Where to Eat in Toronto

I know.  My life revolves around food.

Juan and Mandy need to get their Dim Sum fix in Toronto before heading back to the Midwest so I'm collecting some recommendations.

AirBnB: Explore Chinatown with a Food Writer
This costs $56/person but maybe we can follow the outline of her tour on our own, divining what stores and restaurants she stops at.  She starts at the Bay Street bus terminal and then walks along Dundas Street towards University Avenue.  It looks like they might stop at Uncle Tetsu's Japanese Cheesecake for egg custard tarts, although their website says they are cheese tarts.  Then as they walk along Dundas Street towards Spadina Avenue, some of the foods they'll try are

"milk tea [maybe at chatime], soya wings and roast duck from a 50-year-old Chinese barbecue shop, some of the best dumplings made by hand, traditional desserts such as creamy egg tarts, and we'll have handmade, hand-stretched noodles... those interested can come on a shopping tour of local herbal & food market to pick up spices, dried noodles."

In Chinatown there is also a Japanese bakery (Tsujiri),  a Poke restaurant (Poke Guys), Kimchi Korea House, Sansotei Ramen shop (with 822 Google reviews), Dim Sum King with and there's a Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot restaurant on Dundas near Huron.  I think it would be worthwhile to walk along Dundas and then up Spadina to the Kensington Market.

If wandering the streets on Google isn't sufficient, there are these lists of the top Dim Sum restaurants:

The Culture Trip: The Best Spots For Dim Sum In Chinatown, Toronto
This review concentrates on Chinatown so we don't have to commute to the suburbs.  The Culture Trip also reviews dim sum in San Gabriel so you can evaluate their reviews.

The Daily Hive: 10 dim sum spots in the GTA worth leaving downtown Toronto for
These are ones in the Markham area which is 45-54 minutes (31 km) north of the AirBnb by car, probably not something we want to do.

The Daily Hive: Toronto Brunch Guide: Where to find the cutest dim sum in Toronto (GTA)
Some of theirs are up north as well and I'd like a place with a 4+ rating in Google.

Yelp: 10 Best Dim Sum Restaurants in Toronto
One never knows what to think of the reviews, especially when one reviewer gives the top dim sum place, Rol San, 3 stars and  Red Lobster 5 stars.

Trip Advisor: Dim Sum in Toronto's Chinatown

Mandy can check out the various dim sum restaurants in Chinatown on Google Maps.  There's sure to be one that is good.  Or maybe you just want a Mongolian Hot Pot.

What to do with Kids in Toronto

Finding playgrounds and places for Louise to walk around would probably work the best.

Scary Mommy has a list of the top 10 things to do in Toronto:

1. Toronto Zoo, which is very big and involves a lot of walking.  Bring a stroller and walking shoes.  It offers a 50% reciprocal program with the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
2. Ontario Science Center.  They offer the reciprocal admissions program with COSI and the Carnegie Science Center so make sure you bring your membership card.
3. High Park, which offers Sakura viewing (2nd week in May), a zoo, a nature center, a children's playground.  It is off West Bloor Street and is near the lake shore so it might be a nice place to visit.
4. Canada's Wonderland (an amusement park for older kids)
5. CN Tower ($34!!).  They have a walk on the edge of it for the foolhardy.
6. Art Gallery of Toronto
7. Waterfront: "now includes beautiful boardwalks and piers where you can not only take in the incredible views, but enjoy gardens, the beach, public art installations, and places to eat."
8. Centreville Theme Park on Centre Island  "a great place to take the smaller kids. It has a lot of rides suitable for younger ages, such as the 1907 antique carousel, mini coasters, teacup-esque rides, mini golf, and paddleboats." ($35.35 for adults).  Might be good when Louise is a little older and maybe goes with her cousins but we can take a ferry to the island and walk around.  Louise might like the boat ride.
9. Hockey Hall of Fame (Maybe for Peter)
10. Kensington Market - vintage boutiques, probably for Scary Mommy...

TripSavvy in Best Things to do with Kids in Toronto offers a few additional suggestions:

1. Royal Ontario Museum ($20 for adults)
2. Riverdale Farm in Cabbagetown in East Toronto.  This is a working farm replicating early 20th century Ontario farm life with horses, cows, chickens, pigs and goats.  And it is FREE!!  This should be at the top of our list.
3. Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

Can I Become a Gin Drinker?

I simply can't get away from England, despite my initial feeling that there wasn't really much to see in London. 

Penny's drink of choice is gin.  Mine is rum or bourbon or tequila, but not gin.  Penny drinks it straight on ice.  I'm looking for interesting cocktails but I always remember The Ghost Map, the book about the London cholera epidemic in 1854 in which Dr. John Snow discovered that the source of the epidemic was drinking water from the Broad Street pump. Dr. Snow drank from that pump but didn't catch cholera because he always added gin to his water.  A good reason for carrying a hip flask of gin with you when you travel.
There's a John Snow pub in Soho near the Broad Street pump.

The Craft Gin Club has an article on the 9 types of gin drinkers so I can know which one to become.  Visit London has an article on the Best Gin Bars in London so I can know where to go.  For instance 214 Bermondsey has a 214 Spritz for 8£ that sound good:  House-made sloe gin & damson gins, Aperol, lemon topped with Prosecco & soda.  The Charlie Chaplin for 8.5£ also sounds like my kind of drink: Sloe gin, Edinburgh Raspberry liqueur, apricot, lime & homemade grenadine.   Or they have Gin & Tonic flights where they give you three mini G&Ts as listed but in an unknown order with a sealed revealing envelope. Try them all and make a guess as to what’s what.  I could go for that if it weren't 18£.  Or I could cop out and order the Lion's Tail: Makers Mark, lime & Allspice Drum.

 “Twisting the lion’s tail” was an American slang expression for provoking the British during the period of American Anglophobia between the World Wars.

I wasn't aware there was anglophobia between the wars but then I wouldn't know, would I?

English Garden Cocktail

Olive Magazine has an article on the Top 15 British Gins so we will know what we can't afford and of course there are the Nicholson's Pubs with their Gin Library.  Olive Magazine also lists the Top 10 gin bars in the UK, 7 of which are in London, including the City of London Distillery that Penny  mentioned where you can make your own gin for a price -- cheaper to buy the ready made.   Olive Magazine also has a recipe for the English Garden Cocktail which we could sip while ambling through Kew Gardens.

According to Wikipedia, gin became popular in England when William of Orange brought it (jenever) over with him from the Dutch Republic when he and his wife Mary occupied the British throne from 1689 to 1702.  When juniper berries weren't available, the distillers would often use turpentine to achieve those woody notes.  In the 18th century there was a softer, sweeter style of gin referred to as Old Tom gin, somewhere between the sweeter malty Dutch jenever and the London dry gin.  Some craft gins are bringing that back (lucky me).   Finally, in Britain's tropical colonies, gin was used to mask the bitterness of quinine, thus giving rise to the gin and tonic,  G&T for short.  I'm becoming curiouser and curiouser about gin.

What should we do in San Francisco?

We can't just visit the old haunts like Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown.  Those sites aren't at all what they used to be and we're always disappointed, plus we aren't children anymore and no longer delight in feeding the pigeons.  I should visit some of the museums I haven't seen.

Asian Art Museum

Asian Art Museum
This art museum is located near the Civic Center in the former San Francisco Main Library and takes  around 35 minutes to get there from the Outer Sunset on the Judah (N) Streetcar.  Admission is $10 for seniors.  Hours are 10 to 5 except on Thursday when it is open until 9 and on Monday when it is closed.  San Francisco Travel mentions a couple of apps for iPhone that will guide you through the museum's collections.

San Francisco Public Library

San Francisco Public Library
When we visit the Asian Art Museum we can go across the street to the new Main Library which was built in the same Beaux Arts style as the old one but is twice as large.  It opened in 1996 and I can't remember if I've been in it but I'm assuming it was open when I attended an ALA convention in San Francisco.  And in case we're worried about the next big earthquake while we are there:

"Its innovative seismic design is engineered to provide resistance to earthquakes up to a magnitude of 8.3. The entire structure rests on 142 base isolators, made with rubber layers laminated between stainless steel and stiffened with an internal lead core to dampen vibrations. In the event of a shock, an 18-inch space around the circumference of the building allows the structure to move independently from the ground."

Whitechapel

Whitechapel
 This bar, located a few blocks north of the Civic Center, specializes in GIN and offers loads of cocktails made with the stuff.  Its food menu is limited but they do offer a cheese plate and a charcuterie board.  We could go there for a snack and a taste of London.  Unfortunately it doesn't open until 5 pm!  What a waste of space during the day.

Ocean Beach
Running along the west coast of San Francisco, we can take the Judah streetcar from our AirBnB in the Outer Sunset and in 10 minutes it should drop us off a couple of blocks from the beach, or we could walk it in about 1/2 hour.  Then we could amble up the coast 1.6 miles to the Cliff House and Sutro Baths and then hike up to Land's End to take a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, unless there is some June Gloom hanging around.  They say fog is common in May, June and July and I remember a lot rolling into Albany on August afternoons.

Golden Gate Park
The AirBnB on 29th Avenue is located about 4 blocks south of Golden Gate Park and we can take the #7 bus that runs on Noriega Street to Lincoln Way and 9th Avenue, right next to the San Francisco Botanical Garden.  We visited it the last time we were there but I'm always up for a garden, plus it's not overly expensive: $8 for adults and free if you belong to the American Horticultural Society or one of the 320 Botanical Gardens in their Reciprocal Admissions Program.  On the other hand, the California Academy of Sciences is overly expensive: $30.95 for seniors and they don't belong to the reciprocal membership program of the Association of Science - Technology Centers.  Neither does the Exploratorium ($24.95 for seniors and closed on Monday).  Too bad San Francisco isn't like Washington DC or London with all their free museums.  Do you remember all the bellowing alligators at Steinhart Aquarium?  Looks like they only have one albino alligator now.

Aquarium of the Bay
Located at Pier 39 near Fisherman's Wharf, the "Bay Ecotarium" costs $21.95 for seniors but is part of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums reciprocal program in case you belong to your local zoo.  (The Pittsburgh Zoo is an outcast and doesn't belong but the National Aviary does and offers a 50% discount.) . Unfortunately the reviews say it is touristy and small and not worth the admission price.  I enjoyed the Monterey Bay Aquarium many years ago for its emphasis on local sea life and was hoping for something similar here.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
I remember visiting SFMOMA when it first opened but haven't been back since.  This summer they have a special exhibition on the Surrealist René Magritte and that might be worth seeing.  The price of general admission plus the René Magritte is $30 for seniors.  If we were under 18 we'd be free...  Or we could invest in the San Francisco CityPass for $89 which includes 1) a 3-Day Cable Car and Muni Bus Passport; 2) California Academy of Sciences; 3) Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise Adventure; 4) Aquarium of the Bay; and 5) Exploratorium OR San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  But I'm not sure I want to be a tourist.

Food in the Dominican Republic

I suppose that most of the food at Iberostar Bávaro won't be Dominican but I want to know what it is so that I can identify it when I see it.

Malta con leche condensada

BuzzFeed has an article on "What to Eat and Drink in the Dominican Republic" that lists 45 dishes and drinks.  In the realm of drinks they mention the local beer, Presidente, which is supposed to be the only beer available at Bávaro Suites, the rums by Brugal and Barceló, and the herbal potion Mamajuana.  Then there is Malta, a sweet malt beverage like Pony Malta, which is mixed with sweetened condensed milk, creating a beverage that rivals the English gypsy tart in sugariness.  Hard on its heels is Merengue Soda, a cream soda from the local Refrescos Country Club beverage company.  A final Dominican drink is Morir Soñando which is orange juice and sweetened evaporated milk, which have to be kept at a low temperature so they don't curdle.

Pastelon de Platano Maduro

Then the savory dishes and you can find recipes for many of these dishes on the website Dominican Cooking.  We might as well start with the starches.

Plantains.  The Dominicans boil and mash up green plantains into a dish called mangú which is served topped with pickled onions alongside fried egg and fried salami for breakfast.  They also fry green plantains into tostones and mash fried plantains with garlic and chicharrones into mofongo, a Puerto Rican dish that has become a Dominican staple.  Finally there is a Pastelón De Platano Maduro which is mashed sweet plantains layered with ground beef and cheese.  I'd like to try that.

Casabe bread

Yuca or Casabe.  Yuca is served stewed or boiled and fried as in Colombia but it is also made into casabe bread, a very typical staple used by the Taino Indians that were native to the Dominican Republic.  Because yuca is more indigenous to the Caribbean than is corn, it was used for making bread instead of corn.  Yuca or plantain and other root vegetables also replace corn masa in the tamal-like Dominican pasteles en hoja, which are wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks.  These are mainly made at Christmas so we might not run across any.  Then there are Bollitos de Yuca (Cheese-Filled Cassava Balls) made with mashed yuca, stuffed with cheese and then fried.

Majarete

Corn is used in a few typically Dominican dishes like majarete, a pudding made from fresh corn, milk and sugar and flavored with cinnamon.  There is also gofio, which is roasted corn meal mixed with sugar and eaten as a snack.  Next there is chenchén, cracked corn pilaf which is the Dominican take on the Haitian Maïs Moulu (corn grits typically served at breakfast with avocado and fish or eggs).  Unlike the Haitian dish, chenchén is dry like pilaf and not to be confused with Maiz Caquiao or Chaca (Cracked Corn Pudding) which is like the Colombian mazamorro.  Chenchén is often served with chivo guisado or habichuelas guisadas.

Moro de habichuelas

Moving on to the next starch: Arroz!  Chofan is the Dominican version of chow fan or Chinese fried rice.  Asopao is a soupy rice dish that can be made with chicken or shrimp.   Locrio is a Dominican paella made with chicken or pork.  Moro de habichuelas is rice with black or red kidney beans (Moros y Cristianos) and Moro de Guandules is rice with pigeon peas.

To see what a Dominican restaurant might serve that is typically "Dominican", look at the menu for El Canuco in Santo Domingo.

Those Tropical Cocktails

Naturally when one goes to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, one needs to take advantage of the free drinks and tropical juices.  I've never been so lucky so I'm going prepared.   Not having much experience with bar drinks, I have a lot to learn and the blog Savored Journeys has a post meant for me:  Best Beach Drinks to Order at All-Inclusive Resorts (with Recipes!).  The recipes are in case the bartender has no idea what drink you are talking about.  Why do I need to create a list?  It's because "Making a list is necessary if you want to try a bunch of different drinks, because most resort bars don’t provide drink menus."   You wouldn't want me to go to Punta Cana and limit myself to Cuba Libres, Piña Coladas, Margaritas and Mojitos would you?

Here are my new favorites:

Hurricane

Hurricane:  2 oz dark rum; 2 oz white rum; 2 oz Lime Juice; 3 oz Passion Fruit Juice; 2 oz Pineapple Juice; 1 oz Orange Juice; 1 Tbsp Grenadine.  With all that rum and fruit juice (especially passion fruit), what's not to love?  Except it doesn't have carbonation.  By the way, passion fruit is called chinola in the Dominican Republic and since they have a local name for passion fruit, it must be grown there and we shouldn't have trouble finding it.  Camila said that the chinola juice in Santo Domingo was wonderful.

Caribbean Rum Punch:  This is a weaker hurricane without the passion fruit juice and more orange and pineapple juice, and so the color is more orange than red:  1/2 oz lime juice; 4 oz orange juice; 4 oz pineapple juice; 1 1/2 oz dark rum; 1 1/2 oz light rum; a little grenadine for color.  It's similar to Planter's Punch, I think.

Lava Flow

Lava Flow:  This is like dessert: 1 oz Light Rum; 1 oz Malibu Coconut Rum; 2 oz Strawberries; 2 oz Pineapple Juice; 2 oz Coconut Cream. Although wouldn't you think this should be brown instead of pink?

Sex on the Beach:  Maybe I'm too old for this one and it doesn't have rum.  1.5 oz peach schnapps; 1.5 oz vodka; 2 oz cranberry juice; 2 oz orange juice; 2 oz pineapple juice.

Bacardí Rum has a more extensive list of rum cocktails, including the following:

Bahama Mama: 1 oz Bacardí 8 Rum; 1 oz Bacardí  Black Rum; .75 oz Kahlua; .75 oz Crème De Cacao Dark; 1 oz coconut milk; .5 oz Maple Syrup. It reminds me of my first cocktail (aside from rum and coke) in Mexico: an Alexander.  Bacardí has other interesting cocktails but for me they are too strong and would require a shot of soda water, like Dragon's Bite, which is just Dragon berry-flavored rum with coconut-flavored rum over ice.

Blue Zombie

Missionary's Downfall: 1 1/2 parts Bacardí Superior Rum; 1/2 part peach schnapps liqueur; 1 part Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice; 2 parts Freshly pressed pineapple juice; 1/2 part Sugar Syrup; 12 fresh mint leaves.  I admit that it's the name that attracted me to this one and also to the next one.

Zombie: 2 oz Bacardí Superior Rum; 1.75 oz Bacardí Gold Rum; 1 oz Triple Sec; 2 parts Orange Juice; 1 oz Lime Juice; 1 oz Simple Syrup; .25 oz Grenadine.  Even more interesting in color is this blue zombie from Modern Tiki which uses white rums and blue curaçao, as well as a Caribbean liqueur  or sugar syrup that I've never heard of called falernum with flavors of almond, ginger, lime, and sometimes vanilla, cloves, and allspice.  Maybe we can pick up a bottle to take home.

And, because we should experience the local Dominican food and drink, we'll have to try Mamajuana, a concoction of rum, red wine, honey and various barks and herbs that is let to sit for a while.  You can buy bottles of herbs and bark and add your own rum, wine and honey; sort of like licor de hierbas except for the wine.  Or you can buy it ready made.  I'd like to try it before I buy it or try to make it.

For those of you who like papaya (called lechosa in the Dominican Republic, there is a Batida de Lechosa (or Lechoza), a papaya milkshake.  Some people add a banana to it and I'm sure you could add a jigger or two of rum as well.  Even if the bars can't make me all the exotic cocktails, I'll be happy enough with jugo de chinola and freshly squeezed orange juice without the alcohol.

A Few More Dining Options in Punta Cana

Iberostar has 3 adjoining hotel complexes in Punta Cana and residents at one can also eat at the restaurants of the other two hotels.  So that increases our dining possibilities.  A helpful Trip Advisor review mentioned that you could only make 3 reservations at a time so you would have to come back the next day to make more.  He mentioned that they really liked the Great Seafood Stew special with Langoustines, mussels, scallops by the beach on Sunday.  Will we make that arriving on Sunday?  In any case, here are the dining options at the two other hotels.

Iberostar Dominicana and Iberostar Punta Cana
There are two buffet options: Higuey in the Dominicana lobby and Hispaniola in the Punta Cana lobby.  Neither require reservations and have the casual/formal dress code: "For gentlemen, shirts with sleeves at breakfast and lunch, Bermuda shorts and shoes or sandals at dinner. Ladies may wear shoes or sandals."  Higuey is open for breakfast 7-10 am; Lunch 12:30-3 pm; dinner 6:30-10 pm just like Los Haitises at Bávaro Suites.

Maria Bonita
This is a Mexican restaurant requiring reservations with 3 seatings for dinner: 6:30, 8:00 and 9:00.  Again there is a Dress Code: Casual/Formal. Gentlemen may wear Bermuda shorts and sandals. Ladies may wear shoes or sandals.

La Cana Steakhouse
On the beach with the same Dress Code and requiring reservations with 3 seatings at 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00.

La Sibila
Classic French gourmet cuisine in the lobby of the Dominicana requiring reservations with 3 seatings at 6:30, 8:00 and 9:30.  The Dress Code is stricter:  "Formal/Elegant. Long pants are required. Jacket and sleeved shirts or polo shirts, dress sandals or shoes for gentlemen. Ladies may [wear] shoes or dress sandals.​"  I'll need to bring a skirt and sandals dressier than the Keens.

La Marimba
Seafood in front of the beach by Punta Cana. 3 seatings requiring reservations: 7:00, 8:15 and 9:30. The dress code is Casual/Formal like Maria Bonita.

La Pagoda
Located in the Punta Cana lobby, La Pagoda offers food from China, Japan and Thailand with 3 seatings requiring reservations: 6:30, 8:00 and 9:30.  Casual/formal dress code.

There is also La Cana which is snacks on the beach requiring reservations and their no reservations Star Rock Café with American classics but we probably aren't interested in those.

Elegant Shoes or Sandals

We have to be ready to make our reservations at the various restaurants at the Iberostar Bávaro Suites in Punta Cana on the first day we arrive.  They say there are six restaurants we can choose from but I count seven on their Dining page.  I think it is because Los Haitieses is the main buffet restaurant that doesn't require reservations; all the other do.  The only restaurant that doesn't allow kids is the French one so Will and Jen can go there one night on their own while we and the kids pig out at Los Haiteses.

Here are the restaurants.

1. La Dorada:  A family style restaurant serving fine Mediterranean dishes, with seafood and shellfish as a specialty.  6:30-9:30 pm
2. Kabuki:   A Japanese restaurant with teppanyaki tables and a sushi bar. 6:30-9:30 pm
3. Jambalaya:  Cajun and Afro-American cooking offered up family style.  6:30-9:30 pm
4. La Coupole: Fine, classic French gourmet cuisine in an intimate setting for adults only.  6:30-9:30 pm
5. Los Bohios: A classic family-style grill that offers a great variety of delicious grilled meats.  7-9:30 pm
6. Los Haitises: As the main restaurant of the hotel you can experience all kinds of global fares in a buffet style. Themed menus from different nationalities are featured each night and you don't need reservations. Breakfast: 7:00 -10:00 am. Lunch: 12:30-3:00 pm. Dinner: 6:30 -10:00 pm.
7. Il Forno: Italian. 6:30-9:30 pm

For all of them there is a dress code: 

"Casual, yet neat attire is requested for ladies and gentlemen, including elegant shoes or sandals. Gentlemen may wear dress Bermuda shorts but only shirts with sleeves will be permitted."

Dress Bermuda shorts?  What does that mean?  Elegant shoes or sandals?  Does that mean I can't wear my Keens?

Here's a YouTube video of the main buffet.  I don't think we will go hungry and I'm not sure we even need to patronize the restaurants that require reservations.  In fact, I think Los Haitises might become Fernando's favorite breakfast buffet.  Needless to say we will have to go on a diet when we return home...

Eating Foreign in London

I know, I know.  I should be concentrating on British food.  But London is closer to Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia than is the U.S., so it is closer to the source for foreign foods.  Here are a few restaurants that I have happened across that look interesting.

Little Georgia
As I was browsing around the Columbia Road Flower Market on Google maps, I ran across this little restaurant that serves food from Georgia (the country, not the state).  They have a location in Hackney (East End) and another larger one in Islington which is about a mile from the British Library.  On the menu is the traditional cheese bread Khachapuri and the meat dumplings Khinkali, as well as roasted red peppers, onions and eggplant.  The chef even has a cookbook called Supra that you can find on Amazon.

Mari Vanna
This is a small Russian restaurant with borsch, herring, pelmeni, stuffed cabbage and all those other typically Russian dishes, plus a few Georgian ones.  The interior is supposed to look like a 19th century Russian dacha but they also have a location in New York City which looks very expensive (herring under a fur coat is $16) and another one in Washington DC (Adjarski Khachapuri for $18).

Brasserie Zédel
In case we want to pretend we are in Paris, this is an underground restaurant in the art-deco style near Piccadilly Circus so much of the attraction is the atmosphere.

Pilpel
Remember the falafels at L'As du Fallafel in Paris?  Pilpel looks very similar and is very popular (4.8 out of 5 on Google) with 6 locations.
Antalya
This Turkish restaurant up near the British Museum has lots of lamb dishes, as well as eggplant.  Most of the reviews are very positive except for a few that are very negative saying the food was bland and overcooked.  Overcooked is ok if it is a lamb shank, just don't order chicken breast.  Because England is so proud of its lamb, middle eastern restaurants should be good here.

Mamie's Crêperie & Cidrothèque
If we want some Breton galettes for a quick lunch we can stop my Mamie's which isn't far from Temple Church and the Royal Opera House.  I don't think we ever got to a crêperie in Paris, did we?

Santa Maria Pizzeria
TimeOut considers their Neapolitan pizza some of the best in London and not too expensive.  They have a location in Fulham but that is west of the apartment, further from downtown London, and I'd prefer going east.  It's like flying to Charlotte to get to LA.

TimeOut's 100 Best Cheap Eats in London
As in the rest of European cities, you find the cheapest food in ethnic restaurants, be they Chinese, Indian, Thai, Mexican or Middle Eastern.  After a few days eating fish and chips, meat pies, and Sunday Roasts, we might be anxious for a shift in cuisine, plus we'll get more British food up in Yorkshire and the Lake District and we wouldn't want to spoil our appetites and jade our tastebuds.

In the end, of course, we'll just pop into a place we run across that looks good and is convenient and has seating for us.

Choosing our Pubs

Penny says we need a battle plan for hitting the pubs as none of the Nicholson's pubs were in Chelsea or Fulham.  I have scoped out some pubs in the area around the apartment and there are a few that might be worth a visit.

Hollywood Arms is a couple of blocks away from the apartment and is part of Young & Co's pubs.  It isn't your typical historic looking pub but the food looks good, including the Sunday Roast.  Young & Co. has other pubs in West London (Chelsea and Fulham) and they all offer Sunday Roast and they all look sparkly clean, more like afternoon tea establishments than bars.  Perhaps they are "gastropubs" instead of the traditional pub.  Another of their pubs that is fairly close by is the King's Arms, located about 4 blocks up Fulham Road.  They believe in "great British food" but most of all they "believe in burgers" (they are a Burger Shack).  What can I say?  That appears to be the most popular pub food these days, although to their credit they do offer a Dorset lamb burger with whipped goats curd, red onion, pickles, shredded lettuce, and fries.

And Penny, Young & Co. also offers a pub app for your phone to help you find their pubs.

Another pub that is around 5 blocks from the apartment is The Sporting Page, a gastropub from the Food and Fuel chain.  Gastropubs seem to specialize in wine and cocktails rather than ale so if we want an historic pub that serves real ale, we might have to go into town as Chelsea doesn't seem to be the best place for cask ales.

Cumberland Curl

For instance, when we go to the Victoria and Albert Museum, we could stop at the Elephant & Castle for lunch, which is a Nicholson's pub specializing in sausages and chops.   Or maybe we'd rather go to the Churchill Arms when we're up at the V & A, except their kitchen specializes in Thai food (who knows, we might be ready for that!).  It's part of the Fuller's pub chain which doesn't have any pubs in Chelsea or Fulham.

If we visit the Smithfield Meat Market we can stop at The Old Red Cow
which is supposed to have a good selection of many types of beer and offers a good Sunday Roast, but you have to make reservations for that (we can do that online so we don't have to worry about language difficulties).   If we go to the British Museum we can stop at The Lamb, which offers Wiltshire lamb rump, broad beans, onions & gravy (18£) for "brunch" (I think that's lunch since they only open the kitchen at noon).

When we go down to Borough Market on the south side of the Thames, we can stop by the historic George Inn, a historic coach inn owned by the National Trust and managed by the Greene King chain of pubs.

We are going to need a little help with our pub trail.  Are we looking for real cask ale? Historic interiors?  Good British food?  Here are a few "best pubs" articles to get us started.  Many of the historic pubs are very small with standing room only so they advise avoiding lunchtime and the post-work rush.  We can select the ones that appear on all the lists and then check their menus.

Cittie of York pub recommended by the Pocket Rough Guide to London.  A Samuel Smith pub.

• The Telegraph:  24 of London's most incredible historic pubs
• The Evening Standard Go London: The Best Pubs in London
• TimeOut: The Best Pubs in London features a wine bar on the first page...
• Fodor's: London's 15 Best Pubs
• Visit London: Best Traditional Pubs in London
• Food and Wine: 19 of London's Best Pubs
• CNN Travel: 10 of London's Oldest, Greatest Pubs

So the question is do we want a real pub, a boozer, or do we want a pub with good food?  And if the latter, does that mean we should stick to gastropubs?

Ales, Beers and Pubs

Before I go to England, I want to review my options in the realm of beer.  I like fizz and I think a lot of British beer is flat and not very strong.

Real Ale

But first we should find out what the difference is between ales, typical beers of Britain and Belgium,  and lagers (also pilsners), the typical clean and crisp beers of the United States and Central Europe.  Lagers are brewed with the yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus which works at colder temperatures than the ale yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  According to the Popular Science article, "What is the difference between a lager and an ale?", the lager yeast S. pastorianus, is a hybrid of S. cerevisiae and S. eubayanus, a wild yeast from Patagonia, and so understandably did not appear in Europe until the 1500s. The low-and-slow fermentation of lagers means that "lagers taste "clean" and lack the fruity esters characteristic of ales." S. pastorianus also cannot survive in a high alcohol environment and so the lagers are lower in alcohol than the ales, although British ales tend to be weaker than the Belgian ones.

According to Wikipedia, "England is known for its top fermented cask beer (also called real ale) which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation."  The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) began in the 1970s as a reaction against the homogenization of beer and its monopoly by big global conglomerates.  To help you find a pub that serves Real Ale, CAMRA has developed What Pub?, an online searchable directory of pubs in Great Britain, featuring 35,904 real ale pubs.  They also have a directory of pubs with historic interiors that you can search at Pub Heritage.

The Blackfriar

Apparently many of the pubs, even if historic, belong to chains like Wetherspoon, Fuller's, Slug and Lettuce, Nicholson's, Samuel Smith, Young & Co., Green King.  Like choosing a wine by its picturesque label, we can choose pubs by their picturesque names:   The Coal Hole (a 'song and supper club' where Gilbert and Sullivan performed regularly), The Blackfriar (a 'specialty sausage and chops house' with a wonderful interior), The Magpie (a specialty pie house), The Mudlark (named for scavengers who made a living in the Thames mud), The Porcupine (another specialty pie house), and The Moon Under Water (named after George Orwell's favorite fictional pub).  Then there are the pubs with "Arms" in their names which may refer to heraldic coats of arms or nearby alms houses, like the Harwood Arms and the Hollywood Arms which are near the apartment.

Nicholson's Ale & Gin Establishments has neighborhood Ale & Gin Trails that you can follow in London and you can also check out their seasonal Ale Library, with ales from various breweries in Ireland, England, and Scotland.  The majority of the spring ales are pale but they have some lovely names like Stiff Upper Lip, Light Brigade, Mad Goose, Fat Sprat, Pigs Ear, Juniper Rising, and Moonstone.  The most alcoholic is Yorkshire Dales Pale Ale at 6.5% so we shouldn't get drunk, just fat.  And if Penny would rather have gin, Nicholson's has a Gin Library too where she can pick out ones that are 'juniper heavy & robust',  'light & citrusy', 'floral & modern', 'sweet & fruity', 'savoury & dry', or 'something a little bit different' like rhubarb gin or sloe and mulberry gin.

I don't see that Nicholson's offers flights of ale or gin that would let you try a variety.  That would be nice.  Some of their pubs are "specialty pie houses" and offer an interesting menu of meat and non-meat pies.  Others are 'specialty sausage and chop houses' where you can get different kinds of sausages and toad in the hole as well as lamb chops.  Nicholson's also has specialty fish houses like the White Swan in Covent Garden that offers a special seafood menu.

Punta Cana

While we are waiting to go to England in September, we booked a week in the Dominican Republic with Will and Jen and the kids at the Iberostar Bávaro suites.  It's all-inclusive so we shouldn't have to worry about a thing except hurricanes and hot weather.  It will be like the Celebrity cruise we took with Juan and Mandy on their honeymoon and hopefully Iberostar will have some good food too, although maybe not filet mignon and crème brulée every night.  However, the drinks are free so maybe that will make up for any failings in the food.

The Iberostar Bávaro is owned by Grupo Iberostar, which in turn is owned by Spanish billionaire Miguel Fluxà Rosselló, the third generation heir to a shoe-making business, headquartered in Mallorca, Spain.  (Camper is one of the shoe lines of the family.)  Since it is Spanish, we should expect some Spanish food, like paella.

Here's a video to introduce you to our all-inclusivity but it will be a lot more crowded than the video shows.  It looks nice and cool from the vantage point of snowy Pittsburgh but I know it will be very hot and humid and we will be thankful for air-conditioning.  I'm just hoping for cloudy days to make the weather more bearable (but does that forecast hurricanes?).  Cancun in August of 1994 was scorching on sunny days.

The kids should like it:  they can choose their own food at the buffet, there is a pirate ship in the kids' pool, and the hotel offers kids programs.  There's a kids club from 10am to 5pm and then from 7pm to 11pm, while the parents go to the casino.  The playroom even contains a foosball table which should keep Papi entertained.

For the adults they have pétanque every day from 10:30 to 11:00, or so they say.  I'd like to check that out.

Bungalows

There are more than 10,000 reviews for Iberostar Bávaro on TripAdvisor and they run the gamut from "wonderful" to "terrible".  The negative reviews complain most about poor service, especially at check-in, and the hard sell to sign up for Iberostar "timeshares".  Others complain about the awful food, cockroaches (it is in the tropics, afterall) and seaweed on the beach (it is on a sea).   The positive reviews rave about the friendly service and the wonderful food.  For the same period of time you will get one reviewer who hated it and another one who loved it, so take your pick.

Junior Suite

TripAdvisor also has more than 10,000 photos but they tend to be surprisingly similar.  Instead of high rise hotels, the Bávaro accommodations are in two-story multi-apartment bungalows.  The Junior Suite that we booked looks quite comfortable with a sitting area and a balcony.  One reviewer said all the rooms were the same and the price depended on location and whether you had an ocean view.  No, they don't have a kitchen but with all the meals included, who needs to cook?  They do have a minibar that is restocked every day with water, soft drinks and beer, which is good because one review said that the tap water was not "potable".

Below is a map of the properties.  Iberostar has three hotels together and you can go from one to the other and I believe eat at the restaurants on the other properties.  One reviewer preferred to swim at the Dominicana beach because there was less seaweed but liked the Bávaro for snorkeling because it had a reef and more tropical fish to see.  Give me flora and fauna over pristine beaches any day.

Cockles and Mussels Alive Alive Oh

OK, London isn't Dublin but Britain still has a lot of fish and shellfish, being surrounded as it is by water.

Starry Gazie Pie

Most restaurants in London have a fish dish on offer and if you don't know what it is, the Marine Conservation Society has put together a Good Fish Guide.  The Cornwall Good Seafood Guide is especially useful because it illustrates what is in season and it has traditional recipes like Starry Gazie Pie, which is probably an acquired taste and perhaps should be called "Scary Gazie Pie".  It's rather shocking to see those sardines standing straight up and looking you in the eye.  It's also called Stargazy Pie and is a Cornish specialty.  Fortunately we won't be visiting Cornwall.


Cockles and Mussels
Here's a dish I might be more willing to try:  cockle and mussel popcorn.  I ran across mention of it at Fish! in Borough Market where it is "table bait".   The recipes I've run across for it dredge the shelled cockles (which are a type of clam) and mussels in cornflour (I assume that is cornmeal) and deep fry them.  What's not to like?

Whelks, Winkles and Oysters
The Wright Brothers in South Kensington specializes in raw oysters but they also offer a shellfish platter which appears to contain all the shellfish in Britain.  On the left side of the platter are the small clams called cockles.  Below them are the spiral-shaped whelks and then on the right side of the platter are the small black snail-like winkles, also called periwinkles.  The Wright Brothers also offer a fixed price lunch menu of 2 or 3 courses for £17.50 or £19.75, available Monday-Friday from 12-5pm.  It's up near the Victoria and Albert Museum on Old Brompton Road.

Fish and Chips
Fish and chips are a standard menu item in all pubs and many restaurants but I think we should go to an establishment dedicated to the dish.  Maybe someplace like Fish Central, which is an 18 minute walk north of the Museum of London and recommended in the Pocket Rough Guide to London.  There you can get the fish of your choice: cod, haddock, plaice, skate or rock salmon (a type of shark); and you can have it deep fried, grilled or cooked in matzoh meal.  OR you can get Dover sole or Scotch salmon grilled.  OR you can get steak, lamb chops, liver and onion or Cumbrian sausage.  AND you can get chips with that and maybe a tomato and rocket salad.  AND you can get dessert with that although they aren't listed but I bet they have sticky toffee pudding.

Or there's the Golden Union in Soho,  one of TimeOut London's 14 favorite chippies, and this place also serves PIES with chips and gravy!  They offer cod, haddock, plaice, rock salmon but also coley (is that pollack?).  To understand how big a role fish and chips has played in the English diet, you can view this video on The History of Fish & Chips from SeaFishTheAuthority.

Black Roe Whole Lobster Mac n Cheese

Mac and Cheese
In the U.S. you can't escape macaroni and cheese these days, especially on the kids menu.  In London, you'll find it on the menu of American-style steakhouses.  Other London restaurants  doll it up a bit with fish and shellfish.  The Oystermen serves smoked mackerel macaroni cheese as a side (6.50£) ; Claw serves Crab Mac N Cheese (8£); 34 Mayfair serves lobster macaroni with black truffle (34£), and Black Roe Poke Bar & Grill serves Whole Lobster “Mac ‘N’ Cheese” (£38.00).

Eels
And we're back to slithery eels.  Saveur has an article from 2017 "Inside London's Disappearing Eel Shops" which is interesting if you can ignore all the ads on the pages and again informs us that Pie, Mash and Eel Shops are a dying fast food institution, being replaced by hamburger joints.  Only old people eat jellied eels now, although I imagine there would be a new market for them if they were grilled and called unagi.

Puddings

In other words, desserts.

The British have a sweet tooth and so do I -- sort of --, much to Fernando's consternation.

Here's a list of British desserts from Wikipedia.  I need to identify the ones I should definitely search out in London and be aware of in Yorkshire and the Lake District.

Eccles Cake

Eccles Cake
St. John, the head-to-toe dining of Fergus Henderson, offers Eccles Cake and Lancashire Cheese.  According to Wikipedia, Eccles cake is a small, round cake filled with currants and made from flaky pastry with butter, sometimes topped with demerara sugar, from the British town of Eccles.  An alternative name is "Squashed Fly Cake".  Now, is that pronounced eckels or eckless?  And for a bit of poptart humor: British fire brigades have reported fires started by Eccles cakes overcooked in microwave ovens. The sugar contained in the cakes is alleged to be flammable.  You can learn even more about how they are made at Heston vs St. John.

Gypsy Tart

Gypsy Tart
Paul Hollywood (of Great British BakeOff fame) has a recipe for Gypsy Tart on BBC Food.  Made of a filling of evaporated and condensed milk and dark brown sugar in a pastry crust,  it must be awfully sweet and it doesn't seem particularly exciting.  I can't imagine why St. John Smithfield has it on its dessert menu or why Paul Hollywood would bother with it.  Evidently it is a common dessert for school dinners and you can see how to make it on this video from the Kent County Council (it originated in Kent), by a school meals trainer.  And Pinterest has a collection of photos, including one topped by passion fruit from Bubble and Squeak.

Treacle Tart

Treacle Tart
The Wolseley serves a treacle tart at its Afternoon Tea and according to Yelp, it is the best in London.  This tart is as sweet as the gypsy tart, being made with breadcrumbs, golden syrup, and lemon to cut through the sweetness.  Mary Berry (of the Great British BakeOff) has a simple recipe for treacle tart on the BBC Food website.  According to The National Trust Book of Traditional Puddings, treacle (the syrup remaining after sugar refining, i.e. molasses) was used in the beginning and was gradually replaced by the lighter golden syrup.  Oh, and evidently Harry Potter loves treacle tart.  You can make it treacle pudding by leaving out the pie crust.  Lyle's is famous for its golden syrup and treacle and also offers a recipe for Lyle's Lovely Treacle Tart.

Sticky toffee pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding
This appears on almost all London dessert menus. It is a cake made with dates, eggs, sugar, flour and treacle ("treecul"), topped with a toffee sauce (the Brits love their toffee!).  BBC Good Food has a recipe for the Ultimate Sticky Toffee Pudding if you want to try it before we go.  The toffee sauce can be homemade or you can pick up a can of Carnation caramel sauce.  Nigella Lawson has a recipe for it and even a YouTube video to help you.  Gordon Ramsay serves it at his restaurants and Mary Berry bakes it as well.  Pinterest will give you all sorts of versions.

Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie
Ban (from bananas) + offee (from toffee).
Wikipedia says it is an "English dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee (made from boiled condensed milk, or dulce de leche), combined either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter."  Supposedly it was developed "in 1971 by amending an unreliable American recipe for "Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie" with a soft toffee made by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours."  Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie?  Do you think Mother ever ate it in San Francisco?   Carnation will sell you a can of caramel, which apparently is almost the same as dulce de leche.

Bakewell Tart

Bakewell Pudding and Bakewell Tart
According to Wikipedia, "a Bakewell tart is an English confection consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell beneath layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds," while a "Bakewell pudding is an English dessert consisting of a flaky pastry base with a layer of sieved jam and topped with a filling made of egg and almond paste."  They sound the same to me but the community of Bakewell Online says the Bakewell Tart "is not really at all like the Bakewell pudding either in flavour or texture."  I guess we will have to try each to find out.

Rhubarb Crumble

Fruit Crumbles
These are like our fruit crisps and are fruit topped with a streusel mixture of flour, butter and sugar.  According to Wikipedia, "Crumbles became popular in Britain during World War II, when the crumble topping was an economical alternative to pies due to shortages of pastry ingredients as the result of rationing. To further reduce the use of rationed flour, fat and sugar, breadcrumbs or oatmeal could be added to the crumble mix."  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame, has an article on cobblers, crisps and crumbles with recipes.

British Cheese Plate
Fortunately if you don't like cloyingly sweet desserts, there is usually a cheese board selection in the puddings menu, like this one at the Drayton Arms Pub: British cheese plate - Taw Valley Cheddar and Garstang Blue with savoury biscuits, apple and fig chutney, celery and grapes.  The National Café at the National Gallery offers an artisan British cheese plate (Keens Cheddar, Barkham Blue, Tunworth and Berkswell) served with oatcakes and chutney.  The plate usually comes with crackers and chutney.

This 2016 article in the Guardian claims that now British cheesemakers are outperforming the French: "The experts’ guide to a great British cheeseboard".  It mentions several cheese stores in London: Paxton & Whitfield, Neal's Yard Dairy, and La Fromagerie.  So we'll have to explore them.