Learning London

We spent three nights in London this weekend (Monday was a bank holiday here). We stayed in the Docklands, a sorta out of the way area that I think is London's financial district. It is a small peninsula created by the Thames but has great access to the rest of the city with both a passenger rail line and subway stop within 5 minutes of our hotel. The subway in London is called, officially, the Underground, and un-officially, the Tube.

Our hotel had great pet perks: a dog bed, toy, and food and water dishes were waiting in the room for Boo. It took her about 30 seconds to become very acquainted with bed and toy.

Friday, we arrived just in time for our reservation at the Narrow, one of Gordon Ramsey's pubs. The food here was good but the service was very spotty. What'd we have? Note the food ratings in parenthesis.

Beer
Meantime Grand Cru Wheat

Starters
Chicken Liver and Bacon Salad, with Poached Duck Egg (2), Welsh Rabbit (3)

Mains
Fried Hake and Chips with Marrow-Fat Mushy Peas (2), Cock-a-leekie Pie and Mashed (3) aka chicken pot pie and mashed potatoes

Dessert
Sticky Toffee Pudding (3)

Saturday we had a lazy morning then walked around some of the sights, including the London Bridge, Tower of London, the Salvador Dali Museum, Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We found a great market right at the London Bridge tube stop -- great artisanal cheeses, meats, field mushrooms, and more. We wrapped up the walking tour with a pint at a small pub near Westminster.

That evening, the food highlight of the trip was St. John restaurant. Decor was very simple with painted white cement walls, simple white wooden tables, and nothing at all fancy about it. The food was awesome. During the meal, they walked through with a whole roast suckling pig for a table in a back room -- very cool (feeds 16 people, 320 pounds including sides -- we need to make English friends!) . The guy at the table next to us ordered a special and it was served towards the end of our meal -- a roast pig's head. This restaurant is known for using all the pieces parts of all the little animals, especially the pig.

Our meal?

Starters
Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad with Toast (1!), Fried Skate Cheeks with Aioli (2)

Mains
Roast Ox Tongue with Chips (1!)
Snails, Sausage, and Chickpea (2)

Dessert
Eccles Cake with Lancashire Cheese (2)
Moist Gingercake with Butterscotch Sauce (3)

At the end of the meal, I caught a glance of a patron just sitting down at a table. I nudged Rachel and lo and behold it was Ralph Fiennes. He is doing a show in London and apparently frequents St. John.

Sunday we just lazed around a bit, went to another recommend restuarant, The Gun. Good food and right on the river near our hotel. They had Abbot Ale on draft, so I was happy. Sunday night, after walking Boo around the Docklands for a couple hours, we took the tube into the city and had Indian food at Punjab, one of London's oldest. More good food!

Monday we did our best to get out early and make it to IKEA (there are 4 in London) to get 'stuff' to hold our clothes since the Lilacs isn't real big on closet space. We hit miserable traffic heading our of London and I for one am glad to be 'home'.