Summer Trip, First Leg London: 10 Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  June 24, 2013]

I set out on a nice trip this week, ten years ago.  The plan was to spend a couple of days in London, then head up to Edinburgh for business reasons.  From there to Spain, for leisure.

Traveling with me, Alfred Döblin's Tales of a Long Night--the least of his novels perhaps, but still absorbing.

The day flight to London landed in time for pre-dinner drinks at The Coach & Horses in Soho and The King's Head-- in Chinatown, but really right across the street.  I had a late reservation at The Ivy, about five minutes walk down the Charing Cross Road.

For once, my diary mentions a dish of which I have no recollection.  I started, it seems, with duck eggs en cocotte, and I wonder exactly how they were prepared.  Next, a typical Ivy dish--the everyday upgraded: boiled beef and carrots with a side of bubble and squeak (for the uninitiated, a hash of cabbage and potatoes, named for the sound it makes in the frying pan).

That was a truly local main dish, and I followed it with cheeses from the Isles, Cashel Blue and Ardrahan.  A bottle of Nuits-St-Georges to help me sleep.

After attending to business, the next evening's festivities began at the French House.  Then dinner--business again--at the restaurant in my hotel, The Howard.  The restaurant was (and is) called Jaan, and boasts a kind of French-fusion cuisine.

I started safely with imported jamón de Jabugo, that rich, papery Spanish ham.  Then more duck eggs, this time with summer truffles. Lamb with sweetbreads up next, then cheeses, and American Chardonnay and Pinot to accompany the meal.

I took some time off next day for Pissarro's atmospheric London paintings at the National Gallery.  I headed for The Square in Mayfair for dinner.  A Michelin two star, it had been strongly recommended to me. Chef Philip Howard had made his reputation there over the preceding ten years.

I found it good, but it didn't stand out from other meals eaten on the trip:

Croustillante of rabbit, snails, mushrooms, garlic and parsley

Tournedos "Rossini"

Cheeses

1993 Chambertin, Bual

Next morning, headed for Scotland.