London, England: Upper Crust

Chicken Tikka Sandwich - 1 star
About 3 pounds

On the way from Manchester to London (actually, to Tim's place in Speen, where I slept in a 17th-century house for the first time in my life) in Tim's Boxster, I saw one of the most disturbing things in my life. We were at a cafe in a rest stop, and behind a sign saying "scones," they had these large, rectangular, brownish, hard-looking things that looked uncannnily like what they call scones in the United States. My favorite element of English cuisine is the traditional scone - smaller, round, off-white, and crumbly in a buttery sort of way, eaten with butter or clotted cream (which deserves a paragraph of its own). Now, apparently, in addition to exporting our fast food and our movies, we are even exporting our mediocre baked goods. What's next? American apple pie in Paris?

Anyway, on Thursday morning I managed to eat a traditional scone at an Upper Crust in the City, so I went back to them for dinner in Waterloo station while waiting for the Eurostar to Paris. The chicken tikka sandwich was surprisingly good. It was a little cold from sitting in a refrigerated case all day, but the chihcken was tender and flavorful, the mayonnaise-like spread was not too overpowering, and the bread was a reminder of the difference between Europe and the United States: even in a fast food-style place in a train station, you can get the kind of baguette that cannot be found between New York and California. And the egg and tomato sandwich I had wasn't bad, either.