I have a long weekend in London coming up and will be taking my American wife, who has not been to London as an adult. I am English, but it is 15 years since I spent any significant time in London. I suppose we could do the traditional US tourist thing and eat in an Aberdeen Steak House on Oxford Street, then complain (justifiably) abut English food. However, I’d rather eat in some good restaurants - any recommendations please?
Cost is not a major factor. It does not have to be central - I wouldn’t mind exploring Islington, Highgate, Hampstead and such - anywhere reasonably accessible by Tube.
You are spolied for choice. London is now a great place to eat, but could you give some ideas of what you want eg Michelin three star luxury, cutting edge food, celeb spotting, any ethnic preferences etc etc.
Also I know you say cost isn’t an issue - but be aware that the top places will be over £100 a head with wine etc.
We will have three nights, so I would aim for variety across the three. My exact phrase was “cost is not a major factor”, not that my budget is unlimited. I don’t mind pushing the boat out on one of the nights.
I don’t care about celebrity spotting. I don’t like things too stuffy and formal (although traditional Sunday lunch at the Savoy might be a possibility).
I would prefer English & French style. I can get Chinese, Indian, Thai, Italian etc. here in Atlanta (I can get French too, but it is not the same).
So, generally up-market casual, a bit lively, a bit trendy (but not off the wall). Romantic recommendations would be good also. Bistro-style would be good. When I last lived in London (early 90s), Steven (Stephen(?)) Bull was a bit of a name. If that means anything to you, that type of restaurant would be fine.
(And you can recommend south of the river too, owl, but I’m a bit lost down there.)
Stephen Bull is still around. You want St John Food and wine for him. Unfortunately he can no longer cook as he has a nervous problem that has taken away the use of an arm, but he still overseas the kitchen here’s the website:
(BTW I though Americans fainted at tyhe thought of offal)
Probably the best in London is Gordon Ramsey in Chelsea - 3 stars. Very expensive but as good as anything in the world. You’d need to book well in advance.
The Savoy is also rather wonderfull as a setting but overpriced IMHO. You’ll eat better and cheaper over the Road at Simpsons.
J Sheeky is great but is an “American” restaurant - which seems to defeat the object.
Wheelers in Green Park is probably the epitome of English fish restaurants (it’s also the oldest - about 300 years)
For “bistro” read “gastropub” - it’s the closest we come. These are pubs that have restaurant quality food at pub prices (ie around £15 a head). The original one of these was the Eagle in Farringdon Rd (quite near the smithfield St John). It’s prettty good still.
There are old fashioned pubs like the hollybush in Hampstead Village which are lovely, but not fantastic food (perfectly OK but they are pubs).
Also Chinatown before they demolish it has some cracking places, but I can’t remember the ones I’ve been to.
Please don’t go to the Aberdeen Steak Houses, they suck.
Of course, owlstretchingtime will probably be back in to tell you how my choices suck fairly soon, but I liked them.
I’ve never been to any of those places - but they do seem to have made you awfully dyspeptic. Can’t have helped the farmers much either.
Also I assumed the “angus steak house” was a joke. If it wasn’t please under no circumstances go. It is a running joke in London that they must be a money laundering operation as they are always empty.
If you fancy a good Steak - I like the Pope’s Eye up in Olympia. There’s also a couple of “Argentinian” places called the Gaucho grill that are great - but to be fair, you’d get better in the states.
A few other suggestions:
Breakfast: The “full english” is a challenge. My favourite versions of it are the Fox and Anchor pub in Smithfield meat market which opens at about 6am, and the “seven deadly sins” in Simpsons. Washed down with a black velvet.
No visit would be complete without fish and chips. THis is a real pot-luck thing as the quality available is seriously variable (can be down right disgusting) but a couple of reliable (and popular) choices are the Rock and Soul Plaice in Covent Garden (Endell St) and Geales in Notting hill. (cue Mr beserker’s opinions on soft shandy-drinking southern fish and chips…
It was indeed, albeit with a serious point - some Americans come to England, eat at really crap places (like ASH), then complain about English food. That would be like me judging American food based solely on Applebee’s.
Very true - my wife has been to England with me once, to Yorkshire, and will never order steak in England again. I don’t either, because you can get better steak at ordinary chain restaurants in the US.
Thanks for the Simpson’s suggestion in your other post. I was esperately trying to remember the name of that place when I wrote about The Savoy.
I’m a northerner too, from the home of fish & chips. My wife love’s them (based on eating them in Yorkshire), but I have told her all about the evils of f&c in London. Mind you, a restaurant might well be fine. It is f&c in the London chippes that is god-awful.
When I was living in London, I couldn’t afford any of the real good places. But I did get treated to a dinner at a place called Belgo in central London somewhere. That seemed pretty good, but considering I had been living on spaghetti and baked potatoes for the previous month or two, anything would have. It was a bunch of us, though, I don’t know how it would be for just two.
Geales is a restaurant - the covent garden one is a chippie with some tables. Also there are plenty of good chippies in london - it’s just that they tend to be neighbourhood places that you are unlikely to find by accident. I could tell you all about Brady’s in Wandsworth - but you’re never going to go there.
There’s a few of these about. They are really (IMHO) more for a group outing as you tend to sit at long benches and the food is messy - mussells and chips (the belgian kind for the benefit of our northern correspondents) and so on - with a HUGE range of Belgian beers (which are very strong). There’s definately one in Covent Garden and one in Chalk Farm - I think there are others. The waiters are dressed as monks.
There’s a few of these about. They are really (IMHO) more for a group outing as you tend to sit at long benches and the food is messy - mussells and chips (the belgian kind for the benefit of our northern correspondents) and so on - with a HUGE range of Belgian beers (which are very strong). There’s definately one in Covent Garden and one in Chalk Farm - I think there are others. The waiters are dressed as monks.
Those actually sound utterly foul. I had the mussels. Tasty. And some sort of Schnapps were brought to the table on a wooden rack thingie as an apertif. I don’t remember which kind mine was, but they were all unlabeled.
Jellied eels are a “traditional” london food - and yes they are every bit as foul as they sound (think inner tubes in vaseline). They don’t sell 'em at Belgo (or very many places - although there are men who sell them in pubs)
I went to a great French restaurant the other day - The Chancery, on Chancery Lane. Lovely food, friendly, unpretentious service.
It’s a chain but I love Loch Fyne, a Scottish seafood restaurant. Might be nice to go for lunch there - they do a great lunch menu, £9.99 for two courses.
I’m usually not much for recommending restaurants, but I do happen to know a good one in London that I always tell people about. Konaki Greek Restaurant on 5 Coptic Street, near the British Museum.
It’s been about three years since I was there, so I hope it’s still the same. They had reasonable prices, delicious food, and friendly waitstaff.