The Thomas Cubitt - Belgravia, London

Shortly after we moved to London Eddie ran into one of his old bosses from NYC while on the Tube. His old boss is English and had moved back to London from NYC and surprisingly happened to live about a block from where we were living at the time. In fact, from the bosses house you could see the building we lived in. What a coincidence! This boss was nice enough to invite Eddie and I over and then out to eat. With his wife and one of his daughters we went to The Thomas Cubitt, a pub near our places that we had never seen or been to. Eddie and I both liked it there so much that we later tried to take my parents there. Unfortunately, we made a mistake of going on a nice summer evening after work when everyone was much more interested in drinking than eating. The sidewalk was completely overrun with people drinking and we realized it was not meant to be the place for our dinner.

We haven't been back since but decided to give it another try with our visiting NJ friends, but this time for lunch on a rainy, cold day (which they all seem to be lately). This time we were able to get in and get what seemed to be the last, lonely table in a place completely packed and buzzing with people. Unfortunately, the table was right by the door so we had to endure the cold every time people came in or out - which over the course of the time we were there seemed like people coming in, realizing there were no tables and then leaving right away. I don't think we saw a single table leave while we were there. So, needless to say, The Thomas Cubitt is a popular place, and rightly so.

The front room is very airy and very smart, not surprising given the neighborhood it is in. They offer a great bar menu for downstairs and a fancier, pricier menu for the dining room upstairs. We can only vouch for the menu and food downstairs, in the bar.

Our choices for lunch:

Me:
Steamed Shetland rope grown mussels, braised leeks, stilton & crusty bread (₤10) - This was a really large portion and I absolutely loved it! The mussels were huge, cleaned very well and covered in leeks. I didn't taste the stilton very much but still loved this dish. The bread was nice and crusty and there were two huge chunks to soak up the sauce. A great value for money!

Eddie:
Vegetarian burger, cheddar, onion marmalade & chips (₤10.50) - this was a very nicely presented veggie burger and Eddie really liked it. He loved the onion marmalade and the bun which was covered in various seeds. The consistency and thickness of the burger was very good and he liked that it didn't fall apart "like some veggie burgers do." He loved the little bucket the chips came in but wished there more!

NJ friends:
Beer battered fish & chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce (₤12.50), Spinach & mushroom tart, lams lettuce salad (₤7) - they both seemed to really like their food, especially the fish & chips. I think the one that ordered the spinach and mushroom tart (from the Something Light section) wished she had ordered more food but they shared for the most part. They both raved over the tartare sauce but weren't sure what was so special about it!


The Thomas Cubitt is a great pub and very popular with locals and workers in the area as evidenced the few times we have been there. I have never been enticed by the menu of the dining room, mainly because the bar menu is always so good and varied. We like taking out of town guests here because of the smart location, smart decor and great food and we will definitely be returning!

Airbourne @ Astoria, London - November 27, 2008

The set list for tonight's show:

Stand Up for Rock 'n' Roll
Hellfire
Fat City
Diamond in the Rough
What's Eatin' You
Girls in Black
Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women
Heartbreaker
Guitar Solo
Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast

Encore:
Runnin' Wild
Blackjack

More to come...

Eating in Austria

Desserts to die for at Demel, Salzburg

Eating in Austria was a very delightful experience, especially due to all the desserts and coffee! I did more research for this trip than for our recent trip to Stockholm, Sweden and it really paid off. Wikipedia had some information about Austrian cuisine but the place I found the most useful information was the Austrian embassy website. There I found information about Austrian specialties and recipes for popular dishes.

Of the Austrian recipes I found, I was interested in trying both Tafelspitz (boiled beef with horseradish sauce) and Frittatensuppe (sliced pancake soup). Tafelspitz had a very prominent place on most menus we saw and I tried it in two different settings: a slightly fancy place (Blaue Gans, Salzburg) and a very traditional restaurant (Ottoburg, Innsbruck). Although the presentation was very different they were both really great. The one at Ottoburg came with more vegetables in the soup and creamed spinach but the differences may just be down to the different regional preparations. Tafelspitz seems like the perfect dish on a cold, snowy Austrian night and it worked well in different kinds of restaurants.

I tried frittatensuppe at a place that I will forever think about and long to be near, Demel in Salzburg (with a location in Vienna as well). We had a late, light lunch followed by coffees and cakes at Demel when we first arrived in Salzburg. The pancake soup was delicious and I was surprised to find that the pancakes kept their shape very nicely in the soup. I think it is due to the fact the pancakes are more like crepes than what American generally think of as pancakes. My favorite part of Demel though was the "chocolate bomb," a rich dome layered with chocolate cake, creme brulee and chocolate mousse, all covered with melted chocolate with some gold leaf on top (see picture above)! This was not a dessert to have everyday but hey, it was my birthday so I decided to indulge! Eddie enjoyed his dessert as well but it didn't have nearly the show stopping quality that mine did! The food and decor (pink boudoir, Agent Provocateur-like) of Demel were great and I would love to be able to stop in for a melange on a regular basis! (I have read that the Vienna branch of Demel can get very crowded with tourists but the Salzburg branch was nice and quiet when we went.)

Austria is of course known for its coffee houses and pastries, two things we really came to appreciate! In the late afternoon we loved going to the Kaffeehaus to enjoy coffee and to sample one of the many desserts that Austria had to offer. We visited fancy Konditorei such as Demel and Cafe Sacher and indulged in rich treats and we also visited very low key cafes for a melange and coffee. In both types of places the atmosphere was always very casual and the food and drinks great. We were unimpressed with the famous Sacher torte and found it to just taste like stale chocolate cake. We were hoping that we were just served a bad piece and would probably give it another try at some point. In Vienna we sampled apfelstrudel at Cafe Diglas and loved the sweet layers of apple and pastry. Eddie's favorite part of Cafe Diglas was the promotional video they played that showcased all their different desserts and how they were made. He sat mesmerized through multiple showings of the short video!

Apfelstrudel at Cafe Diglas, Vienna

Cafe Sacher, Salzburg

However, Eddie's fondest food memory of Austria is surprisingly about pizza! When we walked by Pizza Bizi, near Stephansdom in Vienna, we were stopped in our tracks by the smell and the customers buying up the biggest pizza slices ever. We ate there twice, enjoying the thin crust pizza with lots of cheese and minimal sauce. Eddie has been missing his NY pizza slices for over a year now and Pizza Bizi came very close to filling that gap. We were sad to leave Pizza Bizi behind in Vienna but were overjoyed when we sampled the pizza in Innsbruck at Solo per te. We ordered up our huge slices again (the Austrian slices are seriously close to a quarter of the entire pie!) and stood at the outside tables admiring the Alps. I personally liked the pizza in Innsbruck better because I felt the crust was much crisper but Eddie preferred Pizza Bizi. Either way Eddie was so happy to enjoy all the delicious pizza that Austria had to offer.

Of Austrian food products the cream-filled wafers from Manner in Vienna were love at first bite for the both of us. The hazelnut filled wafers are Manner's specialty but Eddie and I both actually preferred the almond filled wafers. Honestly though we have really loved every flavor we have tried so far. Fortunately, they were very well priced (compared to UK prices) and compact enough to tote many different varieties home to London.


Our trip to Austria turned out to be one of our all time favorites thanks in part to the food. Really, you can't go wrong in a country that loves to linger over coffee and cakes in the middle of any given day. Between a vegetarian and a picky eater we had very little trouble finding any food that worked for the both of us and we are so very glad for that!

Latium - Fitzrovia, London

My birthday present from my Father in Law, FIL, was a dinner out in London during his recent visit. It took me some time to decide on a place to go but I eventually settled on Latium, an Italian restaurant just north of Oxford Circus. The menu online was very appealing to me and it had a number of vegetarian options - plus the restaurant offered a reasonably priced three course menu (₤29.50). I had no knowledge of the restaurant before I set out on all my research but everything I found online praised the food so I figured it was worth a try. It was a great choice and all around everyone enjoyed the experience.

Our choices for the evening:

Me:
crab tortelli with rocket sauce - The tortelli were nicely stuffed with a healthy amount of crab (as opposed to some crab and lots of filler) and I really liked this dish. The rocket in the dish really just consisted of rocket leaves scattered around the plate but I was still really happy with my choice.

artichoke ravioli with prawn - this dish was good but I always walk away from artichoke dishes thinking that they don't live up to a good old plain steamed artichoke with a bowl of melted butter (my favorite)! I just didn't get the flavor of artichokes in the ravioli and unfortunately the prawns were a little overdone.

tiramisu - this dessert was absolutely delicious - nice and creamy and cool! I wasn't too crazy about the coffee sauce it came with but it didn't diminish my joy for it.

Eddie:
pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage - this was Eddie's favorite of his choices. The pumpkin had a nice creamy flavor.

ricotta lemon ravioli - Eddie liked this dish but did call it "ordinary." I, however, thought it was very nicely done and liked how you could really taste the lemon in it.

neopolitan cheesecake - having just bought neopolitan ice cream from the grocery store we foolishly thought the cheesecake would be something in the same vein - tricolored vanilla, chocolate, strawberry. The thought that it would be Naples style cheesecake didn't even cross our minds until it was placed in front of Eddie. He still liked the dessert but was slightly disappointed that it wasn't tricolored...

FIL:
mussel risotto, roast monkfish, tiramisu - this starter and main were my second choices and I have to admit I was jealous of his main! It looked absolutely delicious and my FIL confirmed that it was. I tried a bite of his mussel risotto and that was very good as well. Eddie and I were surprised that he ordered the risotto because my FIL made a strong statement once that risotto was one of the few things he didn't care for. This was after he had eaten a very overcooked, gummy risotto at one of our neighborhood restaurants in NYC . He declared after the risotto at Latium that he had changed his mind about risotto and it was simply that particular restaurants version of it that he didn't care for. We are glad he had a positive experience!

Total for food and drinks: ~₤140

Our experience at Latium was very positive. I agree with everything I read online: the food was very good but the decor is a little uninspiring. The restaurant has a somewhat corporate feel to it and is slightly bland. However, the service and food makes up for all of that. We had excellent service throughout the evening and enjoyed all the little extras they brought to the table: olives, little nibbles (rice balls, ham parcels, etc.) and a bread basket that we couldn't get enough of! We greedily ate through one basket quite quickly and they were more than happy to bring us a second! With three courses each and coffee we walked out of Latium very stuffed!

Eddie and I would not hesitate to return to Latium. The seasonal menus offer quite a variety and the prices are reasonable. The restaurant is also on the quiet side, which is always appealing to us. Another positive is that the restaurant is within easy walking distance of the Oxford Circus tube station.

Elektra - Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London

Annie and I attended our first ever opera on Saturday night at the Royal Opera House. Annie has been asking to go to the opera for quite some time and to keep with the Austrian/German theme of her birthday I had bought tickets for Richard Strauss' opera Elektra. I have always been hesitant to go to the opera for fear that it might be boring but I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised and completely entertained...oh yeah, Annie loved it too!

Revenge was the clear theme of Elektra which is based on a Greek tragedy. The royal family has been torn to pieces as the Queen, Klytaemnestra, has murdered her husband, King Agamemnon, with the help of her lover, Aegisth. The daughter of the King, Elektra, played by Susan Burke, is intent to see the death of her mother. Elektra tries to convince her sister, Chrysothemis, to help in the murder but their brother, Orest, returns from lands afar and performs the murder of his mother and basically the entire household. Elektra is so happy at the death of her mother that she dances herself to death at the end. There was plenty of drama in the one act play (1 hour, 45 minutes) and the singers did an excellent job.

The opera was sung in German but an LCD screen hung from the ceiling providing us non-German speakers with English subtitles. People always say that you can usually understand operas without knowing what is said but we would have been hard pressed to know exactly what was going on without the translations. At first it was a little difficult to follow along with the subtitles while trying to figure out who was singing but eventually you get into a rhythm with it. Annie did make a point that it would be helpful to either speak the language in which they sing or to have seen the opera before as she said she wanted to just close her eyes and listen to the music and singing.

Our seats were in the Upper Amphitheater (aka nose bleed section) but were almost dead center, giving a great view of the stage. They were excellent seats for a reasonable price of ₤27 each.

All in all it turned out to be an entertaining evening and we both really enjoyed our first opera experience. We will definitely be attending the opera again, most likely this summer when the Barber of Seville comes to London.

Innsbruck Hotel - Innsbruck, Austria

Hotel Innsbruck

2 Nights (Thursday, Friday)

Room Type: Deluxe Room

Price: €268 (room, tax and breakfast)

Overall Grade: B


3+

1. Location. The hotel faces the Inn River and the Alps and is right around the corner from the main tourist area. In order to see sites like Stadtturm, Helblinghaus and the Goldenes Dachl, there is no need to even cross any streets.
   
2. Breakfast was included in the room rate and was made up of a good selection of food. We were actually quite surprised at the quality of the breakfast. The only slightly annoying thing was that melanges (my obsession on the trip) were not one of the drink options - to get a melange we would have had to pay extra. Otherwise, there was a large selection of food which was all presented nicely.
3. The room was very large and overall very clean. One whole wall of the room was made up of windows so there was plenty of natural light. There was plenty of storage space and even a nice, big safe built into the closet like at the Hotel Sacher, Salzburg.
   

3-

1. Toilet situation. The toilet of this room was not in the bathroom, but rather, in it's own separate room next to the main bathroom. While we know that this is not uncommon we found it very annoying and very unhygienic! To wash your hands you have to touch multiple door handles and light switches. The other REALLY confusing bit was that the bidet was in the bathroom with the sink and shower - in a completely different room than the toilet! Not exactly sure how helpful a bidet is in that setup...
   
2. When we walked into our room for the first time we were greeted with a clean room that unfortunately smelled like smoke (we are both non-smokers). We were able to air out the room by opening all the windows and blasting the air conditioner but it was still unpleasant.
3. The decor. While there was nothing wrong with the decor it was definitely not to our tastes. The style was very 1980s and looked very much like the few hotels we have stayed at ski towns in Vermont.
   

Mildreds - Soho, London

When Eddie and I first arrived in London last year we purchased a book called Veggie & Organic London as a way to familiarize ourselves with vegetarian eating in London. I had read about Mildreds at the time but somehow just totally forgot about it, until recently. Eddie and I were going to be around Oxford Circus and needed a place to eat and Mildreds happens to be in the area. So, we finally tried it out and we are so very glad we did!

Our choices for the evening:

Me:
pan fried cherry tomato, halloumi and wilted spinach dressed with balsamic (₤5.25) - this was a great way to start our first visit to Mildreds! The thing that surprised me most about this dish was it's size - it was very large for a starter. I almost think it was too much food but I still loved it.

trio of mushroom stroganoff with cheddar mash(₤8) - this was the special main of the evening and I thought it was great. The sauce was very creamy and it had a ton of mushrooms. The cheddar mash was slightly dry but mixing it with the cream sauce helped solve that problem.

Eddie:
yellow lentil soup with coconut milk and homemade bread(₤4.50) - this was the soup of the day and it had a real kick to it that Eddie really liked. You could really taste the coconut milk and the soup had a very nice yellow color. Like me, he also thought the portion was a little large and was full before his main even arrived!

sweet potato, aubergine and carrot burger(₤7.40) - this was the burger of the day and it was very popular in the restaurant. Eddie liked the burger and thought it was way better than the one he usually gets at Eat and Two Veg (said to be "the best mock burger in London" by the book mentioned at the beginning of the post). He loved the consistency of the burger and the "perfectly toasted bun." The only thing he didn't care much for was the basil mayo but fortunately it came in a separate container.

Total for food, drinks and service: ₤36

Mildreds is very casual, has very friendly service, lots of food choices and is great value for money. Mildreds is also very popular! They don't take reservations and I had read online that it can get very crowded. We went around 6:00, when there were only a few other tables occupied. By the time we left the place was completely full.

We were very pleased with Mildreds and can't wait to go back!