FAVORITE LONDON RESTAURANT
 

We will be in London for just a four nights at the end of January. What wouid your suggestion be for your favorite restaurant??

We would appreciate pretheater dinner reservation suggestions for two nights.

Thanks so much in advance.

Jan

There are thousands of restaurants in London. And there are theatres all over the city. Care to narrow things down a bit?

Budget?
Which theatre(s)?
What sort(s) of food?
What sort of ambiance?

Gaby's Deli in Charing Cross Rd.

Being Israeli, Gaby doesn't have any reservations about anything. No-one - but no-one - is allowed to reserve a table. And it's possible, in spite of half a century as the West End's best loved (possibly ONLY loved) eating place, it may not be still there in a couple of months (http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/09/18/at-gabys-deli/).

Patronise it now while you can. No-one's ever managed to patronise Gaby. But he's helped stave off my fits of the nibbles for most of the years he's been in business here. Contribute to his retirement pot by eating as many of his latkes (?latkeses? latkesim?) as you can stuff down.

Favourite 2 adjacent to theatreland: Wong Kei in Wardour Street. The most truly authentic Chinese restaurant outside Qingdao - at least if you think the country's gone downhill ever since Deng Xiao Ping took over. Seriously Maoist approach to service, but portions large enough (and flavoured and priced) to satisfy any Red Guard.

The perfect antidote to the "customer's always right" claptrap that's stripped the more feeble minded nations of the West of their moral fibre.

Hi Jan, If you are looking for a splurge restaurant one night, I went to Corrigan's Mayfair a few weeks ago and LOVED it. Everything about it, the service, the food, the ambiance, was special. You can reserve on opentable.com.

Here is the actual link to Gaby's

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/09/18/at-gabys-deli/

(The <B>')'</B> messed up flanner's link)

We go to London every year.twice, for the last 40years, and our very favorite for 35 of those years is La Famiglia Langton street at World's End. The food is fantatic and the service very professional /t is authentic Italian(Tuscan> cooking . It is moderately prices for the quality . You need reservations as it is always full. MAye you'll see Prince William and Kate as it's their favorite place.
Another good one and much less expensive is Orsini a
across from the V&A. The food is very good and service prompt and polite. Opem for breakfast, lunce and dinner. There are always 3 special entrees each evening and at a good price. And Mrs Orsini does all the dessert baking on site!! Baoth have websites!

Hi Jlpx2,

You might consider RULES, reputedly the oldest restaurant in London at 35 Maiden Lane in Covent Garden. Patronized by Dickens et al, its ambiance, elegance, and excellent service survive the vagaries of time…

Brasserie Zedel is just on Piccadilly Circus and is wonderful! We had dinner there and it came to about £80 for 3 courses with a bottle of wine and aperitifs, which for central London is very inexpensive. The decor is quite opulent, art deco in style and is in the basement of the old Regent Palace hotel. They are open from lunchtime so for pre-theatre it is perfect.

They take reservations but keep back tables for walk-ins.

Racine in the Old Brompton Road is also another favourite of ours, cuisine a little more refined (and expensive) than Brasserie Zedel, they also have a pre-theatre menu.

Given the requirement for pre-theater, that changes thing a bit, since you'll need something quicker. I'd look at Yming, Leong's Legend, or Arbutus.

I second Racine >it is just down from Orsini"s and when we don't feel like venturing too far from hotel they are both excellent choices. Cafe Montepeliano also on Old Bromptom down from Racine is also very good