Uhhh Yeah....

My friend Mary Anne just enlightened me to an 'event' that took place at a restaurant that is literally 5 min from our house after the London Marathon on Sunday. You have to read this one to believe it.

Click on the link http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007180857,00.html


BTW, I actually ate at this place a few weeks back. I must say it wasn't as bad as that dude made it out to be. Barely...

Why British Food Sucks - Reason 143

After being over here for for nearly 2 months, I have gotten accustomed to not having the best quality steaks over here. Therefore it was with some anticipation that I arrived at Gaucho Restaurant Thursday evening for a business dinner. Gaucho is a chain of Argentinian steak house that was recently crowned 'Best Steak Restaurant' in London by Time Out magazine.

Hearing of the proposed restaurant, I began to look up some of the reviews of this place. It was apparently one of 'the' places to go for steak in London.

Atmosphere:

Upon entering, I descended a wrought iron staircase into what used to be the wine cellar of the Mexican ambassador, but now resembles a Russian submarine crossed with a satanic nightclub. This certainly isn't a place to go for an intimate tête-à-tête. Conversation was almost impossible as the acoustics of the room meant that you were forced to yell to the person sitting merely 2 feet across from you.

Food:

This place prides itself on its meat ("Argentinian ... from grass-fed cattle raised on the pampas"), so I why did the steak I ordered taste as though the cows had been raised on a diet of Pampers? My rare sirloin had neither the healthy marbling of fat nor the succulent texture I expect from top-quality meat. Any Morton's in the US is a place where you can get true grass-fed beef, not the borderline dog meat on the menu here.

The starters and side dishes were equally disappointing. The ceviche was a mess of tomato sauce and onions and had none of the subtle flavor of lime that that you expect. Also, any restaurant calling itself a reputable steakhouse that has French Fries on the menu should be avoided on principle alone.

Overall:

What made me pleased to be here? Only the act of leaving and getting back to street level after an experience that had left me thoroughly feeling homesick.

Watford vs. Chelsea - Makes a Raiders Game Look Like a Church Picnic

I admit that the title of this post may be hard for some of you to believe. Trust me on this one though. Football (soccer) matches out here are intense. I have been to a few games in Brazil and I would venture to say that the atmosphere was on par with some games that I attended there.

PRE-GAME ACTIVITIES
The day started off at 11:30am with me meeting my old roommate from San Francisco at a pub near Baker Street to catch the 1st half of the Liverpool vs. Arsenal game. This is a BIG game in England. I noticed that perhaps I did not quite grasp the intensity of this rivalry when I walked out of the tube station and there were around 10 police officers standing outside of the pub. Mind you this was a pub on a fairly busy street in London and nowhere near the stadium. Upon entering, I was greeted by a guy wailing away on his bagpipes. Next, a guy whose picture could appear next to the term 'hooligan' in the dictionary,started a chant in the bar. The great thing about the chants are that most of the melodies are based on old songs so they are pretty easy to learn. After a pint of Guinness Extra Cold (which is like regular cold in the US) we headed to catch the train to Watford. We arrived in Watford around 1:30 and headed straight to the bar. All football matches in England are like Senior Prom. You cannot drink inside, but everyone shows up drunk. Again, outside the bar there were about 8-10 cops who would occasionally walking to the bar and restore order. At around 4:45, everyone started emptying out of the bar and walking towards the stadium.

THE STADIUM:
Watford, which was owned by Elton John in the 80s, plays its home matches at Vicarage Road. The stadium is small, seating around 20,000 fans. This is a pretty small stadium for England, but Watford is one of the smaller teams in the Premiership. Away fans are housed in the Vicarage Road Stand at one end of the ground. This stand is shared with home supporters sand has the obligatory 'no-mans land' in between the fans.


AT THE GAME:
In brief, lots of chanting (mostly by Chelsea fans), lots of missed chances, and a lone goal in the 93rd minute. Overall it was a blast.


The season is winding down so there are not too many games left, but they start back up again in August.