deli/take out food in London
 

Does anyone know of any decent takeout establishments in the Marylebone area? Sometimes I like to bring food back to my hotel.

Carluccio's in St Christopher's Place- at the bottom of Marylebone High St. offers good Italian deli as well as a café.

The Conran Shop at the top of the High St. also offers Mediterranean style produce.

Also, you will find many excellent sandwich bars which offer a takeaway service.

Marylebone High Street has wonderful take out places. really can't go wrong. There is also a Waitrose grocery store that has fairly good take away. There is a Pret for sandwiches. A wondeful cheese shop around the corner from waitrose off the high street and the ginger pig for Pork products. On Sundays from 10am- 2pm there is a farmers' market at the car park behind the waitrose with amazing food- oysters on the half sheel, grilled sausages, cheeses, and lots of fruit and veg. YUM

If you're talking of the Marylebone area around the station of the same name, then the Edgware Rd. provides ample takeaway restaurants mainly speciallising in Middle Eastern foods - kebabs (authentic ones), falafel, etc. All costing virtually nothing, but good for a quick bite.

Pret and Manger is on nearly every other corner. Their stuff is very fresh and surprisingly good.

I detest Pret a Manger - tasteless, and overpriced, please don't waste your money there.

I love Pret a Manger. I wish we had them at home. Great place to grab a sandwich or salad. If you don't like sandwiches or salads, you probably wouldn't like it.

All sandwiches are made fresh daily -- my favorite is Egg Mayonaise -- we call it egg salad at home. My other favorite is the baguette with Brie, tomoatoes, and cucumbers. (http://www.pret.com/menu/)

I'm not familiar with the Marlebone area but if the Waitrose in that area is as good as the one at Glouster Road Tube Stations, the deli was great. I would definitely second them as a source of take away.

Also, if you decide to visit Harrod's during your visit, plan a meal from the food court. The only problem is limiting it to what you can eat -- everything looks so good. (My #1 recommendation is the Chocolate Mousse - I go to Harrod's just to get that.)

I don't know where the closest Marks and Spencer is to where you will be but their food courts have great food to go.

I certainly would not advocate visiting a Pret a Minger.

Why forever not, backpacker? I agree with Patick -- the food at Pret is very fresh and surprisingly good. I found the prices to be reasonable.

I liked to stop there for breakfast -- the greek yogurt is very good and my kids liked their croissants. We also liked the sandwiches. They have a good selection and they taste quite good.

Susan

Pret a Manger serve bland and tasteless foods lacking in imagination. If one wishes to enjoy something of a sandwich-like nature, go to a deli and have one freshly prepared, far fresher, far tastier, and in most cases, far cheaper.

The definitive answer about Pret a Manger: Some of us love them and some of us can't stand them.

Pret is over priced and is not that fresh. Also they use horrible bread - in the rest of Europe that sliced bread they use is not regarded as bread you would use to make a sandwich with; rather it is used for toasting. Pret have improved on the traditional English sandwich with like a mayo filling - in some sandwich shops in London you will still see people having prawn mayo on white sliced served from those silver dishes like at school! But there are many italian delis in London and although one does run the slight chance of not finding a good one, normally you can get a freshly prepared sandwich, drink and snack for the price of a Pret sandwich. Whilst Pret is not going to break the banl of most of us I can assure you it is not cheap. At my company we always employ a few interns from Europe and the US. Interns generally can not afford to buy their lunch at Pret. There are many places that are much cheaper...

Care to suggest a few, backpacker?

I'm getting the vibe that Pret a Manger is similar to Subway - acceptable, but not wonderful. I'm sure now I'll get flamed from Subway aficionados, but that's the feeling I get from the previous posts.

that girl

I often go to a small italian one on Maddox Street, W1, in Mayfair - can't remember the name.

Tyr23

It is different - in general it is more healthy than Subway. However, the menu seldom changes and it is expensive for what it is...

However, if you seldom have to eat there or just want to please the kids it may be OK once in a while... certainly more healthy than McDonalds.

I like Pret a Manger, and so do the kids. They have different kinds of bread, not just sliced white. We don't have places like that where I live, so it may be the novelty of it! In any place where there are offices, you will find lots of small places where sandwiches are freshly made; there will certainly be some near Marylebone.
Marks & Spencers food halls do good take-out food; the largest one is at Marble Arch. And Selfridges, right next door, has a good food hall.

Tyr -- Actually, Pret has much higher quality food than Subway. I refuse to eat at Subway, although my son likes it.

Susan

Here is something I never expected to say on this forum. I agree with M_Kingdom. After many pleasure trips to London, I recently went on a business trip. Having no time for leisurely lunches, I recalled reading about Pret a Manger on Fodors and decided to give it a try. After my first try, I figured I had just made a poor selection of sandwich and salad. After my second try, I decided not to try a third time.

It is true that Pret do other kinds of sliced bread and that they also do baguettes.

But in general that sliced bread is not popular outside the UK and is only used for toasting. In France, Italy and Switzerland and places you will only see sandwiches made with tats kind of bread in service stations on motorways.

I would argue that the bread at Pret is of a very poor quality and this includes the baguettes. But I will also admit to being a bit of a bread snob having lived in France and Switzerland for some time.

Once in a blue moon, Pret is OK. Maybe it is like McDonalds, if you go too much you won't want to go back... McDonalds own 33% of it...

ttt

FYI Pret a Manger opened a bunch of outposts in New York and has been a big failure - most have been closed. The food just isn;t as good as a regular New York deli. It tends to be quite bland - and their idea of fresh is prepackaged and put in a case for several hours - as opposed to a freshly made salad or sandwich.

We just got back from London. For our last night after the theatre we picked up food from the Marks and Spencer in the train station -- fresh salads, fruit, cheese, and bread. It was great.

Also the sandwiches are pretty small as they use that dreadful bread. In NYC, you have a much gretaer selection of breads, meats and salads in a deli where they will make you a fresh sandwich right in front of you...