London Day 4: Muggle Tour, Chinatown, British Museum, back to Borough Market

London Day 4 - December 29, 2013

My nieces' surprise Christmas gift to me after we arrived in London was to tell me they had booked us on a Muggle tour. We're all Harry Potter geeks and I've enjoyed the books and movies as much as they have while they were growing up so it was a terrific present for all of us to enjoy while we were in London. My niece Lauren even made the personalized "gift card" that denoted my present. The picture above and below are both sides of the card she drew. Clever, right??!?

We caught the DLR and transferred to the tube to get off at London Bridge where we met the start of the tour. There were about 15-16 (?) other people on the tour and we were led by an entertaining, chipper and very-good-at-his-job tour guide by the ironically coincidental name of Adam Potter. Adam was terrific in keeping the tour both informative about London and the filming of the Harry Potter movies and getting everyone involved by quizzing us on certain parts of the books/movies as he took us around various locations in London that had something to do with the films. Yes, I was geeky enough to know answers to most of his questions.

The picture below of the Chez Michele flower shop may not look familiar but imagine the front covered up and the old walls as part of the set. Then you would have the front of the Leaky Cauldron. This is located right near Borough Market. The director used this flower shop because he wanted the old brick walls for the scene.

From London Bridge, we caught the tube to another stop. I can't remember which one now since we had to change lines because the Jubilee line was closed. I think we ended up at Westminster? In any case, Adam led us to the street where they filmed the scenes in Deathly Hallows of the street leading to the Ministry of Magic where Harry, Ron and Hermione took polyjuice potion to masquerade as three ministry workers in search of one of Voldemort's horcruxes which was in the locket being worn by Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry. (See, told you I was a Harry Potter geek.)

We then walked to this house which long ago was once Scotland Yard and is now abandoned. The inside of this house is where they filmed 12 Grimmauld Place or Sirius' house. According to Adam, the film crew kept the filming location secret or else they would be stalked by obsessive Harry Potter fans. Imagine that. Unfortunately I can so I'm glad they were able to keep the location a secret and keep on filming.

Next up was down a small, narrow alley which served as the inspiration for Knockturn Alley. Standing there and looking around at the old building, old-fashioned street lanterns, I can easily see how this inspired that part of the movies. It was too narrow for the film crew to actually film in so they took a number of pictures and recreated the scene in a studio.

The tour ended by walking from Trafalgar Square, down Charing Cross to this row of shops that served as J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley. Adam said this was her favorite place in London and the stores include Watkins Bookshop, the oldest in London, as well as a place to get bank notes (Gringott's!), an Alice in Wonderland shop where you could buy oddities (potions??) and other shops that could lead a fertile imagination to dream up Olivander's and Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It was a really fun tour and if you have any interest in Harry Potter at all, I would highly recommend it. My nieces found it through tripadvisor.com and Adam said that's the only place they actively advertise with and draw business from.

We hadn't had breakfast before the tour and it lasted a little over two hours so we were famished by the end. From our walkabouts the previous two days, we had already found London's Chinatown and by mutual agreement, we ended there for a late lunch.

At first we wanted dim sum but given how hungry we all were and how expensive everything in London was, we opted for an all you can eat Chinese buffet instead (review to follow in a future post).

One of the shops in London's Chinatown

After lunch, we headed to the British Museum which was free to enter and packed with people. We didn't stay long but admired a few of the antiquities in a couple of the rooms then went in search of the Rosetta Stone.



Outside the British Museum

Inside the British Museum

The Rosetta Stone encased in glass

After that, it was back to Borough Market to pick up bread and cheese for dinner.  We'd eaten so late and we had a reasonably early start the next morning so we didn't want another dinner out. I actually love visiting a new place and going to the local market to pick up local goods, especially bread and cheese, and having that as a meal so it was a perfect end to the day.

Bakery Review: Maison Bertaux, London, England

Maison Bertaux - dessert on December 29, 2013

After we had dinner at Wagamama, we were in the mood for dessert but nothing on the Wagamama dessert menu looked appealing so we got a recommendation from our waitress as well as yelp'd and google mapped possibilities which led us to Maison Bertaux nearby. According to their website, they're the oldest and "best" patisserie in London.

Part of the display case from the inside

It's a very small shop with only a few tables, typical of London. Instead of a formal dessert menu, the patisserie offerings were in a display case in the front of the shop. The girls chose a cheesecake and I went with an apple tart. After making our selections, the person manning the bakery brought the desserts to our (small) table.

Some sort of fruit-topped cheesecake

The cheesecake was light according to my nieces. Since I don't like cheesecake, I didn't try it so I'll take their word for it. My apple tart was tasty, particularly the crumble topping, but I don't know that I would consider it extraordinary. Both desserts were rather expensive though, as are seemingly most things in London, and came to almost 10 GBP. Can't say they were exactly worth it but they were sweet and hit the spot before we headed back to the hotel for the night. I don't know that I can give Maison Bertaux a fair review based on only one (or two) offerings but it's worth stopping by and checking out if you're in the neighborhood.

Apple Tart with a crumble topping

Restaurant Review: Wagamama, London, England

Wagamama - dinner on December 28, 2013

After our tour guides left us, we went foraging for dinner. Based on not only Kat's and Sami's endorsements but also recommendations from friends of mine who had lived in London before, we went to Wagamama's. I'd actually been to Wagamama's on a prior business trip as I was taken there by a work colleague long ago. It's an Asian fusion noodle place and I knew my nieces would like it so off we went despite Wagamama's being a chain and my usual determination to keep it small and local. But it was a cold night, we'd been out walking all day and hot noodles and/or soup sounded really good.

Inside Wagamama

The one we went to had a very modest outside storefront but that was mostly because you went down a flight of stairs to a much larger restaurant below. It was lined with tables and very crowded. We shared a table of 6 with three strangers who were served separately. Having had a filling lunch from one of the sandwich stalls at Borough Market we weren't that hungry so we ended up sharing an appetizer and two entrees.

Duck Gyoza with hoisin sauce

 I ordered the Teriyaki Chicken Donburi. It arrived served on a bed of rice which I expected but it wasn't the donburi I was used to back in the States since it wasn't topped with a soft-cooked scrambled egg. Still, it was tasty and hit the right spot.

Teriyaki Chicken Donburi 

My nieces split the duck gyoza appetizer and the Wagamama Ramen bowl. My niece Lauren loves ramen noodle soup and I swear I only took my eyes off her for a minute before I looked back at her bowl and found it empty. I guess she liked it, lol.

Wagamama Ramen

London Day 3: Changing of the Guard, Trafalgar Square, Borough Market, Covent Garden

London Day 3 - December 28, 2013

Palace guards heading in

Our third day in London was a little more structured and we were fortunate enough to have a couple of local "tour guides" join us. My niece Lauren had a friend, Kat, who she met in Madrid but who lives near London and my other niece Shyla had a friend, Sami, who happened to be in London visiting his girlfriend but who had also lived in London for a time while he went to school here. We wanted to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace so we arranged to meet them at "the fountain" at noon.

Buckingham Palace

That turned out to be a little tricky as it turned out every tourist in London also came to see the changing of the guard and we were roped off into certain sections to allow traffic, including the guards on their horses, through. There were so many people we didn't actually see the changing itself although we managed to catch them mounted up and heading towards Buckingham Palace in red robed glory. Fortunately we did miraculously locate Sami in the throng and went to Plan B to meet Kat at Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square 

Specifically, we met her (literally) at the blue rooster. According to Sami, artists compete to have their works displayed at Trafalgar Square for certain lengths of time and the current winner was whoever designed this rooster. It's very big and very blue and is an ideal landmark to meet someone by simply because you absolutely can't miss it at Trafalgar Square.

The foursome - but see the legs of the blue rooster at the center top of this pic?

The nice thing about having local folks to guide us around is they know where to go and what all the buildings and landmarks were that we were passing. Our walk included a peek in at Somerset House to watch the ice skaters as we made our way to the Thames and its myriad of bridges.

Somerset House with an ice skating rink outside

But the best place they told us about was Borough Market, underneath the bridge near London Bridge tube station. This place was great and exactly the kind of local market I like poking around in when I visit somewhere.

There were a lot of fresh food stalls from seafood and meats to breads and cheeses to fruits and vegetables. You can buy fresh produce as well as ready-to-eat foods cooked onsite. Or at least kept warm there and served hot.

It was a fun place to walk around and from there they took us to Covent Garden, also very crowded and filled with more tourists. No shopping for us but just people watching and walking. My biggest surprise was discovering a Shake Shack at Covent Garden. I thought they were only in New York City and I have very fond memories of trying my first Shake Shack burger on my last trip to Manhattan. I didn't try it here, only because we had already eaten at Borough Market but don't think I didn't consider it.

Covent Garden

Shake Shack at Covent Garden

 Like most of the central locations in London, Covent Garden was very crowded. We weren't in shopping mode so it was enough to mill around with the thousands of other people, see the sights and people watch. It was a great day filled with local color (or should I say "colour"?) and we had another fabulous time. Many thanks to Kat and Sami for showing us London through their experienced eyes.

Restaurant Review: The Windmill, London, England

The Windmill - dinner on December 27, 2013, 6-8 Mill St in the Marylebone and Piccadilly neighborhoods of London

We wanted "real British food" for dinner so we yelp'd shepherd's pie to see where good ones were served and The Windmill came up with glowing reviews. After walking around all afternoon, we arrived a little early for dinner (Londoners seem to eat late) so we sat around for a bit and enjoyed hot chocolate for me and coffee for my nieces.

The inside was small as are most London pubs but that always makes things cosy and a nice change from large, crowded places. We were getting used to small, crowded places instead :).

Shot from our table, this is as big as the room gets

But the size of the pub didn't matter, especially after our waitress passed out the menu once it was time to order and we perused their offerings. The Windmill has won the national championship for their Steak and Kidney Pie but their menu assured us their Steak and Mushroom Pie was the same thing except it didn't have kidneys so that's what my nieces opted to go with. I had a bite and it was delicious. The crust was flaky, the meat was tender and the sauce was tasty. I can see why they won the awards they did. You can get the meat pie with a side of "chips" or "mash" (mashed potatoes). They went for the chips.

Steak and Mushroom Pie

I was mostly preoccupied with my own "real British food" order of shepherd's pie. Shepherd's pie is typically made of ground lamb and vegetables in a gravy covered with a top crust of mashed potatoes. I've had okay shepherd's pie and bad shepherd's pie but this is the first time I've had great shepherd's pie. They broiled the top so it was almost partly burned but that didn't affect the taste. The topping was fluffy mashed potatoes with some melted cheese and the filling was superb. I'm not normally a fan of lamb but this was delicious. Not tough or greasy, just tender and flavorful. If anyone is in search of shepherd's pie worth remembering, I recommend the one at The Windmill.

Inside the Shepherd's Pie - this was so good

Although both dishes were hearty, naturally we had to get dessert as well. And in keeping with our British food theme, we went with the sticky toffee pudding. Sticky toffee pudding is more like a dense cake that's been steamed (it can also be baked) rather than what most Americans would consider a pudding. It's made with dates which I'm not a fan of so I don't make sticky toffee pudding or normally have it but since we were in London, that's what we had to have. Good thing too as this was also quite tasty. There weren't chunks of dates in it so I wonder if they pureed it instead or just chopped it really, really fine. But this was a good dense cake, a little lighter than pound cake but with the texture of a steamed cake, served warm with ice cream. One of my nieces enjoyed it so much I had trouble fending her off long enough to take a picture. We really are related, haha.

That brief moment when the sticky toffee pudding was in its entirety

The rapidly dwindling sticky toffee pudding I could barely capture in a shot

All in all, The Windmill was a great find. This is another place I highly recommend trying out for the pub experience and the food. I know it's a stereotype that there's no good food in London that isn't ethnic but The Windmill smashes that stereotype to bits.

Harrods Food Hall

Harrods Food Hall - visited December 27, 2013

Although being all girls and my nieces and I had to go to Harrods, it almost goes without saying that we never really intended to buy anything or to actually shop there. Far too expensive! For fun, one of my nieces checked the price of a menswear cashmere sweater and had us guess how much it was. We went up to 250 GBP before she informed us it was 680 GBP. Over $1100 for a sweater? Um, no thanks.

Fortunately, what we could afford was found in Harrods' Food Hall. Located on the street level/first floor, it's packed with people as well as different types of food. Think upscale farmers' market meets Whole Foods but housed inside Harrods.

So many different options to choose from! We hadn't planned on eating at Harrods as we had already had lunch at The Folly at this point and already had picked out our choice for dinner.

But since we were there, we each got something to take away for later. My nieces opted for a brie, sausage and cranberry meat pie. The individual-sized pies were 50% off and took up most of a length of a display case so presumably they were on sale because there were so many to sell, not that they were "day old".

Still being of the mindset to try local British food, I opted for the scones, a plain one and a chocolate one. C'mon, you can't go to London and not try a scone in some form. Although I didn't eat them until the next day, I thought both were pretty good. They would've been better warm but were still tasty. Surprisingly, I preferred the plain scone over the chocolate one. I didn't think the chocolate was necessary to the scone and the plain one allowed the butter flavor to come through better.

Chocolate scone in the bag

My nieces liked their brie, sausage and cranberry meat pie quite well even though they had it a day later as well. So much food, so little time....

Brie, Sausage and Cranberry Meat Pie from Harrods' Food Hall

If you're ever in London, I think Harrods' is worth a visit, even if you're not a shopper or don't want to spend hundreds of pounds on a cashmere sweater. It's an experience worth having, especially if you stop off at the Food Hall and get yourself a bite to eat.

Restaurant Review: The Folly, London, England

The Folly - lunch on December 27, 2013

The Folly
41 Gracechurch St
London EC3V OBT
0845 468 0102

Lunch was at a restaurant called The Folly which we discovered just by walking around far enough from the Tower of London so it wasn't a complete tourist trap. I liked the street address because it was on Gracechurch St which, as any Jane Austen fan knows from Pride & Prejudice is where the Gardiners lived when Jane went to stay with her aunt and uncle in London (yes, I'm having a geek moment). It was an address the Bingley sisters felt were beneath them but in modern day London (and outside of Austen's fictional world), it was fine.

Inside The Folly

We arrived a little after noon but the place was empty which at first was surprising because it was the lunch hour but it turns out that by London standards, that was a bit early for lunch and by the time we left after 1 pm, the place was quite packed.

My nieces split the special of the day which didn't have a fancy name but was simply a spicy Asian noodle dish with seafood. I got the bangers and mash (we were in the UK, after all, but  the translation for anyone not familiar with the term is sausages and mashed potatoes) and we also ordered a side of potato and sweet potato wedges. The sausages in my order were pretty tasty and the gravy accompanying the mashed potatoes was delicious. My order was in a silver bowl with sides just a trifle too high and served on a wooden trencher which I thought was a cute way to serve and reminiscent of an earlier era when food really was eaten from trenchers.

Bangers and Mash

The wait staff at The Folly were very nice although we seemed to be waited on by several different people so I was never quite sure who was our server. One striking difference between London and US restaurants is they never hurry you along. Even though the restaurant was filling up and there were people standing waiting for a table, no one was pushing us out of there and it actually took us a few minutes to find someone to bring us our bill when we were ready to leave. I always feel bad lingering at a table when other people are waiting but no one who worked at the restaurant seemed too concerned about it. Nevertheless, we settled up and went on our way.

The potato wedges were rather large; the sweet potato wedges were better and smaller

I enjoyed the food and ambiance at the Folly and would definitely recommend it for anyone in the area.