# Visiting London



## bathonuk (Mar 11, 2013)

Hi guys. I am going to visit London this saturday and I wanted you guys to suggest me nice places to visit. Also I'm looking for nice restaurant in city center which is not too expensive. I wish to eat sushi in London but I suppose that it's not for my pocket. Thanks in advance


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## bathonuk (Mar 12, 2013)

...


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## stevenStefano (Mar 12, 2013)

Well to be fair there are very few UK members on the forums. Perhaps send TB_London a PM? I don't think he lives in London any more but he might be able to help you


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## bathonuk (Mar 12, 2013)

Ok thanks. I sent him PM yesterday.


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## Timthebeaver (Mar 12, 2013)

Atari-ya in Swiss Cottage has decent sushi at reasonable prices. Don't expect the world and you might be pleasantly surprised.

When I'm in London I head straight for the places that do passable American Barbecue (sad I know, but you can't really get it anywhere else in the country, or at least nowhere I have found).


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## stevenStefano (Mar 12, 2013)

Timthebeaver said:


> When I'm in London I head straight for the places that do passable American Barbecue (sad I know, but you can't really get it anywhere else in the country, or at least nowhere I have found).



I have been to Bodean's and I thought it was pretty nice. Last time I was in London I went to Cafe Spice Namaste and I liked it a lot. Very nice Indian food and a great informal atmosphere


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## chudomir (Mar 12, 2013)

I don't know about sushi but why don't you hit the Burger run mate...Patty and Bun, Meat Liquor, Hawksmoor, Honest Burgers....the sorts you'll be surprised... It's been practically Burger Wars around here for the past couple of months....or if you just want some quality meat go to the Pitt Cue in Soho. For pies go to the Newman Arms pub at Goodge street or if you want classical pub food The Scolt Head or the Royal oak are awesome...for tapas Pintxo place is quite good...but Fino is the best Spanish you can get around, kind-a on the pricey side though...Reader be warned on a Saturday night without a reservation you are pretty much stuck to the really good but relatively speedy "first come first served" places. Good luck.


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## Timthebeaver (Mar 12, 2013)

stevenStefano said:


> I have been to Bodean's and I thought it was pretty nice. Last time I was in London I went to Cafe Spice Namaste and I liked it a lot. Very nice Indian food and a great informal atmosphere



Pulled pork and ribs are okay (and pretty good value) in Bodeans but I don't like their brisket at all. If you're in Soho I'd skip Bodeans and go to Pitt Cue instead. There's a truck which does great ribs in Brick Lane Market on Sundays.


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## TB_London (Mar 12, 2013)

Japan centre on haymarket is passable if you don't want fancy, worth a visit to stock up on ingredients.
Chinatown has a place that stocks CCKs if you're interested in picking up a cleaver.
Places to eat that are good can get expensive, one of the nicest meals I had was at Corrigans which was expensive but worth it. 
RDPX is London based and mentioned a good new sushi place off clerkenwell green, but you'd be needing reservations.


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## rdpx (Mar 12, 2013)

TB_London said:


> RDPX is London based and mentioned a good new sushi place off clerkenwell green, but you'd be needing reservations.



That is Sushi Tetsu - its booked up 2 months in advance and is not cheap but you can email them in case of cancellations. We have managed to get a reservation for my birthday in May but it took 2 hours of redialling and even then only got table for 6:00-8:30! I shall report back but am expecting great things.

If you really want sushi then Pham Sushi is very good and not too expensive - it is on Whitecross Street in EC1. Between Barbican, Old Street and Moorgate tube stations. http://www.phamsushi.co.uk/ I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was very busy, which is always good sign in sushi place.

Central restaurants the burgers mentioned above are all right on trend at the moment it's true... Polpo has a few incarnations and is also very good. Another one we like a lot is "Bocca di Lupo" in Soho. http://boccadilupo.com/. If you sit at the end of the bar here you are right at the pass, and everyting that goes out of the kitchen makes you think "oooh that looks nice". 

You might even want to see if you can get a table at The Ivy - if you keep the wine to the house it is actually pretty reasonable. The food is vert good though not michelin style, but the staff are very good and the room is as good as it gets. 

I don't know if you like exhibitions, but there is a fantastic Chuck Close show on at White Cube on Bermondsey Street at the moment. It is free (commercial gallery) and huge show, and the gallery itself is an amazing building. About 40 yards up the road is "José" a Seville type tapas bar which is tiny and buzzing and truly excellent. Both are about 5-10 mins from London Bridge - I went to both on Sunday and it was a fine day out.

[If you go there on Saturday, it is also v close to Borough Market, and if you get to the market at about 4:40 you will get lots of stall holders knocking excellent food out at 50%. Well worth a trip and a pint in the Market Porter afterwards.]

One other thing that is just fantastic is to go to the bar at the top of the Centrepoint tower by Tottenham Court Road tube. It's best if you call ahead and make reservation, but just go up and have a cockatail, or even just a beer. The cocktails are good and the view is AMAZING. http://www.paramount.uk.net/


Feel free to PM me if you want any more info on anything.

Robert


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## bathonuk (Mar 13, 2013)

Ok thank you. That was very comprehensive Propably I will not book place in any restaurant. I will be there only one day and I don't want to rush because of booking. I'll try to visit one of those places you guys suggest me. I will start my journey from madamme tissaud, war museum, earth museum, oxford street, chinatown, soho etc. Thanks again.


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## rdpx (Mar 14, 2013)

I asked a friend who seems to have eaten in every sushi place in London.... and she has maybe come up with a winner for your sushi dinner...

http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/centre-point-sushi

She even suggested you should make a reservation for a drink in Paramount afterwards, which seems like a plan for a pre train back to Leicester treat. Looks lik ethey are only open 6pm-10:30pm on Saturdays though.

http://www.cpfs.co.uk/

I asked her if it was good and she said "It is very good and very cheap and as you know I am a sushi snob"


If you need it to be lunch apparently Nizuni on Charlotte Street is also good.


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## bathonuk (Mar 14, 2013)

Ok thank you. I will check that website when i come back from my work. Your friend can't be wrong if she is sushi expert Thanks again


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## rdpx (Mar 14, 2013)

bathonuk said:


> Ok thank you. I will check that website when i come back from my work. Your friend can't be wrong if she is sushi expert Thanks again



I'm going to go along with her next week, look forward to your report! Don't miss the Paramount though, it is a really great view.


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## bathonuk (Mar 15, 2013)

I am afraid that I will not visit Centre Point Sushi. It is open from 6pm and I need to catch coach after 7:30 from Victoria coach station. I will try to do that.


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## bathonuk (Mar 17, 2013)

Hi Guys. So I've been in London yesterday. I really enjoyed it but to be honest I didn't see a lot. We started from Madame Tusaauds. It was very nice experience except waiting in the queue 1.5 hour and that there was too many people. It was hard to make some clear photos. I highly recommend it for everyone who is visiting London. It's good to buy 2 for 1 voucher on Ebay or Amazon. Single ticket costs 30 £. We were very lucky and we've seen horror show on place and Marvel Heroes 4D. Horror show was great. We spend lots of time there and we didn't had time to visit more places. 
If you wonder what is Madame Tussauds then you can see it in my private gallery. Sorry for the pictures quality but it was very hard to take some pictures there.

https://plus.google.com/photos/105172329006238409782/albums/5856076349180034833?banner=pwa

National war museum and few other museums were closed at that time. The city is huge and we just walked around. We had dinner at Chiquito at Leicester Square . Very nice place to chillout with mexican music. I bought myself one of the best burgers I have ever eat(also the biggest) and my Fiancee get Tortilla Santa Fe. Staff was very nice and helpful.

https://plus.google.com/photos/1051...87069142607937/5856345454806653458?banner=pwa
https://plus.google.com/photos/1051...87069142607937/5856345578674011698?banner=pwa



I didn't see a point to ride on London Eye because I didn't want to wait in the queue for about 2 h. We found Centre point food store but we had a problem with it because bus was staying in front of it and we just walked around it and tried to find it. So we went upstairs to sushi bar. Sushi master was very old and Japanese. He didn't speak English but it wasn't a problem because waitress talked to us. Only thing I didn't like is that they were watching us all the time but it wasn't a big problem. Sushi was great. Most surprising was futo maki with tofu, eel ( I don't know how they prepare it but was great), prawns and omlette. Also tried salmon nigiri, scallops nigiri, squid nigiri, octopus nigiri, eel nigiri. With two beers I spent 28£ with tip. We leaved that place in the right time because we had to catch the coach. Thanks for your help again.


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## bieniek (Mar 17, 2013)

Dude sounds great but next time shoot me an PM! 

Theres pleanty of good eats in London that wont ruin your pocket. As usual most are hidden treasures.


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## rdpx (Mar 17, 2013)

Very glad that you managed to get some good sushi, but no photos of it?

Did the old guy have nice knives?

R


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## bathonuk (Mar 17, 2013)

Bieniek next time I will. I hope that you will manage to come to UK and we will eat something together Or maybe cook something

RDPX:

I didn't take any photos there. To be honest we were so tired and didn't know what to do that I had to ''drag'' my girlfriend to find that place. They wanted to place us at the table but I wanted to sit at the counter. Futo maki was made by the indian guy. I think that he was still learning and I don't have a clue how he communicate with sushi chef. I wanted to see how is he doing sushi and how is he cutting stuff but I couldn't. I've noticed that he has yanagiba but don't know about the maker. I only asked him how long is he doing sushi and he answerd that 40 years. Of course I help him to answer because his 40 doesn't sound like fourty It was the first time when I ate real sushi and really enjoy it. I believe that I could replace that Indian apprentice because I learned to make sushi by myself. Pictures of my sushi:


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## rdpx (Mar 18, 2013)

I like the tomato swirl !!

Great stuff all round - did you ask him for a job?


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## bathonuk (Mar 18, 2013)

No I didn't. I've got a job in Leicester. London is to expensive for me and I am amateur.


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