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LONDON
CALLING
By
Melissa van Maasdyk
There
was a time when I questioned Samuel Johnson’s view that ‘to be
tired of London is to be tired of life’. This was a man who
wrote dictionaries for a living after all. But today I couldn’t
agree more. Here are some of the reasons why London has become my
favourite city in the world.
  
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I
first lived in London from 1995 to1997
and, to quote Shania Twain, it didn’t impress me much. I found
it as unexciting and bland as a big cup of milky tea and used to
watch the hordes of tourists queuing outside Madam Tussauds or the
London Dungeons, pressed up against the bars of Buckingham Palace
or swarming around the Houses of Parliament, and wonder why they
chose to holiday in this grey city with bad food and worse
weather.
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Six
years later, I
returned to live in a very different London, epitomised not so much by
the cold Tower of London and warm beer in a musty pub, as by the red-hot
Tate Modern and chilled champagne in chi-chi bars. The weather was still
bad, but the food wasn’t, and suddenly London was alive and colourful
and buzzing, and I revelled in its wonderful mix of old and new, of hip
new restaurants and historic markets, venerable museums and edgy
designer shops, tranquil parks and loud, daring architectural
landmarks.
Suddenly
Dr Johnson’s famous quote wasn’t
an anomaly. In fact, I adopted the slogan myself. And now that I live in
the Middle East, I find that I can think of nothing I’d rather do than
join those tourist throngs in London (although you won’t find me
queuing for Madam Tussauds). The following are a few of my favourite
places, which I try to revisit whenever I return.
But
of course, like any fashionista worth her Jimmy Choos, London
never stops updating its wardrobe, experimenting with new looks,
adding new feathers to its cap, so there are always fabulous new
places to discover, too.
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TAKE
ME TO THE RIVER
I
think that one of the most exciting developments
in London over the last few years is the fact that the Thames has opened
up. Where once it was only really tourist boats that cruised up and
down, now Thames Clipper ferries travel between Savoy Pier (near
Embankment tube) and Greenwich all day, with various stops on the way
(see www.thamesclippers.com
for timetable). We lived in a flat overlooking the river in South-east
London’s Rotherhithe, so used the ferry regularly for shopping trips
to Canary Wharf on the opposite side, or to get down to the West End,
but it’s also a great way to see London as a tourist (and a lot more
flexible and affordable than taking one of the tour boats; plus
there’s a discount on presentation of your underground travel
pass).
Following
one of the Thames Paths along the riverbank is also a great way to
enjoy this vital city, I have discovered.
The
following are the three pockets of riverside life that I like best.
Tate
Modern (Bankside, SE1, tel 020 7887 8000, www.tate.org.uk/modern;
take ferry to Bankside Pier in front of the gallery, or the Central Line
to St Paul’s, then walk across the Millennium Bridge)
If
I had to choose one gallery to
spend time in, this modern space in an old power station would be it. I
love its riverside setting, its vastness and its contemporary
collection, and can get lost in there for hours. They also change things
around a lot and always have a brilliant temporary collection so
there’s generally something new to see (it’s best to pre-book
tickets for popular short-term exhibitions).
I
like to combine a visit to Tate Modern with a trip to Borough Market
nearby for a bite.
But
if you’re hungry for more art, you can catch a ferry from Bankside
Pier to the more traditional Tate Britain in Pimlico. Alternatively,
cruise up to the London Eye (to avoid queuing, pre-book tickets
on 0870 500 0600; www.ba-londoneye.com)
but before you go, walk across the Millennium Bridge and take in St
Paul’s Cathedral.
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Butlers Wharf
(Shad Thames, SE1; take ferry
to St Katherine’s Dock or the Circle or District Line to Tower Hill,
and walk across London Bridge)
I
love Sir Terence Conran’s
warehouse development on the river, where you can sit on the terrace of Butlers
Wharf Chop House (tel 020 7403 3403) and eat classic British food
(steak and kidney pudding, fish and chips with mushy peas, pheasant,
bread and butter pudding…) while enjoying the best possible view of
London Bridge. If you linger long enough over your wine or Bloody Mary
(brunch is on offer in the cheaper bar section from 12 on Saturdays and
Sundays), you might even see the bridge drawn up to allow the passage of
a tall ship, navy boat or passenger liner.
There
are a number of
other options here too, such as a couple of pizza places, an All Bar
One, and the smarter French Pont de la Tour (tel 020 7403
8403); I prefer its bar area to the overpriced restaurant – nice for a
glass of wine and a plate of pommes frites or one of their beautiful
plateaus de fruits de mer. There’s also a pianist every night and at
lunchtime on Sunday. Delis and interesting shops fill the cobbled
backstreets, and the Design Museum showcases the best in
contemporary design, from furniture and fashion to cars and computers (www.designmuseum.org)
and sells cool designer alternatives to the ubiquitous London pens and
tea towels on offer in souvenir shops. You could also combine a to visit
to Butlers Wharf with the Tower of London, which, for all my
initial misgivings, is a wonderful historical piece of London.
Canary Wharf
(London
Docklands; take Jubilee line to Canary Wharf station or ferry to Canary
Wharf Pier)
With
its high-rise glass buildings
and hyper-modern architecture, Canary Wharf is worth a visit to view
London in all its modernity.
The
vast, futuristic Jubilee line tube station is a destination in
itself.
Then
there’s the shopping centre with all the high street stores under one
roof (perfect for a rainy day) and a string of restaurants along the
waterfront. Royal China Riverside (tel 020 7719 0888) serves
excellent dim sum for lunch and royal Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine at
night. I also like Japanese-meets-South-American Ubon (tel 020
7719 7800), Nobu’s less trendy sibling, where you can enjoy beautiful
river views with your pop-in-the-mouth shrimp tempura, blackened cod
(truly worthy of all the hype) and molten chocolate pudding with green
tea ice cream.
For
more casual,
less expensive fare, West India Quay slightly back from the river, has a
string of restaurants and bars housed in 200-year-old rum and tea
warehouses (all that remains of the original 19th-century dock
buildings). Here La Tasca serves great tapas and potent sanghria
and Beluga and 1802 are the spots for cocktails. The
Museum in Docklands (also housed in one of these warehouses) tells
the story of London’s river port. And if London living has gone to
your thighs, drop in at Virgin Active Canary Riverside Gym (tel
020 7513 2999; www.virginactive.co.uk)
for a workout, yoga session or a swim in one of the best pools in London
– housed in a huge glass atrium overlooking the river.
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ART AND FOOD
Passionate
about both art and food,
I’m in my element when the two coincide as they do in these delicious
places.
 
Wapping Food
(Wapping Hydraulic Power Station,
Wapping Wall, E1, tel 020 7680 2080, www.thewappingproject.com;
take the East London Line to Wapping underground station and it’s
about a 10 minute walk from there. Or take the 100 Bus from Liverpool
Street Station)
This
is a real hidden gem
housed in an old power station in the East-London warehouse district
that was the seedy setting for Oliver Twist but is now home to flush
bankers who work in the city or nearby Canary Wharf. The food is
innovative modern European, accompanied by a good all-Australian wine
list. The décor’s cool and edgy: slick, modern furniture juxtaposed
against Industrial equipment and there’s a gallery attached.
 To
enjoy the
wonderful light flowing in through the huge windows, I would recommend
going for lunch or a v. relaxed Sunday brunch, although there’s also a
certain magic at night.
You
might like
to start off with a drink at the Captain Kidd Pub (my favourite
local when I lived in Wapping) or the more historical (and therefore
touristy) Prospect of Whitby over the road.
Prospect
of Whitby, a former haunt of smugglers, later favoured by Whistler
and Turner, who painted here, and Charles Dickens, who found much to
inspire his writing in the neighbourhood.
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The
National Portrait Gallery (St Martin's Place, around corner from
National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, tel: 020 7312 2490, www.npg.org.uk;
nearest underground station: Leicester Square)
I
put off going to this gallery
for a number of years because a whole lot of portraits didn’t hold
much allure, but the wide range of approaches to portraiture, from oils
to photography traversing the ages, makes it a fascinating and exciting
collection - a lesson in
history and popular culture in a contained space. Combine a viewing with
a cocktail or meal in the Portrait
Restaurant on the top floor, which has fantastic views over
Trafalgar Square and London’s rooftops. On Thursdays and Fridays, the
gallery closes at 9pm and there’s often live music on Friday nights,
so it makes for a wonderfully cultured dinner date. It’s probably
advisable to reserve a table on late-night openings as they’re
popular.
The
Wallace Collection (Manchester Square, W1; nearest tube: Bond
Street)
If
you’d like to inject a bit of art and culture
into a shopping expedition on Oxford Street, pop into the Wallace
Collection situated on a pretty square a few roads back from Selfridges.
A late-18th-century townhouse crammed with 17th-
and 18th-century
pictures, ornaments and furniture, It also features a restaurant, Café
Bagatelle (tel 020 7563 9505) in a modern glass atrium where you can
have a light, refined lunch, afternoon tea or simply a glass of wine.
Not the best value for money in the area, but a lovely tranquil escape
from the crowds.
Yauatcha
(15 Broadwick Street W1, tel
0871 2238066 or 020 7494 8888)
This
is not exactly an art-gallery-meets-restaurant
- okay, it’s not, full stop - but its exquisite fusion Chinese dishes
and French/Asian patisseries are so artfully presented and the interiors
so beautifully understated that I thought I’d slip it in here. It’s
divided into a teahouse upstairs and a dining room in the basement
serving delicate dim sum in cool, dark atmospheric surrounds – all
blue lighting and lacquered panels with a giant fish tank along one
wall.
Best
bites: salt
& pepper squid, pork buns, jasmine smoked ribs and duck pancakes.
Pick up a box of feather-light macaroons to take home on your way out.
Like its equally popular and glamorous sibling restaurant Hakkasan
(8 Hanway Place, tel 020 7907 1888), Yauatcha (also owned by Alan Yau)
has earned itself a Michelin star, but happily prices don’t reflect
this.
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PARK LIFE
God
knows this country gets enough rain,
and the flourishing parks are testimony to this – as well as to the
national devotion to gardening – so a visit to one of London’s
beautiful parks (Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, St James Park, Kensington
Gardens…) is a must.
If
possible, try to take in one of the multitude of concerts held in the
open-air around the city during summer.
And
if you’re in London
around May, don’t miss the Chelsea Flower Show to view truly
awe-inspiring garden design. This is usually a sell-out so buy tickets
well in advance via www.rhs.org.uk.
Hyde Park
(accessible from a variety of
underground stations around its perimeter, including Marble Arch on
Oxford Street)
 If
you’re all shopped out
after trawling Oxford Street and feel like some fresh air - and it
happens to be one of those rare rain-free days - walk towards Marble
Arch and into Hyde Park and rent a deckchair for an hour or so.
Hungry?
Stop off at Selfridges’ Foodhall and take your pick from its
amazing variety of foods (cheeses, deli meats, pork pies, sushi, gourmet
organic salads…) or go for a budget sandwich at Pret-a-Manger close
to Marble Arch station.
 
If
you’re after a more full-on picnic–
to accompany a concert in the park perhaps - you can pre-order a gourmet
picnic hamper of Italian delicacies from Carluccio’s deli 24
hours in advance (visit www.carluccios.com
and click on Caffes then Menus to see what they offer).
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The
Serpentine Gallery and Pavilion, Kensington Gardens (nearest
underground stations: Knightsbridge, Lancaster Gate or South Kensington,
but all a bit of a walk away, so might be easiest to get a cab)
 This
is a small,
interesting gallery in the park that shows modern, contemporary art. In
summer there’s the added attraction of a temporary pavilion designed by
a different internationally renowned architect every year.
By
day, the
pavilion serves as a café, becoming a venue for lectures, films and
experiments at night. Perhaps because these only have a short lifespan,
they are generally architecturally daring and forward-looking, attracting
design disciples from far and wide (see what all the hype’s about at www.serpentinegallery.org).
 
St
James Park (Horse Guards Road, close to Buckingham Palace)
Because
of its location,
this park is very touristy, but it is also very pretty with a lake
frequented by various water birds, groomed flowerbeds and regular
afternoon concerts. On a beautiful day, have lunch at Inn the Park
(020 7451 9999), which serves up modern Brit food in pared-down
interiors with delicious views of the lake. Service can be off, but the
setting makes up for a lot. Booking is advised.
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TO MARKET, TO MARKET
Not
everyone’s cup of tea, I absolutely love markets for their buzz,
surprising merchandise and chatty, entertaining stallholders. Favourites
are Borough Market (food), Columbia Road Flower Market (flowers, garden
furniture, quirky nick-nacks) and Portobello Market (everything from
antiques to hot new designer clothing via fruit and veg).
Portobello
Market (Friday afternoons and Saturdays, Portobello Road, W11;
near Notting Hill underground station)
Follow
the general flow
of pedestrians from Notting Hill tube station down to the market where
antiques barrows morph into clothing and bric-a- brac stalls, to be
replaced by fruit and vegetable sellers and finally, under the flyway,
hot, hot, hot (and this has nothing to do with the weather) clothing by
talented soon-to-be-discovered designers – the owner of the
phenomenally successful Monsoon clothing chain started out selling
sheepskin coats here. There are also lots of food stalls along the way
and some great permanent fixtures such as Books for Cooks at 4
Blenheim Crescent, just off the main drag, offering a huge selection of
recipe books as well as cookery demonstrations and experimental food.
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The
Electric Cinema Brasserie (191 Portobello Rd, www.the-electric.co.uk)
is a vibey place for a drink or something to eat, and, after dark, its
revamped 1910 cinema with leather armchairs and sophisticated snacks is
one of the most comfortable places in town to take in a movie.
Another
good spot for lunch...
The
First Floor (186 Portobello Road, tel 020 72430072), which, as
its name suggests, is on the first floor of a gorgeous old building
above a pub called The Ground Floor. The food is fresh,
innovative modern European, the décor old-world European eclectic:
antique chairs, chandeliers, moulded ceilings and huge sash windows
overlooking the bustling street. It also has staying power, having been
around since my first stint in London (in 1996, I had a stall selling
South African wire ware at the market every Saturday, and this became my
haven from the cold, hard life on the street).
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Borough
Market (Fridays from noon and all day on Saturdays until 4pm,
Southwark Street; take Jubilee or Northern Line to London Bridge)
London’s
oldest food market
assembles producers of everything from cheeses, olives and bread to
oysters, cured Spanish meats and free-range chickens in a colourful,
culinary collage. I often did my shopping for dinner parties here and
loved chatting to the stallholders along the way, always saving the wine
merchant for last where I’d reel off the menu so that the server could
recommend the perfect accompaniment – and taste a couple of wines
while I was at it (a soothing end to the outing). It’s a bit
frustrating wandering around here if you don’t have a kitchen to take
things back to but still fun, and there are lots of stalls offering
takeaways (Brit street food), including one that serves the best steak
rolls in town, immediately recognizable by the mile-long queue. There
are also a number of permanent fixtures on the borders of the
market.
  
For
coffee,
there’s no better place than the Monmouth Coffee Company where
you can enjoy your Free Trade blend at a big wooden communal table with
fresh baguette and a choice of jams and preserves. I generally skipped
the bread and enjoyed my coffee with chocolate-coated ginger from the
nut man or a chocolate brownie from my favourite baker (be on alert for
the rich chocolate aroma in the air, signalling the arrival of a
fresh-from-the oven batch) - it’s very relaxed so doesn’t seem to be
a problem to BYO.
Queue
too long at Monmouth?
Try Patisserie Lila, a couple of doors down from Neal's Yard Remedies
(where you can buy a healthy antidote to the sinfully delicious cakes on
offer at this lovely, eclectic upstairs-downstairs gem of a
patisserie).'
For
lunch,
I love Tapas Brindisa (on Southwark Street). You can’t book and
might have to wait for a table but the excellent tapas (jamon, chorizo,
fresh anchovies, olives, Spanish omelette) are worth the wait. Quite
literally the most up-market – and pricey - option is newcomer Roast (tel 020 7940 1300, www.roast-restaurant.com)
which hovers above the market (perfect for people-spotters) and claims
to ‘use the country’s finest seasonal fare to produce the best of
British cooking’. I haven’t tried it yet, but its location would
suggest that this is true. Borough is an easy walk to/from the Tate
Modern (see above) so you might like to combine the two.
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Columbia
Road Flower Market (Sundays from 7am to 2pm; Columbia Road, E1;
Liverpool Street station is the closest underground station, but
it’s a bit of a walk and complicated to find, so it might be best to
tube here then take a taxi to Columbia Road)
Visiting
this market is
my favourite Sunday-morning thing to do. It’s like a Monet painting: a
whole pedestrian street lined with fresh-cut flowers and plants.
There’s a real buzz created by shoppers and buskers, but the Cockney
flower sellers are the stars of the show (think Eliza Dolittle on
steroids), entertaining shoppers with hilarious quips like “These
flowers are so cheap, you could put them on your mother-in-law’s
grave”.
Apart
from the flower stalls,
there are gorgeous little shops tucked behind them, selling everything
from terracotta pots and garden furniture to hats, perfume and vintage
clothing. There are also a couple of coffee shops dotted about, but
veteran punters wouldn’t dream of going anywhere other than the market
institution Jones Dairy.
The
ritual goes like this:
walk
to the end of the flower sellers’ drag, turn left at the pub and
continue past the bakery to the café; pick up a coffee and a
cream-cheese-and-salmon bagel; take it out into the cobbled street and
sit on one of the benches against the wall; enjoy in the sun (should it
have made an appearance).
To
get the most out of the market,
walk along the road between the flower stalls, then return along the
pavement so that you can view all the shops. If you’re up for yet
another market, Spitalfields Market is within walking distance
(en route to Liverpool Street station) and a good spot for vintage
clothes and retro furniture among other things.
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SHOPAHOLICS
ANONYMOUS
London
is divided
into a variety of shopping enclaves that appeal to different
tastes:
Mayfair
for the rich and titled,
Kings Road for Sloane Rangers,
Camden for
the young and chilled
(with a propensity for magic mushrooms),
Oxford
Street for tourists…
I
have enjoyed shopping in all of the above, but I know that (funds
providing) I’m guaranteed to leave the following places with a couple
of shopping bags in hand:
Selfridges
(400 Oxford Street; closest underground station: Bond Street)
This
is my best department store
in London since it offers everything under the sun (or rain, more to the
point) in a very designer, easy-to-navigate space. It also caters to
various budgets, offering high-street concessions on the ground floor
(where you can have a mani and pedi while you make up your mind) and
more expensive designer prêt-a-porter plus the best underwear in town
on upper floors. In the basement there’s a very good book department
and wonderful home accessories concessions, while the ground-floor
Foodhall offers fabulous fuel for your spree.
Tired?
Take the weight off your feet at the Foodhall’s sushi bar, pie shop or
champagne and oyster bar (but hang onto your bag as I know several
people who’ve had theirs nicked from under their chairs here). If
Selfridges hasn’t stripped your credit card bare, then head for
Marylebone High Street from here, which is about a 10 minute walk away
and has far more interesting shops than much of the rest of Oxford
Street.
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St Christopher’s Place and
Marylebone High Street (walk out of Selfridges’
main front door and turn left onto Oxford Street, then walk in the
direction of Bond Street tube and when you’ve passed Accessorize, look
out for the small easy-to-miss entrance to St Christopher’s Place; if
you come to H&M, you’ve passed it) 
Stepping
into the cobbled street
that leads to St Christopher’s Place is like entering a secret passage
that magics you far away from the noise of Oxford Street in an instant. Carluccio’s
Deli with tables inside and out is one of my best places for a tasty
lunch in the square. Afterwards, continue walking up St Christopher’s
passage, passing Marimekko (colourful prints), Whistles (great
clothes) and Bean Juice (if energy levels are flagging, you might
like to pick up a fresh juice here – the Sirine, combining beetroot,
pear, ginger and fennel, is excellent and a meal in itself). Then cross
the main road and enter Marylebone High Street, which should be slightly
to your left.
This
fantastic shopping street
is lined by lots of lovely shops, including Skandium
(Scandinavian furniture and accessories), Space NK apothecary
(beautifully packaged products for the face), Calmia (a day spa
with a tea bar and shop selling cool yoga wear, meditative music,
incense, body products etc.), Jesus Lopez (accessories), VV
Rouleaux (fantastic braids and trimmings), The Conran Shop (homewares
and lifestyle enhancers), Cath Kidston (napkins to knickers in
bright floral prints), plus, plus, plus...
For
sustenance,
there’s the French bakery/patisserie Paul, Orrery at the Conran
Shop or, my personal favourite, The Providores and Tapa
Room. This consists of a restaurant upstairs and a drop-in tapas bar
downstairs (no reservations), serving deliciously innovative fusion
fare, such as sweet potato, caramelized red onion, herb and piquillo
pepper tortilla with minted pea salsa or slow-braised duck, Spanish
black-bean, feta and chilli spring rolls with tamarind aioli.
Liberty
(214-220 Regent Street, W1; closest underground stations: Oxford
Circus and Piccadilly Circus)
Not
the everything-under-one-roof
kind of place that Selfridges is, Liberty is a niche department store in
a mock-Tudor building with a style all of its own. Everything here feels
like its been hand-picked and there’s a great mix of established
brands and hip new labels, from organic cosmetics to Liberty’s famous
eponymous fabrics, designer fashions and cool modern furniture, all
perfectly offset by the shop’s exquisitely crafted interiors: wooden
staircases and galleries, atriums, hidden-away rooms. If you’re not up
for an investment buy, there are lovely small things to take away, like
stationery, candles and rose-petal chocolate.
Regent’s
Park Road (North London; take the Northern Line to Chalk Farm and
follow the signs across the railway line to Regents Park Rd. Or if
you’re up for a long walk, take the tube to Baker Street and follow
the signs to Regent’s Park, then walk through the park and on past
London Zoo, cross the canal to arrive at the foot of Primrose Hill –
very scenic)
Favoured
by the ‘Briterati’,
many of whom live around here, this street feels at once sophisticated
and ‘villagey’, trendy and laidback and is great for a relaxed
afternoon wander and browse. There’s a cosy bookshop, a fab card and
flower shop, several boutiques, a kitchen shop and a number of furniture
and lifestyle stores, including the lovely eclectic Graham &
Greene. Primrose Hill residents campaigned against having a
Starbucks here, so, for that all-essential coffee break, you have
several cute individual cafés to choose from.
For
lunch, I
recommend popular Greek restaurant Lemonia or one of the area’s
gastro-pubs such as the Queen’s Pub (49 Regent’s Park Road)
at the top of the street, which serves good modern-Brit standards like
salmon fishcakes and chips with a side-order of jazz (inside or on the
upstairs terrace overlooking the park). Before heading inside, work up
an appetite by climbing to the top of adjacent Primrose Hill for
a wonderful view over London.
At
the other end of the street
and slightly off the main drag is The Lansdowne (90 Gloucester
Ave), which I love it for its decidedly good modern Mediterranean food
and relaxed vibe created by cool locals hanging out. There’s a more
intimate restaurant upstairs but I prefer eating/drinking in the pub or
at one of the pavement tables.
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SHOWTIME
A
trip to London is not complete without
taking in a show. See what’s on and buy tickets online at www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk
or buy half-price tickets on the day at one of the official ‘tkts’
booths. Hot tip: rather than using the Leicester square outlet, go to
the one at the Canary Wharf DLR station – it might be further to go,
but because locals far outnumber tourists here, the queue is generally a
lot shorter.
The
Royal Opera House (Covent Garden, tel 020 7304 4000, www.roh.org.uk)
I’ve
only been
to the Royal Opera House once (to see the opera Turandot), but it was
one of my best London experiences and I would have gone again if I
hadn’t boarded a plane bound for Bahrain a couple of months later.
Apart from the entertainment (it has a reputation for excellence), the
opera house is a beautiful building with a dramatic glass atrium in a
fantastic London location: the heart of buzzy Covent Garden.
When
you arrive, you
should pre-book your drinks and snacks for interval (champagne and
smoked-salmon sandwiches perhaps) because things can get a bit crazy,
and rather than fighting your way to the bar, you want to be able to sit
back with drink in hand and watch the glam patrons - unlike elsewhere on
the West End, people dress up for performances here.
 
For
something more substantial,
the Opera House has a couple of dining venues that open one and a half
hours before the curtain rises for a pre-show meal (only accessible to
ticket-holders at night, these restaurants are open to everyone for
lunch offering the chance to get a taste of the venue if you don’t
have time for a show).
There
are also lots
of other options in the area; my friends and I chose to follow up the
performance with the city’s best fish pie at the wonderfully
atmospheric J Sheekey (St Martin’s Court, tel 0871 2238016),
which is one of London’s oldest fish restaurants founded by seafood
market-stall holder Josef Sheekey. Booking is essential.
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AND SO TO BED
As
a London resident,
I didn’t have much call for hotels, but did celebrate two
anniversaries at the Ritz and the Savoy respectively (my
husband could write a book on the romantic gesture), both decadently
glamorous and old-worldy. Even if you don’t spend the night, have a
pre-theatre drink at the Savoy’s classic American Bar, where
the Dry Martini was invented, or at the swish Rivoli at the Ritz (bearing
in mind that there’s a no-jeans policy – for which I have
shamefacedly been turned away in the past). Generally, though, I prefer
smaller, individualistic boutique hotels like the following:
The
Gore (189 Queen’s Gate, SW7, tel 020 7584 6601, www.gorehotel.com;
the closest underground stations, Gloucester Road and High Street
Kensington, are about a 10-minute walk away, but it’s on a number of
good bus routes)
  
On
our first trip back
to London from Bahrain, we stayed at this small hotel and fell in love.
Rooms are wonderfully eclectic and individual, mixing antiques with mod
cons, and you may even get to sleep in a room once occupied by Judy
Garland or Dame Nellie Melba. 
Downstairs,
there’s
an atmospheric wood-panelled bar with deep, comfy armchairs and an
excellent French restaurant (Bistro One Ninety Queen’s Gate) that
serves food all day. So often disappointing, breakfast here is fab:
warm, freshly baked baguette and croissants, berries with crème fraîche,
smoked salmon, an array of French cheeses, the fluffiest of omelettes…
What
to do between meals? The
hotel is steps away from Hyde Park, close to the Natural
History Museum and Harrods, and just around the corner from
the Royal Albert Hall (www.royalalberthall.com).
If you don’t stay at the Gore, it’s still a good place to have a
drink or a bite before or after a show.
The
Zetter (St John’s Square, 86-88 Clerkenwell Road, EC1, tel 020
7324 4444, www.thezetter.com;
close to Farringdon underground station)
This
modern boutique hotel in
fashionable, edgy Clerkenwell is a good choice if you prefer things sleek
and minimalist while still individual. Housed in a 19th-century warehouse,
its interiors have been revamped with artworks and furniture by hip,
young, designers and no two rooms are the same.
It
also has
an excellent restaurant, The Zetter (tel 020 7324 444), which I
love for its sleek light-filled interior and tasty takes on classic
Mediterranean dishes (seared scallops with cauliflower purée, beetroot
and garlic baby tomatoes for starters, say, followed by saddle of rabbit
with confit leg, pancetta, olives & apple salad).
There’s
a good
brunch menu on weekends too – order a jug of bloody Mary and while away
the day with friends or the thick, juicy Sunday papers (an essential part
of the London experience – the papers that is, not the Bloody
Mary).
Another
good grazing option
in the area is Smiths of Smithfield (67-77 Charterhouse Street,
EC1, tel 020 7251 7950) housed in a meatpacking warehouse opposite
London’s original cattle market Smithfield, which remains the UK’s
biggest wholesaler of meat, poultry, pies and deli products.
If
you can bear to
see your London meals in their original incarnations – I can’t – you
can visit the market under the steel girders of a beautiful Victorian
building between 4am and 8am, then join the market porters for breakfast
with a beer in one of the early-opening pubs. Returning to Smiths, it’s
spread across three floors: a trendy ground floor “canteen” serving
hearty breakfasts and snacks all day, a buzzy second-floor cocktail bar
and dining room offering Thai-influenced British food, and a chic rooftop
restaurant that, fittingly for the locale, specialises in best-breed
organic meats garnished with great views.
My
best pub
here is the Jerusalem Tavern (55 Britton Street) in a converted
Georgian coffee house, which serves boutique beers and ales in cosy nooks,
and there are numerous trendy designer shops concentrated around Clerkenwell
Green.
Yes,
to be 'to be tired of London is to be tired of life'.
©Melissa van Maasdyk
2007
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