A day out in London
456 wordsLook at me, blogging.
Eurovision is next week, and we needed some foodstuffs from some of the trickier countries, so we took a daytrip to London by train.
It was FA Cup final day, and our train stopped at Wembley, but it was a little early, and few Cardiff or Portsmouth fans were on our train from the North. Marylebone Station, however, was full of crowds and barriers, as the police took special measures to control football hordes.
A bus from Marylebone got us to our first Eastern European food source, Jacob’s on Gloucester Road (it’s at the North end, nearest Hyde Park, if you go looking). It’s an Armenian Deli, and we stopped there for lunch. They have a mouth watering selection of salads and breads, but we elected for hot food (microwaved from the same chiller as the salad, but none the worse for that). Debbie had chicken with celery, and I had Armenian lamb cotlette, both very nice. We came away with a suitable delicacy for Eurovision.
Our next destination was Vardar in Shepherd’s Bush, which again we reached by bus. This tiny shop was a treasure trove, and a helpful Croatian lady supplied us with treats (we hope) from Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Slovenia.
We walked back to Shepherd’s Bush tube station along Uxbridge Road, which has plentiful shops selling food from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. We really only needed Albanian and Azeri goodies, which proved difficult but not impossible.
With our duties done, we got the tube to Embankment for some sightseeing. Debbie had scored some annual passes for Merlin Group tourist attractions, using Tesco loyalty card points, so we had a spin on the London Eye. They call it a ‘flight’. It was entertaining enough, and might have been even better if the weather had been clearer. I don’t think I’d have liked to have paid full price. I certainly wouldn’t have like to have paid the silly prices when it was new.
We walked to Soho, where we found Japanese food served by London Chinese waitresses. A genuine Japanese customer addressed them ’sumimasen’, and was greeted with blank incomprehension. Bento always makes me happy, and my ‘tonkatsu fantasy’ bento was no exception. Debbie had chilli beef ramen, in an attempt to shift her sore throat (it’s not worked).
A poorly planned route to Oxford Circus led us down more of horrible Oxford St. than was necessary, but we made it to Marylebone with plenty of time to spare, and had a comfortable journey home - marred only by the irritating phone calls made by the lady next to me (not Debbie), who saw fit to tell her husband every station the service would be stopping at before reaching Birmingham.
We have so much European food…