English Fare...

Fish and chips can die for all I care. Pub food is decent now and then except well--not for a month of living in Oxford (which btw, there are 2 bus services that take you to London every 15 minutes). No notable pictures of "bangers & mash", or fish & chips, of fish/meat pies. Why? b/c why bother--except the fish was HUGE. Okay okay here's the fish and chips from The White Horse tavern on Broad Street in Oxford.

Indian restaurant above High Street by Cornmarket (Cafe Zouk)--pretty food & presentation, sufficiently tasty and distinct from major Indian fare, however the woman/hostess was pushy as ballllls.

Starting counterclockwise from top that's just papadum with various chutney, tomato/herb rice, Shahi Korma (chicken in some kind of cream sauce with ground almond and saffron), and preshawari naan. With a mango lassi :). And my utensils.

Didn't take any pictures of my crazy passion fruit/jasmine smoothie with flecks of something I can't recall, or crab (kwieatow?) pad thai (which isn't the usual pad thai-ness but fresher, a little more delicate, with more variant meatsies!!) @ Busaba Eathai in London (various locations but coworker/travelbuddy/fellowfoodie and I ate at the SoHo location by Store St. and Tottenham Court Rd). They don't have a site or menu. so boo, but it's all pretty "cheap" comparatively speaking--as much as most pub fare if you can believe.

Was wandering around Covent Gardens & Chinatown in London when I came across Abeno Too (on Great Newport St and Charing Cross Rd), and "okonomiyaki". Just fancy pants japanese omelet really, but eggs is never ever a bad thing :)

Some sauces on there which I can't quite determine but the white stuff seems like radish-y possibly mayo, and...won't venture a guess on the other.

And then of course...there's the Samphire & Prawn salad (with sea asparagus) @ the Slug and Lettuce restaurant chain at Oxford, but alas no pics of that. Or the Crayfish salad @ QUOD in the Old Bank Hotel on High Street by Queens Lane. The funny thing is the salads in England are actual salad, possibly frisee or rocket, romaine, actual veggies mind you, and full of meats and other contents instead of a giant plate full of iceberg crap.

What else do I have of London?....hrm....
well, there was the Tate Modern Cafe with at first turn freaked the crap out of me so much that I was visibly disturbed, facially contorted at the diminutive little pot ot deviled crab (think pate with that fatty glaze over too) with toast and somethign else...but MAN that actually was really filling and suck-your-finger-poke-somebody's eye-out surprisingly good :) Shame I can't find a picture. Anyway, for dessert we had Gooseberry Fool (beats me, looks like gelatin, mousse, topped with gooseberries--a little tart really, like a cross of grapes and kiwi).

We stayed in East London when we weren't doing daytrips. Happened indavertenly the best neighborhood (in my opinion) which is Spitalfield, home to the upmarkets, old and new Spitalfield markets I don't really understand the differentiation. Also, there's a stretch of Indian food there on Brick Lane. Nothing extraordinary. BUT, I can't remember the name of the pizza place but it was adjacent to The Spitz and it was open air, bench seating in an "alley" home to other restaurants nad shops--really relaxing.

and of course my faves...the candy. Didn't take many pictures of it, but just like the NYtimes article said, the chocolate quality is starkly different in Europe b/c they use less preservatives and emulsifiers, so even the KitKat was better! Here's where my loyalty lies--with Ferrero :) Kinder, blablabh same people.

This is like the Bueno bars (available in NY at my bodega anyway) except it's white chocolate..and shapped like a hippo :) They're also like 500 calories per piece. It's insane.

oh...and this is a cake store front in Chinatown, London UK. nothign special about it other than that it's Garfield. And colorful. me likes :P