Need London Cuisine Advice

[ColdPhoenix]

@Dunkelheit

Someone suggested Le Gavoche, where one might actually get to meet Michel Roux, Jr. if it’s one of his days working, but unfortunately we missed the booking window (three months!), and we probably wouldn’t have met the dress code. That was an aspect I hadn’t considered when pondering the possibilities in the first place. It’ll need to be someplace where Him Indoors can get in without a suit jacket.

If you’re looking for somewhere that’s not too expensive then I’d avoid Le Gavroche. Last time I went with my wife we spent £400. And she’s a non-drinking vegetarian. Great evening though!

That said, for fancy that doesn’t break the bank you can get set lunches in most Michelin star restaurants for a quite a reasonable price. E.g.

http://www.galvinatwindows.com/restaurant-menus-london/lunch-menu-du-jour/

In fact, if you’re drinking then Le Gavroche’s set lunch isn’t bad value at £55 for 3 courses and a half bottle of wine per person.

Some decent italians that are good value:
http://www.ilbordello.com/
http://www.latiumrestaurant.com/index.htm

Good british food:
http://www.thegundocklands.com/ (it’s a pub and a bit out of the way but nice)
Home Page - Harrys Bar
http://www.smithsofsmithfield.co.uk/
On indian restaurants, there are loads (as mentioned above) but the vast majority serve unpleasant but popular fare with a selection of meats in a madras/korma/jalfrezi which isn’t real indian food. For authentic, try:
http://www.redfort.co.uk/ (more modern)
http://gaylordlondon.com/ (more traditional)

[jnglmassiv]

Here’s a few threads from a food forum I’m loosely affiliated with:
London Trip, August 2014
Cocktails and Food in London - Where
(Older and most photo links are dead but lottsa recs) A Week in London
LTH for London
St. Johns, Haute Slaughterhouse in London
Some great photos here: Off the Towpath in London: Nitro Ice Cream, Bacon, and Eels

Actually, the search results go on and on, check out the site.

[Ukulele_Ike]

The Indian food is fabulous.

That said, places serving good old fashioned English grub have gotten REALLY GOOD over the past 20 years. I’ve been lucky enough to have had two business trips to London over the past year, and this place was go good we went twice.

http://www.anchorandhopepub.co.uk/

It’s on the south side of the river, so don’t expect posh, and you do have to wait for your table. In the bar. With a pint. So you don’t get impatient. And the menu doesn’t look “exciting.”

But every bite we had there melted in the mouth.

[Dunkelheit]

Thanks for all the links everybody, I’ll check them out.

@Lasciel

Once you do decide and go, let us know which you picked and how they were, because I want to steal ideas for my own upcoming trip in a few years.

Definitely going to check out that Shoe Shop place suggested upthread, it seems the best combination of interesting menu (that’s suitable for us both) and reasonable prices so far. Hope they’re open and available while we’re there, heh.

@ColdPhoenix

If you’re looking for somewhere that’s not too expensive then I’d avoid Le Gavroche. Last time I went with my wife we spent £400. And she’s a non-drinking vegetarian. Great evening though!

That said, for fancy that doesn’t break the bank you can get set lunches in most Michelin star restaurants for a quite a reasonable price. E.g.

In fact, if you’re drinking then Le Gavroche’s set lunch isn’t bad value at £55 for 3 courses and a half bottle of wine per person.

It was the business lunch that was suggested, but even that requires a booking three months in advance, so alas, not this time. I don’t know if the menu would have been quite the thing for Him Indoors, unfortunately, as French seems to lean heavily towards the seafood and dairy ends of things. I would still like to try it myself sometime. French in general, not necessarily La Gavroche, though meeting Michel Roux, Jr. would be splendid. He seems so affable.

@ColdPhoenix

On indian restaurants, there are loads (as mentioned above) but the vast majority serve unpleasant but popular fare with a selection of meats in a madras/korma/jalfrezi which isn’t real indian food. For authentic, try:

Thanks, but really not interested in Indian for this, as mentioned above. I can’t tolerate peppers and I hate cilantro, fenugreek and cardamom, so that leaves out a lot of Indian options for me. Definitely looking for European/Continental as such except for the particular Asian options specified in the first post (Thai, Vietnamese and Dim Sum).

[Crusoe]

Thai restaurants are almost omnipresent in central London. Busaba Eathai and Thai Square have the mid-range chain market sewn up, and they’re not bad.

Vietnamese I can’t comment much on. Plenty around, but the only one I’ve tried was Pho (a few branches around the city). Does for Vietnamese food what Wagamama does for Japanese and Wahaca for Mexican. Not sure how it would stand up against your dislike of spicy food though.

Not a fan of dim sum so won’t try to offer much, although (as mentioned already) there’s an upmarket chain, Ping Pong. Yauatcha is another name that crops up too.

Lots of German sausage places around but I’m not aware of anything with a broader cuisine. Shedloads of French restaurants too, and I don’t eat out enough to recommend any of the top end places. Club Gascon always used to be good without being overly fancy, and I’ve had Casse-Croute highly recommended to me recently.

Restaurants & Cafes in London - Time Out London is probably a decent place to start. Looks like they’ve covered Vietnamese recently.

[alexandra]

@Crusoe

Thai restaurants are almost omnipresent in central London. Busaba Eathai and Thai Square have the mid-range chain market sewn up, and they’re not bad.

Vietnamese I can’t comment much on. Plenty around, but the only one I’ve tried was Pho (a few branches around the city). Does for Vietnamese food what Wagamama does for Japanese and Wahaca for Mexican. Not sure how it would stand up against your dislike of spicy food though.

Not a fan of dim sum so won’t try to offer much, although (as mentioned already) there’s an upmarket chain, Ping Pong. Yauatcha is another name that crops up too.

Lots of German sausage places around but I’m not aware of anything with a broader cuisine. Shedloads of French restaurants too, and I don’t eat out enough to recommend any of the top end places. Club Gascon always used to be good without being overly fancy, and I’ve had Casse-Croute highly recommended to me recently.

http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants is probably a decent place to start. Looks like they’ve covered Vietnamese recently.

Yauatcha’s really nice, quite fancy. Don’t think it’s a chain. Recommended.

Hood in Streatham is good for your posh-but-not-break-the-bank modern British option- but it’s undeniably out of the way. About 20 mins bus ride from Clapham Common tube… I’ll also second the Il Bordello tip.

[Dunkelheit]

It looks like trolley-service dim sum isn’t as common as I’d hoped, and the places that offer it seem to have gone downhill recently if the reviews are anything to go by. It might be worth taking a chance on one of them and hoping to catch them on a good day, because the idea of ordering dim sum from a menu just seems wrong to me.