London: Where We Ate
Since this is the Eat Well Travel Often blog, and if you followed our instastories, you know we ate our way through London.
We were pleasantly surprised by the food in London. They have a great selection of more formal cafes with beautiful cakes and desserts, as well as yummy places to eat dinner. Almost every shop we went into even offered gluten free or vegan options!
To be honest, the food might have been better in London than in Paris – but you’ll find out if you keep reading!
This was a great time to visit because of the Chelsea in Bloom festival – many of the store fronts were elaborately decorated in flowers and the perfect backdrop for photos!
Their casual food is what you expect from England: fish and chips. So. Not much to say there.
FYI:
You don’t need to leave a tip in London. If you look at your check, you’ll see that a 12-15% service charge is already added on 🙂 Obviously, you can leave something for exceptional service, but you probably won’t receive exceptional service… Servers just take your order, bring your food, and leave you alone. You’ll have to wave someone down if you want a refill or a dessert menu.
Also – this list is not in any kind of order, because these are all amazing restaurants.
Markets
I read about the markets in London but had no idea the selection. We ate our included-breakfast at the hotel and couldn’t eat everything at the markets, which was very disappointing for us. You will find alllll types of food carts at Brick Lane Market (only open Saturdays and Sundays), so arrive hungry and be ready to try everything!
Spitalfields Market has several restaurants and food trucks, as well. And then there’s Portobello Road Market (which we didn’t get to). Brick Lane seemed to have the most options and variety, but you’ll definitely find something to eat!
Peggy Porschen Cakes
During the planning stage of our trip, we stumbled on Peggy Porschen and their pink bakery. We fell in love. On top of the pink shop corner, they were all dressed up for the Chelsea In Bloom festival, with artificial wisteria hanging from the doorframe.
We were there at least twice and chose these beautiful desserts. They tasted as beautiful as they looked, and we left inspired.
Sketch
Let’s continue the pink theme with Sketch! This restaurant hosts an afternoon tea, but we didn’t make reservations in time (I guess we’ll need to come back!). Instead, we made dinner reservations in the pink gallery, and it was quite the experience.
The place is gorgeous and gives you all the Wes Anderson vibes. We even loved the waitstaff uniforms at this place! The bathrooms are these weird pods, and that part wasn’t my favorite.
Dress Code is: Smart Art Casual…. So whatever that means, but I think we did it right.
This trip was partly in celebration of my birthday, and we forgot that we had mentioned that on the reservation! No, they did not sing.
The food was delicious, but definitely one of the pricier places we went.
Elan Café
We spotted this shop on Instagram and made our way to one of their two locations. While we didn’t order one, we did love their take away paper coffee cups with inspiration quotes.
They also had a big flower wall that was perfect for photos! We noticed coffee shops in London bottle their coldbrew, which is pretty cool! We love the opportunity for branding and customer loyalty 🙂
Duck & Waffle
Yummm. We thought we signed up for brunch, but we actually went for normal lunch. The menu is slightly more exotic than we’re used to in the states… Also, the brunch menu looks a little more fun based on Instagram photos. But they have cheese-y bread, so you can never go wrong with that!
I’m not kidding. They actually fresh-bake a small loaf of bread and melt gruyere cheese on top. We also shared a cauliflower appetizer and the famous Duck & Waffle.
This restaurant also has an amazing view of London and should NOT BE MISSED. Apparently, they ask their guests not to wear sneakers… but we didn’t read that until we were in the elevator, and they let us in. But just keep in mind that it’s more a business casual spot. No leggings and tees!
Dishoom
Dishoom serves traditional Indian food and was a highlight of the trip. They have a few locations, but we went to the one in Carnaby. By the way, if you’re hungry…. Wander around Carnaby and choose any restaurant.
Everything at Dishoom has some heat… even the items not marked spicy. Our faces felt like they were on fire, but we could still taste everything. 100% worth it, and Stefanie generally doesn’t enjoy spicy food.
Harrod’s
We’ll talk about this more under shopping, but the food here!!!! They ring a bell when something comes out of the bakery oven! They have a coffee bar… Several restaurants… an ice cream parlour, and an entire Food Hall for grocery shopping. We have some photos, because it’s pretty difficult to describe this place.
Crosstown Donuts
Because we love donuts! Delicious!
Dominique Ansel
Had to stop here when we saw it! We just ordered a coffee and a cronut, because the line was non-existent (if you’ve ever been to the NYC location, you know they sell out of cronuts pretty fast). Delicious and a beautiful setting.
Soft Serve Society
This is where we trying to go after walking the wrong bridge and running out of money on our bus cards… They also have crazy milkshakes!
V&A Café
The food is not too exciting, but if you’re there, it’s definitely worth taking a seat for lunch. The museum is free! And apparently this museum built the first cafeteria inside – and they decided to do it in marble and crystal and art.
Now I want to go back to eating cakes in London…. When we go back to London, we’ll definitely add to this list with more yummy places!
