Elizabeth in Oxford, Part 2

(December 9th-15th, 2012: Oxford) Let's start off where we left off, shall we?  Late night, Oxford.  Elizabeth and I aren't exactly the type to go bar hopping, but I did convince her (without much prodding I should add) to take me by some of her favorite haunts from her time as a student.  We started off with a visit to Freud's, which I've since learned is a small English chain with a second location near the hotel that Kim and I stayed at in London (still a few posts away)...

 

What really struck me about Freud's was the wall of their own concoctions. My eyes zeroed in on whatever had elderflower as an ingredient.  Elderflower really is something I've come to miss...it's a light, floral addition to drinks that reminds me of a pleasant spring day.  We made other stops that night, but nothing too memorable.  It was a week night after term had ended, so that meant that a lot of the establishments were fairly empty.  Kind of a depressing feeling...drinking in a relatively empty bar?  But at least Elizabeth and I were able to get a table without a problem and have an actual conversation that we could hear...

The next night we made our way to Edamame for dinner.  Edamame is one of those places that, come a Thursday night, is insanely busy to get into.  They've a total of about ten tables.  Some are for two people, some are for more...which means that if you're just two, then you'll be sharing that table with other people.  It's small, cramped, and utterly fantastic.  The other thing about Thursday nights that makes it significantly more difficult than any other night of the week is that Thursday night = sushi night.  Try as we might, we couldn't get a table on a Thursday night, so instead we settled for the next day.  Friday night is, as you can guess, a few sushi offerings if there were still some fish from Thursday night (surprisingly, this is better than you'd expect), and traditional Japanese food.  

Tofu steak, hand roll, sushi (nightly specials, so I've no idea what fish was inside...), and Satsumaage (pan fried fish cakes).  Not pictured: Tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and Horenso Ohitashi (spinach in a sesame marinade).

It might partly be how difficult it is to get a table there, but Edamame quickly became one of my favorite places to eat in Oxford (though I've only managed to go there twice now, with the second time coming some five months later).  There are a lot of quality restaurants to choose from, though, so my list of favorites certainly doesn't stop here...

Aside from our "adventure," which will be detailed in the next post, Elizabeth and I had one more memorable stop: Queen's Lane Coffee House, the longest established coffee house in Europe, dating back to 1654 (of course, the "oldest" coffee house in Europe was reputed to be across the street...).  This is Elizabeth's favorite place to grab a coffee, and their non-coffee drinks certainly satisfied me.

One more post to go for Elizabeth's visit...stay tuned for our exciting adventure!

Elizabeth in Oxford

(December 9th-15th, 2012: Oxford)  I had been eagerly anticipating Elizabeth's visit for months: a chance to see Oxford from her perspective, to see and hear of some of her experiences from her time there as an undergrad.  After out stopover in London, we headed out to Oxford for half a week of sibling bonding time (punctuated with days of work, lest we spend too much time together).

One aspect of my sister's visit that I really had been looking forward to was having an opportunity and reason to dine out and splurge a bit, so we set out to enjoy a number of restaurants that I had been meaning to enjoy, but didn't want to visit by myself.  First up, Shanghai 30's:

 

 Like many businesses throughout Oxford, Shanghai 30's reused a previously established, historical (by American standards) looking building.

 

Appetizer platter: from upper left: crispy ji-li king prawns, champagne spare ribs, almond chicken, and vegetarian spring rolls.

 

Pineapple Gu-Lao Chicken.   Think sweet and sour chicken (without the fried aspect or the horribly red food coloring) served in a pineapple.

 

Sizzling beef fillet, served with a black pepper and honey sauce.

 

I'm not sure why we ordered and ate so much food, but seen here are steamed broccoli with oyster sauce, and grilled thin noodles served with mushrooms, soy beans, bamboo shoots, and cabbage.  See, we're eating our vegetables too!

 

On second thoughts, our bevvy of food was most likely due to ordering a set meal for two.  They say that the simplest explanation is often the best, so let's go with that idea.  There's not even a dessert option on the online menu, so your guess is as good as mine as to what we finished the evening with.

Luckily, some of our other trips were slightly better documented.  But not our visit to The Eagle and Child.  

 

Located on St. Gile's, The Eagle and Child is pretty much dead center in Oxford.

 

 Elizabeth in Dad's favorite booth.

Like many pubs throughout England, The Eagle and Child has been bought by a large conglomeration.  So, it has a decent food selection and a small beer selection.  The draw, though, is the history.  Sure, there's the well known history that Tolkien and Lewis used to enjoy these same cozy booths, but the history for us is Dad: he always referred to this place as 'the bird and babe,' and it was definitely one of his favorite pubs in Oxford to visit.

Another stop for us was the Ashmolean.  Our first stop was not the classical art or the historical artifacts, but the dining room.

 

Smoked mackerel pate with toast and capers.

 

Delicata squash, cranberries, goat cheese, and field greens.

 

Mushroom risotto.

 

Confit of duck leg with greens, mushrooms, and gamon.

Once we finished dining, we headed down to the museum proper. As a child, I remember visiting Elizabeth in Oxford when she was close to graduating.  Aside from being bed-ridden for most of that part of the trip, I remember taking in the Pitts River Museum, which was an eclectic mixture of artifacts, or at least seemed that way to me at the time.  I mention this because the Ashmolean is very similar: some gorgeous, Grecian and Egyptian artifacts and Asian art juxtaposed next to porcelain hogs head serving platters...

 

See, I wouldn't joke about such things...

 

And a Stradovarius.  In the background is a Virginal, similar to a harpsichord.

Okay, this has grown long.  That's all for part one.  Part two will follow shortly.

My Sister Comes Hither

(December 9th-15th, 2012: London) One of the high points of my sabbatical in Oxford was Elizabeth's visit.  For months, I looked forward to having her come and show me the Oxford that she knows from her time as a student here.  Plus, after having not really splurged and eaten out much, it was high time to indulge a bit.  In these regards, Elizabeth's visit did not dissapoint.

The first few days of her visit were spent in London: she was attending a conference while I was meeting colleagues at Imperial.  We would get together every evening and set out to explore the city and the fine dining options that lay before us.

Our first notable stop together was The Bistro Bruno Loubet. First, the dishes:

 

 Crab Ravioli

 

Sea Bream and Endive Salad

 

Smoked Salmon Mousse with Crostini

 

Quail

 Chocolate Cake

I definitely waited too long to post these pictures, and really have started to learn the lesson that I should jot down notes about what we had.  The Bistro Bruno Loubet was certainly enjoyable, but not the highlight of our culinary expeditions.  It was a good preview of the French food that I would be having in just a few weeks time though.

Before I get to the highlight of the first part of our visit, a few sites sans Elizabeth or food (not necessarily both though).  Our first night together, Elizabeth and I took a short walking tour of the corner of London that we were staying in:

Trafalgar Square, all ready for Christmas.

 

 

Liecester Square.

 

The covered market.

The next day, I was largely on my own, after an early run along the Thames, I struck out for lunch and ended up at Roka for sushi:

 

First up, a spinach salad, as I usually do at a good Japanese restaurant.  Goma Fumi no Horenso to be precise.

 

Eating sushi after a run is never a good idea...these two dishes are a selection of sashimi, and Kampachi roll: yellowtail, truffle yuzu dressing, mizuna, and pickled vegetables.

 

Finally, the last two dishes that I ordered: unagi in the foreground, and grilled beef and shishito pepper skewers in the back.  

Everything at Roku was delicious, but, after a run, not the best place to go unless you'd like to run up a bill of several hundred dollars (which I didn't, and thus was a little hungry still afterwards).  The rest of London was infected with the Christmas spirit as one might imagine...

 

A Christmas mart outside a church by our hotel (The Cavendish) and by one of the good stores that the Queen shops at (Fortnum and Mason).

 

  

More Christmas marts by the eye of London.

 

Big Ben and the Thames.

 

A war memorial overlooking Green Park.  The inscription at the bottom reads: "Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it -Pericles"

 

Green Park

Between Green Park, St. James' Park, Hyde Park, Kennsington Gardens, and the Thames paths, running in this area was fantastic.  So much variety of scenery, and trails galore!  Not what I expected from running in the city to be honest.  I could have happily run in these parks for weeks on end without getting bored.

 

Hyde Park's gardens

 

One of the ponds in Hyde Park

 

The Serpentine, a body of water splitting Hyde Park and Kenssington Gardens

 

Albert Memorial in Kennsington Gardens

 Wellington Arch, between Hyde Park and Green Park

Okay, enough with the build up, the true highlight of my time in London with Elizabeth was St. John.  Years ago, Elizabeth had given me a cookbook on whole hog cooking - the concept of using every single scrap from an animal possible.  Truthfully, I had forgotten about that book till visiting St. John as it isn't a practical cookbook, per se.  However, it is the cookbook put out by St. John's chef, Fergus Henderson: The whole beast - Nose to tail eating.  As you've probably already guessed, we had some interesting dishes...

Elizabeth making her prerequisite grumpy face while we wait for food.  This is an odd tradition of ours dating back several years now...

 Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Goat's Curd, and Garlic

Razor Clams, Thyme, and Salt Lemon

Buck Rarebit (in American, eggs atop bread smothered in cheese)

Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad.

Snails, Duck Hearts and Lovage

That last dish, I think, was a typical instance of her being curious about something, but wanting me to eat it for her.  Everything was fantastic, though the razor clams were a bit too salty for me (I think it was just me that night to be honest as Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed my share).  Bone marrow has quickly become one of my quirky favorite dishes...especially with the right bread when it's roasted just right (so as to not be too gooey).  Spread it like jam and it's oh so good...

Next stop: Oxford!