There were four restaurants we ate at in London that were within a few minutes walk from our flat. I’ve already written up two of them: Cinnamon Club at the pricey and ambitious end of the spectrum and The Laughing Halibut at the fish and chips end of the spectrum. The others are a Sichuan restaurant we ate our first meal in London at (and another later) and Munich Cricket Club, where we would have eaten our second meal out in London if they aren’t closed on Sundays (we ended up at Quilon instead—fair trade). We didn’t actually ending up eating there till our last evening in London proper (right before we left for Scotland; we had another evening in Hounslow on the way from Scotland back to Minnesota). I know these details are deeply fascinating to you all. You’re welcome. 

Once we finally got there, it turned out—in retrospect, unsurprisingly—that Munich Cricket Club is a place for young office workers to grab a few beers (which in England means five or six) and some casual food before heading home. It’s meant to resemble a Bavarian beer hall. Never having been to the real article, I can’t say to what extent it succeeds in replicating the aesthetic. The seating is mostly on benches in a large central dining room (there are also some tables in a calmer adjoining area and that’s where we repaired with the kids). The beers are German, the (English) waitresses are decked out like Bavarian barmaids, and the menu is strictly Bavarian. I can’t speak to how close their sausage and schnitzel and sauerkraut come to the original thing either but I can say it’s all serviceable enough. Again, if you’re doing the Westminster Abbey/Big Ben tourism thing, it’s a plausible place to grab a quick meal.

Herewith, the photographic evidence.

You go in and go downstairs.

And there it is.

I think this was the käsekrainer, which might actually be an Austrian sausage. Served with Bavarian potatoes and decent sauerkraut.

With sauerkraut and chips.

The boys enjoyed this.

Also German.

I liked this one.

I forget what I drank.

My credit card statement tells me all of this cost just above $60, which is probably about $20 more than warranted by the quality. The service was affable but not very present but this isn’t really the kind of place to expect good service. In sum, I’d probably recommend the Laughing Halibut over it in the neighbourhood.

Coming up next week: a high-end meal in Minneapolis and another pretty good Indian meal in London.