A year ago I finished my journey of Only Beans, a life reset in which I only ate beans for 30 days to share my love of legumes with the world and work through some of my own turmoil at the time (a glimpse of which is mentioned here).
I never planned to make a Substack, and I never thought I would go to Cambridge, but in September, I met a man who changed my life. Before we all get too excited, this is not a salacious story, but on the hill behind the Greek Theater in Berkeley, while discussing the feelings of heartbreak, beans, and, for the first time in a long time, I met someone who could “run their fingers through my brain.”
When I told him I was thinking about giving up Bean Supporter, that it had helped me get past some of my emotional turmoil, and that I didn’t know if I wanted it to be anything more, he told me I had to keep going, to spread the word of soluble fiber. So eight months after meeting, it was only natural for me to support him the way he once supported me. So to Cambridge I went.
Well, I said it is for him, but let’s be honest, bean fanatics in the chat—what is the first thing you would do in the UK?
If you answered: land, take the Tube to the closest grocery store and get your hands on Bold Beans, which you have been trying to find a way to ship to the US to try on a weekly basis for the past year, you would be correct.
These jarred black chickpeas were the best packaged bean I’ve had in my whole life. This is not sponsored; I paid for the beans. My only regret is only getting one jar. Silly me thought I would be able to purchase more Bold Beans in France. No! UK only. Don’t make the same mistake as me. Paris has jarred beans, some great ones, but nothing compares to the power of Bold.
My friend I was staying with, who lives in Paris, asked me how we could get more of these beans and asked me to look into getting some shipped. Bold Beans, if you are reading this, please ship to Paris.
Outside of my desire for more Bold Beans, I spent 10 days roaming the streets of Paris, London, and Cambridge looking for the best beans, bread, and whimsy. If any of this sounds up your alley, I suggest you keep on reading.
First stop first… we got the beans. We then proceeded to make our way over to Ottolenghi’s to-go shop in Marylebone.
I’ve always been inspired by the way Ottolenghi works with vegetables, but I’m actually most inspired by the way he works with cakes. We got three to eat up on Primrose Hill. We got the carrot cake, a double chocolate blackberry cake, and an almond orange cake (gluten-free) with chocolate ganache.
Hungry, we made a pit stop near a stream to watch ducklings and try my favorite cake, carrot cake. It was good. Moist, not too sweet, but forgettable.
We continued on our journey, passing natural food stores, beautiful streets, and buying the biggest carrot of my life. We made our way to the hill. I was slightly underwhelmed by the scenery, but overwhelmed by the cake. On that hill, I had the second-best cake I’ve had in my life: the double chocolate blackberry cake. There was a rich chocolate cake, a not-too-rich chocolate frosting, but what set this cake apart was the salted chocolate crumble and the tart blackberry coulis. It was a mixture of flavors that made me want to rethink my stance on disliking fruit with chocolate and was the initial inspiration for my double bean double chocolate cake. Now I must work on my coulis and crumble. More to come.
Why second best? The problem is I can only be honest. I’m not going to tell you something is the best when I have had better. Nothing compares to Hannah Ziskin’s Quince Cranberry Slab. That is my last meal, above beans (please don’t tell them).
We wandered our way back while chomping on massive carrots to rest up for a big day of punting to follow.
We woke up, sipped on potions, and dug into the third cake. This almond orange chocolate ganache cake was not almondy enough and felt one-note. It was not a winner, and we made our way up to Cambridge to punt. We punted the upper and lower streams before making our way to dinner.
New-age Indian food. I had many recommendations for this place and was excited that it is where our Bean Supporter supporter had chosen to eat.
It was a large group dinner, and we got a lot of food, so I will give you the highlights and the lowlights.
Highlights:
Chili Broccoli Salad: It was sweet, spicy, crunchy, acidic, and just kind of perfect. The broccoli was shaved, which is maybe one of my favorite salad textures of all time, and filled with pumpkin and sunflower seeds for the perfect crunch, and dates for chew and sweetness. This salad is perfect and something I must recreate.
Dishoom House Chaat: I first discovered it in December on a terrible first date, but it was worthwhile in opening my eyes to the idea of a cold fried potato salad topped with yogurt, chutneys, and pomegranate. I’ve been obsessed ever since. The Dishoom Chaat was the best I’ve had to date. I sadly only got a bite of it in our large group, so until I return.
Lowlights:
Salted Lassi — While I love a savory beverage, this was just too salty. I needed the salt dialed back 50%, for I felt like I was sipping on sodium.
House Black Daal — This pains me to say, but if you go to Dishoom, I do not support their beans. Their lentils lacked flavor; they fell flat and were too runny. I love so many types of daal. This one was not it.
We tried many other dishes, but for me, these were what I’m still thinking about positively or negatively a month later.
We took a cab back to our friend’s place to sauna because no day is complete without a trip to the sauna, in which I got to experience my first English cab ride facing my friends. As someone who really dislikes cars and taxis, I love an English cab.
We made our way back to London and prepared for our BFD* (Big Fun Day).
*Every Wednesday my parents go on a BFD, a term coined by my father in which they go around different places in Los Angeles picking up Too Good To Go bags and shopping discount grocery circulars.
While I wasn’t picking up discount foods, I was on a BFD, quite possibly the most BFD of my whole life, where I did manage to cry tears of joy several times.
As every good day, we started with more potions before hopping on a double-decker bus to head to the Design Museum. A fun fact about me: I love public transportation, so yes, getting on a bus was a highlight of my day. We got off the bus and headed into the museum, where I was more impressed by the child rolling in the fountain outside than I was by anything in the museum.
Design Museum: A skip, but a child rolling in a fountain, always a must.
We walked our way over to the Victoria Albert Museum, which was my main call to London. Back when I was still a visual artist rather than a bean artist, my primary source of choice was William Morris. When I discovered his prints, patterns, and textures, I was hooked, so since 2018, on my places-to-visit list has been the V&A, as they are one of the largest collections of his work.
While I went there for the William Morris, I was instead taken by the exhibit of Jewels. My photo does this room no justice. It is hard to take pictures of a dark, backlit room on a phone camera while you are shaking with excitement, but if you are ever in London, please check it out. Better yet, like most museums in London, it is free.
Victoria Albert Museum: Check out the Jewels room, and make sure to look out for ring #9 in the most modern set of rings. Hopefully, it will brighten your day as much as it did mine.
On a high note leaving the museum, I decided my museum hopping was over, so we had a quick change of plans and decided to make our way over to Harrods.
I asked my friend upon entering if it was like Bergdorf Goodman. While he had never been to Bergdorf’s, I quickly learned, in the Egyptian Escalators, the true definition of “posh” and was reminded that not everyone is afraid of synthetic fragrance. While I don’t watch television, this experience felt like my version of bingeing a reality television show.
Harrods: Worth a people-watch. I advise staying far away from the home fragrance section.
As we returned to the street for some fresh air, I was asked if I wanted to check out Sketch. I had never heard of this bar/restaurant/tea room, but upon seeing a single photo on Google Reviews, I decided, why not?
I ordered a milky beet juice, and my friend got an orange turmeric juice. Upon ordering, my friend turned to me and told me to wander as far as I could, get lost, and make sure I found the bathroom.
As I pushed on a giant golden wall, I was met with a sound of buzzing. As I stepped inside the illuminated vortex, I made my way up the white staircase to be met by individual egg chambers washed in the technicolor reflections of the stained-glass ceiling. I had never been a bathroom crier, but in entering my egg, I too cracked.
I returned to the table with damp eyes when my friend asked, “Did [I] see the bathroom?” We sipped our drinks, discussed the beauty that is Sketch, and returned to the bathroom for a final viewing as we discussed our plans to one day return for high tea in the golden room.
Sketch: A must-go, even if only for a drink, and hopefully a few trips to the bathroom.
As I hopscotched my way out of the restaurant and onto the street, we decided to continue on the exploration of childlike wonder. Why not take a visit to Hamleys?
Let me be clear. I have joy. I have been told I exhibit overwhelming amounts of childlike wonder, but that seven-floor toy store is one of the worst places I have ever been. Joy does not need to come from the overconsumption of single-use plastic. Overwhelmed, disheartened, and off of my bathroom high, we left to head to lunch.
Hamleys: Never again.
This restaurant came recommended to me by a supporter. Thank you all for your support and dining recommendations. While I wish I could tell you this is another daal review, it is actually a hopper review. Growing up, I would go to a restaurant in Los Angeles called Mayura, and I would get the appam. It was my favorite food, so when I saw that a hopper looked like a mixture between an appam and a dosa, I knew I had to go. We got the eggplant curry and an egg hopper.
All I know is that I dream of hoppers and need to figure out where to get these in the Bay Area, or even where to find appam. Please let me know in the comments if you have any recommendations.
Hoppers: Get a hopper. I didn’t try enough things to comment overall.
Rushing to make our train, we popped into Ottolenghi for another slice of the blackberry chocolate cake for train, and made our way to the train.
We shimmied through the layers of security and made our way to the Eurostar holding chamber, a crowded pen also selling light-up plastic toys. But as our platform was announced, a wave of relief washed over me. I was about to be under the English Channel for 19 minutes of under-the-sea train cake consumption.
Tune in next week for the Bread and Bean Guide to Paris, featuring Best Tofu, the most beautiful cookware store I’ve ever been in, dinners on the Seine, some of the most delicious beans I’ve had, and my recipe for them.
Tell someone that you love them, maybe by letting them punt you around Cambridge.
Xoxo,
Bean Supporter
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