Jacket Potato in Richmond-upon-Thames

January 8, 2020: Today Eddie was still sick with a cold and he stayed in bed all day. I felt better and I navigated my way on the tube to the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames for lunch.  Like so many boroughs in London, Richmond was once an isolated village that was gobbled up by the city.  The Richmond Tube Station is now less than 45 minutes away from the Kensington High Street Tube Station.

Walking around Richmond, I stumbled upon the Hollyhock Café, a place that looked as if it had stepped out of an old fairy tale. I sat down and had myself a jacket potato with beans, a popular dish on this island, sometimes served with a salad.  I've observed that the supermarkets here offer a greater variety of potatoes than in the United States, including King Edward, Cornish Kings, Charlotte, Saxon and Maris Piper Potatoes, among others.  Bags of potatoes for sale suggest which spuds are better for jackets, wedges or mash.

The Hollyhock Café offers a view of the Thames.  One nice aspect of Richmond is that it offers a lot of places to meander, including along the river.  One can hear a lot of birds singing. One can also hear a lot of planes flying over every few minutes. The flight path for Heathrow is over the Thames in West London.

A Walk Along the Thames