The Jugged Hare

Sunday roasts are a huge part of the Londoner lifestyle.  Looking for a good Sunday roast option, we headed into The City to check out The Jugged Hare.  This place is exactly what you would expect for a modern English pub.  When you walk in, the bar is backdropped by a menagerie of taxidermy that lets you know that you have entered a haven for meat-eaters, not particularly a place for vegetarians.  The dining room is sophisticated and comfortable.  You can envision business people talking deals over a large hunks of meat in here.

I ordered the "Jugged Hare".  This dish is exactly what it sounds like.  A rabbit stew is served inside of ceramic jug accompanied with mashed potatoes and cabbage.  The server said this dish is the best item on the menu and I can see why.  The dish was very tender, slow cooked meat drowned in a decandant red wine gravy.  The sides were the perfect accompanyment.  My husband ordered a bone marrow burger off the specials board.  This beast of a sandwich was shocking when they placed it in front of him.  It was super moist, but not too greasy.  And, no English meal is complete without a pudding -- we chose sticky toffee.  It was superb!

The best thing about the meal is that we found out the proprietors have two more places in Chelsea, so less travel.  We are looking forward to booking a pool table at The Cadogan Arms soon.  It's right down The Kings Road from us and is almost always packed.

Even though we didn't order any roast with as our meal, we had a lovely Sunday.

Image via London Evening Standard 

Image via Foodpedia

The Jugged Hare

Bone Marrow Burger

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Happy Friday

Hope you are enjoying 2013 as much as I am.  Now, that we've pass January and are entering February, I find myself thinking of the February we spent in Tuscany.  We drank the most incredible wine, ate wonderful meals and enjoyed plenty of magical sunsets.  Below is one of my favorite sunsets.  This was taken in the hill town Montepulciano.  We had just checked into our hotel and decided to go exploring.  We caught this wonderful sunset over hills of vineyards and olive groves.  The scene was fantastic.  Enjoy!

Vienna's Cafe Culture

The Viennese have one of the great cafe cultures in the world.  Dropping into a posh cafe between museum tours is a great way to relax and refuel.  These cafes are stocked with decadent pastries and serve world class coffee drinks.  My favorite coffee treat was the melange.  A melange is similar to a cappuccino, but a little bit sweeter due to the whipped cream topping.  These are a couple of the cafes we enjoyed on our stay in Vienna.  Enjoy!

Demel is a not to miss cafe near the royal palace in Vienna.  We don't usually go for the touristy spots, but this was a time I'm glad we did.

The avocado tartare and salmon was the perfect, light afternoon pick me up.

A selection of to-die-for treats

The cafe was only half a block from the palace.  Of course, the proximity made the cafe full to the brim with tourists, but the service was prompt and the food was really good.

Hotel Sacher has another can't miss cafe in Vienna.  The world famous Sachertorte was created here.  Though the Sachertorte is world famous, it's not so tasty.  Kind of like dry chocolate sponge cake with a hard chocolate shell.  The side of whipped cream helps, but I recommend having a melange handy to help wash this treat down!

My melange!  I can't wait to get back to Vienna and have another -- DOZEN!.

Another can't miss treat is the hot chocolate.  This isn't the kind of drink you get from a Swiss Miss packet.  This is actually hot, melted chocolate.  So rich and creamy and DELICIOUS!