London

Retrospective entry:

London: July 2012, Summer

It’s finally summer, the only time when students are truly allowed to relax and not have exams to worry about. I was extremely pleased to have my mum come ever to me and we went on to travel for a bit in the UK. Our first stop was London. It was a trip to re-ignite the nostalgic memories for my mum as she used to be a Londoner. Other than a few trips down memory lane I insisted to bring my mum to Cote Brasserie, where I have had impressive baguettes before, although that was at a different branch. Lunch turned out fairly good but the baguette wasn’t as good as the ones I remember, with bits of tough crusts. That said, at the price of about 15 quid for a two course meal it was well worth it in our opinion.

 

Calamari Rings

  

Some sort of paté but I can't remember it anymore

  

Pan fried salmon with ?hollandaise

 

                                         Minute steak with herb butter                              

         

Since we were only in London for two days with almost a full day spent visiting my mum’s former accommodation and her alma mater I chose to bring her to Ladurée in Covent Garden to treat her to some good patisseries. Guess what I ordered?

A macaron for you if you’d guessed, macarons!

We went for pistachio and rose flavoured macarons and my mum liked it a lot. Money certainly is most well spent when it makes your loved one happy.                     

                                                                                                                            

I also ordered a strawberry mille feuille which was delicious, despite the fact that the puff pastry was a tiny bit on the overbaked side.

The third item, a Mont Blanc also hit the right note with my mum.  

And we saw a random statue who was somehow finding his own foot particularly fascinating.

One thing that I was really impressed though was the superbly friendly service. That was
unexpected due to various stereotypes. Firstly, it was a French establishment. Secondly, the waiters who served us were French speaking nationals. Do you see the recurring ‘French’ theme here? I know what you’re thinking now but I’m very sure I’m not the only one who has had bad experience or at least heard of something similar in Parisian cafes.

We also managed to squeeze in some time at the Borough Food Market. The selection of fresh produce at the market was simply breathtaking. I was particularly impressed by the selection of seafood and mushrooms!                                                                                                                 

                                                     Seafood selection

                                                         Mushroom selection

Having read about a restaurant called Roast in the Borough Market we decided to give it go. The prizes were certainly on the expensive side but it was an enjoyable experience nevertheless.

                                                                          Roast

                                                                  Roast pork loin

All in all it was a pleasant late evening tea experience and we rounded off the day with a stroll around Covent Garden when we spotted this:

London certainly was special but we were even more excited about our next destination, Inverness. The capital the of the Scottish Highlands.