Eater London - Where to Eat at London’s AirportsThe London Restaurant, Bar, and Nightlife Blog2022-11-21T11:29:36+00:00http://london.eater.com/rss/stream/213390822022-11-21T11:29:36+00:002022-11-21T11:29:36+00:00The Best Places to Eat at Gatwick Airport
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<figcaption>Grainstore [official photo]</figcaption>
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<p>The southern airport is pretty slim on choice, but there’s quality to be found</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap p-large-text" id="0dbDaM">Gatwick airport is a favourite of budget-conscious travellers flying to and from London — while points against include distance from central London and that awful “this is your captain speaking” Easyjet recording on the inter-terminal shuttle train, the lure of affordable flights to the continent (and beyond, particularly since Emirates decided to scrap first class on all flights between LGW and DXB, yielding hundreds more available economy seats per day) and the Americas is irresistible to many. It does, unfortunately, suffer from the same affliction that plagues so many British transport hubs — a dearth of places worth eating. </p>
<p id="eQhsiF">There is hope that <a href="https://london.eater.com/2018/2/13/17007204/spuntino-polpo-restaurant-group-airport-expansion">might change</a> in the future as <a href="https://london.eater.com/2017/11/23/16694070/london-coffee-cocktail-chain-grind-targets-train-stations-airports-major-growth">more and more</a> UK restaurant groups <a href="https://london.eater.com/2018/4/23/17269894/vapiano-restaurant-new-travel-market-europe">look to transport centres</a> as a relatively untapped market, but for the time being, here’s where to eat at Gatwick.</p>
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<p id="WcQr9c"><strong>Caviar House and Prunier</strong><br>Oysters, caviar, smoked salmon. An airport classic.<br><small>[South Terminal, after security, 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="43TIYn"><strong>Sonoma</strong><br>A new contender in the dining stakes, this California-inspired joint fulfils its cachet by naming some dishes after wine grapes and offering salads. Aside from that, it’s a standard all-day dining airport place, with a full English breakfast next to a loaded burger next to a margherita with smoked cheddar (?)<br><small>[North Terminal, after security, 3:30 a.m. — last flight.]</small></p>
<p id="UxDBSG"><strong>Grain Store</strong><br>Bruno Loubet’s erstwhile King’s Cross restaurant returns in its Gatwick guise, after a COVID-19 hiatus. Probably the most reliable restaurant across the terminals, its menu of easygoing classics and actually decent drinks will be a winner.<br><small>[South Terminal, after security, 4 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="CGr1Dp"><strong>Warren’s Bakery</strong><br>Cornish pasties. Solid option. Quick. Easy. Probably the best.<br><small>[North Terminal, after security, 4 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="uas2k6"><strong>Pret a Manger</strong><br>It’s maroon, it’s full of predictable sandwiches, it’s got coffee — an airport is not an office but a Pret a Manger is always a Pret a Manger.<br><small>[North Terminal, after security, 6 a.m. — 1 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="e8UNo5"><strong>Caffè Nero</strong><br>It’s blue, it’s full of predictable Italian sandwiches, it’s got coffee — an airport is not an office but a Caffè Nero is always a Caffè Nero.<br><small>[South Terminal, before security, 5 a.m. — 10 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="V9Rfqw"><strong>Shake Shack</strong><br>A game-changer for Gatwick, and a game-changer for Shake Shack in the U.K. The North Terminal is now home to Danny Meyer’s legendary stateside burger juggernaut, and is the first of its U.K. restaurants to offer breakfast, so diners no longer have to fly transatlantic for it, but they do ... Have to fly. Eggs, bacon, and cheese on a griddled potato roll is a pretty fortifying meal at any hour, but goes to 10:30a.m.; the rest of the time, stick with the classic burger.<br><small>[North Terminal, after security, 4 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="69wbuJ"><strong>Wagamama</strong><br>It felt controversial to include Wagamama in the Heathrow list; but at Gatwick it’s a real gem. Choice is still generally pretty slim at the West Sussex airport, and what variety there is in outlets is largely dulled by pretty homogenous offerings. So, again, the Japanese-inspired dishes, packed with flavour and at the table within 15 minutes of ordering, are in many ways the perfect airport choice.<br><small>[South Terminal, after security, 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. ; North Terminal, after security, 4 a.m. to 8 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="LcJ1ux"><strong>Nando’s</strong><br>The most famous peri-peri chicken in Britain. It’s reliable.<br><small>[South Terminal, after security, 4:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="WkXcNU"><strong>The Nicholas Culpeper</strong><br>The Nicholas Culpeper lays claim to a couple of questionable USPs. The first — it’s apparently the “world’s first airport gin distillery” which, true or not, doesn’t seem to mean a whole lot. The second, its chefs “believe ‘fresh is best’, so they make all our dishes from scratch using raw ingredients” — international travellers would be forgiven for thinking that’s actually just a pre-requisite for being a “restaurant”, rather than a marketing point, but to be fair, the resultant menu is a pretty good spread of classic British gastropub favourites. The Nicholas Culpeper does have one key selling point, though: it’s one of only two places in Gatwick to get a meal <em>before</em> security — the other, its South Terminal counterpart, is a Wetherspoons.<br><small>[North Terminal, before security, 3:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.]</small></p>
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https://london.eater.com/21575085/best-restaurants-gatwick-airport-where-to-eat-lgw-north-terminal-south-terminalAndrew LeitchJames Hansen2022-11-21T10:59:00+00:002022-11-21T10:59:00+00:00The Best Places to Eat at Heathrow Airport
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<figcaption>Gordon Ramsay Restaurants [official photo]</figcaption>
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<p>Transit sucks, but the food at London’s biggest airport is better than expected</p> <p id="9444ji">Heathrow Airport (LHR) is the U.K.’s largest airport, one of the world’s most famous, but its restaurants, bars, and cafes do little to assuage the pretty widely accepted truth that the worst part of travel is not the travelling. No, the worst part of traveling is <em>transit</em>; those dead hours spent getting to the airport, negotiating security, before walking for 20 minutes down a never-ending hallway with the same HSBC advert repeated 100 times. To make things worse, British airports, like so many of the nation’s travel hubs have long left a lot to be desired on the dining front.</p>
<p id="lbeRti">And yet, since 2019 <a href="https://london.eater.com/2018/2/13/17007204/spuntino-polpo-restaurant-group-airport-expansion">things</a> are <a href="https://london.eater.com/2017/11/23/16694070/london-coffee-cocktail-chain-grind-targets-train-stations-airports-major-growth">beginning</a> to improve — the food offering at Heathrow, at least, is pretty good. And as international travel gets closer to something vaguely normal, it’s time to take full advantage.</p>
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<strong>Heathrow Airport’s best restaurants, cafes, and bars</strong>:</h3>
<p id="L7rz1j"><strong>Caviar House & Prunier</strong><br>One of the great mysteries of airports — who <em>actually</em> goes to those weird oyster and champagne bars that are always plonked right in the middle of the least glam part of the concourse? If the answer is “me!” then Caviar House is actually pretty decent — it has concessions in Harrods and elsewhere also — and has a good selection of fresh oysters, caviar, and smoked salmon, among others.<br><small>[Every terminal. The caviar supremacy is real.]</small></p>
<p id="ojxnqR"><a href="https://london.eater.com/venue/fortnum-mason"><strong>Fortnum & Mason</strong></a><strong> Bar</strong><br>Without doubt one of the more indulgent options at Heathrow, Fortnum & Mason’s bar serves British classics. There’s everything from a breakfast offering that includes a pretty mean sounding croque monsieur to easy all-day options like salade niçoise (with the optional supplement of half a lobster, of course), Wye Valley asparagus with hollandaise, or a Welsh rarebit toastie served with tomato compote. For those with the time to sit and enjoy, there’s an impressive seafood menu including dressed Dorset crab, among a range of seafood platters and other shellfish. Oh, and, the coffee is actually quite good.<br><small>[T2, after security, 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.]</small></p>
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<cite>Fortnum & Mason</cite>
<figcaption>A turquoise oasis in a transit desert.</figcaption>
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<p id="TaQV7d"><strong>Spuntino</strong><br>The satellite of Russell Norman and Richard Beatty’s legendary Soho dive bar has reopened after a COVID-19-enforced hiatus. Only order from the “Classics” section of the menu.</p>
<p id="iUJ6a2"><small>[T3, after security, “open for all flights.”]</small></p>
<p id="Y881dV"><strong>Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food</strong><br>Swear Box Gordon might be feeling a bit <a href="https://london.eater.com/2018/6/4/17424164/gordon-ramsay-stuart-gillies-alfa-zero-limited-restaurant">under siege</a> recently, but his Heathrow restaurant Plane Food has over 10 years at Heathrow. The <a href="https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/plane-food/menus/">menu</a> here is pretty much as to be expected for a restaurant in an airport — that “something to please everyone” mix of cuisines and styles — but it has its moments, and it definitely beats another chicken, bacon and avocado baguette from EAT. Think butter chicken curry, a short-rib beef burger, roast cod with “tartare mash”, or wild mushroom rigatoni. There’s now also a painfully on-trend “raw bar” serving the requisite yellow fin tuna tartare, and a seared (not actually raw) Hereford beef tataki, as well as a good choice of grab’n’go options, but it’s the express menus — 2 courses in 25 minutes for £22, or 3 in 35 minutes for £26 — that make Plane Food a real traveller’s delight.<br><small>[T5, after security, “open for all flights.”]</small></p>
<p id="g36W4J"><strong>The Perfectionist’s Cafe</strong><br>Save for the terrible name, this Heston Blumenthal-backed joint is a good shout for those travelling from the Queen’s Terminal. It’s a pretty “classic British” affair: breakfast features all the poach egg variants (Benedict, Florentine, Royale), and the actually-pretty-appealing black pudding scotch (quail’s) eggs, served with piccalilli. The rest of the menu is, to be honest, basically the same as at Plane Food — the “British Favourites” section features a peculiar trio of crab on toast, chicken tikka masala, and chilli con carne — except with the addition of a range of wood-fired pizzas and a different celebrity chef’s name on the door, but the appeal is the same and the express menus are still a great way to get a fast, decent meal, without too much fuss.<br><small>[T2, after security, “open for all flights.”]</small></p>
<p id="OjX9Vb"><strong>Vagabond</strong><br>One of the capital’s strongest wine bar chains makes the move into transit fare at Terminal 5, with a self-pour craft beer wall and 100 wines available from earliest morning to latest night.<br><small>[T5, after security, “open for all flights.”]</small></p>
<p id="JJosC1"><strong>Shan Shui</strong><br>Maybe the only Shanghainese restaurant in the London orbit to serve eggs Benedict, Shan Shui’s addition of dim sum to the Heathrow roster is welcome.<br><small>[T2, after security, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.]</small></p>
<h3 id="eOJRTW"><strong>Heathrow Airport’s restaurant, cafe and bar best of the rest:</strong></h3>
<p id="WLIMZE"><strong>Pret a Manger</strong><br>It’s maroon, it’s full of predictable sandwiches, it’s got coffee — an airport is not an office but a Pret a Manger is always a Pret a Manger.<br><small>[Every terminal, almost all of the time.]</small></p>
<p id="jbaSbe"><strong>Yo!</strong><br>No longer just Yo! Sushi, offering takeaway sushi, noodles, and other pan-Asian dishes.<br><small>[T2, after security, “open for all flights; T3, after security, “open for all flights.”]</small></p>
<p id="pl5fFt"><a href="https://london.eater.com/venue/wagamama"><strong>Wagamama</strong></a><br>Wagamama gets a bad rap these days, but all the things that made it such a hit back in the noughties — punchy (but accessible) flavours, generous servings, quick service — make it well suited to transit. A quick plate of yaki soba with a bowl of miso on the side is barely £10.50.<br><small>[T5, after security, 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; T3, after security, 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.]</small></p>
<p id="wnFjtG"><strong>The Curator</strong><br>More “British Classics”, more gastro-pub-meets-Bill’s food. But decent, quick, and a self-styled “soon-to-be-world-famous” drinks list (that actually includes some pretty good craft beers and surprisingly not-terrible wines).<br><small>[T3, after security, 5:30 a.m. — last departing flight]</small></p>
<p id="aoY0u2"><strong>Pubs</strong><br>Pubs, pubs, pubs. Heathrow has more pubs than, well... London. The Prince of Wales, The Market Gardener, The Darwin, The George, The Crown Rivers, The Flying Chariot... the list goes on. In some ways, there’s something kind of depressing about an airport pub, but they’re often also some of very few places to sit and get a bite to eat <em>before </em>security — for the best drawn out melancholy family farewell before jetting off to a gap year in New Zealand a millennial could hope for.<br><small>[Every terminal, always.]</small></p>
<h3 id="Bt7yQO"><strong>But in truth, the best Heathrow airport restaurants and bars ... Aren’t in Heathrow at all</strong></h3>
<p id="2ov75g">Travellers in search of genuinely excellent food (and with the time to spare, perhaps if arriving the night or day before a flight) will find the best option is to leave the airport entirely. There’s a fine branch of Madhu’s at the Sheraton hotel, for example, and the most willing diners should consider a trip into Hounslow or Southall for biryani, or, the ultimate pre-plan move: a reservation at Taste of Pakistan. <a href="https://ruinmyweek.com/funny/restaurant-owner-drags-one-star-reviewer/">Do not go without one</a>.</p>
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https://london.eater.com/21575073/best-restaurants-heathrow-airport-where-to-eatAndrew LeitchJames Hansen