Inexpensive places to eat in Dublin & London?

I leave on Monday!

My mom and I will be spending 3 days in Dublin and our hotel is remodeling their restaurant, so there's no breakfast included (but for $45/night I can't complain).  Our hotel is in Temple Bar.  Any suggestions for places to grab a cheap breakfast (please not McDonald's!) or our other meals?

Also, we'll be in London all day on Thursday, the 24th. Our train back up to Lincoln doesn't leave until 9:30PM, so we'll have to get dinner in London. We'll have Zone 1 travelcards and I was thinking of taking Mom to the Leicester Square area in the evening.  Any suggestions on an inexpensive, but nice, place to eat?  I vaguely recall a small italian restaurant we went to with Tim's siblings back in October when we saw Spamalot, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it.

And heck, any ideas on things to do after 5PM in London?  It seems like all the tourist stuff (tower of london, various museums, etc.) close around or before 5 (and I assume so do most of the shops?).  I debated taking mom to a show, but all the shows I looked up start at 7:30 and are over 2 hours long, so we'd wind up missing our train. 

I am guessing that your train leaves from Kings Cross.  The British Museum is nearby and the galleries stay open late on Thursdays and Fridays until 8.30 pm.  The Great Court, which is the inner part of the musuem (cafe, shops, etc ...) stays open 'til 11 pm.  This is a GREAT time to visit what can be a very, very busy museum.  It is all free and even if you are not into all of the stuff on display (but there is some very cool stuff to see), it's a good place to hang out.

You will find the choice and quality of cafes and restaurants much better in St. Pancras station (right next to Kings Cross) - it's also an amazing building and a good place to waste some time.

I ate recently at Wahaca in Covent Garden.  It is a Mexican place and very, very good.  Dishes cost on average £4.

Don't worry about the city shutting down after 5pm - it doesn't!

Have fun!

Thanks!

St Pancras is the one with the huge statue of the man and woman, right?  Tim took me to see it when we visited London last time .

I didn't know the museum had extended hours, so that's a great plus.  Looks like we can modify our plans for the day to hit the museum after we do everything else.  My mom's not super into museums, but for something to do in the evening, I think she'll go for it.   I was worried that the only things to do would be stay at a restaurant for an extended period of time or go drinking.

A cheap breakfast is difficult to find in Dublin, but I like to go here:

http://www.dublintourist.com/details/keoghs.shtml

The scones are to DIE for!!! I will recommend the pear and vanilla scone. Mmmmm.....

Also, the Kilkenny shop on Nassau Street does a nice breakfast, but again, not cheap. It caters a bit to the tourists. http://www.kilkennyshop.com/

You'll find lots of little places in Temple Bar that will offer breakfast, so just have a bit of a wander around and you'll find something!

Thanks!

hey, the Kilkenny shop looks like a good place to go shopping, though!

They do have a lot of nice stuff! My husband won't let me go in there. 

LOL I have a feeling Tim wouldn't want me going in it either!

vouchercodes.co.uk has loads of discounts for London restaurants - buy 1 get 1 free, etc. 

are you referring to the spaghetti house on haymarket?  http://www.spaghettihouse.co.uk/haymarket.html

also, the shops in london are open late on thursdays - usually 8pm. 

have fun!! 

vouchercodes.co.uk has loads of discounts for London restaurants - buy 1 get 1 free, etc. 

are you referring to the spaghetti house on haymarket?  http://www.spaghettihouse.co.uk/haymarket.html

YES! That's the place we went   You rock!

also, the shops in london are open late on thursdays - usually 8pm. 

have fun!! 

Ah, so looks like I picked a good day to go down to London, then.  We picked Thursday to avoid the crowded trains for Friday.