London Day Five
I knew when I woke up that I didn’t really want to go out that night. We’d been doing serious amounts of walking each day and I was determined to keep it to a minimum that evening.
For breakfast we hit Pret a Mangier, a local chain that is very similar to Au Bon Pain here in the states. Croissants are very popular, and I had one filled with almonds. A cup of strong tea with milk and sugar, along with the croissant made for a great start to the day.
Work was good, and many meetings sorted out how we were going to handle the weekend work on our plate. For lunch, we headed to a sit-down Mediterranean restaurant near the office called Haz. Being a greedy American, I ordered the Cicek Meal, which was a huge place of starters, with four kinds of mains (remember, starters = appetizers, and mains = main couse). I had a Stella with lunch (shhh, don’t tell).
After leaving work we decided to take some time and wait on dinner. I did some work on my own web sites (some of these updates you’re seeing) and we met at seven to eat.
I’d spied a small tapas place in the guide book called Fuego, and Karin was up for it so we headed over. It’s on Pudding Lane, and it’s called Fuego because a very famous fire started right near the Monument station next door to the restaurant. In fact, Monument station is called Monument because there is a large monument erected in to remember the fire.
I chose wisely.
Dinner was fantastic, and the sangria was beyond delicious. I think they spike their sangria here with more booze than fruit juice, but it made everything better. Sliced tomatoes and shallots, meatballs in spicy sauce with peas, hot bread with garlic, onions and cheese to start. Then onto paella with chicken, mussels, prawns (no shrimp here), and saffron rice, red peppers stuffed with roasted veggies, fried potato slices with spicy tappenade, and for dessert, chocolate cake and cream brulee.
We rolled ourselves back to the hotel, a scant three blocks away, and I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow.