There are places that are on your bucket list and when you get there, you can satisfyingly cross them off your Places To See Before You Die roster.
And then there are destinations, like birthday candles on a cake that refuse to blow out, which relentlessly keeping popping back on your B List.
London is one of mine.
You can never have enough of London. The magical megapolis draws you back year after year.
Although there were moments year before last when I swore I would not visit again in summer because the tourist hordes are crazy and often misbehaved.
For me visiting London is a short, very cheap plane ride away when I go visit my daughter in Dublin.
Many things keep bringing me back...
The food, of course.
Borough Market and all its wondrous delights.
Mercato Mayfair, housing food stalls inside a handsome church, has a good range of international fare.
The tea lounges, for a once-in-a-way splurge like Picadilly's Fortnum & Mason or the Ritz for their uppah class chai and very British bites.
Harrods food hall that makes buying a pasta dish to takeaway feel like you are truly elite; the preparations taste wonderful too. I haven't yet tried the single Japanese strawberry selling for 30 pounds but their Creme Brulee is yum.
And then the umpteen exquisite little restaurants offering great meals, with a drink, a dessert and a starter, apart from the main course, at a price far less than what you would pay in Bombay.
The chocolate, for sure.
I always go and pick a few liqueur-laced pieces from Charbonnel and Walker. Or Laderach. Or Hotel Chocolat.
Grocery shopping. Yes. I can't go to any city and not look for interesting food ingredients in the grocery stores. Waitrose for truffle herbal cheese or cream crackers or scones or fondue (that the Irish have never heard of). Partridges, this cute little gourmet grocery store, near Gloucester road, for the rare Spanish crackers Inés Rosales Tortas de Aceite that's like a sweet orange-flavoured khakra and other goodies. Or for gifts.
Theatre is another big draw.
Who can resist watching the incomparable Imelda Staunton in Hello Dolly? Or see Mary Poppins fly above your head.
Else take in the ABBA extravaganza at way out Pudding Mill Lane, north London.
The shopping not so much, because the variety is way too bewildering and it's wildly expensive. Although I love walking the shopping boulevards and I have to buy some books for my grandson always from the storied Hatchards, dating from 1797, a bookshop that is exactly how a bookshop should be, wooden panelled, a quaint lift, grand staircases, hushed, with little warrens of books over five floors and a inviting children's bookroom populated by a giant stuffed tiger.
But there is also something so addictive about the very air of regal London. You can't help it, but when you arrive in London, you can't put your biases away -- you always feel this is it, you have arrived in the greatest city the world has seen and once the largest seats of power.
Walking the beautiful neighbourhoods is such a pleasure -- peering at stately mansions or elegant tiny city homes I would not be able to afford in the next 10 lifetimes.
So is strolling along the placid Regent's Canal with its house barges, near Camden Town or Angel. Or following the Thames at Richmond.
Taking one of those gracious black cabs a short distance.
Swooshing down the Thames on an Uber water taxi.
People watching at Westminster Bridge or Hyde Park. Nipping into a random pub for a breather. Standing at night at Piccadilly Circus absorbing the night lights and neon-ness. Roaming the quaint cute City of Westminster. Looking for bargains at Camden Market. Perusing the tiny independent bookshops at Richmond.
I have done the expensive must-do stuff like London Eye, Tower of London and the museums, where tickets set you back a tidy sum.
Now on repeat trips I just prefer to wander, stopping at cafes for refreshments and a dessert.
Last time I had the rare pleasure of taking my grandson too. It was a delightful four days, except when he calmly confessed that he threw my socks out the hotel window.
He was so excited to see the seals at London Zoo, visit Hamleys and also sample all the umpteen forms of transport.
He enjoyed luxuriating in a tub bath with bubbles. Travelling with bachhas is icing on the cake -- it's so fun.
I usually head once to the food hall at Selfridges and I have twice picked up Lebanese-Turkish food. Strangely it is run by Indians. But I do love their Mujadara, a Middle Eastern rice with crispy onions on top.
It's a simple preparation but rather, rather nice. I slightly Indianised it, while making it at home and served it with a pomegranate relish or raita.
Mujadara Middle Eastern Lentil Rice With Labneh Pomegranate Raita
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups whole masoor or red lentils, soaked overnight and cooked till just done
- 4 large onions, sliced, for the birasta
- 1½ cups raw basmati rice
- 2-3 lavang or cloves
- 3 peppercorns
- 1-inch stick dalcheeni or cinnamon
- 1 tej patta or bay leaf
- 1 tsp jeera or cumin powder
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- Dash hing or asafoetida
- Salt to taste, about 1½ tsp
- 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
- Dash black pepper powder
- 1 tsp Tabasco
- Oil for deep frying the onions
- 3 cups water
- Few strands kesar or saffron soaked in a tsp warm milk, optional
For the labneh raita:
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- Salt to taste, about 1 tspt
- 200 gm yoghurt hung over 2-3 hours to get labneh
- 1 tbsp pomegranate syrup, available for purchase online or 2-3 tbsp pomegranate arils or seedpods
Method
For the labneh raita:
- In a bowl mix all the ingredients together and keep chilled till the rice is ready.
For the rice:
- Heat the oil till medium-hot and deep fry the onions in batches till just pink and crispy but not dark brown or black to make the birasta.
Drain onto a paper towel-lined plate and store after it cools in an airtight container so it stays crisp. - In a kadhai or a saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, hing, raw rice and fry for about 5-8 minutes over medium heat.
Add a large handful of the fried onions (birasta), water, haldi, butter, cumin powder, Tabasco, salt, black pepper powder, whole masoor dal, water and cover and cook over low heat till just done and the water dries up. - Serve hot with the raita and garnished with the remaining fried onions.
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