English Breakfast - The Organic Way

When visiting a country I always make an effort to try some local food. Although one can find excellent representatives of almost any cuisine in London, I do not have a very good opinion on typical British cuisine.


When someone mentions English cuisine I think of fish and chips, jacket potato and English breakfast. I am sure there are other dishes I have not tried yet, but I have to leave something for my next visit.

During my last visit I followed a tip from a friend living in London and was pleasantly surprised. We visited Surrey Docks City Farm and tasted some delicious stuff.


First I have to point out this is an organic farm and yes, it is in situated near the city center, by the river Thames. For me it was a surprise to find a real farm with pigs, cows, ducks, goats, sheep and who knows what else so close to central London.

It was quite a contrast looking at all those animals, smelling the air full of various odours you would expect to find on a farm and seeing London city skyscrapers on the other bank of the river rising high in the air.


Everything we tried was delicious and was obviously made from organic ingredients. I have had English breakfasts before, but was not impressed. At Surrey Docks City Farm it was delicious, the portions were quite generous and prices were really affordable.
I had fresh mint tea, others had some coffee and everything was delicious. I saw some maps of Italy hanging on the walls, so I suspect there might be some kind of connection between the good food, proper coffee and Italy.

Read more...

Wordless Wednesday: A pint at Queens head pub

Read more...

World Cuisine in London

Like most large cities (at least in Europe), London offers a great diversity of food from all around the world. One of the reasons is definitely a mix of people from all over the world living there.

There are some parts of London that look like they belong to other countries. People dress according to their traditions back home. Also restaurants reflect this - in China Town you can obviously find all kinds of restaurants from the Far East.
In some other parts of the city a different pattern is easily noticed. Half of the world's countries can have their food embassies (i.e. restaurants) lined-up side by side in a single street.


In my opinion traditional English cuisine is not really something to brag about - at least compared to some other European alternatives. Nonetheless (or maybe exactly because of it) some of the best representatives of world's cuisines can be found in London.
It is not always easy to pick out the really good ones, but it is worth giving it a try. I asked for some local advice and got a chance to taste some great stuff.

All you can eat Chinese places in London China town are not really all that special. I tried my luck with one of them and I can't say anything good about the experience.
On the other hand I got a recommendation for a sushi place in the same street which turned out to be really great. It is a simple Japanese restaurant with genuine and tasty food that comes in generous portions and is reasonably priced. For two persons I suggest you try a "Bento box" (sushi selection) and continue with a main dish each. You can expect to pay between £15 and £20 for the whole deal.
The place is called Misato and you can find it on 11 Wardour Street. I suggest you avoid lunch time hours as it can get quite busy.

Apart from that I even found a place where they serve really good traditional English breakfast, but that is a whole different story. For more information on that you will just have to wait for one of my next posts.

Read more...