37 Affordable European Restaurants
Even with the pound sterling weakening somewhat, London prices are shocking. My advice?Take a deep breath, quit complaining, and note the positives. What other city offers such museums and lunchtime concerts—for free?Don’t forget theater seats for $18, and imperial pints of boutique ale for a mere $5. Sure you have to be fiscally savvy. So flee the highway robbery at Nobu and head for modest Sushi Hiro, worshipped by fish fanatics. Skip the limp, overpriced $30 fish and chips at gentrified gastropubs and try the genuine article instead at the wonderful Fryer’s Delight. And don’t ignore the democratically priced lunchtime prix fixe—your ticket to trying those buzzy hot spots.
A good place to start is a three-course, $31 lunch at Maze Grill, a suave steak-centric attachment to the fabulous Maze on Grosvenor Square. Everything chef Jason Atherton touches turns to edible gold, whether a gorgeous salad of watercress, beets, and batons of smoked eel, or a crusty hanger steak of Casterbridge beef served with terrific duck-fat fries. At Wild Honey, also in tony Mayfair, I can’t decide what I love more—the winsomely down-to-earth New British food; the convivial oak-paneled room; or the clever wine choices, all available in third-of-a-bottle carafes. In his cut-rate set lunches, chef-owner Anthony Demetre (also of Arbutus) channels his love of British ingredients into such scrumptious notions as sous-vide poached Cornish pollack medallion with a shock of seasonal greens, or a roll of Elwy Valley lamb shoulder served with a hearty potato gratin. The 45-seat Hibiscus is another new favorite. The kitchen fires are stoked by Lyon-born Claude Bosi, who left his two-starred place in Ludlow and instantly won over the capital. After trying the abbreviated market-driven lunch menu, we return for dinner—the place is just that good. Balancing comfort (tripe casserole with a side of crisp pig-trotter cake) with innovation (hay-smoked sweetbreads under a sprinkling of tart tamarillo “dust”), the $125 dinner menu is by London standards the hottest haute deal in town.
“Haute, shmote,” you say?Very well then, time to explore the astounding diversity of London’s ethnic restaurant scene. (Sorry Big Apple, you don’t even compare.) There are entire sections of this polyglot city that bear an uncanny resemblance to Abu Dhabi, or Krakow, or Bombay. In fascinating multicultural enclaves like Stoke Newington, you can navigate from authentic southeastern Turkish kebabs at 19 Numara Bos Cirrik to vibrantly spiced South Indian curries and dosa at the sunset-pink Rasa N16. Go ahead, take the tube. It’s a bargain, it’s an adventure. Long before new-media execs made Shoreditch trendy, the neighborhood was settled by Vietnamese immigrants. Here, set slightly apart from Kingsland Road’s “Little Vietnam,” is Cay Tre, a cool little canteen that buzzes with neighborhood chefs and arty East London types. For $35 a head, the kitchen wows us with a Southeast Asian feast. First, the house specialty: “La Vong fish,” marinated in turmeric and galangal, grilled tableside with a flurry of dill, and served with rice noodles and peanuts. To follow, a salad of lotus stems, prawns, and crisp pork nuggets. Then a complex coconut quail curry, and lemongrass-scented mackerel baked in banana leaves.
In the mood for dim sum, we meet local food divas Anissa Helou and Fuchsia Dunlop at Phoenix Palace, in Marylebone. Around us multigenerational Cantonese families and dour-faced Chinese Embassy flacks attack twisted scallion pancakes and soup-filled crab dumplings. Dunlop, a BBC Radio editor who moonlights as an author of best-selling Chinese cookbooks, interrogates the waitress in rapid-fire Mandarin. Out come two dozen dishes, all exemplary: shaggy taro cakes, sesame shrimp pockets, fried crullers in slippery rice-flour skins. Unbelievably, we insist on seconds of the mini rice casserole studded with dusky-sweet coins of air-dried duck sausage. Dunlop’s expertise is Sichuan food, and London restaurant critics are thankful that she consulted on the Northern Chinese menu at the new Baozi Inn. Craving a bowl of spicy Sichuan peanut noodles and a few fat pork dumplings in Soho?This cozy-hip Mao-themed nook is your place.
On our next outing, Helou takes charge. The Syrian-Lebanese food writer and budding ice cream entrepreneur chooses Al Waha, London’s most refined Lebanese restaurant. Refreshingly stripped of Arabian Nights clichés, the understated earth-toned room caters to the Notting Hill demographic. With Helou ordering, we brace ourselves for a meze marathon. “This is the best falafel on earth,” Helou insists, popping a greaseless, airy chickpea bonbon into her mouth. The same light touch distinguishes the delicate pastries filled with spinach, pomegranate, and nuts; cinnamon-tinged makanek lamb sausage, and moujaddara, a subtly spiced lentil-and-crushed-wheat pilaf accented with caramelized onions. Every dish is prepared with the kind of care one rarely finds outside patrician Lebanese homes. Too bad we have no room for main courses.
Finally, my last piece of London advice: Take a scenic ride on the Thames to Greenwich. After paying proper respect to its gorgeous museums and parks, indulge in the impeccable steak-and-stout pie and some artisanal ales on the bucolic patio of Greenwich Union, possibly the most charming pub on the planet. If you ever have a lovelier day for less, the next round of raspberry wheat beer is on us.
37 Affordable European Restaurants
