We need food recommendations for London in December. We will be staying in Mayfair but are willing to go some distance to seek out great food. It doesn’t have to be spectacular, but it needs to not suck! 
We are mostly looking at tea/dinner ideas… Thank you!!!
Take the train to Paris.
We were visiting my sister and sister-in-law in London last weekend. Unfortunately we only ate out in East Dulwich and near London Bridge- neither would be nearby, but I’ll start the ball rolling and bump your thread!
The Palmerston in East Dulwich was amazing- a great gastro-pub, lunch for 2 (2 courses plus drinks) was £60 though…so not cheap. If you do make it as far as East Dulwich, Liquorish does great cocktails!
We had lunch at More on Tooley St near Borough Market at London Bridge (near HMS Belfast)- good food, quiet, but a nice little place (my sister’s choice)- not a British menu though, sort of Italian-ish.
We had irishbaby in tow, so were looking for baby friendly lunch spots.
Stop at the Waterloo underground station and get some pasties, hand-made in Cornwall.
I haven’t been to the Gay Hussar for decades, but used to love it.
For ‘traditional’ I would recommend Simpsons in the Strand.
While you are there, you have to try one of the really good Indian restaurants - I honestly don’t know where I would suggest, but can ask family if you want.
I love Wagamama’s - it’s an Asian noodle place. Very informal and reasonably priced. It’s just behind Selfridges on Oxford Street (or was last time I was in London). As an aside, I saw Simon LeBon there one day at lunch.
It’s a chain, they’re all over the place.
Pick up a TimeOut the second you get off the plane…you can’t go wrong with their reviews and recommendations. Each week they highlight a ‘theme’ (Best Sunday Lunch or Best Brunch or Best Dimsum, etc, etc) plus they have their usual round-up of new and interesting restaurants by area. In general TimeOut is great for finding out what’s going out that week…lots of insider/secret places to visit/shop/see
I love, love, love The Wolseley on Piccadilly, next to the Ritz. If you want a stupendous afternoon tea (either just the cream tea or the full fancy pastries and little sandwiches with the crusts cut off experience), they are the place to go. They also have the best waitstaff I’ve encountered in London. You may want to call ahead for a reservation as they are generally busy.
Avoid the Ritz and Fortnum & Mason for tea - both are overpriced and touristy.
If you want to try Gordon Ramsay food without spending mega bucks, try the Warrington - good, top-end pub grub, great for lunch.
For a posh breakfast, have a look at The Wolseley, next to The Ritz. Great food (and because they messed up our order, we ended up with two free bottles of champagne).
For an interesting curry, try the Diwana Bhel Poori House in Euston - south Indian food, light and vegetarian, and quite unlike your traditional Ruby Murray. It’s cheap and BYOB.
As you’re staying in Mayfair, Amba’s nearby. I went there on Saturday and had a lovely dinner:
SimulWolseley! Clearly it’s good at any time of the day.
Yeah, their breakfast is fab too.
I once ordered a dessert there which consisted of three biscuits, for which they wanted about £5. I balked but went with it. Afterwards I had to agree that they were totally worth it.
Jamie Oliver has just opened an Italian place in the Docklands (called, imaginatively, Jamie’s Italian). I’m not sure I’d make a pilgrimage there but if you’re in the area it’s very good.
If you’re around for a brunch, Clerkenwell is packed with up-and-coming trendy places that serve mean mimosas and brilliant eggs. [is my personal favorite.
[url=http://www.littlebay.co.uk/]Little Bay](The Caterer - Modern Pantry Modern Pantry[/url) is my favorite restaurant (I’ve only been to the Farringdon and Kilburn branches). The food is stupendous for the prices they charge. Highly recommended.
He opened his first one in Oxford - I’ve eaten there three times and heartily recommend it. The lasagne is sensational. Very reasonable prices. You can’t book, so if you’re going for dinner, be prepared to wait a while in the bar.
Very nice mexican street-style food, cheap (For Mexican food in the UK anyhow) and tasty.
We had the lunch set meal, £20 for two of us and went away full and happy. The smoked herring and olive tostadas were a revelation but If possible I’d eat them first as they are fairly delicate and come as a bit of a shock to the palate if you eat them after something spicier.
They also do that weird huitlacoche stuff in a quesadilla, yum…don’t look, just eat! and for those who’ve never had it, don’t google it first.
You can’t book though, so you may have get rat-arsed at the bar first.
I’m going there tomorrow for my Christmas lunch with work colleagues. Been once before and it was quite nice. There are better Italians closer to where he is, though it is good value!
You can book if there are more than 8 guests or in the month of December for Christmas.
A closer (and in my opinion nicer) Italian is Latium:
Good value too with 3 courses for less than £30. And they throw in extras between courses (or at least they did when I last went) like hand-made chocolates between the main and dessert.
What type of food do you like?
We have a couple of Wagamamas down here in Boston - short day trip for you!
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Well, obviously, if you’re going to Britain, you’ll have to eat Indian food. Veeraswamy is the oldest continuously-open Indian restaurant in the world, and is rather good, if a tad overpriced. Plus, it’s on Regent Street, where you’ll doubtless be going anyway.
For what it’s worth, the best meal I’ve ever had was at Zen Central in Mayfair (it’s an “Asian fusion” restaurant, a bit like PF Chang’s).
There’s a terrific Greek restaurant in Richmond but it’s a bit out of the way for you and not near anything you’ll be likely to visit (except Kew Gardens - it’s only one Tube stop away).