December in England - Thoughts and Suggestions

Europe UK
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My wife and I are taking our two boys (ages 14 and 10) to England this December. Both boys are good and adventurous eaters. We will travel primarily through Bath, London, Liverpool and York. I’ve started researching posts on this site, done some additional internet research, and have compiled the following, partial list of places we are likely to check out.

The places I list are dinner reservations we have or will make when the bookings open. Please let me know if you think I’m missing a must try destination. We are traveling from Los Angeles so don’t necessarily see a need to search out Japanese, Thai or Korean options of which there are many in our area.

Also, we will spend a good deal of time checking out the local museums and tourist sites, particularly in London (think British Museum, NHM, Tower of London, changing of the guards, etc.,) so bonus points for good quick lunch options close to the usual tourist stops.

We have a number of reservations at restaurants described as modern British cuisine and would love to add some ethnic meals to our mix.

Bath (3 dinners). We have reservations at:

Soto Soto,

Circus Restaurant, and

The Hive (for Sunday Roast). Note, I’ve also stumbled across the Sunday roast menu at Hare & Hounds and we are debating swapping out The Hive.

During the day, we will consider Boston Tea Party, The Grand Eastern and Ole Tapas. We would also like to do an afternoon tea either here or in London and are debating tea at the pump room.

London (5 dinners). We are staying in Kensington and have two dinner reservations, Noble Rot and Pig & Butcher.

We are also considering Barra Fina, The Barbary, Hide, Bala Baya, Gunpowder, Six Portland Road, Café Spice (for a lunch near the Tower of London) and afternoon tea at Kona at St. James.

York (2 dinners)

We’re looking at Fish & Forest, Los Moros and Mumbai Lounge but have yet to make a reservation.

Liverpool (3 nights). Frankly, we haven’t properly researched Liverpool yet but Bakchich, Lunya, and Mowgli have caught my eye. We’re heading here to take in a match at Anfield.

Finally, we have one night in Oxford and have reservations at Antep Kitchen.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and naturally we will report back with details upon our return.

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That menus look super. Have you eaten there?

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Haven’t been back to London since it opened, but I met the chef at a special dinner in his honor at Incanto.

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st john definitely a must-visit in london (slight preference to the spitalfields location).

although it is expensive, i also really love the river cafe - a classic london restaurant, very simple and elegant british italian

and the hawksmoor steakhouses. you can get a classic sunday roast (on sundays), a perfect sticky roffee pudding, comparable to maybe a luger’s but with british sensibiltities and menu

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A friend who just got back from a few months there was enthusing about Brat.