London: the best place on Earth to eat

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/27/ngrub27.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/02/27/ixportal.html

London is the best place to eat on the planet, according to America's leading food magazine. The latest edition of Gourmet says its restaurants are far superior to rivals in Paris, Rome and New York.

Editors of the "food bible" said they were "blown away" by London's food. "The glory days are back," said one.

The magazine devotes its entire 180-page March issue to London dining. It was the first time that Gourmet, which has a worldwide circulation of more than a million, had been dedicated to Britain - and the first time that one city had been declared better than all the others, the editors said.

"We were blown away. What London has that other cities don't right now is high-quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate."

[TyeDye75]

1. I have to agree...

London has its fair share of fast food and large chain outlets...but there are also thousands of little one off places.

Just within spitting distance of the Burger King at Leicster square there is a little shop on the corner which makes the best Pizza Ive ever tasted. I cant remeber its name but it must be good because it manages to survive despite the presence of a Pizza hut just round the corner.

[gnofg]

2. ooh!

get me a kidney pie. I want to barf. I was in London about 5 years ago on Biz. Even the locals wouldn't eat the british fare at the local pubs. They chose american food.

[On the Road]

8. Certainly Not -- Gourmet Didn't Eat at the Local Pubs

You only actually eat there if you don't want to stop drinking or you're in the mood for a ploughman's.

And their reviews are notlimited to local cuisine. I suspect they reviewed a lot of continental, Asian, etc.

[LARED]

3. Boy, things must have changed

Unless they are talking about high end restaurants. I was in London about 9 years ago and wound up eating at the burger king after trying some of the local mid priced eateries.

[HamdenRice]

4. And pigs can fly and monkeys are pouring out of my ass ...

I realize that it was some years ago, but when I lived in London I walked around hungry all the time and dreamed of getting back to NYC to eat.

The transition to better food was underway, and I believe that there are a lot of high end very good restaurants in London. But what London doesn't have, which NYC has, is the thousands and thousands of little restaurants serving excellent homecooked ethnic food. In other words, a city like London can improve its food profile with the establishment of a dozen excellent restaurants. But it cannot create a food culture in which even average people expect superb food. That, I don't think London has accomplished. The only exception in this area is Indian food in London.

[T_i_B]

13. Ethnic grub?

What London doesn't have, which NYC has, is the thousands and thousands of little restaurants serving excellent homecooked ethnic food.

Actually I think there is a plethora of places selling good ethnic food in london, from Chinatown to the Indian resteraunt scene round Brick Lane. The problem for me is not the ethnic food but finding decent places to eat good English food in London.

[amazona]

24. they have great ethnic food but it is WAY pricey

Even the little Thai and Indian places for two people were running us the equivalent of $75 or $100 a night when we visited recently. Sheesh. People in London must be very well compensated. Eating two meals, much less the traditional four (the usual three plus tea) is out of the question for an American.

A little dish of vegetarian pasta that would be $6 or $7 in the New Orleans area was more like $30.

Truly scary!

I did much better in Paris than London, although their prices are still pretty terrifying in comparison to New Orleans.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Pert_UK]

29. I don't know where you were eating.....

but you must have been picking the most expensive places around!

Admittedly, the $/£ exchange rate makes it a bit pricey for Americans to eat over here, but IMHO it's ridiculous to accuse London of being OTT expensive for food.

Yes, it's quite expensive for an American to eat in London, but that's largely down to the exchange rate. It's not expensive for somebody earning a British wage.

Same thing applies to Australia - cheap for a holiday if you're British, but if you're earning Aussie dollars then eating out costs about the same proportion of your weekly salary.

FYI there are lots of places where you could get decent veggie pasta for around £7 - were you going to the tourist traps?

[T_i_B]

34. As Pert has said...

There IS cheap food in London.

London is more expensive then the rest of the UK due to the extortionate property prices but you notice that more with the price of a pint then food.

[DS1]

30. Oooh, lets everyone jump on something they don't know

shit about :hurts:

[non sociopath skin]

5. Can't see where these guys are coming from ...

... more choice and value in both Paris and NYC.

The Skin

[jmowreader]

6. Listen to what Zappa says...

"Lord have mercy on the people in England for the terrible food these people must eat."

The problem with Gourmet Magazine is that the people who run it are writing for a crowd who either goes to or dreams of going to the kind of restaurants where two people can run up a $500 check and not die from alcohol poisoning.

If I was going to go to one city in the world, cost be damned, and do nothing but hit restaurants and pubs, I would go straight to Berlin. You can get anything there, and it's exceptionally hard to find a truly bad restaurant. Even the little walk-up Imbisses with three things on the menu kick ass, and you can get any kind of food you want there. Anything. We used to go to the Balkan Grills and get the "mixed platter"--four or five different kinds of meat, fries, Balkan salad and vegetables--for maybe ten marks (probably ten Euro now, because meat is more expensive than it was thirteen years ago) and it was always good.

[Atlas Mugged]

9. Sssshhhhh.......

Dammit! That's supposed to be "our" little secret!

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

14. Totally agree

I used to love Gourmet magazine - and Bon Appetit, but they really do write for an extremely affluent bunch who travel internationally often and manage to eat $200 meals once or twice a month. Give me a break. That's what they're talking about.

On the other hand, some of my fondest "food memories" is of times I was in London getting fish and chips, Persian food around Edgeware Road, a great Indian restaurant in Paddington by the name of Indus - all fairly reasonably priced. So London can be very good. I just wouldn't call it the best, IMHO. I also like German food. :)

[Renew Deal]

7. Better than NY? Bullshit

There is no way that "London has what other cities don't right now is high-quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate."

BS

[radwriter0555]

10. Maggie Jones is truly one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten

at... During our travels, it still ranks as one of the very top meals ever. Up near kensington high streets.

I have no idea where the myths about english food come from. Good stuff.

[forgethell]

12. I've

never been to London, but some years ago my son went there with a Boy Choir. He said the food was horrible. Even the McDonalds had a off-putting taste.

That said, I have been to numerous foodie cities. If I could only go to one in the rest of my life, I'd head over to the Big Easy, if only for the reason I love their kind of food.

[amazona]

25. it was no myth back in the day

When I visited in the early 80s let's just say that I was left in no doubt about why the Londoners of that time period were so slim.

They have really changed as far as quality of the food, alas, the price of the food is nothing short of armed robbery.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Historic NY]

11. I had more problem finding good coffee than food....

do you want it black or white. Some Pubs have carvey's that are not too bad. I found several good places to eat in the Bayswater area. Avoid meat hanging in windows.......

[mainer]

16. go to caffe nero in London -- way better than awful Starbucks

Their standard is two shots per cup.

Actually the coffee in London is better than here. I wish we had caffe nero here in the US!

[T_i_B]

20. Actually what we are more proud of over here

is the great British cup of tea! It's certainly what you hear a lot of expats longing for.

I can think of good tea rooms in places like Bakewell and Harrogate but not London oddly enough though.

[Padraig18]

15. The words 'good food' and 'London' in the same sentence?

:wtf:

[mainer]

17. Are they nuts?

Let's put it this way. I just spent two weeks in London and was wined and dined in the supposedly "best" restaurants there. (Including some of Gourmet's "best" restaurants.) No way is it better than New York.

Only in Indian food does London surpass other cities.

[StopTheMorans]

18. best place to eat what?

:shrug:

[SillyGoose]

19. Hogwash.

I was in London years ago and the food was horrible. Maybe things have changed since then, but superior to Paris, Rome and New York?? I don't buy that for a second.

[Bridget Burke]

21. A friend who recently visited London ....

Said that the main problem was being able to afford food at all--for users of the debased US Dollar. (Otherwise, it was a great trip; she loved London.)

Writers for Gourmet have expense accounts, so they can afford the very best.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

26. "Writers for Gourmet ... can afford the very best"

Exactly, which is why I don't pay much attention to these surveys they come out with every 3 months or so in order to raise circulation numbers. Gourmet is good for SOME things, but its writers write for extremely affluent people only - the average person is supposed to just enjoy reading about "the other half." It is fun to read these surveys, but I get annoyed at being patronized.

[Jean Louise Finch]

22. Hmmm...

Obviously these goofballs didn't consider stepping out of Europe or the States. Bangkok is so far and away the best place to eat it's unbelievable to me that a magazine called Gourmet could even begin to get away with it.

And it's NOT just the 20 baht phad thai down the street or the 30 baht green curry. It's also the incredible fusion restaurants, the great Italian, the out-of-this-world Indian, the little Middle Eastern restaurants and so forth and so on...Thais prioritize food, and they do it ALL really, really well -- high class, cheap as anything street food, and everything in between.

[amazona]

23. sure if you're a skad-zillionaire

Sheesh. Even a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is 6 pounds -- $12!!!!!!!

So don't tell me that they have great food at all price levels, as they don't even have ANY food at "all" price levels.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Pert_UK]

31. I'm sorry, but you're talking rubbish.........

I buy whole roasted chickens from a "posh" supermarket (Waitrose) all the time and they're usually £3.50, often cheaper. They're definitely cheaper in some of the other supermarkets.

You've clearly got a bee in your bonnet about the cost of British food, yet seem to have been going to only the most expensive places to buy it.

I could take you to an excellent French restaurant in Islington where all the first courses are £2.95, all the mains are £6.95 and all the desserts are £3.95. Admittedly wines are always marked up horrendously in restaurants, but a carafe of the house red is around £10 IIRC.

I could take you to a great place in Swiss Cottage that does 3 full courses for £9 if you sit before 7pm, or a Bistro in Primrose Hill where main courses are around £5.

I could take you to any number of Thai or Indian places where you could get 2 courses for £10, or you could go to somewhere like Camden market and have a wide choice of ethnic food for £3.50 for a big helping.

This isn't counting the number of good pubs who do excellent food for very reasonable prices.

Sounds like you had bad luck or bad advice during your trip.

[amazona]

32. well I'll be back so I may take you up on this!

We were absolutely gaster-flasted at the price of food! You do realize that 3.50 pounds for a rotisserie chicken is still $7, about twice the going rate for the same thing in my local supermarket? But every little bit helps, believe you me.

I could see that British were significantly heftier since the early 1980s but I honestly couldn't figure out what they were eating, so expert advice is much appreciated.

Indeed if it isn't too rude of me to ask for names and addresses of the restaurants in question, maybe you could private-mail me if you get a chance. It would be a huge, huge help. We saved money by just drinking a pint at lunch for the noonday calories which is probably not the wisest health measure.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Blue-Jay]

27. The best place to eat boiled food?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

28. Paris, NYC, SF, New Orleans are all MUCH better than London

as far as the AVERAGE quality of restaurant fare, just for starters (I'm sure I could come up with MANY more). Wife and I spent a week there last spring.

I'm sure there are excellent super high end restaurants, but it doesn't count if you have to work so hard to find it.

[amazona]

33. don't laugh but don't forget Vegas

It sometimes seems tht they have all the major chefs there at least part-time.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[SKKY]

35. If you like everything boiled it is.