London Calling
A slight break from normal service, away from the kitchen.
Edinburgh to London is roughly 4.5 hours by train and makes for a great little weekend escape. Homemade salmon and egg rolls, a good book, and a train journey along the East Coast line; getting there is just as much fun as being there!
I’m one of those people who can easily spend the time just wandering and soaking up the differences. With the warming apricity of the sun, we walked from the station to our hotel. The streets are so distinct and eclectic, a mix of constant repair alongside the old and historic.
We stayed in a cheap and cheerful modern hotel chain near Clerkenwell, just a stone’s throw from the buzz of Covent Garden and Leicester Square. We’ve stayed here a couple of times and love how it feels like a slice of London where locals actually live. Its own high street provides enough excitement without the overwhelming crowds..
Of course, we did venture into the crowds. Our first stop was Foyles—the perfect spot for a bookish fix and a coffee. Overwhelmed by choice, I left empty-handed, resolving to focus on the books I already own.
Dinner that evening was at Granger & Co., of Bill Granger fame. It was a lovely meal in a huge, surprisingly quiet venue for a Friday night. We started with smoked almonds and sourdough slices, followed by salad bowls, one with grilled chicken breast, the other with avocado. For once, we went to bed in London not feeling stuffed, ready to tackle the next day. (Side note: I need to figure out how to make crunchy chickpeas.)
Breakfast was at Prufrock Coffee, a decent bowl of overnight oats and a coffee. The coffee, while good, was a bit too small and cooled down way too quickly. A couple of pictures on the walls caught my interest, and I made a mental note to track them down for future inspiration.
The plan was to meander around Covent Garden in the quiet, if there is such a time, before heading to the National Portrait Gallery after lunch. Lunch was at a spot serving all-day breakfast. We arrived just before noon to beat the lunch rush. It was pleasant enough but probably the priciest bacon-and-egg roll I’ve ever had, dressed up in a brioche bun and given a fancy name. The Portrait Gallery, on the other hand, was impressive and thought-provoking.
With no set itinerary, we wandered along various streets, including Regent Street, which was closed to cars for a march—a change that made it much more manageable and fun. We made it to Liberty (crazy busy), where I spotted a chair priced at £6,500. The chair was a perfect example of Liberty’s eclectic charm—luxurious, whimsical, and a little aspirational. It made me dream about how one day it might fit into the corner of some imagined perfect home. Maybe one day! We also encountered way too many cycle rickshaws blaring Maria, All I Want for Christmas Is You at different points in the song. The chaotic mishmash of overlapping choruses created a cacophony rather than harmony, unforgettable, but not in the way you might hope.
For dinner, we had high hopes. We’d booked months in advance for Mallow, a vegan restaurant that had wowed us the previous year. This time, though, the experience fell flat. The menu had changed just a week earlier, likely so it could cater to the Christmas tasting menu (Guessing here). We opted for the alternative tasting menu, which ended up feeling like a drawn-out, glorified curry. In hindsight, I should have read the menu properly and chosen something different. Quite a wait at the start and the service lacked its usual sparkle. The whole experience didn’t shine as it had before. I left feeling both spoiled and ungrateful.
Returning to Edinburgh is usually a Sunday affair, but with rail works requiring changes and buses, the journey would have stretched to six hours. So, we opted to stay another night and make the most of it. We visited the V&A, Hyde Park, and the Albert Memorial.
Lunch at the V&A was delightful, enjoyed in the most salubrious of settings. We ended up sharing a table with a fellow visitor and chatting about Bristol, his trip, and the march he’d attended the day before. The more I tried to understand his perspective, the more I realised how much there is to learn about the world.
We popped into Fortnum & Mason, which was absolute chaos. The cost of everything was mind-blowing, but we found a quiet refuge in the book section. There, I overheard a couple of women berating a partner who wanted to cook but couldn’t. One waved The Flavour Thesaurus like it was the ultimate solution. It was a moment of clarity for me: I need to double down on my writing. The book isn’t going to finish itself. I enjoyed the spectacle, the kitchen and for the food talks they hold. The magic of the display windows, I'm sure I'll be back one day.
For dinner, we went DIY after stumbling upon a Whole Foods in Piccadilly. We picked up a wonderful selection of salads sold by weight and treated ourselves to a piece of cheesecake. It was a slightly lighter hit on the wallet and a more relaxed end to the trip, even if it wasn’t the most adventurous use of London’s restaurant scene.
All in all a good trip, plenty of sights and a change from the daily to and fro.
Links I found with regard the Coffee Pictures:
World Coffee Atlas: The world atlas of coffee
The Coffee Tasters Flavour/Flavor Wheel: SCA.Coffee
Coffee Flavour Wheel Notebook - from Amazon
How to use the wheel: Coffee flavor wheel explained
Crunchy, chickpeas…..looks like you just need to roast them BBC Good Food
Hmmm, makes me homesick. Great writing and story.
This sounds like a really great day. And also, reading it made me want to visit every single place you mentioned. I've never been to London, but I'll get there one day.