Cheap London Restaurants & Pubs
Internet Discounts at Toptable, Gastro-Pub Menus and Sunday Roasts
Aug 8, 2007
London: Accommodation costs and entrance fees
London may be packed with exciting attractions, from the London Eye and Madame Tussauds to Buckingham Palace and the British Museum, but it can be unpleasantly expensive for the visitor. Accommodation costs are high, attraction entrance fees can be extortionate (although many of the best attractions are free) and as for the restaurants…
Discounts in Expensive London Restaurants
Majorly fashionable London restaurants such as The Ivy or Nobu can put a sizable hole in the holiday budget – particularly if travelling on the weak American dollar. Visitors wanting to eat in nicer places should get web-savvy. Toptable.co.uk is a superb website, offering a series of discounts, set meals and bargain prices at stylish restaurants all over the city.
The discounts available are somewhat varied, and many apply to group bookings. Not all of the discounts represent a great saving, but there’s the occasional absolute steal, such as a tapas menu in a quality Spanish restaurant being reduced from £25 (US$50 to £15 (US$30)
Eating London pub food
One step down from the restaurants are the pubs, which are very much a mixed bag. Some London pub food is absolutely delicious, some dire and most palatably in-between. Picking which is which is the hard part. A recent trend has been for gastro-pubs, which are restaurants by any other name. These tend to be rather expensive, but pleasant.
There are two secrets to finding the best London pub food. The first is to go by word of mouth and the second is to look at the pubs that are putting the effort into marketing their food.
The dingier dives won’t have menus on the tables, or chalkboard advertising their fayre outside. The ones that have got that, plus a clean look about them, are generally a better bet.
It’s also worth looking at what is on those menus (particularly the chalkboard one – as this tends to indicate what the focus is on). If there’s a sprawling variety of dishes on offer, then the chef is probably thoroughly overstretched, trying to be the jack of all trades and master of none. The same goes for any menus branching off into exotic cuisine – Thai dishes are best left to Thai restaurants and curries are best left to curry houses. There isn’t exactly a shortage of the latter…
However, if it’s simple, solid cuisine being advertised (meaty pies, Sunday roasts, bangers and mash), then it’s quite hard to go wrong. It won’t be gourmet, but it’ll probably be rather tasty and come in a large portion.
Oh yes, one more thing – never be tempted into eating at a JD Wetherspoons chain pub. The food is cheap for a reason.
More London cheap eats: curry houses and global cuisine.
