Other London Eats

After a long day of walking and sightseeing, nothing attacks hunger like a football-sized portion of fried codfish and a mountain of fries. Jenny and I must have covered 10 miles of London's sidewalks on our second-to-last day in town, and we had to indulge in a British tradition before we left. We hopped in a cab to rest our feet and asked the very nice and knowledgeable cabbie to take us to a great fish and chips place near the London Eye (our plans for the evening).

He knew just the place, and drove us to Masters Superfish, just south of Waterloo Station on Waterloo St. If I'd known then what I knew after dinner, I'd have kissed him.

We didn't eat in a lot of restaurants in London, but I have to believe the dinner we got here was some of the best eats in town. We had nightmares of grease-soaked fish and nasty sides, but this place was really top notch. Jenny and I both ordered the cod, which arrived perfectly fried. And I do mean perfect. The crust was just crispy, and the meat inside was super hot, flaky, and moist, without being greasy.

They served the fish with some chips (duh), a pickle and a pickled onion. Taking a bite of fish with a sliver of onion and some malted vinegar, fresh lemon juice and a tiny dollop of tartar sauce was heaven. We both finished the whole plate and rolled ourselves out the front door for the walk back to the Thames.

The only thing that would have made the meal better was my other favorite foodstuff in London, real ale.

For those who haven't studied beer, this is lightly carbonated beer sold in pubs around London. Most beer is heavily carbonated and kegged under pressure. Real ale is lightly carbonated and is pumped by an old fashioned hand pump from casks below the bar. It's served slightly chilled, but not cold. My pint of Fuller's London Pride pulled from the cask was one of the best beer experiences I've ever had.

I can't say the same for London's hippest after-hours street food, kebabs. My friend Steve tipped me off that this was sort of the "Waffle House" of trendy London, the food people grab when they're tired and woozy after a night of hard clubbing. I can see why.

I had visions of well seared meat chunks seasoned with some cucumber based sauce, a la backyard cookout. In reality, a kebab is a pita shell filled with a pound of greasy meat and topped with so much stuff you can't actually eat it like a sandwich. Jenny and I shared one, and promptly got a little sick. The thing just sort of sits like a brick in your stomach, which is good if you're intoxicated and need something to deliver the left hook to put you to sleep.