An English Summer with Danbo #1/4 - London

(This post is Part 1 of 4, An English Summer with Danbo, June~July 2014.)

The London Eye

View of the City from the London Eye

View of Parliament House from the London Eye

Kickstarted Day 1 with a trip up the London Eye. The ordinary queue was ridiculously long, so we opted to pay for the express queue. I think sometimes the fact that we constantly feel short on time in our daily routines makes us think that we would rather pay a little more to avoid spending our time standing in a queue.

Meat Fruit (c. 1500), chicken liver ad foie gras parfait, mandarin gel

For lunch, we went to Dinner by Heston at the Mandarin Oriental, a part of the trip I was most looking forward to.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

After lunch, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I love the V&A.

The entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The entrance hall is a fine example of a melding of London's old and new - the Romansque and Classical features of the Victoria and Albert Museum's Entrance Hall beautifully contrasted against a 21st century Dale Chihuly blown glass chandelier hanging from the Rotunda.

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen

After the V&A (not enough time there; I want another day!!!), we met up with friends over dinner at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. There were some flavours I enjoyed and would like to have again, like the braised short rib, and my dessert (a dish of poached peaches, ginger sorbet, ricotta cheese foam). However, overall, we were rather disappointed with the food experience.

St Paul's Cathedral, London

Kickstarted Day 2 with a trip to St Paul's Cathedral.

St Paul's Cathedral, London

More melding of London's old and new: One New Change and St Paul's Cathedral.

St Paul's Cathedral, London

St Paul's Cathedral, London

The Tate Modern, London

Right: A business lunch at Brasserie Blanc.
Left: The Italian Gardens at Hyde Park, London.

The Italian Gardens at Hyde Park, London

The Royal Courts of Justice of England and Wales, London

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, London

A new, modern courtroom at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, London.

An old courtroom at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, London.

Occupational hazard - visiting the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, London. We are part of the common law system, and were recipients of English law...

Westminster Abbey, London

The Houses of Parliament, London

The seat of the British Government and Legislature: the Houses of Parliament, London

The Household Cavalry Museum, London

Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London

Trafalgar Square, London

National Gallery, London

Steamed lobster, fries and salad for £20, Burger & Lobster

We lunched with Hubby's best buddy (who is currently pursuing his Masters at Oxford) at the must talked about Burger & Lobster (Knightsbridge branch).

London's Tower Bridge at blue hour.

Visiting the Clockmakers' Museum at the Guildhall, London

The famous Four Seasons' roast duck

Danbo at the British Museum, London.

The British Museum, London

Another of London's old and new: the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, the British Museum

Saw quite a few exhibits at the British Museum, particularly the Parthenon Marbles (aka, the Elgin Marbles) and the Rosetta Stone.

The Parthenon Marbles (or, the Elgin Marbles)

Frankly, I'm not sure how to weigh in on the Parthenon Marbles debate. I am inclined to see Elgin's actions as looting. But aside from how the Parthenon Marbles had been acquired, they may receive better care and preservation at the British Museum. I will admit that I have not sufficiently looked into the issues and given it much analysis.

The Rosetta Stone, the British Museum

Also the Rosetta Stone. Another artefact involved in the debate on the repatriation of culturally significance artefacts.

Sitting there, the Stone just looks like an ordinary, broken stone slab with carvings, and I suppose it was in its day, i.e. when it was created in 196 BC.

The carving on the Stone was part of a decree about Ptolemy V, the 5th ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty in ancient Egypt. The decree was inscribed 3 scripts: Egyptian hieroglyphs (used for priestly decrees), Demotic (native Egyptian script for everyday use), and Ancient Greek (used for administration). Seems quite pedestrian... like some public announcement or declaration.

The Stone's cultural and historical significance comes from the fact that when it was discovered, on 15 July 1799, nobody knew how to read/decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. So the Stone became a key to enabling people to decipher them.

Update (15 July 2017): The British Museum posted an interesting post about the Rosetta Stone, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Rosetta Stone".

Anyway there are other exceptional exhibits at the British Museum, and not just those from ancient history. 

A 2013 bisque porcelain piece by Hosono Hitomi

There was a 2013 bisque porcelain work by Japanese artist Hosono Hitomi - a large bowl with feathered leaves, which I was absolutely captivated with. The base form of the bowl had been made using a wheel, but each of the thousand detailed leaves were individually made and attached.

The Japanese Room, the British Museum

Checked out Japanese Room (of course), which had several exceptional exhibits of samurai armour and kimono.

Wedding kimono on display at the Japanese Room, the British Museum

My favourite was a set of wedding kimono. And if I recall correctly, some of the exhibits (armour and Japanese swords) are also subjects of repatriation requests from the Japanese government.

Zucca at Bermondsey, London. (Update: closed in 2015.)

We met up with another group of friends over dinner at Zucca at Bermondsey Street, known for its contemporary Italian cuisine. Dinner at Zucca was a good experience; in my view, they do contemporary Italian better than Fifteen.

Pub hopping...first The Hides, then The Underdog at Shoreditch.

After dinner at Zucca, my adventurous friends suggested we check out the night scene in London, so we did a little cocktail bar-hopping. We started with The Hide, a nice cocktail bar with a "gentleman's bar" vibe.

Our last cocktail stop was a dim, grungy underground place called The Underdog at Shoreditch, which was quite the interesting experience. I had a modern version of a Bloody Mary. Unfortunately, I also developed a really bad sore throat along the way, and before the long night was over, I had completely lost my voice!

Roast duck, Pearl Liang, Paddington

We ate a lot in our London trip, though we saw a lot too. Lunch on our final day in London was dimsum at Pearl Liang. One of the good Chinese cuisine places around London - Pearl Liang was good and delicious. Guess that explains the long queue and the Chinese clientele (both domestic and abroad).

An English Summer with Danbo (June~July 2014)

I. London
● Food Diaries #1: Dinner by Heston
● Food Diaries #2: Jamie Oliver's Fifteen
● Food Diaries #3: Zucca, London
● Food Diaries #4: Pearl Liang, London
II. Windsor
III. Oxford
● Food Diaries #5: Browns Brasserie & Bar
● Food Diaries #6: Quod Restaurant & Bar
● Food Diaries #7: Al Andalus
IV. Cambridge
● Food Diaries #8: Midsummer House