13 year old for lunch in London

[Gin96]

Can you suggest a nice restaurant in London for daughters 13th birthday

Zedel near Piccadilly Circus.
www.brasseriezedel.com

Lots!

Can you give is some idea for budget, type of food she likes, and which bit of London you'll be in?

Watching this with interest!

www.inamo-restaurant.com/

This place looks like it might appeal to a teen. It's got "innovative touch screen technology"...the menus appear on the tables apparently.

bubbagumpshrimp.co.uk/

Fun?

What's she interested in? What is her fave food? Films?

What does she like? Don’t go to somewhere Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus way as far too touristy with rubbish to mediocre food...

Inamo is great fun if she likes SE Asian food.

She loves music and theatre, she will eat most things. Budget I wouldn’t want to spend more than £200 for 3 of us

Accept sushi, she loves Chinese

Can you tighten it down at all - at 13, I'd expect pretty much any 'normal' restaurant to do: are you looking for:

• traditional luxury/sense of history
• something quirky/unusual
• great views
• cool, modern
• Is she a frequent London visitor/looking for something a bit different, or will a traditional/iconic venue work?
• how far in advance are you booking?

Sketch is pretty cool, I think 13 year old me would have loved it.

My teens love china town!

Sketch is great, Zedels is fab and mine always love a trip to China town

Yauatcha in Soho is high end dim sum and very grown up - I would probably head there.

Tokyo Diner on the edge of Chinatown's lovely.

If it's for lunch, a lot of places will have a lunch offer so your budget would be more than enough. Plenty of branches of the usual suspects that appeal to teens of course (pizza, Five Guys) but the budget suggests you're after something fancier!

I can't vouch for the food, but you could try The Ivy for beautiful surroundgings or www.sarastro-restaurant.com/about_us.php for the music/theatre link looks fun. The restaurant in the South Bank Centre has great views (Skylon).

Or take advantage of the Evening Standard lunch offers if you're going before this Sunday - would be under £100 for three, including a drink or two: www.standard.co.uk/esrewards/dine

Another idea would be afternoon tea at one of the fancy hotels - Claridge's? That might be a bit offputtingly fancy though, and pricey (though still just in budget).

Hope she has fun wherever you end up!

Some of these are chains that can be found outside London, some are exclusive:
Inamo
Dishoom (indian, gorgeous inside but can't book, queue up)
Bodeons (bbq)
Wahaca (mexican, also no booking)
Ping Pong (dim sum)
Flat Iron (steak, but cheap!)
Fire and Stone (pizza)
Brasserie Zedel (french)
The real Greek (greek!)
Burger and Lobster
Meat Liquor (casual burgers, no book)

I have others that are more casual dining than sit down meal so I haven't suggested, but happy to offer more (I eat out a lot)

Benihana's?

Inamo is great fun but not grand or super special yachuta. Mentioned looks amazing....

With that budget I would definitely avoid all the chains and go somewhere more unique that you would only find in London. What about somewhere with a great view? OXO tower, Swan at the Globe, somewhere in the walkie talkie... Look on bookatable, opentable etc - they can have some incredible deals on really high end places.

The only place to go for my teens is Wagamamma - Ramen is where it's at. Plenty around London and elsewhere. My teens also love Leon, again not where I would chose to go for a birthday meal...
For lunch you could probably stretch to fine dining within budget as long as you don't drink too much.
My kids also loved La Gavroche, service completely over the top and highly amusing. Chez Bruce is fantastic value for money.

For a real treat the restaurants in the Shard are nice, with amazing views.

Hutong in the Shard would be a very special Chinese. Or Duddells (near the shard) is a v famous restaurant in Hong Kong which they have recently opened here
For a 13 year old I would probably go to China Town as so much choice and an interesting place to go. Some of the cheaper places do amazing food... I love Dumplings Legend - they do great xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and you can watch them being made

If she loves Chinese’s I’d probably go ping pong. Its high ish end, fun, good mocktails and sharing platters. There’s about 6 to choose from. (Avoid the one on south bank)

Agree totally with Yauatcha!

Avoid chains
Go for somewhere with a view and wow factor.
The shard
Sushi samba in the heron tower
Oxo tower
Walkie talkie
Etc