London, giddy London ... where do you eat, on the cheap?
I ask as - after spending several months rolling around the regions in a one-man rearguard action against metropolitan media bias - I have finally brought the critical apparatus which is my mouth to bear on that there London, in the latest instalment of my "budget eats" series for Guardian Travel.
The deal, as WoM regulars may know, is that I'm looking for places where you can eat and drink something for under a tenner a head: cafes, pizzeria, chippies, "mobilers", stunning set menus, takeaway and great breakfast spots, that kind of thing. The London section of this increasingly epic nationwide quest - which is doing nothing for my waistline, but much for the sales of Zantac - is going to be split into five sections. Please bear that in mind. We start today in central London. So don't all pile in with suggestions for Camden, Hackney or Brixton. Your time will come but, today, we're dealing with, roughly speaking, that bit that stretches from Soho to the City, Euston to the Thames.
For once, I won't even pretend that my choice is definitive. London is simply too big. What I'm hoping, however, is that in the likes of Malletti, Lantana, City Caphe, Yalla Yalla and Gelupo, I've put together a varied list - you can read the full top 10 here - which (remembering the original purpose of these pieces) will be of genuine use to vulnerable tourists. Of course, there are places which due to the constraints of space I would have liked to include (Cafe Below, Koya, Herman Ze German) but couldn't. There were others where I simply ran out time to give them the once over (Fleet River Bakery, Diwana Bhel Poori House). As for the marvellously old school deli, Gaby's, on Charing Cross Road, which looked more promising than my falafel pitta actually was, I would love to hear more from any of its fans.
Other candidates simply didn't pass muster. I'd heard and read good things about Notes Music Coffee. It might be a civilised redoubt for Covent Garden - with its "dedicated brew bar" (for yer fashionable filter coffees) and its shelves full of art house films and classical CDs - but an inefficiently reheated and bland red onion and courgette muffin and a so-so flat white saw it struck from my shortlist. Did I just catch them on a bad day?
And where else does the world - me, visitors to London, the (slightly dysfunctional) Word of Mouth family - need to know about? Should Cocorino or Gordon's Wine Bar have been on my list? Is Foxcroft & Ginger on Berwick Street as good as it looks? Does anyone rate Souper Stew (or is it Stewed & Baked?), sometime residents (not on my visit, sadly) of the adjacent market? Will anyone shout up for Ba Shan or Rasa Sayang?
