Breakfast
every morning was provided to us complimentary by the hotel. As with
most hotels in America, it was served as an all you can eat breakfast
buffet. The buffet consisted of scrambled eggs, beans, English
sausages (no idea what was in those bad boys, but it definitely was
not the sausages we are used to in America, so Tiny Tummy steered
clear), bacon, toast, yogurt, cottage cheese with fruit in a syrup
base, croissants, rolls, cereal, hard boiled eggs, and a bowl of
apples and oranges. Often, we had to be at early morning meetings, so
while I'm generally not that hungry at that time in the morning, I
ate at that hour anyway. I knew that with our busy schedules, lunch
wouldn't come until hours later, so I ate a filling breakfast in
preparation. Each morning I had 3 or 4 hard boiled egg whites with an
orange or an apple. I often grabbed an extra apple for a snack later
in the day, and had it when I got hungry either mid-morning, or
mid-afternoon.
Lunch
was a tossup and completely depended on what we had planned each day.
The first few days we had lunch/”linner” at Garfunkel's, a London
chain similar to Charlie Browns in the US. They have burgers, pasta,
pizza, etc. and a salad bar that you can either get as an appetizer
to one of the aforementioned meals, or as an entree. If you couldn't
guess, I got the salad bar as an entree. They bring you a small bowl,
and for 4 pounds you can fill in once, and for 8.50, you can fill it
an unlimited number of times. Because we only had limited time the
first day we went, I only got one bowl, and to be honest, it was sort
of a blessing. I definitely would have thought to do the unlimited,
but to be honest, the single bowl was easily enough. I filled it with
lettuce, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs (ate the whites, tossed the
yolks), ham (if they had turkey I would have opted for it, but they
didn't), corn, beans, cucumbers, etc. While this salad bar was not
anywhere near as extensive as Charlie Brown's, it was a cheap,
healthy lunch that I knew I could count on, and was about 3 minutes
from our hotel. Perhaps my reliance on routine reared its ugly head
here, but this became Tiny Tummy's go-to lunch, and I probably ate
there at least four times throughout the week (I mean, how can you
argue with a cheap, reliable, delicious salad bar?)
My favorite lunch in London definitely came from Borough Market. The market place itself was UNREAL- loaded with yummy sweets, savory goodies, and tons of miscellaneous indulgences- from fudge to gelato to candied nuts to dosas to cheesecake...I may have gained a few pounds simply sampling everything... only kidding. Anyway, I decided to at least try to heir on the healthier side with my lunch, so I went with a veggie burger in a cabbage leaf topped with balsamic marinated onions, hummus, and cabbage slaw in a vinaigrette. It tasted a little too good to be healthy, but it was definitely healthier than the fried falafel, sausages, and potpies that were the alternative. And after sampling just about everything there (who could say no to free turkish marshmallows or homemade gelato), I needed something on the healthier side. Needless to say, delish.
Dinner
was where things generally got ugly. The first night, we had a group
dinner, so I was able to get a nice meal that night, but the rest of
the nights, up until the final night we were there, we went to see
shows each night, so people either got dinner before (hence
“linner”), or skipped it altogether. I can't eat at 5:00 and be
satiated the rest of the night, especially since we often hit the
pubs/clubs after the shows each night, so dinner was often a Quest
Bar at the intermission of each show (2 some nights if “linner”
was earlier). Not the most nutritious, wholesome dinner, per say, but
better than fish and chips or bar food that I would have had to turn
to otherwise, so I was glad I brought a ton of Quest Bars with me.
After
that group dinner the first night, my second favorite dinner that we
had was the night we went for sashimi. For an impromptu lady's night
out, a few of the girls and I decided to check out London's local
conveyer belt sushi chain- Yo Sushi. I can't say that the quality of
fish is any fresher that the fish in The Big Apple (I'm going based
solely on the one place I tried in London, so don't hold me to that),
but the experience of the conveyer belt was quite exciting. We each
got our own plates off the conveyer belt (and ordered what wasn't
there) and then split a yummy chocolate mousse for dessert. For my
dinner, I ordered the salmon and tuna mixed sashimi, and after
watching this delicious-looking squid salad pass me on the conveyer
belt time and time again, I decided it was calling my name, and got
one of those also. I have to say, I am glad I answered that call
because the squid salad which was DELISH! (As of course was our yummy
chocolate mousse with the exception of some strange sugary filling
that I did not care for).
On
the more indulgent end of things, for our last night in London, we
had a group outing to a local Indian restaurant. For a nation that is
known for its Indian food, the dinner was beyond underwhelming, but I
haven't had real Indian food in ages, so I indulged a little,
nonetheless. The appetizer plate we were given consisted of onion
pakora, masala dosa, meat samosas, a small salad, and chicken curry
of sorts. I ate the chicken, and the filling of the dosa along with
the salad, and left the rest. The main course was a fish curry,
chicken and spinach, a vegetable stir fry of sorts, lamb curry, rice,
and naan/onion paratha. I admit, I had some paratha which was only OK
(but good for someone who hasn't had it in ages), and I tried some of
each of the curry dishes. The fish curry was probably my fav, and I
skipped the rice altogether. For dessert they offered us almond or
pistachio ice cream. I got the almond, but tasted a bite of each
one... I preferred the almond one which had little slivers of almonds
in it, and was actually ridiculously creamy. Needless to say, we all
left there absolutely stuffed. Tiny Tummy was not rockin' a
tiny tummy that night, that's for sure!
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