I'll be in London soon (march 18 - 25) and even though I love the city, I'm a bit apprehensive because of the food. London is one of the best cities in the world for foodies and I'm afraid I'll put on some weight.
Last time I went on vacation, I put on 2 kgs (4 lbs) and I don't want it to happen again.
Yes, I will have some english breakfast at the legendary Regency Cafe and maybe some pie & mash at F. Cookie's (Broadway Market) but that's it. I'm already looking for health food restaurants: Orchard (11 Sicilian Avenue), Woodlands (Leicester Square).
Hummus Bros (Holborn) seems like a good option but I'm not sure how caloric hummus really is.
I didn't know the Regency Cafe was legendary - that was just the local caf near one of my old jobs. I've eaten there many times, but not for a long time.
I think there's more emphasis on fresh food than there used to be... (yum, yum) - so it's all about choosing good things from the menu. Many of which can be wholesome, delicious and not super calorific.
You might want to check out Roast in Borough Market (Borough Market itself is a foodie paradise with lots of yummy things, many of them very healthy).
To avoid gaining weight, eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Savour and enjoy every mouthful, but don't eat too much of it.
if you fancy sushi there's loads of yo's all over the place, and that's quite good depending on what you order. There's also hi sushi which is actually my favourite, or Zuma if you're looking for that something special, or benihana if you like the whole teppanyaki show thing.
Then there's loads of dim sum places, my favourite are phoenix palace or royal china (watch out for MSG in royal china though), and the regulars like ping pong or wherever in china town really.
For thai you can always go to Thai Square (all over London), or Blue Elephant down in Fulham, or I'm not sure if it's still open but one of my favourite Pan-Asian restaurants was Cocoon when I lived in London.
Whereabouts are you staying when you get to London?
Itsu is a really nice chain cafe/restaurant with lots of branches all over central London. The stuff is healthy, cheap and tasty. They also have calorie counts on everything.
I just got back from Borough market. I had the most AMAZING cajun fish and shrimp wrap - cooked right in front of my eyes. If you cut the creme fraiche out of it, it would be amazingly healthy. £5 - and worth every single penny. I also spent a stupid amount of money on yellow squash. That was crazy. Hope that's worth it. Cooking it tonight.
wahaca in shepherds bush .... mmmmm! I love mexican. It didnt seem like there was much fat in it (veggie anyway, so all the dishes were full on veg feasts) but im not 100%. Its tasty tho so......
I second Itsu - they do a salmon/tuna sashimi salad that's under 200!
The many Vietnamese restaurants of East London (e.g. Song Que, Cay Tre, Viet Hoa) are all brilliant and the healthy options are some of the best things on the menu - Pho noodle soup and the rice paper summer rolls are all low-cal and amazing.
I also think you can eat quite healthily in Turkish restaurants like Mangal in Dalston if you go easy on the bread and rice.
Orchard on Sicilian Avenue is AMAZING too by the way, good call - I wouldn't call it health food (there's lots of comfort food on the menu, cheese sandwiches, amazing cakes) but you can usually choose healthy options.
Leon is also a good chain for getting healthy food on the go - much better than Pret and so on. They have a range of superfood salads (broccoli/feta/avocado, mackerel/beetroot/horseradish) which are worth a look and they put all the nutrition info on their website.
Restaurants in London?
