The food

London has REALLY GOOD food ... but almost all of it is non-British. In general this seems to be a bit of an "issue". I'm doing my very best to try and live like a local, but I'm quickly coming to the realization that I'm actually behaving more like a tourist. The locals don't seem to eat a lot of British food, and they definitely don't seem to drink a lot of British beer. Most pubs serve Fosters and Stella and Becks and Guiness ... but if you ask them for "something local", they look at you blankly for a second and then apologize that they don't have anything like that. Now, it's not quite as extreme as I'm making it out to be, but I would definitely say that of the pubs I've been to, only 1 or 2 out of 5+ taps will be pouring local ale.

The smartest thing I did when I arrived, was to ask the hotel manager for some local places that serve local fare but that aren't toursity. So now I'm getting most of my evening beer at The Cleveland Arms, where they have a rapidly changing guest ale (I've been there three times and it's been different each time). In Toronto, people always comment on how much better beer is on-tap compared to in a bottle. I find that to be even more the case here. I don't know why, but the slightly less ice-cold, slightly less carbonated beer that they pump into glasses here is a LOT better than what I pour out of the bottle. And it's not much more expensive. In Toronto, a 500mL bottle may be $2.50 and a 500mL glass $6. Here, a 500mL bottle may be £2 and a 500mL glass £2.50.

In addition to the pub, the hotel manager also recommended a restaurant called Raffles, where I've been going to enjoy their "Big Ben Breakfast". For £3, you get two eggs, baked beans, peameal bacon, a full-size sausage, half a tomato, sauteed mushrooms, and two pieces of buttered toast. They have a newspaper review on the wall which talks about how wonderful the breakfast is there (which I'll agree with - certainly for the value), and how it's the perfect solution for one too many pints the night before.

Where I work, there's an enormous variety of cuisine. It's like Toronto compacted into a much smaller area. Before I started working, I dropped in one day to do some HR paperwork, and then went out with some of the R&D guys for Thai food (possibly the best Thai food I've ever had). This past Thursday I went out for lunch with the CTO and ended up at a place that makes great gourmet burgers.

And the grocery stores here ALL have LOTS of different types of prepared sandwiches and salads, etc. (and they're actually pretty good). I'd say that probably 50%+ of my food so far has been prepared sandwiches from Marks & Spencer (which is actually a department store, but has a big food section as well). They also have microwaveable British food as well, so I've been able to enjoy the TV-dinner version of beef stew, sticky toffee pudding, etc. It's definitely all better quality than the TV-dinner food Toronto has to offer. Also on the British food front, I went to one of the food markets today, so I have a freshly made pie (meat pie, not fruit pie) to enjoy for dinner tonight.

I was planning to also talk about the tube and the people here, but I think this note is long enough already. Plus it's a BEAUTIFUL Easter weekend here, so I'm going to head back out to enjoy it.