English Breakfast: Breaking the Chains

Before I begin yet another enthralling installment of “English Breakfast,” I have glorious news to share. Due to my somewhat unscrupulous complaining about the knives supplied in our dorm kitchens, we have been given new knives. Obviously, I was very excited about this astounding feat, and I celebrated by marching from kitchen to kitchen telling everyone how I was responsible for these new utensils and insisting that praise be delivered to me at once. Besides myself, I guess that the nice people at BU London should also be thanked for listening to my request and responding so proactively.

And now, moving on to new foreign adventures…

London, like any thriving metropolis, is filled with some standard chain restaurants. The ubiquitous ones here are the unpronounceable Pret A Manger, Caffé Nero, Starbucks (of course), and the appropriately named EAT. (That period is actually in the restaurant’s name.)

Now, these chain eateries are all fine and cheap (though Starbucks charges 40p for whipped cream!), but one can easily grow tired of pre-packaged BLTs, and as an enterprising BU student, I’ve taken it upon myself to eschew these middle-of-the-road restaurants and seek out reasonably priced flavorful food all by myself (and with the help of a couple friends).

However, this task has proven to be more difficult than we originally thought. The neighborhood of South Kensington (where BU London is headquartered) is one of the fanciest areas of the city, and good, cheap food is hard to come by. (In fact, Time Out London’s map of Cheap Eats presents a noticeable gap directly around South Ken.) Therefore, we have to venture into other areas. Since the London underground, or “Tube” (or to BU students, “the T”), costs £4 round trip, we need to make sure that every ride counts.

Pho, from Pho. | Photo by Joel Kahn.

SoHo is a very popular part of London. It is filled not only with tourists and theatres, but also with overpriced bars and terrible nightclubs. Up until this weekend, every trip into SoHo has resulted in a member of our group declaring, “Let’s never come here again.” And yet, due to its close proximity to Chinatown and ample cheap-eateries, we keep reluctantly returning.

Reluctantly, that is, until we discovered Pho, a Vietnamese restaurant in the non-terrible part of SoHo. Pho offers giant bowls of Vietnamese noodles, meat, and broth (a dish known as pho) in various combinations, as well as bún—made of cold vermicelli rice noodles. Pho also offers a great atmosphere of white-washed wood walls, red ceilings, and basket sconces—not to mention the only bottles of Sriracha spotted in London so far. And the best part: most of its dishes are around £8 (about $12)…not too shabby.

On the other side of the Tube station (in the terrible part of SoHo) is Dishoom, a self-described “Bombay Café.” Dishoom does properly convey the feeling of a sweltering basement in the heart of Mumbai—just without the social strife and population density. An added plus: it’s LOUD. Us Americans are not used to people sitting and eating in silence, riding the subway in silence, or partaking in every aspect of life in a hushed whisper. Thankfully, Dishoom presented the context for speaking at full volume without feeling embarrassed. Oh, and they have food, too. The menu contains an assortment of Biryani, curries, and Tikkas, many for under £10. These dishes were nice and spicy—just as spicy as the place was loud.

"Mummy, could I have some more?" | Photo by Joel Kahn.

Over on the non-cheap side of town, Piccadilly Circus, there lies a delightful macaron shop. Macarons are little heavenly sandwiches made of egg whites and filled with deliciousness, and the French shop Ladurée has some beautiful specimens. The shop lies just around the corner from Old Bond Street—the fanciest street in all of London. Just after shopping at Alexander McQueen or Prada, one can hop around the corner for some multi-colored French confections.

So there are places in London worth the trip that won’t break the bank. Hopefully, there are enough to last through the semester. If I end up frequenting KFC in April, please be sure to slap me across the face and make me aware of the error of my ways.

About Joel Kahn

Joel is currently a film major at BU. He hails from South Florida, and started at The Quad writing about food. He is now the publisher of The Quad.

View all posts by Joel Kahn →

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *