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london getaway 2016 | day 8

10 Wednesday Aug 2016

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london day 8This was the second BIG EVENT in terms of friends meeting up for a special meal in the evening, but first I was meeting my friend Thane @thaneprince for a quick bite at Calcutta Street, a new place that has been getting rave reviews.
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Unfortnately we found nothing to rave about, the food was plain at best, mediocre at worst. Nothing horrible, just not tasty. And we were served some cloudy Italian “natural” white wine, which didn’t help. Apparently the dinner menu is more extensive – at lunch we only had the choice between 4 wraps. Meh.

london day 8 (1)

Undaunted, Thane took me to a pub just around the corner, built on the grounds of the old Middlesex Hospital. Nothing remains of the hospital other than the church, which is now a freestanding bulding (before it was enclosed within the hospital) and you can see the church from inside Percy & Founders, which is where we went for a restorative glass of “unnatural” wine.

london day 8 (5)

After that I did a bit more shopping and general roaming around, looking for some gifts to take home. And once again I GOT LOST and only just made it in time for dinner at one of London’s newest spots – Pidgin – which offers a set menu (just the one) that changes weekly. On this occasion there were eight of us…

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london day 8 (2)John @cityjohn Robin @HERMANOPRIMERO Mark @marcooth Oli @cotedupy (Hugh – not on twitter) Phoebe @plemess Nicola @shedlikesfood

london day 8 (3)Delicious tasting menu, though with cocktails and several glasses of wine we certainly drank more than we ate. We finished the evening at a pub around the corner, which is where things go a bit fuzzy for me, other than the boys putting me into an Uber after the pub closed.

london getaway 2016 | day 7

09 Tuesday Aug 2016

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london day 7 (8)

I started off Monday morning in London by taking a dive down the stairs of a double-decker bus (duh!) and quite likely spraining my pinkie. But there was nothing for it, had to continue on because I was determined to do a bit of sightseeing before dinner, which was to be my only homecooked meal of my trip. So off I went to Covent Garden, kind of because I knew how to get there…london day 7 (4)

As usual I arrived at a time when I should be having some sort of lunchy snack so ended up at Polpo (because I happened to be walking by) and had a couple of their “small plates”. london day 7 (1) london day 7 (2)Arancini… give them a miss, devoid of flavour and 2 pounds EACH (srsly?)london day 7 (3)tasty and spicy pork meatballs

After a stroll through Covent Garden I took a friend’s advice and headed over to Marylebone high street. Apparently there wae cute shops and what not to be seen there. Well, it was quite a hike over there from Covent Garden, and I enjoyed the walk, but actually found the shops in Marylebone a bit… well, let’s just say they were nothing I could relate to. But I did find a nice pub and had a glass of wine there before making my way to Peckham Grove for dinner.

It was actually Oli’s @CoteduPy spontaneous invitation for dinner at his place with girlfriend Phoebe @plemess that sealed the deal on my booking this London trip. Before that I was wondering if I should really do this, in spite of the generous offer from @inkjockey & @missbishopsgate of a place to stay while I was there (their place!). But Oli said we had to do this and also invited other mutual friends @andrewfriedhoff @vinoveroleigh and supplied the wine, while Phoebe cooked dinner for us.  A done deal.

london day 7 (5)view of MY SHARD from Oli’s apartmentlondon day 7 (6)rooftop dinner london day 7 (7)

It was a great evening and after eating out on the terrace we got cosy inside and, well, had a few wines… nothing like enjoying good food and wine with kindred spirits.

london getaway 2016 | day 5

07 Sunday Aug 2016

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Saturday was amazing. First of all it started off with me discovering that the number 100 bus took me directly to Waitrose and back again! No more 45 minute Death Marches. So I popped over there in the morning to stock up on a few things. Then got ready to meet very old and very dear friends Sara & Steve – can you imagine that I met them online even before Twitter! In fact, they don’t even have Twitter accounts (though Sara was convinced/forced to open an Instagram account during dinner – but I’m getting ahead of myself). The plan was to meet up at Liverpool Street Station, which by now was a piece of cake for me to get to. From there we went over to Spitalfields Market and had a wander around…

london day 5 (1)This Turkish food stall smelled amazing, but we were saving ourselves…

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We ended up stopping at Taberna do Mercado for a bottle (okay, two) of lovely crisp and fresh Portuguese white wine. We were there between services and got to witness the staff meal, which looked so cosy and convivial that we wanted to join them. Afterwards we went to Vertigo 42 for cocktails with a SERIOUS VIEW…

london day 5 (3)Outrageously expensive, and not something I’d probably do again, but it was fun and I got to see my Shard from a whole other perspective (yes, I am slightly obsessed with the Shard…)

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Then it was off to the main event of the day – dinner at Quality Chop House. I’d been here before (last year during the Foodie Hub awards) but it was the first time for Sara & Steve and we all loved it. Hard to pick a favourite dish but THOSE confit potatoes (a signature dish) are crazy good.

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After dinner we waddled back over to Liverpool Street and I caught my bus home, feeling happy and full, and also full of love for these two guys. We’ve been through a lot together, and I hope we’ll keep going through and sharing all our life stuff. Good people, good friends. xx

london getaway 2016 | day 4

06 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by in food & drink, friends, gastronomy, getaways, london, restaurants, retail therapy, travel, trips

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london day 4

Friday was SHOPPING DAY, as I had a few places I wanted to check out in the Regent & Oxford street area. I hopped on my trusty number 15 bus, which took me directly to Trafalgar Square, just around the corner from Regent Street (not the shortest route, but saved me from having to take the Tube). I got off the bus and immediately lost my 4G connection, so Maps stopped working too. Then I started crossing the square and – who knows why? – just after taking this photo I was overcome by one of the worst panic attacks I’d had in years. In fact, since the whole cancer thing I’d pretty much stopped having attacks, but suddenly there I was terrified in the middle of Trafalgar Square. Somehow I got to the other side and saw two women talking in the street, so I went over and asked them for directions to Regent Street. This calmed me down a bit (distraction therapy) and I was able to carry on, but then realised the time (going on 2 pm) and decided to stop somewhere for lunch first. A nearby-ish recommendation from my Twitter pal Robin @HERMANOPRIMERO proved to be the perfect spot for solo dining.

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I got a place at the bar and ordered a couple of tasty dishes, had a couple of glasses of wine, and thus fortified I was suddenly much less “panicked” and able to head out shopping…

london day 4 (1)hot butter devilled shrimps

london day 4 (2)black pork Kari Dosa with chutneys: coriander, tomato, coconut

What followed was a four-hour shopping expedition, mostly fruitful. I got some new clothes – Sevilla has very little “fat lady” clothes that aren’t awful polyester numbers better suited to grandmothers and maiden aunts. But man, it was hell walking in totally packed Oxford street, with many people staring at their phones as they walked, so bumping into everyone else. At some point I heard back from my friend Lizzie @hollowlegs who said she was able to get away from work early after all and would meet me at Noble Rot Wine Bar for their famous slip sole (apparently one of the trendiest dishes in London atm). Yes! But that meant getting there. From Oxford Street it looked a straighforward walk, but once again I got lost and – once again – Peter came to the rescue, directing via WhatsApp messages. And I finally arrived…

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london day 4 (4)slip sole with smoked pimentón butter

london day 4 (5)roast saddleback chop, coco de paimpol beans and salsa verde

london day 4 (3)Lizzie chewing on a bone

It was great to catch up with Lizzie and hear all about her new job. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to join the couple of group dinners I’d arranged so I was really happy she made the extra effort to join me here for a quick bite, even though she had to get up at 5.30 the next morning. We called it quits around 9.30 and Lizzie also helped me order my first Uber! I got home exhausted and happy, and wondering how I was going to fit my new stuff into my already over-stuffed suitcase. There was only one solution – I’d have to buy another bag.

london getaway 2016 | day 3

05 Friday Aug 2016

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london day 3 (1)One issue with my otherwise fabulous apartment in Wapping is that the WIFI is dodgy, to say the least, making it impossible to work. And although not ideal, Mark suggested I pop over to the nearby Yurt Café to take advantage of their WIFI. Turned out to be an unusual and interesting venue, a massive yurt with a small patio basically under the rail lines. So I was able to get some work done and it was a nice place to spend the morning.

Later on that evening came one of the week’s BIG EVENTS. Dinner at Som Saa…

london day 3

london day 3 (2)Mark @marcooth, John @cityjohn, Thane @thaneprince and “look no hands!” Bob

london day 3 (3)whole fried sea bass – spectacular presentation but didn’t quite deliver on taste

london day 3 (4)star dish of the evening – pork neck with “nahm jim” sauce

While the food was mostly good (though nothing spectacular other than that one pork dish imho) it was a terrible shame that a gathering of witty and wonderful people ended up in a shouting match across a rather narrow table because the FUCKING MUSIC WAS TURNED UP TO MAX. Seriously… why? It’s a small venue, and it’s a restaurant (with a small bar area as you come in). Ironically the bar is quieter than the restaurant. So what’s with the fucking ear-splitting music, unless it’s to make clients eat up and leave fast so they can turn more tables? Som Saa started off as a pop up and, after the owners went off to do research in Thailand, they opened this very new restaurant in Commercial Street. I’m told they didn’t actually change their pop-up menu much after their research and to me it all felt a bit contrived. Staff didn’t seem well-trained… overall not an experience I’d repeat.

london day 3 (5)all the Som Saa dishes we tried

london day 3 (6)just to show I wasn’t exaggerating about noise level – we measured it

Afterwards us diehards (John, Mark and me) headed to a wine bar in nearby Spitalfields Market as Thane & Bob headed home (they had an early morning next day). Can’t remember the name of the wine bar but Mark ordered for us and we enjoyed a couple of lovely wines – always a treat for me to try non-Spanish wines. Afterwards I got on one of my trusty 3 buses that seemed to take me almost everywhere and got home to find messages from the boys asking me to check in. Nice. Nice friends, great evening out.