Eating out in London

Our budget hotel has no kitchen, microwave or fridge in the room. Therefore, eating out has become my new favourite pastime.

Enjoying the food and sunshine at Hyde Park

But it can be quite costly.

As our hotel offers an inclusive breakfast, we usually eat in and indulge in cereal, muesli, and toast. This is a logical way to save some pennies for a rainy day – and let’s face it, there are a lot of rainy days in London.

When considering lunch and dinner venues we look for value meal deals to save money. Our favourite Italian restaurant, Giotto, has a fabulous deal including any pizza or pasta, a fresh salad and a glass of wine for £10.95. Our favourite Indian restaurant, Pappadam Express, has an all you can eat buffet including starters, salads, mains and deserts for £12.95.

Day time boozing at Giotto

A lot of bars and pubs have ‘happy hour’ with half priced drinks and cheap pub meals. I have eaten more chicken burgers in the past 10 days than I have in my life.

Happy hour at our local pub, The Plough

There are many different food chains offering fresh food at affordable prices, such as Pret-A-Manger, Café Nero and Pizza Express. However our latest money saving meal option has been buying sandwiches and fruit from the supermarket for £3-4. Cheap and delicious.

We have shared meals all over London, but our favourite restaurants so far have been:

• Pho in Soho for delicious Vietnamese
• Ruby Blue in Leicester Square for the best wedges and chicken burgers, all at half price
• Granger and Co in Notting Hill for the best breakfast I have eaten in my life

The best breakfast ever at Granger and Co. I die

You can find a feed on any budget in London and a huge range of cuisines. And if you save money on the food, you can spend more on those two bottles of wine with every dinner. Yummy.

Getting as big as a house, Nikki