Barbican Kitchen

Loud, bright, open-plan space with an upscale-cafeteria feel. The food is reasonably priced and reasonably varied; bonus points for labelling dishes for people with dietary restrictions. If you get a seat in front of the large window, there's a good view of the Guildhall performing arts school and water features. 

The simple industrial interiors of Barbican Kitchen seem to complement the brutalist Barbican Centre very well. Barbican Kitchen is a canteen style restaurant, with a selection of salads, pastas, pizza's and treats. The prices are reasonable too, I had a decent sized portion of mac and cheese with a choice of two salads/veggies for around £8.50. Not bad at all.

I listed this cafe at The Barbican centre because I was so impressed by it when I went there recently. In the past it's always been quite hard to find quality grub at a decent price at The Barbican, so to discover this place was a great relief to my belly and my wallet for future events!

There was a large selection of food that you could order buffet style, from pastas and pizzas, to hot stews and pies as well as (my favourite), quality cold dishes and salads. For under a tenner I had a generous and very fresh fillet of salmon with crushed avocado, a side of bulger salad and a delicous spicy coleslaw.

Drinks are 'normal' London prices and they have a good range of desserts and cakes, though this time I resisted. In good weather you can sit outside on the tables and enjoy the outside space - though get there early if you want a pre-show meal as it filled up quickly an hour before the performance were booked for.

I think the success of this place is down to the fact that lots of people want decent food before they go to see a show or after an exhibition, but having already spent money on a ticket, want the price to be friendly on the the purse.