Episode 5 -- Tower of London
The fish and chips from last night gave me nightmare. I dreamt of alone on this island and a fish kept feeding me with fish and chips and he kept saying; ‘tell me it is good’
We learned to use the bus and subway rather quickly and we were on our way to the Tower of London. The Queen’s coronation jewellery was kept in the towers. I believed it is a replica.
After fighting with the crowd for entrance and exit, we arrived at the restaurant below, right by the river side. The Thames is getting refreshed. The river is cleaned up a lot compared with before when pollution ruled the water.
We walked in the restaurant and we got our table. The server approached and asked us whether we wanted still water or aqua con gas [carbonated water]. It is interesting a lot of people find water with gas refreshing. They also did a little trick by wrapping lemon wedges with gauze and you can get the juice out but the pits and seeds would remain behind.
We have better luck this time with the fish and chips. At least they used cod; which is a firmer white fish. There was not skin and the batter is adequate. They also served a little condiment of fresh crushed peas & broad beans. It has a beautiful fresh jade green color. Some fresh herbs were used in this mixture and it gave the fish a very refreshing taste.
The little bottle is tartar sauce. The potato wedges called chips are meaty and full of flavour. Somehow the potatoes in Europe are better in taste and they have this bite to it.
Carrot soup with butter is a classic you can truly play with. The strained carrot soup added butter for smoothness and then drizzled with watercress infused olive oil would make a wonderful, delightful liquid.
Carrot soup with butter and top with watercress
The most disappointing of all was the risotto which has more variation than a bird with changing feathers. Our risotto was gritty, undercooked and not much flavour to it. Risotto secret is in the broth. It has to be flavourful and clear at the same time. No color should be added to the white rice so the appearance has to be creamy and soft.
I also had wine which was no hell.
We walked off some of the lunch and found our way to Covent Garden.
Covent Garden 
The Court Yard
another entrance
Covent Garden used to be a place for antiques and collectables. It is most beautiful in its court yard with outdoor cafes and La Boehme musicians playing for money. These musicians might make it big someday. Right now they are nurturing their dreams showing their music talent for pennies. Times have changed and now these musician sell their own version of CDs.
The musicians can be playful.
The musician playing under the stairwell Patio restaurant with musician at the corner
There are lots of food stands all around though nothing spectacular; but the waffles and the juice stands and stores that sell sweets and jams are always favourites. The trendy thing now is the giant paella. This Spanish rice is pushed to the limit.
The giant paella pan can hold enough food for many. The visual is fine. It is entertaining; but this operation is totally inefficient. The rice has to be turned constantly to prevent burning. If you do not have enough customers right away, you can burn the rice or at least dry it up. When it comes to cleaning, you almost spend as much time scraping the charred rice from the bottom of the pan as cooking a pan of rice.
I did not try it. That looked kind of dried up when I approached the stall. 
A closer look may be tempting; the real taste can be scary. This time I might have nightmare of being cooked in a giant paella pan by naked women.
One more stop at Harrods and we can have dinner.