There probably is little in the world that cannot be found in London, but for some things, one has to look quite hard. Among these things are (a) pastry forks and (b) good espresso.
When you go out for a coffee accompanied by a piece of cake, you usually end up eating your cake with a coffee spoon or a fork (a normal sized one, a main dish fork), definitely not a pastry fork. The idea of a pastry fork does not seem to be completely alien to the English speaking person, though, since we found the word in the dictionary. Dessert fork is another expression to be found.
Maybe we are to blame. Maybe one could get a pastry fork at the Ritz. Probably the Queen is perfectly familiar with the concept. Is it a class problem?
We should mention for our English readers that in continental, cake-eating Europe it would be frowned upon to eat cake or any other dessert of suitable, not-too-soft consistency with an ordinary fork. (Not to speak of a tea spoon.) It just looks strange. Besides the aesthetic, there is a practical side to this: since a pastry fork has smaller, sharper points, it is much easier and less prone to accidents to pierce pieces of cake with it. More than once, using an ordinary fork, we inadvertently sent fragments of fractious cake flying off our plate. Again, this may be our fault entirely, yet we are convinced that with pastry forks, we would have done better.
However, let us turn to the much more serious problem: the difficulty of finding a decent espresso in the British capital. (We became aware of the scale of this problem even more since Tiger started to drink espresso a few months ago.) In London, Starbucks come by the dozen, Caffè Nero and Costa as well. We tried all of them - concerning espresso, they are underachievers. All these impressive coffee machines, so little effect. In our desperation, we turned to the rich variety of organic coffee shops. (For our German readers: organic means bio-). Even worse.
We yearningly think back to our Malta holiday earlier this year: despite the British colonial history, the Maltese make glorious espresso! Rich, mild, not bitterish at all, with a little, light brown foam on it, coming with a piece of chocolate or a small cookie - delicious!
Where can we find this in London? There must be some places at least. It is inconceivable that all the Italians living in London cope with such bad espresso all the time. Where are their secret gathering spots? Where is the hidden espresso source?
When you go out for a coffee accompanied by a piece of cake, you usually end up eating your cake with a coffee spoon or a fork (a normal sized one, a main dish fork), definitely not a pastry fork. The idea of a pastry fork does not seem to be completely alien to the English speaking person, though, since we found the word in the dictionary. Dessert fork is another expression to be found.
Maybe we are to blame. Maybe one could get a pastry fork at the Ritz. Probably the Queen is perfectly familiar with the concept. Is it a class problem?
We should mention for our English readers that in continental, cake-eating Europe it would be frowned upon to eat cake or any other dessert of suitable, not-too-soft consistency with an ordinary fork. (Not to speak of a tea spoon.) It just looks strange. Besides the aesthetic, there is a practical side to this: since a pastry fork has smaller, sharper points, it is much easier and less prone to accidents to pierce pieces of cake with it. More than once, using an ordinary fork, we inadvertently sent fragments of fractious cake flying off our plate. Again, this may be our fault entirely, yet we are convinced that with pastry forks, we would have done better.
However, let us turn to the much more serious problem: the difficulty of finding a decent espresso in the British capital. (We became aware of the scale of this problem even more since Tiger started to drink espresso a few months ago.) In London, Starbucks come by the dozen, Caffè Nero and Costa as well. We tried all of them - concerning espresso, they are underachievers. All these impressive coffee machines, so little effect. In our desperation, we turned to the rich variety of organic coffee shops. (For our German readers: organic means bio-). Even worse.
We yearningly think back to our Malta holiday earlier this year: despite the British colonial history, the Maltese make glorious espresso! Rich, mild, not bitterish at all, with a little, light brown foam on it, coming with a piece of chocolate or a small cookie - delicious!
Where can we find this in London? There must be some places at least. It is inconceivable that all the Italians living in London cope with such bad espresso all the time. Where are their secret gathering spots? Where is the hidden espresso source?
