All posts tagged: cheap eats london

Beany Green – Bringing the Lunch Box to Life

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Where Beany Green, London What Beany Green has opened a flagship cafe in the new Broadgate Circus development tucked behind Liverpool Street Station. Experience Australian born Prue Freeman and her English partner Tom Onions gave it all up to bring hand crafted coffees to the City in 2012. Now launching their filth venue, Beany Green offers a larger city venue with tables located around the open-aired terrace of Broadway Circus, prefect for people watching. Forget those soggy sandwiches and boring packaged salads. Beany Green is on a mission to revolutionise the diet of the average city worker with their bold, healthy food offerings and perfectly roasted coffee. Order a Beany Green Salad Box packed full of your choice of three freshly prepared, daily-changing salads devised by Ottolenghi-trained Executive Chef Tricia Jadoonanan – yummy! Beany Green screams ‘upbeat Melbourne cool’ without being pretentious. OH – and it has a trick up its sleeve. It’s open in the evening to stir and shake the most incredible cocktails. The Espresso Martini is made with freshly poured coffee house …

Carluccio’s Launches Spring/Summer Menu

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Where Carluccio’s, Garrick Street, London What The infamous Italian restaurant chain, Carluccio’s, has launched a new spring / summer menu so I was invited along to the Garrick Street restaurant, near Covent Garden, to celebrate. Experience It was a sunny afternoon at the beginning of spring when I made my way to meet my friend Alice outside Carluccio’s. Sun seekers had already filled the outdoor tables, sipping on ice cold white wine, enjoying the hottest day of the year. We were lead up a grand, spiral staircase which lead to a private dining room, and presented with an offering of a prosecco cocktail – yes please. The prosecco was lightly quenched with limonchello and made an uncomfortably warm girl instantly revived. The Garrick Street Carluccio’s is housed inside an historic London building with tall ceilings and whiter-than-white painted walls. It hosts a bar and dining area over two floors, along with a private dining room and of course the infamous Carluccio’s deli. In the far corner were the guys from Peroni working their magic shaking …

Big Fernand Finally Crosses the Channel

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Where Big Fernand, London What Big Fernand has ventured to London to set up their burger workshop, focusing on French flavours and Parisian finesse. There are no hamburgers here, it is hamburgés that Big Fernand deals in. It marries the comforting American classic with French gastronomy to deliver the crème de la crème. Experience In 2013 I went to Paris with Food for Think’s very own Sarah Kemp. During our three day trip, our feasting would have given Marie Antoinette a run for her money; but one restaurant in particular remained prominent in our minds. Just before catching our Eurostar home, we embarked on an adventure to Big Fernand, a French-inspired (obviously) hamburgé bar with a queue of hungry Parisians spilling out of the door. We agreed we had possibly just eaten the best burger of our lives and calculated schemes to bring this unique idea across the Channel. Luckily we didn’t have to as the team at Big Fernand were already planning their next venture. I could not be more excited to try a …

Koshari Street, St Martin’s Lane

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Just over a year ago I visited Sao Paulo on a press trip. We arrived at the start of winter and I couldn’t quite believe it – 26 degrees and sunshine all around. I spent most of my time with Oliver, Paul and our lovely ‘tour guide’, David, but I was also lucky enough to spend a little time with Anissa Helou who was also out there for the trip. Anissa had been to Sao Paulo before and had many friends to visit so only joined us for our last meal at Mani. Anissa wowed me with stories of her home cooked Lebanese food and I was looking forward to getting home to try out some of her recipes. Fast forward a year and Anissa has just opened her first ‘hole in the wall’ street food experience on St Martin’s Lane, Koshari Street. I visited for dinner last night and was impressed with a dish that I had never even laid eyes on before, nevermind tasted. Koshari is one of Egypt’s quintessential street foods. It is …

Pho, Wardour Street

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My first experience of Vietnamese cuisine was a couple of years ago in Melbourne. We were taken to dinner by a couple of DJs that my boyfriend knew who were incredibly excited about taking us to their favourite restaurant in the city. Everything was looking good when we arrived – it was bustling with the locals and we had to fight to snag a table. The building was creaky and not perfect, everything you’d expect from a neighbourhood restaurant. We let the enthusiastic gents order and listened to them talk about how amazing the dishes were before they finally arrived, after what seemed like a lifetime. My first reaction was to almost burst into laughter, followed by tears. Just by looking at my plate I could see that my local Chinese takeaway could have done better. In front of us lay MSG ridden gloop, disgusting sticky sauces and very unhealthy looking vegetables. I couldn’t have been more disappointed and for a while it put me off trying Vietnamese in London. When I finally braved it, …