Wimpy's is definitely still around, there is one on our high street.

<i>Could not stand Wagamama, The worst restaurant in Japan does much better food.</i>

If only the OP were going to Japan, rather than the UK...

<i>Found Hakkasan different than the usual Chinese but very expensive for the food and probably a better bet for interesting cocktails.</i>

I don't think Hakkasan any more expensive than any other Michelin-starred restaurant.

<i>In the five visits to London since my retirement in 1999, I've never seen one. Does it still exist?</i>

<i>Wimpy's doesn't exist anymore, I remember that place.</i>

Apparently, it is actually still around. The closest one to Central London appears to be Southwark.

http://www.wimpy.uk.com/locator

West Cornwall Pasty has some coffee shops in London and food wagons last I knew scattered about.>>

Pal's idea definitely the best.

I know quite a few people in cornwall who exist on pasties so no reason why you can't!

"Marsala is a wine from Sicily, usually found in its fortified variety, and used to make zabaglione. Masala is a type of curry."

Auto-correct must be a lush. I can never remember so relied on the computer. Love zabaglione!

Loch Fyne is hit and miss.

The original owner sold out but has since repurchased the first site on loch Fyne. We ate there recently and it was of a really good standard.

Really surprised to see Wimpy still around, I remember them and C&A as being iconic 70s brands.

Burgers : Ali G has it right.

All the best chefs in the world are men.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dyLSstqMvH8

Chartley....

We went back to Wimpy's because we were young, stupid, and pinching pennies.

[I have to admit that Wimpy's was the first fast-burger joint I ever went to that put grilled onions (rather than raw as was the habit in the US at the time) on the burgers...which I found tasty.]

On that trip, we also made the mistake of going to a Chinese restaurant in rural Wales -- hungry, on the road, and not sure when the next opportunity would present itself. Boy, was that food bad.

But the winner of the crappy-food-we-ate-when-traveling-young contest was spaghetti in Turku, Finland in 1974. Basically overcooked pasta with Campbell's condensed (but not diluted) tomato soup on it, with some kind of local (non-Italian) cheese.

NOTE: We went back to Finland in 2001 (visitng relatives) and the food options were light-years better.

Ahhh.those were the days....

SS

The only restaurant chains I find bearable are Le Pain Quotidien which is from Belgian, thus it is Belch and Saravana Bhavan which is South Indian vegetarian.

The bread and brownies at Le Pain are excellent.

We still go to Saravana despite the fact the chain founder P. Rajagopal was sentenced to life prison for the murder of an employee and sexual harassment of his wife Jeevajothi. That is the reason why so many people are on cell phones. Sorry.

The burgers at Shake Shack are over rated but the shakes are excellent.

We ate a Wimpy's 35 years ago, which made all other English seem good.

We enjoyed our dinner at COMPTOIR LIBANAIS, a lebanese restaurant that has several locations in London.

Left satisfied at all of the following: Nando's; Paul; Byron; Zizzi.

Our favorites in the South Kensington are (near Victoria & Albert Museum) are Le Pain (great for breakfast!) and Thai Square. We love Thai food and the relatively small Thai Square at 19 Exhibition Road is a favorite. We've probably eaten there 10 to 15 times over the past 6 or 7 years.

There used to be a Wimpys near the bus station in Cambridge. One Wimpy burger made my College Cafeteria look good. No reason to go to London to eat mediocre Japanese food at Wagamama and no reason to pay Michelin prices for Chinese food at Hakkasan when you can find Chinese food of similar quality in many major cities. In fact, no reason really to eat at most restaurant chains in London. Might look into a non chain pub for lunch, or perhaps a fish and chips joint.

Of course all food recommendations are extremely subjective. I happen to adore a couple of dishes at Wagamama. The beef yaki soba is very good as is the kare lomen (spelling might be off) with prawns (large shrimp). There is another recent Japanese chain (2 or 3 branches) a spin off of Itsui conveyor operation with boxes and boxes of sushi/salads and the like prepared and boxed elsewhere but while certainly not gourmet sushi or sashimi, quite edible. A large branch just opened adjacent to Charing Cross station; another is on the Strand a block or two from the Savoy. Another branch on Victoria Street a block or two from the Victoria Palace Theatre.

Pret is always good to pick up a miso soup at 11 AM and sit taking advantage of their free wifi for an hour or so. I don't find their variety of sandwiches to be as robust as once upon a time. I always pick up my sodas from a chain before eating at any of these places because none offer the flavor I want i.e. Diet coke cherry.

Also (I don't do it btw) if you want to save some money, when they ask you take away, say yes. Eating in adds 20% in taxes to the bill. I wonder if the government sends inspectors around to catch people trying to dodge these taxes.

When I was much younger and started visiting London, I was told Wimpy and the Angus or Aberdeen Steak Houses were horrible. I guess they still are if they exist at all. Also Garfunkels has always impressed me as being a variation of Denny's.

The hardest part for me to get used to, as an American, is having the currency worth 1.5 times US currency. So a nice cheap dish of £3.99 is really over $6; I suppose that is not terrible expensive but just hard to get used to.

Finally I was always told Café Rouge was awful as do some of the guide books say. Went with some friends one day to the branch in Greenwich after taking the mandatory pictures of straddling the line between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres and was shocked that it really wasn't all that bad.

Like everybody says to each his or her own.

Incidentally, what seems to be springing up all through London are Japanese fast food operations called Wasabi. Chintsy places. Wanted 5p for extra soy sauce (1 small container is packed in the box) and 5p extra for extra tubes of wasabi, for which it is named.

"the hardest part for me to get used to, as an American, is having the currency worth 1.5 times US currency. So a nice cheap dish of £3.99 is really over $6; I suppose that is not terrible expensive but hard to get used to."

But if you are in a restaurant the price includes the tax, and a chunk of the tip, so not as different as it appears at first.

Never thought of it that way <g>.

Incidentally, with this take out/eat in thing, when I go to McDonald's, I don't see a price difference even though they ask me. Or is there one and I'm not realizing it?

<i>no reason to pay Michelin prices for Chinese food at Hakkasan when you can find Chinese food of similar quality in many major cities</i>

Unless by "many major cities" you mean Hong Kong, that is an exaggeration. Hakkasan is an excellent restaurant and is not "just another" Chinese restaurant.

Great thread which prompted me to book a table at one of our favorite "chains" in London, the Hawksmoor.

Regarding prices in the UK, I equate a £ to a dollar when it comes to value and don't try to convert it, which for me, is a useless exercise. I know perfectly well that a £ = $1.50-1.60 but I find that it's also approximately the difference in what one pays for things, more expensive, exchange aside, than in the US. So I just compare apples to apples when paying for things and think of £'s there as I do $'s here, much less stressful. Does that make sense?

LOL
<<Great thread which prompted me to book a table at one of our favorite "chains" in London, the Hawksmoor.>>

Yes the irony is that in London the chains seem to exist at every price point. I love Ottolenghi which is of course a chain and we've had a series of good meals at Cafe a Vin which is part of the Galvin group of restaurants and right around the corner from Hawksmoor in Spitalfields.

xyz123, when McDonald's asks us here (US) eat in or take out, it means they either bag the meal or put it on a tray.