18 May 2024
London
From Instagram
What are your plans for London, asked our friend Sue before k and I left town.
‘The plan is to have no plans.’
‘You must have a list of restaurants you want to cover’, said Asma Khan who happened to be in the same flight as us.
‘Nope, I actually don’t.’
I don’t make plans when I travel. Nor lists.
I didn’t visit Buckingham Palace when I was last here. Or Westminster.
I do remember being taken on a walk across the City by Robin Majumdar. Walking down Brick Lane and Soho by myself. Discovering Ben’s Cookies at Oxford St. Going to Canterbury where I was born etc etc
This time we went to @lantanalondon for ‘dinner’ at 4pm after checking into our hotel @seacontainersldn
Our friend Sue @sue_and_nathan told us to go there for the duck.
The duck is not on the menu now.I dodged a bullet as I almost ordered a mock meat burger. Had a fab BBQ brisket mash. The dish seemed quite ‘Parsi.’ It had fried potato of papeta per eedu. And eedu! Fried egg. And crunchy brisket.
K went for an avocado poke bowl. It looked pretty.
My plate went back wiped clean. Hers not. Make what you want of it. I had a machiato & she a cappuccino. The coffees were excellent. As was the service. They are best known for their weekend brunch and you should book then. Place was empty when we went.
We walked past a place called @artyardbankside on the way to Lantana. K checked for dinner options at night and it had a good rating on @tripadvisor
We walked there for dinner at 8pm. It had a warm, understated vibe. We started with slow cooked beef croquet. The filling was brilliant. Juicy, had a bite and the flavours were intricate. K had grilled salmon which smacked of great produce and cheffing skills. It was perfectly seasoned. Texture was buttery.
I went for a 35 day aged rib eye. I asked for medium rare. The steak was good, more medium than rare, but too salty. I pointed this out. It was expensive after all. They changed it immediately. Perfectly seasoned this time. Medium rare. I wiped my plate clean again. Service was nice.
We ate well on day one.
#londonfinelychopped #finelychoppedtravels
[steak, brisket, poke bowl, avocado, coffee, machiato, espresso, London