Ground Cinnamon

Wednesday was the supreme non-school day school day. I only had one class, which ended at noon. So, instead of devoting the rest of the day to reading I met up with some friends from orientation and we all decided to head down to Brick Lane for lunch.

Brick Lane is the Indian section of the city, and it’s known for its curry. During orientation the man leading the section on budgeting suggested we head down to Brick Lane for cheap Indian food when we wanted to go out on a budget. My Cheap Eats guidebook, however, said that the quality of Brick Lane curries had gone down in the past few years due to their increasing popularity. Still, as there are few cuisines that I enjoy more than Indian, and as it was a great day for a walk, I decided to give it a whirl.

My two friends and I met up at noon. I had brought my London A to Z (Pronounced A to Zed, natch) which is a collection of atlases detailing London’s complicated topography. While I had supplied the maps I was utterly useless at reading them, and so handed them over to my friend who charted a route for us. When we saw how far away the place was there was some discussion as to the merits of a tube ride, but my friend the map-reader was adamant about walking, and so we stuck with the original plan of walking.   

It was a long way, but the walk turned out to be the best part of the afternoon. We started by walking up the North bank of the Thames towards London Bridge. It was fun because I got to see the exact same stuff I saw when I walked to the Tate Modern on Sunday, but from the other side of the river. St. Pauls was obscured this time, but I got a great view of the Tate and the Globe from across the way. Then we headed inland. I have to say I can’t remember the exact route, but I liked East London much better than Central London where I’ve been living.

Central London is great, but there is no sense of living in an actual city. There’s nothing but shops and cafes and bars, punctuated by the occasional tourist attraction. That’s all well and good, but while East London was less clean and slightly more loud and nasty I preferred it because it gave the sense that people actually lived and worked there. There were tall high-rise business buildings, and the sidewalks were crowded with business looking types. These eventually gave way to more modest and grubby looking apartments, dotted with liquor stores and Fish and Chips shops. It was as if I had walked from New York to Baltimore in a couple of blocks. On the way, however, I passed a bunch of really interesting looking areas, and it was only the grumbling of my stomach that kept me from peeling off to explore.

The one detour we decided to take was to a cute market (I want to say Leaden Hall market, but I could be wrong) that was nestled into the business district. It was a giant pavilion that had stalls inside. The architecture was gorgeous, and my friend informed me that this building served as the model for Diagon Ally in the first Harry Potter movie. I wanted to take pictures for all of you devoted blogging fans, but I found, to my chagrin, that my camera’s battery had worn out. Ah well, this merely means I will have to go again in the very near future with a charged battery pack.

By the time we finally got to Brick Lane we were tired and hungry. But Brick Lane, we soon discovered, is a long lane and we were at the very tip of it, which isn’t the Indian end. It turned out to be the Jewish end instead. The non-map reading friend had gotten a tip from a friend who had been studying here first term that Brick Lane had the best and cheapest bagels in the city, so we stopped off in a bagel café she had recommended. Although it didn’t look like much on the outside, or on the inside for that matter, the no-frills bakery/café boasted amazing looking baked goods. And at half a dozen bagels (or beigels, as they’re spelled here,) for under a pound, no one was arguing. I was excited because they were selling bagels stuffed with cream cheese and smoked salmon for ₤1.18, which is a good price even considering the exchange rate. I considered suggesting that we skip the Indian and stop here for lunch, and you could see that the other two were grappling with the same notion. But in the end the beigel shop didn’t offer much in the way of seating, and it would be a shame to come so far and not get Indian food, so we pushed on.

It wasn’t long before we hit the Indian restaurants. Blocks would be crammed side to side with nothing but Indian restaurants, and you could smell curry in the air. This necessitated that we walk up and down, looking at menus and trying to discern what the best quality for the best price would be. They all looked pretty much the same, however, and we ended up stopping off at Café Spice, which my Cheap Eats guide book had recommended. While it wasn’t the best Indian food I’ve ever had (That would be a tie between the Jackson Diner in Queens and Akbar in Baltimore,) the meal was decent, and the price moderate. I had Saag Ghost, which is lamb cooked in spices with spinach. Yum. I also splurged and ordered rice to go with it, since rice and Nan is never included here.

After the meal we decided not to walk back, but to take the Tube. We detoured back to the Beigel shop where I bought a tea and my friend bought half a dozen beigels. I then bought a single beigel, which I had for dinner later that night. Good quality, I’m so going back there! The Tube station was actually on the other end of Brick Lane, so we walked the entire length of the road, which was fun, and a good way to work off the Indian food. The street gets more posh as the road wears on, though it’s still mostly Indian shops. We passed places selling saris and I got excited when we passed an Indian Grocer. I made us go inside, where I found—to my absolute delight—fresh ginger root and…ground cinnamon!

It’s the first ground cinnamon I’ve come across in London (although my flatmates assure me it’s not cultural, and that the stores have just been out of stock). My spice cabinet is now complete! My friend also bought frozen samosas, but I was content with my cinnamon.

We only got lost once on the Tube ride back, turning what should have been a two train ride into a three train ride, but I still think it’s an accomplishment. I was planning to spend the rest of my day/evening at the gym and then alternating between Northanger Abbey and Journal of the Plague Year, but my flatmates convinced me to go to a club with them in the evening.

An entire day with no supplemental reading? Wow, I feel almost like a college student.