TRIP: London Part 3

Yes, I'm long since back and I've even got a bento that I've done queued up. So I quick post on my final days in London. The picture above is from the ancient city of Bath. It's an ancient Roman city that was the site of a restorative mineral spring. (no interesting food pictures)

Went spent a day at Hampton Court Palace. We happened to be watching the series "The Tutors" and it was actually pretty nice to attach a back story to the names that we were reading about on the historical plaques. Granted we had not finished the series so there were a few spoilers. (we were only on King Henry's wife/queen #2)

Anyhow a great find for us was a neat Lebanese restaurant called Mezzet. They had a delicious lunch special where you picked out an appetizer and a main for a very reasonable price. (We got more of course.) Above is the Lentil Soup my wife got.

My appetizer was the Muhamara, a nut puree you eat it much as you would eat hummus. Very rich and filling on it's own. It has a slight sweet taste to it and was a pleasant departure from the usual appetizers I find on middle eastern menus.

I ordered the assorted Kabis Pickle selection. I had to post the picture because the beets (? I presume) were a beautiful florescent pink. Very unusual. I think for a full table side dish of pickles would have been a great accompaniment but I was on my own so I had a lot left over.

My wife got the Chicken Stew in Cocotte. My lamb sandwich picture didn't come out well.

After Hampton Court we went back into the city looking for Indian food. We found Veeraswamy, the oldest Indian Restaurant in the UK (I've also heard oldest in Europe, but no one is substantiating that). The decor was nice, the food was different than we usually see in the states (and other places in London after we tried a couple more) and a little more pricey.  The only picture that came out was this Rogan Josh.

As neat as Veeraswamy was we found our experience at Masala Zone a little more affordable and accessible. We met a waiter there that use to work at Veeraswamy, he explained it's a slightly dressed up business crowd that go to Veeraswamy and the flavors are authentic but cater strictly to traditional indian palate. Of course he said he liked it better at Masala Zone but I appreciated his explanation. We started with some Chicken Samosas

For a second starter we ordered Shikampuri Kebab - minced mutton patties. Very delicious.

Since we were still full from a big breakfast we split the Lamb Thali for a main entree. Delicious. I ended up buying a cookbook written by one of the owners of Masala Zone and tried to do a bento. Stay tuned next week to see why the next bento is called "Easy Win" bento.

We had a fabulous (but rushed) time in London. If I manage it, I did take pictures and notes on the "Kitchen at Hampton's Court" which gave a tour of the Royal Kitchens and what it took to put on a royal banquet back in the days when the modern appliance was "Fire".