Last March we took a trip to London to visit one of our friends (Mollie!!!) who is living and going to school in London. We had a great trip filled with lots of memories, many of which involved food as we were very excited to try some of the traditional London fare. Having only a short time in London to do and see as much as we wanted, we knew we would be tight on time so in our busy days we really only ate one large meal each day.
Our first full day in London had been jam packed with sightseeing and walking. We got an early start that day and had not stopped. It was mid afternoon when it started to get cold and rainy. I know, it is hard to believe that in London of all places it would be raining...but it happened! We had spent the day walking along the Thames river. When the rain started we were cold and hungry so we stopped at a pub that had a view of the river. Being the stupid Americans that we are, we found a small table in the busy pub and sat around waiting for a server to come over and take our order. After about 10 minutes with our stomachs growling and mouths parched we discovered that WE infact had to go up to the bar to order. Oh the life of luxury we live here in America. Once we got the ordering situation straighted out we had a lovely, filling, comfort meal.
To start we ordered some beer (of course) that was a little warmer for out liking but it still hit the spot.
One of us was a little excited and thirsty and drank half of the beer before the picture was taken. This person shall remain nameless...We both decided that we wanted to try some traditional food so we decided on:
Meat pie with mashed potatoes and veggies
and of course fish and chips:
The meat pie was amazing! It was in a puff pastry crust with a perfect balance of delicious meat filling. It was so warming and comforting and because we had walked for hours and hours and climbed the 600 stairs to the top of St Pauls it was pretty guiltless. The fish and chips were exactly what we expected. The fish tasted fresh and had a nice crisp batter. The fries were general steak fries but the tarter was good and we even tried them with some vinegar.
Our friend Mollie really wanted to give us the "London experience" so she was dying to take us to her favourite (hey we were in London we will use the correct spelling) fish and chips place in the theatre district. We arrived after a nice stroll and came upon a very small hole in the wall type place and boy was it packed! A lot of people go to get take out (wrapped in newspaper of course) but one of the women who worked there showed us to the downstairs level where there were more tables so we could sit down and enjoy. The downstairs level was still small and had awesome pictures of sharks all over the walls.
The fish and chips were very good and we were both glad we got to experience the traditional fare, however fish and chips twice in a week was enough to hold us over for the next year, if not more!!
On the last sightseeing day of our trip we grabbed a quick bite that was probably our favourite thing we ate while on vacation. Sadly we did not get a picture. We were in a hurry to fit in quite a few museums that day so we got off the tube at Victoria Station and decided to stop at a little stand to get breakfast. This delicious mystery that we will forever remember was a hollowed out croissant filled with a tomato chutney, bacon and melted brie cheese. Again, due to all the walking this was guiltless and so delicious!!!
We had an amazing trip in London!! We were able to see and do so much in the city and some of the best parts of the trip included trying delicious foods!!!
What a lovely stroll down memory lane! It was fun to relive some of the culinary highlights of your visit to London. The meat pie looks so tempting. It had to be incredibly delicious. And, and the fish and chips look like a classic taste of England.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!