Old City. New Food.

Stress, exhaustion and hunger: Three integral parts of long distance travel that we often don’t care to remember. We talk about the things we’ve seen, who we’ve met, and what the weather was like but we rarely acknowledge the blatantly negative aspects of travel. You might not think that sitting on a plane for six or eight hours straight would tire you out and make you hate humanity, but you’d be gravely mistaken. You’re achy, tired, pissed and hungry, but what you do to quell that medieval dragon lurking under your grimy sweatpants and baggy t-shirt? You feed that beast some awesome food. But you shouldn’t put just anything in your tank to keep you going. No, you’ve got to find something that is going to make you like the world again. And it just so happens, that the London food scene has something for everyone.

When people think of British food they tend to think of bland scones, bangers and mash, meat pies, and tea. But there is so much more than that. There is a surprisingly robust Asian food scene. Not just Indian but Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Malaysian, and so many fusions that it’ll make your head spin. There is absolutely no way to document all the different kinds of restaurants I could have gone to in just one week. My two favorite stops that I made on my trip to London were at restaurants called Thai Square and Yuu. 

Our class planned to visit the Victoria and Albert Art Museum in West London, but before we made our way over we decided to take an hour for lunch. Another girl from our group, Victoria, and I decided to head into Thai Square, a restaurant just down the street from the Museum. This three-story restaurant was quiet and full of locals and from the second-floor dining room, where we were seated, patrons could get a wonderful view of the square where other restaurant goers ate under awnings. We also got a great view of the beautiful mix of modern and classic West London architecture.

I ordered a Thai iced tea, duck curry, and rice. This is my usual order at Thai restaurants but I believe you can tell the quality of a restaurant based on how they prepare these three things. The Thai iced tea was pretty average but there is just something about Rooibos tea, with its sweet earthiness that isn’t quite bitter, mixed with rich sweetened condensed milk that makes my mouth happy, regardless of how many times I’ve had it. After the waitress brought drinks she soon brought the food. First came a steaming, pillowy, heap of sticky white jasmine rice. It had a mineral-y wet smell that was absolutely delectable. Next was the curry itself. Oh. My. Goodness. Did it smell freaking fantastic, or what? Rich red curry broth mixed with coconut milk washed over fresh red and green bell pepper, pineapple, lychee fruit, tomatoes, and fatty fall-apart, melt-in-your-mouth slices of roasted duck breast. I was in curry heaven! If I could eat it every day I would. And while I really enjoyed this meal it wasn’t even my favorite or the most unique of the whole trip. 

The most unique meal I had had to have been from Yuu. Each wall was blanketed with vibrantly colored murals of people laughing, eating and drinking. Behind the bar was a white and orange punk rocker spraying a beer into his mouth and on his wife beater, but somehow in a classy way. Yuu is an Asian fusion tapas restaurant. They recommended ordering three or four small plates each. I ordered spiked bubble tea, edamame, fried baby squid, and braised pork belly bao. The bao was what I was there for. A soft, fluffy, chewy stemmed bao bun stuffed with savory, sticky 7-UP braised pork belly, lightly spicy pickled cucumber, and crushed roasty toasty peanuts. I think I died right then and there. I was so sad because as soon as I tasted it, it seemed to have disappeared. In reality, I practically inhaled it. What I do remember is biting into that soft and chewy bun that was slightly sticky, texturally it is so strange. I love chewy food so I was heaven. I thought the meal couldn’t get better, but I was so wrong, because next was dessert. If I thought bao was good savory, it was heavenly as a sweet dessert. I ordered bao ice-cream, which was a bao bun deep fried and then filled like an ice-cream sandwich with the flavor of your choice. I got the Dulce de Leche ice-cream, which is very similar to caramel. This decadent, creamy, hot and cold treat took me to paradise on earth. I’m not sure if I will ever get to experience that like of dessert masterpiece ever again but I pray that one day I will.

But paradise on earth can be accomplished in more ways than one. Not everyone may be down for the funky fusion dinner scene. But, to my delighted surprise, there is also strong tastes of Italy for the less adventurous eaters out there. The pizzeria Vicoli di Napoli was a highlight of this trip. The inside was modern and quaint, it was pretty small so our group took up most of the tables. Light colored walls were accented by an orange stencil of the Naples skyline. And in the back, you could see the wood-burning oven covered in mosaics they were using to bake the pizzas. It’s mother restaurant in Naples was featured in the book Eat, Pray, Love. and our class read the excerpt of that particular restaurant before we departed. And Oh. My. Goodness. Did this pizza meet my expectations or what? Softy, chewy, charred thin crust was smothered in sweet, acidic tomato sauce and topped with light, decedent, Italian mozzarella. Sweet and salty pizza perfection made my entire day so much better. As I’m sitting here writing this and remembering I’m getting hungry. We ordered by the pie. I had a whole pizza to myself, and being the small person that I am I was worried that I was going to waste so much of my food. Oh, boy was I wrong. I ate everything except the equivalent of a slice and a half of this 15” pizza. I would have finished it but I knew we had a long walk ahead of us and I didn’t want collapse on my group. I still regret not finishing it, a little bit.

No matter where you go in London you are always going to find amazing food. Cuisines from Asia, to Africa, to South America. Whether you’re a picky or adventurous eater, there is going to be some restaurant catering to your desires. I got to try some wonderful new things and celebrate old favorites in new ways. I may never get to return to London but I will take these experiences with me wherever I go and be open to new experiences. I hope that anyone who visits London will go with an open mind and be willing to enjoy everything the city has to offer in terms of food, culture, and history. Now, I’m going to go make something to eat.