This weekend we went to London, always a source of joy, drunkenness and financial ruin.
We got great value from our Oyster cards, screamed ourselves hoarse at the rugby and resisted the urge to cram the contents of every shop in Central London into the Mini.
We also caught up with my beloved friend Kurt when we lunched at one of celebrity chef Yottam Ottolenghi's chichi restaurants in Islington (Susan, are you jealous?) And it was beyond DIVINE. Here's the Animator's lunch of char-grilled salmon with celeriac, capers and tarragon remoulade, with a salad of roasted aubergine with tahini, yoghurt sauce, chilli, basil and almonds, and another of mixed green beans, quinoa, pomegranate seeds, tarragon red basil and chard. Oh and mounds of roasted potato with smoked paprika, chilli, rosemary and garlic. I would have photographed my plate but by the time I remembered I needed a snap, it had already been severely dealt to.
On the way back, we got caught up in the mother of all marches. Figures suggest around 250,000 trudged through the streets of Central London to protest against the government's programme of cuts to public services, universities, schools and charities (don't they have anything better to do on a sunny Saturday?) But v. exciting to see riot police tackle the violent core, to be in the trenches, as it were. I felt very Christiane Amanpour for about as long as it took to realise that having my features rearranged with a baton probably wasn't a good idea.
After an earlier start on Sunday than we planned (thanks to the beginning of daylight savings) we headed to that glorious temple of overindulgence and posh Chelsea matrons, Fortnum & Mason, where we stocked up on enough coffee to open our own cafe - and a ludriciously overpriced hamper (that I LOVE). This gorgeous tree was in a hidden courtyard just off the tourist nightmare that is Picadilly.
Lovely, lovely London..I love your dirt and chaos, your sparkle and your grunge. I have to say though, I love Bristol a tiny bit more and it was good to finally get 'home' about 9.00pm last night.
PS. One complaint: on the drive back the only radio station we could get was sodding BBC Radio One. Please, please make the men talking bollocks about music stop. Here's an idea: maybe play some music instead.
So jealous of the restaurant visit. I bought his cookbook and have made a couple of delicious things already. Inspiration for vegetarians.
ReplyDeleteyou must go - i will come with you!
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