4 ms·

Inflation's taken it's toll but I think you can still find Banh Mis for $5-6, even downtown. You can find premade burritos for ~$5 at grocery stores like Rainb

Inflation's taken it's toll but I think you can still find Banh Mis for $5-6, even downtown. You can find premade burritos for ~$5 at grocery stores like Rainbow or Trader Joe's (but they're closer to 10 oz not the supersized stuff you'd get at a taqueria). And, quite frankly, I find the 7-11 sandwiches to be perfectly serviceable and usually in the $5-$7 range. London's a funny example to me because I've been consistently underwhelmed by the food in England (train stations are no exception).

ahartmetz 7y ago
English food kind of deserves its reputation, but the foreign food is just fine IME. Especially Indian.
- tonyedgecombe 7y ago
  If you think it’s bad now you should have seen it forty years ago.
  - ahartmetz 7y ago
    But you already had Indian restaurants at the time, no? ;)
    - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
      Not many, nothing like we have now.
- blackhaz 7y ago
  Holy freaking cow. Having lived around different places in Europe, and visited many others, I have an impression that London has the best food of just any city in the EU. I can only compare places like Berkeley and SF, and some in Turkey and Cyprus for the quality of meat, veggies and fruits you can get.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    I have an impression that London has the best food of just any city in the EU IMO Barcelona, which consistently had some of the worst prepared food of anywhere I've been[1], still had better pre-made train station sandwiches than anything I've seen in London. I distinctly remember being shocked at how expensive (and heavy and otherwise lackluster) the food was at Paddington station, for example. IMO Germany (Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin) has the best mix of affordable and quality convenience foods of any place I've been in Europe so far[2]. Pret was pretty decent (but I've only been at the airport one), and wasn't terribly expensive by airport standards but it was a far cry from a sandwich for a couple quid. In general I've found that the further south you go in continental Europe, the better the produce is (and in general it's better than what I'd see domestically outside of California/NY). Sure, you can find excellent produce in the Bay Area, but you'll often pay dearly for it. East Asia is on a whole other level though. 1: Tapas 24 in BCN deserves a shout out for being one of the worst restaurant experiences I've had (food and service-wise) so far this millennium. How Abellan got a Michelin star I'll never know. 2: Two words: Le Crobag.
    - barrkel 7y ago
      Barcelona has some of the best cheap fine dining options, on the other hand. And the quality of meats and things you'd put in a sandwich available in the supermarket is much better for my tastes; I say this as a weekend tripper to Barcelona, I live in London. I don't eat sandwiches from stores, last time I did that was 12 years ago. A sandwich is a last, desperate choice. I get my lunch from one of the stalls at a street food market, between £6 and £7.50 every day. London is good for Asian food; some of my co-workers who have Asian wives don't think much of the food in Paris for this reason. I, on the other hand, don't care much for Asian food apart from occasional Korean fried chicken as a fast food snack. When comparing things like sandwiches, I think it's important to normalise for sandwich eating as part of the culture.
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        Barcelona has some of the best cheap fine dining options, on the other hand. And the quality of meats and things you'd put in a sandwich available in the supermarket is much better for my tastes; I say this as a weekend tripper to Barcelona, I live in London. That makes some sense as most of the population in Barcelona seemed to me to be British expats. By and large I had a tough time finding anything much better than okay (and certainly anything Catalan is well hidden). In contrast I found Madrid to be particularly easy to find good food (and generally less expensive than anything in BCN). I don't eat sandwiches from stores, last time I did that was 12 years ago. A sandwich is a last, desperate choice. I get my lunch from one of the stalls at a street food market, between £6 and £7.50 every day. At that price point you've got plenty of options, even in San Francisco or New York. The Yank Sing to-go location downtown is definitely one of the better value propositions. London is good for Asian food; some of my co-workers who have Asian wives don't think much of the food in Paris for this reason. The last time I tried Asian food in London was well over a decade ago, but nothing really stood out. Sure, it was better than the chicken and cheese shu mai I had in Spain (let's face it that sounded like a bad idea as soon as those words left my drunken mouth), but that's a low bar. When comparing things like sandwiches, I think it's important to normalise for sandwich eating as part of the culture. Sure. San Francisco trends more towards co-opting burritos than sandwiches, but there's still a definite sandwich culture. What we don't have out here at least is any sort of culture around ready-to-go low effort lunch food. In fact I'd say that whole "slow food" movement hit San Francisco particularly hard. At near/under $10 you can find plenty of things for lunch, but you'll probably have to wait for it to be assembled/cooked.
7952 7y ago
Most of the train station vendors in the UK sell two types of food. Long life sandwiches from companies with a sale or return approach. And frozen products that are heated up. They don't have the staff or space to make products on site and are dependent on delivery. So it is really a logistics problem. The quality is usually better at stations with enough volume for more regular deliveries. My hunch is that less "developed" countries in Europe source local fresh products rather than rely on a logistics system. But in the UK the local producer probably won't be able to compete on price and does not want to bother with a relatively small volume of sales. And local companies find it hard to secure concessions in train stations so can't sell the product themselves.

ahartmetz 7y ago

English food kind of deserves its reputation, but the foreign food is just fine IME. Especially Indian.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago
If you think it’s bad now you should have seen it forty years ago.
- ahartmetz 7y ago
  But you already had Indian restaurants at the time, no? ;)
  - tonyedgecombe 7y ago
    Not many, nothing like we have now.
blackhaz 7y ago
Holy freaking cow. Having lived around different places in Europe, and visited many others, I have an impression that London has the best food of just any city in the EU. I can only compare places like Berkeley and SF, and some in Turkey and Cyprus for the quality of meat, veggies and fruits you can get.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  I have an impression that London has the best food of just any city in the EU IMO Barcelona, which consistently had some of the worst prepared food of anywhere I've been[1], still had better pre-made train station sandwiches than anything I've seen in London. I distinctly remember being shocked at how expensive (and heavy and otherwise lackluster) the food was at Paddington station, for example. IMO Germany (Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin) has the best mix of affordable and quality convenience foods of any place I've been in Europe so far[2]. Pret was pretty decent (but I've only been at the airport one), and wasn't terribly expensive by airport standards but it was a far cry from a sandwich for a couple quid. In general I've found that the further south you go in continental Europe, the better the produce is (and in general it's better than what I'd see domestically outside of California/NY). Sure, you can find excellent produce in the Bay Area, but you'll often pay dearly for it. East Asia is on a whole other level though. 1: Tapas 24 in BCN deserves a shout out for being one of the worst restaurant experiences I've had (food and service-wise) so far this millennium. How Abellan got a Michelin star I'll never know. 2: Two words: Le Crobag.
  - barrkel 7y ago
    Barcelona has some of the best cheap fine dining options, on the other hand. And the quality of meats and things you'd put in a sandwich available in the supermarket is much better for my tastes; I say this as a weekend tripper to Barcelona, I live in London. I don't eat sandwiches from stores, last time I did that was 12 years ago. A sandwich is a last, desperate choice. I get my lunch from one of the stalls at a street food market, between £6 and £7.50 every day. London is good for Asian food; some of my co-workers who have Asian wives don't think much of the food in Paris for this reason. I, on the other hand, don't care much for Asian food apart from occasional Korean fried chicken as a fast food snack. When comparing things like sandwiches, I think it's important to normalise for sandwich eating as part of the culture.
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      Barcelona has some of the best cheap fine dining options, on the other hand. And the quality of meats and things you'd put in a sandwich available in the supermarket is much better for my tastes; I say this as a weekend tripper to Barcelona, I live in London. That makes some sense as most of the population in Barcelona seemed to me to be British expats. By and large I had a tough time finding anything much better than okay (and certainly anything Catalan is well hidden). In contrast I found Madrid to be particularly easy to find good food (and generally less expensive than anything in BCN). I don't eat sandwiches from stores, last time I did that was 12 years ago. A sandwich is a last, desperate choice. I get my lunch from one of the stalls at a street food market, between £6 and £7.50 every day. At that price point you've got plenty of options, even in San Francisco or New York. The Yank Sing to-go location downtown is definitely one of the better value propositions. London is good for Asian food; some of my co-workers who have Asian wives don't think much of the food in Paris for this reason. The last time I tried Asian food in London was well over a decade ago, but nothing really stood out. Sure, it was better than the chicken and cheese shu mai I had in Spain (let's face it that sounded like a bad idea as soon as those words left my drunken mouth), but that's a low bar. When comparing things like sandwiches, I think it's important to normalise for sandwich eating as part of the culture. Sure. San Francisco trends more towards co-opting burritos than sandwiches, but there's still a definite sandwich culture. What we don't have out here at least is any sort of culture around ready-to-go low effort lunch food. In fact I'd say that whole "slow food" movement hit San Francisco particularly hard. At near/under $10 you can find plenty of things for lunch, but you'll probably have to wait for it to be assembled/cooked.

7952 7y ago

Most of the train station vendors in the UK sell two types of food. Long life sandwiches from companies with a sale or return approach. And frozen products that are heated up. They don't have the staff or space to make products on site and are dependent on delivery. So it is really a logistics problem. The quality is usually better at stations with enough volume for more regular deliveries. My hunch is that less "developed" countries in Europe source local fresh products rather than rely on a logistics system. But in the UK the local producer probably won't be able to compete on price and does not want to bother with a relatively small volume of sales. And local companies find it hard to secure concessions in train stations so can't sell the product themselves.