Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Prices in London

Coming back to London did however make me experience renewed sticker shock. I did this post a while back but never published it. I reproduce it here in its period charm.

* * *

Every newcomer to a city has his or her usual complaints. In London, I believe they are, in this order: the weather, prices, and the underground. More on the weather and the underground some other time.

This is the first in a perhaps to-be-continued series called "London Shopping Basket". My goal is not to complain about how expensive things are, though perhaps this is true. Nor is it to comment on how much better the quality is in London than New York or London of years past, though perhaps this is true. These two tasks I leave to you.

Shopping list 29 May 2007
>Brown lentils (canned, gluten free, vegetarian, no gmo, etc.,), 400 grams, £ 0.95
>Macedoine de legumes (a jar of assorted vegetables from France), 720 mL, £3.50
>Breadsticks (pinazatelli grissini torinesi tipo "0"), 300g, £2.20
>Semi-skimmed milk (unhomogenized, organic, from Somerset), 1L, £1.60

>Emmental cheese, 375 grams, £3.48
>French table wine (Gerard Betrannd, Vin de pays d'oc, Merlot, 2003), 750 mL, £ 6.95

Total (including VAT), £18.68

Cheers,

BB

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey bombaybeauty - our tracks are running parallel!

i'm from bombay, lived in manhattan for 12 years and then moved to london in 2000. chowhound was an invaluable resource in getting around.

which part of london are you living in?

Anonymous said...

Delighted to have a fellow traveler on the cyber-culinary journey! Since you've been here longer, any suggestions for good desi places that don't cost two arms and a leg? Cheers, BB

Anonymous said...

v-e-r-y sad state of affairs re: desi cooking in london. nothing great in harrow, wembley etc either.

new tayyabs in whitechapel has good seekh kebabs, tandoori roti (their chicken kebabs are actively awful). i'm not a fan of excessively greasy main dishes, but there are some desis who seem to dig them.

much classier cooking is at the bombay brasserie for lunch. for about 20 quid you can eat a very decent buffet style lunch. its run by the taj group, fyi.

best bet: lebanese and iranian. check my posts on chowhound for mohsen (iranian), ishbilya, noura, green valley (lebanese).

Anonymous said...

ouch! that's what scares me the most about London: the weather I don't mind, it's sort of fascinating, and I have a inexplicable love for the London Undergound. But the prices!!!
xxx
Mia

Anonymous said...

What? What's wrong with the Underground?

Anonymous said...

Elle - the problem with underground is that as a commuter you can never count on it. As a tourist or visitor I never cared -- it goes everywhere, and when it runs it runs frequently. But if you rely on it for your commute, you discover that every day one line or more is delayed (typically because of signal failure). They even have a board at the entry to the station to indicate which lines are late... People who live here seem to uses buses more. Me personally, I'm a walker. Good way to stay thin! Cheers, BB

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