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London Report


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Just arrived back from London. Here are the food (and beer) highlights. Thanks to all of you for your ideas and suggestions. This forum has been a great help in planning trips. I ate very very well in Paris last spring based on e-gullet suggestions.

St. John - St. John St.

Excellent meal. Knowledgable and friendly staff.

Native oysters - Exquisite. I normally just eat oysters plain, but the mignonette was really good so I dabble a bit in that too.

Roast marrowbone and parsley salad - How could I not get this with all the great reviews it gets? Excellent combination of flavors, the rich fatty marrow with the fresh tart parsley, caper, and shallot salad, with sea salt on good grilled bread. A winner.

Venison pot roast with quince, and sides of mashed turnips, quince paste, and green cabbage. Hearty, rich, sweet, delicious. Even the cabbage tasted so fresh and good.

Apple and Calvados pudding with butterscotch sauce and cream. Fantastic.

India Club - Strand

An odd place to find, very spartan. Good chicken dopiaza and dry vegetable curry. Great value. Know your Indian food because the menu gives no explanations, tear the the tiny glossaries out of Time Out Eating & Drinking (which is what I did).

Abeno - Museum St.

Delicious!! And the staff is so friendly. They specialize in okonomiyaki, which includes cooking pancake-like items on the griddle on your table. I started with avocado and tofu gyoza (cooked in the kitchen) and then had the griddled cake with konyakku (a gelatinized yam-type thing), corn, pork (like really good English bacon), rice, topped with Japanese mayo, a fruity-vegetable sauce (was it ponzu?), bonito flakes, and dried powdered seaweed. Yummy stuff.

Mela - Shaftesbury Ave.

Delicious. Started with uthappams which were fantastic. Then tandoori salmon - what a great way to eat salmon. Even the cold vegetable garnish/side was good.

Borough market - Lots of yummy looking things. I was heading to tea so only had a coffee at Monmouth. Lucky Londoners who can graze and buy here regularly.

Cheese picnic - Neal's Yard Dairy

Stilton, Cheddar, goat, and Lancashire, with great bread, and a bottle of Sicilian chardonnay from Odd Bins. Heaven.

Tea - Savoy

Great tea sandwiches. Very good scones -- love that cream. Pastries are just average. Beautiful room. Very comfortable seating - plush. A "have to do it at least once" experience.

Fish and chips - Fryers Delight - Theobald's Rd.

Plaice and chips, and mushy peas. Fish is fantastic.

Ice cream - Marine Ices - Chalk Farm Rd., Camden

Oysters and Sancerre - Harrod's Food Hall - pricy but nice late afternoon splurge.

Good pubs with great cask ale:

Lamb - Lamb's Conduit St.

Jerusalem Tavern - Britton St.

Museum Tavern - Great Russell and Museum Sts.

Princess Louise - Holborn

Plus so much to do -- a great city full of history with super museums and art. Friendly folks, with a great smart-ass sense of humor (my kind of people). Can't wait to return.

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Simon, I think you and many others were like invisible companions on this trip. It's thanks to your posts that I found so many of these places. But I'm just bummed that squirrel wasn't on the menu the night I went to St. John. I was thinking of going back another night but just never did. Wenlock Arms was on my list, but I never did get there. Damn I drank some nice beer in London. And damn, now that I'm thinking about that, I want one, well I'm off today, what the hell, it's almost 5 in London time! Cheers!!

Deirdre

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Apple and Calvados pudding with butterscotch sauce and cream. Fantastic.

Deirdre:

I assume this to be an apple cake-like steamed pudding, dripping with the sauce and pouring cream...yes/no?...any more details would be greatly appreciated! Sounds delicious and oh so comforting!

kit

"I'm bringing pastry back"

Weebl

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Kit, I wish my memory was better, but now that pudding has been superceded in my foggy memory by a great sticky toffee pudding I had last night at DC Coast in Washington, DC, and that memory is pretty foggy too due to too much imbibing -- someone else was paying and we had a lot of predinner drinks, plus a glass of Chardonnay with our oysters, then Turley Zinfandel with dinner, highly recommended, then a nice Laphroaig at the bar after. But enough of that.

At St. John's the pudding was like a moist apple cake with a strong, but not overbearing, delicious taste of Calvados, and if I remember, little chunks of apple. I don't recall how the cream was served, I just remember liking it, but the sauce was very dark, almost burnt to be honest, but a nice strong butterscotchy flavor which I enjoyed. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

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Thanks for trying, Deirdre, that helps! I've been studying up on steamed puddings and was going to do a couple for a dinner party last night -- nice comforting sweets for a cool spring evening. Then the weather turned and the last two days have been summer (it was 85 F today) so went with panna cotta and berries instead. Very big hit. The steamed puddings will have to wait until the autumn!

Thanks again!

kit

"I'm bringing pastry back"

Weebl

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