A short visit to London

[liamsaunt]

I recently visited London for the first time and thought i would share my dining experiences.  It was a short trip--just four nights.  My husband had to stay another week for work.  He has to go back for two of the fours weeks in January and one week in February and I am hoping to tag along for another visit, so if anyone has dining suggestions I'd like to hear them.

 

We stayed at the Intercontinental Park Lane, which was very convenient for proximity to sightseeing.  Lots of impressive Christmas decorations

 

 

 

Our first dinner was at the Savoy Grill.  Lobby decor

 

 

Crab salad

 

 

Omelet with black truffles (they also had white truffles for an uncharge but we declined)

 

 

Dover sole

 

 

Lobster thermidor

 

 

Complimentary dessert (mince pies and salted caramel chocolates)

 

 

 

Back at the hotel we had a cocktail.  This was called Mother's Ruin--it smoked and bubbled,  Very odd

 

 

The next morning we found a donut shop with a charming sign

 

 

I don't like donuts but took a picture of the display case.

 

 

 

[liamsaunt]

Our second day was spent exploring the National Gallery and lots of walking around.  We stopped in to Caffe Concerto for breakfast.  That seems to be a chain of sorts.  The inside was charming

 

 

Lots of pastries in a display case

 

 

Breakfast was not very good.  I had a baked egg with tomato sauce and too much ricotta cheese

 

 

Husband went for the full English.  

 

 

More sights seen

 

 

 

That night we went to Nobu for dinner.  We opted for the classic omakase and asked the waiter to do a beverage tasting of his choosing.  He paired our food with a mix of sake, red and white wines.  Cocktails

 

 

First course, toro belly sashimi

 

 

 

Second course, more sashimi.  Upper left going clockwise, we had yellowtail with jalapeño ponzu, a sea bream, a spicy tuna and a scallop.

 

 

third course, sushi.  More bream, tuna, horse mackerel (my favorite) and  I forget what the fourth one was!  The cup has a chopped tuna sushi.

 

.

 

Next, miso black cod

 

 

Followed by hot pot.  Husband had waygu steak and I don't eat red meat so they brought me toro 

 

 

 

final savory course, rice with shiitake

 

 

Dessert sample ice cream 

 

 

First real dessert, hazelnut ice cream and molten chocolate cake

 

 

Second dessert, more ice cream, a coconut frozen "grapefruit", and a hazelnut cake.

 

, 

 

This was a ton of food and we were stuffed, so went for a long walk afterwards.  We found a Christmas fair near our hotel and decided to explore.  Of course I had to take photos of some of the food stalls even though I was too stuffed to try anything 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by liamsaunt
correcting autocorrect (log)

[gfweb]

England does food correctly by lunch time.

Breakfasts over there leave me cold, which they usually are....esp the toast which is stood up is a rack, the better to cool off.

And baked beans belong nowhere near breakfast.

 

Rest of it looks fabulous @liamsaunt

[rotuts]

I don't know about the beans

 

I do like Bangers

 

and I do like English bacon , with the rind still on.

 

if that doesn't kill you

 

the delicious hot tasty fried bread might.

Edited December 26, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[weinoo]

Suggestions from our last trip; looks like we're heading back in April.

 

Anyone who doesn't dine at St. John is missing out. It was (and may still be) groundbreaking. We hit the original, but I'm pretty sure all locations are excellent.

 

The Clove Club - we had a most excellent lunch.

 

If you're at all a wine drinker, I can think of no better place than Noble Rot.  Hedone. 40 Maltby.

 

Et al.

Edited October 12, 2019 by weinoo (log)

[liamsaunt]

59 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Suggestions form our last trip; looks like we're heading back in April.

 

Anyone who doesn't dine at St. John is missing out. It was (and may still be) groundbreaking. We hit the original, but I'm pretty sure all locations are excellent.

 

The Clove Club - we had a most excellent lunch.

 

If you're at all a wine drinker, I can think of no better place than Noble Rot.  Hedone. 40 Maltby.

 

Et al.

 

Thanks!  My husband has been to St. John a few times and suggested it as an option.  I was not sure if there would be enough variety for me, as I eat mostly fish or vegetarian.  He has said it is excellent though.  Maybe next time.  We are wine drinkers so thanks for those recommendations also.

[liamsaunt]

Day three, more museums, more walking.  For dinner this evening we went to Benares.  After the tasting at Nobu the night before I was not up for another one, so we bypassed that option in favor of just selecting a few things off the a la carte menu.  They brought us an amuse bouche--lentil dumplings

 

 

we ordered a sampler of their vegetarian appetizers

 

 

an order of rogan josh

 

 

some naan and spinach

 

 

strawberry and mint cocktail

 

 

complimentary dessert of tangerine gelee, chocolate tart and clementine macarons

 

 

We were unable to fish what we ordered.  I am so glad we skipped the tasting menu because the amount of food that would have gone uneaten would have been embarrassing!  

 

Large meals mean long walks.   More impressive Christmas decorations

 

 

Fortnum and Mason food hall (we went back here the next day and bought a lot of Christmas gifts)

 

 

Soho

 

 

 

Chinatown

 

 

And, of course, a pub

 

[weinoo]

Also, Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng have opened a Red Farm in London.  While it wouldn't be for me, since I tend not to like outposts of original restaurants, it might be right up your alley.

[gfweb]

39 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Also, Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng have opened a Red Farm in London.  While it wouldn't be for me, since I tend not to like outposts of original restaurants, it might be right up your alley.

 

I'm always skeptical of outposts, but the chef probably isn't around the mothership much either.

[heidih]

Have you cojnsidered any of the Ottolenghi establishments?

[lemniscate]

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

 

Soho

 

 

 

 

Love the Boh Rhap lyrics as decorations.  Clever, clever.

[Kim Shook]

England is my favorite of all the places I've ever been and the idea of being there during Christmas time is just thrilling to me.  We loved the Wolseley.  And they have a large, lovely vegetarian menu.

[liamsaunt]

Last installment.  Our final day was spent walking around the city and a visit to the Tate Modern (huge).  We stopped by Buckingham Palace

 

 

And watched the very confusing changing of the guard (the military band was playing the Jurassic Park theme song as they guard changed???)

 

 

A view of the evil eye (I hate ferris wheels of all types)

 

 

Aaahhhhh

 

 

Fish and chips by the Thames

 

 

We found a pub and stopped in for a drink

 

 

More festive decorations

 

 

 

Our last dinner was at J. Sheekey

 

 

Crab salad

 

 

Potted shrimp

 

 

Dover sole

 

 

Roasted mixed shellfish (lobster, scallops, razor clams, shrimp, prawns)

 

 

Too full for dessert.  So that's it for this time.  Thanks for the restaurant suggestions.  I hope to get to some on a future visit.

[rotuts]

@liamsaunt

 

the DoverSole looks soooo fine.

 

a flat fish that is one of my favorites 

 

labeling aside , and good luck finding real DS

 

where i grew up , in N CA

 

across some not very tall mountains was Half Moon Bay

 

they have SandDabs , fought right there , 30 min away from Cooks'Seafood in MenloPark

 

also larger similar fish caught in the same area.

 

I used to cook them a la DS

 

and also ' stacked ' with a bread curb fiilling

 

a la Pierre Franey

 

this book :  

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812916042/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i6

 

out of print , but if you have access to really fresh fish , and enjoy it

 

consider a used copy.

 

sorry

 

back to London !