London 2009 - Day 5
We started the day with breakfast at the Abbey Hotel in Bath. LJ finally got his traditional English breakfast, eggs, wiggly bacon (as opposed the the American streaky kind), broiled tomato and baked beans. Ugh! The we took off to tour the Roman baths. How amazing! They were beautifully preserved and the tour is set up so you are given real insight into who used them and how they were run. 
There are now two levels to look at the underground pool. The second level walkway above the pool was added in the late 1800’s. Here are a few pictures of the baths and museum.
We checked out and took the train back to London and arrived about 2:00pm. Back at the flat, we cleaned up and went to tea at the Botonist. It was just delicious. They have a wonderful pastry chef. One of the special pastries we had was a nutmeg custard tart that was really special. The scones and finger sandwiches were really good. I had no idea how much food was served at tea. It really is a meal. I was very glad our dinner reservations were not until 9:00.
We took the tube to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, Fifteen. It was 45 minutes by train from our flat. The restaurant is really cool, as you might expect. It had a young, hip vibe with crazy graphics and very young, beautiful servers. Ours was a Brazilian guy named Fabio. LJ and I had the 4 course tasting menu. Almost the best thing we had was the amuse bouche. It was a scallop with fresh ginger, lime juice, cilantro and a tiny something crunchy. It really did jump in the mouth. My first course was a salad with baby greens, a grilled peach, burrata cheese (which is an artisanal cheese made with mozzarella and cream), toasted almonds and balsamic vinegar. LJ had prosciutto di San Danielle with Italian black figs, gorganzola dolce and pea shoots. His next course was risotto bianco with mushrooms and truffle pecorino. My primo was potato gnocchi with Cumbrian pork ragu. LJ’s secundo was pot roasted pork with apricot, rosemary and white wine. Mine was char-grilled salmon with spinach and black olive sauce. Finally, desserts were honeycomb semifreddo with lemon sorbet and strawberry limoncello soup (LJ), and elderflower panna cotta with gooseberry compote (me). OMG! Yes, we took a taxi home and collapsed. This was the actual day of our 40th anniversary and what a day to remember it was.
Jamie wishes happy 40th
OMG…what a wonderful trip!!! I’m so jealous. Please feel free to replicate any of your culinary adventures back on the mainland…yum Patrick
Comment by Patrick — July 13, 2009 @ 4:14 pm
Lovely! And isn’t Bath just a little humbling? we think we’re so smart!
Comment by Janet - your "other" sister — July 13, 2009 @ 7:06 pm