I tried to make this short and quick but of course didn't...sorry!
what a wonderful trip it was....
highlights for foodies were everywhere...
I 'specially liked shopping in Waitrose and Sainsbury's. Every time I went I would oogle over the takeaway meals and try to decide which I would actually take home to try if I lived there, then I would move on to the fresh food sections and decide, forget the pre-made meals I can make whatever I want, WHENEVER I want from the fresh food section all so neatly displayed.....Not much chance of doing any real cooking of course.
And the flowers both for sale in the shops and at every station, I bought flowers for everyone...OH! how it is great to see these bunches last for so long in the homes!
London:
I went to the food mall in Selfridges with my friend (whose husband was away) and of course here we chose enough pre-made to feed an army, Moroccan, Lebanese, Turkey and Greek little bits that I can't remember what they were called and salmon and other fish starters like grilled octopi in oil and herbs and well, tons of small containers and then a few sweet tastes like baklava and something similar I can't remember the names...What a feast with some good Australian wine ??? and French wine, a Chablis, And a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio...yes, well, we were VERY replete.
One day I HAD to stop off at the sushi bar right there in the station at Waterloo. The sushi is on a conveyor belt, like in a couple of other places but time was running out and I still hadn't tried any of these places (I have done so on previous ocassions but never in a station) so the station it was...WELL!!!!
I could have sat there eating away forever...the service was good and the food was freshly made right in front of me....I particularly liked the pumpkin fritter sort of dish, it was warm and very tasty, the lobster and mango was good too as was the miso soup...the one I did not like was a slimy green salad one, not much flavour. The yummy food along with the bustle of the whole station just made a unique experience for this island gal.....(been here for too long with out a break the last 2 years)
on the subject of stations...
There are Fantastic stands selling Cornish Pasties and sausage rolls, all hot and crisp, just perfect to start off the day waiting on a platform on a chilly morning,
and there is a great store at almost every station or just outside the tubes...the station I went home to everyday had a Sainsbury's in it so a quick pop in for wine and some delectable taste was so easy and then the walking...
the walking in cooler weather than here...a brisk march along with all the other briskly moving people...I got home here to this hot island and feeling fit and on top of the world was pleased to go walking down to the beach with DH and dog and found I could hardly breathe with the humidity and walking back up the hill was so drippy and tiresome....BUT there is no wind and this morning promises to be a lovely day so no complaining (yet)
I tried to book into a very popular restaurant near Clapham that is called 'Chez Bruce' but they are now only accepting bookings a month in advance and so looking around for another restaurant nearby (restaurant had to be on the tube line for a niece I was inviting) I found "MOREL"...my nephew and niece arrived in good time and I have to say the meal was very good all round. Good service, very tasty and I did take pictures but haven't put them on the PC yet...the best was the little cup of shrimp bisque they brought with the olives while we were having drinks....this also appears to be a popular place to eat, we were lucky to get a table. One write up I read about it said "Do not be put off by the down-at-heel facade...this cozy, wood-floored cream and red coloured bistro belies it's environs....liberal use of morels of course"
I like Waggamamas...I do... and meeting up with Sandra-in-London in one was just great. This one is set on the terrace one floor up surrounded by glass and shining steel on the huge new complex just near Victoria station....a great place for a quick lunch...only we chatted away so it wasn’t quick. We got there when only a couple other diners were there, sat there enjoying ourselves while the rush of workers came and then we found we were about the only ones left again at the end. I think our favourite was the pud we shared, a meringue with a chilly, sweet sauce, truly worth going back to have another one sometime. Sandra if you can get that recipe I’d love to have it.
Had a wonderful evening at AL Hamra, the "grandaddy of Mayfair Lebanese restaurants". It's in Shepherd Market and is always bustling. We did our usual (all 9 of us) just ordered the meze. They first bring to the table (in this case 2) huge bowls of fresh whole veg/salad like green pepper, spring onions, celery, which you cut a piece off and chomp away at...also dishes of olives and some hot flatbread...how can the meal go downhill after that healthy starter on the house????
I still had a lingering cold and cough so did not like the fact that after the meal my daughter and I were the ones that had to wait for the minicab to arrive long after the others had got their ride, it was chill-sum outside but fun to watch people making there way home, I do like 'people-watching'.
I went walk-about one day, it was a wonderful warm day with blue sky and so decided to go to Camden Market...OMG!!!!! the black and weird outfits these 'Goths" wear and the weird way they act and hang out... Am I too old OR what???...had to squeeze past a thick crowd of them from the tube to the market, really odd bunch of humans....
at the market I wandered around and came upon a food section which I have not seen on previous visits (was it the good weather or is this always there) such a variety of food stalls...I had the Vietnamese take away of shrimp soup and shrimp spring-rolls....far to much for one person, then next to the river I could not resist the cinnamon sugar and lemon juice pancake all hot from the pan. There were many individual stalls here with diverse dishes from all round the globe, some looked divine, others were not at all tempting but the buzz was just great....the 'narrow-boat' came in just then so I hopped on for a 45 min. ride downriver to 'Little Venice' and a walk to Waterloo station again.
I actually went on the EYE.!…this slow moving wheel with glass capsules where one stands (or sits, in my case) takes one right into the skies to chat to the passing airplanes…I get vertigo, so apart from that, I found it just a super experience on a clear and beautiful day. As I was with friends who had a 7 year old with them we then went right on into the aquarium…yes right there and quite interesting, Why did I not do this when my young un’s were small. Then we walked on up to St. Martin-in-the –Fields for lunch where we sat at wee tables all set around on top of old tombs. This crypt has been refurbished since I first started going there many, many years ago but the buzz and the food is still quite good for the price, with a nice glass or two of the old tipple…mmmm! A good place for a quick bite. (We have taken the time in the past to do brass rubbing here too.)
Marlborough:
Had a great tea in a quaint little tea room in Marlborough. The Roses (no, I can't remember the name) very old and full of little old ladies and men but my friend said they had delicious soup and so they do, had mushroom soup followed by scones, jam and clotted cream of course. There were so many sweet things to choose from.
Was taken to a pub for supper near here, not really worth taking note of although the duck I had was tasty and the company was just great.
Portsmouth:
Had many meals all round here.
Steki’s is a very “cheap and cheerful” Greek where I had possibly the best grilled baby octopi I’ve ever had and they offered a very nice white wine too.
Gunwarf Quays has a number of good restaurants among which we enjoyed tapas at the Spanish Bar, and a good pub lunch at the English pub but we were very unimpressed with the Lebanese place we had enjoyed the last time, they kept taking our order then returning with the fact that it isn’t available!!!
We had an extremely good meal in Port Solent at the Italian restaurant,“Prezzo”. Excellent service (the MD turned out to be S. African).
Went to a pub near Arundel where I had fantastic soup, cauliflower and stilton and then I found that the roasted ½ shoulder of lamb, falling off the bone tender was a Giiii-nourmouse ½ shoulder and of course could not finish it at all. The mussels here were also really good.
I also went to explore the town of Arundel (yet again) and just couldn’t resist going into, first one pub for their creamy onion soup, and then into another old low-beamed place for their scones-jam-and cream…then into an old “shoppe” where I bought some pate, and cheeses and wonderful fresh bread loaves as well as some scotch eggs and a few Christmas chocolates.
What did I bring home with me…….
Books as many as poss. Rick Steins Fish Book, Bill Granger’s Open Kitchen…2 books on Bowl Food and Salad…I’ll list these properly if anyone is interested but of course so far I haven’t really tried any recipes, or indeed even really read the books.
Lots of magazines came back in my luggage too. 3 Delicious magazines, my fav. of the moment and 2 Olive magazines.
A gardening book of compost for my gardener who just cannot comprehend the compost side of things, here they just burn garden waste, such a waste!
A wonderful book on Herbs, excellent recipes at the back by the looks of things… I bought it in Corfe village where we had been to wander around the old castle.
Also 2 really great SKK frying pans,
Loads of badges for my cub/scouts as well as books and recycled pencils, woggles and info books.
Few clothes, although what I did bring were for summer! Hard time finding these as winter is approaching.
Soap and Body Shop stuff.
Toys for the grandies from family…I actually had to buy another bag to put all these into.
And just be cause I’m me.....…a dilly thing I did and I do lots of these....…I was in a large book store in Oxford Street totally engrossed in all the books there, stopping off for a soup…really good, soup of the day, Tomato and Basil…I also bought a bottle of water but still very engrossed in the books…… I had a large bag into which I put my handbag and scarf (it was chilly that day and more so that evening) also put my jacket into that bag and….I must have taken a sip of water from the bottle and NOT tightened the bottle top…for when it was time to go I found everything in the bag soaked…just soaked from that emptied bottle of water. It was truly chilly putting on a jacket with a wet sleeve and I could not use the scarf at all….
Now most of the things could be dried out but not my weeks travel pass for the buses and tubes…just bought this thirty pounds worth of travel card…so thinking what a bright girl I am I went to the bathroom to pour out the water from the bag and squeeze out what I could and must have left this card on the basin for when I got to the ticket gate, in rush hour, I could not find the blasted thing and had to go and buy another…what a bore!
Oh well…..The trip was tremendous and just what the doctor ordered…I’ll be there next year with luck……
Food in England is really, really good these days. About time too!
what a wonderful trip it was....
highlights for foodies were everywhere...
I 'specially liked shopping in Waitrose and Sainsbury's. Every time I went I would oogle over the takeaway meals and try to decide which I would actually take home to try if I lived there, then I would move on to the fresh food sections and decide, forget the pre-made meals I can make whatever I want, WHENEVER I want from the fresh food section all so neatly displayed.....Not much chance of doing any real cooking of course.
And the flowers both for sale in the shops and at every station, I bought flowers for everyone...OH! how it is great to see these bunches last for so long in the homes!
London:
I went to the food mall in Selfridges with my friend (whose husband was away) and of course here we chose enough pre-made to feed an army, Moroccan, Lebanese, Turkey and Greek little bits that I can't remember what they were called and salmon and other fish starters like grilled octopi in oil and herbs and well, tons of small containers and then a few sweet tastes like baklava and something similar I can't remember the names...What a feast with some good Australian wine ??? and French wine, a Chablis, And a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio...yes, well, we were VERY replete.
One day I HAD to stop off at the sushi bar right there in the station at Waterloo. The sushi is on a conveyor belt, like in a couple of other places but time was running out and I still hadn't tried any of these places (I have done so on previous ocassions but never in a station) so the station it was...WELL!!!!
I could have sat there eating away forever...the service was good and the food was freshly made right in front of me....I particularly liked the pumpkin fritter sort of dish, it was warm and very tasty, the lobster and mango was good too as was the miso soup...the one I did not like was a slimy green salad one, not much flavour. The yummy food along with the bustle of the whole station just made a unique experience for this island gal.....(been here for too long with out a break the last 2 years)
on the subject of stations...
There are Fantastic stands selling Cornish Pasties and sausage rolls, all hot and crisp, just perfect to start off the day waiting on a platform on a chilly morning,
and there is a great store at almost every station or just outside the tubes...the station I went home to everyday had a Sainsbury's in it so a quick pop in for wine and some delectable taste was so easy and then the walking...
the walking in cooler weather than here...a brisk march along with all the other briskly moving people...I got home here to this hot island and feeling fit and on top of the world was pleased to go walking down to the beach with DH and dog and found I could hardly breathe with the humidity and walking back up the hill was so drippy and tiresome....BUT there is no wind and this morning promises to be a lovely day so no complaining (yet)
I tried to book into a very popular restaurant near Clapham that is called 'Chez Bruce' but they are now only accepting bookings a month in advance and so looking around for another restaurant nearby (restaurant had to be on the tube line for a niece I was inviting) I found "MOREL"...my nephew and niece arrived in good time and I have to say the meal was very good all round. Good service, very tasty and I did take pictures but haven't put them on the PC yet...the best was the little cup of shrimp bisque they brought with the olives while we were having drinks....this also appears to be a popular place to eat, we were lucky to get a table. One write up I read about it said "Do not be put off by the down-at-heel facade...this cozy, wood-floored cream and red coloured bistro belies it's environs....liberal use of morels of course"
I like Waggamamas...I do... and meeting up with Sandra-in-London in one was just great. This one is set on the terrace one floor up surrounded by glass and shining steel on the huge new complex just near Victoria station....a great place for a quick lunch...only we chatted away so it wasn’t quick. We got there when only a couple other diners were there, sat there enjoying ourselves while the rush of workers came and then we found we were about the only ones left again at the end. I think our favourite was the pud we shared, a meringue with a chilly, sweet sauce, truly worth going back to have another one sometime. Sandra if you can get that recipe I’d love to have it.
Had a wonderful evening at AL Hamra, the "grandaddy of Mayfair Lebanese restaurants". It's in Shepherd Market and is always bustling. We did our usual (all 9 of us) just ordered the meze. They first bring to the table (in this case 2) huge bowls of fresh whole veg/salad like green pepper, spring onions, celery, which you cut a piece off and chomp away at...also dishes of olives and some hot flatbread...how can the meal go downhill after that healthy starter on the house????
I still had a lingering cold and cough so did not like the fact that after the meal my daughter and I were the ones that had to wait for the minicab to arrive long after the others had got their ride, it was chill-sum outside but fun to watch people making there way home, I do like 'people-watching'.
I went walk-about one day, it was a wonderful warm day with blue sky and so decided to go to Camden Market...OMG!!!!! the black and weird outfits these 'Goths" wear and the weird way they act and hang out... Am I too old OR what???...had to squeeze past a thick crowd of them from the tube to the market, really odd bunch of humans....
at the market I wandered around and came upon a food section which I have not seen on previous visits (was it the good weather or is this always there) such a variety of food stalls...I had the Vietnamese take away of shrimp soup and shrimp spring-rolls....far to much for one person, then next to the river I could not resist the cinnamon sugar and lemon juice pancake all hot from the pan. There were many individual stalls here with diverse dishes from all round the globe, some looked divine, others were not at all tempting but the buzz was just great....the 'narrow-boat' came in just then so I hopped on for a 45 min. ride downriver to 'Little Venice' and a walk to Waterloo station again.
I actually went on the EYE.!…this slow moving wheel with glass capsules where one stands (or sits, in my case) takes one right into the skies to chat to the passing airplanes…I get vertigo, so apart from that, I found it just a super experience on a clear and beautiful day. As I was with friends who had a 7 year old with them we then went right on into the aquarium…yes right there and quite interesting, Why did I not do this when my young un’s were small. Then we walked on up to St. Martin-in-the –Fields for lunch where we sat at wee tables all set around on top of old tombs. This crypt has been refurbished since I first started going there many, many years ago but the buzz and the food is still quite good for the price, with a nice glass or two of the old tipple…mmmm! A good place for a quick bite. (We have taken the time in the past to do brass rubbing here too.)
Marlborough:
Had a great tea in a quaint little tea room in Marlborough. The Roses (no, I can't remember the name) very old and full of little old ladies and men but my friend said they had delicious soup and so they do, had mushroom soup followed by scones, jam and clotted cream of course. There were so many sweet things to choose from.
Was taken to a pub for supper near here, not really worth taking note of although the duck I had was tasty and the company was just great.
Portsmouth:
Had many meals all round here.
Steki’s is a very “cheap and cheerful” Greek where I had possibly the best grilled baby octopi I’ve ever had and they offered a very nice white wine too.
Gunwarf Quays has a number of good restaurants among which we enjoyed tapas at the Spanish Bar, and a good pub lunch at the English pub but we were very unimpressed with the Lebanese place we had enjoyed the last time, they kept taking our order then returning with the fact that it isn’t available!!!
We had an extremely good meal in Port Solent at the Italian restaurant,“Prezzo”. Excellent service (the MD turned out to be S. African).
Went to a pub near Arundel where I had fantastic soup, cauliflower and stilton and then I found that the roasted ½ shoulder of lamb, falling off the bone tender was a Giiii-nourmouse ½ shoulder and of course could not finish it at all. The mussels here were also really good.
I also went to explore the town of Arundel (yet again) and just couldn’t resist going into, first one pub for their creamy onion soup, and then into another old low-beamed place for their scones-jam-and cream…then into an old “shoppe” where I bought some pate, and cheeses and wonderful fresh bread loaves as well as some scotch eggs and a few Christmas chocolates.
What did I bring home with me…….
Books as many as poss. Rick Steins Fish Book, Bill Granger’s Open Kitchen…2 books on Bowl Food and Salad…I’ll list these properly if anyone is interested but of course so far I haven’t really tried any recipes, or indeed even really read the books.
Lots of magazines came back in my luggage too. 3 Delicious magazines, my fav. of the moment and 2 Olive magazines.
A gardening book of compost for my gardener who just cannot comprehend the compost side of things, here they just burn garden waste, such a waste!
A wonderful book on Herbs, excellent recipes at the back by the looks of things… I bought it in Corfe village where we had been to wander around the old castle.
Also 2 really great SKK frying pans,
Loads of badges for my cub/scouts as well as books and recycled pencils, woggles and info books.
Few clothes, although what I did bring were for summer! Hard time finding these as winter is approaching.
Soap and Body Shop stuff.
Toys for the grandies from family…I actually had to buy another bag to put all these into.
And just be cause I’m me.....…a dilly thing I did and I do lots of these....…I was in a large book store in Oxford Street totally engrossed in all the books there, stopping off for a soup…really good, soup of the day, Tomato and Basil…I also bought a bottle of water but still very engrossed in the books…… I had a large bag into which I put my handbag and scarf (it was chilly that day and more so that evening) also put my jacket into that bag and….I must have taken a sip of water from the bottle and NOT tightened the bottle top…for when it was time to go I found everything in the bag soaked…just soaked from that emptied bottle of water. It was truly chilly putting on a jacket with a wet sleeve and I could not use the scarf at all….
Now most of the things could be dried out but not my weeks travel pass for the buses and tubes…just bought this thirty pounds worth of travel card…so thinking what a bright girl I am I went to the bathroom to pour out the water from the bag and squeeze out what I could and must have left this card on the basin for when I got to the ticket gate, in rush hour, I could not find the blasted thing and had to go and buy another…what a bore!
Oh well…..The trip was tremendous and just what the doctor ordered…I’ll be there next year with luck……
Food in England is really, really good these days. About time too!
NT