Once again we find ourselves in the UK capital, London – and as always, we were very excited about the trip. Despite having been to London on numerous occasions, it never ceases to impress, there’s always something new going on, new things to see and an amazing food scene, from food trucks, celebrity chefs and places with numerous awards, it really is one of the world’s great cities.
However, more importantly on this occasion, we’re here to see Pink in concert, something C is really looking forward to.
Our flight out of Shannon left on time and in just over an hour, we were at Heathrow airport, we wasted no time and hopped on the Heathrow Express which we’d booked in advance. Our usual choice is to hop on the tube from Heathrow which is always handy and a lot less expensive, however, it is a lot slower, taking about 45 minutes or longer to get to Leicester Square. As we’d dinner reservations it was a much quicker option to get the Express, which goes to Paddington station. From Paddington we took the tube and after a few shorts stops, we got to Earls Court. Earls Court is a great base for visiting London, it’s on both the Circle and District tube lines so it’s easy get anywhere, plus it’s only about 15 minutes from Piccadilly Circus.
We’re staying at the Kenniston Park hotel, less than a 4 minutes’ walk from the tube station, plus the prices around this area of London are always good value. Check in was friendly and efficient. Our room was a decent size and spotlessly clean.
After a quick freshen up, we hit the streets, grabbed the tube and headed to our dining option for the evening, Ottolenghi at Spitalfields market.
Ottolenghi, has about a half dozen places in and around London, we’ve dined here before for lunch, but this is our first time here for dinner. We had dined in one of his other restaurants on a previous visit for dinner, Nopi, which was fantastic. All of his food is very heavily influenced by middle eastern and Mediterranean flavours. Check out some of the dishes…..
Saturday morning rolls around, we decided to forego having breakfast at the hotel, instead, we headed towards Mayfair, to a place called Caravan, the Fitzrovia branch on this occasion. We’d not eaten here before but we’ll certainly return on our next London trip, the food was very tasty and the selection even just for brekkie was fantastic.
After breakfast we had a few hours to kill so we decided to head towards one of our favourite parts of London, Camden Town. Camden has one of the most famous markets in London, well actually it’s made up of several markets, know simply as Camden market, which sells all manner of goods. Looking for retro clothes, handcrafts, paintings, t-shirts, footwear, antiques, gifts, trinkets and dozens of food options, you’ll find it all here.
It’s easy to spend several hours browsing the many stalls, or grab a coffee in one of the many coffee shops which are great for people watching. You can also book a barge and go for a trip on the canal.
As we were wary of time, we left Camden and headed toward the Tate Modern museum to pass the afternoon.
After an enjoyable morning and afternoon, it was time to grab a very late lunch, or an early dinner depending on how you look at it. The (usually) always reliable Byron Burger was our meal of choice, the Earls Court branch. Unfortunately, on this occasion it disappointed, our starter of fried chicken was burnt and meagre, the burgers lacked any real flavour and the service was nothing special. This is the kind of thing that happens when a good place gets too big and the standard just slides, pity.
After our meal, we returned to our hotel, for a quick freshen up before making our way to Wembley Stadium for tonight’s show, which going by all the reports, should be fantastic.
The show was amazing and well worth taking the trip over and as for Wembley stadium, it was impressive.
After the gig all that was left to do was head back to the hotel and have a nightcap before bed.
As usually the case on a weekend break in London, we’ve but a few hours to kill before catching our flight home. Again we did not have breakfast in the hotel so we headed towards Carnaby St. which always has plenty of eating options. We decided on a place called The Good Egg which was in a small courtyard with plenty of other dining options. The food was fine, but nothing special.
After we ate we did a little more winddown shopping before catching the tube and heading to the airport for the flight home.
Until next time
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 