A Taste of London (3)

On the ground outside The Globe Theatre. (I thought it'd make a nice welcome mat message.)

It's finally time for some serious food blogging! I've actually tried doing this a few times since I’ve come to Galway, but I always bite off more than I can chew (no pun intended) and I can never finish the post. But this time I will – just watch me!

When I was growing up, my mother used to tell me that the French always say of British cooking, “If it’s hot, it’s beer; if it’s cold, it’s soup.” And since I usually take my mother’s proverbial pearls of wisdom as gospel, I’ve generally thought of British food as bland and unsavory. I didn't really have any great expectations about eating my way through London (and, as I’ve said before, eating is how I usually go about experiencing a new place). My first food experiences in London consisted of a Nature Valley granola bar when we got to the hostel after 10:00 Thursday night and then two pieces of toast with peanut butter and strawberry jam for breakfast the next morning. I wouldn’t consider either of those experiences a reflection on British cooking (nothing was cooked) but they certainly weren't anything thrilling.

I didn’t become excited about eating in London until I started texting with Chloé and she said that when she had gone a few years back, she spent most of her time eating. She told me that she would start searching for fun-looking Thai and Indian restaurants near where I was staying. I had forgotten all about the mark Imperialism left on British cuisine, but as soon as she reminded me I became instantly eager to start dining. Our first meal was in a Mediterranean restaurant that we stumbled upon while en route to check in to our hotel. We passed several cafés and restaurants along one street, but we were all intrigued by the tantalizing smells and reasonable prices of the place called Nar. I didn’t think to take any pictures while we were there, but here is the restaurant website if you care to check it out. It’s located right by a Tube station, so every few minutes or so the meal was interrupted by the mild rattle and low rumble of a passing train. It sounded like rolling thunder, and reminded me of a Mediterranean version of The Rainforest Café, although less kitschy and fewer monkey screeches.

I don’t mean that as a criticism by any means. I thought it was amusing and it really didn’t deter from the overall ambience; more importantly though, it had no bearing whatsoever on the actual food, which was, by the way, delicious. Our entrées all came with appetizers, so I started with little lentil patties. I was expecting something akin to mini veggie burgers made with lentils, but it was more like three thumb-sized corkscrew patties of cold red lentils mixed with other vegetables, served with a salad with a mysterious dressing on the side (I really enjoyed it, but I could not for the life of me place this one underlying flavor to the dressing). It surprised me, but it was quite refreshing and definitely really tasty. I’d be curious to try making something like it when I get home. My main course was less of a surprise, but equally delicious: chicken cob shish, which consisted of pieces of incredibly tender chicken (JUST like butter...), vegetables, and perfectly cooked rice. By the time we finished our lovely, leisurely lunch (we stayed there for over an hour and a half), I was so full and so ready for a food coma.

Luckily, I wasn't so full that I couldn't properly enjoy dinner several hours later. Katie and I had made plans to meet one of Chloé's friends for dinner at 7:30. I had requested Indian food, so he took us to a place near Covent Garden called Moti Mahal. He said he hadn't been before, but that it was very highly-reviewed. They checked our coats when we got there, and since my camera was in my coat pocket, I again failed at taking any good photos of the interior or the meal itself. Luckily, they have a nice, flashy website with plenty of pictures that you can check out. It's a pretty posh-looking place, so I definitely recommend looking at some of the pictures. We sat in the downstairs dining room, in one of the booth tables:

The downstairs dining room where we ate (picture taken from their website)

The menu is designed like a travel log: the chef toured around different parts of India and brought dishes back from all the different areas. We started the meal with cocktails (the friend's suggestion!), and I went with something called Goa Fire. It was delightfully fruity but not too sweet, and it was a lovely rosy shade. The description on the menu read:

"Kettle One Vodka & Galliano L'Autentico Liqueur paired with fresh Strawberries, Strawberry purée & a hint of Chili & Lime

The wealth of Goa lies in its warm hearted people & the markets of treasures you can find. Being here really ignites a passion for this beautiful part of India."

While we were waiting for our food to come they brought us a salad plate for the table, but it was unlike most salads I've had in restaurants before. The plate had a knife, vials of garlic salt, oil, and vinegar, a lemon, and whole vegetables, including three radishes, a few lettuce leaves, some whole fresh herbs, a couple whole tomatoes, a whole onion, and a cucumber. My dining companions elected me to be the designated preparer, so I had to awkwardly chop everything right there at the table. It was an unusual setup, but still tasty with its freshness and lightness. 

It had taken me forever to actually decide what to order to follow the salad; the menu was long, and we got all caught up swapping stories about study abroad experiences and picking his brain for travel advice on London and other parts of Europe. Eventually though, I made up my mind. Katie, who by the way had never experienced Indian food before (or Mediterranean food, or really any kind of ethnic food for that matter - apparently they don't have any by where she lives in Cincinnati) went with Chicken Tikka Masala. I was proud of her for being willing to try all sorts of new food with me. We agreed that next she has to try Thai with me. He went with the scallops. I opted for a chicken dish from Punjab called Murghi Nazakat, which according to the menu was:

"A trio of chicken tikka, prepared with tantalizing variations of mint and basil, poppy seed and kashmiri chillies, cracked pepper and dill

The preparation of three different types of chicken tikka is an indicator that the utmost care, attention, and respect is being showered on one's guest. Inspired by a hearty meal prepared for me by a Dhaba Walla in Amritsar."

How could I say no to three different types of tantalizing chicken that indicate the utmost care, attention, and respect? 

One skewer of the Murghi Nazakat (picture taken from their website)

I certainly didn't end up with orderer's remorse (a common affliction for me) - it was again so tender and the different seasonings on each piece were wonderful. Our waiter was really attentive and told us when we ordered rice and naan with the entrées that he recommended we also get some dal, since two of the dishes were dry and we'd probably want something saucy to mop up the rice and naan. He suggested the Dal Makhani from Peshawar: 

"Black lentils slow cooked overnight on charcoal

Hailing from the North West Frontier, this black lentil speciality is slow cooked for several hours, on charcoal. Creamy and earthy, this dal is a delicious accompaniment to tandoori dishes"

And ohhh it was so delicious. So creamy and so rich and flavorful - more so than most dals I've tried. It was a fabulous suggestion. Almost two hours later, and I was again ridiculously full yet wonderfully satisfied. If I'm ever back in London (and I really hope to be one day), I would definitely go out of my way to return to this place.

By the time Katie and I met up with Jessie and Alissa at a pub in Covent Garden, I was still thinking I wouldn't ever need to eat again. But then they told us something that at least made me want to eat again, even if I didn't need to eat again. Before we left for London, I had looked online to see if they had any frozen yogurt places (remember, we found one when we were in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago and it made me so happy), and I saw several sites referring to some place called "Snog" (check out the website if you're

Alissa, Jessie, & Me outside of Snog. We were really happy.

curious). We all giggled at the name and hoped we might come across it while we were there. Well, while Katie and I were busy savoring some Indian food, Jessie and Alissa finished an early dinner and went for a walk... and they actually found Snog! As soon as they told us, I found my dessert stomach and we headed straight over. It was around 11:00pm at this point, so we were worried that it might have closed already. Well, they weren't. Thank goodness they're open until midnight every night!

Inside Snog

As soon as I got in, I knew I had found the British interpretation of a Pinkberry. It was a really hip-looking place and seemed really popular; they even had a line out the door for a while. You can't see too well in the picture, but the walls were covered with crazy drawings of giddy Seussical fruit figures and the ceiling was covered with a wave of individual hanging ball lights that changed colors and turned on and off in cool patterns.

But the best part - of course - was the FroYo. They had four flavors: Original (Plain), Blueberry, Apple Spice, and... wait for it... GREEN TEA! It tasted just like Pinkberry's Matcha flavor before they went and hurt my soul and put it in their flavor vault. Oh it was pure delight in a cup. I ordered mine with mangoes and raspberries (my usual Pinkberry toppings) and I savored it for as long as I could (until it started getting melty). I told my friends immediately that we would have to come back on Saturday, no matter what, since I knew I probably wouldn't be able to get any frozen yogurt for the rest of the semester once we returned to Galway. We did end up coming back the next night after we saw Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. I opted to go with the Green Tea again, but this time with fresh strawberries (the mangoes hadn't been entirely ripe):

It makes me happy just to look at the photo. I wish they'd open up something like it in Galway so I could have it for the next 3 months! 

When we finally got back to the hotel on Friday night, I was still giddy with food happiness. I told my friends we would have to try to eat as well the next day, too. Luckily, we did. We wandered around Trafalgar Square at lunchtime, looking for a pub that might serve us some good fish & chips - we figured we may as well try to get some while we were London, after all. We came across The Marquis Bar, which not only had delicious fish & chips (I think that might've actually been my first time having it), they also boasted being an old haunt of none other than Charles Dickens! It was definitely an awesome find, and I would definitely go back there with anyone. 

Outside The Marquis Bar, pointing to Charles Dickens's name on the plaque

After lunch, Katie and I explored the Globe Theater, so by the time we got back to pick up our show tickets, we only had about an hour to spare for dinner. We wandered around the outdoor shopping/markets in Covent Garden, which Chloé's friend recommended we do.

There were various street performers all over the place and plenty of outdoor dining that all smelled fantastic. We perused all of our options, but the thing that kept catching my eye and my nose was a little outdoor paella stand with two enormous paella pans full of deliciousness. We all got a bowl and sat on a bench out in the courtyard to enjoy. After I finished, I asked the guy who served me if I could take a picture so I could photo-document the eating experience for my sister, and he laughed and said as long as he got to be in the photo, too. So here he is:

After the Paella, we walked around the area some more until we came across a tiny little shop called Ben's Cookies. I remembered that Chloé's friend had told me that if I find the time, I definitely need to make a trip to Ben's Cookies, because it is totally worth it. He was so right again! It looks like a teeny hole in the wall; the store is just big enough for 2-3 customers to stand inside opposite the counter. The pillar in the photo looks like it's cutting it off, but the store ends right there, behind the pillar. It's only as wide as the three glass panels:

I split an Oatmeal Raisin cookie three-ways with Katie and Jessie, and then ordered two for myself: one Praline and Milk Chocolate, and one Milk Chocolate Chunk (which had JUST come out of the oven, so it was still gooey and melty and falling apart in my hands and my mouth). They were so delicious. If you're ever in London, do as he says: make time to go. It definitely was worth it. 

And now, I must finally wrap up my epic blogging about London. I'm sure there are more stories I could tell and more details I could share, but I'd say you probably have a pretty good idea by now of what my trip was like. As soon as I find some time again, I'll get to blogging about this past week (Rag Week, woo!) and then this upcoming weekend (IFSA Butler-sponsored weekend at an Adventure Center in Co. Galway, woo again!)... so you can look forward to that. 

Til next time!

A Taste of London (2)

Katie & Me, on a ramp between the Tate Modern and The Globe Theatre,
with the Millennium Bridge & St. Paul's Cathedral in the background

Now it's time to talk about being a total tourist in London. A lot of people told us that we were silly for trying to tackle London in one weekend, but I think we managed to cram a lot into just 2 days around the city. I definitely felt like I got a sufficient taste of what London has to offer - and lemme tell you, it tasted great.

I learned rather quickly that my friends and I each have vastly different expectations when we visit a new place, which made it a little difficult to decide on what we should all do and see. Jessie and Alissa cringe at the mention of itineraries and timetables, while Katie and I get frustrated and anxious with the complete spontaneity. Jessie seemed to want to wander and explore, Alissa just really wanted to go on the Beatles walking tour, and Katie wanted to do all of the site-seeing. They asked me what I cared most to see and do, and I realized that the thing I was most excited about was the food. I had to explain to them that eating my way through a city is really the only way I know how to fully experience a city. I just never really did the official touring around touristy thing. (I mean, I've been to New York countless times, but still haven't gone to see Ellis Island, The Empire State Building, or the Statue of Liberty. But I have eaten in restaurants all over The City.) So I told them that I didn't mind whatever we did during the day - I thought that seeing Buckingham Palace and all of the other iconic touristy things would be cool and interesting, but I said I'd be happy with anything as long as I got fed (all the details about the food to come in Part 3!).

Katie & I are making ridiculous, forced grins on top of the bus.
I promise we actually were enjoying ourselves though!

On Friday, we took a double decker bus tour figuring that it'd be a fun and relaxing way to get a broad, general view of London.We walked around for a bit and had a fabulously long lunch before finally checking in to our new hotel. It was pretty late in the afternoon by that point, so we just rested for a bit before heading out again for dinner and the rest of our evening.

On Saturday, Katie & I wanted more of a game plan. We were all for that sense of adventure and excitement, but at the same time, not even having a rough outline for what we wanted to do in London seemed foolish when we were dealing with such a limited time frame to experience the city. We came up with a list of places everyone cared most to see and I looked up the locations and the nearest subway stops so we wouldn't waste time trying to figure out how to get around throughout the day. We decided to go see Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey first, since all four of us were interested. There wasn't much

Me, Jessie, Katie, & Alissa outside Buckingham Palace

to do at the palace, but it was pretty cool looking. I had been a little reluctant to spend the 14 pounds on the ticket to get into the Abbey, but I'm really glad that the other girls encouraged me to go; it's really remarkable inside. The architectural detail was stunning and there were a shocking number of tombs all over the place. They weren't always clearly labeled though, so I wasn't always sure if I was walking on top of someone's remains, someone's ashes, or just a memorial. One area of the Abbey, Poet's Corner, is reserved for commemorating writers. I was so excited to see so many writers and poets that I've had to read for my Victorian and Romantic literature courses over the past year. They have the remains of Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling. We saw memorials for Lord Byron, CS Lewis, TS Eliot, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Shakespeare. I walked out of there feeling like such a legit English major; it was great.

Afterwards, we explored a little bit before heading to lunch. We stopped for random photo shoots along the way, and I got lots of really great scenic pictures around the city: 

Behold: Big Ben in the distance. It's really so much shinier in person 
than it seems in photos and films! I didn't realize that so much of it
is gilded.

Katie, Jessie, Alissa, & me in the phone booth
(Not quite as awesome as the ANTM Cycle 5 photo shoot,
but still fun!)

After our Saturday lunch, we split up for a few hours so everyone could do their own thing. Alissa finally got to go on her Beatles walking tour and Jessie got to go explore Notting Hill while Katie and I went to the Globe Theater. I spent a good portion of my trip texting Chloé, asking for help on how to best tackle London. She and Mom had fantastic ideas for us - including Mom's suggestion to check out The Globe. It hadn't even occurred to me that I could go do that; I had completely forgotten about Shakespeare. (How embarrassing!)

View of the Globe Theater from the street

It was such a great idea. Katie and I went on a tour that took us inside the theater part (half of the building is set up like a museum gallery) - while they were running a dress rehearsal for an upcoming production of Macbeth. We were able to sit and watch around 20 minutes of it, and it was so cool and so exciting. I'd love to go back to London sometime in April or May so that I could actually catch a full production of one of the Shakespeare plays since we couldn't while we were there.

We had such a hard time getting tickets to see a show. Katie and I had both been really eager to find tickets to see anything while we were there, but we couldn't get anything at a reasonable price for that weekend. Again, Chloé was incredibly helpful and she found us tickets and gave us a number to call and it worked; we got four tickets to see the last showing of :

I hadn't read it before and I really knew nothing about the play going into it, but I was just excited to be able to see something while we were there. We really lucked out though; the actors were great and I laughed hysterically the entire time. I would definitely recommend anyone read/see the play. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our last night in London. 

We had to wake up at 3:30 the next morning in order to make it back to the airport in time for our flight. It meant only getting a couple hours of sleep, but I think it was a good thing - if I hadn't been so exhausted and groggy, I would've had a really hard time leaving London. 

A Taste of London (1)

I've been trying (and failing) to find a spare moment to blog about my trip to London last weekend, but as soon as we got back to Galway, Rag Week started and it's been keeping me pretty busy (blogging about Rag Week to come later!). I finally found some time to properly give London it's due, so here's part 1 of a 3-part blog post. (Sorry, but it was a great trip and I just have a lot to share. Part 2 will be all about the site-seeing and part 3 will be strictly about my food experiences - prepare yourselves!)

Alright, I just have to say, I absolutely fell in love with London - with its architecture, its history, its modernity, its people; with the way it looks, smells, and tastes. We got into the city after 10pm on Thursday night, and I was telling myself that I absolutely loved it before 10am the next morning. London was always one of those places that I sort of abstractly wanted to see, but I was never really consumed by any burning, passionate desire to go. I mean, I just always figured that one day I'd end up there and that it'd be pretty cool. I am so glad that I did decide to go, because it totally surpassed any expectations I had.

Before I can get to the site-seeing and everything though, I want to blather a little bit about what it was like getting to and around London with my friends. I feel like the background bits are important for establishing the general mood and feel of the whole trip, which was, by the way, the first trip to a new place I've ever planned by myself (as in, my parents/teachers/study abroad program didn't pick the dates or find the plane tickets and the hotel room, and I wasn't going to a new city meet a friend or family member who could show me around). Everything turned out well, but we certainly had our pitfalls and bumpy moments.

Toward the beginning of the semester, Jessie, Alissa, Katie, and I sat down with a list of places we wanted to visit and then we went through a calendar to block out possible dates when we could all go together. We all decided on London for our first free weekend, and then it sort of fell to Katie and me to do all of the planning. Katie and I are both very plan-oriented types, whereas Jessie and Alissa fall more into the camp of "Plan? Who needs a plan?" people. We spent hours and hours arranging the traveling, finding the plane tickets and the bus tickets to go to and from the airports. And oh man, was it a mess.

Dad, if you're reading this, brace yourself - you probably would've had a heart attack if you'd been with us. We wound up cutting it really close. We had a 6:10 pm flight, which meant boarding at 5:40. We got bus tickets for 3:05 to get us to Shannon Airport by 4:30 - we couldn't leave earlier because Alissa was supposed to have a class that she didn't want to miss (but it wound up being cancelled anyway). We left the apartment at 2:30 because it's a half hour walk to the bus station. Unfortunately, we walked to the wrong bus station. Oops. We got inside at like 2:57. Katie and I just looked at each other when we didn't see BusEireann listed on the departures. We asked someone and were given directions to the correct place, but of course Jessie had decided to take a bathroom break right then. Katie frantically suggested that we two run ahead to hold the bus, and run we did. Around the corner, up a hill, and across the street, all the while with our backpacks flopping up and down and me trying to suppress my inner monologue of aaaah we won't make it the next bus is an hour from now we'll miss the bus and then we'll miss our flight and then we won't be in London in time to check in and we'll just have to go back to the flat and tell everyone that we couldn't get it together... but then we made it, saw the bus was still there, and Jessie and Alissa caught up with us in time. Whew. All those years of making fun of Dad for making us leave three hours early for everything... now it makes me sick to my stomach to not leave all that extra time when I'm going someplace. What an unsettling way to start the trip.

The rest of the ride to London was wonderfully uneventful, although we had a hell of a time figuring out the most cost-effective way to get from the London-Stanstead Airport to our hostel. After landing, we took another hour-long bus ride to a station in the center of town and then a 15-20 minute ride on the Tube and then another 15 minutes walking around trying to find the right street. We were exhausted, but totally giddy in our exhaustion. At alternating 5-minute intervals we had Alissa screaming "London Baby!!" (from Friends), Jessie crying out "Yeah, baby, yeah!!" (from Austin Powers), and Katie and me breaking into short bouts of excited laughter. Hooray for tourists.  

Eight hours of traveling later, we finally made it to the hostel - which I guess means that now it's Mom's turn, if she's reading this, to brace herself. Alissa had firmly told us early on in the trip-arranging that she just doesn't do planning, but Jessie had said that she'd get on booking the hostel. Well, she didn't... so only two weeks before our flight out, Katie and I had to spend another few hours trying to find a place for us to stay. She and I were apprehensive about staying in a hostel (and I'm pretty sure both of our mothers feel strongly against the idea, too), but Jessie said that she so much prefers the experience of staying in a hostel and getting to mingle with strangers. We wound up having to compromise because we couldn't get a room in the same place for all 3 nights, so we booked Thursday night in a hostel and then Friday and Saturday in a hotel on the other side of town.

The first night, they had us split up into 3 separate rooms, each with 4 sets of bunk beds filled with strangers. It was honestly pretty uneventful and we all came out okay, but even though nothing terrible happened I was so uncomfortable. . I had to try to explain to Jessie the next day why I said I didn't want to try doing that again for our upcoming trips: it just added so many extra and unnecessary sources of stress and worry. They were out of locks for their lockers, so I couldn't leave my backpack in the room without worrying that someone would trifle with it. I actually hid my water bottle for fear someone might slip something in it, and I slept with my purse and coat bundled underneath the pillow. I wouldn't try using their showers because people are dirty and who knows what fungi linger in the puddles. And worst of all, I couldn't help but thinking about the possibility of bed bugs! (My mom has successfully ingrained in me a deep-rooted paranoia of bed bugs). Call me obsessive or ridiculous or what have you, but what can I say, I was raised this way. I like the luxury of having a little privacy and security when I travel. I like having my own hotel room with a lock and key. It's totally worth a few extra bucks to me.

The hotel was a much more comfortable set-up (or at least Katie and I thought - Jessie informed us that she much preferred the hostel), although it was a little out of the way. It was about a 10 minute walk to the closest Tube station, and we had to transfer lines to get into the center of town. It wasn't that inconvenient though, so I didn't mind  - I actually wound up really liking the Tube. I'm a self-proclaimed directionally challenged individual, and I normally have a terrible time navigating cities. I can't even list the number of times I got on a bus in the Twin Cities going in the complete opposite direction of where I wanted to go. But despite that - I was actually able to figure out the subway and how to get anywhere in London. It was definitely a highlight of the trip for me - I felt extraordinarily competent (for a change).

Alright, the other installments to my London blogging will be up soon, and they'll have photos and details about what we actually did and saw while we were there.

Slán go fóill.