LE GRENIER - London, UK

This French restuarant was recommended by a London based coworker. It offers only a three-course fixe prix dinner. They have a list of apps, entrees and dessert and you can pick and choose what you want.

I had the soup of the day - onion soup, entree of the day - halibut and sorbet for dessert. The soup was very good, lots of cheese and not too salty which seems to be the norm whenever I've had onion soup.

The entree was good, halibut with potatoes and fresh vegetables. But I could not get over how much butter was used in the dish. It was so rich. I thought I was back in Mississippi, except that this food was prepared infinitely better!

After all that rich food, the sorbet was a welcome finish. The cost? 31.50 pounds, about $62 dollars. Cost aside, the food was very good. However, considering cost, it was just good. Then again, given the "normal" prices I saw for meals in London, this was not expensive at all.

Overall rating - 3 sumos

MALMAISON ROOM SERVICE - London, UK

I only order room service when it's on the company's dime. I stayed at this hotel during the "work" portion of my trip. For a starter I had the greeen salad with walnuts and blue cheese dressing. It was super rich and very tasty.

My entree was steak frites with garlic butter. Mmm, butter.

And....I had an extra order of frites. They must have been fried in tallow 'cause they were gooood! The Europeans certainly know how to make tasty frites.

Overall rating - 3.5 sumos

JELLIED EELS - Harrod's Department Store

I first heard of this on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods show on the Travel Channel. So of course I had to see for myself.
Yes, they looked exactly like you imagined. Chopped up bits of eel suspended in clear gelatin. I actually read that historically eels were quite abundant in the Thames and were a common food source.

Where these particular eels hailed from I have no idea. Did I try them? Um, no I did not. If they had lime flavored jellied eels on the other hand...

FOX INN - Broadwell, Glouchestershire - UK

I found this restaurant in Rick Steve's guidebook. I was staying nearby in another village called Stow-on-the-Wold. This was a picture perfect area in the Cotswolds.

There are walking paths throughout the area and the restaurant was about a 1 mile walk past small farms and cottages. It was summertime and still light out around 8 when I stopped for dinner. After my not so good luck with fish and chips in the UK I tried the daily special - Roast beef.

It was 7.95 pounds. In 2007 the exchange rate was around 2 pounds to the dollar, so this cost me about 16 USD. Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, green beans and the ubiquitous peas. Looks great, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, the beef was way overdone for my taste. I don't know if it was a British custom or not, but my experience with British food was underwhelming. I did have some good meals on my visit, but at French and Italian restaurants.

Overall rating - 2 sumos

THE GEORGE INN - Lacock, Wiltshire - UK

Yes, it's been over a year since the last post. Was waiting for my fellow contributors....so anyways let's start with my trip to the UK. Just south of Bath, the unfortunately named village of Lacock.

I stopped here for lunch on my way to see Stonehenge. Now Stonehenge has its own amazingly interesting history. Being a big fan of Spinal Tap just adds extra flavor to seeing it! But back to the food. This being my first trip to the UK I just had to try the fish and chips. Well let me tell you...it's better in the States. I tried it three times in three different restaurants. This was the last time. It was the best of the three.

After that I stopped wasting my meals and tried other dishes....to mixed success. What you see below was the typical fish and chips and accompanying peas. I've never seen quite a pea-happy food culture as the Brits. To each his own I suppose.

Overall rating - 2 sumos