Fruit, Bagels and Cheese for breakfast again, I think tomorrow I will pay
Anyway, it was pissing it down today, so I rushed over to the Citimall and ambled around a bit, the library was quite big and seemed well stocked. However most things didn't open until ten, so there wasn't a lot to do. Thence to Covent Garden, where I was like a drowned rat when I arrived, had a cup of coffee and tried to start drying out, then walked round the market looking in detail at what was available, a lot of interesting and nice stuff, if I was able to cook I could have purchased a lot of very nice things, I was tempted to some Borek, but the portions were huge!
After a couple of hours I went into "Waldo's on King" for lunch, on the table were balsamic vinegar and olive oil in which to dip the simply divine filo breadsticks, I have never had them so light and moreish, a Martini to drink that was very pleasant then Crab, Scallop, and Prawn bisque, normally I don't like the taste of dill, other aniseeds I don't mind, but I have always found dill to taste mediciney, however this bisque was simply divine the dill enhanced the flavours wonderfully. Then Perch in a butter sauce with mangetout and mixed basmati and wild rice, sadly the front of my t-shirt now has butter all over it, again it was perfectly cooked, however I didn't overly care for the fish itself. No pudding! Best meal foodwise since I got over here, highly recommended if anyone is ever in London.
As I was sauntering around I looked at the menu of a place called "Only on King" which looks very nice, so I will try to go there this evening, although I don't know if I will get in.
Anyway ambled around London a little more looking for a bookshop or computer games shop, found a role playing games shop where the chap was extremely disinterested in customer service, I was going to purchase a couple of magazines, haven't seen the Dragon for ages, but he put me off. Was back in the Citimall again when the rain started to fall seriously heavily again, strangely for Canada there is no coffee shop there, so I ordered a little Arbies which was very nice for fast food, and a mountain dew, the first one on this trip.
Then walked back to the hotel for a little afternoon nap
OK so I ended up going to "The Only on King" at least partially because I liked the name (for the same reason I may end up going to "Bite Me" in Toronto), although I now discover that it was the sixth best new restaurant in Canada in 2008.
Something that has occurred to me though, Canadians do seem to eat quite early, I arrived at the restaurant at about seven and it was almost full, a few people came in after me but not many, I quite like that as an idea, when I go out in the UK it seems that people don't start eating until eight at the earliest, and this means that I don't get to bed until very late, whereas this way I actually get back to bed at a reasonable hour.
They do a "Tasting Menu" that isn't really a tasting menu, but four courses, Appetiser, Salad, Fish, and Meat for a set price, however they will not tell you what is on the menu until it arrives! I ordered that along with the accompanying wines. Then came the bread, it was very bad indeed and I began to fear for the meal.
Then came the first of the courses roast fennel and "new season" asparagus soup with creme fraiche, it was very nice, not quite up to the bisque earlier today, but very nice. It was served with a very nice white wine (whilst I remember all of the wines were Canadian :-) ). Then the salad, crispy pork jowl (Which was like a deep fried bacon, but cut a little thicker than bacon), with white and green asparagus, some baby fern (whos name I have forgotten, but it was good) and a poached egg, with a vinaigrette, which was very very nice indeed. The wine that accompanied it was called Noble something and was slightly petillante but smelt of paint which put me off.
Next up a rose wine, and to accompany it, two scallops, one very nice prawn, on spinach and a carrot curry sauce, I think the carrot only really added a little sweetness to the curry sauce. I was a little concerned about this, as quite often when people attempt a cuisine not their own they fail miserably, however in this case it was very nice, I even enjoyed the spinach! Next up the meat course, crispy skinned chicken thigh, on three oxtail ravoili with wild mushrooms in a redwine jus, seriously very very nice.
Didn't have a dessert or coffee, as to be honest I didn't have room, however I am very glad that I did drag myself out as it was a very nice meal.
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