UK: The Ship. Wandsworth.

My first weekend in London. What to eat?! I, of course, wanted to have real English food. I had heard about something called a Full English which sounded just like a regular American breakfast but with blood sausage.  I got talked out of it in favor of a “proper pub lunch.”

While we were on our way to Wandsworth, we ran into a horde of people trying to get to the rugby game. Don’t ask me who won but I know Scotland was playing England because I saw some kilts. You know what that means? Men’s knees. Yep, I saw men’s knees under skirts…uh, kilt. Not that it’s unusual (hello, I love drag queens) but I did wonder what was going on underneath the kilts. In my defense, I’m a tourist. Modern anthropologist? Uh, all right, back to lunch. We eventually made it to the Ship and of course it was very busy.

The Ship is quite the blogger favorite and also the locals’ favorite. People lingered and while we put in our name for the main dining room, we eyed various tables in the pub to see if we could get a seat faster. People just weren’t budging. It became apparent exactly which table we wanted though– to the point another hungry pack negotiated we could take their table in the dining room if we gave up waiting for the pub table.

Oh thank goodness as I was starving. In no time flat, we demolished the pistachio-encrusted foie gras and rabbit-stuffed squid.

I picked the shepard’s pie because it came with curly kale. I love kale but I also wanted something very “English.” I was quite delighted when Worcestershire sauce came with. Proper (I love this word) Lea & Pearrins made with sugar and malt vinegar and not the B.S. American version with high fructose corn syrup and distilled white vinegar.

I quickly embarrassed myself by eating too quickly, burning my tongue and quaffing South African Chenin Blanc like a madwoman.

But it was worth it.

The Ship

41 Jews Row, Wandsworth SW18 1TB, UK