I am getting very excited. This trip to London is last minute (from Chicago) and so far we lucked out with a great $127 US rate for the Millenium Bailey. I have started looking into restaurants and since we will be in London for 5 whole days, we would love to try a variety of restaurants (local pubs to **** dining). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. No AMERICAN restaurants please. Also, are there any websites that I should be looking at for restaurant reviews? Thanks so much.

Try checking out the international board at www.chowhound.com<BR>There are lots of good London food suggestions there that I have found to be reliable.

Thanks. I didn't know they had an International board.

I don't know of any good websites, but I would love to recommend an Indian restaurant called Mela. The ambiance, service and food is wonderful. This is the best Indian food I've ever had in my life in a restaurant. I recommend making reservations. The address is 152-156 Shaftesbury Avenue. Nearest Tube Station: Leicester Square<BR>phone 020 7836 8635. Also, another restaurant "to see and be seen in" is The Ivy. This is frequented by celebs. Everytime someone walks in the room, everyone looks up to see who it is. The interior is dark and wooded; kind of like an American steakhouse, but the food is good. Service is very good. If you can't get in for dinner, try lunch. You must make reservations for dinner long in advance. It's one of the hardest restaurants to get into last minute. I made reservations in January when I went in March and didn't get my first choice night. The address is 1 West Street, Covent Garden. Nearest Tube Station: Leicester Square<BR>Phone 020 7836 4751.<BR>

There are hundreds of good restaurants and pubs in London. (A second vote for the Ivy, plus Rules and too many others to list) I suggest you pick up a copy of the latest Zagat London restaurant guide. It is a pocket sized book with excellent reviews of 100's of places. It list them by cuisine, areas, themes, price, views, service, etc, etc. It is the restaurant bible that most Londoners use. You should be able to get/order it in any large US book store or on-line.

Try Brown's Restaurant near Leicester Square, not in the hotel, and do have the sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Also, I enjoyed ASK that I think is a chain. It is an Italian and pizzaria type place.

Thanks so much for all of the great ideas! Unfortunately I don't have enough time to get Ivy reservations (maybe lunch), but Rules and Browns both look great. I'll let you know where we end up. <BR>

Hi Mary.<BR>You must try the OXO Tower either restaurant or brasserie. The brasserie is very nice just not quite as expensive as the restaurant. It is a must with the most magnificent views of the Thames at night and fantastic buzzing atomsphere. Check out this website. There are other restaurants in the area. www.oxotower.co.uk<BR>You must also try the London pubs - here is a site with some great ideas. http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/londo...rink_pubs2.htm - I recommend a walk on the southbank around the Shakespeare Globe theatre...you will see on the pub page (above) by the name of Old Thameside Inn. The website gives you a map. It is at London Bridge tube station, walk through Borough Markets, worth the wander, and head for the river. You can't miss it, its near the Cutty Sark. Just ask someone at the markets they will all know the Cutty Sark (replica ship).<BR>If you want any further information please don't hesitate to contact me personally.<BR>Regards, Janie from London

For an upscale brasserie-type restaurant try Terrance Conran's Quaglino's. Check it out online.<BR><BR>Great Indian food--very different from my experience of Indian restaurants here in US--Bombay Brasserie<BR><BR>Have a wonderful time!

Go to lastminute.com and toptable.co.uk and get some really good deals on some great restaurants. Alternatively, eat at even the poshest places at lunch time or early dinner and get 2 courses from $15 and 3 from $18. Palais du Jardin in Covent Garden is good, and Bank at Aldwych is stylish and decent. For less ostentatious places, try Strada pizza restaurants (wood-fired ovens, funky 70s retro surroundings, good service, good prices) and for something different, tho' really better for the experience rather than night-time 'proper' dining, is Belgo Centraal near Neal Street. Incognico (that is correct spelling) on Shaftesbury Avenue does it all well - food, service, atmosphere, and has cracking lunch and early dinner menus. <BR>N B Don't tip more than 12.5%. Usually this amount is included in the final bill. Any more and the average and expected level will creep up, which is bad for the locals.

These are two restaurants I really liked, good atmosphere and good food - both are near the Victoria Station metro:<BR>Bumbles, Buckingham Palace Rd at Bressendon Place <BR>Carriages – same streets, kitty-corner from Bumbles<BR>

Nancy, Nancy, Nancy -- I've told you numerous times on this forum that BUMBLES isn't there anymore! When we stayed at the Rubens in May, it was boarded up and being remodeled as a different restaurant!<BR>

Betty - how stupid of me not to have gone thru the hundreds of messages on this forum and realized that you told me "numerous" times that Bumbles has gone! Sorry to hear that.

Brown's for Sticky Toffee Pudding is a must. We loved Wagamama, which is a chain of Japanese Noodle Houses that look like they were decorated by IKEA. There is one in Leicester Square and one in Covent Garden by the Transportation Museum. It is very affordable, the food is excellent and the atmosphere is fun. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a very nice Pub style restaurant (Charles Dickens used to frequent here) it is located just a few blocks down from St. Paul's. A few blocks down from Westminster Abbey is the best fish and chips, it looks like a total dive of a place, but by lunch time there is a line around the block. I unfortunately can not remember the street, but there's usually an open market taking place on this street and it's at the end of the market (you turn left on to it, from the street Westminster Abbey is located on). I will say avoid the Mexican restaurant in Leceister Square.

Well, Nancy, I tried to send you an email directly the last time, but it came back as "undeliverable". A couple of times, I responded right away to let you know that it was closed. I guess on THOSE occasions you didn't go back and look at the messages once you replied. But, this time you did look! Now you know.

Hey Betty - chill out! It was an honest mistake and your attitude is not appropriate.

I shall be glad to e-mail you a note I keep on good London pub lunches, if you ask me. It is a bit long for this forum.<BR><BR>Welcome to London<BR><BR>Ben Haines

Babs, who put you in charge?? MYOB.

Rules was great! Cute Scottish waiter very thoughtfully removed head from fish before serving it to 9-year-old who had just given lecture to dad (who ordered venison). Great pre-theater experience--not cheap though.

Ben Haines,<BR><BR>I'm heading to London in a couple weeks and I would appreciate it, if its not too much trouble, if you could e-mail me your list of pubs also. Thank you very much!