Gastropubs

Shortly before my trip I received an issue of Gourmet magazine which was exclusively about London. I brought it along hoping it would be useful for finding good food. One article was about Gastropubs which are converted pubs that tend to focus on good food more than a traditional pub. Sim and I decided to check out "The Eagle" in Farringdon. It was a good restaurant, but the experience was a little weird.
***Warning, this may be a Sean story***
Sean Story - def. - A long story which has no point or no punchline. Named for Sean Slattery, a frequent teller of Sean Stories.
I ordered a dish that had stewed lamb in it. When my food arrived it looked like grilled lamb and the sides were not what I expected either. There were only about five or six things on the menu, so it wasn't like they could have given me the wrong lamb dish. I was puzzled and was looking inside trying to read the chalkboard and figure out what I had originally ordered. One of the workers noticed and came out to talk to me. He obviously knew something was wrong, but I really couldn't understand anything he was saying. He was speaking English, but neither Sim nor I could understand him, or even the gist of what he was saying. He seemed to know that I didn't get what I had ordered, but he offered no answer as to why I received a dish that wasn't even on the menu. The food was actually very good, but I was thoroughly confused and it was really bizarre.
I have found thus far on my trip that I have a lot of difficulty understanding British English spoken by a non-native speaker. The same people have trouble understanding my American English as well. I can understand and be understood by Englishmen just fine though. I guess this is just practice for the foreign languages that I will encounter later on my trip.