Izabel_blue

If you can bear heading a bit west the Belvedere in Holland Park is a beautiful room with a nice set menu lunch (last time I checked it was three courses for £24.95) It's always very popular though so be sure to book - lunch slots are at 12pm and 2:30 as I recall!

Hi Janet! I'm married to a vegetarian and have a close vegan friend so have a few ideas...first, the Gate (mentioned before) in Hammersmith, London is truly fantastic. Hubby and I go there all the time and there is always lots of good vegan stuff on the menu and it keeps me (the omnivore) happy coz the food is creative, global, and delicious. That being said the best-ever vegetarian meal I've had in the UK was at Demuths in Bath - really splendid stuff and nice atmos as well. They seem to have lots of vegan options on the menu as well. Finally, my vegan friend is currently enamoured of Rootmaster, a new vegan restaurant located in an retired Routemaster bus - I've not been but she loves it, and I think it might be a kinda fun tourist experience as well. Oh, and the Sagar mini-chain of veggie Indian restaurants (in and around London) is a good source of some cheap and cheerful yummy veggie nosh - try the masala dosa -yum! I think there's one in Hammersmith, Twickenham and Fitzrovia... Have fun! Elizabeth

I'm with Naebody on this one. I live locally (though my 'levels of excess' are hardly high - my partner bought in the 90s in Earls Court, back when it was still affordable: please don't assume that a SW postcode means unbridled extravagance) and I've been into the new WholeFoods twice now and it's completely defeated me- I've left both times without buying anything, despite the array of stuff on offer. The second time we went in we wound up in Sainsbury's on Cromwell Road afterward which seemed like an oasis of sanity in comparison. It's confusing, overwhelming and tacky - and my main problem was that you could to buy stuff like baking in *every* department, on the ground floor and the lower ground - just when you thought you had found the biscuit department there's another one.... I'm originally from Canada so not unfamiliar with the concept of this sort of store, but I found WholeFoods completely sapped my energy. My BF who works nearby says that the coffee and cake in the upstairs eating area is rubbish too, especially the coffee. I miss Barkers. Come back- all is forgiven!

hey Telephone... As a native of Alberta I'm with you about Canadian produce - urgh! Where I come from the only thing that seems to grow naturally around the area is sweetcorn, which we only get for about two months of the year. Everything else is from a hothouse in B.C. or California- and it's all bloody expensive too! The produce here is soooo much better....I am right now glutting myself on asparagus, which is delicious just from my local Waitrose! cheers Elizabeth

Hi Offcentre I would make it easy on yourself and wander down the Earls Court road to lovely Holland park for a ramble in the autumn sunshine, before heading to the The Belvedere, which is right in the middle of the park. Lovely atmos, good food and they do a nice set lunch menu at the weekends...

Just a quick note to add to this thread....got back from a few days in Bath and I thought that the food scene was really flourishing-- lots of great places to eat for a city of its size. In particular I'd like to hail Demuths restaurant, which is a veggie joint of rare loveliness. The beetroot and goats cheese souffle main that I had there was absolutely amazing, along with everything else we ate. See http://www.demuths.co.uk/ The other place of note was the newly opened Blackstone's Restaurant, sister to Blackstone's Kitchen, across the road. We only had lunch there and weren't able to sample the full dinner menu but it was excellent quality fare. Also, the takeaway muffins and pastry from the kitchen were scrummy. See http://www.blackstonefood.co.uk

Alexis -- just curious-- how is Giles anti-American? I've been watching/reading him for a while and haven't really noticed it before...I think he might just be a bit grumpy in general... I should say here that I'm half-American myself and was actually born in Texas...and I quite often cringe when I see UK pundits taking a swipe at the USA as if the country is one huge consensus of Bushland rather than the diverse and regional place I know...!

Oh I love Pho....it's one of the only decent/reasonably priced places to eat near work....the Pho itself is fantastic (I love the spicy prawn one) and the Bun (noodles and veg and sauce) is delish...I find the Pho perfect in winter, the Bun awesome in summer... And be sure to try the prawn salad rolls...yum! Hmmm...might have to go back there for lunch next week....

How about going really old skool and checking out the restaurants at Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly? They do a nice all day brunchy/lunchy menu with lots of ice-cream sundaes and milkshakes for your younger guest... Still on the store-restaurant idea, I also recommend the atmospheric Art Bar Cafe at Liberty or their new Tea Room, which is filled with comfy chairs and smells of posh bacon sandwiches.... Hope you're enjoying London as a new expat! cheers Elizabeth (an 'old' expat-- coming up to 5 years here )

More war stories please!!! This is definiately keeping me entertained... Yeah I think I've learned by now that I needed to complain, though I still maintain that the staff should've made more of an effort to make sure everything was OK. About Gatropubs...yeah, I know the 'pub' part of the name should kind of tip one off about what sort of experience to expect....though this was in the dining room half of the space and they seem to be selling it all as more of a sedate 'dining' experience than a boozing one if you look at the website... Oh, and about the dancing on the tables work dos-- we always book a private room, which is where I think large groups really belong...!

Wow-- thanks for all your philisophical musings everyone....I think this is one of those real 'hot button' issues in the world of eating out... I should clarify a few things from my original post...firstly, my BF's mum is ever so slightly deaf so she didn't really manage to absorb the entire, ahem, colourful, conversation-- just registered that it was really loud. So I don't know whether she enjoyed the content or not I am aware that large groups can be noisy, god only knows whenever I wind up at a works do someone is dancing on the table at some point during the evening...it was just strange to me that the mgmt put our sedate little huddle together with this group in the dining room part of the pub-- I would've had no problem with them staying in the pub part as it is pretty well-divided. Also, I was mainly dissapointed that I felt that this group *knew* that they were pissing us off and just kept upping the ante with the noise, drinks and salty talk. It actually made me feel actively *sad* that they were so disrespectful. I probably should've said something to our waiter (who was nice, but possibly a bit frightened by the scary table as well) but by the time that happens the evening is pretty much ruined anyways, isn't it? Ah well. Also must mention that I have nothing against pink hats and myself own two of them (in fact, you can see a photo of me wearing one here)...I was just surprised that this guy kept his hat on during dinner!

Hello Just wondering if anyone else has found themselves in a similar situation to the one I found myself in on Monday night... There is a new-ish gastropub down the road from where I live called the Britannia, where I had had a nice lunch a few weeks ago, so it seemed an ideal place to book for dinner on Monday night, with my BF, his mum, and my sister who was over from Canada (it was her last night in London). We booked for 8pm and went along...noticed on entering that the pub part of the place was quite busy with revellers but the non-smoking dining room (where we were seated) was nice and quiet....I think there was one other table occupied out of about 6 or 7 of them, though we noticed that a longer table right near ours had a 'reserved' sign on it... Anyways, ordered the food, got some wine, everything was going perfectly allright (the food there is nothing super creative but very good gastropub fare), but then our server escorted in a group of about 8 people to sit down at the reserved table adjacent to us. They were in their early 20s for the most part and quite drunk-- and of course as soon as they sat down they ordered another huge round of drinks. At first I thought that they would be a little bit noisy but bearable but I was soon proved wrong...they get louder and louder, whooping and yelling about something or another and ordering more and more drinks. Then they proceeded to have a very very loud coversation all about threesomes and bondage, while they were sitting basically right beside us-- me with my sister from abroad and my bf with his 64 year old mother. It was awful! When our server came back and asked if we wanted anything else we said 'we're going to pass on puddings because it's too noisy'. He could tell that we were extremely annoyed by the other table but did nothing aside from pressing a comment card upon me, which I proceeded to fill out with a long complaint about the the other table! Considering that there were only the two groups of us in the dining room I was really irritated that they had seated us so close to this gang of twats (one of the guys was sporting both a hot pink trilby hat and a ponytail, so you can get an idea of how ghastly they were) and by the time we left I was fuming mad....what a horrible way to end the evening and my sister's last night in town So, just wondering if any of you have any idea about how to defuse a situation like this? I didn't want to approach the table themselves because I was worried that they would be aggressive, seeming as they were very very drunk, but it didn't seem worth telling the server to shut them up either... In my opinion it seemed like it was the pub's responsibility to either move them or to kick them out (as they were very very wasted) but it seems that they were all too eager to keep on taking the money of this most annoying party... Or am I just getting hypersensitive in my old age?

Lunch at The Belvedere in Holland Park....lovely food, lovely service, amazing atmosphere (with views over the park, etc). They seem to be doing quite a reasonably priced menu du jour at the moment...and the weekend lunch is splendid and only £22.50 for three courses... Also, even though it is the source of some debate on these boards I'd also recommend Yauatcha for a glamourous though not bank-breaking experience. And the prawn and beancurd cheung fan is fantastic... Hope you enjoy London! - Elizabeth (a fellow Canuck-- but now a permanent Londoner too..)

Hello out there... Just wondering if anyone's got any tips on where to take my Veggie BF in Brussels. We're going for a Eurostar weekend from London (where we live) and staying at Le Meredien -- near the Gare Centrale and the Grand Place. So, anywhere central-ish would do. I eat fish and seafood so what we'd be looking for ideally are a few places that have good veggie options on the menu, rather than entirely veg places. But any recommendations are greatly appreciated! Cheers from Clerkenwell, London Elizabeth

Hullo... I went off to PingPong with 'the girls' on Monday night and we had a pleasant enough time, though we all decided that it did indeed pale in comparison to the mighty Yauatcha... Good things were the fact that it was a bit cheaper than Yauatcha (we ate a ton of Dim Sum and had two cocktails each-- and it came out at £20 each) and that the staff was really friendly and let us linger for quite a while-- no trying to kick us out after 90 mins! I also liked that they provided a chinatown style tally sheet for ordering and that when the dishes came they were clearly marked...it seemed they were making a concerted effort to explain everything clearly to use westerners. The food was pretty good in a standard kind of way with a few outstanding bits (chinese chive dumplings, spinach prawn wrap, spicy vegetable dumpling) and a few misfires. Cocktails were very very good and reasonably priced... and I finished the night with some of their flowering Jasmine tea, which blossomed before our eyes. However, I was sad to see that there was no cheung fun on the menu (the prawn and beancurd cheung fun at Yauatcha is probably my favourite dish in London) and the menu also suffered from not having any noodle or rice dishes to temper the dim sum with. I'd go back with a large group of people or something, and I'll probably check out the one in Westbourne Grove (closer to home) but I got home on Monday night longing to go back to Yauatcha, I'm afraid! If only I hadn't seen such riches before....

I just walked down St. John this lunchtime-- there was not a soul in Portal but Pho was packed! A friend and I checked out Pho last week and it was nothing exceptional but decent quality Vietnamese standards. I was happy to have a nice bowl of Prawn 'Bun' noodles and one of those lovely Vietnamese iced coffees....

I hit Mestizo with 'the girls' on Friday night and we had a really pleasant experience. I wasn't too keen on the location (which seemed further away from Warren Street tube than I expected) but the restaurant was decorated nicely and bright and airy. Service was a bit on the slow side but they were all incredibly friendly and for once I actually felt like the service staff were happy for us to be there. I'm afraid we didn't go too crazy or adventurious on the menu-- downed a pitcher of excellent 'mama margeritas' and shared some large nachos to start. Two of us had veg enchiladas for a main, which were really really scrummy-- filled with onion and cheese, covered with a lovely homade salsa, and served with some rice and black beans. The other two both had that Argentinian beef dish, of which I can't remember the name, but it was a medallion of rare, salty beef served with fried plantains. Mixed reviews for that dish. Puds were amazing-- we shared some homemade mango ice cream and also dipped into a plate of crepes with walnut and caramel sauce, which were absolutely fantastic! Then the waitress (who might have been the owner) came around with a round of free shots for us. We stayed and talked over drinks and coffee for about an hour after the puds had come and gone, and even though it was getting busy there was no effort made to hurry us along on a Friday night....we all agreed that we would've been shoved out the door by then for sure if we were in the West End (especially if we had chosen the usual haunt, Yauatcha). I would defininately go again, and have been thinking about those enchiladas all week :-)

Yeah I read Popbitch this morning too and thought ohmigawd what is wrong with some people-- I mean they're ignoring the food!!!! And god only knows that one doesn't go to Yauatcha for the service...

Just a quick note to add on the tea thread-- After reading a rave review in Time Out, I dragged the two biggest tea-fantatics that I know (my BF and his mum) off to the Tea Palace on Westbourne Grove, which opened a few weeks ago. It's a nouveau all-day teashop, serving breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea (no dinner). We went for elevenses, rather than the full afternoon tea experience, and had a mixed experience. I really liked the layout of the place-- nice and airy with lots of big windows. Half of the space was set up as a retail outlet for canisters of Tea Palace branded teas, and accessories such as teaballs, teapots, etc. The other half was the restaurant itself, sweetly decorated in shades of mauve and white, the walls covered with retro-chic patterned wallpaper. The seating was at round tables or a few banquettes, and it didn't seem too squashed or noisy, despite the fact that it was heaving with Notting Hill yummy mummies, their offspring, and the obligatory hubbies-glued-to-their-mobile-phones. (Honestly!) Anyways, we ordered some tea and a few breakfasty things-- pancakes, crumpets, brioche, fruit salad. The tea arrived first and the waitress also brought us some tiny shallow dishes of tea leaves that we didn't know what to do with. I guess they were there for the 'this is where your tea's come from' effect or something. She also didn't explain to us that the tea was already brewed, so of course we sat there waiting for it to steep for a few minutes! And then we had to ask again and again to get milk and sugar to put in the tea, despite the fact that we had ordered some rather non-exotic ones (the 'Palace Breakfast' and the 'Palace Earl Grey' -- I know, it's ridiculous to order something so familiar from a 'tea menu' of over 100 teas, but...). After we had finally sorted out what was going on with the tea it was, indeed, very nice... Food was merely OK-- home-made crumpets and brioche bijou but nice enough, but the 'fruit pancakes' didn't seem to have any fruit in them, and we had to ask for the maple syrup that they had been advertised with. Oh, and my 'fruit salad with jasmine syrup' was quite feeble-- seemed like it had just come out of a can...the strawberries on top (and as I recall, strawbs are in season at the moment) were withered and really unpleasant. There seemed to be many different staff members running about but the service still managed to be haphazard, especially for someplace that seemed to be trying to introduce a new concept in tearooms. I would've, for once, been happy for the 'have you been here before?' pre-amble to explain how it all worked! They were obviously very keen on creating a Tea Palace experience/brand, as all of the teas and teapots they were selling in the retail part of the space were very heavily branded...to be honest it seemed like they were just a little but up themselves by expecting punters to be interested in buying Tea Palace logo teapots on the way out for £44.50 a pop! I'm willing to give the Tea Palace the benefit of the doubt for now but I'm not going to be making a beeline back there anytime soon....which is too bad, because it was sweet, and it did have a lot of potential. Has anyone else been? Cheers Elizabeth

Just to let all you West London gulleters know-- the Masala Zone in Earls Court is now open and beaming ultraviolet light in through my flat after dark. It doesn't seem that busy-- yet... Elizabeth

Hi Chicagoans Just a quick note to say thank you for all of the advice. We wound up having many memorable meals in your fabulous city, the best of which was at the bar at the Frontera Grill...wow! Also must say how much I enjoyed the city-- great architecture, great food and friendly people. I will be back. Cheers from London Elizabeth aka Izabel

Hullo there from Clerkenwell, London, England. I was wondering if I could get you lovely egulleters to help me out... I'm meeting my mom and sis in Chicago next weekend. We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Silversmith on South Wabash Avenue and planning to spent most of our time either at the Art Instititute or in Marshall Field's However, we will have to take a break and eat at some point! I was wondering if you all had any recommendations for restaurants and cafes in the area. I'm not too bothered for lunch but I'd love to pre-book a nice Saturday night dinner out for the three of us...I'm looking for someplace within walking distance and reasonably priced (mains not over $25). My personal inclination is towards mexican (coz I can't get any decent enchiladas in London) but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, Elizabeth AKA Izabel

Hi Jen, Since my office moved to the Barbican area about a year ago I have pretty much devoted my lunchhours to exploring food in this area...it's a bit patchy but there are some gems.. I think OrigameCrane recommended Pham Sushi, and I can definately second his opinion-- I go there often for lunch and though there is not much to be said for atmosphere there, to be honest, the food is fresh and delish. Also on Whitecross Street is Carnavale-- I've had a few sandwiches from there and they were good but they've always been full up when I've wanted to do the full dinner thing-- it's a tiny place so def worth making reservations if you're into it. Oh, and it's vegetarian. Website here: http://www.carnevalerestaurant.co.uk/index.html A little bit further down from Carnavale is Alba, a decent Italian place as well....good seafood I've heard...and another website: http://www.albarestaurant.com/ Also, if you're not feeling like a full on meal pre or post theatre I can highly recommend a little tapas bar called Essence around the corner from Barbican tube. I've been there with the gang from work many times and the food is high-quality and well priced... I guess they get DJ's in in the PM as well, but the only time I've been there later in the evening it was nice and quiet aside from a French chantuese singing jazz standards. Anyways, website here: http://www.essence-bar.com/index.htm Oh, and I've not been to Searcy's at the Barbican but have been to the Balcony Bistro, which is fine and has been quite nicely redesigned. Enjoy your visit to London! Elizabeth

I've always thought that Masala Zone was perfectly allright but nothing to write home about really. When I worked in Soho and it had just opened it was quite a good location for a large group from the office, with something for everyone on the menu. And I've liked the vegetarian thali the times I've been back there since. But I also remember having some sort of coconut noodle bowl a while back that was nearly inedible. Hmmm... I have, however, recommended it to a number of visitors because the food, while not spectacular is reasonably priced, and the atmosphere is plesant enough. It's a good place to send my legions of Canadian visitors because they get their London curry fix and also don't break the bank. (the exchange rate, is, as always, nasty for them) Incidentally, I can't be neutral about Masala Zone right now as they are currently building one in Earls Court directly across from my flat! It was supposed to be open in January but there's a posting up now saying that the hoardings will come off in mid April. So I hope that at least the clientele is palatable Elizabeth

Hello fellow Canadian My personal recommendation of where to take a 20 year old would be Yauatcha, in Soho, Alan Yau's dim sum/tea house joint. It's hip, beautiful, and not too pricey, with excellent food and amazing cocktails (or tea smoothies). However, if you're looking for something more on the British side of things (coz I know Vancouver has tons of great asian dining) you might want to try a gastropub. If your daughter is living in South London hopefully she's not far away from the The Earl Spencer, which is reasonably priced and has very good high quality food. It's also a little bit quieter than it's sister gastropub, The Havelock Tavern. Also, if she likes Indian I can also recommend Masala Zone and Chowki, both in colourful Soho. Have fun! Elizabeth (AKA Izabel) Canuck in blissful exile