More good eats...

Day Three in London started at the Churchill War Rooms, which were incredibly fascinating.  They are located in a building on Parliament Street, and were opened in 1940 to allow Churchill to command moves during the war.  There are rooms where he communicated with American Presidents and where he and his wife slept.  Within the museum is a room dedicated to Churchill's life and history.

We took the Tube back to Oxford Circus and had lunch at a great "Take-Away" spot called Leon.  It's a small chain in London that specializes in healthy, organic, locally sourced foods.  For example we shared grilled meatballs (on top of salad), and a Persian chicken and avocado salad, with a homemade ginger lemonade :)

Then we went to Selfridge's, one of London's biggest department stores, and wandered around the store (it is truly awe inspiring, especially in the Food Hall!)  We went up to the Roof Garden, which was only recently re-opened.  Last year, they had rowboats on the roof, and this year they have miniature golf!

After a bit of a rest we set out for dinner in Islington, and went to Ottolenghi.  It was fantastic, and as I have two of the cookbooks written by the Chef/Owner, I am super inspired to try more of the recipes (and Neil is glad I am inspired!)  We started with 2 salads, a grilled peach, endive, radicchio salad (with macadamia nuts and pecorino cheese), and also a roasted carrot salad with peas and coriander and cumin seeds.  The breads they bake were also superb, served with a nice olive oil:

We then shared an absolutely amazing duck breast, done with 5 spice powder and almonds:

Finally, we shared a lamb dish that had to have been the most tender lamb we'd ever tasted, on a bed of farro:

We even squeezed in dessert after that - Ottolenghi has a window display of desserts when you walk in, that are all homemade.  We had a slice of apple vanilla cake (with maple icing), and a lemon mascorpone tart; they even brought out a pot of creme anglaise to go with it, and we cleaned every morsel off our plates:

Our feet continue to be our biggest enemies, but after a good night's rest we will conquer more tomorrow!