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 Breakfasts - Flat White in Soho

It's been a week and I've not posted any photos of food. Just snow and graffiti, but nothing edible. I'm obviously suffering from serious winter blues cognitive bloggitive disorder, this is really not normal.



Well there was the Hix debacle but I forgot my camera and everything else was rather forgettable as well. That was kind of a bummer.



But I'm adding a little addition to my London Brekkies, the Flat White in Soho. Now in all honesty, God only knows why we always end up in this joint (I thought I would kindly reference God cause I found a five pound bill yesterday so here's a Holla, Your Dudeness (advertising real cheap on this blog apparently)).




Anyway, back to the Flat White. This is an unassuming little place, run by some New Zealanders, with a nice little array of salads, all day breakfasts, and a really really great coffee (really really great. coffee.). There's some questionable art on the walls, a crowded little sitting area.




And a buzzy, Soho, gritty cool vibe. It's nice, it's cheap. Me and my friends, we hang out here sometimes.




They make good eggs.

Infos
Flat White
17 Berwick St
Soho
London W1F 0PT

Dinner at Hix

Short and bitter.

Decor: a bit wanky.

Food: a bit blah.

Price: a bit ouch.

Though it was voted Best New Restaurant 2010 by Time Out, I will pass, thank you very much.