London Cheap Eats: The Guardian

This is The Guardian's selection of cheap eats in London, this article is for East London, but they're covering all boroughs...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/mar/25/east-london-cheap-eats-restaurants

(I prefer mine).

Vietnamese restaurants in Hoxton

These joints are London classics. For some reason there are several adjacent vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road. These places are always packed, and swarming with the hipsters de rigueur....

My absolute favourite is the Viet Grill. I shall do a better review soon enough, with photos and what not. I guess this is a place I come to so often, I end up never getting round to doing this properly.



There is also its little sister on Old Street, Cay Tre. Gorgeous food. Curries, Pho, seabass, lemongrass. Outstanding.


But this is the ultimate London cheap eat. I UUUURGE you to pop round.

You can have a tipper at the Jaguar Shoes afterwards, classic Shoreditch night out it is...

Infos
Viet Grill
58 Kingsland Road
Shoreditch, London E28DP, United Kingdom
020 7739 6686

London Cheap Eats: Gallipolli

This one is maybe not the best Turkish food in the region (it's Stokey, that's a tall order), but it's probably the cutest. Ambiance is lacking at the more traditional places.

The location is perfect, right on Upper St., and the decoration, with all the lamps hanging from the ceiling, really sets the mood. Great for a date.



The Iskender, yoghurt, lamb, pitta, "special sauce" is great, the hoummous is also good. The tarama was a little dreck, I'm afraid.



They also only serve an obscure Turkish beer, which is rubbish, however authentic....

But all in all a cute little spot for an unpretentious dinner, and bonus points for ambiance..


The "Gallipolli" family comprises of three restaurants/bars on Upper Street, I prefer Bazaar.

Infos:
Gallipolli
107 Upper St, London, N1 1QP,
020 7226 53 33
http://www.cafegallipoli.com/bazaar/

London Breakfasts: Gastro in Clapham

Well, I'll refrain from sharing what I was doing having breakfast on the other side of the city. But I did wake up in great spirits, and had the most lovely little breakfast.



Actually, this is a cute cute little french joint I quite enjoy. The prices are decent, the atmosphere is truly French, not snotty "international cuisine" French, but homely "cafe du coin" French. The croque-madame was a treat, and where else can you get your coffee in a bowl in London?



This is also a good place to come for dinner, they do a great bavette with bearnaise.


I'll miss Clapham, the park is lovely. Oh well, we'll always have Paris.

Infos:
Gastro
67 Venn Street,
SW4 0BD

London Art Fair

Well hello blog. Long time no see. I've been living it up on the hyped shores of Bali, you see. No time for pesky little blogs like yourself on my holiday.

Now, now. Don't make such a fuss. I'm a fickle master, but I can be fun (on occasion).

I'm going to kick things off for the year with the London Art Fair, happening next week, 19 to 23 of January, in Islington.



This is the largest British art fair, and as it enters into its 23rd edition, we can expect to encounter over 100 galleries pluggin their stuff to over 23000 visitors.




Tickets are available online, at the fair's website:

http://www.londonartfair.co.uk

It's on Upper Street, so afterwards you can hit The Afghan Kitchen, a little gem that is sure to feature soon enough on the London Cheap Eats section...

See? All better now.

Infos

London Art Fair
Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, London N1

The Afghan Kitchen
35 Islington Green

London Cheap Eats - PRINCI

Aah. Princi. This is one of my all time favourite places in London, because it reminds me of not being in London, basically.



Princi is the quintessential Milanese experience, the Armani of the bakeries. Minimal beige stone interiors, impeccable music selection, and slightly pompous pretention. Loves it. I used to gorge on the goodies every weekeend when I was commuting for love to Milan, a bygone era, fortunately, as my waistline, pocketbook and achy-breaky-heart could not have held out much longer.

But there is a certain brand of chic that you only find in Milan, and coming into Princi in London is just an amazing throwback. Recherche but understated, like a mink coat against a collarless navy blue dress.



The food here is rustic, italian, simple, and well priced, but the feel is luxurious and exclusive. Patrons sprawl cozily across the large communal table and the odd bar stools. There is a constellation of primi to choose from, pastas, salads, and the odd pizza and foccacia.



Now ordinarily italians do a rather poor job of desert (seriously, is tiramissu the best your entire cultural history can amount to? I'm not impressed). But the options here are lovely, cannoli, millefoglie and crostate will do the job beautifully.




If I can get a whiff of Milan without the airport cues and the heartache, and for around a tenner, well, this is just the Cheap Eat to top all Cheap Eats.

Oh, and they open late!

You can catch up on the latest London reviews, recipes and stuff on my new blog, www.thenoshdiaries.com


Infos
Princi
135 - 137 Wardour Street
W1F 0UT
http://www.princi.co.uk/

London Cheap Eats

Yes, though I've ignored it long enough, it seems we are in the middle of a recession. Since it hasn't really come up in Vogue, ID or Numero, it has perhaps taken me a bit longer than expected to catch on (I'm joking, I read Grazia too).

Apparently it's cool to be a recessionista now, which means you basically still buy the Birkin, but in tan, because you will use it more and therefore it's a savvy buy, really. Unfortunately that is not the kind of rationalization that will win over the folks at American Express, believe me. I've tried.

So in order to keep up with the inevitable zeitgeist, I am launching a session on cheap eats, because, let's face it, life isn't all about Sauternes and Foie Gras, you gotta eat too. But my standards shall remain impossibly high (yes mother, that is probably why I am still unmarried, can we talk about this later please?). Now it's rather hard to pull this off in London, because the baseline is, well, beans on toast, rather than rillettes, or piadinas, or the pan con tomate you would get in the continent. Sigh.

It's therefore no surprise that a lot of the places I go to for a quick, cheap, but gastronomically appropriate bite are often not British. I will throw in a couple of fish and chip, pubs and what not. But mostly, it's Indian, Italian, Afghan and all sorts of foreign in this price range.

Well, I'm off. Wish me luck!

London Breakfasts, Lantana Cafe

This place is truly a little hidden gem, tucked away in Bloomsbury, right off Charlotte Street. If you're exploring the sites, like the British Museum, this is a great place to come eat.

The prices are great, the atmosphere is totally relaxed, and NON touristy, which is surprising for that area. The food is wholesome, the portions massive, and the coffee delicious.

There is a breakfast and a lunch menu during the week, and all day brunch on the weekend. I had french toast with ricotta and chai poached pears, and my friend had the corn fritters with a poached egg and salsa. Both massive, and wonderful.

They have also recently opened a little takeaway shop next door, so you can get a muffin and a coffee on the go as well.

fos
Lantana Cafe

13 Charlotte Place

http://www.lantanacafe.co.uk/