eating in london

in the summer of 2010,

i lived in london for just under three months

it marks the longest period of time i’ve ever spent in any country outside of the united states — paris being a close second for two months

i’ve never written about this time, this is the first

it’ll just be a short story about my first experience truly eating in london

why london though? my sister did a study abroad in london and i was curious too

i lived at the northeastern corner of hyde park, near edgeware road, with a relatively straight walk to my internship at cavendish square

my internship manager, also the ceo of the non-profit i was working at, took a liking to me, and we became friends

i enjoyed our post-work conversations a lot

near the end of my time there, he took me to the landau restaurant in the langham hotel at langham place in marylebone (say it three times fast)

the restaurant at the time, was apparently a big deal — michel roux jr (a british big deal chef) had taken the landau over

the original restaurant concept is no longer there anymore, but it still is a roux-run establishment, as of 2025

it’s safe to say this was the beginning of my curiosities about fine dining, and the start of a long-standing culinary journey

the thing i remember the most was not the food, but an interaction we had after i was too full to finish one of the entrees

i turned to my boss — “so … we packing this up?”

he looked at me, exasperated, “what? no — there are no doggie bags here”

i recall telling this story to my family and friends, who mostly had the same reaction

the etiquette is obvious to me now, after years of many more dining experiences

but that particular instance is seared into my mind, the first taste of a kind of luxury i hadn’t yet experienced in my 20 years of living

growing up, i never went to anywhere super fancy — the places we went to were all “leftovers friendly”

that was what my experience was limited to, and my behaviors that day played out according to that experience

there’s no going back

why this memory

ever since releasing unwritten, i’ve been collecting magazines and other things on metalabel that look interesting

i came across this magazine — “vittles” at skylight bookshop in los angeles

it talks about british food culture

there’s a section where various novelists, british citizens, and lovers of food talk about their first experience eating in london

it jived with me, and i used it as a memory prompt here

cheers ✌️🍻