Lunch for 2 with beer: £23.00

Its about time I got out and about in Britain.  Its not all London after all.  Luckily I am not the only one who’s not seen much outside the capital.  Some of my English friends have missed whole swathes of the countryside and luckily they have cars!

One such friend is Martin who has somehow – up until now of course – never been to the Cotswolds.  So on a recent Saturday we set off on a mission to overdose on pretty.

Our first stop was Mister Lovell which is close to Oxford but is pretty darn empty.  No coaches could possibly make it into the village so it is fairly unspoiled.  The reason to come here is the ruin of Lovell Hall which is situated in an idyllic setting on the edge of a wood by a stream.

Lovell Hall

It took us quite a while to find it (turns out its right behind the church – which is also nice to visit) but it was well worth the effort.  It would be a great place to have a picnic, but bring your food with you as I did not see any shops in the village.

Our next stop was Burford which is (as are all the Cotswolds villages) pretty, but it is also crammed full of other tourists all gawking at the sagging cottages.

The high street all seemed a little much so we headed off onto a side street to the Angel for lunch.  Not too far off of the beaten path it is nevertheless a complete contrast to the hustle and bustle of the high street.  The pub itself is elfin in proportions.  I am considered to be quite short and I am pretty sure I could have reached up and touched the ceiling.  It was quite cozy and I was prepared to tuck into a table by the fireplace when the landlord suggested the garden in the back.

This was no London pub beer garden (read concrete square with table on it).  This was a proper garden filled with flowers and birdsong.  There are several tables but they are all well spaced out so you’ve got plenty of room to relax.

Knowing that we would be stopping somewhere later that day for a cream tea I opted for a simple ploughman’s with Stilton.

Ploughman's

I expected something really simple and dull so was well pleased when my lunch arrived.  Everything about it was just right.  The bread was a hearty country style (no bagged bread here).   There was ample salad, really good cheese and we suspect that the “pickle” was house made.  All in all a very good country lunch.  I was well fortified for the next 300 small villages it felt like we visited that day.

They also have an interesting looking dinner menu which you can order from during lunch.  I would definitely stop by again, if ever I find myself in Burford.

Smurf Cottages, Broadway

Other places that you should definitely go to in the Cotswolds are the Slaughters and Broadway.  Avoid Bourton on the Water at all costs as it has been turned into a horrible Cotswolds theme park.

The Angel
14 Whitney St
Burford, Oxfordshire
OX18 4SN

Brunch for 1 with wine: £22.00

My plan was to wake up early and wander around some of the lesser visited sites in London that have been recommended to me by my friend Ian, work up a hefty appetite and then treat myself to a big lunch.  So of course I wind up sleeping in until 11am.  I adjust my plans a bit and decide lunch will become brunch and I head out to scrounge up a meal on St. John street near some of the sites on my itinerary.

St. John street is blessed with several excellent restaurants so I am told – the eponymous St. John’s being the most well known but which sadly does not serve brunch. It is a beautiful day so I take my time and stroll up the street to check out several other options.  I pick the Well because the glass walls are all thrown open meaning I can dine Al fresco and enjoy the weather without actually having to sit out on the pavement frying under the seriously bright noontime sun and it has a friendly and inviting vibe to it.

It is asparagus season in England so I have no choice but to order the grilled asparagus topped with a poached egg and sorrel hollandaise sauce.  The menu says the asparagus is from Suffolk which meant nothing to me at the time. I now know that it means that the asparagus was grown pretty close to London, kind of like Hudson Valley to Manhattan close.

Grilled Suffolk Asparagus, poached egg and sorrell mayonaise

Its yummy.  The asparagus is sweet, the egg is perfectly poached and the hollandaise is light and airy – not words one usually uses to describe a hollandaise.  It is clearly prepared with love and it tastes fresh.  Most restaurants make their hollandaise once and leave it to sit over a steam bath all during service but I suspect that this sauce was prepared – if not for me – then not very long before I place my order.  The addition of sorrell worked really well.

For my second item I opt for something completely different.  Confit of duck and foie gras with toast.

Pate of confit of duck and foie gras with toast

Nothing light and/or airy here. It was buttery and served with a delicious caramelized onion relish and thick grilled toast which was the perfect foil.  When I eventually ran out of the toast I greedily scooped every last little bit of the pate out of the ramekin with my knife.

Overall a good start to the day.  The only thing that worries me about this place is that in complete contrast to the understated and comfortable decor of the restaurant on the ground floor, in the basement there is an uber cheesy “lounge”.  The lounge comes complete with dark everything and aquariums in the walls one of which you can actually see through into the women’s bathroom.  The space suffers from early 90’s martini bar tackiness and I wonder what kind of crowd it attracts during the evening – it makes no sense with the restaurant.  It makes no sense anywhere actually as I am not a fan of the bat cave style of bar design that you usually find in Tribeca or Las Vegas.  I’d like to come back and have dinner here but I am prepared to be let down by a schizophrenic clash between the lounge and restaurant. Hopefully I’ll be pleasantly surprised because the food was quite enjoyable.

Ultimately my favorite aspect of the restaurant is its proximity to St. Bartholomew the Great, a Catholic church when it was built in 1123 (now Anglican).  I’d never heard of or read about this church, one of the oldest in London and which was untouched by the fire in 1666 until Ian sang its praises and it is indeed a great find.  It’s hidden in a little nook behind the St. Barts hospital complex – you have to go through a half timbered Tudor gate house to get to it.  The interior is Norman which tends to mean dark and kind of spooky in a good way.  I had the church all to myself which meant i could lay down on the floor and take pictures of the ceiling without people looking at me funny.

Both the restaurant and the Church are worth a visit.

Saint Bartholomew the Great

The Well
180 St. John St
London EC1V 4JY

St. Bartholomew the Great