Photo of the Day (5/10/06)

by Karen Walrond on

Yesterday, I did a post featuring China’s bid for the largest ferris wheel in the world — so clearly, today, when it came to picking the photo of the day, I couldn’t resist this photo taken at the top of the London Eye.  I particularly like the fact that the photographer, bamassippi, shot it in black-and-white — after all, London’s famous for its grey skies, isn’t it?

If you’d like one of your travel photos to be featured in our Image of the Day, be sure to visit our Flickr Pool, and upload your best shots there.  Every day we’ll pick one to be featured here on Gadling.

British Airways Bans Snoop Doggy Dog & Friends

by Adrienne Wilson on

So obviously this is old news in the celebrity gossip circuit, but I’m spending a day catching up after a week of being under the weather. West coast rapper, Snoop Doggy Dog and his posse have been placed in the dog house by British Airways after a recent scuffle in London’s Heathrow Airport. Apparently some of Snoop’s entourage couldn’t get into the British Airways’ exclusive first class lounge because they were riding on economy class and things got out of hand when they tried to force themselves into the lounge. The brawl that took place involved some 30 people where seven police officers received cuts, bruises and minor injuries. When commenting on the reason the airlines decided to offload the party and refuse travel, Richard Goodfellow, a spokesperson for BA said, “That sort of behavior will not  tolerated.”

Good for British Airways and bad dog, Snoop Dog! To say that the rapper and his crew should have known better is just an understatement. Grown men causing that kind of fuss over hanging in an exclusive lounge is just plain silly. See USA Today for further details.

Eating in London

by Irene Nam on

I know Paris has the international reputation as the capital of gastronomy, but I believe there are no
restaurants more delectable, various and eclectic than those in London. During a recent trip, I enjoyed the
London Zoo, the Science Museum, Big Ben and everything, but what I really relished was the food.

As we were traveling with two hectic four-year-olds my husband, and I made a selection of places to eat. As soon as
we landed at Heathrow Airport we headed to my all-time favorite family-friendly restaurant Wagamama at Harvey Nichols (109-125 Knightsbridge). There are about 25
Wagamama restaurants in London and over 40 in all England. The restaurants are modeled on the ramen bars
which have been popular in Japan for hundreds of years and their menu consists of side dishes, main meals and
desserts.

The restaurant design, modern yet warm, welcoming and inviting, the photographs on the walls, the waiters that
listen carefully and patiently as you try to order a bottle of water in obviously awful English and don’t
mind your kids taking off their shoes, you can’t but feel empowered when you eat at Wagamama, and that’s what I love
about this place. Even if it’s popular. We had gyoza and
negima yakitori for side dishes, a wagamama ramen (see picture) and a yaki soba for main meals. The restaurant also has a kid menu available to children aged 10 and under.

The next day we had lunch at Italian restaurant Da Mario (15 Gloucester
Road Kensington) also known as Princess Diana’s local pizzeria. Mario says "inspired by the many visits
of this humble and caring mother of the future king of England, I was delighted and thrilled to create Pizza
Diana". Pizza Diana was conceived with four different cheeses, roasted sweet peppers and oyster
mushrooms. A friend of ours told us the seafood was excellent so we ordered one Spagetthi Seafood and one Pizza
Seafood (see picture). It was absolutely divine. Da Mario also has pasta and mini cheese and tomato pizzas for
kids.

For our last dinner, we wanted to try a Korean restaurant and went to Ran which is located in Soho (58-59 Great Marlborough Street).

Ah the familiar language, smells and meals! The kids had "jabchae" (beef with glass noodles) and "mandoo" (gyoza) and we had "chadolbaegi" (Korean grill -see picture- with
filet mignon and beef short ribs) and "naengmyun" (spicy chilled noodles). The Korean
grill was excellent, but I thought the spicy chilled noodles were a little dull and tasteless.

I can’t wait to go back!