kitchen diary entry 1 - last days of summer

Good morning lovely!

This year we decided to spend our last 3 days of the 2020 Summer in London. We left London about 4 years ago, after having lived there for about 8 years so we knew exactly where we wanted to stay. It surprised us just how much had changed in the areas that we once knew so well.

These 3 days were all about eating at new places and exploring the new.

We started at the Old Spitalfields Market (how much has it changed?!) and oh my goodness did they have a variety of foods stalls!

Everything from Taiwanese street food, Japanese sushi bowls, Neapolitan Pizza, India street food, Chinese savoury pancakes and dumplings, Poke bowls, Caribbean food, Ethiopian food, Turkish food, Bubble waffles and Chai teas, you name it, it probably was there.

As you can imagine it took us a while to decide what to eat, but at the end we shared a bowl of dry spiced hand pulled noodles from Fen Noodle, crispy tofu bao buns and gyozas from Yum Bun, an incredible PB& J doughnut from Cross Town (I had jam everywhere!) which we enjoyed with a decaf oat milk latte from Climpson & Sons.

We ended up at a food market near Truman Brewery where we bumped into Sophie selling a selection of her homemade vegan cheeses. She was so lovely and kept feeding us samples of the cheeses - it basically turned into an impromptu cheese tasting - no complains!

Yes, that was just lunch of day 1 and we were already rather full. Thank goodness we didn't have breakfast that morning!

For the rest of the afternoon we did a lot of (very necessary) walking, in what was a mixture of sunshine and rain. One of my favourite things to do in London is just walking around looking at the buildings. The mix of Architectural styles of old and new... one moment you walk a street surrounded by beautiful old buildings and the next moment you are standing in front of glass and steel skyscrapers, reflecting the old building. Hidden rooftop gardens, contemporary sculptures, random 3D art showcasing broccoli or mushrooms in different colours, graffiti wall murals and modern offices or shop interiors. So much to see in just a few minutes of walking.

As it got closer to dinner time, we came across a vegan burger joint called MOOSHIES, which I had heard and read so much about, so naturally that was the obvious dinner choice – when in Rome, right?

We shared 2 burgers (so good!) and made our way to the Box Park in Shoreditch, which is a pop-up mall made from shipping containers - it's really cool! One of the little pop-ups was a place called HUMBLEDOUGH, which sells vegan cookie dough desserts and freshly baked cookies. Having two desserts in one day does not happen often for us, but we could not leave without trying their chocolate-orange cookie dough... YUM!

I think the last time I tried SO much food in one day was in New York 3 years ago, but that I will write about in another blog post.

Day 2 started with a Sunday brunch at GENESIS - this was one of the best brunches I have had in a very long time! And the interior of this restaurant is PINK, which I absolutely love!!

A smoothie, freshly squeezed juice, fresh coconut water, Kimchi waffles and Ackee scramble on toast later, we made our way to West London.

We had a wonderful walk through the beautiful streets from South Kensington to Holland Park and stopped for a glass of wine and a cold beer at our favourite pub in Holland Park, before making our way back to the Hotel.

A quick shower, a change of clothes and another stroll in the area, we found a little Italian restaurant nearby which served a very simple but tasty Arrabiata. It was just what I needed. After so many meals of eating out I was crave something very simple and that tasted home cooked.

Gosh, did I sleep well that night!

Day 3 - The last day of summer started with what turned out to be one of my favourite runs ever.

We did a 12.5km zic-zac run crossing some of London's famous bridges:

Tower Bridge - London Bridge - Southwark - Millennium Bridge - Blackfriars - Waterloo bridge and then back to the hotel through the streets of the city.

The views where incredible! I absolutely love the London skylines.

We finished the run with a well deserved vegan Almond Croissant (heavenly!) and of course an oat milk latte for me.

For lunch I had booked a table at PUREZZA in Camden, a vegan pizzeria serving plant-based versions of the classic Italian dishes, which I really wanted to try. All their bases are made from wholegrain flour and their mozzarella is all made in house - sooo good!! A beautiful looking restaurant, with very friendly service.

It was once again a mission to decide what to order but we ended up ordering these 2 pizzas to share:

The Black Truffle and Tofu Pizza

and their Aubergine - Parmigiana Pizza

Both were absolutely divine.... I mean, just look at that base!

If you know me, you know how much I love a good, chewy pizza crust and these did not disappoint. I highly recommend this place.

What a perfect meal to finish what was a fantastic long weekend in London.

Completely full and satisfied, we made our way back to the hotel, collected our bags and started our journey home. Oh London, how I have missed you!