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My husband and I are planning a trip to London in the summer, and I've definitely bookmarked this thread as part of my prep  Neither of us has ever been to the UK.I did have one specific question: are there any particular pubs or restaurants that you'd recommend for getting really good hard ciders and/or ginger beer (either the alcoholic or non-alcoholic variety). We've tried the majority of the brands that get imported into the US. It doesn't have to be an in-house brew, though that would be even better, just places that have really good brands on tap. He likes some of the sweeter ciders, but I prefer dry. We can get Strongbow (my personal favorite), Blackthorn, and Magner's (which I know is made in Ireland  ), and there are lots of really good American brands popping up, but I've always heard that there's a lot more to be had in England. I think there's only one ginger beer from the UK available here, Idris, which neither of us really liked, but I'd be interested to try other brands and in-house brews.
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Feb 2, 2012 01:10
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Oh, I was never under the impression that those were truly excellent ciders, they're just the only ones we can get here in the States. Strongbow isn't my favorite cider overall, just the one I like best of the UK brands. I can definitely believe that it's in the same class as Bud. We get a couple of pear ciders here too, but I'm not too into those. There are some really classy ciders made here, but we're just really not a hard cider culture in the US. Hardly any places have them in bottles, let alone on tap. I don't know why, but cider has been largely ignored in the big microbrew and homebrew trend. There are bars here that have a hundred beers, and not a single cider. therattle, I saw that page, but I don't really trust wikis for food and drink recommendations - I've been led astray a few times. If actual Londoners agree with the listings there, though, I'll definitely take that list under advisement. I looked at the Crabbie's website, I guess it's sold pretty commonly? Good to know we won't have to hunt for it, if they carry it at Tesco. But wow is their site obnoxious. Neris, I actually like a lot of the cloudy ciders I've tried, so I'll look into that as well. There's a really good scrumpy available here called JK's, but it's mostly sold at barbecue joints for some reason. Thanks for the tips, I'm really looking forward to exploring the food and drink scene in London. We're trying hard not to be too annoying and touristy - we live near Washington, DC and we know how much of a pain in the rear end tourists can be - and we're planning on leaving before the crowd for the Olympics shows up. I do want to see the dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park though 
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Feb 2, 2012 18:40
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Well, London goons, I'm in the middle of booking a short-term studio apartment in Shepherds Bush for the end of June/early July. Hopefully we'll be well clear of your fair city before the Olympics crap gets in full swing. Since I'm obsessive about travel plans, I'll probably comb through this thread and find something near every one of our destinations. Which my husband will promptly ignore and steer us toward whatever eatery smells the best from the outside 
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Mar 16, 2012 13:49
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The_Doctor posted:I think I speak for most Londoners when I say we are already suffering from Olympics Fatigue. Roll on September... When I saw that some of the hotels and such were offering "special rates for the Olympics!!!!" I got a little panicky, but we're leaving ten days before the events start, so hopefully we'll miss the absolute worst of it. I want absolutely nothing to do with that insanity. Why do they host the Olympics in major cities? The 1920 and 1980 winter games were held in a town called Lake Placid, NY and it only inconvenienced a couple thousand people, rather than millions. (My grandfather grew up in the next town and got to play in the Olympic arenas as a kid )We'll be down the block from Goldhawk Road Station. The rates for the studio are pretty good, less than I've paid for hotel rooms on the majority of my vacations. Hopefully that's not because it's in a lovely neighborhood, I just don't know enough about the city to gauge that. Then again, I get the impression nowhere in London is as bad as, say, Atlanta or some of the seedier parts of DC, which I've successfully navigated without getting raped or murdered, so I'm not that concerned. Anyplace right by there that I should definitely try, or do I need to go further afield to sample awesome restaurants?
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Mar 16, 2012 16:27
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Paragon8 posted:It's one stop from Hammersmith which has good links to almost everywhere. It might even be walkable to Hammersmith. There's a really good and reasonably cheap Persian restaurant in Hammersmith called Mahdi. Go for the mixed grill. I definitely plan to go all over, I was just curious if there was anything close. It's always nice to have something right by where you're staying for that first night when you've been traveling all day and you're beat. There probably aren't very many cuisines in London that I can't get in my area, we're fairly cosmopolitan in that regard here (fantastic Lebanese and Vietnamese in walking distance, Thai a short way further, tons of Salvadorean and Peruvian, etc.). So I'm not really expecting to try anything new, per se. Just hoping to come back with happy stories about the food instead of "ugh we went to this one place and it was awful" when there's clearly good eating available. I'm definitely interested in the tapas place Owithey mentioned. Tapas around here is one of the few things that's a bit hit or miss. A fair number of the places charge as much for a small plate as you'd pay for an entree next door, and the food is boring. We're debating renting a car for at least part of the time, since we plan to do the geeky tourist thing and head out to Stonehenge and Savernake Forest, but all of our travel within London is going to be by foot or public transit. I'm looking forward to a subway system that actually works - DC's big claim to fame is "Less rats than New York!" My husband wants to rent a Mini
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Mar 20, 2012 21:57
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I promise you, the worst subway line in London is better than the best one here. DC Metro is notoriously one of the least useful subway systems in the world. I didn't expect to spend much time at Stonehenge, but I do want to see Savernake. I'm kind of a nut for old forests. Plus there are some old historic cemeteries around that I'm curious about, so we'll have plenty to do to make a full day of it. There was never any intention of driving in the city, believe me. The car would just be for the trip out of the city - I can't for the life of me find any public transportation that makes sense for that trip. He only wants to get a Mini because he has one at home and is a little bit of a fanboy. He spent years driving on the other side of the road in Japan, so he'll probably be doing the majority of the driving, and that means he gets to pick the car even if I think it's silly. It's a little sad that you can't get close to the henge anymore - when my grandparents went you could still go up and touch it. Makes sense from a conservation standpoint. Oh well, I'll have to be satisfied with my experience at Foamhenge.
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Mar 21, 2012 01:29
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Okay, so we're leaving on the 28th and I'm doing my obsessive pre-prep. I'm building a custom Google map of all the stuff we plan to visit with blue markers and all the restaurants you guys have mentioned with red markers. I have something plotted out relatively close to almost every attraction, but there are a couple of gaps. I hope nobody minds me asking about these specific neighborhoods? I don't have anything mapped within 1.5 miles of Westminster Abbey - I'm not sure if we're going to go, it looks like it will be packed with gawky tourists  The kid in me wants to go to the zoo, but it's not a priority, seeing as we have a pretty good zoo right here at home.The real outliers are Crystal Palace Park and the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and I could probably use another rec or two out near Highgate Cemetery, since we're most likely going to spend a fair amount of time there (we like cool old cemeteries, what can I say?). I do have the Southampton Arms listed there, but they're down as a cider spot - is the food good? We don't mind walking ~a mile for food, and I'm sure we won't need to eat before/after every single stop on our itinerary, but with Captain Spontaneous with me I want to try and build in as many options as possible. Thanks to this thread I have way more eateries marked than attractions...
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Jun 8, 2012 17:57
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Then maybe it would be better to eat lunch on our way out there, spend the afternoon roaming around, grab a few pints of cider, and head back towards the city center for dinner. "Middling Ethiopian" doesn't sound too appealing.
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Jun 8, 2012 18:20
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I used to drink straight vinegar as a kid, so I'm not too concerned about sour ciders. I wish there was a practical way for you and I to do a foreign cider exchange program. The US is full of sweet cider brands (both clear and cloudy), and I don't particularly care for them. The newish Angry Orchard brand is okay, they have an apple ginger hard cider that my husband really likes, but even their most crisp cider is a bit sweet for my tastes. Someone was telling me that the differences in cider culture between the US and the UK had to do with the kinds of apples that can be grown in the two countries. I'm not sure if that's true, but it would make sense from what little I know about apple varieties. I mean, you guys have the Bramley, which I've heard can be delightfully tart, whereas here it's actually pretty difficult to find a good tart apple. Even the Granny Smith, which is held up as an example of a tart apple, is not that tart. I had one this morning and I've had a more sour apple by dropping slices into lemon water to stop them from browning
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Jun 8, 2012 19:39
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I had a cheeseburger and fries tonight at Meat Liquor, it lived up to all expectations. And since I've basically been awake for the last two days, I am rapidly entering a meat coma. Only complaint is that the music was so loud that my ears are ringing, but I guess that's the ambience of the place.
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Jun 29, 2012 20:42
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The_Doctor posted:Were you sitting under the dome? That does weird things acoustically. Yes, in fact. The music was loud even at the bar while we were waiting, but under the dome we could hear the conversation of the table on the other side of the dome as if they were sitting next to us, which made me look over my shoulder a lot. We did Westminster this morning, and had breakfast at the Regency Cafe. Now I'm wondering where I can get back bacon at home, because that was awesome. It was also nice to be able to get a strong cup of tea - in the States the tea tends to be pretty wimpy, and I like mine a bit more robust. My husband and I were part of someone's scavenger hunt today over near the Old Bailey. They had to find tourists from several different nationalities. One of the guys spotted my husband's big camera and they all rushed over to ask what country we were from. They needed proof of nationality in their picture, and for some reason I forgot I had a US passport and Virginia driver's license in my purse. I ended up holding out a pair of $20 bills I had in my wallet, which I guess was good enough for them.
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Jun 30, 2012 20:48
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Well, today we leave - we're sitting in the terminal at Heathrow now. Here are all the places in London we managed to eat: Meat Liquor Princi Byron Wahaca The Real Greek Archduke The Old Brewery (Greenwich) Punjab The cafe in the crypt at St. Martin-in-the-fields Junction Tavern (Kentish Town) There was also a quick breakfast at Willows in Andover and dinner at one of the various Beefeater Grill locations (this one was in Reading). The former was very good and quaint, the latter was not bad for a chain restaurant. Since it was the Fourth of July we had a slice of apple pie for dessert. We tried to go to the Bull and Last after we wrapped up at Highgate but they were having some kind of private function (and were really rude about it, actually...). Yelp led me down the road to the Junction Tavern. It was really good! I had a mushroom soup that really tasted like biting into a grilled mushroom, and an herbed potato cake with broccolini and tomato sauce. We also stopped in for drinks at the Rake and the Southampton Arms. I didn't even bother to learn the brand names of the ciders I drank, because I know I won't be able to get them at home. The one I had at the Rake was their dry selection and it was fantastic. All in all we had a lot of good food. I took pictures of just about everything, and I'm going to do a detailed trip report on my blog when I get home. Thanks for all the recommendations, folks I definitely think the trip was better for having some local advice.
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Jul 8, 2012 13:23
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If any of you Londoners are fans of My Drunk Kitchen, Hannah Hart is in London right now and will be doing some tweetup-type stuff.
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Jul 26, 2012 14:33
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EvilMoJoJoJo posted:Oh, if you got around to posting that round-up of your culinary adventures in London, I'd love to read it It's all over at my blog. Here's a link to just the London entries - I posted them in chronological order, so the oldest one is for the first day of the trip. I make no promises about the quality of my blog writing
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Jul 27, 2012 00:05
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powertoiletduck posted:Byron is the king of mid-tier chain dining. While we're not exactly burger aficionados, my husband and I really like a good hamburger and have tried a wide range. We both thought the burger at Byron was one of the better chain burger-place burgers we've had. There are a lot of American burger chains that I'd place in the same tier as Byron that have much lower quality. The fries were really good, too. The onion rings were ridiculously greasy and under-seasoned, though.
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Oct 30, 2012 01:59
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The_Doctor posted:I feel like we should make an OP with "Coming to London? We recommend these places: Hawksmoor, etc" at this point. I used all the recommendations in this thread to make a custom map for myself before our trip, maybe it would be useful to create a public Google Map that people can access? I found it really helpful to be able to have my phone zero in on where I was and then see what was within easy walking distance of my current location. My map only covers parts of the city where I planned to go, so I don't think it would be as good a resource, but if someone wanted to put the effort into a citywide map...
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Jan 3, 2013 22:28
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