royal china club and royal china on baker street

i love royal china and royal china club on baker street in mayfair in london. the food is simply the best chinese food i have ever eaten. 

now, i have lived in some places. new york city, los angeles, tokyo, washington d.c., san francisco. none of the excellent chinese restaurants i tried in any of these places can compare with royal china. the incomparable dim sum. the lobster noodles. and the best thing of all, the crispy duck. plenty of cucumbers, not too many scallions, exactly the right number of pancakes. incredible! fabulous! you are thinking, you go to london in the midst of a culinary renaissance, and eat something ubiquitous like chinese food? yes. i went there twice on this last trip and at least twice on the trip before. yes. because this is extraordinary. and it has the right balance of casual/formal for a hungry group of street-weary travelers. comforting, familiar, tasty beyond compare. 

royal china inspires this kind of ridiculous devotion. my dear friend shirley told me about it. shirley is an excellent cook and really knows her food, and just so happens to be expert on london. thanks shirley!

organic kumquats and reusable shopping bags

so today is earth day here in the u.s. do you have earth day elsewhere? i wonder. anyway, since i am still going on and on about london and waitrose, and it is a day to honor a cleaner earth, i thought i would feature these fabulous reusable grocery bags from waitrose, made of lovely natural burlap or something with a fabulous soft grippable, ergonomic even, handle, for only 99 pence. love them. bought one last year while overloaded with shopping bags on way to hotel hoping to make a more elegant entrance. loved the bag so much and it has held up so well after much uses, this time, had to buy four more. the bright blue are from whole foods, which they gave me for free two years ago and i bought another one to match. add that to my handsome canvas bag from the botanical garden membership drive, and now, i have what amounts to a whole wardrobe of reusable bags.

whole foods gives me 10 cents off per bag that i bring in, whether it is their bag or any other brand. i usually bring 7 even if i don't think i will need so many. as i always without fail buy more than i plan on buying, as i have a weakness for any fresh and delicious looking produce. that is when i remember to bring the bags at all, of course. this earth day is different in that everyone is using reusable grocery bags now. by my rather unscientific survey, i'd say 60% of shoppers are bringing their own bags, last year it was only about 3% i think. that means we are collectively saving tons of landfill and creating less pollution from manufacturing each week. wonderful progress. it is a small thing, but an important thing none the less. oh yes and these organic kumquats are fantastic this week, haven't seen them in ages, tart, sweet, juicy, delicious. highly addictive. 

uk herb and veg

wish list: bags of lovely veg good for soups, stews, roasting, side dishes, and perhaps one part of a mirepoix, fresh and wonderful, bagged and ready to go for a perfectly reasonable price. also gorgeous, lush and lovely, fresh herb pots of all different varieties that will last a good long while, looking quite gorgeous and being quite useful in the kitchen, available in the local grocery. beauty and utility. i heart you waitrose. please come to america. 

streets of london

i love the art galleries on cork street in mayfair. i generally walk in the galleries from one end to the other. the shops of old bond street are nice, and i love marylebone high street, thayer street, moxon street and around there. really nice for a walk. you can stop in and see the wallace collection or pick up a picnic at my favorite waitrose and park yourself on a bench in one of several lovely squares or eat at the incomparable la fromagerie or one of a dozen other charming restaurants or cafes. or take in an antiques fair if you are up to it. or maybe pick up some rather snazzy and stylish socks at paul smith. we had a marvelous time wandering about. and it was so bright and sunny we wished we had worn sunglasses, entirely unexpected.

room service brown's hotel london

i love room service. room service for breakfast. room service for breakfast with a really good cup of tea. not that awful american sort of room service tea that is served in the same pots as coffee and so tastes strongly of old coffee water sort of tea. but proper tea, you know, perfect, delicious tea. we had breakfast in our room often this last trip. and we were well taken care of at brown's. a good bowl of scottish milk porridge, a fruit plate, a bit of pastry (pear/pistachio in this case), some icy cold hildon spring water, fresh squeezed orange juice. and good english tea. eggs once or twice. beautiful linen pillows. simply brilliant.

great day out london

had a really great time in london. lots of amazing art, great food and an all around lively time. especially memorable was a lovely sunny day at kew gardens surrounded by gorgeous shrubberies, blooms, greenhouses and vistas. meanwhile, trying to catch up on a mountain of laundry, bill paying and taxes. more to come.

london

london view april 2009

spring break in london. having a marvelous time. goals are to eat lots of custard, drink lots of tea, see art, shop, go to bookstores, spend more time in marylebone, and take lots and lots of pictures. so far, meeting goals on all fronts. have a great week. xo, g