Tarte peche verveine. Sweet pastry verbena panna cotta, roasted peach quarters. £6
Laduree, London ENGLAND
This tart was REALLY pretty and the verbena panna cotta and peaches were pretty tasty! I was expecting a thinner and more flavorful pastry shell though. This pastry was too thick and clunky, and very difficult to cut through. I expected a lot from Laduree, but they really didn’t deliver the goods.
Tower Bridge.
Set menu £8.20
The Stockpot, London ENGLAND
We wanted to try this no frills eatery located across the street from our hotel. The dining room was basic and cozy, and our waiter was very outgoing and confident. The menu was really eclectic and all over the place so it was a bit hard to decide on anything. I’m always wary of restaurants with large menus filled with random items because I feel like they won’t cook any of the dishes REALLY well. In this case of The Stockpot, I was right. All the food we tried was marginal. This soup looked unappetizing and was really bland.
Cuvee Jean Paul house red wine. Half bottle £7.50
At least the wine was really affordable!
Soho Square. This is such a cute park and a perfect location to picnic with friends. We met up with an old SF friend who lives in London now, and along with a group of his friends, partied with too many bottles of champagne at this park. It was a blast from what I can remember, lol!
A BC original, chorizo, mushroom, home-style fried potatoes with peppers and fried eggs. £8.30
The Breakfast Club, London ENGLAND
OK, this was another little surprise and nothing like what I expected for a “hash brown”. It was good though. I think I was expecting for it to be more like an American-style hash with everything mixed together. I didn’t realize that the Spanish chorizo sausages would be separate along with the portobello mushrooms. I thought all the ingredients would be chopped up and cooked together. I will say that I enjoyed the sunny side up eggs; they were nicely cooked. Overall, the dish could have been seasoned better though.
Hahn/Cock statue, 2013, Katherine Fritsch, Trafalgar Square.
Pineapple, mango, orange, guava, passion fruit, kiwi, raspberry, strawberry, mint, grapefruit. £6.80
Laduree, London ENGLAND
This was a pretty fancy bowl of fruit! I was very impressed at how many different fruits they included. I was on vacation so that’s why I could justify spending that much on fruit salad, hehe! 🙂
Covent Garden Market. You can spend plenty of time looking through the shops and searching for food at this popular tourist destination.
Ham and poached egg on a toasted muffin with homemade hollandaise sauce. £7.50
Cote, London ENGLAND
This tasted ok, but it was kinda cold. Cold hollandaise sauce is not appetizing to me especially when it starts congealing, ew! Actually, everything we ordered at Cote was just ok and nothing special. You win some, you lose some I guess…
Bloody mary: Absolut vodka (50ml) with spicy tomato juice and celery. £3.95
Ugh, this tasted gross! It was pretty much just watered down, bland tomato juice. There was absolutely no spice (or alcohol) in there! 😦
Condiments. Brown sauce is completely lost on me, lol!
Rugby (BT Broadband) ad, King’s Cross St. Pancras station. And don’t forget to “MIND THE GAP”! 🙂
With fresh chillies and lime on toasted multigrain bloomer, and chorizo. £9
The Breakfast Club, London ENGLAND
Omg, this is not what we expected! Is this a normal English breakfast dish? We were surprised to be served a couple pieces of toast covered with a huge pile of guacamole topped with a poached egg, lol! We almost burst out laughing when it came to the table because it was so unexpected. It tasted ok enough. The avocado could have been seasoned a bit more though. The chorizo was optional and I’m glad we added it because it made the plate more substantial.
Slow Boy juice: apple, carrot, orange, ginger. £4.10
Orange juice. £3
Mmm, the Slow Boy juice was very tasty as was the orange juice. They juice everything to order so it was nice and fresh!
Chinatown gate. I was surprised that compare to San Francisco, London’s Chinatown was super small! Huh.
Served with hummus and white rice.
Sitges ES
Mmm, I love lamb meatballs. And these were covered in a yummy gravy, score! The meatballs were tender and super flavorful, and the gravy tasted great with the rice and even the hummus.
Church of Sant Bartomeu and Santa Tecla. This is the most prominent building along the Sitges waterfront and I think it’s quite beautiful!
Laduree rose champagne. £12.30
Chablis domaine de Varous 2011, France. £8.50
Laduree, London ENGLAND
I think it’s funny that we didn’t go to Laduree in Paris. The ones in Paris just seemed so touristy and a bit of a turn off. Instead we randomly walked into one in London during a warm afternoon stroll through Covent Garden. The restaurant looked inviting and relaxing with it’s crisp white table cloths and cushy upholstered chairs. So we sat outside to enjoy the sunny weather.
Our visit was peasant enough. The service was friendly but a little erratic and slow at times. The menu did say that the champagne was “Served with salty petits fours”, but we never received any. Lame! So was Laduree worth all the hype? I’d say no.
Laduree menus.
Paella vendor at Covent Garden market.
Two free range eggs, bacon, pork sausage, tomato, mushrooms and toast. £7.50
Cote, London ENGLAND
This was our first breakfast in London this time around and I was not impressed. My eggs were overdone; I asked for over-medium. Is that an American thing and that’s why I can’t get it properly cooked anywhere else? If I knew, I would just order my eggs scrambled or poached. I also haven’t gotten used to English bacon and the weird squishy sausages they have here. I really don’t want to sound like I’m complaining because the food was decent, but after having eaten in Paris for the previous days this was a bit lackluster. 🙂
Wheat toast and butter.
Black Dog Campaign statue, Soho Square. Our hotel was in the West End so it was great to be near this quaint green space.
Served with steamed vegetables.
Sitges ES
Ugh, I can’t remember the name of this restaurant. It was located inland in their downtown area near(ish) the train station. Oh well. The food was pretty good though and the service was excellent. Our waitress was very sweet and helfpful. We sat outside in their back patio area and had a wonderful meal. These baby squid were adorable and tasty too! I would have enjoyed a different side than the steamed veggies though.
Complimentary crostini with roasted peppers and cheese. Luis Canas Crianza 2007, rioja.
Casa Bacardi Sitges. I thought it was weird to have a large Bacardi tasting room/museum in Sitges, but I’m usually clueless about most things. 🙂
Croustillant de pomme au caramel. Feuille de brick, apples, caramel sauce, toasted almonds, powdered sugar. Entree/Plat/Dessert option 28€
L’Epigramme, Paris FR
This was a perfect ending to a perfect meal! It was quite large so I’m glad we only had this one dessert and could share. I enjoyed that the pastry wasn’t overly sweet and that you could wipe up the rich, dark caramel sauce to your liking. The puff pastry was wonderfully thin and crispy and the apple filling was warm and delicious. Thank you L’Epigramme!
The Petit Palais, City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. I loved how they painted (or covered) the ionic columns in different colors. 🙂
Onion confit in cider, tomatoes, ham, anchovies, raw milk gruyere cheese, sunny side up egg, herbes de Provence. Galette made with organic buckwheat from Brittany and local eggs. 12,50€
Breizh Cafe, Paris FR
Wow, this galette had a combination of some of my favorite things! And it just looked SO scrumptious and beautiful. I definitely enjoyed devouring this delicious packet of food. NOMS!
Biere blanche Lancelot. La bout 33 cl 6€
Caramels. Complimentary with check
Jardin du Luxembourg. I really loved the combination of flowers that they used throughout the gardens. They were an eclectic mix of unrelated plant families, but they looked beautifully together in both form and color!
Vittle Monster 