The trip almost made me a foodie. Simple meat and potatoes is so not in anymore. If you are what you eat, as the axiom claims, I would be quite another person, following my recent rich & famous diet. However, I like to consider the concept of food as a social phenomenon, in whose camp I am happy to do research. There was, for example, Restaurant Zuma. A frequenter of Japanese restaurants, I nevertheless have never seen nor tasted the dozens of delicious sushi, sashimi, tempura, and other Japanese delectable dishes available for lunch there. A dinner at The Cinnamon Club, in the stunning Old Westminster Library, taught new things about the essence of Indian cuisine in the western environment. The most outstanding new haute cuisine dish I had, however, was at Just St. James: a cappuccino of wild mushrooms. It was fantastic! But then, so was the chef’s pigeon breast, and fillet of brill with artichoke risotto, coconut & chive sauce.

Incidentally, the martini is back in. At the Bank Aldwych big and bustling brasserie, several of us sampled new different flavors: not just martinis with olives or a twist of lemon - no longer called a Gibson, at least in fashionable London but martinis with figs, with chocolate, Campari, or cranberries. Hemingway would turn over! Now we can all retrieve those 50’s martini glasses from the attic.

Wine buffs may be pleased to know that England is also growing some wines which rather resemble sweet Rieslings.
For a chaser to all this rich consumer allure, on Saturday afternoon I went off to see Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in "The Breath of Life" at the Royal Haymarket Theatre. In a week of top-of-the-line fine appraisals, what could top an afternoon with two of the world’s finest actors?