Lunch Time at Amuse

Always great to have lunch at Amuse.

Green Salad with Prosciutto and Comte Cheese

Curry Fried Oysters

Family Meal

The fried chicken and biscuit at Family Meal was delicious.

The kitchen coordination, which could be observed from our table, left a lot to be desired. Orders were forgotten and no one seemed to be in charge. From my vantage point it was definitely not the wait staff lacking execution skills. The hope is for all of the hiccups to be remedied in the near future so the food can shine.

A Toast to Lunch

We recently went to Toast for lunch. First time. I really liked the welcome sign (although I did not imbibe any of the tempting whiskeys - next time).

Lots of options at Toast

The place was packed so we sat at the bar.

Tempting Whiskeys

Hubby had a salad and I ate a sandwich.

Smoked Gouda Chef Salad with Turkey, Egg, and Bacon

Turkey Avocado with Muenster on Wheat

While both were simple, they were delicious and satisfied some formerly unknown craving that we had. Hubby enjoyed the smokey Gouda and bacon. The herbed mayo and guac on my sandwich was both creamy and tangy. And I could order mashed potatoes as a side instead of fries. Right on!

Lunch at The Continental Westhampton

I dare you to leave The Continental Westhampton still hungry. Portions are always generous.

The Continental Westhamption

A few Sundays ago we wanted a late lunch with a TV to see how badly the Washington Redskins would be playing on that day. The Continental Westhampton fit the bill. We were escorted to a booth in the back and hubby and I shared a bench to watch the game and become depressed.

I ordered the roasted turkey sandwich with house-made cranberry sauce and Swiss. Satisfying comfort food for me. I like that the offering does not come dressed with the typical lettuce, tomato, and mayo. For the side option I chose the house-made chips. Not bad, but I got tired of the hard crunch after a while.

Roasted Turkey Sandwich - Comfort Central

Hubby got his grub on and selected the Cuba Libra Burger - a burger with pork, ham, pickles, mustard, and Swiss. It was supposed to be pressed. Maybe it was, but the thing was so big it needed a second pressing. Tasty and filling. Hubby could not eat all of it.

Big-assed meaty burger

For this hearty meal we sipped a Matchbook Tinto Rey.

A little red wine to help with digestion

After our huge lunch, the waiter had the nerve to ask us about dessert. Sadly, dessert was not an option. Eventually, I will need to visit and just order the Baked Alaska. The last time I had this dessert was in a Home Ec class. Definitely a less-than-stellar experience way back then.

So, if you are up for a game, The Continental Westhamption's got you covered.

Condiments at Play

River City Smokehouse Sandwich at Lunch

River City Smokehouse Sandwich a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

Lunch serves up a pile of BBQ for their River City Smokehouse Sandwich. Enjoy with a Guinness on draft.

Fat Tony at Lamplighter

Fat Tony a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

Lamplighter on Addison features the Fat Tony for your lunching pleasure: spicy Italian sausage, fresh mozzarella, grilled onions, roasted red peppers, and basil on focaccia. Enjoy it with cold pressed iced coffee. Yummy!

Lunch and Art at Tate Modern

Tate Modern is the most popular and famous of the Tate galleries. The converted power plant is massive, imposing, and iconic. While not all of the art is to my liking, the images always create conversation. The great thing about Tate Modern is that the permanent collection is free and photos are allowed.

The other cool thing about Tate Modern is the Restaurant. Located on the 6th floor with tons of windows and light streaming in. We arrived for an early lunch. While the window seats overlooking the Thames were already booked, we could still choose the south facing tables. The 6th floor also has cafe service where one can order and sit at a bar facing St. Paul's Cathedral.

The menu features a nice wine list and a varied list of entrees from fish to duck to venison. We ordered a nice La Source Rose and selected Salmon and Roast Breast of Guinea Fowl to eat. We were also provided bread and butter.

We had a lovely lunch with quite a view. Since we arrived early, the restaurant was quiet. Upon finishing our meal we wandered through the various floors in search of the strange, unusual, and occasionally, the familiar.

Trafalgar Square and the Crypt Cafe

Trafalgar Square is always a must-visit spot in London. Nelson's Column with all of the tourists cornering the lions. The National Gallery sporting art that one can see for free. The entertainers who delight the crowds for tips. The 4th Plinth where some general dude on a horse statue was supposed to be erected, but no one put up the money for the guy, so it was left bare. Now it's open for a contemporary sculpture that changes frequently. Another Trafalgar Square story involves the pigeons (or lack there of). Apparently, the square used to home to tens of thousands of the urban birds. The city got tired of cleaning all of the bird crap off of Lord Nelson and the lions just could not keep up with their grooming. Now the city feeds the pigeons early in the morning and engages falcons to keep the birds at bay the rest of the time. Brilliant!

Trafalgar Square - Not a pigeon in sight

Lions - Tourist-free for the moment

The National Gallery

The 4th Plinth

Man with fire-breathing tuba

Across the street from Trafalgar Square is the little church of St. Martin in the Fields (no field in sight now). In the basement of the church is the crypt which is now hosts the Cafe in the Crypt. And it still is a crypt. We ate over grave stones. Weird, eerie, and something that we had to do. The cafe is a cafeteria that offers soups, salads, hot entrees  and sandwiches.

St. Martin in the Fields

Cafe in the Crypt

Grilled Steak Sandwich

A variety of Fentiman's beverages abounded in London. I really liked the Rose  Lemonade

The fare is simple, but decent.

Brixton Market - South London

The last time we were in London we hit the Portobello Market that was made even more famous in the movie Notting Hill. This time we wanted to check out some different markets and so we went by Undergound to Brixton. Very easy to get to and once we came out of the Tube Station, the Brixton Market was easy to find via signs.

The market sported Caribbean and African influences and was a combination of flea, food, crafts, and vintage. We arrived fairly early to take in the offerings.

A section of the market is called Brixton Village and is covered (but not heated). Once again the building contained a wide variety of stores, but it also had a number of small kitchens/eateries where the kitchen was housed in the storefront and folks ate outside. Each place had creatively staked out their eating spots and there was a huge variety of choices from Mexican to seafood to brunch to barbeque. And after noon on a Saturday this place heated up with (mostly younger) Londoners arriving to enjoy the good eats.

We chose The Joint which featured slow cooked pulled pork on freshly baked fig and vanilla sourdough buns.

We decided to try London BBQ

I loved the little nod to Alice in Wonderland

Storefront Operation

The Hush Puppies were served wrapped and tagged

And sauced! The insides contained bits of corn, but did not taste as cornmeally as the ones here. Still yummy, however.

We tried the Asian version of the pulled pork with Asian slaw and pickled ginger. The portions were large and hard to eat without getting messy. We had a pile of used napkins at the end. The pork was indeed slow-cooked. Not too much of a smokey flavor, but the pickled ginger was a brilliant addition. I'll need to figure out had to incorporate this into my next roast pork.

The market was a lot of fun and a great place to chow down and people watch.