A Walk Down Brick Lane

Last night, a group of my friends and I ventured down to Brick Lane, a street in Whitechapel, less then a ten minute bus ride from campus, which is composed of nothing but Indian food eateries. It was a completely different experience, not just because of the cuisine, but because of the way of doing business. Employees stand outside of the restaurant, trying to convince you to come in, not only by espousing on the virtues of their cooking but by negotiating price deals. Luckily Vanessa had made friends with a British student who was well acquainted to the process and taught us how to haggle. Before long we were all spinning sob stories about how we were only poor college students, and after all, London had just declared that morning that we were in a recession, so how could we afford their prices? We walked up and down Brick Lane negotiating with various restaurants until we we found a good looking restaurant with a reasonable deal. The final arrangement: a drink, a starter, a main course, and a side of either rice or nan (a kind of flat bread) for each person for ten pounds a head. Adding up the prices on the menu, I say we shaved at least 4 or 5 pounds off the bill.

To make matters even better, we decided to all order different dishes (which come in small serving bowls) and pass them around the table so we could sample a large variety of the food. For those who have never had Indian cuisine, it is mostly chicken or lamb dishes cooked in different kinds of sauces with varying degrees of spiciness. It was all wonderful, though sampling some of the hottest spiced chicken was perhaps a bit much for me. Trying to keep track of which pile of chicken on my plate was which sauce was also a feat in itself, but somehow I managed. All in all it was a great experience.

Today we're going to venture down to the National Gallery (we did part of the Victoria and Albert last weekend if I didn't mention that). Many of these museums are just too huge to do in one trip, so I'm sure that return trips are in order.

Cheers for now!