The Food

Remember my previous comment about Shoestring Travel? This was especially evident at meal-time in London. Have I mentioned that London is a Very Expensive Place? I do believe I have, but it bears repeating under this heading. Luckily breakfast was included in our prize package at our hotel, Rydges Kensington Plaza. A decent, clean, friendly-staffed, smallish hotel with a terrific location right across the road from:

(a) an underground station on 2 lines that took us almost everywhere we needed to go, including Heathrow, without a train change
(b) an internet cafe, one of the few things that wasn't expensive although I didn't visit much because there was too much else to be doing
(c) a small shopping strip which included reasonably-priced (for London) restaurants, fast-food places for when even reasonably-priced was too much, and a Waitroses.

If I lived in London and worked in London places such as Waitroses and Marks and Spencer Simply Food would become my best friends. I would shamelessly shop their ready-prepared meals and high quality fruit and veg and healthier takeaways than previously mentioned fast food joints. This was the way we afforded to eat during our week in London. From memory we had one lunch in town, one pub lunch on our day out of town, and one restaurant dinner. Which pretty much ate up all our food money. Other times Waitroses was our friend.

Oh, and for a special treat there was lunch from Harrod's Food Hall. A scoop of the most delicious salads: one included crabmeat with mango, the other salmon and avocado and crisp green beans. Yum. And for dessert a creme brulee from the patisserie. For the same price as a fast-food cafe lunch. Did I say yum? I'm salivating remembering.

Here's a picture of me in Harrod's Food Hall. Standing by one of the many chocolatiers. Looking like I'm in paradise.


And this is the view from our hotel window, which may lead you to ask "what view?" but I kinda liked this view of the neighbourhood backyards. It's so English without being postcard and it also put me in mind of that scene in The Full Monty (not set in London, but that's by-the-by) where they're streaking through the backyards and over those walls to escape getting nicked. Did anyone else love that movie?