London holiday - 26 Nov to 4 Dec 2013

  City of London, England

This short holiday was an introduction to London for our two younger boys.  We planned to take in some London sights and sounds, but invariably we dropped in on some of the good eating places as well.

Bread Street Kitchen

Bread Street Kitchen is located in London's financial district.  Its actual address is 10 Bread Street, hence its name.  The restaurant is part of Gordon Ramsey's Michelin-star studded group. We went there for lunch and it was a very pleasant and leisurely food experience.

This is the cafe at street level. The Kitchen is upstairs.  

The stairs from the cafe to the Kitchen upstairs.

Getting ourselves seated.

As we walk to our table. Notice the New York style loft feel of the Kitchen.

The charming atmosphere is favorite of after work office workers gathering for drinks and dinner.

Cured meats. Parma hams and iberico.

Fried egg sunny side up.

Carpaccio and salads.

Pizza.

Main course - roast beef and based lobster.

Hamburger.

When in England, drink English wine. This nice white was ideal for the food we had.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal  

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park.  It boast of a menu inspired by Britain's gastronomic past, Its menu has "achieved worldwide recogntion from food critics, chefs and customers alike".

Wines and great food!

Heston Blumenthal is of "Fat Duck" fame, a gourmet kitchen with a Michelin star.  In 2005 it was named the Best Restaurant in the World by the highly-respected Restaurant magazine.  The Executive Chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is another renowned chef Ashley Palmer-Watts.

Too tired out from day's events.

Unfortunately for us, by the time we got to Dinner, we were all past our bedtimes, still jet-lagged, and exhausted from our day trip out to the Cotsworth.  The photos tell a story of tired faces from our journeys, somewhat comforted by the interesting and refreshing menu offerings!  We must make go again.

The captain cooking the creme brulee!! A French classic dessert with vanilla bean and caramelized sugar.

Pollen Street Social

This is Michelin-star chef Jason Atherton flagship restaurant in London, which opened in 2011. Previously Atherton was with Gordon Ramsey group of restaurants.  Unlike Bread Street, when we walked into Pollen Street for dinner, it felt like walking into a dark side alley reminiscence of Jack the Ripper's London we see in films.  But that's just my imagination!

Starters to start the experience.

This is just the wooden cover of the menu.

Atherton has also opened a Pollen restaurant in Gardens By The Bay in Singapore.

Locanda Locatelli Restaurant

Locanda Locatelli is an Italian restaurant located in a hotel on Seymour Street.  The restaurant is billed as "The best in Italy in London". This is probably true but then we are spoilt with such great Italian restaurants in Singapore, it hard to beat.  The chef patron Giorgio Locatelli has won Mcihelin star.  He was credited with starting Zefferano which opened in Belgravia. In Singapore we have Zefferano at top floor of the Ocean Financial Center at Collyer Quay.

Interesting pictures hanging in the hotel's restroom.

WW2 inspired drawing.

The Wolseley

This is a historic cafe-restaurant famous for its grand art-deco interior design and presentation. It's near Piccadilly.  We took the tube to the Green Park station. Its short walk from there.  We went there for brunch.  

Their egg benedict is a must-have, and we had it. Delicious!

The Brunch menu served at The Wolseley is considered very earthy breakfast fare in Singapore. One that we can all take to enjoying easily!

Salt Yard

We also dined at a fantastic tapas place called Salt Yard. Its located on Goodge Street, and we got off the train at the station of the same name. Unfortunately, the place was quite crowded and we could not get a good seating so finished all the fabulous tapas without taking any decent photos.

Salt Yard - photo courtesy of Google.

This note is to remind us that we must go again next time we are in London.

Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant

Four Seasons reputably serves the best Chinese-style Cantonese roast duck in London. It has several branches and we visited the Gerrard Street Chinatown branch twice during our stay.

A bit of queue outside the restaurant.

Comfort food in London.

Wong Kei

This is first time, we visited the "new" Wong Kei. Its also in China town but not Gerrard Street.  Very pleasantly surprised by the service...which used to be the rudest restaurant I had ever come across.  Though I had never been shouted at, I had ventured into it many years ago to get the "experience". The new serving staff are much younger and energetic....like a regular Chinese restaurant. The food and prices are reasonable.

Probably due to the menu we ordered, Four Seasons is a bit more expensive and "finer".

The Selfridges' food court 

Selfridges is a famous departmental store on Oxford Street.  I had for brunch my absolute all-time favorite corn beef sandwich there.

Basement Food Court 

Corn Beef and gherkin (pickled cucumber).

Corn beef sandwich

The only other place I have tried, and like corn beef sandwiches is Carnegie Deli on 55th Street & 7th Avenue New York City.  It has a wall full of photos with famous personalities that identifies the deli as New York City's favorite deli.


Some of the places we visited:

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

The Roman baths in Bath

Inside the British Museum

In the Cotsworths

The spot where 3 Church of England (Protestant) clergy men were matyred, on orders from Queen Mary Tudor.

Oxford and our guide.

Admiral Nelson's memorial in St Paul's Cathedral

The Temple Church, consecrated on 10 February 1185.

The Temple is leased to two colleges of lawyers.  The colleges are the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, two of the four London Inns of Court.

The changing of the House Guards at Windsor Castle.

The Queen leaving Windsor Castle.