Budget eating in London

What to eat on a budget in London.

In London, you can find food from all over the world, of course - and to all kind of prices. Baguettes, sandwiches and suitable meals for breakfast is possible to find in all kinds of places, like Subway, Boots - or charming, small cafees.

Some cheap eats can be nasty

Close to Bond Street underground station, you will find several lunch restuarants and caffees in the sidestreets, perfect between shopping and attractions. My best tip, however, is to take look around you when you get hungry, in London there is always a place to satisfy your needs!

British cuisine is not exactly well-known for it`s gourmet dishes...So before I give you any restaurant recommandations, I want to tell you what to avoid! A lot of places, you`ll find so called gastro pubs, traditional pubs also serving food. J.D. Wheterspoon is one of these chains, they really know the art of making awful food, even with the simplest ingredients. So, memorize their logo and when you see it think: Beer - ok. Food: no,no!

Some recommendations

Delicious food from the world cuisines, is possible to fine everywhere in London. A lot of people claim that indian food is the real national food of England, and a real curry meal is definetely one of my reccomandations.

Visit the web site London Eating and you will find a long list of indian restaurants.

If you have bought a travel guide with you on your trip , the natural thing to do is to take a look in this for restaurants. Don`t do that! My experience is that restaurants listed in travel guides, like Lonely Planet etc., are crowded, the service is bad and arrogant - they get customers anyway. Go for an unknown restaurant outside the typical tourist tracks and you are guaranteed a better food experience.

The price level at London restaurants can be pretty high, especially in areas typical for tourism. If you want to keep within your budget, try to find restaurants outside the tourist tracks, where the londoners go themselves.

There are some good restaurant chains with reasonable prices, like Bella italia. Here, you can find that they have a lunch menu from 12.00 - 17.00, Menu Espresso, where you`ll get to courses for £7,95.

Nandos is one of my favourite restaurants in the UK. They serve something they claim is portugese food, although I`ve never seen anything like it in Portugal!

Almost everything on their menu is chicken: chicken from the barbeque, chicken pitta, chicken burger and so on. They`re all seasoned with their special peri-perispice, from Lemon and Herb to Extra Hot. I tried Hot the first time I was At Nandos and was sweating through the whole meal! After that, always medium for me.

There are several Nandos-restaurants in the London area, if you want to find one, insert the postcode of your hotel in their restaurant finder. I really like the prices at this restaurant as well. One examle: Chicken pitta, my favourite, is £ 5,25, including a side order like spicy rice, fries etc. You can choose bottomless soda for £1,70.