Published in Buzz Weekly
After saving for months for spring break, I decided to go to the wildest party city in the world. No, not Cancun—-London! Unpredictable weather and the worst currency exchange in the world may bother some people, but not me. Honestly though, there are many opportunities for fine dining and speed dating in this cultural epicenter.
So what can a naïve traveler do in London? The best option is to pick yourself up a travel guide. Because I am cheap, I bought an outdated AAA travel guide from 1998. Fortunately, I was traveling with Miss Caitlin Bergo and her companions who were smart enough to purchase 2004-2005 editions of various books. Either way, we quickly learned that travel guide or not, London offers far more than you can pack into a week.
Although the flight was only 7 hours, we lost a day and arrived on Tuesday. We booked a youth hostel in Piccadilly Circus and due to unfortunate miscommunication, we lost our reservation for the week because we did not check in Monday night. Fortunately, we used our powers of fierce sexuality combined with a touch of good luck and pathetic groveling to secure a room for the rest of the week.
Realizing that napping to adjust to local time was essentially a waste, I took the London Underground, better known as ‘The Tube,’ to Camden Town. Camden Town is a lively area located in northwest London offering a slew of pubs, alternative shops and pubs. I ended up at the World’s End: a multi-leveled pub with a delightful historical charm located conveniently across the street from the Tube. Like most pubs, the menu was limited to fish and chips and other fried food, as the main attraction is beer and social interaction. The barmaid’s usage of microwave technology to ineffectively reheat my meal was definitely worth the £5 (or 10 USD).
Conceding to the possibility that the pub food may not have tasted that great because it was from a pub, I gave Harry Ramsden’s fast food restaurant, located directly across the street from our youth hostel. Claiming to have ‘The World’s Best Fish and Chips,’ and also lured in by a £3 meal, I gave it a whirl. It had a similarity to Long John Silver’s that left me wiping the grease off my face for the next half hour. Despite the intense indigestion I experienced, I still felt it was a lot better than the St. Patrick’s Day dinner I ate at the Allen Residence Hall the week before.
At that point, I figured it would be in my best interest to stop eating fish and chips and check out the local curry houses that London is famous for. Because our youth hostel happened to be located next to Denman Street, which is filled entirely with Indian restaurants, Caitlin and I wandered into Chowki. A chic Indian restaurant in the heart of Piccadilly, Chowki offers a unique and delicious menu of monthly feasts from different regions of India. For only £10.95, you can split a hearty meal of 3 appetizers, an entrée and dessert with a friend, or if you have the financial means and luxury of refrigerator, you can take left-overs home with you.
However, this isn’t your run-of- the-mill Indian restaurant. The restaurateurs have created a trendy décor of dark wooden floors and metal accents that makes anyone feel classy. Obviously, we felt slightly embarrassed stumbling in from a day of traveling the Tube non-stop and wearing jeans, but was very attentive and friendly regardless. It took us several minutes to decide what to eat as all of the options were very appetizing. We shared the Mangalore feast, consisting of marinated prawns, lentils, spicy chicken curry, naan bread, rice and rice pudding. The presentation of the meal was particularly impressive: porcelain, interlocking, crescent-shaped dishes highlighting a colorfully artful meal. Lightly pan-fried in tamarind, cumin and coriander, the prawns couldn’t have been fresher. The lentils and spicy chicken curry were both mouth-watering and filling. Each item held a refined flavor that was delicious on its own or combined with any other item.
I was delighted that a dessert was included, but I felt I could have easily been satisfied with a main course. The rice pudding had been prepared in coconut milk, providing a sweet complement to the spicy meal we had just eaten. Warm and comforting, it was the perfect way to distract me from my bank account, which was quickly dissolving. Although the menu changes monthly, I would still recommend it based on the fact Chowki was possibly the best restaurant we ate during our trip, and maybe the most amazing Indian food I’ve ever eaten.
If you’re in London and don’t mind eating greasy pub food for the sake of an experience, I would search around before trying Harry Ramsden’s or consider skipping it entirely for an evening of fine dining at Chowki. Either way, an adventurous attitude provided me with a fantastic spring break, even if it wasn’t in Mexico.