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Hello again, Dish readers — long time no talk… it’s just me (Ben) again this time around, as Eva’s off…
Thanks to all who sent in London suggestions after my last solo newsletter in late April, just before I headed across the pond.
The trip was a rousing romp thanks in part to the suggestions by you readers. Among the more memorable was an email imploring me to try a sausage on a bun at London’s incredible and fairly overwhelming Borough Market — I ticked that box after a long day of walking and sightseeing, washing it down with a Spanish cerveza.
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After 25,000 steps I earned this Brindiza chorizo roll with arugula and roasted red pepper, washed down with a Spanish brew. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
I scarfed down some proper fish and chips at a pub near our hotel — paired with a pint, of course. The experience was all the more authentically British thanks to the pub being filled with soccer (er… football) fans gathered to watch a Champions League semifinal match. (Of note, soccer fans: Saturday’s Uncorked is a monster showdown of wines from World Cup contender countries.)
My fish and chips came with a side of peas and a lemon, which means it was basically health food. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
Speaking of beer, I enjoyed many cask ales on this trip. Cask ale is unfiltered beer that undergoes secondary fermentation in the cask, resulting in softer carbonation.
It’s typically served closer to room temperature and is drawn from the cask into the glass via a pump-type system. (The Grove is pretty much the only Winnipeg pub that regularly serves a cask ale, although some local breweries occasionally pour small-batch cask brews as well.)
Come to papa. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
I also test-drove a couple of English sparkling wines, the best of which give entry-level French champagnes a run for their money.
I tasted the English fizz in a 13th-century cathedral while a man played show tunes on a grand piano, which didn’t hurt — although how they got that grand piano into the tiny basement space is still baffling to me.
Sampling English sparkling wine the way it was meant to be tasted — in a cathedral dating back to the 1280s while a guy in a tux belts out Wonderwall on the piano. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
High tea was everything I’d hoped and more — particularly since the one we went to (at The Rosebery in the Mandarin Oriental hotel) was quite chic (read: expensive!). It was all the tea, fancy sandwiches, scones and desserts you could eat/drink (plus a little sparkling wine on the side), really more an event than a proper meal.
Fancy sandwiches, tea and prosecco at The Rosebery. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
One delightful, more affordable food discovery in London was the abundance of (very good) to-go food in shops such as Sainsbury’s, M&S (Marks & Spencer), Tesco and the like.
There were many days where, while seeing the sights, my lunch ended up being a takeaway sandwich and bag of crisps snagged from one of the aforementioned stores, scarfed down in a park while reading a book. Bliss.
Ah yes, the sights: parks aplenty, the Churchill War Rooms, the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Sherlock Holmes Museum and much more — including the new Banksy statue.
Banksy’s new statue stands among the more historic pieces located at Waterloo Place. (Ben Sigurdson / Free Press)
And, Dish readers, to put the British-ness of my London visit right over the top, I even saw a real live royal.
While walking through Hyde Park I stumbled upon a ceremony marking the third anniversary of King Charles’ coronation, which included Princess Anne arriving in a horse-drawn carriage. I was, as they say, quite chuffed.
Cheerio, mates, and until next time.
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