10-31, 11-1 Happy Halloween, Hamnet, and last bites.

It’s Halloween. According to Wikipedia “From at least the 18th century, ‘imitating malignant spirits’ led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween did not spread to England until the 20th century.” American culture has had a huge influence on old Blighty, so Halloween is now very big. The BBC reported that one billion pounds will be spent on Halloween this year. Yikes! As I walked the streets of the neighborhood this morning, I saw carved pumpkins and fake spiders and their webs. We had one last lovely breakfast of pastries at Birley Bakery.

They have a beautiful Avent calendar filled with nuts and chocolates that I was so tempted to buy, except that it’s enormous and would be impossible to pack. Too bad.

I popped across town for some last minute shopping. (When in England, buy your knickers at Marks & Sparks) then headed home to do laundry and pack. Not glamorous, but necessary. Since it was our last night here, we headed to – wait for it – Mowgli for a pre-theatre bite. Ruby wrap, Goan fish curry and butter chicken. We had a lovely chat with our waiter, Dhrubo, and talked about how much we love Mowgli and how we're trying to eat at every one of them. At the end of our meal, he surprised us with a fabulous molten chocolate cake for dessert.

The Mowgli monkey logo:

Then it was off to see Hamnet at the Garrick theatre.

It’s a Royal Shakespeare Co. production based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best selling novel. To quote the RSC, “Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family. When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born.” The story puts Agnes (Ann) at the center of the story for a change. It looks at life in the 16th century, examining relationships, customs, medicine, family life and, oh yes, theatre. The set (above) was very simple, actors carrying set pieces on and off stage. Ajani Cabey and Alex Jarrett as the twins Hamnet and Judith were wonderful, as was Tom Varey as William. Madeleine Mantock as Agnes, was a revelation. I was thoroughly enthralled.

Wednesday morning I finished the packing and we left the flat, which is in a building that is half private flats and half hotel. We checked our bags with the front desk and walked to Hyde Park. Along the way we passed The Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial.

It was an overcast morning and partway through Hyde park it started to rain, so we headed to a bus shelter for the trip to Brooklands at the Peninsula Hotel for lunch. We got to Hyde Park Corner a bit early, so walked around a bit because I was determined to get a photo of the horse sculpture. Still Water, an outdoor bronze sculpture of a giant disembodied horse head captured as though the horse was drinking, was sculpted by British artist Nic Fiddian-Green.

We were a bit early for our reservation so we went to the bar. I had the fabulous cocktail that Bruce ordered the other night. At the appointed time, the restaurant manager, Norbert, came to our table (the one with the amazing view below),

introduced himself, and escorted us into the dining room. Again we were seated at a window table with an amazing view. There’s a balcony outside and I could just imagine how wonderful it would be to sit there in the summer overlooking London and enjoying a glass of wine.

A little background about Brooklands: the space pays homage to the classic eras of British aviation and motorsport. In the bar, the central light fixture is modeled on the shape of the jet engine of the Concorde.

There's a model of the Concorde on the ceiling of the dining room and lots of memorabilia around both bar and restaurant. The elevator is even modeled on a hot air balloon.

Dining under the Concorde (not my photo):

Anyway, after perusing the beautiful menu, we showed a little bit of willpower and didn’t order the tasting menu, just the 3-course lunch. Of course, even a three course lunch isn't all that simple. We were given a lovely glass of champagne to welcome us, courtesy of the manager. I'm certain it's because Elio, the head sommelier at Bibendum, made our original reservation. Bless him!

Virtually everything on the menu is sourced in Britain and there's even a map of what comes from where included in the menu.

Lunch starts with what is called the Warm Up, four little tastes to delight your palate and give you a hint of what's ahead.

Coronation chicken (like no other Coronation chicken you've ever tasted.)

Bechamel toast, a three-layer mushroom parfait with foie gras

Tomato tuille with meadowsweet- so floral and just heavenly!

Smoked kipper infused mousse with granny Smith apple- this was miles away from traditional kippers, I assure you.

Our lovely server, Georgie, then brought us a basket of ancient grain bread with two types of butter, one of which was made from creme fraiche.

As is our tradition, Bruce & I ordered different dishes so we get to taste as much as possible. I started with Cornish Squid and Artichoke. The squid was grilled and served over an artichoke puree. It was accompanied by cold slices of artichoke, recommended to be eaten after the squid.

Bruce chose Dorset Snail, Devil Style with a parsley sauce and served with a snail tartlet, also recommended to be eaten sequentially.

Beautiful presentation

For my main course, I selected Devonshire Skate with Smoked Eel and Red Pepper Miso that came with a skate crisp. The skate was so delicate and tender and wasn't at all dominated by the strong flavors of the smoked eel and red pepper miso.

Bruce's choice was Lake District Lamb with Romesco sauce, mint and served with a lamb pastrami taco and extra lamb jus on the side. This got scooped up with some of that ancient grain bread at the end. Can't waste a sauce this good, right?

After all of that richness, we were served a lovely palate cleanser of English Rose, Shiso, Wild Strawberry and Umeshu.

It's here that I confess that I didn't note the specifics of the wines that were served with lunch. Bruce had a 1989 Madiran with his lamb and I had a lovely Gavi with my skate. We knew that we would be given a copy of the menu, so assumed that the wines would be listed as well. It's a shame, too, because Andrew, the sommelier, was able to match the perfect wines for us and I wish I had noted more details. We had some great conversations about wine, too.

For dessert, Bruce had The Best of British Apples and Wild Meadowsweet, a two part dessert whose beautiful flavor was matched by its presentation.

Gold powdered pastry crown

Frozen apple dish

I was the adventurous one today, ordering a dessert of Scottish Cep, Banana and Creme Fraiche. If you don't know it, Scottish Cep is a mushroom. So, yeah, mushroom for dessert.

It was remarkable. There was a sweetness from the banana, though the banana flavor had a very subtle presence. It was unmistakably mushroom, the umami softened by the creaminess and subtle sweetness. I would definitely order it again. I ordered a Madeira to go with it and the combination was perfect.

So now, fed and happy, it was time to go back to our flat, retrieve our bags, and head to our little hotel near Heathrow. We hopped the bus and had one last lovely look at London from the top of the bus. Bruce called an Uber and we headed toward the airport. That sounds simple, but it was getting close to rush hour and London is not laid out in a grid. Our driver skillfully maneuvered through the streets and dealt with traffic that would have had me tearing out my hair. It turned out he was from Kenya so we had a very interesting conversation about colonialism, politics, corruption, etc. Good thing, too, because the trip that usually lasts 40 minutes took about twice that. We checked into the Moxy and watched the last of the British telly that we'd get for a while.