Princess Louise 208-209 High Holborn WC1V 7BW Tel: 020 7405 8816
Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, April 29th
The Damage: £5?
The Victims: Aunt Ursula, Uncle George
I don't often write about pubs. But I have to mention the Princess Louise in Holborn. This is truly a lovely, lovely pub. If your family appreciates good tilework and molding like mine does, well, you'll love it forever.
A few days earlier, I had contacted Stonch, over at Stonch's Beer Blog, and asked him for some pub recommendations for me and my aunt and uncle--some places that they would talk about for days and months afterwards. He gave me three: The Princess Louise, Ye Olde Mitre, and The Lamb on Lamb's Conduit Street. I had hoped we'd make it to all three, but we were so worn out by our trips to Salisbury, Bath, and Greenwich, that The Princess Louise was all we got to. That's okay though, as it was a hugely successful visit and Aunt Ursula and Uncle George haven't stopped talking about the beer (Samuel Smith's) and the woodwork since.
Pump Room Stall Street Bath BA1 1LZ Tel: 01225 444477
Date of Last Visit: Sunday, April 27th
The Victims: Aunt Ursula & Uncle George
The Damage: £25 or thereabouts
The Background: Our feet HURT. I knew the Roman baths were big, but I had no idea HOW big. We've been in the baths in Bath ALL DAY. I am tired. Weary. And in need of some tea and cake.
We wander all around Bath in search of tea and cake and end up back where we started, at the baths. The Pump Room is attached to the Roman baths and we settle in for some tea.
Service is swift and efficient (they are closing in 45 minutes) and my carrot cake is really and truly lovely. It's got an orange twist to it which is unexpected and delicious.
Uncle George gets the trio of pastries and we are jealous momentarily until once again distracted by how wonderful the carrot cake is.
All throughout, there's a live orchestra playing. It is all so very peaceful and mellow.
We leave refreshed, but we are happy to never see another Corinthian column again as long as we all shall live.
The Verdict: The Pump Room in Bath is excellent for a place that could easily be a tourist trap.
Can you tell I've been on holiday? Yes, I did a little bit of reading. The Man Who Ate the World by Jay Rayner was the last of the stack...I read it on the Eurostar to and from Paris, which I thought was very apropos.
I really enjoyed this. Immensely. I sorta want to read it again. I was so engrossed in this that two different Eurostar staff members stopped me to ask what I was reading. (Love Eurostar Leisure Select.)
Rayner has a fantastic ability to use the richest, fattest, most lovely words in describing dining and restaurants and food. And he's funny. I laughed out loud when I got to the Tokyo chapter and he talks about trying to find a restaurant..."It looks like the kind of place where a woman with too many cats might lead a life of quiet desperation." (For the record, I am allergic to cats.) I loved that he flew all the way to Geneva to find the white wine vinegar his mother-in-law favors, only to fnd that Genf is closed down for a bank holiday. What I want to do now is re-read and see if I can rank the restaurants by Jay's loveliness of experience. He spends a lot of money on a lot of food in The Man Who Ate the World, but the funny (but perhaps not surprising) part is that he doesn't always get bang for his buck. You, however, will not have that problem if you head out and buy this now. It's really very very good.
So now, some questions: Has anyone successfully posted photo from the Sony w960i to Typepad by e-mailing the photo from the phone? When I try to do it, it comes out gibberish. Does anyone know how to categorize posts from the Sony w960i to Typepad via the phone/e-mail?
It's not that I didn't like this book. I did. Nigel has a fantastic memory and a wonderous way of connecting food to childhood events. But he sure likes to talk about--for lack of a better term--ding dongs. That was sorta weird. But I get it now.
This was a quick and easy read. It's a lot of short vingettes that you can (for the most part) easily connect with because of the universal nature of growing up and alternatively loving and hating your parents and siblings and schoolmates. And ding dongs, apparently.
The Damage: £4.50 for two cups of tea and a slice of cake.
The Background: I am having a day of me. I haven't done much. Went to the gym. Went to John Lewis. Popped into Postcard Teas.
I heard about Postcard Teas from a very knowledgeable guy on Chowhound. He spends most weekend afternoons here, and I can see why. I was more than a little stressed on Friday, but once I walked into Postcard Teas, I got that feeling I get (maybe you know it) when I pass through security into duty free in Heathrow. I call that the "oasis of calm" That's how I felt at Postcard Teas.
I have a slice of chocolate cake, which is made by somebody's daughter. I ask the proprietor to pick me out two very different teas, and I spend a nice hour chatting with strangers and generally unplugging from the world. (Now on the downside, I really don't know what type of tea I had first. My second tea was a Golden Assam, I believe.)
The Verdict: Please go here. At £1.50 a cup, I have to wonder how they're making their money. (Although I saw more then a few customers come in to order tea in large quantities.) I want them to survive.
Don't forget to vote...Who was the best guest blogger while I was away last week? Was it Douglas from Intoxicating Prose with his review of Galvin at Windows? Or was it Bombay Beauty with his review of Italian Giusto? Or Jon from Oishii Oishii with his review of Japanese restaurant Matsuri? Use the cool little voting widget from Poll Daddy
The Background: A long time ago, I was in either Virgin Music or HMV...one of the ones by Piccadilly. I picked up a random CD by a random band called Cut Copy. I vaguely rememnber that there was a note on the CD saying that some band I liked (whose name escapes me) liked Cut Copy. So I bought the CD. And I fell in love.
Apparently, all of Australia is in love with Cut Copy too because at the Scala on April 23rd, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an Aussie. (Dead cat swinging? Where did this come from?) And the next day, my colleague Andrew--an Aussie living and working in Chicago--noticed my Cut Copy Twitter and commented on his excessive jealousy. Cut Copy rocked the house, and the Scala is a good place to see a show. (Loved the sound-proof bar overlooking the floor.)
Anyhow, before any house-rocking got started, Ben and I had dinner at London Szechuan/Sichuan Snazz. Now I should mention that Ben is married, and in a three day period, I had dinner alone with two married men. (My friend Jason was in town from Swaziland on Friday and we had some nasal-passage-clearing wasabi rolls and assorted sushi at Life on Old Street on Friday night.) Man, I get around.
The Food: I like the food at Snazz. We had the ma po tofu, which was probably my favorite dish. And some green beans, which were nice and crispy with a little fire to them. And then some kung pao chicken, which was great as well. Very peanut-y, which I liked.
The Funny Bit: I ordered some tap water. Our server told me that she wasn't allowed to bring me tap water. I could only have bottled water. Now firstly, I think this is illegal. Secondly, she failed to realize that we were sitting right by the men's room, where there was lots and lots of tap water. Ben made about five trips to the men's room to fill up our beer glasses during the course of our meal. It was fantastically funny. To me, anyhow. Serves them right. Not allowed to serve tap water...give me a break!
Also, Snazz is up the road from a what might appear to be a tanning parlour. But it's so not a tanning parlour.
As always, I wonder why it is I do the things I do. One morning, I woke up and thought, "I'd really like some Linzertorte." Who thinks these things? Me, apparently.
So off I went, in the rain, in search of Linzertorte. Kipferl, London's only Austrian delicatessen, was happy to oblige. £22 later, I started off for work, Austrian cake in tow. In the rain. But I possess a very very large umbrella.
The Linzertorte disappeared immediately. Before I could even help myself to a second slice. Or take a picture. It's the type of cake that's good for breakfast. And good with coffee. It has a little jam in it. This particular specimen was a little burnt around the edges, but no one seemed to mind very much.
On the downside, the store was very very warm. And it's not overly large.
![[web]Seitler Design](http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u259/webseitler_design/webseitlerdesign_button.jpg)
Princess Louise
Recent Comments