Louisville Restaurants Forum

We will be vacationing in London in May of this year and we have rented an aprtment on the east side on the Thames River. Any dining suggestions?

Michele Brinke wrote:We will be vacationing in London in May of this year and we have rented an aprtment on the east side on the Thames River. Any dining suggestions?

Michele,
I'm very jealous that your going to one of our favorite cities in the world and I hope it treats you as well as it did us so many years ago. My wife went back a few years ago and she said that it is much changed since we wandered its neighborhoods as wide eyed kids from the mid-west not knowing a pound from a quid.

If this is your first visit I encourage you to do all the touristy things that allow you to experience the wonderful British culture on display.

Ride a double-decker bus, a taxi, and of course the tube. Talk at a Beefeater, tour the Tower of London, and buy something frivolous and over-priced at Harrods (we still have a brolly). Go to the theater in the West End, watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and tour the British Museum. I know you're asking about dinning though.

I watched Bourdains “Layover” the other day set in London and apparently it is now quite a foodie town. I know nothing about that as my experience during my whole time in England was that the food was edible and the beer sublime. The two places that I will return to if I ever get the chance are the Prospect of Whitby and the Dickens Inn though neither are foodie destinations.

The first has been a pub on the Thames since the 16th century. It's said that it was a haunt of pirates and that the Sunday beheadings at the Tower were favored entertainment viewed from its environs.
http://www.taylor-walker.co.uk/pub/pros ... ing/c8166/

The other is really a touristy tavern/restaurant located on St Katherin Docks. It's where I first had steak and kidney pie and is a family friendly place that encapsulates the London experience for me.
http://www.dickensinn.co.uk/tavern-bar

Cheers Michele – have fun and tell us about it when your return!

Well London, like NYC has a massive dining offering but also like NYC the dining public is fickle and places are "in" and then "out" in a matter of months. If you're staying there a bit longer I would suggest one of these two online helping helpers:

http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/


http://www.toptable.co.uk/

Have fun.

Not dining, but may I suggest you visit the Langham Hotel bar for a cocktail? It's a few blocks from the Piccadilly Circus Underground station directly across the street from the BBC's radio HQ. The cocktails are pricey but so classic. It's fun to watch the bartenders; they are very serious with understated flair. There are seats at the bar; although, it seems sitting there is discouraged and I gather only the yanks do it.

The hotel is a classic, too. You can see remnants of WWII bomb damage and sense the ghosts of Winston Churchill and Edward R. Murrow who might have shared drinks and spent time in the hotel's basement during Luftwaffe air raids and after BBC broadcasts across the street.

You'll want to become familiar with Time Out - the magazine and the website:

http://www.timeout.com/london/

They also publish a guide book and a Short List book.

I actually lived at the Langham Hilton for six weeks back in the 90's. And the bar is pretty groovy. Same thing over at the Grovesner House.... dripping with history. Also, Duke's Bar in the West End is kind of nifty as supposedly Ian Fleming got the inspiration for "shaken, not stirred" there. The martinis are stupid expensive but this really old man rolls a trolley to your table and mixes you, presumably, THE Bond cocktail.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I've been to Europe a couple of times but never got to England, so were are really looking forward to this trip. I'll print this page out and put with our itenerary. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I can't help with recommendations, as I haven't been there myself. However, my husband and I will be going there in June. If you think of it when you return, Michele, I'd love to hear your recommendations!

Sherrie G wrote:I can't help with recommendations, as I haven't been there myself. However, my husband and I will be going there in June. If you think of it when you return, Michele, I'd love to hear your recommendations!

Hey, Mary and I might be going to England and France in late May or early June, too! HotBytes offline!

Sherrie, did you just have a birthday? Facebook indicated so, but I looked on your page and didn't see any other greetings, so I hesitated. Happy belated, if you did just celebrate your day.

Robin Garr wrote:

Sherrie G wrote:I can't help with recommendations, as I haven't been there myself. However, my husband and I will be going there in June. If you think of it when you return, Michele, I'd love to hear your recommendations!

Hey, Mary and I might be going to England and France in late May or early June, too! HotBytes offline!

Sherrie, did you just have a birthday? Facebook indicated so, but I looked on your page and didn't see any other greetings, so I hesitated. Happy belated, if you did just celebrate your day.

An International HotBytes offline would be amazing! We arrive on June 3rd, leave the 8th for a Scandinavian/Russian cruise. Let us know if you will be in London during that time at all.

And yes, I did just celebrate a birthday!(My sister said the same thing about the bday greetings not showing up, but I had a ton on my page.) Honestly, we went to Jeff Ruby's because it's the one place in town that I know that serves dry-aged beef, unlike the wet-aged beef you get in most places. Please correct me if I'm wrong. (It was amazing. I got the bone-in strip steak which was fantastic (and made me want to gnaw on the bone - which I've never had mind to do before!), but I was disappointed in the tuna tartare & the steak tartare was unavailable for some unknown reason).

Where in France? I might be able to stop by and say hello.

We will arrive in London on May 23rd and leave the 31st. If anybody is in town then and wants to hit a few pubs with us that would be a lot of fun! We are also going to Paris but just for a brief trip to take the chunnel for 1 day. I'll take notes and report back to you on where we go Sherrie.

Well, our plans are very incomplete, but we might be able to catch you and Bob in London, Michele! Sherrie, I'm afraid our chances aren't quite so good.

Basically, we want to fit in a trip to England and France somewhere between May 20 and June 3, but I need to figure out the exact dates - partly depending on what Delta will give us - and then an itinerary. Let's stay in touch on this, anyway!