London 2009: Ladbroke Arms

Dear reader, I am going to slip back in to my terrible habit of writing some of my au courant experiences; I wish I could wring the time out of my schedule to slog through the dozens of worthy draft posts I have not given due attention. However, my passion for my recent holiday weekend in London drives me to share what was just about a perfect weekend.

So, I will start with what was an auspicious Thursday in London's Notting Hill neighborhood. I had landed early that morning on the overnight flight; a few hours of sleep and a desire to get on London time led me to one of my favorite pubs in this fine city.

I went with two friends to the Ladbroke Arms, a venerable gastro-pub just off the Holland Park Road (I love how Britons use "the" in front of most roads). This was not my first visit to the Ladbroke Arms, but it had been several years. Nestled away from the traffic off a street called Ladbroke Road off a street called Ladbroke Court off a street called Ladbroke something across from a police station (confusing, right?) is a well laid out pub with a front garden area. Run by a team of French folks, they have brought truly good food to the pub experience.

More surprising than the anticipated French-style service (they mostly ignore Americans wearing ironic t-shirts) was the fact that, waiting for our third friend to arrive, I got a sunburn (you may ask, do they have those in London?) sipping London Pride (served warm-ish, of course) on the patio.

Even more surprising than all of this is the fact that they served a beautiful salad with fresh cooked rare salmon and frites.

I don't have a lot more to say than this pub gives you the real feel of the London experience without having to suffer through the terrible food that usually accompanies the experience. As a friend I once had recommended to the pub said, the Ladbroke had me "cradled in its Arms", and I couldn't think of a better place to start four perfect days in London with weather more appropriate to the South of France than London in the waning days of May. Go there.