One of the great things about traveling someplace unusual is the opportunity to see, smell, and taste food you have never encountered before. I know people in the past have joked about how staid the food is in Britain, but I beg to differ. There is something tempting around every corner...
On Portobello Road (yes, the famous one of song!) I ventured into a new area that I had never made it to before. The upper part of the street is home to antique stalls -- stall upon stall tucked behind stall crammed next to stall. There are rabbit warrens of stalls selling loads of things. On previous visits I had worn out my feet wandering the endless mazes of trinkets before making it to the mid-section of Portobello Road where the fresh food stalls are located. I couldn't believe the size of this wok, and the pungent odors wafting from it were heavenly!
I couldn't decide which concoction looked tastier. There are four perfect peaches in that brown sack I'm holding. This makes me want to haunt our local farmers markets!
How could we pass up treats with the queen? Mom is ready to sample her scone, while I couldn't pass up the chocolate. Nobody does cream like the British. We're at a little cafe set up in the back gardens of Buckingham Palace. Talk about opulent and enormous and a bit overwhelming. The palace, I mean. I'm glad I don't have to clean the 240 bedrooms and 75+ bathrooms. My house is quite a big enough job, thanks.
This little Turkish wrap place was a bit of culinary heaven. My mother had visited this stall at the Camden Locks and told us girls we HAD to have one if we had the chance. The woman behind the counter was handing out generous samples, and one taste of the spinach, feta, and chicken tucked inside a crispy hot shell hooked me right away. I wish I could have brought some home.
My oldest child teases me about not eating ramen noodles. What's there to like about ramen noodles? Well, you have to eat at Wagamama's to know what real ramen is like. This particular branch is at Covent Garden (go ahead and sing "Why Can't The English Learn to Speak" to yourself here).
Usually food you get at the little cafes in parks are only so-so. This cafe next to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens was a pleasant exception. I had a wonderful leek and potato soup. Mmmm. It sure hit the spot after all of the walking we had done that day.
Mom and Dad suggested this place for pancakes on the Monday night of my trip because the restaurant, My Old Dutch, offers a special on all of their pancakes that night. I was NOT expecting to be served something this large!! It wasn't like the pancakes I make, which are thick and fluffy. This is more like a crepe, and the restaurant offered sweet as well as savory toppings. All of us opted for the sweet stuff. It was delicious! Although I'm not sure how much my sister Alisa really remembered about this trip to the restaurant because she had just arrived in London that day and felt pretty hammered by the time we got to the dinner hour.
On Portobello Road (yes, the famous one of song!) I ventured into a new area that I had never made it to before. The upper part of the street is home to antique stalls -- stall upon stall tucked behind stall crammed next to stall. There are rabbit warrens of stalls selling loads of things. On previous visits I had worn out my feet wandering the endless mazes of trinkets before making it to the mid-section of Portobello Road where the fresh food stalls are located. I couldn't believe the size of this wok, and the pungent odors wafting from it were heavenly!
I couldn't decide which concoction looked tastier. There are four perfect peaches in that brown sack I'm holding. This makes me want to haunt our local farmers markets!
How could we pass up treats with the queen? Mom is ready to sample her scone, while I couldn't pass up the chocolate. Nobody does cream like the British. We're at a little cafe set up in the back gardens of Buckingham Palace. Talk about opulent and enormous and a bit overwhelming. The palace, I mean. I'm glad I don't have to clean the 240 bedrooms and 75+ bathrooms. My house is quite a big enough job, thanks.
This little Turkish wrap place was a bit of culinary heaven. My mother had visited this stall at the Camden Locks and told us girls we HAD to have one if we had the chance. The woman behind the counter was handing out generous samples, and one taste of the spinach, feta, and chicken tucked inside a crispy hot shell hooked me right away. I wish I could have brought some home.
My oldest child teases me about not eating ramen noodles. What's there to like about ramen noodles? Well, you have to eat at Wagamama's to know what real ramen is like. This particular branch is at Covent Garden (go ahead and sing "Why Can't The English Learn to Speak" to yourself here).
Usually food you get at the little cafes in parks are only so-so. This cafe next to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens was a pleasant exception. I had a wonderful leek and potato soup. Mmmm. It sure hit the spot after all of the walking we had done that day.
Mom and Dad suggested this place for pancakes on the Monday night of my trip because the restaurant, My Old Dutch, offers a special on all of their pancakes that night. I was NOT expecting to be served something this large!! It wasn't like the pancakes I make, which are thick and fluffy. This is more like a crepe, and the restaurant offered sweet as well as savory toppings. All of us opted for the sweet stuff. It was delicious! Although I'm not sure how much my sister Alisa really remembered about this trip to the restaurant because she had just arrived in London that day and felt pretty hammered by the time we got to the dinner hour.
2 comments:
The food looks delicious! One of these days I make it to England....
I like how you get excited to try the new and different things and when I'm travelling I'm always busy looking for familiar food to eat! I'm glad you got to go. It looks like fun.
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