London Food: Part 1

So where does one go out to eat when in London? In this two part blog entry, I’ll try to cover some of the interesting places we have been to.

The Exotic and Slightly Bizarre:

Archipelago Restaurant

Want to eat some pretty exotic food, and keep your wallet? Well, don’t go to this place. A cozy muffled explosion of Persian carpets, hanging drapes, and south-east Asian backpacking trip curios bought from flower-power college years long past, they will charge you out the nose to experience their barrage of the senses.

You can enjoy a culinary tour of Africa, but it costs just as much as going there! Ostrich filets, Gnu on a stick, stuffed Crocodile, Zebra slices- you can have your savory safari from the comfort of your stuffed chair all the while having about 7 different Buddha statues staring at you.

Considering you can order anything from Kangaroo to a “Love Bug Special” (pan fried locusts and crickets in garlic), whoever designed the menu liked variety. And mind altering drugs. How much was the food? For wafer sized ostrich cuts with veggies and rice we paid 16 pounds. A simple grilled Chicken, 12 pounds. Whichever you choose (Ostrich or Chicken), that’s still a fowl price.

Historical Haunts:

Crypts- the Down to Earth Dining Option

Ever feel like the restaurant your at is full of dead-beats? How about eating on top of dead beats instead? In the crypts of St Martins in the Fields and St Paul’s Cathedral, you can do just that. While they both offer Café style food, St Paul’s has a full-blown white glove restaurant to add to that extra-special subterranean charm. Eating on the graves of monks and monarchs alike, you can watch England mingle over munchies.

While we haven’t eaten in either place yet, I have wandered down there and it was pretty cool!

Pubs- Where London’s Heart Really Beats, and is Subsequently Clogged

The English Pub is one of the great institutions of English culture, and include some of my favorite places in London. When we went to Horsham to visit Kaela’s relatives, they took us to a cool old pub that was 400 years old. The ceiling was short- making us duck to walk to our seats; the open beams rippled under the weight of the upper floor. In the center of London is “Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese” which is considered the oldest pub in London- having been around since the time of the Great Fire in 1666. Only briefly walking into the pub, it was clear that it definitely matched the picture of a 400 year-old city pub. The wood is now practically black with the accumulation of cigar smoke, and years of candle oils. Smoky paintings frown upon you as you enter over the stepping stone, now worn concave from the millions who have stepped on it.

Since I don’t drink, my favorite part of the pub experience is the food. Sandwiches held together by toothpicks, fish and chips swimming over the side of the plate, and hearty soups that warm any chill. In particular, I love the meat pies: Steak and ale pies, chicken and mushroom pies, Cornish pasties are my top favorites. Piping hot cuts of tender seasoned steak with cooked veggies, wrapped in thin baked pastry. Hunkering down in some low lit booth, thawing from London’s wind next to a fire, and watching the steam rise out of a newly fissured meat pie. . . it doesn’t get any better than that!