Scaredycat Town and a Weekend Away
Sorry for the delay in posting, but with the holidays and final papers being due, I haven’t really had the time. But a weekend away in London had some items that deserve mentioning, so here they are.
Not pictured is an amazing Spanish tapas night which featured marinated olives and anchovies, duck liver, sautéed mushrooms, chorizo, and six or seven other things which all kind of blur together in a delicious foodie feast. The four of us walked off our full bellies along the Thames, and I think I’ll be hunting down some local tapas here in Glasgow to compare.
Brighton beach also made an appearance. After a nice lunch of sushi (also not pictured) and museum-ing, my trusty tour guide led me to Julien Plumart Salon De Thé on Duke Street, where I enjoyed an orange mocha and this royal hazelnut chocolate ganache thing:
Hers was also quite good. Draped in raspberry and crowned with a macaroon:
Fancy. The next day saw lunch at an amazing place called Ping Pong where we had amazing dim sum. The first to arrive was a sweet pork puff pastry with sesame seeds:
The rest just showed up en masse, with steamed and fried dumplings and two very generous rice bowls, one chicken and the other veggies:
After some more museum-ing (got to see the real Rosetta Stone!!!), we headed out to dinner at Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte, a French steakhouse. It was definitely a new experience – there was no menu, as they only serve one thing. A walnut salad with mustard vinaigrette:
And steak frites, cooked blue, rare, or medium, with a delicious secret sauce:
My dinner companion tells me the restaurant began in Paris, where she and her family originally tried the fare, then opened restaurants around the globe. There is one in New York City, for you Yanks.
So after you have eaten your large plate of steak frites, they come back round and give you another helping. I shit you not. And the sauce seriously was killer. I have no idea what was in it.
After stuffing ourselves silly, we of course made room for dessert. Miss Becky ordered the crème brûlée, shown here while making her very best “No, no, I’m absolutely stuffed, I couldn’t possibly, well alright then” face:
And I opted for some chocolate tartlets, which I’ve hastily gotten a picture of after greedily biting into them (the bit at the top is some of the crème brûlée):
Lastly, and also not pictured, was the secret underground bar a friend took us to. The place looks like any other diner – because it is. Except if you tell the host that you’re here to see the mayor (of Scaredycat Town). In which case, you’re ushered toward the fridge and made to go inside. I’m not being funny, an actual fridge door. Behind which is a staircase leading down to the bar where a picture of Her Majesty the Queen is adorned with sunglasses with the title “Granmaster Flash.” I wish I had the imagination to make this stuff up. All in all, a good end to the semester. On to the next one eh? Foodies never die. That is all.