After the bar exam in July, I headed off to Europe for a three week tour-de-food with a girlfriend. We walked everywhere in Europe, which excused the two-a-day gelatos, nutella-filled croissants for breakfast, pasta for lunch and dinner, double-handed bocadillos, and countless glasses of vino. Our first stop on the “Greatest Hits” tour was London for the Olympics. The weather, as expected, alternated between sunny…
and cloudy…
The first night was spent at the Chase Bank VIP lounge where Morimoto showcased his favorite menu items from his Napa restaurant. We missed seeing the Iron Chef by an hour, but he was definitely there in spirit (see 8 hour-pork belly on steamed bao below).
The second day, we attended the men’s synchro diving springboard event and then spent the rest of our time there wandering around the city.
We stopped at a restaurant along the River Thames for an early dinner and drinks. The whole menu looked good, but I had fish & chips and Pimm’s on the brain. The fish was light and crispy, and even better once I doused it in malt vinegar. The pitcher of Pimm’s was like the British equivalent of sangria, i.e., so tasty that you drink it fast and then fish around for the saturated fruit at the bottom.
We also scoped out the Borough Market, an incredible farmer’s market with goods ranging from freshly brewed coffee, kitchen tools, cheese, cured meat, fresh pastries, and homemade pastas. We ran over here right before our flight left and raced around, scooping up flourless chocolate brownies, cheese samples, hand-sketched kitchen towels, and fudge. Lots of fudge.
Burnt Sugar makes ridiculously luxurious, soft, caramelized fudge in flavors like sea salt caramel, dark chocolate caramel, ginger, chocolate. The funky packaging encapsulates some of most delicious candy I’ve ever had. We bought a bag with the intention of saving it for our flight to Madrid. Never happened. We ate the whole thing in about three minutes. Whoops. Aly and I talked about this fudge for weeks, constantly wishing we had bought (and saved) extra bags.
Brownie winners
Apparently there’s a fierce brownie divide between two vendors. We obviously tried both of them, and the brownies forming the chocolate pyramid took my vote. Rich, not overly sweet, cocoa-y bricks of decadence. The cheese vendors were all adorable and the fact that they offered me free samples of cheese and spoke with British accents really didn’t hurt their cause.
Bacon Sandwich
Save the Foie!
London was one of my favorite cities we visited during the trip. It’s impossible to cover everything in only two days so I will definitely be heading back soon with more time to explore and eat.
-Shari
