A whirlwind tour through Milton Keynes and London

Obviously, in a week's time, I ate a lot of food, but I'll spare you the low- and medium-lights and just hit the highlights and the curiosities.

The first part of my trip was business, which took me to Milton Keynes, which is essentially a far-outlying suburb of London. It's got a huge mall and lots of chain restaurants; I think you know the type. Though the town actually consists of several smaller villages, some of which (unlike Milton Keynes--not to be confused with John Maynard Keynes) are quite old and cute. Contrary to popular belief, it's quite easy to be a vegetarian in England--even if you're in a traditional pub.

Anyhoo, like a good tourist, I mainly stuck to the chain restaurants around my hotel. Though I generally eschew what I like to call high-concept chains, I was delighted to find a restaurant called dim t, which specializes in dim sum. And has an extensive vegetarian selection. Yes, please. I ate there three times. This, my friends is what I had for dessert: chocolate won tons. They were as tasty as they appear--filled with chocolate and just a hint of liquer.

After bidding my co-workers "cheers" for the week, I headed into London. On a tip from one of my co-workers, I headed to Borough Market. I wasn't expecting to be astounded by the enormity of the market and the selection of both prepared and unprepared foods. It hurt me that I had nowhere to cook and no way to escape with some of the most amazing produce, cheese, breads, and seasonings I've ever seen. A few images for you:




After roaming around, a trail of slobber following behind my open and hungry mouth, I finally settled on a cute little stand offering handmade veggie burgers. They had three to choose from that all sounded wonderful, but I settled one comprised of a combination of grains, shredded carrots and halloumi cheese. There were six or seven side salads you could choose to stuff in your container (have one, have all; they were incredulous that I only selected two). One was a chickpea salad; another was a barley salad with herbs. I took my box and found a spot on the (crowded) grounds of the Southwark Cathedral. Everything was delicious. I could hardly be bothered to people-watch because I was so mesmerized by this delicious food. For a variety of reasons (including a much more organic food supply), the food in England just tastes so much better. Brighter. Every bite does a little dance on your tongue. I miss that already.

I spent the rest of my day hoofing around the south bank of the Thames, past Big Ben (and Parliament), through St. James's Park, Green Park and back to Kensington. So by the evening, I was ready to relax and hang out with my friend, Jenn who's living and working in the area until next year. This little guy, called the Pigalle Passion (named for the club where it was purchased), really helped me finish the day the right way.

The next day--my last full day in the UK--Jenn steered me toward a few of her favorite places. There was a Paul nearby my hotel--her boyfriend is French and so it is one of their favorite places to have breakfast/brunch/lunch/anything. I chose a sandwich, Six Cereals with Goats' Cheese. It was excellent and like so much of the food there, bursting with flavor.

We proceeded to work off our Paul calories by visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum just down the street. I have no shame in saying we spent way too much time in the jewelry and clothing exhibitions. I think there were some paintings and sculptures in the musuem somewhere...

Next up, Jenn told me I just had to see Harrods. With the dollar in the, um, "w.c.", I knew I couldn't afford anything, but heck, why not check it out?

The place was jam-packed, mostly with tourists. You could hardly walk, particularly in the food hall, so we decided to escape to the fourth floor's Georgian Restaurant for afternoon tea with sandwiches.

I won't tell you what I paid for this meal, but I will tell you it was worth every pence. Jenn was kind enough to trade off my salmon and turkey sandwiches so that I could have an extra cucumber sandwich (much more delicious than it sounds) and egg salad sandwich (rivals Destin's Donut Hole for best egg salad). The third sandwich was cheese with pickle. Again, not "a" pickle, but "pickle." It was likely the Harrod's brand, but the most popular in the UK is Branston pickle. I have been informed that some pickle is on its way to me. I can't wait. I had no interest in the marmite (wretched smell), but I did very much love that cheese and pickle sandwich.

I also quite enjoyed the wonderful loose leaf jasmine tea I had with my lunch. Despite my manner of dress, I felt quite posh.

After tea, we did a little sightseeing around Piccadilly Circus as well as a quite a bit of shopping. Though very little buying. But all that walking around made us hungry for dinner. Jenn had a favorite spot not far from my hotel, Cous Cous Darna, a lovely little Moroccan place on a quiet street in South Kensington. We started with some mint tea and triangles stuffed with herbs and goat cheese. I'm accustomed to having this as tiropita--with feta, so the taste of the goat cheese was different...and better. Perhaps I'll try this at home with that leftover phyllo that's been taunting me from the freezer...

For dinner, we shared a tagine of eggplant, zucchini, peas, and beans with apricots and plums. The sweetness of the fruit in this dish made it absolutely sublime. We ate it with a bit of cous cous that came adorned with sultanas, my new favorite raisin that I will have to find a way to procure through the magic of the interwebs.

And of course we had dessert, a plate of delicate Moroccan pastries. Though I do love baklava-style pastries, I have to admit that the sesame seed-sprinkled roll filled with fig paste was my favorite. An excellent way to end a wonderful meal that ended my trip on a high note.

As opposed to letting it end on the low note of the meager airplane food and wretched treatment from the American Airlines flight attendant on the way back to the States...

But I digress. London remains one of my very favorite places in the world to eat. Regardless of whether it's at a chain restaurant, street vendor, pub, or Marks & Sparks, I feel like it has some of the very best and most flavorful food available anywhere.