London Neighborhoods for hotels

So we’re spending 3 nights in London. I have no clue where to stay. Based on what I’m reading for exploration, shopping, eating, drinking Soho/Mayfair ? Is that right? We’ll be doing all the general touristy things and seeing the sites, but at night I wanted to be able to walk around and explore. We have reservations at Pollen St/Heston if that matters.

Also.

MAN hotels are expensive in london.

i think covent garden is a pretty convenient location. check out hedone if you have time. probably the best food in london currently. the ledbury is also worth going to if you can get a reservation. clove club is an easy pass.

Covent garden is great, but I wind up near Park Lane (west edge of Mayfair) because I use points at Marriott, Hilton, Intercontinental, etc. Easy walk to Picadilly (20 minutes), 30 minutes to Covent Garden.

Any points available?

Pollen Street Social Club replaced the Ledbury as my #1 in London. J Sheekey in the theater district for fish, and if you like Indian food, we can start a whole 'nother thread, so many great choices.

We hit a home run in Kensington just east of the Earl’s court tube station. Quiet neighborhood, but easy access.

Edit: here’s the place. Converted apartment building, light amenities, but very spacious, comfortable, and well located.

I’ve stayed in Earl’s Court, South Kensington and across the river from New Covent Garden. For access to touristy things and restaurants, I liked South Kensington the best. A good friend stayed in Mayfair when I was there, that was a cool area too.

LOVE indian food. One of our meals will 100% be indian. Maybe I should start a new thread on it. Also no points available.

We booked a place in Soho. My wife wants to watch some theater so we’re at the west end area next to the W hotel.

Soho. We’ve stayed a couple of times a year at The Soho Hotel since it opened in 2005. Wouldn’t think of staying anywhere else.

Be sure to snag a reservation at Kitchen Table at Bubbledogs.

I kid you not, my whole restaurant list is just going to be from you this trip . too bad no availability at Kitchen table when I’m there Date pops up but no tables

Email them: kitchentable@bubbledogs.co.uk and explain that you’ve just found out you’re going to London, will only be there a couple of days, and really want to go for dinner. Sandia Chang, co-owner and married to James Knappett, is from Whittier, and they come over to visit her family every year. They sometimes have cancellations. You might want to follow their twitter feed, @bubbledogsKT, as they advertise last minute availability there.

You might find this interesting: How fine dining got funky: Seven young chefs have transformed London's restaurant scene | The Independent | The Independent

Upscale, my favorite is Rasoi, which is modern style.

Mark’s favorite might be Moti Mahal, which I love and is closer to Soho (and traditional). (I think he got that rec from me )

Other possibilities are Tamarind (loved it, but it’s been years since I went), Amaya (very good, went recently).

Cinnamon Club get’s highly rated but I didn’t like it (mayonaisse in Indian food !?!). Many Michelin 1 star Indian food restaurants. Quilon is one, good but not as good as the others.

If you want a less expensive (mid price) place then Mela is reasonable and right in Covent Garden, a good choice for lunch perhaps (but never went there again once I went to Moti Mahal).

If you love lamb tandoori, the best cheap place is Tayyab’s but that’s not near anything but perhaps the Tower of London. Huge lines at times. Gymkhana (high end) was the current hot spot, but I haven’t went.

Barry,
That may well be true about Moti Mahal. We’ve been three or four times, most recently earlier this month, and that meal was the best we’ve eaten there.

We also like Gymkhana very much. It too is ‘high end’ Indian dining and was the National Restaurant of the Year in 2014 (and has since earned a Michelin *). If anyone goes there, ask to sit upstairs and be aware that the gastronomic/feast menus are an enormous amount of food. Our problem there was we had a hard time stopping ourselves from eating, even after we had determined that we wouldn’t eat any more.

Haven’t been to Tamarind in years. I liked Cinnamon Club somewhat better than you, but it isn’t my favorite by any means.

Also good is Roti Chai in Portman Square. Casual street food upstairs, dining room downstairs. If I’m in the neighborhood during the day, I’ll grab a bite upstairs. Dinner downstairs two years ago was very good. Owned by a friend of Adam Fleischman, Rohit Chugh.

I did! I am on the waitlist .

This type of dining is very much in my wheelhouse. Casual refined?

Roti Chai is more along what i’m thinking, but I’m thinking more casual/ethnic food. Less upscale. More hole in the wall

If you want to be in amongst the major sights, then I reckon Mayfair is a little out of the way (though if you want a little more tranquillity it’s better).

• Earls Court / South Ken is certainly a very vibrant Australian suburb ( ). We’ve stayed there before and it worked well.
• Covent Garden and nearby is a pretty central location, and Covent Garden in the evenings is very vibrant to stroll around.
• Tower bridge is on the eastern edge of the sights, but clearly great for Tower of London & Tower Bridge, and there are some decent value hotels there.

I’d pin a map with your top targets to visit, and then choose somewhere that’s close.

When looking for hotels (and don’t ignore apartments which can offer good value & lots of space/freedom) do be prepared to edge up or down your expected price range & also be somewhat flexible on location, as there are usually a few very good offers on the usual aggregators (Late-rooms, Booking, Expedia etc.). Two that spring to mind for us were the Paddington Hilton (more prestige than I realised - I phoned Expedia up to book and the lady flagged up the deal, which was indeed a good one). More recently we stayed overnight in an apartment near Park Lane that was classy, spacious and well fitted - £200 a night rather than ~ £150 for places that looked average and the reviews were very mixed/poor. Trading up was a no brainer and a genuine ‘offer’. That place was ‘9 Hertford Street’ and I’d definitely recommend it. Run by a very affable Portuguese family. Ours was apparently the smallest of the apartments there (though apparently with the best kitchen).

One final piece of advice. Buy a London A2Z map as soon as you can. It is quite easy to instinctively take the tube, when you’ll end up walking further (and getting hot & hassled), than simply walking there and seeing something en-route. Oyster Cards or day tickets are often still sensible, but the sights are generally closer together than most tourists realise. The buses are good outside of rush hour, but I generally have to pre-plan to work out which bus to catch (there is nothing like the excellent Torino transport map at the tram stops). Also very rarely known are the public transport ferries, which on some occasions will be the best option of all.

Enjoy the trip!

Regards
Ian

Mayfair or Marylebone are great places to stay. I like the Beaumont in Mayfair and The Arch in Marylebone.

We stayed in the Mayfair district. Great proximity to high end shopping and parks. Can’t recommend the hotel for the low QPR (Hilton on Park Lane), but we used miles so I wasn’t complaining too much.

If you want some hole in the wall Indian (kind of), check out Noorjahan 2 off of Sussex Place near Paddington. This was my go to in Central London when I lived in Marylebone. Tamarind, Cinnamon Club, etc. are all good but a bit too formal for my liking most of the time. Tayyabs in Brick Lane is fantastic, but it’s a bit out of the way.

Ledbury is fantastic, finally got around to eating there while I was in town last month. The Square is also worth checking out - Brett Graham, the chef from the Ledbury, came from here. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental is also worth a look.

Pollen Street Social is a good rec. Jason Atherton opened a new place in Marylebone recently called Social Wine & Tapas. Haven’t checked it out yet but am curious.

Get a pie at The Windmill on Mill St. in Mayfair. Or the Guinea off Berkeley Square. Both worth the trip.

I like Belgravia. You get the best of Knightsbridge and the parks with short walks to Mayfair/Soho, and those few blocks get you away from the bustle and give you a more relaxed, neighborhood feel.

I loved the Windmill even if I wast crazy about the pie I ordered (too much mashed potatoes on top).