Dan’s Blog (2.0)

So yesterday we (the family) went to Highgate — which has a reputation of being a really nice and historical part of London that we’ve been living near but have never been to. Highgate itself was beautiful — village atmosphere with Georgian architecture, etc… but we were a bit disappointed by the proliferation of chain restaurants. In particular, were refused a table at Strada, which is a mediocre pizza chain anyway but we had stopped out of desperation. Getting hungrier and hungrier, we finally tripped across a fantastic pub called The Flask. They had an amazing beer collection* and good food — and they were very friendly, even though the place was crowded beyond belief. So the day was at least partially redeemed.

* It’s actually very difficult to find a pub in London that has a good selection of beers. This is because most pubs are chains that are owned by brewers, and because most people (yes, even here) settle for whatever — usually Carling for some inexplicable reason. Locally owned pubs usually offer a better selection, or at least offer some good hand-drawn ales, but they’re few and far between.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 21:34 under London