Colonel Saab, The British Museum, & Rustin's Café, Bloomsbury

Today, we took a 70 minute guided tour of British Museum highlights including stops at the Rosetta Stone, the Portland Vase, the Parthenon Marbles and the Sutton Hoo helmet, among other remarkable antiquities.  We bought tickets for the exhibit on Stonehenge, opening next week.

But first we had lunch at Colonel Saab in Holborn by the museum.  A beautiful restaurant, but the food was too rich for my taste.  After the museum visit we had scones at Ruskin's Café, which may have the most delicious homemade scones in all of London.

Colonel Saab dining room

Samosas

Pakeezah (cottage cheese in cream sauce), Soya Pulao (rice)
with naan and a glass of Camden Hells draught beer

Ruskin's Café with the British Museum in Distance
(photos of their delicious scones in a post to follow)

Long May She Reign

Today, February 6, 2022, marks the 70th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.  Ascending to the UK throne on February 6, 1952, upon the death of her father King George VI, she has sat there longer than any prior English monarch and is second only to Louis XIV of France for longest reign in world history.  She will surpass even him if she reigns thru May 2024.  The Queen is 95 years old and still going strong!  In recognition of the anniversary we paid a visit today to Buckingham Palace and environs.

  

Tofu Vegan & Kipferl

On Saturday we showed up at the newly opened Tofu Vegan in Islington without a reservation and wound up waiting about an hour to be seated, but it was certainly worth the wait!  This is the all-vegan Chinese restaurant we've been waiting for, reminiscent of our San Francisco favorite Enjoy in Chinatown.  We started with fried pot-sticker dumplings and for the main had the sizzling tofu in black bean sauce and the tofu/veggie mince in lotus leaf bun.  Yum!  We'll definitely be returning here.

We then proceeded to Islington's atmospheric Camden Passage (not to be confused with Camden Market) and stopped in at Kipferl, an Austrian eatery, for dessert.  We loved the Apfelstrudel and the Apfelkuchen, both à la mode!

Cheeky Scones, Notting Hill

So many restaurants and pubs closed during the pandemic, it is reassuring to see new eateries opening recently, with the relaxation of government rules.  Cheeky Scones just opened in Notting Hill, serving nothing but coffee, tea and made-on-the-premises scones.  I was desiring a tender, flaky and light scone served with organic jam boiled and stewed by hand with clotted cream having a richness between butter and whipped cream.  Clotted cream in the UK has a long association with counties Cornwall and Devon. In Devon, the cream is on the bottom, with the jam dolloped on top.  In Cornwall, the cream is is on top.  I ordered a sultana scone and it was a little too dry and dense. The jam and cream could not redeem it.  There was nothing wrong with it, but it just tasted like a scone that one could get at a multitude of other cafes in London.

Fen Noodle & Ottolenghi, Spitalfields

Old Spitalfield's Market is a covered market in East London, filled with stalls selling street food from around the world. At lunchtime the market is jam-packed with long queues of hungry office workers and tourists.  I elected to order my lunch from Fen Noodles known for its hand-pulled Chinese noodles made with wheat dough and rolled and stretched by hand into long strips.  They are made fresh on-site, cooked immediately, and served with spicy sauces.  I ordered the vegan dry mix thin noodles topped with vegan dumplings and garnished with chives and tofu crisps. The noodles were pleasingly piquant and the dumplings may have been the best dumplings I have ever tasted.  

After lunch, Eddie and I walked a few blocks to Ottolenghi, a popular and chic restaurant chain owned by Israeli-born British chef Yotam Asaf Ottolenghi.  The chain is only found in London although the Ottolenghi cookbook is a bestseller around the world. I had a plum tarte with a Mocha to drink and Eddie had a pistachio and plum Frangipane with a Black Americano.  My tarte, while delicious, was a little too fancy-schmancy, having just eaten a bowl of earthy noodles.  I love Ottolenghi, however.