Yeay!!!
There is a part 3 to this story. I didn't really expect there to be one as my
writing depends on my mood. I guess I am in the mood to write but I don’t
really have anything else to write about (Hint to Ida Faiz back in Malaysia).
Before I go on, I think I should prepare everyone who reads this blog (all 12
of you) that if you’re looking for more rambling on nasi lemak in this post,
you will be terribly disappointed. I won’t even be mentioning nasi lemak
(except for these 1 or 2 instances). This post is more about the rest of my
trip which doesn't involve any nasi lemak at all.
Just to let
you know, today is the first day where the temperatures here in Den Haag has dropped below zero. That’s what my wife’s phone seems to say. I’m not sure what
my phone says. Sometimes it gives a different temperature reading compared
to my wife’s even though we both use the same brand of phone, with the same OS and the
same app to check the temperature. Maybe the weather pattern is a bit different
at her office (which is a staggering 2 kilometers away) than it is here in the comforts of my house.
Oh Yes! Back
to my story. UK Trip Part 3.
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| Photo taken 2 years ago |
I think in
my last post I mentioned that we spent the night at Highworth, which is a small
market town just 30 minutes from Swindon. I decided I wanted to have a light
breakfast (not sure what my wife wanted to have but I noticed it wasn't very
heavy either) as we were planning to head to Bath. My main aim to get to the
historic city of Bath was to go to Sally Lunn’s House, home of the famous Bath
Bun, which is located in the city center. We arrived just after 9.30 and headed
straight there.
A bit of a history lesson. Sally Lunn was a Heguenot refugee who came to Bath in 1640
escaping French persecution. She found employment with a baker located in
Lilliput Alley and introduced the creamy yet light and delicate bun which has
now become famously known as the Bath Bun. The original and very secret recipe
to this bun is now passed along together with the deeds to the house. Over the
years, a lot of imitations have cropped up including the “London Bath Buns” but
none have been able to match the deliciously light original Bath Bun.
The bun
comes with a variety of toppings, sweet and savory. I have never tried any of
the savory toppings such as the Smoked Salmon Bun, Roast Beef, Creamy Brie (this
actually sounds interesting) or Welsh Rarebit. I have always gone for a sweet
topping. In fact, I've only ever had one type of topping which is the Cinnamon
Butter topping. The bun is served with a topping of melted cinnamon butter and
a slice of lemon on top. When you look at it on your plate you wonder how could
something so simple be so famous, but the moment you put it in your mouth, you
feel as if there’s a small explosion mixing the sweet and salty cinnamon butter
together with the crunchy and creaminess of the toasted bun. You just can’t
help but to close your eyes and enjoy the sensations.
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| The famous Sally Lunn's Cinnamon Butter Bun |
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| The Coffee and Walnut topping (pic courtesy of my wife) |
My wife had
the Coffee and Walnut topping which was equally as good. I had a small bite
from her plate and I wished I had some more. Maybe I should have just ordered
another one.
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| Left: The after effects of the floods. Right: Cross Guns (again pics courtesy of my wife) |
After
walking around Bath for a couple of hours (shopping, what else) we headed out to
Avoncliff, which is a small village just a few miles from Bradford-Upon-Avon.
Cross Guns is a typical English pub located in Avoncliff right next to the
river Avon. Going there was a bit of a gamble as the area had experienced some
heavy rains and had flooded the day before. The effects of this flooding were
very obvious when we got to Cross Guns. A couple of their tables were in the
river waiting to be fished out by the proprietor when the water level recedes
further.
The menu at
Cross Guns is fairly simple. It consists mainly of traditional English food. I
had a meal here once 18 years ago and I remember it till today. That time, the
steak was particularly memorable, but this time, the starter and desserts did
it for me. For starters, I had the Cross Guns Mushrooms which were sliced
mushrooms cooked in a creamy garlic sauce (couldn't take a photo of this as my phone had run out of batteries). This dish was absolutely divine. For
dessert, I had the Spotted Dick, one of my favorite traditional English
desserts. The Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding which consists of dried
fruits served with a creamy custard sauce (once again, no photos of the one served). At Cross Guns, the pudding just
melts in your mouth together with the creamy custard making it a very appetizing
dessert.
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| The Cross Guns Mushroom. Absolutely delicious. (Battery ran out so once again pic is courtesy of my wife) |
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| Not the one that I had but it does look good |
After Cross
Guns, I was stuffed. We hadn't really made any plans for the afternoon.We had booked a hotel in Warwick for the night but e didn't really feel like heading
straight straight there since it was still only after 3.00 in the afternoon. So we
headed to Bicester Village an outlet shopping center located in the heart of Oxfordshire, for, surprise surprise, some more shopping. We
spent almost 3 hours there, walked the entire breadth of the outlet village twice, and eventually arrived at our hotel in Warwick at almost 9.00
in the evening. Overall, it was a day of indulgence. In fact, the whole trip
was about indulging ourselves. If we could find a place for a nice relaxing
massage, the whole trip could have been a perfect pampering holiday.
P.s: To find out more about Sally Lunn's House and Cross Guns, visit their website. Here are the links:
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