Last year it was the Rancho de San Juan resort outside Santa Fe; this time it would be the Capital H

True, England has never been called the culinary capital of the world, as travelers have long endured too many bouts with charred plum pudding and lumpy shepherd s pie; however, times they are a-changing.
budget rent a car toronto Last year it was the Rancho de San Juan resort outside Santa Fe; this time it would be the Capital Hotel in London. Next year we may have to do cheap rooms and bad buffets in Vegas, but this time we were going to do it right and we were determined to eat well, too.
Our itinerary included heading straight to Harrods, decadent spa treatments, visits to design budget rent a car toronto studios on Pimlico Road, window-shopping along Sloane Street budget rent a car toronto (think Rodeo Drive), and checking out the Princess Diana exhibit at Kensington Palace.
Our eat-our-way-through London trip began even before budget rent a car toronto we left the states budget rent a car toronto in the lobby of the now-defunct Silverjet airlines in the Newark budget rent a car toronto airport. Silverjet suspended operations in May 2008 and went out of business.
Silverjet was an airline that just served London and only had one all-business-class budget rent a car toronto flight a day. Theirs was an oh-so-civilized approach to international travel, treating all passengers as though they were guests budget rent a car toronto at an exclusive club.
Then we were escorted to one of many plush sofas with tiny coffee tables in a beautiful silver and blue lounge where champagne, orange juice, sodas, gourmet cookies, cucumber sandwiches and more were served along with offerings from a full bar.
Then we were escorted through a private security entrance, just for our flight, onto a luxurious new aircraft where handsome British lads in blue and white stripped button-down shirts attended to our every need and fed us well on china plates.
Once in London, we wasted no time having big plates of smoked budget rent a car toronto salmon and capers with our croissants and hot tea, and while some of us wanted to nap, most of us were ready to hit Harrods perhaps the world s largest and most famous department budget rent a car toronto store owned by the father budget rent a car toronto of Dodi Fayed, Princess Diana s lover.
Harrods is best known for its glorious food courts you ll think you ve died and gone to a heaven made entirely of food. Harrods boasts the most beautiful edible displays imaginable a bacchanal playground for foodies like us.
I kept making covert midday runs back and forth from the hotel to get some more of the white chocolate maple Nipples of Venus candies I d discovered on my last trip to London. I d sneak little bags of them back to my room each afternoon budget rent a car toronto to nibble on when I d take my tea. It was an addiction, and I was ashamed so I told no one.
Still, my girlfriends budget rent a car toronto managed to drag me up to the top floor where we spent a morning having facials and massages in the Urban Retreat, which is Harrods spa. We felt were worth it at least once a year.
After that, we had lunch in the spa restaurant, which served fresh and healthful foods pear salads budget rent a car toronto and quiche and such. However our favorite lunch was at a nearby eatery called Tom s Kitchen on Cale Street in South Kensington.
Although it is located in a regular storefront, it feels as though you re eating in some fabulous, white-tile and marble kitchen tucked under the stairs of a dining room in a huge English country manor or hidden in the back of a palace near the servant s quarters.
The food is all locally grown, fresh and not frou frou. Owner Tom Aikens has a haute cuisine restaurant in Chelsea, but Tom s Kitchen is his baby a simple, Old World brasserie serving up plate after plate of hearty, healthful fare.
But we couldn t eat all the time, so we headed to nearby Pimlico Road, at the edge of the famous Belgravia neighborhood, to see what the hottest designers are doing these days in the way of furnishings and interiors.
First we visited the young, dapper South African-trained designer Justin Van Breda and gushed over his glassware, lamps and custom-made furniture. Then we had coffee on the balcony of designers Lulu Lytle and Christopher Hodsoll s Sloane studio before visiting the shop of designer David Linley who is a nephew of the Queen.
We came upon the most beautiful bakery budget rent a car toronto and caf that I ve ever seen Daylesford Organic. Boasting 4,500 square feet and three stories, the bakery budget rent a car toronto s countertops, walls and floors of white Carrara marble certainly provided the wow factor.
Using a traditional country stone oven, master bakers bake bread, filling the room with an aroma that draws you in. Fresh fruits and vegetables that would put Central Market to shame are laid out on marble slabs. budget rent a car toronto The food gallery is hedged with fresh organic herb gardens and topiary.
One rainy afternoon stroll took us to Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived, to see an extraordinary exhibit, Diana: A Princess Remembered, featuring not only the largest collection of photographs and film of the Princess to date, but also a collection of her dresses.
Head Chef Eric Chavot, with his expertise in continental cuisine and great attention to elegant budget rent a car toronto presentation, chose simple but scrumptious budget rent a car toronto dishes to complement the hotel s private collections budget rent a car toronto from the Levin Winery' in the Loire Valley of France: Levin Sauvignon Blanc, Levin Rose and Levin Gamay.
We began our meal with roasted scallops sauce vierge, and went on to enjoy a plate of foie gras and passion fruit, pav of sole with cassoulet Toulousain and truffle jus, and a main course of honey roasted fillet of duck and macaroni gratin.