How many people remember that the basement of Paddington used to be a restaurant named The Gourmet Underground Delicatessen??
Opened in 1977, the name of the restaurant was a play on words referencing the original Paddington Station in London. The Underground, or the “Tube” as it’s known casually, is a subway system that services the London metropolitan area. Operation on this first electric underground railway began in 1890, with a uniform fare of twopence (do you know how much that is in US currency). A map of this railway can be found on the menu of Gourmet Underground Delicatessen, along with some pretty nostalgic prices for food and drink!
One of the specialty items served by the restaurant was called “Warfres,” with flavor choices including banana, pecan, and bacon. The menu described this item with the following story:
The first waffle is said to have been made in 13th century England. A crusader wearing his armor accidently sat in some freshly baked oat cakes. The cakes were flattened and bore deep imprints of the steel links. However, he spread butter on the cakes and ate them. His wife, delighted in the way the butter stayed in the imprints from the armor, made him put it on once a week and sit on fresh oak cakes. They were called “warfres” meaning flat honeycomb-like cakes.”
