My husband and I are going to London in December to celebrate our 5th anniversary. I'm looking for a memorable place to have an anniversary dinner - not to crazy price wise, but a really good meal. Probably would like to spend $250. Any suggestions?

Wow, for $250 you should be able to have a very nice dinner, even in London. There are so many places, and I'm sure you'll get a zillion suggestions. You must have some kind of cuisine in mind, but you haven't said what. My favorite place (and I say this with full knowledge that it will get a lot of boos from others) is the restaurant Rules, in Covent Garden, which is the oldest restaurant in London. It is just a really nice place to enjoy good British atmosphere and good food. Good luck.

I very much like Rules as well, though I would recommend booking at 8pm or later to avoid the pre-theatre rush.
It features traditional English food, and also offers a lot of game dishes.

The Ivy is even better, more contemporary food, hard to get a table, book weeks (months) in advance.

While I agree that The Ivy is hard to book, it is hardly a great dining experience in my opinion. You can look at lists of reader reviews on several websites and find many who agree that the service is mediocre to appalling, and most will say the food is good, but nothing spectacular.

Rules is wonderful for atmosphere and you will have polished old world service, but to be honest, although I like it, I don't know that it is all that great foodwise.

My suggestion would be Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's for a truly great dining experience. So long as you are conservative with the wine selection you will stay within the budget.

I second Patrick's suggestion for Gordon Ramsay. I had a beautiful meal there in a very refined dining room. The bar in Claridges is lovely as well. You can get more info at:

http://www.savoy-group.co.uk/Claridg...ey/default.asp

I also love Mirabelle in Mayfair which is STUNNING. Pale green and silver chinoiserie with an enormous disco ball turning slowly to cast sparkles on the ceiling. Again, lovely for a drink too.

I went to Rules last Christmas and really, really enjoyed it. I was prepared to be disappointed (maybe that's the secret!) and I wasn't. The service was top notch and the food was beautifully cooked, traditional British food and lots of it!!

I have actually booked a table at The Ivy in October for my boyfriend's birthday. I am looking forward to it, if only to make up my own mind once and for all. Any restaurant in London with Baked Alaska on the menu is worth a try in my books!!

The Ivy is naff and its cuisine isn't really in vogue, it's just always been and will be a "café" to regular clientele not a fine dining experience.

Gordon Ramsay's restaurants are a good choice, especially his own in Hospital Rd Chelsea. Sketch in Conduit St. is also a good option, despite its extremely high prices.

I think she said $250 not £250!!!! tnewsome, there are 3 levels of restaurant at Sketch - the most expensive one is apparently vastly overpriced. I have not eaten there - it's just too expensive. If nothing else, you could have tea in the patisserie. Looks very nice. I walk past it every day and keep meaning to drop by. The bathrooms are apparently out of this world - toilet rolls suspended from Swavroski (sp?) crystals. Yes, that's right.

Sketch is a heap of pretentious shite. Even Burger King gives it a run for its money on the value stakes. Seriously, that dreadful place Nobel Rot round the corner is better value than Sketch. Even Circus is better, well may be not!

Com'on, UKUKUK, tell us what your REALLY think. LOL.

I can't believe no one has mentioned McDonald's in Leicester Square!

Sorry - couldn't resist. I'm just slightly giddy because it's FRIDAY!!!

I liked Caprice very much.

I liked Simpson's in the Strand. Sherlock Holmes ate there.

I find that hard to believe, Sherlock my dear joemar was a fictional character, but Simpson's will still impress someone after something "so English", and the food's pretty good too. Don't expect cutting edge haute cuisine, something very classical - roast meats being their speciality.

December,'03, issue of Bon Appetit mag. listed a number of hot London restaurants with Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" being the "hottest"!

My husband and I had a very good meal at Conran's Quaglino's in London in 2000. Perhaps I'm just remembering the dessert--the best pavlova ever with mango sauce.

Jamie "happy dayths" Oliver, I admire for achieving immense things over the past few years, from rags to riches . However, his cooking lacks finesse, and is far too basic for the prices charged as 15, also he's one of Bliar's chums.

If you're at Quag's slip one of their ashtrays into your handbag!

If the most important part of this trip is a memorable meal, go to Paris instead of London.

My dear m_k,

For those of us who are Sherlockians or Holmesians (UK), Sherlock Holmes is just as real as, say, Tony Blair.

His chronicler, John H. Watson, MD, more than once noted that he and Holmes ate at Simpson's in the Strand.

On my last visit to London, I went upstairs to the Knight's Bar and had a light lunch next to the very windows from which Holmes and Watson watched the flow of humanity in the street below.

Our waiter, though too young to have seen Holmes himself, remembered that his grandfather, also a waiter at Simpson's, had mentioned seeing Holmes on more than one occasion.

Surely, you will not accuse the waiter's grandfather of lying, would you?

If you insist.

Gee, I remember seeing Moriaty at Rules.