tedgale

Thanks to you, latedaytraveler, and to the others who are reading and commenting. I appreciate the feedback.

Before I get into a day-by-day snapshot of what we did and saw, I want to list the places we ate.

Restaurants: We didn't have any meals that I would qualify as truly great. Mostly we were eating with family members; those venues were chosen as a setting for conviviality, rather than for culinary excellence.

Moreover, we chose restaurants for proximity -- either to Craven Street or to our South Kensington family hub.

We thought we might try the well-priced prix-fixe lunch (2 courses, 22 GBP, 3 courses, 27 GBP) at Outlaw's at the Capital, a one-star Michelin restaurant in a posh hotel in Basil Street, Knightsbridge. In the end, our schedule just didn't allow it.

Tuesday: Terroirs, King William IV Street, Soho.

Hip, two-level wine bar between Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square. Lots of selection in this area. We considered Les Deux Salons just down the block for its well-priced pre-theatre menu but chose this for its more imaginative food.

Prices are high in this part of town. That is, I considered 15 GBP rather high for a smallish dish of blood pudding with a few root vegetables. It was a very well done dish, however.

Friendly if rather off-hand service and a lively, youthful vibe.

Like some other restaurants we sampled, this one includes an "Optional Service Charge" on your bill. Unaware N American diners may not notice this and may tip as usual without realizing they have already paid for service. I have no idea whether most people accept the charge, remove it or vary it.

Wednesday: Duke of Clarence gastropub, 148 Old Brompton Road.

We debated several restaurant options -- La Bouchee, Bumpkin (S Kensington) on Old Brompton Road, La Brasserie on Brompton Road-- but finally chose a pub option at my urging.

It's a large, noisy, lively space. It was our first family dinner and I don't really remember much about the food we ate. Several people had fish and chips, which I sampled and greatly liked. I had a bowl of rather shrivelled mussels, which came to the table warm, not hot. My brother was pleased with his duck leg confit over white beans.

As in other places we tried, the food was competently prepared and served but the menu was not hugely exciting or imaginative.

Thursday: Cadogan Arms, 298 King's Road, Chelsea and Med Kitchen, 25-35 Gloucester Road.

After my sister in law's memorial service at Chelsea Old Church -- which was lovely but which I will not describe -- the participants repaired to the nearby Cadogan Arms, where my brother had arranged for drinks and food for all. We returned for a meal here later in the week.

The Cadogan Arms and Med Kitchen are each a member of a chain. (Actually, just about every restaurant we researched turns out to be part of a chain.)

Med Kitchen describes itself as a contemporary Mediterranean brasserie. It is a large, glass-fronted modern space, quite empty at 7 pm when our party of 12 diehards arrived for an unscheduled dinner.

It's the sort of place where you order grilled salmon because there's nothing more exciting on the menu that a non-meat-eater can eat. So I ordered grilled salmon, which came with the usual unseasonal accompaniment of asparagus -- adequate, nothing special.

tedgale

Friday: V&A Cafe, at the rear of the V&A museum, Cromwell Road.

My sister and her husband had spent the day doing genealogical research out at Kew, whereas we had spent the afternoon slogging through museums, as I shall describe later. We both wanted a cheap, simple, restorative meal with zero fuss at the minimum distance from our respective digs.

Parts of the V&A stay open on Friday evenings and that includes the museum cafe, which serves until 9:30 PM. The cafe is very extensive and comprises one very large, very modern hall, off which there are three exquisitely decorated period dining rooms.

These are museum-worthy in their own right and represent three distinct strands in late-Victorian decoration. The respective designers are William Morris and James Webb; James Gamble; and Sir Edward Poynter -- titans of the British art and design world in those decades.

The Morris/Webb room is a homely Arts and Crafts "snug" -- you expect Jane Morris or Lizzie Siddal or some other pre-Raphaelite wraith to float through the space.

The other two are much glitzier: Gamble's grandly columned room entirely clad in Renaissance-style glazed terracotta, reminiscent of Florence; and Poynter's Grill Room, dressed in fashionable "Dutch" blue and white tiles, emblematic of the contemporary love affair with the era of Queen Anne.

Food is served from a number of different stations. Our appetites were modest and I was longing for a vegetarian meal after the constant red-meat bombardment of restaurant menus.

We hit the vegetarian station. For 8.50 GBP we got a sampler plate of five (utterly delectable) vegetarian meze that was so huge it took two of us to consume it.

Saturday: Aubaine, 260-262 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge.

It was Valentine's Day and we knew all the most popular restaurants would be booked. On a rainy night, we refused to go far -- but we did have to go out.

In the immediate vicinity of Egerton Gardens at Brompton Cross, there are plenty of restaurants. There are even more in the streets grouped around the S Kensington tube station.

They mostly get mixed reviews online. The ones on the route leading to Harrods looked raffish, with (as it seemed to my illiberal, elderly eye) lots of young, rich, swaggering middle eastern males talking on iPhones.

Nearest to us and the nicest in appearance, with a very French menu and reasonable prices, was Aubaine, part of a succesful all-day brasserie chain. At 7 PM on Valentine's Day, it was not full.

The large, darkened room, decorated in country French motif, looked suitably romantic. Many tables were reserved but they could seat us at the "sharing table", which seats a dozen or more and was less than half-full.

Our neighbours were a lively party of British and American twenty-somethings. We and they said hello but did not speak further. Later in the meal, some places at the end of the table were taken by a trio of young middle-eastern males who noisily sat down, ordered coffee, texted and talked awhile on their iPhones and then left.

Dinner was a hearty meal. I started with an entree: goujonettes of fish. I didn't like any of the non-meat main courses, so I swallowed my principles along with their excellent and super-tender lamb shoulder over a delicately flavoured but robust polenta.

As with all the restaurants we sampled, the staff that served us here was all foreign-born: a young Italian guy at the front of house, a delightful young French woman who served and a friendly Sicilian busboy. The bill, with its now-familiar "Optional Service Charge", was reasonable for what we ate and for this chic address.

Fra_Diavolo

Enjoying your report.

In the fall of 1971 I rented a "short-term let" flat in Edgerton Gardens. My roommates and I got a good deal -- not bad digs for students. I remember the neighborhood fondly. Also The Hourglass Pub, where I spent time that might have been better spent studying.

I returned to London for work in the late Eighties, and several more times since. Like you, I was struck by the signs of economic recovery. Every time I visit, the city seems even more prosperous.

Looking forward to reading the rest!

latedaytraveler

TEDGALE,

I enjoyed your description of the interesting dining options at the V & A. Personally, I find the whole place overwhelming. I guess it has to be broken down into its component parts.

texasbookworm

Well done! I will look forward to the rest of the installments. I loved your "impressions," and your insights and details have reminded me again why I am so glad and blessed to be headed back for 6th visit in June. I'll be re-reading more carefully, too, to glean some ideas for that trip. Carry on!

tedgale

The Hourglass is still there and still serving a student population, from the look of it.

Agree about the V&A. Even though I was determined to be very selective, I quickly found myself wandering about in a daze.

tom_mn

Just chiming in:

I had a similar time break in visiting London (for me 26 years) and couldn't believe the difference last year.

1988. Filthy, dog poo everywhere, historic buildings soot covered, most of the tube and rail stations and cars decrepit with things like squealing wooden escalators standard. Hideous modern architecture without a single redeeming exception, Sampson House a good example https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/r...x480-81599.jpg

2014. Total change! clean everything, no poo whatsoever, tube vastly upgraded, beautiful and exciting modern buildings, dynamic vibe, wonderous riverfront mile after mile.

As to where you were staying, London has rediscovered the Thames and being near it I think makes a better stay, and more lively.

bilboburgler

great write up, the VA is my favorite museum and I like your comments.

TDudette

Hi tedgale, so sorry to read of your SIL’s death. A friend of mine had the same complaint about the UA lounge in Philly—apparently they closed the nicer one with the merger. Thanks for all the great info and the link to the Craven St. flat. So many reasons to return!

tedgale

Sunday: Cadogan Arms, 298 King's Road, Chelsea; and Brasserie Zedel, 20 Sherwood Street, Soho.

For a final family event, we met again at the Cadogan Arms. Sunday lunch is a popular time for a large and leisurely meal en famille and we -- arriving just as they opened -- were lucky to be seated.

The pub, richly paneled in wood, is large and airy but looks a bit worn now. However, service is deft and attentive and the dishes, if rather heavy, are abundant and delicious.

As they should be, given the prices here: for example, 85 GBP for a shoulder of lamb that serves "three or more".

We shared potted shrimps on toast to start. My brother and niece had their roast chicken for two, served with vegetables. Several of us had a salmon fishcake, served over wilted spinach.

My brother-in-law's pork belly came crowned with a huge Yorkshire pudding that I sampled and pronounced excellent. In the end, we all ate rather more than we planned.

Some of our party followed their usual practise of out-eating, out-drinking and out-ordering everyone else at the table. I saw a couple of irritated, almost stricken looks from others when the usual suspects ordered desserts. The correct gesture to mollify the discontented and ensure family peace was for my partner and me to pick up the bill for the entire table. Which we did.

After such a lunch, I didn't have a lot of appetite for a large dinner but it was our final London evening and we had already reserved at Brasserie Zedel in Soho.

Zedel is the former basement Grill Room of the old Regent Palace hotel, which I remember from the '70s as a rather dubious tourist hotel -- it finally closed in 2006.

The surrounding area pulses with life: the sidewalks throng with theatre crowds -- even on a Sunday evening -- and with groups of young tourists sampling the flesh pots of Soho.

The old Grill Room's huge volumes have been restored, its columns and trim re-gilded. It has been decorated with posters and memorabilia to resemble a grand but very traditional French brasserie of WW I vintage. The adjacent entrance hall, the nearby Bar Americain and the corridor leading to the restrooms have a more Art Deco vibe.

I didn't see anything I wanted among the main courses so I settled for a selection of entrees: a good Provencal fish soup with the usual fried slices of baguette and a garlicky rouille; a small beet salad topped with wonderful hot Fourme d'Ambert cheese; and pan-fried frogs' legs -- a tiny portion of four cuisses, heavily breaded and rather dry.

The first two were fine. The last was a disappointment -- and on reflection, a rather naive choice.

Overall: A lively place that handles crowds well and is well-suited for large parties -- there was one table that must have had close to 20 people at it. We were not amazed at the food but the atmosphere was lush and the service was good.

annhig

As they should be, given the prices here: for example, 85 GBP for a shoulder of lamb that serves "three or more">>

good grief - the meat probably cost them no more than £15 max. I hope it came with a whole pile of veg.

Come to Cornwall, Ted, I can show you some places that charge substantially less than that. and where the food is as good, if not better.

tedgale

I'd love to see Cornwall again sometime, annhig.

I'll now conclude with a day-by-day summary of what we saw and did, focusing on the things we enjoyed most that I'd recommend to others.

Tuesday: We had a rendezvous at 12:30 PM with the flat owner's representative. As soon as we'd settled in and organized our things, we took off on foot through the neighbourhood of Covent Garden for the SIr John Soane museum at 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields.

My notes for the afternoon read:

"First stop was Sir John Soane's Museum, a brilliant and eccentric personal architectural and decorative statement by the greatest neo classical architect after the Adam brothers. Interior is unphotographable - and indescribable. Think: Thomas Jefferson on acid.

"Wandered Gray's Inn and New Yard to get to the Temple Church, built for crusading Knights Templar in 1185. A round church patterned on the Jerusalem tomb of Christ, it was meant for royal burials but the Royals went elsewhere. Now the church of the lawyers of the Inner and Middle Temples, 2 of the 4 Inns of Court. Famous for music"

After that, we wandered north to revisit some favourite spots in Bloomsbury, including the great Georgian and Regency squares: Bloomsbury, Tavistock, Gordon and Mecklenburg Squares; Coram Fields; and the bustling Russell Square, where we once spent six nights in the grand Victorian pile that is the Hotel Russell.

After dinner, we walked westward from Trafalgar Square into Clubland -- the monumental men's clubs along Pall Mall in St James's -- and as far as the Ritz, in Piccadilly. A strange, dead night-time landscape.

Sir John Soane Museum: Soane was a distinguished 18th and 19th C architect whose life continued almost to the dawn of the Victorian era. His commissions were many; I believe the largest was the Bank of England buildings, now mostly demolished and replaced.

As he prospered and his practise grew, he rebuilt a Georgian townhouse into a statement of his own quirky aesthetic. He eventually bought the two flanking townhouses to house his ever-growing collection of classical sculpture, architectural fragments and paintings.

Many of these are housed in enclosed, glass-roofed multi-storey courtyards. His purpose was in part didactic: he brought in students and apprentices to study or draw his classical treasures.

He needed to cram an immense amount of material into some fairly confined spaces. His solutions are sometimes breathtaking in their audacity. Entire walls open up to reveal folding shutters on which are hung, front and back, some priceless paintings -- most notably, Hogarth's famous sequence of The Rake's Progress, which Soane purchased at auction for 500 pounds.

Soane was disappointed in life. His beloved wife died, as did a disappointing wastrel son. His remaining son betrayed his father, publishing articles that ridiculed his architectural achievements. Soane decided to disinherit his son, bequeathing his home as a place for students and connoisseurs to study his collection and contemplate his achievements.

Sir John Soane's Museum, 13 Lincolns Inn Fields
Admission free, open 10:00 - 5:00
Tube: Holborn- left exit to Kingsway, third left into Remnant Street
Tours: £10 - Tu & Fr - 11:30; We & Th - 3:30; Sa - 11:00

Temple Church - £5 (£3 seniors) Open: 10:00-16:00 except Wednesdays 14:00-16:00; closed on weekends except for worship.
Organ recital: Wednesdays. Choral mattins: Sunday at 11:15.
Tube: Temple via Middle Temple Lane; and Blackfriars via Temple Avenue and Tudor Street (both District and Circle)

tedgale

Wednesday: I'd never seen Hampton Court Palace, so when I saw on the website that tickets purchased online for both this and Kensington Palace were half-price until Feb 13, I thought "Why not?"

As the London area's largest and most historic Tudor era complex that is accessible to the public, this place was a natural draw for me.

Even more enticing were the additions and renovations undertaken by William and Mary and the early Georges. As impressive as these are, one can only be grateful that lack of funds hampered William's early plans to demolish and rebuild most of the early 16th C Tudor palace.

From the flat in Craven Street, we walked down to the Embankment and across the Jubilee pedestrian bridge, to the Royal Festival Hall and Waterloo Station. The view of the London Eye and the newly scrubbed or newly built buildings up and down the river was spectacular, even on a gloomy, chilly day like this one.

Waterloo was easy to navigate. Google maps had shown us the fastest train connections but we realized the slower "local" from Waterloo to Hampton Court would save us a connection at Surbiton. Basically, we could start now on the slower train. Or we could wait for the later, faster train to Hampshire, let it overtake the slow local, wait 6 minutes at Surbiton station and then change to the local to complete our journey.

Why bother?

From the station at Hampton Court, the Palace is clearly visible on the far side of the bridge that spans the Thames. Our tickets were waiting for us. Outside the entrance to the first courtyard, we met the friendly and helpful uniformed staff who are strategically placed throughout the entire complex.

An audio guide offers three very thoughtful tours: the Tudor kitchens and food at the Tudor court; public spaces of the Tudor court; and the royal suite of William and Mary.

Printed texts guide you through the separate state apartments of the early Georges -- the German-speaking George I and his resentful, unhappy male heir. There is also a separate, unguided art gallery. Where the audio guide (included with the ticket) left some gap, the well-informed staff were generally able to fill it.

In the interests of brevity, I will not describe the palace in detail. There is an awful lot of it. After five hours and with a family dinner pending, we decided we'd had enough. I never did see the famous maze nor visit the beautiful early 18th C formal gardens that I had glimpsed from the state apartments.

My notes on our day read:

"Hampton Court Palace. Three distinct dynasties, each building for its own aggrandizement. It's not the mellow organic unity that old houses are supposed to be. It's more like a boarding house in which prickly rival lodgers have each staked out their territory and filled it with their favourite possessions."

From Waterloo Station we continued home by Tube, made a brief pit-stop and hastened to Chelsea for our family dinner.

thursdaysd

Enjoying your report! I'm another fan of the V&A, it's my rainy day retreat in London. It's also where I get my scone and clotted cream fix unless the weather is really nice (in which case I visit the Orangery in Kensington Gardens). I was in London briefly in December (brrr) and did visit the wedding dress exhibit at the V&A, which I really enjoyed.

Definitely recommend the Geffrye and Denis Severs for next time.

annhig

enjoying your perspective on our capital, tedgale.

<<From the flat in Craven Street, we walked down to the Embankment and across the Jubilee pedestrian bridge, to the Royal Festival Hall and Waterloo Station.>>

In case you are unaware of this option, for your [and others] future reference, rather than walking down to Embankment and over the bridge, you could get the overground from Charing Cross to Waterloo east, and then walk over to the main Waterloo station to catch the Hampton Court train. There are a number of these overground links - e.g. Charing Cross to London Bridge via Waterloo East. London Bridge to Blackfriars, which are part of a network of overland/suburban train lines around London that few visitors are aware of.

tedgale

I had seen the train link to Waterloo East on the tfl.com site. I didn't realize it was above ground rather than underground. I wanted the experience of crossing the river on foot and therefore left in sufficient time to do that.

I had. planned on taking an overground train to the Geffrye but that dropped from our list when I finally found I was museumed out

By the way, that tfl site is astonishingly good. I am used to using such sites in Paris and Rome but this site is faster and clearer than either the ratp or the atac site.

annhig

glad you were aware of the option, Ted - it doesn't really matter whether it's over or underground except of course you need to know where to get on the train. And I know what you mean about walking - sometimes it is the only way to travel!

SharonG

What a great and helpful report. Also ate at V&A cafeteria and thought it was very good. Had an enormous meringue cookie that I still think of fondly. Will be returning end of March for a quick visit.

raincitygirl

Really enjoying your report Ted, thanks. I love London, always have since my first visit in 1973, and reading your report makes me feel I've had a little trip there.

I also have enjoyed some good food in the V&A cafe, last time was in summer and we sat outside watching children splashing in the pond. Bliss.

Stayed in South Kensington last time so nice to read about familiar places.

irishface

Enjoying your report. Was in London this past Sept after 15 year hiatus but instantly remembered why it is my favorite city. Hope to be back in May.