Oh, London

All of us have been lingering around the city praying for the return of the ridiculous hot-flash that was last weekend. I further suppose that we were rather disappointed by the pissing down rain, the chilliness and the weak rays of sunshine that rarely bobbed out from below the clouds, like my head from under the blanket on a Sunday morning following a decent weekend. London weather seems more like a dirty tease at the moment, some heavy petting and then a total let down. But fear not. I have found a way to make all of us get over our momentary disappointment and fall right back in love with this gorgeous city, and forget all about it not putting out for once. 

The Museum of London houses the Galleries of Modern London from May 28th until 31st of August with free entry. Absolutely awesome. Starting somewhere in the mid-17th century all bits and bobs bring us up to the present day city we all know and love. If features all sorts of cool interactive technology, for example you can tap on the water-fountain complete with sensors to learn what kind of crap is floating about the sewers. Totally gross, but also great fun. If you live relatively central, you can find your neighbourhood down to the house on an 18th century colour-coded map of wealth and crime distribution. Apparently the part of Camden where I live, which is definitely is not the nicest at this point in history, featured as upper middle class with low levels of crime, while my friend living in Marylbone was semi-middle class. Urbanization bites. For my lovely hood anyway. 

It is a very interactive and personal space. There is fashion, industry, royalty and diversity. One of my favourite parts was an interview montage of what I presumed was to represent the changing attitudes and atmosphere of London. The few sentences from each participant were moving, funny, thoughtful and insightful. The one that had me snickering was one not poignantly relevant to London, but had a more universal appeal. A boy in his late teens-early 20s, from the mid-60s, was having the following (approximate) conversation with the invisible interviewer:

'Do you think girls have to be virgins?'

'Well yea, yea I think so.'

'Why?'

'Well, because then you don't know where they've been.'

'Do you think guys have to be virgins?'

Pause. Sensing a trap maybe?

'Erm, no man, no.'

'Why not?'

'Well that's different, innit, I mean you see it's different. Don't you think? ... It's different, innit?'

You are what you eat

Which normally would mean I bounce between an overzealous and occassionally successful cook and a skint student living on Heinz baked beans, but when the parents come to town it is a whole different matter. This is why I have decided to share here the treasures that we have discovered during a 4-day gastronomic orgy.

Due to my mother's excessive need for shopping our first destination can be found spitting distance from Oxford Circus, just off of Carnaby Street, under 14-16 Fouberts Place (map). Carnaby Burger Co. serves massive and delicious yet healthy burgers and its broccoli and courgette soup had me licking my fingers. Don't recommend however their Welness Salad, which is bland and tastes like a handful of grass (despite the avocado). You went to a place that has the word 'Burger' in it. Eat a burger. Or at least the chicken wings.

To get away from the often unbearable hustle and bustle of the Selfridges' area, we wondered up towards Marylbone and found Seabass on 40 James Street (map). Lovely service, friendly environment (you can see into the kitchen and unlike a lot of places it looks clean and orderly) and the food was great. Simple, but delicious, you can literally hear the waves of the sea in this highly recommended little Mediterranean place!

If you are looking for a great gastro pub after a walk through Regent's Park (granted you are at the Great Portland Street corner) look no further than the Queen's Head and the Artichoke at 30-32 Albany Street (map). Quaint atmosphere and the food, organized in tapas style, is to die for. Soups, meat, and an abundance of small vegetarian dishes is waiting for the tired traveller-walker. Weekend nights I suggest to make reservations. If we are talking about tapas, not the English interpretation of it, but the real deal, well we have found a gem, without a doubt. Under 195 Great Portland Street (map) lies Iberica, a place where you will have earth-shattering gastro-orgasms in your mouth, believe you me. The cheese plate comes from cheese that have their own humidor (!) and the legs of ham hang from the ceiling like morning dew on the grass. They even have their own delicatessen, which can be admired while trying not to 'un-Spanishly' devour my food faster than my wine. Naturally, I can recommend the Serrano Ham and the mixed cheese plate, if you are looking for a well-rounded general experience. The padron peppers (nothing like when I attempt it in the kitchen) are succulent and not overly salty, and the thought of the white bean stew with chorizo and morcilla makes my stomach growl. They have a good paella selection as well, although for that I cannot vouch, but will provide an update as soon as my parents return. And finally, if you are looking for a great Japanese, this one is especially recommended if your night is taking you to the Famous London Jazz Cafe, as it is located right next to it (map). Bento Cafe is adorably authentic and has a great selection of food besides sushi. The portions resemble more of a Chinese restaurant than the more moderate Japanese sizing. The only downside is, try not to peep into the kitchen on your way to the loo. It is not sightly and I would strongly urge them to put a door to cover up the mess.
Overall, if I am what I eat, I have become a world-traveller in the space of 4 days, and I haven't even left the wonderful city that gave us all this exciting foodly experiences!

Glasnost and the odd Mondays

I know that traditionally we are required to whole-hearedly despise Mondays, but I have to admit this particularly delightful Monday, I would pick from a whole bundle of other weekdays (not weekends, let's not get carried away). Lovely lunch was had in Yo Sushi, where they have introduced a little thing called Blue Mondays. This means that all plates on the belt are colour blue, meaning that you can have your heart's desire that costs so much more usually, for only £2.20 a pop!

Haunch of Venison is currently housing Glasnost until the 26th of June (free entry!), a collection by Soviet non-conformist artists from the 1980s. Inspiring, thoughful and often comical (jokes being a favourite tool of dissent) the exibition spanned two floors and more than a decade of subversive and later nationally and internationally accepted and celebrated art. For me, as a Hungarian, it was particularly fascinating to see the criticism aimed at the system whose last death-throes I lived to witness firsthand, even though, at the time, I was not aware of what was actually really happening, having only the vague impressions of childhood. The Haunch of Venison is also housing exhibitions by Rina Banerjee, Forever Foreign and Spun by Thomas Hetherwick, both until the 15th of May.

To defy the despicable May weather, we had coffee in the Royal Academy of Arts, and we stumbled upon a lovely one-room show of photographs of old and new London. A heart-warmer to all admirers of this great city, hidden and not-so-hidden spots are shown on shots taken in the 1870s and 1880s standing as charming and beautifully dreamy reminders of what should be preserved and cherished about this glorious metropolis.

All in all, I have successfully avoided Monday-gloom and the oh-crap-it's-an-other-week blues. A great receipt for everyone!