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Spaniards Inn – Hampstead, London.
Sometimes this pub can get a bit too busy for it’s own good, but that’s because it’s a great pub and everyone knows, find a great pub and find the worst kept secret. So if you want it when it’s buzzy then go in the summer and crash someones gigantic table outside in the huge garden, and join everyone else who is getting sloshed. If you want it a bit quieter than do what I just did and get there at midday on a Sunday and grab the last unreserved table. I was having a Roast Dinner in the Evening and did entertain the idea of ordering one from lunch and doing the double, but I didn’t I went for Gnocchi, and I’m so glad I did. I mean look at it. One of the best gnocchi’s I have ever had. Hand made, truffle cream with pea shoots and chestnut mushrooms. This deserves the biggest picture ever. 
New York – Days 17 to 23
Be good to the people who work in the bars and clubs and they are good to you.
Things I have discovered.
1) Again I ended up somewhere twice in one week that if you sit at the bar and get wasted you end up with not much of a bill to pay. . Be nice to the bartenders and they are really nice to you. They free pour the spirits here so you end up with a glass of vodka and not much else to flavour it. This would never happen in the UK. Never. Well unless you were home doing the pouring.
2). You can get your nails done in every block here and your eyebrows too. How there are so many nail bars and brow bars in business is a mystery. Great prices and can always walk in. What a treat for the hands and feet.
Sickly Sweetness
3) I met an old friend and went walking, walking, walking around the city streets to buy as much sweets to make us sick as possible. The girl in a Disney like candy store looked and sounded like she was sugar rushing to the moon. Never has someone spoke so much crap so fast. I left my friend to deal with her. Note to self, don’t work in candy stores.
4) They like to have big menus here to match the portion size. See the burger menu and the beer menu.
- Any beer or ale you desire. Well alot of it.
5) Clubs here are still like clubs ten years ago. It was a weird experience to be back in a nightclub. I don’t think I had been in one for years. I knew I could have talked to loads of people but I was just enjoying watching the crowd and thinking of days gone by. And as they prance by with their not so creative face paint and sparkly tutus (just the guys) I wondered in ten years time whether they would be the one like me staring back at them thinking – ooh how boring.
6) Everyone has a dog. Big or small. None of these dogs bark. Weird.
7) If you want to play catch the Frisbee in Central park the pre requisite is to be in your early twenties and have a six-pack. Good thing I don’t like catch the Frisbee.
The Crown and Goose
This is a great pub in Camden, hidden away from the mayhem. It gets packed and it’s only let down is that sometimes there is not enough staff on. Other than that it’s a great pub with a dark brooding atmosphere. The food here is excellent with offers of lamb kofte burger to a wonderful vege bean stew. I’d recommend booking even on a Monday as you never know when the local crowd is going to take it over. One of my favourites for North London.
worldwideattitude 