London restaurant suggestions
 

My family and I will be traveling to London in June. Any suggestions for the best places to eat in London? Also, suggestions for the best place to get good fish and chips.

There are thousands of places to eat in London. My husband and I enjoyed the Mongolian Barbeque. We also enjoyed the pub down the street from our dorm. Your other post had some suggestions for reasonably priced meals. Our favorite meals were in the restaurants we just happended to find while exploring the city, or the sandwiches and crisps we bought and ate in one of London's many parks. Don't worry to much about what/where you will eat because there really is a bunch of places to eat in London, covering all price ranges and tastes.

When I lived in London my favourite place for fish & chips was the Sea Shell in Lisson Grove. It does eat-in as well as takeaway.

We ate Indian food near Leicester Square and it was SOOOOOOOO good. Can't remember the name of the place but they're probably all about the same. Reasonably priced too.

Also ate at the Spaghetti House which was decent.

Sea Shell's gone downhill markedly over the past few years. As for Spaghetti House, it's a dreadful chain restaurant that's not worth a penny in my opinion.

Try North Sea Fish in Bloomsbury, it's very basic, but good quality.

Thanks for your suggestions!

This is sort of off the subject in a way, and I am not recommending this restaurant because I could not get past the name. Has anyone eaten at The
Slug and Lettuce?

My friends wanted to go in there when we were in London, I believe. I just couldn't do it. I have this thing about slugs...........it's a long story.

We ate at a Slug and Lettuce in Chester in Dec. As far as I could see there were no slugs but some lettuce.

It is an ok chain. Came in handy for a lunch when planning fell apart and we needed something before we all melted down. They have a long menu, what looked like a large bar, a decent children's menu and the staff was friendly.

The Slug and Lettuce is a pretty good chain. Another for kids is Garfunkles.

A better, more interesting option would be Belgro Centrall in Leister Square. Casual. Great for before theater or lunch! It is a fun atmosphere. Belguim food...steak and frites, mussels and frites, etc... with beer of course!

Tip: if you eat before a certain hour you only pay what time it is on certain dinners. Ex: 5 GBP at 5:00pm. Check out the industrial WC! Kids will like it too.

Agree with Belgo. Pizza Express and Wagamamas are two of our other favorites. It might help to know where you are staying and how many are in your party (and ages).

We ate at Bentley's (seafood, and not cheap but wonderful), and Gay Hussar's (Hungarian - great goulash).

<Any suggestions for the best places to eat in London?>

I was thinking along the lines of Gordon Ramsay, Le Gavroche, or even Lemonia. But PIZZA EXPRESS OR WAGAMAMMA???? NO!!!! That is like sending someone to Au Bon Pain in Manhattan for their tucker.

We must move in different circles, sweetie. I suppose you couldn't get an invite to the Groucho?

This is an interesting thread. I keep reading through it asking myself what I've missed. There are a number of posts suggesting decent to good restaurants for low budget. Did I miss the part in the original post asking for such? I thought pedinurse asked about the "best places to eat in London"? I'm with ThinGorjus. What's wrong with this picture?

I'm w/ Patrick and ThinGorjus. When I first saw this thread I just passed it by - - "suggestions for the best places to eat in London?" I ask you - how on earth can anyone answer that?

Best how? Price, food, ambiance, convenience to your hotel, pre-theatre, or what?

But - Mongolian BBQ or Slug & Lettuce. Huh - would not be on my list of "best" for any of those criteria.

pedinurse: there are thousands of places to eat in London - give us a hint what you mean and THEN we can give useful advice.

Wagamamas is great. Pizza Express is quite good as well. I like both better than S and L and Garfunkles actually.

High end...Sketch Gallery for trendy posing people watching. Art Gallery during the day if it is still there. Egg toilets are space age! Been a year and a half since I've been there.

Hakkasan in W1 and Nobu yummy but expessive!

Lunch or snack any cafe in Primrose Hill!

I agree, the original poster did not give enough detail on the best of *which type* of restaurants s/he is looking for, and in any case I only answered the bit specifically about fish & chips.

But I see "family" & assume this involves children; so would assume s/he is looking for moderately priced places suitable for children - *not* the likes of Gordon Ramsay, which is indeed the best place of its kind but not a family restaurant ! But maybe I would be wrong to interpret it that way. Come on, pedinurse, tell us what you're really looking for !

The members traveling in my party will be my son, daughter-in-law,daughter,and myself,ages range between 26-49. I was mainly looking for places to eat that others have felt worth visting. The type of food doesn't really matter as we like all types,Italian, British,Chinese, etc. We were just looking for suggestions for reasonably priced but good locations to visit so that we can more effectively plan our trip. Nothing worse than going somewhere and then trying to figure out what might be good or not. Thanks for your help.

Also, we will be staying near the Victoria Station.

I agree, this is a VAST subject. I eat out all the time and find it very hard to recommend without some really specific requirements. As always I strongly recommend you get a good restaurant guide - Harden's is the best (Hardens.com) - buy the book, it lists all categories and prices and has very accurate reviews.

Just by chance, I watched the London restaurant Awards on the telly last night, check out the winners:
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/home_feat_tiopepeawards.asp

...there's a lot of quite reasonable choices amongst them.

As a kick start, I would suggest:
- Eat at least one good indian meal - it's practically our national cuisine these days. Check out the best on hardens.com
- Eat in one good gastropub - the website above will guide you to some places.

If you can get a back copy - Gourmet magazine devoted an entire issue to London a couple of months ago.

There are some fabulous restaurants in London, but there's also some real horror stories (anywhere in Leicester Square for instance), so you are wise to research. And it never hurts to book early to guarantee your place.

Lots of homework for you then!

Kate
London

A few new spots will be opening soon (this summer) in London--Nobu Berkeley (on Berkeley Street in Mayfair; I passed it today and think that's the street). On Picadilly, halfway between Fortnum and Mason's and the Green Park tube stop, a new branch of Patisserie Valerie is in progress. PV supposedly has the "best croissants in town" and "definitive non-greasy breakfast." (Harden's 2005) Never been to one, so can't say if that's true. If they're anywhere as good as the croissants at Le Pain Quotidien in Brussels, they would be good indeed.

One new restaurant already open that I tried and enjoyed is Lucio on 257-259 Fulham Road in SW3. Modern Italian, nice light decor, excellent service. Not too expensive; good reviews from the 2005 Harden's and Zagat's (too new for the 2004 editions, I think).

It is on Berkeley St.. I'm not a fan of Nobu, it's overly posey, and mark my words, in a few years time minimalism and the cuisine associated with it will all be out of vogue, and that site (previously Mayfair club) will be opening up as something new again. However, in the short-term it's going to be extremely popular with people who can't get in at the original one.

As for Patisserie Valerie, they're not bad, and relatively cheap so you can't complain too much about it. The trouble is that they lack overall quality - the patisserie is acceptable, but their teas are all from teabags which at 2GBP a cup (not pot) in a cafe type environment simply isn't good enough. On a side note, the other day I happened to be in an House of Fraser store, and fancied an early grey tea - they acutally used loose leaf, I was most impressed.