Tell me where to go...

Baguette Du Monde

What i put myself for the sake of this blog...

I recently ventured into the newly opened Baguette du Monde near Embankment. Due to the sunny weather everyone else had had the same idea of grabbing some food and sitting in the park. Baguette Du Monde was the only place not heaving... surely because it's brand new? No.

They have a range of baguettes (obviously) for under £3 and some other stodgy looking heated snacks plus the usual "fruit", crisps and soft drinks. I went for the coronation chicken baguette, the only one i really fancied. This was a mistake as they add mayo to everything, yes even sandwiches already containing mayo, so gooey wasn't even the word. There was not alot of filling, and as previously mentioned it was mostly mayo.

They only had white baguettes, unusual you might think seeing as they sell themselves on these, but the bread is nothing to write home about, or in fact blog about. That station favourite Upper Crust do much nicer ones, except if what you have is a really hankering for a mayonnaise white bread sandwich that drips everywhere.

I didn't even finish it, which happens almost never.

Crussh

Every time i turn around another of these soup/smoothie bars has sprung up.... which i am most happy about. They have a wonderful arrangement of yummy looking sandwiches, giant sized sushi hand rolls (the salmon is especially good), excellent salads, including smaller sized 'health pots' which are also very tasty.

But let's talk about the soup! They have a rotating menu of different fresh, wholesome, and soups that are quite often all you need to cheer you up on a cold winters day, or a cold summers day taking the English weather into account. They serve 4 or 5 different options every day, but get there early because they have been known to run out of the popular choices! Whether it is simple, organic or gourmet you are after you can always find a soup to fit your mood - but the chicken chilli with a chunk of their gorgeous wholemeal bread fits any mood... especially the one after the night before!

One tip though, if you decide to sit down and eat in their Rathbone Place branch, you might want to check out the seats downstairs, as one of the machines they use in there is very noisy!

Lunch that makes you feel good, for under a fiver!

Two Floors

Kingly Street

Two floors is not the easiest bar to find, it is painted black (or dark green, i can never quite tell) and its the only bar on Kingly street that doesnt have a name. Its a nice bar for after work drinks (their downstairs has a rather odd hawaiian theme). Their menu consists of a couple of salads (mozarella, tomato and basil; grilled courgette and parma ham; peppers and goats cheese) and a few different sandwiched (chorizo, ementhal, artichoke & mayo; mozarella, tomato & basil; parma ham, mozarella & basil; pesto, grilled pepper, onion & mozarella; goats cheese, rocket & olive paste; tuna mayo). Everything  is £4. I think when you order a salad, they really want you to order a sandwich, therefore my goats cheese salad consisted of a serious amount of cheese, some lettuce and some grilled bread - almost like they had simply deconstructed a toastie and added some more lettuce to validate the 'salad' category, they had bi-passed any other ingredient that might have been salad like, and substituted it with bread - oh and more cheese. It was nice, but if i wanted a sandwich i would have ordered one. The sandwiches did look pretty nice though! Cocktails in here are £6, the house wine is £12.50 and beer is £3.20 a pint. It always seems to be pretty empty at lunch time, so its a good place to go if you don't want to be overheard... or just don't want to be out in public.

Bite Me

10 Charlotte Place
W1T 1SH

I went here entirely by accident, but what a happy accident. Small but very cute cafe on the restaurant crowded Charlotte Place. Their menu looked like it catered for most of the things you might fancy at lunch time, lots of salads, sandwiches, a couple of quiches and home made tarts, and jacket potatos. The staff were sweet and service was quick. My friend an i both went for salads, I had my old favourite tuna salad - and i was pleasantly surprised when a dinner plate piled with food arrived! It had everything you would expect from a tuna salad, tuna, eggs, potatoes (although they were cold roast potatos rather than new - but equally yummy) tomatoes, capers - they heeded my request for no cucumber, and twenty minutes later i was still attemting to make a dent in the mountain of food on my plate. Nothing really different or special, just a serious amount of food for not very much money - a lovely atmosphere, free wifi, and no complaints about requests for tap water. Most things on the nemu are around £4, and i can't wait to go back and taste test the rest of it.

Make Mine

There is always alot of fuss about this place, it never actually looked that appealing to me but i thought i should check it out. They have a pretty good menu, nice and long and you can get any of the combinations offered in a salad bowl, wrap or sandwich. Everything seemed to come with chunky guacamole which on this occasion i didnt particularly feel like so i went for one of the only options that didn't include it - the smoked chicken salad (3.80). The salad had what i think was 'chicken ham', rather than chunks of chicken but it was actually pretty nice - lovely sunblushed tomatoes, crunchy peppers and a decent sized portion. However the whole thing was dripping with really oily dressing which was quite off putting - note to self - ask them to go easy on the dressing next time!
I think the jewel in the crown here is probably their sandwiches, there seemed to be lots of different meat and cheese combos so i bet they do a mean toastie, their breakfast's also looked intriguing... but for salads i much prefer Pure California.

Apostrophe

Now this is a strange one... After the two visits i have made to this place the conclusion i can draw is that the sandwiches arent half as good as they look, but the salads rock. The first time i went i had a roast beef salad, it was huge and delicious (around the £4 mark) while my companion opted for a mediterranean tuna sandwich and then proceeded to spend the whole lunch, and subsequent walk back to the office, complaining about it. So i went again and this time i went for a sandwich, they looked lovely and i thought he must have been worng, or just in a bad mood. I picked chicken mayonnaise and sweet chilli jam. I soon realised that it wasn't chicken, mayonnaise and sweet chilli jam, but chicken-mayonnaise - something with the conisstency of papier mache - and probably a similar taste. On this occasion my friend enjoyed her selection which was some kind of sweet bread with smoked salmon (looked like a croissant but apparently wasn't) but agreed that she thought it was 'a bit weird'. So - all things considered, nothing actually wrong with the place (except the misleading sandwich names and the fact that they load all the filling at the front so it looks full to bursting, but when you get it you realise that actualy the side you can see is all there is) we won't be going back... unless it's to have a salad.

Pitcher & Piano

10 Pollen Street
Mayfair
London
W1S !NQ

+44 (0) 207 629 9581/9582

It’s Friday morning and you are feeling hungry, not to mention perhaps a touch shaky from the night before, so when the phrase ‘pub lunch’ is mentioned you think Hallelujah! So off down to the Pitcher and Piano on Pollen Street we went, and between us ordered quite a selection.

Let’s start with the 2 dishes off their ‘express £5’ menu (there was absolutely nothing express about it by the way!) which were a fettuccini dish and a chorizo and bean cassoulet. The fettuccini was basically a pile of pasta, with a sprinkling of olives and capers. Nothing else to say really. The chorizo and butter bean cassoulet with a side of crusty bread was more butter beans than I have ever seen in my life with a couple of slices of chorizo, some funny orangey sauce with a bit of chilli powder or something in an attempt to add depth and make the dish interesting. It didn’t. There was none of the rich tomato sauce you usually get in this type of dish, and absolutely none of the added vegetables, just hundreds upon hundreds of butterbeans. It looked like the kind of thing that the Hollyoaks props department would use as fake vomit. Oh and the ‘side of crusty bread’? cold white toast.

But maybe you get what you pay for…. Everything else on the menu was around the £8 mark… 8oz burgers for instance, were they any better? By all accounts no. Too small and very over done was the general consensus. The tomato soup? Mediocre (seriously, how hard is it to get tomato soup right?). The beef and ale pie? Should be renamed carrots and a beef oxo cube. The only thing that wasn’t complained about was the pizza.

And with drinks coming in at £4.75 for a glass of red, and £4 for a cider it really, really isn’t worth it. Pub Lunches on a Friday are precious, for the love of God do not waste them here. 

Julia's Meadow

44 Newman Street,
London
W1T 1QD

+44 (0) 20 7580 4464

Is this place named after the former porn star Julia Meadows? Is this what she's doing now? Does it matter...?

This café on Newman Street seems to get most of it’s business from people getting a takeaway sandwich or salad box, but it does have several tables inside, and a few out the front on the pavement. Their large salad box is £.80, and enables you to select six different items from their salad bar consisting of spinach, courgettes, rice, tuna pasta, beetroot, mixed beans, a kind of asian salad, greek salad, mixed peppers and a few other bits. You can have a tuna salad for £4.50; they do hot pastas, and have the usual mix of sandwich fillings. 

The salad boxes are good if you are watching the waistline and want to increase the spinach ration or if you are hung-over and need more than a spoonful of pasta. The food is ok, a big plateful for £3.80 is never something to complain about – but the staff could be a bit more helpful, and they were too impatient for the amount of people that were there, yes they were busy but nothing that they shouldn’t deal with every day.

But given the benefit of the doubt, maybe they were new starters - give it a try.

The Stockpot

18 Old Compton Street,
London
W1D 4TN

If you are hungry and skint this is a fabulous option.

You can get 2 courses off a very limited set menu for £5.50. Or if you want to order just one course that is fine – and there are many more options! There is soup for £1.45, pasta dishes for around £4 and main courses (beef stroganoff, gammon steak, chicken and mushroom casserole and many more) for around a fiver. They have a wide range of omelets and salads, both about £4, desserts ice creams and cheeses and the most expensive things on the menu are grilled lamb cutlets and mixed grill, both coming in at £6.95. 

But is any of it any good?

Well the food is served with no fuss, the omelets are rather large but they come on their own (side salads are £1.80, or you can have chips, new potatoes or vegetables for £1) The tuna niscoise salad is a small-ish plate that is loaded almost too high with lettuce coleslaw and carrot (in equal portions, so slightly odd) tuna, black olives, a hardboiled egg, anchovies, tomatoes cucumber and red onion, so all the expected ingredients. Staff are friendly and helpful and importantly, quick. If you ask for water they will bring you a jug of tap water, not just a teeny glass, and they don’t insist upon mineral water either., gets pretty busy at lunch time but there are quite a few tables – even a couple on the pavement if you are quick enough… and of course it isn’t raining.

You can easily be full up for under a fiver!

Nanobyte Bar

183-185 Wardour Street
London
W1V 3FB
www.nanobytebar.co.uk

This pub on Wardour Street has a chilled out atmosphere and varied menu, ranging from tapas style small dishes, to sharing plates, sandwiches and full on main courses. So is a good choice for lunch, mid-drinking snacks, or full on hung-over stodge. Their jacket potatoes come in at around £4.50. £4.70 for a decent sized spud with chili and sour cream and a side salad (which actually consisted of more than a single lettuce leaf). They have a pretty varied range of sandwiches: fish finger, sausage, steak and onion, BLT, roast veggies, etc etc.. are all £4.10 or £4.25 (except the steak which comes in at £4.95)

 If you want to splash out a bit more, their burgers are GOOOOD (£6.85 with chips and coleslaw). It’s a great place to go if you don’t really know what you fancy, or if you are with a group of indecisive people. They also have a very reasonable wine list – and usually do that ‘buy two large glasses and get the rest of the bottle free’ deal (although this might not be the wisest lunch time decision!). The service isn’t quick, but it’s usually quick enough so that it turns up before your lunch hour runs out!

It is open 11am-11pm Monday to Saturday, 12:30om-10:30pm on Sundays

The Japan Centre - Yoshino

212 Piccadilly
London
W1J 9HX

This is a fantastic place to grab some lunch on the go. If you want to sit down and eat for lunch or in the evening the restaurant on the ground floor is great and always buzzing. The main focus of this review however is the deli downstairs, Yoshino. If you get one of London's (increasingly rare!) sunny days then the best thing to do is pop in here and then park yourself in a spot of warmth somewhere (or failing that, back at your desk...)

Throughout lunch time there is a steady stream of people going down to the deli and supermarket in the basement. The deli counter has a vast array of sushi on offer from 3 piece packs to a whole platter of different sushi. They take their food so seriously that there is no flash photography allowed downstairs near the deli....it's that good that sushi cynics have seen the light after just a single trip here.

Accompanying the deli in the basement is the supermarket where you can buy anything and everything you'd find in a Japanese supermarket. You can find some right treasures in there, food wise of course. There are many different things to try in Yoshino, but as an example an 8 piece of super chicken katsui rolls (ok so it's not fish, but it's very good) a 4 piece of Prawn Tempura rolls and 5 pieces of marinated mackerel will come to about £5.20; For 17 pieces of good sushi i'm sure you'll agree that's good eating!  

It’s enough to make your stomach rumble!

 

Scott's Sandwich Bar

10 New Row,
Covent Garden,
London WC2N

+44 (0) 20 7240 0340

This place provides brilliant sandwiches, ciabattas, soups, jacket potatoes, and more at a great price. The guys who make all the sandwiches are friendly and chatty. One of the mainstays of the menu is the hot salt beef which is very much recommended, another favourite is the carbo-licious mushroom, ham and chicken in a wholemeal bun (the size of your hand!) with some mixed salad. All that, and it only costs £3.80, which is why people keep coming back!

Sandwiches range from around £3.40; more if you want to change from sliced bread to baguette, bap etc. The jacket potatoes are huge, good value and the toppings consist of all the usual suspects. Scott's also do salad boxes for those who want to cut out the bread.

The queue at lunch can sometimes be out the door and onto the pavement but service is so quick that you soon end up at the front. Every time I go there all the tables (both inside and out) are full so if you want to sit down at lunch i'd recommend getting there early!

Porsini's

29 Poland Street, W1 3DB

+44 (0) 207 434 1831

Porsini’s is a great place for sandwiches, pasta, pizzas, giant jacket potatoes, huge salads and various other Italian(ish) delights to take back to your desk or eat in. Very well priced - a giant coronation chicken ciabatta for under £3, pizza for about a fiver, a jacket potato that will fill you up so much you think you may never eat again, for about £3.50. They can be a little heavy handed with the butter on these though, so keep an eye out, unless you like that kind of thing, in which case this is your ideal place!

They also are a good place for bacon sandwiches etc to help you deal with a hangover and distract you with friendly chat.

Kyoto Sushi

27 Romilly Street, W1D 5AL

+44 (0) 207 4372262

My favourite restaurant for cheap sushi. Many restaurants claim to serve fresh good value sushi. This place actually does. They do a lunchtime bento box for under a tenner, which is a good way of sampling everything, the salmon terryaki was particularly good, the chicken one had a bit too much skin for my liking.

However a much better idea is to order a la carte. Their sashimi is fresh high quality fish that is sliced thickly and beautifully. They have a wide range of rolls, nothing unnecessarily elaborate but all delicious.

Sushi slanderers have been converted in this restaurant… if you are unsure of raw fish, this is a great place to test it as their noodle dishes are also great (and filling) their tempura is light and not greasy and it doesn’t cost the earth, which is quite often an issue in the hunt for good sushi. It is worth a visit if only for the décor, pebbles on the floor and Japanese action characters on shelves on the walls. They also have plenty for vegetarians.

Although… I would prefer it if you didn’t go too often, its not a very big restaurant and I wont be able to get a table!

Updated 22/10/07

I went here twice last week and had a long chat with Kim the owner about why his sashimi is so amazing - apparently its all about the french tuna! On my second visit i took a friend who claimed it to be one of the nicest, if not THE nicest sushi she has ever had. The spicey tuna rolls are actually spicey, the soft shell crab rolls are a MUST, and even if you arent a sashimi fan, Kim's tuna may well convert you. I think i could live here.

Fish in a tie

105 Falcon Road, SW11 2PF

+44 (0) 207 924 1913

Not exactly a lunch venue, unless you work in Clapham Junction, but so so worthy of a mention. The food is great and such good value, the atmosphere is intimate and friendly with an almost holiday like vibe, mismatched furniture, fairy lights and candles in wine bottles on the tables.

Excellent place for a date on the cheap, or a catch up with friends, you can have a lingering 3 course meal for a lot less than you would in a restaurant of similar quality. We have also thrown several birthday dinners there, for which they are more than happy to allocate you a specific area, let you decorate and bring your own cake.

The menu is huge, if you are stuck for a starter I can highly recommend the spicy calamari salad, the choux de crab, the mussels, the list goes on. The list of main courses is just as long, last time I had perfectly cooked swordfish steaks (two of them!) my mum is a fan of the knuckle of lamb, friends have raved about the ostrich steak and well, seafood and lobster linguine for £8.95? can’t complain!

The wine list has some very drinkable wines, white riojas, brouillys and such for some very reasonable prices. Desserts consist of tiramisu, pancakes, chocolate mousse (yes you must…), a cheese plate which you may not be able to manage all of, but give it a go anyway! And at the end, comes a few slices of watermelon – a lovely touch from this hidden south London refuge.

You must book, I have never seen the place anything but heaving

Wax Bar

4 Winsley Street, W1W 8HF
See Map

+44 (0) 207 436 4650

www.wax-bar.co.uk

Perfect for a hangover!

They do a legendary fish finger sandwich (with chips!! …Or salad) for about £3. Lots of other cheap stodge on the menu too – and a few salads that aren’t so cheap (around the £6 mark). Service isn’t the quickest, but wax bar is also a good (and slightly dangerous if previous experience is anything to go by) place to meet after work as they have good happy hour deals on wine and snacks, their platters are quite tasty!

Cheap & Cheesey.

Hi Sushi

   
40 Frith Street
London
W1D 5LN

+44 (0) 207 734 9688

All you can eat sushi for£13.95... need I say more??

Well yes actually, as all you can eat sushi sounds like it might potentially include a one-way trip to food poisoning... Not so! The fish at Hi sushi is fresh and tasty.

Be prepared to huddle round one of the tables downstairs with total strangers, but they are cool tables at floor level where you sit on a cushion on the floor and your feet dangle below ground. The all you can eat part of the menu tends to be all salmon€ - a couple of different rolls and sashimi, and a few more hot dishes. The only thing that stopped me from eating til I burst, was that I'd had enough salmon. I haven'€™t tried the rest of the menu, but if the rest of it is as good as the salmon, it's definitely worth a try. This is a good place to go if you are looking for a meal in a hurry, pre theatre etc€...

All you can eat sushi for £13.95, gets packed so booking is recommended.

Added October 2007:

I have recently been here and had their lunch time special for £6.

Wow. So. Much. Food.

for your £6 you get to choose a couple of different appetisers (spring rolls etc), some sushi rolls, some kind of meat dish (chicken terriyaki etc) and a giant bowl of ramen - i had the chilli beef one and even though i was full to bursting it was divine. Definitely go and have this is you are hungry - or planning a heavy evening's drinking it will line your stomach a treat!

Maoz Veg

43 Old Compton Street (there is also a branch at 4 Brewer Street)

+44 (0) 207 8511 586

Opening hours: Mon-Thu 11:00-01:00, Fri-Sat 1:00-02:00, Sun 11:00-24:00

Brilliant falafels on Old Compton Street, and what makes them so brilliant is the element of personal choice, with your basic falafel and pita bread you can select your own salad from the salad bar and pile it as high as you dare! You can also opt for extras such as feta cheese or grilled aubergine. Prices start from under £3 and for under £4 you can get a falafel with salad bar and chips: for £4.20 you get a falafel with salad and chips and a soft drink! This is also the perfect mid-drinking snack stop as it fills you up, is quick and easy and not to mention healthy… well maybe not the chips…

I took my brother there who was a little unsure because it was all vegetarian, and he is not a huge fan of spices - his reaction was ‘totally full, very nice, and you don’t even miss the meat!’ Another convert!

Not exactly an atmospheric environment, more of a café/take away, somewhere to grab a quick, great value bite of the middle east (with chips).

Viet

34 Greek Street

+44 (0) 207 494 9888

I am currently trying to work my way through the menu of this little Vietnamese cafe on Greek Street, however their Phos are so good I always end up coming back to them. They are absolutely huge, very tasty and just under a fiver. They come with a side plate filled with herbs, bean sprouts and chillis, so you can flavour it to your own liking.

I have sampled much of the rest of the menu and it is all good, particularly the summer rolls! The Tom Yams are like the Pho’s (huge and tasty) but watch out for stray lumps of lemon grass! The noodle dishes are great, filling and quite often come with a side plate of lettuce and herbs or whatever, although this seems to be somewhat erratic. I challenge you to not thoroughly enjoy your meal… All the food comes out as and when it is ready, so its not necessarily the place for a lingering, romantic meal. 

You can bring your own alcohol if it’s a cheap meal after work you want, or a beer with lunch. Corkage is £1.50. It gets fairly busy, but also has a pretty quick turnover.

No frills, just tasty food that fills you up without emptying the wallet.

Added 09/10/2007

I felt that i should add a little on here about something other than the soupy dishes... its just so hard to  go in there and not order a pho! (i have a friend who started to dream about them after eating her first pho here...) But today my brother and i steeled ourselves, and ordered differently. He had the beef and black pepper udon noodles, of which he concluded that if he felt like having a noodle dish, he would definitely have it again, and i had beef and thai basil fried rice, which was very enjoyable - although needed a good slug of chilli sauce to liven it up! These dishes feel more greasy and not as good for you as the soup based ones (as noddle and rice dishes quite often are) but they are nice... and now that i have ordered something else i don't have to feel guilty about ordering a pho without hesitation next time i go in there!.

For all your cheap food finding needs!

I noticed that every time I meet my friends for lunch, we are on a budget and indecisive.. there was no where that told me where I could find cheap places to spend my lunch break in London - and so, Tell me where to go was born. I hope it helps...