Time Out Cheap Eats in London

London is no longer about pie n mash,fish n chips, mushy peas,roast beef n yorkshire pudding - or jellied eels! Thank goodness for that,as we have to live here! And nobody wants to come on vacation to eat only that! This book gives a true,budget update of what people really want to eat (including olde worlde English carveries and traditional stuff) in a carefully-chosed cross-section. We enjoyed plotting out all the places and didn't find any that were closed!

We took this book on a trip to London (obviously), and went to several of the restaurants in the guide. All of the restaurants that we visited were fabulous. We would look up a restaurant and then go to that part of town to eat, which really helped in getting us out to other parts of London that we might not have normally visited. Highly recommended. Also went to eat a couple of times at "Wasabi", a Japanese fast food chain. It wasn't in the book, but I really enjoyed it. The sushi was very fresh and super reasonably priced.

I bought this book in planning for a trip to London. With today's exchange rate, I really need to get the most for my money and this book is a great help. The reviews are clear, well-organized and have been invaluable in helping me plan my trip!

I recently visited London for the first time and beforehand I went through half a dozen London guides. This one, Lonely Planet's England Guide, and London for Dummies are the ones I recommend. London is an expensive city, including food, and "Time Out Cheap Eats in London" will provide you with great leads on lower-priced restaurants listed neighborhood by neighborhood. It's useful to remember that central London is relatively small and very walkable so be sure to check out the sections on neighborhoods outside of the one where you are staying. The book has longer reviews of recommended restaurants and short notes about recommended chain restaurants (no, not American chains!) in the neighborhood. Also take a look at Time Out's website for updates.

London is among the most expensive cities in the world, and at the moment the US-to-pound exchange rate is frightening. While I might love to visit the 5-star restaurants on my upcoming trip, my checkbook has issued a firm, "No way." If I'm going to "do London," then I have to do it inexpensively. I spent some time with the "full size" Time Out London Eating and Drinking (Time Out Guides) before I ultimately chose this scaled down version. The two primary reasons were practicality (this book is smaller and will fit into a pocketbook) and affordability (of the recommended meals, not the book's cost). Both are very good, but I knew that I wouldn't get full use of the full size book. To be included in Time Out Cheap Eats, the 500 restaurants must have an average meal price of under 20 pounds. That's about $40 US, hardly a bargain at first glance, but that meal is expected to include a starter, entree, dessert, and a beer and half bottle of wine. Restaurants are price-identified on three levels, with the least expensive being under 14 pounds per person. There's not a major "best of" grading system, though the ones they particularly like get a star next to the listing. The main listings are by geography, and roughly associated with Tube stops, so you can quickly find affordable restaurants in Chiswick or Battersea. There are also maps (with each restaurant clearly and readably marked), and indexes by cuisine (Belgian, burgers) and by restaurant name. Like its bigger sibling, each restaurant review has complete address and contact info, map location, price range, and credit card acceptance. There are usually 100-200 words describing the places the way you'd hope a friend would, with both the positives and negatives. They usually mention a few notable dishes to give you a sense of the restaurant's specialties. This is a great book that gives me confidence that I can eat memorably and well in London... without needing to spend a lot of money.