Being stuck in London’s Heathrow airport, I was sure I wouldn’t be able to find anything to eat beyond a bag of “crisps” and a bottle of Irn-Bru…gag. I was actually surprised when I found myself with a decent selection of restaurants. After carefully checking out each menu and price (since the British pound is worth about 1.5 dollars) , I settled on The Crown Rivers. They served up mostly pub food, but also had a good-looking selection of curries. I settled on the Thai Green Chicken Curry, since I always wanted to know what green chicken tasted like…just kidding…maybe.
The ingredients listed in the curry were lemon grass, coriander, lime leaf, cumin, coconut and choi sum. None of these sounded like vegetables to me except for the choi sum. I figured I would take a risk and allow it, hoping it could be some incredible new meat I had never heard of.
Another bonus to this dish, was the list of sides that it came with; basmati rice, naan bread, mango chutney, onion bhajis, poppadums and shrimp paste. Most of these words meant nothing to me, yet my taste for adventure wouldn’t let me order my food without them.
When my food arrived, I was happy to find it nearly vegetable-free. There were a couple green and red substances (possibly the choi sum?) in the curry that I was careful to avoid, and the sides all looked pretty. I found two confusing-looking clumps of fried dough on the plate and took a bite. To my severe displeasure, I found onion inside and thrust these vegetarian spies off of my plate. The rest of my meal was without incidence. Everything tasted as I hoped, the curry was spicy, the naan was thick and the mango chutney was tastefully seasoned. Even the shrimp paste, which turned out to be crispy shrimp-flavored shells went happily into my unvegan belly.
Next time I’m in Heathrow, I’ll be sure to stop by The Crown Rivers again for a good meal.
