Favorite places to eat and drink in London?

Usually, the closest pub. I look at the posted menu, and if I like it, I go in, if not, I walk down the street and find another pub with posted menu. I really have not had a bad meal yet. Average, yes, but they are pubs, not full blown restaurants. 8 -14 pound lunch beats 35 pound lunches in restaurants, by a mile in my estimation.

Here's a lesson I learned early on when following someone elses "great pub" recommendations in London: the recommendations were simply the best pub in the immediate vicinity of that person's lodging. So, rather than trapse from Bloomsbury to Knightsbridge, only to find that the recommended pub in Knightsbridge was basically no better or worse than the establishments near where I was staying, I learned basically to sample whatever was available nearby.

Tom is right. There is no shortaqe of most excellent pubbage in London! There are also a couple of cool websites that generate pub crawls and have reviews - beerintheevening is one, I think, and the other I remember is barcrawl.com - you can similarly try yelp.com for recent reviews by folks who may actually be locals, and find pubs by neighborhood.

That being said, the south end of Edgware Road is a good destination for Lebanese food - lots of Middle Eastern places to eat - shisha cafes - and the like. A bustling main drag that's got a lot to offer, but not "swank."

Oops! Forgot. Harrods Food Halls! There are little stations to sit and eat - like a sushi bar and a sandwich station and a place to sit and be rather elegant and have a cup of tea and do some prime people-watching - and there are cases and cases of amazing gorgeous glorious prepared foods to browse and buy for take-away.

Harrods Food Halls. A little - or rather, not so little (the place is immense) - piece of Food Heaven on Earth!!!!!

Look at fancyapint.com and you can see how the pubs are rated. We love the Grenadier and Nags Head which are just a few blocks apart in the Mayfair area--hard to find wo a good map.

I like to ask a local (that looks about my age) for a decent pub in the area. Since I travel on a budget, I always add, "nothing fancy" so they don't steer me to the most expensive place in the area. Some of my best recommendations have come from Bobbies.

I find once a pub, restaurant or night club makes it into travel guide recommendations, it loses it's character forever. The guide brings in a parade of tourists that change the place into something different than what it was recommended for in the first place. A simple menu of local favorites becomes hamburgers because it's what customers are now asking for.

Erin - What I'm about to say may get me in trouble, but . . . I liked JD Weatherspoons. The pints are cheap, and they have real ales. I also enjoyed the Lamb and Flag in Covent Garden, the Bag-o-Nails near Buckingham Palace, and the Prince Arthur near Euston Station had decent Thai food.

Like Susan said there is also fancyapint.com. You can use it to look for pubs in the area you are staying.

Thanks to everyone for their help!