London is not an easy city, not even a traditionally beautiful one, but it is full of wonders. Now that I have left, and can wax lyrical in sweet nostalgia, it was the small experiences and places that made all the bad things (e.g. astronomic rent for a mouldy box-room, daily zombiefication on the tube, diarisation with friends of Versailles treaty-intenstity and lonely weekends when everyone had a much better time than me) a little more bearable.
Below are the highlights of the past 3.5 years, as well as an easy list of places to check out if you are in need of inspiration. I made a hobby out of exploring the city whenever I had the time: it was always worth it as it allowed me to appreciate the history and beauty that gets all too easily drowned out by the stressy, grey and impersonal day-to-day. The list excludes more touristy stuff (it is known that pretty much any show at the RA, walking the South Bank, going up St Paul’s etc. are going to be great) so I only included things that I felt were a bit different. I do hope this will help you find your own strange routes and routines to make the city a little bit better. It also goes without saying that one of the key attractions is the diversity of food in town so it is a great way of passing time, so I also included the list of my favourite places to eat your stress away.
– Walking from Bethnal Green to Kensington to see all the facets of London
– Hitting Regent’s Canal from Little Venice to Victoria Park
– Hiking the heath from Hampstead to Highgate, with pints at the Holly Bush
– Pretending to be a morbid romantic in Highgate Cemetery, on a gloomy November day
– Taking in the high life at Kensington Roof Gardens
– Surviving Bermondsey’s Beer mile
– Feeding the travel-bug at Daunt books
– Admiring the view from Primrose hill in the morning and at night (extra points if you manage to run up the hill)
– Feeling on top of it all at the Sky Garden in Walkie Talkie
– Getting lost in Clerkenwell and Farrigdon and seeing the St john’s Gate and St Bartholomew-the-great
– Listening to the quaint ancient fountain in the Fountain court of the Temple bar
– Relaxing with koi Japanese garden in Holland park
– Raving in Ally-Pally and the Roundhouse
– Walking around the Barbican and its conservatory, preferably in a black turtle neck
– Indulging in high tea at the Connaught and later sipping cocktails at the Connaught bar (The American bar in Savoy was a good alternative)
– Feeling like a kid watching the Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House
– Gobbling bagles on Brick lane after midnight
– Feeling foodieish Broadway market and having the best chicken of my life at Butchies
– Feeling fashionable at Exmouth market while devouring the Red Curry from their Thai truck
– Chilling outside the Monocle cafe, trying to spot celebs at the Chiltern fire house
– Entering the vortex of weirdness in Bethnal green working man’s club
– Spotting yummy-mummies at Duke of York square saturday market
– Gallery hopping in Mayfair (Blain/Southern is usually amazing)
– Realising that 99% of contemporary art is actually crap at Frieze London
– Skating at Somerset house
– Cream Tea and architecture in V&A’s Morris room
– Chilling in a Pall Mall club
– Relaxing in Cafe Royal’s David Chipperfield spa
– Very late dinner/ early breakfast at the Duck and Waffle
– Admiring St Pauls’s from the roof of One New Change
– Swimming with the cool kids at London Fields Lido
– Being shouted at by the small waiter with a huge voice while ordering a fry-up at Art-deco Regency cafe
– Feeling like a kid in Fortnum and Masons at Christmas
– Urgan farming in Hackney
– Dreaming of a an unlimited budget at Conran shops in Marylebone and Chelsea
Additional sights of interest
Leighton house (Kensington)- House of a famous Victorian artist with dazzling orientalist rooms
Kew Gardens (Kew)- world’s most impressive botanical gardens. Also worth popping to much closer Chelsea Physic Gardens
Esoterick collection (Cannonbury) – great collection of Italian futurists tucked away in leafy Cannonbury
Cortauld gallery (Strand) – Amazing collection of Impressionists in Somerset house
Soane museum (Holborn)- Impressive house of an eccentric and probably anally retentive 19th century architect (of Bank of England fame)
Hampton court and gardens – the best royal palace I’ve seen
Curzon Mayfair (Mayfair)- Art-house cinema in a beautiful 70s setting
Westminster Cathedral (Victoria) – a Neo-byzantine beauty of a catholic church
Barrafina (Drury lane) – Great, albeit overpriced tapas
Lurra (Marble Arch) – Hip place with great Northern Spanish seafood
Franco Manca (Brixton market) – The home of London’s best pizza, which is par with Neapolitan pizzeria in quality, charm and queue length
Alio e Olio (Fulham road) – Great local italian
Princi (Berwick Street) – Stylish yet unfussy Italian bakery in the heart of Soho
Caffee Caldesi (Marylebone Lane) – Great local Italian with very warm service
Gokyuzu (Green Lanes) – Great, inexpensive Turkish with bread to die for
Ishtar (Crawford street) – Very good Turkish in Marylebone
Honey & Co (Fitzrovia) – Israeli home-cooked wonder by a husband/wife due who trained with Ottolenghi
Nopi (Warwick street) – Unpretentious, but beautifully designed restaurant by my beloved Yotam Ottolenghi, a place for vegetarians torejoice
Kopapa (Seven Dials) – Delectable Kiwi cuisine by the people who brought us Providroes
Lowlander (Long Acre)- Belgium beer pub serving tasty grub
The Smokehouse (Cannonbury) – Meat specialists with a beautiful garden and even prettier selection of beers
Cooke’s Eel shop (Broadway Market) – Included more for the shock value, it is a rare authentic East London eel, pie and mash shop
Fryers delight (Holborn) – the best chips in an authentic 70s setting
Dirty Burger shed (Kentish Town) – Burgers are awesome, but the fact that they made a shack that makes you feel like a mid-western steel worker deserves all the priase
Patty and Bun (James street) – Slightly overhyped, but the sauces in Burgers are truly something
Meat Market (Covent Garden) – part of the Meatliquor chain, but sans the queue and right in the middle of things
Bleecker st burgers (Spitalfields Market) – Worth a visit for their black pudding burger
Tayyabs (Whitechapel) – A London institution: you will probably need to burn your clothes after the experience, but will have had amazing lamb-chops and naans
Rasa (Derring street, by Bond street tube) – Great cheap South Indian just off Oxford Street
Woodlands (Marylebone lane) – Really light vegetarian Indian fare
Trishna (Marylebone) – Stylish and worth every premium penny you pay, especially for daal and guinea-fowl biryani
Gymkhana (Mayfair) – Same owners as Trishna, this time with game and a colonial-club feel
Govinda (Soho square) – run by Hare Krishna temple, you get a goof thali for £10
Bao (Soho) – Hyped Taiwanese buns, worth a half-hour wait
Tokyo Diner (Leicester square) – Cheap but reliable Japanese with an authentic flair
Attari-ya (James street) – Cheap good Sushi just off Oxford street
The Heron (Edgware road) – very authentic Thai at the bottom of a council estate pub, where the the smell of food only slightly overpowers the smell of the floor (still it is an experience)
Money and Me (Crawford street) – Decent friendly neighbourhood Thai
Spicy basil (Kilburn high road) – Great eatery with a Pad Thai to die for
Royal Oak (Marylebone) – my local and favourite. A true pub experience with quirky staff, and best burgers around (NB: Wednesday is wings day and the Korean wings are off the charts)
Punch and Judy (Fleet street) – great burgers and ales
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (Fleet street) – A true rabbit warren of a pub, but the place to go for is the old room with the firepalce
Three kings (Farringdon) – nutty pub with a Rhino on the wall and London’s best Nachos
The Lockhart (Edgware road) – Great whiskey selection, also famous for ribs (but I wasn’t convinced on that point)
Lamb and Flag (Covent Garden) – A rarely historic west end pub with plaques commemorating old patrons
The Harp (Charring Cross) – A must for all ale-lovers
The White Horse (Parsons Green) – aka the Sloaney Pony, amazing selection of beer and pastel-coloured trousers
Admiral Codrinton (Chelsea) – Amazing burgers tucked away from Kings Road insanity
The Enterprise (Chelsea) – Chelsea institution
Mitre tavern (Farringdon) – One of London’s oldest pubs, very difficult to find
The Mayflower (Canada Water) – Atmospheric historic pub
Lantana (Charlotte place) – One of the original Aussie eateries very popular but worth the wait if only for the crack cakes
Providores (Marylebone high street) – Great Kiwi place with amazing Turkish eggs
Granger (Notting hill) – Great breakfast by Australia’s star chef, but more memorable for the fashionable crew in the queue
Ottloenghi (Notting hill) – Selection of London’s best salads and pastries, ideally eaten at the adjoining square while watching beautiful people of Notting Hill swan by
Il Blandford’s (Chiltern street) – a Sicilian family-run enterprise with amazing coffee and great fry-up
Coffee and cake
Monocle cafe (Chiltern street) – my local and favourite: lovely staff, and London’s best muesli (well paired with cardamom buns)
Workshop (Farringdon) – the original temple to great coffee
Kaffeine (Great Titchfield street) – great coffee
Brill (Exmouth market) – music shop, cakes and great coffee, what’s not to like
Holborn grind (Holborn) – best in the chain
Department for coffee and social affairs (Clerkenwell) – great coffee if you manage to find a seat between the rows upon rows of Mac-toting students
Dash (Caledonian road) – small reliable coffee place by King’s cross
Gelupo (Archer street) – hands-down best gelato in London do not leave without trying the Bonnet
Aux Pains de Pappy (Gray’s Inn) – a French family run boulangerie responsible for London’s best croissants
Fabrique (Hoxton) – London bakery of a Stockholm chain
Fleet River Cafe (Holborn) – great cafe tucked away behind Kingsway
“preferably in a black turtle neck” love it!
Confound it, now I’mma have to go back and fill in all the blanks… class list this!
Thank yyou for writing this