cheap Eats in Pairs" - another fabulous resource. Full of wonderful recommendations with excellent value and very good food.

Dear May,
As a resident of London let me reassure you that you will not have to spend anything like £25 on a meal (unless, of course, you want to). A 'good' restaurant meal will cost you about this figure (maybe a little more) and a meal at one of the chicest places will be upwards of £50 ($80). A lot depends on how much you drink and what you drink, a good bottle of wine is always going to bump up the cost. For lunches can I suggest, as the other respondents said, a pub lunch. At an average of £5-£7 ($8-$11)they are excellent value, some allow children and some don't; it depends on location a lot and you are advised to check with the staff before ordering. On the downside for pubs is that they are nearly always crowded at lunchtime with local office workers and they do tend to get rather smokey - which is a definite downside if you have children with you. London is full of good sandwich bars where you can sit down and eat for about $8, the majority also serve hot meals too. A good sandwhich chain (if you fancy dining outside) is Pret-A-Manger. I don't have time to list as many good, inexpensive restaurants as I'd like but two are: 1) Wagamama - European-Japanese (but not sushi)restaurant with shared bench dining. Very good food, very good prices and very trendy. Lexington Sreet, Soho, W1. 2) Ketners - Pizza/Burgers. This is the flagship restaurant of Pizza Express, a chain of restaurants that do really good pizza (funnily enough!) The building is Edwardian and set over two floors with a pianist in the evenings on the ground floor. I love this place, I've been going there for 14 years now and whenever I have friends over from the US I always take them there for Burgers and Champagne, an odd yet strangely winning combination! Expect to pay about $20-$30 per head (although you could get away with less if you don't have starters or pudding. Finally, the Chinatown area (opposite Soho)has lots of cheap-ish places and Won-Key in Wardour Street is famous for it's waiters - they are so bloody rude!! Buy a copy of Time Out when you get here, that has restaurant listings and an idea of prices. I hope that this has helped you, enjoy your stay here, it's a fabulous city (although I admit I may be biased).

Reguarding Tim's question of kids in pubs. We were in England in June this year, with our 10 year
old son. We ate in Pubs all over England. ( I like their food - especially the Steak & Kidney pie).
The main requirement for children going into the Pubs is that the Pub have what is called a
family room where food is served. If they have that room, kids are allowed into the Pub, BUT
they are only allowed into the family room, not into the Bar area. The pubs seem to be very
strict on this. Almost all the pubs that we wanted to go into had the family room. The only
place that we had a minor inconvenience was at the 'Ye Olde Trip to Jeruselum' Pub in Nottingham.
They didn't have a family room ins ide the pub, but they had a courtyard are where we sat & they
served food. The food was very good there. Pub food was also good at The Gypsy Moth Pub in Greenwich,
the CourtHouse Pub in Caerphilly Wales(with an excellent view of the castle). The Pubs near the
castle in Windsor are also good. In London, the restaurant above the Sherlock Holmes Pub - on
Northumberland is very good & not overly expensive. There are a couple of good Italian restaurants in
the Russell Square area - The Spagehtti House, & also 1 that is right next to the Russell Square
Tube station. Both are very good, friendly, & decently priced.

London has hundreds of ethnic (primarily Indian) eateries which are exceptionally cheap and a flavorful alternative to standard English fare. Of course, you can also resort to standard American fast foods for alot of meals with the kids. While at the high end, London dining has certainly improved dramatically in the 12 years I have travelled there, ther still isn't as many great options at the low to moderate range (but better
than most of Europe). Bon apetit.