On a recent whistle-stop trip to The Natural History Museum (primarily to see Dippy - above) I was just as enamoured with the mosaiced floors as I was the exhibitions...
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
LONDON: SPRING 2015
...magnolia + shuttered white houses...
...myriad teas at Fortnum & Mason...
...a beautiful sycamore skeleton...
...hot pink camellias in bloom...
...a new (old) book about 1950s London...
...a new (old) book about 1950s London...
...the blue-grey roof of the Methodist Centre...
...another view of Bywater Street...
...dreamy books at Taschen...
...smile-inducing street names...
...Westminster Abbey at sunset...
...an elegant doorway...
...the Natural History Museum (I must visit Dippy before he goes on his merry way)...
...and the Palace of Westminster on a sunny lunchtime.
LONDON: BOOKS & FOOD
Two of my favourite activities are reading and eating, so I'm very easily excited by a bookshop and a good restaurant! Here are some that I've come across in London.
READING
Assouline (photo above)
My first visit to this French publishing house was in Paris, where my eyes were on stalks at the gorgeous, glossy coffee table tomes on fashion, lifestyle and travel. Last year Maison Assouline opened a UK branch on Piccaddilly; this time, my eyes were on 'The Spirit of Monte Carlo' and 'French Riviera: Living well was the best revenge'.
196a Piccadilly
W1J 9EY
Stanfords
The picture above does not do justice to the immense collection of travel books, magazines, maps and prints in this wonderful bookstore. The books are grouped by destination, and we're not just talking a measly shelf for each one - I could easily spend a whole day here. I bought a copy of Afar Magazine and a pop-up book on London.
12-14 Long Acre
Nr. Covent Garden, WC2E 9LP
EATING
Nopi
I have to admit, I visited Nopi because a) I'd seen an Instagram of the huge mound of fresh salads, b) it's in a handy location for shopping on Regent Street and c) I always think that Yottam Ottolenghi comes across a lovely guy in interviews and on TV.
I had lamb cutlets with sorrel pesto and vanilla chicory with roasted butternut squash, cardamom yoghurt and roasted pecans - I would never have thought to put these items together in one dish but all of the flavours complemented each other well. For dessert I had rhubarb Eton mess which didn't have the wow factor of the main, but was nevertheless a good way to round off a lovely meal.
The interior of the restaurant is also gorgeous - as above, the bathrooms are pretty amazing, if a little confusing when trying to exit!
21-22 Warwick Street
Soho W1B 5NE
nopi-restaurant.com
Polpo
So... Polpo has been open for several years now and I'm late to the party, but since I went to Venice and had some of the best meals of my life I am pretty enamoured with the concept of cicheti. I started with an Aperol spritz which was right on the mark (though I prefer how they come in Venice: in a large wine glass). I had crab arancini to start and liguini vongole for mains, followed by the flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake for dessert. That sounds like a lot of food, but the portions aren't gigantic and it was just the right amount of food to be able to continue shopping afterwards without falling asleep.
There are now other Polpos across London but Beak Street is the original, and you can read the story of how Polpo started at this location in the brilliant Polpo cookbook.
41 Beak Street
Soho, W1F 9SB
polpo.co.uk
Aubaine
Late last summer I had a very lovely meal at Aubaine: a chilled glass of Rose, squid, lime aioli and coriander to start, then the fish of the day - rainbow trout - with samphire. For dessert, the waiter brought over a trolley of treats and explained what each pretty little piece of patisserie was - I chose a passion fruit tart.
The meal was made even better by perfect service. It's not always fun as a solo diner, but I got just the right level of attention, and instead of being seated in a corner by the bathrooms I got a prime seat in front of the terrace.
260-262 Brompton Road
Brompton Cross, SW3 2AS
aubaine.co.uk
Click here to read my other London posts - and please let me know if you have any other good bookshop or restaurant recommendations up your sleeve!
LONDON: HOUSE OF ILLUSTRATION, JULY 2014
Quentin Blake is my favourite illustrator: just looking at his work lifts my mood, and he has the best handwriting I've ever seen. For this exhibition, Blake carefully selected seven stories and poems that he has illustrated, and I'm so pleased that he chose The Twits as part of the line-up, as this was - and still is - one of my favourite stories.
"If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it."
"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
'The Twits' by Roald Dahl (1980)
The exhibition runs until 2nd November 2014.
LONDON: SUMMER 2014
Here are some lovely things I've seen/done/eaten in London this summer! (from left to right):
Swooned at the Chanel beauty pop-up at Covent Garden...
...wanted to sit on a deckchair in the park...
... tucked into a perfect red velvet CocoDough and jasmine tea at Cocomaya on Pavilion Road...
... slurped on a passion fruit margherita at Wahaca...
...bought my nephew a present from the Moomin shop...
... cooed over the tea packaging at Fortnum & Mason...
...was forever in love with everything at Liberty...
... had a perfect French-ified dinner at Aubaine...
... and saw the loveliest of exhibitions at the House of Illustration.
JULY 2014
My July was made up of: West coast and East coast, visits to see family, solitary trips with work made better with cronuts and Quentin Blake, celebrating my engagement in a country hotel with afternoon tea, staying in tents, listening to the rain, staying in hotels, eating amazing food and exploring new places with my best travel buddy.
Even though I pretty much lived out of a suitcase for the whole month and my head barely touched my own pillow, on this summer holiday I found myself more relaxed than when I charge around a foreign city with an itinerary and a niggling fear of missing out on something important. I also realised that I feel most relaxed when I'm in or near water (it must be the Aquarius in me).
More British destinations coming to Travel Notes soon!
First row (l-r): Gorgeous views from Simonstone near Hawes; plunging my feet into the River Swale at Ivelet Bridge; prancing around on the hills near Simonstone
Second row: Calm seas at Blackpool; admiring one of my favourite artist's work at the House of Illustration; the perfect end to my NY Moors roadtrip at Whitby
Third row: a parma violet sunset at Hartoft End; fun with these two at Shaw Ghyll; always excited by London buses
LONDON: MAY 2014
The last time I wrote about London, I made a promise to myself that the next time I visited I had to venture further than my little happiness triangle consisting of the beauty counter in Liberty, the shops on Regent Street and the tea emporium at Fortnum & Mason.
LONDON
Even though I know that there are plenty of up-and-coming neighbourhoods in London, and that I should be scoping out new ground for travel writing projects, each time I visit the city I still seem to gravitate towards a handful of spots that I never tire of; places that are - eek - a little bit touristy.
Usually whenever I visit a place I try not to be that kind of traveller, but in London I just can't help it. I love to see proper pubs with hanging baskets, and get a little bit excited when I see an original Routemaster drive by.
