London's Soho

SANTasteFRANCISCO BAY A REAofTRAVEL WRITERS TRAVEL JANUARY 2017 Diane LeBow, Ph.D., is a travel writer and photojournalist; professor and lecturer; president emerita, BATW; Diane LeBow multiple-year winner of Travelers’ Tales’ Best Women’s Travel Writing; and publishes widely in print and online, covering adventures from Afghanistan, Mongolia, Iran and France to the Canadian Arctic and California cities. www.dianelebow.com London’s Soho: London’s first authentic Mexican restaurant. Curiously own mixologist and unique enough, its owner is Winston Churchill’s great menu. Testifying to Soho’s From Bunnies and Brothels to grandson. Employees served us a variety of luscious earlier incarnation as a International Cuisine and Jazz tacos, including lamb with “drunken salsa,” char- theme park of brothels, roasted mushroom, and prawn with spicy jicama, Opium posts signs on its Savory dumplings in former opium dens, chocolate washed down with refreshing house margaritas. doors that say: “This is not delicacies, gourmet gin and gin-infused beef pies. Stop #2. The London Gin a brothel. There are no These were just a few of the delights promised in an Club, a distillery and restaurant, prostitutes at this address.” “Eating London Tours” brochure that arrived in my presented us with the best gin and Stop #6. Just when we inbox as John and I were preparing to leave for a five- tonics we had ever tasted. The all felt that we had no more week trip to the British Isles. Soho is one of London’s Club offers 270 types of gin, room for food or drinks, oldest, liveliest and most diverse areas. Combining including some described as our enthusiastic guide food with history and tastes of the latest things “botanical gin.” Perhaps healthier? ushered us to our final happening in Happening Soho piqued our interest. There’s even a gin tasting class tasting at Said Chocolate. So we signed up for the Twilight Soho Food Tour. that uses terms such as “buttery,” An import from Rome, Late one afternoon we met Joe Richardson, an actor “creamy,” or “orange peel essence,” Said is said to be one of and our knowledgeable guide for the three-and-a-half- rivaling the lingo of Napa Valley London’s favorite dessert hour walking tour, during which we feasted and drank wine aficionados. Accompanying spots. We enjoyed the at six unique establishments. The first bit of our gin tastings were luscious meat uniquely spiced hot information we learned from Joe was that the name pies consisting of gin-soaked, chocolate, so thick it is best “So Ho” was originally a hunting cry used when a slow-braised beef served in butter- Stop #4. Pix Bar is inspired by the Basque Country eaten with a spoon, and the amazing tiramisu. rabbit was sighted back in the 1600s, when this area enriched pastry. pintxo bars of Barcelona and San Sebastian. As Walking along Soho’s narrow alleys, we also passed of SW London belonged to a few very wealthy Stop #3. At Enrique Tomas, throughout our food tour, gracious hosts offered us Trident Studios, where the Beatles, Elton John and landowners. In later years, the area was neglected people were pressed against the copious and varied samples of their wares. At Pix, David Bowie recorded. Nearby is Ronnie Scott’s Jazz and became known for brothels, drugs and alcohol. front window watching an counters were laden with Basque snacks, consisting of Club, which has been going strong since 1959. It has Not long after, bohemian writers, artists and musicians employee skillfully carve slices from miniature tapas on wooden sticks, which we enjoyed hosted Ella Fitzgerald, Prince and Wynton Marsalis, as moved in, relishing the low rents and creative an enormous pig leg. Famous in Spain, Enrique Tomas’ lubricated with their Txakoli wine. well as Jimi camaraderie. During our walking tour, we saw family-run business has arrived in Soho, featuring a Hendrix’s last public evidence of those days as we passed the former jamón tasting from pampered Iberian pigs that are performance in 1970. residences of Mozart, Dylan Thomas, Karl Marx, and raised on acorns and special diets. The meat is We promised W.B. Yeats. R.L. Stevenson set Dr. Jekyll’s home in meticulously cured for 36 months. Some of it sells for ourselves what he describes as “the dismal quarter of Soho with 300 British pounds per kilo; an entire leg can cost to come back its muddy ways and slatternly passengers.” 950 pounds. another night. Why the rich diversity of restaurants there now? Joe As we said good- described the vast pool of bye to our small immigrants who moved into group and thanked this area over the centuries Joe, our terrific from France, Italy, Greece and guide, London felt elsewhere, bringing with them like a very different their varied cuisines. city. We felt closer to Following them were, of the many immigrants course, curious and hungry who had made their visitors and tourists like us. homes here, and the Stop #5. We slipped just over the edge of Soho to Stop #1. La Bodega Negra many talented people who enriched our lives and Chinatown’s one square mile of delectable dim sum is disguised as a strip club and palates. and a multitude of Chinese teas. At Opium, we adult sex shop, reveling in For more information on Eating Europe Tours, which climbed the narrow staircases feeling as though we Soho’s notorious past. As we offers food tours in Rome, Amsterdam, Prague and were entering an Oriental opium den. This was likely entered the storefront, we London’s East End and Soho, contact Wibke at true, as in the 1800s this area was home to opium dens descended into what is billed as www.eatingeuropetours.com. galore. Both cocktail bar and restaurant, Opium consists of a labyrinth of small rooms, each with its Photos by Diane LeBow and John Montgomery 58 59 B AY A REA T RAVEL W RITERS AND P HOTOGRAPHERS www.batw.org “One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.” —Henry Miller.

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