London Eats on the Cheap (a rough guide)

London can be expensive nowadays – and I do mean expensive (the fact that 1 pound = 2 dollars does not help at all). But I just returned from a week long trip there having spent not very much money on what was altogether a very good experience.

My wife and I planned a very busy trip involving seeing every major museum and attraction in London, so we didn’t want to spend a lot of time sitting down and eating for lunch. Luckily, London has multiple “gourmet” sandwich places now to pick up a quick bite. We tried both Pret a Manger (which is everywhere) and EAT, and both were excellent. Crawfish with rocket (arugula) sandwich was one excellent meal. Another was avocado with pine nuts, sprouts, cucumbers and tomatoes. The ingredients were fresh, light and delicious. The only complaint would be that the bread could have been better. But at roughly 2-3 ₤ a sandwich, it couldn’t be beat, so many of our lunches were eaten here.

Another lunch was at the Borough Market on a Saturday. This is a must for any food-loving individual. Hundreds of stalls with European cheeses, sausages, and seafood (oysters the size of my head at one stall) could be found as far the eye could see. We opted for some Raclette (fresh, hot cheese melted and poured over potatoes with baby gerkins). I heard the chorizo sandwich guy could be good too, but couldn’t find him. The Neals Yard Cheese shop is nearby as well.

For one dinner, we had excellent fish and chips at a place called Rock and Sole Plaice by the Oxford Circus area. It was excellent, and enough food so we could split one haddock meal between the two of us (with some mushy peas on the side).

Another dinner was at Belgo Centraal, also in the thick of things by Picadilly. They have a special deal between 5-6:30, where a choice of items cost as much as the time you order the meal. We had moules and frites, (which comes along with a beer) for 5.30 ₤ each (they had other choices as well). It was not as good as Hopleaf, but it wasn’t bad, either. They also get high marks for all the Belgian beers available.

Masala Zone is an Indian chain restaurant, but slightly upscale. Also pretty good, in a nice environment, although you could probably find better if you looked hard. I wanted to go to Hot Stuff (see a recent NY Times article on it), but didn’t have the time because it is a touch further out.

We did eat at Wagamama one night, which is basically dumbed-down Asian food for the masses in a “cool” environment with communal seating (like Republic in NYC). It was better than I thought it would be, although you could probably do better in Chinatown (although oddly there was not much mention for any of the places in Chinatown on any of the food blogs).

Our worst meal was at a place called Stockpot, which has “typical” British food. It was not horrible, but just very bland and somewhat dry (chicken and sausage, steamed veggies, potatoes, etc).

Harrod’s Food Section was fun to walk through, especially when the pizza-guy started singing a little opera (and he was actually quite good). They had an amazing array of food, including one section of 8 different types of dates, over 20 different mousses – you get the idea. We didn’t actually eat there, though (we were on a budget after all).

Overall we had a great time, with decent food considering the prices. I did quite a bit of research before going, so if anyone has questions about any other places, let me know (example – Selfridges has a new mozzarella bar that looks very good, although expensive, etc).

I was just replying to another post on Edinburgh which made me remember a quick lunch at the "Crypt Cafe" underneath St. Martin of the Field. My husband was very entertained by that restaurant title. Food as usual with those places was really quite good.

I also have an odd fondness for the cafeteria at the Tate Gallery. Why are the British able to do these museum cafeterias and little snack places so well?

Thanks for posting this--we are hoping to make it back to London soon (it has been nine years) so I may take you up on your research some time.

I've never been to London, but I just came across this site earlier this week:

Gutter Eats

"The concept is simple: There are any number of review sites that will tell you all you need to know about London's top restaurants - but what if all you want is a tuna and cheese melt or a lasagne and chips?

GutterEats is all about the little guy, the eateries that fall below the radar of the normal review websites, but where most of us will eat our lunch time sandwich.

Just started a new job in a new area? Gutter Eats will help you decide which of the two identical looking sandwich shops next to your office is going to provide your lunch.

And when you find a great place (or a not so great place) share that information with the rest of us. We need to know! "

Matt, thanks for the report! Its been too long since I've been to London. I just want to go that much sooner now.

Thanks to everyone for the tips. I'm going to England in 2 weeks for 11 days (going to see 5 football matches!), and I'll be in London for at least a week. I'll be staying mostly in the Kensington area, near the museums, so if anyone has specifics for that part of town, that would be great.

Our hotel was by Earls Court, which is a little west of South Kensington. Lots of little restaurants by the Underground station there, including Wagamama's, Masala Zone, Nando's (a roast chicken fast-food like place), and many more.

Closer to Kensington and around the museum area (Victoria and Albert, natural History), there are places like Leon's (fast food Mediterranean) - close to Harrod's, Jenny Lo's Teahouse (Cantonese noodle place - by Victoria Station), the sandwich places Pret a Manger and EAT (11 Knaresborough Pl), Kulu Kulu (conveyor belt sushi - don't knock it 'till you've tried it) - 39 Thurloew Pl. The Jugged Hare for reportedly decent pub food and beer (south of Victoria station). There are many others, but it really depends on how much you are willing to spend. One blog stated The Friars Inn (21-23 Elizabeth St) had some of the best fish and chips in that area.

By the way, you can find some good buys for take home products at Simply Foods, which is from Marks and Spencers, a British department store. They carry mostly ready-made items to heat up at home, but do have great short-bread cookies and such, all to be had for a relative bargain (for Britain).

Don't miss Paul, a French-based chain cafe, for delicious coffee and yummy pastries. Paul is like France's own Au Bon Pain, but better... WAAAY better, I think. They're scattered all over London and my sister and I had our quickie breakfasts there when we were travelling.

considering PRET and EAT were chains, we skipped both. also saw zero need to eat at wagamama. Harrod's was fun to look at, super pricey after 2:1 currency conversion.

instead, we kept our eyes open for alleys packed with sandwich shops. there was such a street on Victoria (East of the Korean Embassy, south of Victoria Rd; horrible point of reference, but I do not have maps handy) where i found the most KICKARSE grilled duck+orange sausage+sweet corn sammie for 2 pounds.

having arrived way to late @ Borough, we opted for Tapas Brindisa which, after currency conversion, had a cheaper charcuterie plate than Avec. by far the best meal we had in London.


what's not cheap on London: Chinese Food. avoid at all cost. i tried to follow guttereats, but found there are many areas where there are zilch entries. also, i got lost a lot. otherwise, I'd highly suggest reading http://kristainlondon.typepad.com by a LTH user krista.

Although Pret and EAT are chains, they are a hell of a lot better than most chains I have been to in the states. Also, there were times when we were just hungry, and didn't want to walk 6 blocks to go somewhere when we would rather take that time to see a museum, and Pret was certainly everywhere. That being said, there are lots of non-chain sandwich shops all over (that looked like they were "branding" themselves in a way that made it clear that they wanted to become a chain). One that I wanted to try but never had the chance was called De Gustibus - reportedly excellent bread that they make in house for their sandwiches.

TonyC wrote:considering PRET and EAT were chains, we skipped both.

To me, visiting an omnipresent chain would be part of the travel experience, as long as the chain wasn't disgusting and foul and a pox on humanity and such... I quite enjoyed a visit to the mexican megastore simply named "Mega" on a visit to Playa del Carmen last year.

that reminds me, what about the steak places that Anthony Bourdain writes about in The Nasty Bits. AB avoids naming names, but from some googling, this suggests he was talking about Aberdeen Angus steak houses, also referenced here and wikipedia'd here.

those sound like a pox on humanity

TonyC wrote:also saw zero need to eat at wagamama.

Hmmm. I loved this place when I was a student in London--cheap and tasty and easy on the timid eaters in the group. But I was a student on a budget geared more for beer than food, so my memory may be dim on the place. Has it gone downhill, or are you simply poo-pooing it b/c it's a chain?

Don't forget the usually dependable Ploughman's Lunch served at most good pubs around the city. A big hunk of cheese, pickled bits, some fruit, a bap and butter...

I also ate my share of giant doorstep sandwiches.

germuska wrote:that reminds me, what about the steak places that Anthony Bourdain writes about in The Nasty Bits. AB avoids naming names, but from some googling...

OMG! i totally remembered AB's bit on Aberdeen when I saw the actual restaurants. A lil moment of eureka for me. The SO was like: wtf are you talking about!

don't really see a need to defend my avoidance of EAT/P-a-M/Wagamama but... the decision making process was simple. i went into P-a-M on the first day, looked at prices+selection, went into a Mom-n-Pop sandwich shop, did the same. realized EAT is a wannabe P-a-M took ~30 more minutes. relating to Chicago, wagamama is what Joy Yee's will be in 5 years.

contrary to what everyone pre-advised, i had pretty darned good eatin' in LON. we only had 1 truly awful meal and it was the stupid Chinese restaurant i "found" on Time Out London.

Just moved to Chicago from London after living there for a couple of years. I think London hit a culinary low sometime in the early 90's, but thanks to the Eagle and the beginning of the gastropub movement (not to the mention the booming EU-era economy), I found London one of the best food cities in the world. Tons of food of every ethnicity and price range... much of it quite high quality.

Another tip for bargain-hunting gourmands, check out TopTable. Not only can you book online, but many restaurants offer deep discounts through the site. And many of them are quite good!

instead, we kept our eyes open for alleys packed with sandwich shops.

This is the route I took the last time I was in London, 2002 or 2003. I flew in from New York just for the Dürer exhibit at the British Museum and the Kapoor installation at the Tate Modern. I didn't avoid chains deliberately, I just wanted to find small, quiet (cheap) places after the over-stimulation of looking at prints and underdrawings with a magnifying glass in crowded museums for two straight days. Unfortunately, I can't remember the names of the sandwich shops I visited. Chances are my eyes were so bad after looking at prints, I couldn't actually read the signs on the shops. Anyway, I highly recommend alleys.