Sunday in the Park and More

The Sister is in town. She arrived on Saturday afternoon, and I've been spending most of the time since with her. Given that I'm here in the UK on my own, it's been nice to see a face from home. And thanks to her - errmmm - generosity, we dined last evening at Livebait, a nice seafood restaurant in the Covent Garden area. For starters, I had a delightful plate of crab cakes and potato slices. Ahhhh, and memories of Maryland return whenever I bite into crab cakes... I then had the Thai red curry as the main item, but it wasn't as spicy as I would have liked. But I don't blame the restaurant. If I had wanted authentic Thai curry, I should have dined in an authentic Thai restaurant.

We then tried out Royal China today for a good dim sum lunch. It's located on Queensway, in the Bayswater area, just north of Hyde Park, where you can also find many other Chinese restaurants. Apart from the glutinous rice, which felt undercooked, all other items were pretty yummy. It's definitely a place worth checking out. But want a ready seat on the weekends? Make sure you arrive real early.

Dinner was at Veeraswamy on Regent Street near Piccadilly. And what a wonderful experience it was. Veeraswamy's a pretty posh and upscale Indian restaurant, offering both North and South Indian cuisine. The interior was well decorated, the staff was friendly, and, most important of all, the food was sublime. Opened 80 years ago, Veeraswamy touts itself as the oldest Indian restaurant in Britain, "created by the great grandson of an English General and a Mughal Princess." Impressive lineage. And is this also the Grand Daddy of the literally thousands of Indian restaurants that have blossomed across the UK since? Curry is said to be the de facto British national dish now. No more fish and chips. No more English Breakfast. No more Ploughman's Lunch or Shepard's Pie...

The weather today was again delightful. Sunny skies with temperatures in the low 20s, even though we're only a week away from October. After lunch, we had a nice walk through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Families out for the day, lovers lost in each other, haughty-looking swans and dogs roaming free, happy and wild. For my part, I managed to grab the following images.