Bars and Restaurants

Food and drink are part of the culture of each Country. When people speak about Spain, they think of bulls, beach, sun, and…tapas!

To be honest, so far I haven’t enjoyed British food so much. Here there is a great mix of cultures and at the end the most interesting thing is to have the opportunity of trying food from almost every country in the world. It is quite obvious that Indian restaurants are the most popular among them but there are others nationalities with a lot of tradition.

So far I haven’t been to many interesting places at all. It is my fault because London has the widest selection on offer in Europe and I have to try more in the second Half of my first year. But I’m going to list the most interesting ones compared to what you can find in Madrid:

- Bars:

Two fantastic places to visit in my opinion are the “Londsale” (above in the picture) and “Beach Blank Babylon” both in Notting Hill, both are reachable from my apartment on foot. The first one is the typical English bar with very good cocktails, good pop music, modern decoration, friendly atmosphere and nice people. I don’t recommend having dinner here as I think the food is not special at all. The 3B’s is more pretentious and expensive but I have to admit that the cocktails are the best ones that I’ve ever tried. I tried a Whisky Sour there and I’m going to repeat this another day.

I dropped by Eclipse, in South Kensington, one Friday some weeks ago but we spent so little time there and we made the mistake of not trying the famous martini melon, so I have to come back another day.

And walking down Soho I found by chance a nice Lounge Bar: The player. Very recommendable for having a drink or have a light dinner if you are in the City centre.

Why have I mentioned all these places that are very strong on cocktails? It is because we don’t have tradition about cocktails at all. There we like only the “combinados”, mixing only a spirit with a soft drink but in a bigger proportion than here. A “rum with Coke” in Madrid is like a double in London or more.

I would like to mention the lack that I’ve found here concerning wines. As the prices are so high, it is not easy to find good wine on the menu. And if you find them, they are not affordable. I think it is still a question of culture and it is not a priority yet. Here the wine is not served properly, I mean, you can see here a glass of wine completely full whereas in Spain everybody fills only half glass just to taste it each time. It is like in Spain we enjoy the flavours more. Here people speaks only about grape varieties like Shyra, Cabernet Sauvignon…this is ok but of course, Rioja and Ribera del Duero, both use “Tempranillo” as the grape variety and the wine is completely different. And what about the ageing of the wine? Again here it seems that it is not important, actually I almost haven’t found aged wine when it is something basic to assess a wine. So questions that I’ve listened to some waiters like “do you want tempranillo or shyra? for me it doesn’t make sense.
But as always I state, I’m sure that in London you can find at least some places with a great wine culture as here you can find everything, but above I speaking generally.

- Restaurants:

To be honest I’ve gone out relatively often for dinner but not to good places. I feel that my colleagues are not really interested in good food but more in the style or the atmosphere of the places. Instead in Madrid we had the objective of trying a new good restaurant at least once a month. But really good restaurants are not so easy affordable here as in Madrid. So far I can only point out one very good Indian restaurant in Regent Street that is really worth it: Veeraswamy. It is absolutely fantastic; the execution of the dishes was more from perfect. Their flavour led you to India. I enjoyed it a lot.

Near my office, Waterway, along the Canal in Little Venice is quite appealing with a warm atmosphere, more than good food and a wide range of wines. It is a trendy restaurant rather than a place for gourmet people. And during the summer you can take advantage of the terrace outside beside the canal.

Just because it seems like a kind of underground place I found quite interesting a Brazilian restaurant called “Barraco”. I went there with an Italian friend who is an expert in Brazilian stuff and according to his opinion it was like being in Rio! It is in North of London, close to Kilburn Park.

Ah! I mentioned that in my “Dutch night” that I had an appointment for a birthday last Saturday. At the end we went to “La Floridita” with a Cuban flavour in any corner was good enough to take into account for another weekend.

What I would really like is to try a good English restaurant and I hope I’m going to make it soon.

Well, I adore London, but concerning food … I have to recognize that I’ve lost with my move, I’m looking forward to eating Spanish food at Christmas!

From the 28th Floor

I can’t complain at all: Two good girlfriends from Madrid, my already usual Belgium mate of adventures and a bottle of champagne. In front of us the most amusing view of London from a glamorous hotel close to Hyde Park. Thanks Nancy for your recommendation!

Sinterklaas Avond

Yesterday I had a great night that often means a bad following day. Today hasn’t been a very productive day at the office…

The thing is I was practicing a lot of English as firstly we had a workshop out of London, so I had to take a train with my colleagues at 8 in the morning in Paddington station. We were talking almost for 2 hours in the train. When we got our office in Bristol, we had meeting, lunch in the closest pub, call the “black sheet”, very typical, and new meeting. Coming back to London at 5 pm in the evening with new 2 hours to discuss about several subjects: cars, sports, watches, technology such as digital cameras, … yes, all of us were men!. Unfortunately none of us were native English speakers actually we were: 1 Belgium man, 2 French men and me and that’s why although It is true that I spend some hours per day speaking in English, it is not so useful for my English as it could be.

Once I arrived in London, I joined the “Dutch Dinner”, organized by some Dutch colleagues from my office to celebrate Saint Nicholas/Sinterklass that is considered a celebration of joy and happiness. This day is celebrated as the arrival of Sinterklaas Avond or St. Nicholas Eve. All over the world, he is known for kindness and generosity. This time we were 1 Belgium man, 5 Dutch men, 1 French man and me. The conversation was about the “stereotypes” and differences of each Country. For example, how are Spaniards compared to Dutch people? We started to speak about Christmas for example and it was very surprising to me to realize how popular “Los 3 Reyes Magos” are in Holland and Belgium. Yes, the “3 Kings, the 3 Kings” they said very excited!! while they banged their pints on the table, of course!! It could have come from the Spanish presence in those lands some centuries ago? I find out that the most popular Dutch stereotype is that they are supposed to be very stingy and … I came up with the sentence“more singy than Catalonian people?”

After that, we started to speak about whether I was or not the typical Spaniard. The Spanish stereotypes are well known: Bullfighting, Sevillanas, Paella, parties, night life, Sun, and Beach…what a different description compared to my home town! I explained to them that Spain is a big Country with a very interesting and complex culture much more interesting that the typical one that people bear in mind. – We work very hard in Spain, we are not all the time in the street or in the bars drinking wine and “cañas” and having “tapas” - I said

But in the end, apart from the physical aspect, I guess that the life style is very similar over the whole of Europe. It is true that I don’t know why it is easy to recognize a Spaniard in the streets. Why? I’m not sure if it is because there is a “Spanish race” or it is because of our style in terms of clothes, haircut,.. but all my colleagues guessed that at least, concerning my physical aspect, I was the typical Spaniard. How disappointing, I thought I was getting a more international look!

But some differences between different countries in Europe came up during the conversation. For example, it is not usual for Latin people to find many expensive cars parked on the streets as in London. Why? Because in Latin countries, including France, people are more envious and they are sometimes more worried about the success of their neighbours than about themselves. Cars represent status, and people tend to think that if other people have a gorgeous car is not because they deserve it and they have got it with their effort but it is because of other dark reasons. And at the end it result in the fact that if you park a Porsche in Madrid on the street, it is very likely that you will find it scratched. Not in London, in my street it is easy to find even a Ferrari parked.

After dinner we went to a pub in the middle of Soho dedicated to Dutch people, so we could continue celebrating Sinterklaas. I thought that only Spanish people tended to be together abroad but I couldn’t believe how was possible to find so many Dutch people together in London, I don’t exaggerate but I’m sure that there were more than 500 people there singing in Dutch. And myself in the middle, not singing not, only trying following the advice of my colleagues “Listen, listen you have to say: ”kdfjdjfafj (impossible to pronounce)” and I said “ok, I’ll try, I’ll try”… We had a lot of fun, with the appreciated help of one product that comes from their main competitor: The Belgium Beer!

One of the main advantages of living in London is the opportunity to meet people from over the world. I can not imagine a place as international as this. This Saturday the meeting is with South American people. A Peru colleague celebrates her birthday and most of their friends are Latin like me. We will see.

The Tower of London

I got up at 10 am, following a kind of Spanish schedule. Yesterday was a sunny morning, not usual in this month and I decided to take my chance to go to see one of the most famous monuments here, “The Tower of London”. I had been to London only once for one weekend before my move in July. Since then I had kept in my mind the image of the Tower and the Bridge Tower as the most impressive sight of London. I think it is because of my passion for middle ages and because of my short visit too as London has many interesting and impressive places to see. The thing is that I just had time only to see them from Southbank. It was almost 10 years ago. And yesterday I could settle my debt.

The first thing you feel when you go into it is “what a lot of things must have happened here during the last 1000 years!” I was watching TV some weeks ago the film “Elisabeth the Queen” with some scenes when she was put as a prisoner there. I could imagine her being brought to the Tower when I stopped at the Traitors Gate, on the waterfront, having been ferried down the Thames from the courts at Westminster Hall. And due to its legend as a dark place to keep prisoners and because of their executions, is how the Tower became famous. I was lucky to find very soon a “Beefeater” and I joined his group to listen to their explanations. The tour started at the Bloody Tower with the terrible murder of the only 12 years old Edward V and his 10-year-old brother, Richard that were accommodated “for their own safety”. Another famous visitor was Walter Ralegh who spent three separate periods there. He was another of the main roles done in the film.

Already, by myself I entered the Beauchamp Tower where the wealthiest of prisoners were placed. Here you can read some graffiti like a sample of what they had in mind before their more than possible death. More graffiti can be seen at the “Lanthorn Tower”. And at the Wakefield you can have a look at some instrument of torture. You really feel inside of the atmosphere of that time and in the shoes of those people that suffered so much here.

But London Tower that started as a watchtower built by William the Conqueror to keep an eye on the City, and then became also a residential royal palace and the place chosen to keep the Crown Jewels. An impressive exhibition is possible to visit at the Waterrloo Barracks, built to the north of the White Tower during the Duke of Wellington’s term since 1327. Take your time to admire the three largest cut diamonds in the world: “First Star of Africa”, “Second Star of Africa” and the Koh-i-Noor.

In the middle of the complex you can find the most important building, the White Tower, the only one that comes from the Middle Ages. With a Norman style, you can realize how could Royal life be inside those walls in the medieaval ages and after. A fireplace called my attention original from that age. Now the building is used as an armoury and you will feel a little sad if you are Spanish watching the exhibition “The Spanish Army” that shows some of the arms captured during the battle agaisnt the Spanish Armada, the failure attempt to invade England. I really enjoyed watching some arms like the classical “Spanish pica” I could imagine how hard must be at that time to be involved in a battle handling that kind of equipment…

When I got out of the building the sun has been replaced by a big cloud that covered us and the surrounds. I come out and crossed the Tower Bridge. On the other side I could see the imposing presence of the Tower. Even, as Monet said, it turn out more impressive:

“I adore London, it is a mass, an ensemble, and it is so simple. What I like most of all in London is the fog. How could English painters of the nineteenth century have painted its houses brick by brick? Those fellows painted bricks that they didn't see, that they couldn't see... I so love London! But I only like it in the winter... It is the fog that gives it its marvellous breadth. Its regular, massive blocks become grandiose in this mysterious cloak."(Monet, quoted in J. House, ""Monet's London: Artists' Reflections on the Thames" 1859-1914)