Despite many food options in London, CootieGirl pretty much stuck with steak at every meal we had in a restaurant. Fish and chips place? She had steak. Italian place? She had steak. Pub? Steak, please! The only real diversion from her culinary stubbornness was when she got a pizza at a pizzeria near the flat in which we were staying.
And while I didn’t necessarily venture digestively afar myself, I did have some delightful food while in London. I’ve already mentioned Heddon Street Kitchen, owned by Gordon Ramsay. My pork belly dish was delicious.
We also ate at a Jamie Oliver restaurant and I took advantage of the Italian menu to have some classic lasagna that was simply outstanding.
At the fish and chips place I did not get the fish (I’m not a fan of white fish in general), but I did order some calamari with a garlic aioli and some bruschetta that was quite tasty.
The only fail for me was at the pizzeria – I ordered meatballs (which were great) and fried mozzarella (which even CG admitted was pretty terrible).
We also stopped into Pret a Manger, which is a quick and easy take away place all around London. One afternoon CG and I picked up a mac & cheese lasagna and a BLT sandwich to share we both LOVED the mac & cheese lasagna and wished we had gotten two of those. A few days later we popped into one to get some breakfast and I had traditional english porridge (which is essentially really thick oatmeal). Surprisingly, they have some locations around the US (but only in major cities like New York, Chicago and Washington, DC), so they are not a uniquely European cafe.
On Palm Sunday after visiting All Souls church in Langham for the morning service, we four headed to “The Crown and Two Chairman” for Sunday Roast (a meal consisting of roast beef, potatoes, yorkshire pudding, and mixed veggies). What’s funny is that it was on THIS day – the day typically set aside for enjoying a good steak – CG ordered the chicken.
From a drinks perspective, we sampled hot chocolate all over the city and by far the best we had was from a shop called Whittard’s on Regent Street. They had a flavor of hot chocolate called “Lemon Meringue” and y’all, it is amazing. So amazing that CG and I brought two containers of it home with us and she had two cups of it on our first day back upon arriving home. We also bought their Raspberry Ripple hot cocoa and some mint hot cocoa. I’m sure those will be just as delightful.
Talking of all this food, it’s hard to believe that during this vacation I managed to lose 5 pounds.