It was just another one of those gorgeous days that made me want to walk forever and ever until the sun disappeared so after brunch with James I called up Su Yin to see if she wanted to take a walk.
We ended up walking for a couple of hours around the City which was blessfully empty of its city workers. heh heh.
I may not love the city workers but I do love their buildings. Lloyds:
 |
and of course the Gherkin
 |
 |
 |
 |
Where I really wanted to have brunch was at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand but they are open for brunch only Mondays to Fridays. What is that about! At any rate as a result I was probably going to be disappointed from the outset by whatever substitute James and I ended up at.
Christopher’s American Bar and Grill sounded promising. Sure I knew we wouldn’t be expecting the same sort of brunch available at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand but I was hoping at least to walk away suitably stuffed and happy with my meal. It was a glorious day today and our table, located on the second floor of the building near Covent Garden, had nice big windows which gladly welcomed in the sunlight from the outside so things were looking good. We were seated away from the windows but if you looked carefully you could still see out to the Imax theatre from where I was seated.
 |
 |
Perhaps before I go further I should confirm that yes – I was in a greedy mood and I really wanted American portions – others have said they have American portions but I didn’t think they were!
 |
 |
 |
My brunch was James had steak and eggs. Both seemed okay but being priced at £xxxxx didn’t seem as big portions as they should have been. My breakfast didn’t come with toast for a start, though we did get complimentary bread at the beginning with some very lovely butter, and my meal did have two little nuggets of hash brown. The chicken piece was a measly! The way the menu read I thought I was going to get something more impressive. I think we should have taken our cue from those around us – they were ordering breakfast things (such as pancakes etc.) for a starter before going on to their main meal!
 |
 |
 |
 |
Service I felt was a bit snobbish. It always felt like the waitstaff were looking down on us though I can’t point out exactly why I felt that and actually I have to say the front of desk staff was very nice – we didn’t make a reservation but she did her best to try and slot us in without having to make us wait too long.
Overall I wasn’t very impressed by my visit to Christopher’s American Bar and Grill. It was an expensive meal (for brunch) and not very filling or satisfying and the wait staff were not at all friendly or welcoming (though they weren’t exactly rude either.) It was all probably just alright and nothing more.
Its going to be a really good summer this year if today is any indication. The weather was absolutely amazing today and its only May!
 |
Laney and I thought we’d take advantage of the glorious weather and do some more elephant hunting out at Greenwhich. I don’t get out here too often cause its so far away but it’s a lovely short getaway from “London” and if you can gather the energy to climb up to the observatory on the hill you can get some stunning views across London. As usual when the sun surprises us there are some … interesting sights as the population do all they can to get rid of their pasty white bodies!
 |
 |
 |
 |
The only pain today was the number of people lining up to stand on the meridian. Tourists are so rude and thoughtless sometimes! But we eventually got our turn (not without there being some fights which broke out in front of us though!)
 |
 |
 |
Glorious day.
I was out hunting for elephants this evening after work and as I was walking through Hyde Park towards Royal Albert Hall I suddenly noticed these arms waving around out the corner of my eye. It turned out to be Mei and Laney waiting to go in to see some performance at Royal Albert Hall. What are the chances of running into them randomly like this … once again it leads me to wonder at how no matter how massive London seems to be, its still very small in other ways!
I’m not going to say no to going to a restaurant which serves fried ice cream, even if it did appear that it was served with tomato sauce last time … I actually think Haozhan is one of the better Chinese restaurants around with a slightly twisted menu but, best of all, very decent service! Gladly tonight there were no missteps in the service – it was all once again very friendly, efficient and helpful.
Prices are a little higher than some of its surrounding counter-parts in Chinatown but I think its fair value for money, but very good value for money with 2-4-1 with my Taste London card!
I only came here with Pat less than two months ago but Sandra really wanted to try it out and I was helpless to resist.
At least I got to try some different dishes now though I couldn’t convince Sandra to try the Coffee Smoked Ribs which I still really want to try! Sandra is a huge seafood fan so as a starter, alongside the not to be denied gorgeous Chilli Quail which Pat and I loved last time, we had Tom Yum Prawns: King Prawns tossed in a Tom Yum infused mayonnaise sauce topped with red onion, mango, chillies and salad cress. The complication in this dish was that we only got three cones of the stuff and the cones are not easily divisible in half!
 |
For our mains we had an absolutely gorgeous Cheese Lobster. Yes not what you think you’d typically order in a Chinese restaurant but gee it was tasty. Lobster baked with cream cheese cheddar, French Echire butter, milk and diced ham Portugese style this required 20 minutes prep time … which was totally worth the wait! We also had a a fish which I can’t remember what it was! But it was pretty delicious!
 |
 |
We finished the meal with a deep fried ice cream each and made sure to ask for the sauce on the side. To be fair to Haozhan, whilst it still tasted a bit like ketchup, the sauce actually turned out to be an extremely concentrated strawberry sauce – its just that I don’t think they added any sugar!
A lovely experience at Haozhan again.
Pete said to me “I’ve got tickets to Flight of the Conchords, get in there” and so I did. I’d heard of this pair of Kiwi comedians before but hadn’t actually seen any of their work before so the first, well, second after buying the tix and getting James to come along with me, thing to do was to get through at least series one of their TV series.
Considering I bought the tickets ages ago it wasn’t a couple of weekends ago that I’d gotten around to see it. To describe the show its kind of a sitcom but mixed in with music videos. Very smart and uproariously funny I could nevertheless not understand how it would work in a live format. To my amazement Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement were even better live than in the show. I could see why they’d won a Grammy for a comedy album they’d released. One to put on my shopping list I think after tonight’s gig!
I was expecting the Wembley Arena crowd to be mostly Kiwis but I think, from the accents I could gather, they crowd were mostly Brits. I was very surprised by that! Still, the crowd really got into the gig and made for a great atmosphere.
Bret and Jermain were on absolute fire tonight. For the most part they sat on stage with just their acoustic guitars and their voices, though every now and then bringing out a random instrument. What I think really made it for me tonight was the interaction and banter that the two comedians with each other and even with the audience. In a place as big as the Wembley Arena the act could have easily fell flat but so endearing and charming are the pair that you soon forget the distance between you and them!
They were really quick picking on things said in the audience and reacting to each other. And everything they said was just so funny. When they went into their pieces anyone with any sort of funny bone would have been wetting their pants with laughter – you didn’t need to know their work at all. They are actually really good musicians, which I don’t think many people give them credit for, very clear when singing/sing-speaking and fantastic at improvising.
Look out for the sparkly spandex number – it will crack you up!
Oh – they were supported by Arj Barker, who is an American stand-up comedian who appeared now and then in their TV series. He too was very funny with some original thinking (such as his global warming and whale jokes.) It didn’t hurt that he was a bit of eye-candy too … 😉
One person said it best about the show: “Favourite moment: Everything in between the start and the end”
Before you let your imagination run away from you dear reader this post is about … food. I hardly ever go south of the river (and that’s not yet another euphemism) so more than likely one of the main reasons I’d be in Clapham is for food! Fantasia was one of Rache’s favourite brunch places when she used to live in London and I can see why – cheap (very cheap!), decent portions, and quite good grub – my eggs benedict actually came with salad, a nice one at that! (although I was a bit greedy and still added a sausage and hash brown. Heh heh)
 |
So, being Rache’s birthday and all, I thought it would be a nice treat for me to introduce her to something that Laney introduced me to last week … the boys at A&F.
 |
 |
Nice huh?
So, Rache’s birthday meant we had a good excuse for going out for yet another Afternoon Tea. Heh heh. Searching for an afternoon tea venue which is a little different from the traditional and that I haven’t already experienced was extremely difficult but in the TLS (tea-london-sightseeing) Afternoon Tea at the Swissôtel The Howard I found what I was looking for.
You can literally eat your way around London with this menu …
Located opposite the Temple tube station a benefit of Swissôtel The Howard is that you don’t have to walk or totter far in your shoes! Ha ha! Whether it was the location or relative newness (not sure how long they’ve offered afternoon tea), its clearly not a venue that many people know about – there were a few odd bods around and one big group of girls who arrived when we were about halfway done (though strangely we still ended up leaving after them!)
 |
 |
 |
Due to the fact its not a high profile venue or even that busy we found that getting the attention of wait-staff, to replenish our sandwich stocks of course, was difficult. Though that’s not to say the service was bad when we got it – just a little slow maybe, especially when needing refills on our tea.
At Swissôtel The Howard you can have the ordinary and traditional afternoon tea and supplement it with additional items from the TLS afternoon tea menu if you like. E.g. if you fancy Big Ben it’ll cost you £4, or maybe you wanted Crown Jewels (£2.50). To take the decision-making out of the process we went straight for the TLS afternoon tea with champagne for the birthday gal.
The food/tea all came out at once, even the extra birthday bits for Rache!, so we were confronted with this:
 |
 |
 |
which may not seem like much but somehow we didn’t even get around to eating any of the TLS bit! Takeaway boxes, which were HUGE, were required:
 |
 |
 |
Oh but I didn’t describe the food that we had!
The savoury sandwiches consisted of Smoked Salmon and Horseradish, Coronation Chicken, Cucumber and Minted Crème Fraiche and Honey Roast Ham and Cheese. The scones were plain and fruit and came with strawberry preserve and of course Devonshire clotted cream. The sweet pastries consisted of Macaroons, a Cherry Bakewell Tart, a Fresh Fruit Tartlet, Chocolate Mousse with Orange Jelly and a Seasonal Fruit Smoothie and finally we have the TLS plate which consisted mainly of flavoured shortbreads and chocolates. I like the fact you got two of everything (and additional sandwiches if you wished) so you didn’t have to “share” – I’m so greedy!
Yum!
Had a catch up with Sandra and Kelly today at Plum Valley and now officially I think I’ve eaten on every floor of the restaurant! Ha ha! Food was, as usual, very lovely and so very filling. Great value on the top table deal.
 |
 |