Wednesday, October 03, 2007

The George and Dragon, Rowde, England


I finally found wi-fi here in England! (Sound of Guinness glasses clanking)


Anyway....holidays. Yeah. The key is to shed all inhibitions and allow yourself to be totally immersed in whatever new experience that comes your way, and not have any preconceived notions. And this applies to everything, not just holidays, doesn't it? Putting aside repetitions (like the black and white P.Ramlee movies that they keep showing on telly every year) and telling yourself that you will enjoy every moment like it's a new experience. And then, after experiencing that mind blowing moment, you want to shout it out to the whole world and you hope that somebody, anybody, will listen.


My next few posts may not be about Malaysian food or restaurants, but I'd like to share them with you anyway, because really, good food should always be celebrated.



Stonehenge

We had timed our visit to Stonehenge (in the Wiltshire county) to coincide with lunch. The reason was obvious. (Hint: makan!)


cheese and jalapeno, brown and olive bread


The proprietors of The George and Dragon personally served us, and that made all the difference as they knew what they were serving and what to recommend. The comfortably furnished 14th century gastropub (it started off as a meeting house which later became a public house) was a perfect destination for us to warm ourselves up after enjoying the historic Stonehenge.


The breads were lovely. We all agreed that the cheese and jalapeno bread was the best; bursting with flavour, a little spicy and went marvelously with the butter. We were also served olive bread and brown bread for those who preferred less spicy bread. What a treat!


Crispy Sardines with Aioli

Aaah. Fresh sardines, fried till a little crispy and served with aioli sauce. Aioli has a texture similar to mayonnaise and is probably similar to mayonnaise except for the addition of a couple of other ingredients (eg. garlic). By itself, the sardine was good. With the aioli, it was spectacular. Of course, there were the constant murmurs on the side by the non-sardine eaters (Msiagirl and Bald Eagle) asking me to chew and swallow the bones!


Carpaccio of Beef

Bald Eagle and Msiagirl both chose the beef carpaccio. The rocket and parmesan went well with the tender beef slices.


Lobster and Crayfish Tartlet

For our mains, Msiagirl and I both had the cod fillet with parsley mash. Sadly, I forgot to photograph it; perhaps it indicated my excitement at seeing such a tantalising dish. Bald Eagle's Lobster and Crayfish Tartlet, despite it's simple appearance, was exploding with flavours from the shellfish.


crispy potatoes with onions, and ratatouille

We were served a variety of side dishes, from crispy potatoes with onions, and ratatouille.......


cheesy cauliflower


....to cheesy cauliflower......


salad

....to a green salad. They were all generous helpings.


vanilla, kiwifruit and chocolate chip, and strawberry and champagne homemade icecream

And to top it all off, we had homemade vanilla, kiwifruit & chocolate chip and strawberries & champagne icecream made by the proprietor's mother-in-law!


salt and pepper
Thank you, Msiagirl & family for hosting us these couple of days, for showing us around your lovely city and for sharing your lives with us.

The George & Dragon
High Street Rowde Devizes
Wiltshire SN10 2AN

Telephone: 01380 723053

Website: Click here.

27 comments:

Shilpa said...

Hey girl, looks like you're having fun! I've been MIA for too long! Here in France, people tend to take English cuisine as an oxymoron, haha, so this proves them wrong! :)

Junkgirl™ said...

I love your photos. They all look delicious and are brilliantly shot and finished.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

wat is this..hav u alr mastered ur 400D?? dis is ridiculous..im still struggling to play with white balance and here i am looking at perfect photos..argh!!..waiting for u to torture me with the roast duck..

k.t.x said...

not too bad huh? i think the simple sardine starter looks cool. i would not mind those. the tartlet main, of coz, looks abit insufficient. except the did u not tell them to cook it with tomato puree and some onion and chilli like back home in a can?? lol.

sigh, i so jeles!!!! so, did u already have yr guinness from the tap? u can finish or not?????? lol.

Anonymous said...

Lovely bread basket. We hope you enjoyed yourself :)

Precious Pea said...

I AM SO ENVY!!!! Must show this post to Hubby, who knows? I might be heading to England next? Hahaha...pray for me sista.

fatboybakes said...

harumph...........still hate you.

wmw said...

Lovely photos...looks like you have fully mastered your new toy already. No live video??? :o)

msiagirl said...

Having sadly waved my hanky goodbye to you from the train station "snif snif". It was wonderful to see you and BE: we enjoyed your visit so much. Have a great rest of the trip and look forward to when we next meet again.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

shilpa! long time no see! good to see you here. I've realised that good english food can be found if you look hard enough. hehe.

junkgirl: Thanks for the compliment. I'm still learning how to use my new camera. :-)

Nipples: No lah...I'm still learning! Got lots more pics to share. ;-)

k.t.x: The next post (most likely...depending on my mood haha) is specially for you.

jason: thanks! Yes, it's been good. :-)

precious sista: praying for u already. ;-)

fatboybakes: awww c'mon...u gotta luv me some time. :-P

wmw: thanks! No la...got no video cam yet. haha.

msiagirl: awww...miss you already! We had such a great time with all of you!!! You're just like family. :-)

Anonymous said...

Enjoying the sights and food, ya? It kinda makes me miss England for a while.

daphne said...

Gosh, that's good tucker! Hope you are having a great time. I love the sound of the bread... yummy!

backStreetGluttons said...

aha english aritocratic food !
small bits and pieces unlike those big stones...but we see they have learnt quite a bit from the deadly French tho, those salad and colors ! Hope you will cover the Lakes area too your cam wouldhave gone wild

Xiu Long Bao said...

*Stunned*

The pictures look absolutely lovely :) Planned to visit england nxt year...hope my trip will be as great as urs.

Anonymous said...

If you're still in England, ping me if you fancy meeting up for a drink in London or the south coast. I owe you a drink for the interview!

Anonymous said...

u so lucky there... was down under for two weeks, and no free WIFI !! and when I do get to Melbourne, where there is free WIFI, we didn't have time to blog...

eh nice pics.... lovely... , I am still having problems adjusting to WB on my Olympus too...

boo_licious said...

Cool stuff - I love these gastropubs as they serve such excellent fare. I thought we'll be seeing Romans bathing away instead of the famous rocks?

Anyway, can't wait to see u when you're back, lots of gossip of course to catch up with.

Tummythoz said...

*staring at the basket picture* Wow.

Anonymous said...

What wonderful pictures..!! great eat..! have fun ya..!

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

tigerfish: yeah, we've also been lucky to have good weather 80% of the time.

daphne: I'm having a great time. The bread was really good. I wish I could have some more.

team bsg: no lakes this time coz we spent a considerable part of our holidays in Ireland. We're glad about the small portions. Huge scary portions are too much for us!

xlb: Oh, you'll have a great time. I'll give u some food references before u go, if u like. :-)

Chubbypanda said...

I love that you put the line about Wi-Fi right above the picture of Stonehenge. Makes me picture you tapping into some ancient Druidic hot spot to surf the net on ley lines.

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your stay in UK.

I love the roast beef and yorkshire pudding.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

anni: thanks for the offer! unfortunately, we're not in London right now, and next week, we have less than a day in London before we fly back to Malaysia. Too bad we won't be able to meet up. :-(

bernsy: actually, I got wi-fi at my friend's place, not in a public place! I miss free wi-fi at Starbucks in Malaysia!

boo: thanks! i got pics of Roman baths too, but it'll go into another post. ;-) can't wait to catch up with you too!

tummythoz: yup, that's the expression I had when the basket was put before me. :-P

mamabok: thank you! And I will enjoy myself, altho there aren't many days left! hehe.

chubbypanda: LOL!! Well, I didn't feel much *energy* when I was at Stonehenge, but suffice to say that I witnessed two cars die at the carpark at Stonehenge. Mysterious powers, maybe? ;-)

the cooking ninja: Thanks, dear! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to miss the food here. hehe.

MeiyeN said...

it's good to know you are back! :D you took nice pics.. so "english" style, i like! ;)

Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy said...

hey hey glad you had such a fun time. Looking forward to seeing you back home. :-)

Hope you managed to catch Avenue Q. ;-)

1 more week before its my turn! ;-) wheeeee!

ai wei said...

awesome!~ i love all ur photos~

teckiee said...

i want to do this someday.... my dream trip... must be perfect being at Stonehenge... only can afford to see old stone temples in SEA.