Christmas Dinner

Given all the ads to book your holiday dinner, it seemed the custom to have Christmas dinner "out". So we booked at The Hotel. We'd read good things about it and, located in our neighborhood, we thought we'd give it a try.

The experience was disappointing. While the bar and lounge had a nice atmosphere, it was spoiled by the service. Perhaps they were short-staffed or plagued by second-rate staff for Christmas Day...but given the price for the meal (>£75), 30 minutes between (5!!) courses is too slow.

We may give them a second chance by trying their afternoon tea, but I'm not sure it'll be worth shelling out the money when we could easily find a high-quality place in London or a niche tea house in a nearby Cotswolds village.

As for Christmas dinner, I think next year we'll opt for a home-cooked meal...with family.

Notting Hill Pub

We were itching for "proper" fish-n-chips on a cold night in London. We made our way to Notting Hill and happened upon Portobello Gold.

The shucked oysters were so clean and fresh. The fish-n-chips were made in the traditional style and came with a homemade tartar sauce (with chopped pickles!!) that I ate like coleslaw. And the staff recommendations for the dessert sampler did not disappoint.

While the beer left a little to be desired, this pub (and neighborhood) is ideal for people watching, friendly service and high-quality food. They even have rooms...they advertise their unique fold-away four-post bed!!

Pizza @Harrods

If you're headed to London, the best pizza we've found is @Harrods Pizzeria (ground floor). Their Neopolitan chefs use great dough, homemade tomato sauce, fresh toppings and the best pesto I've ever tasted...all cooked in a wood-fire oven. While you're there, check out the food halls -- my favorite is the tea & sweets hall.

British version of Chipotle

While we were sad not to be able to spend Thanksgiving with family, we thought there was no more American way to celebrate than with some Mexican fare in London. So we hit up Chipotle in Soho. Here's my take.

• Rice: Offer choice of brown & white...I opted for white. Whereas the white rice in the States is long-grain, this was a more hearty and thicker short-grain rice. Still good, but different texture.
• Peppers: I always go for fajita burritos. The peppers were only yellow (vice green in the States) and they were more cooked (less crisp or al dente) than in the States.
• Meat: The seasoning was spot-on with the barbacoa.
• Salsa: Pico de gallo was good but the corn was shoepeg and had less spice.

All told, it was a great substitute for a Thanksgiving feast. And to share it with friends, even better!!

Chillin' in London

We spent the long weekend with friends in London. It was cold: no snow, but the temps barely got above freezing and the wind was brisk. I'll post more about specific dining spots, but here are some highlights from the trip:

• Thursday: Fat Tire bike tour, Thanksgiving dinner @Chipotle, Agatha Christie's Mousetrap on its 58th anniversary show
• Friday: London Eye, Harry Potter matinée at the iMax, food @Borough Market, choral evensong service @St Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern
• Saturday: Shopping @Harrods, afternoon tea @Browns, National Galleries, fish & chips
• Sunday: Spitalfields Market, Platform 9¾

Of course, we shared plenty o' beverage with friends. More to come on the food...

Kim cruising with the "L"

Kim had a shaky driving practice session yesterday around a mostly traffic-free neighborhood: jerky clutch work, peel-outs, a stall-out, some "curb checks". We may have lost another 2mm of tread on the tires ;-) It's a lot to learn both how to drive on the left and a manual at the same time.

So, it was a big leap of faith on her part to drive home through town...and she did GREAT!! Kim was much smoother with the clutch work, had no stalls and handled right-of-way through roundabouts without a hitch.

Special thanks to Tony for giving us the "L" (aka, Learner) magnets for the car.

My favo(u)rite Indian dish...

...so far is Goan from Shezan. It has a creamy orange sauce, not over sweet (which is usually the case with cream-based sauces) and it had a nice spice. Kim liked the Bhuna, but preferred the Goan. The Nan here is the best we've found yet...in town. And the side of pan-fried chopped eggplant (aubergine) in a spiced red sauce was very good.

We got new wheelz!!

We picked up our right-hand drive VW Golf tonight. Don't congratulate us yet...it might be a lemon.

We averted an inauspicious start to car ownership when we found a fill-up station just in time. Honestly, who sells a car with the tank sitting in the red? I'll tell you who: the Car Shop. Some other unfavorable parts of the Car Shop experience:

1. No owner's manual
2. No floor mats
3. Low tread on 2/4 tires (or, rather, tyres...)

While it follows the CarMax model, CarMax it is not... We mostly went this route out of convenience and variety. It wasn't all bad. The two salesmen we had were very helpful: picked us up from and dropped us off at the train station, recommended local pubs and offered travel advice to the Isle of Wight.

Banoffee Pie

This is quickly becoming a UK replacement for crème brûlée...if we see it on the menu (usually at a pub), we'll give it a go. The basics are a cracker/biscuit crust, layer of sliced bananas, topped with a toffee custard. Mmm, good!! I prefer ones prepared with a crunchy graham cracker crust to contrast the soft creamy banana & toffee layers.

Gianni's Lunch Special

We had lunch at a local Italian place called Gianni's. The week-long lunch special is choose any main pasta dish plus salad or garlic bread for £5.95 -- not too bad. I opted for the meaty lasagna & Kim had her staple of pasta carbonara. I usually judge the quality of an Italian place by its lasagna...and this didn't disappoint. It was light on meat and ricotta, but came swimming in a sweet, creamy tomato sauce -- very nice!! While Kim liked her carbonara, it was just too much flavor (perhaps too salty?).

The service was excellent and very friendly. As far as we could tell, all the staff were Italian...they conversed with a few customers entirely in Italian. We will likely go here again to check out the dinner scene and branch out to try some of their specials.