Weekend in London
John and I went to London for a long weekend in April 2011.
It was a last minute decision that we blame on Delta Airlines. They were offering flights that were too good to pass up.
The incredible rate we found at The Royal Horseguards on Orbits sealed the deal.
It is a gorgeous 5 star hotel perfectly located for exploring the city.
We had two goals on this trip.
1: Get out of town for the weekend for some quality time together.
2: Eat as many incredible meals as possible.
We arrived in London early Friday morning and went to the YOTEL located inside Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport to freshen up.
Then we took the Underground to our hotel, checked-in, and went in search of lunch.
We walked to Leicester Square hoping to find something to eat near the tkts ticket booth.
The tkts booth is the best place to score half price & discounted theater tickets.
Friday’s lunch was the only meal we didn’t research and plan ahead of time.
We ended up eating below average fish & chips but made up for it with a couple of cold Fosters Pints.
After a much needed nap we started our journey towards Hunan, a Chinese restaurant in Belgravia.
As stated on their website, Hunan isn’t your typical Chinese restaurant.
They do not have a menu. The chef chooses for you.
The waiter asked us for a list of items that we don’t eat and how spicy we like our food.
We both love spicy food and there isn’t anything we won’t eat (or at least try) so we told them to go for it!
The recommended wine was Anwilka from Stellenbosch. Since we were in Stellenbosch just a few months prior we were excited to order it.
Our first course was a delicious broth soup:
After that, the courses kept coming:
And coming.
As long as we kept eating and enjoying ourselves, they kept bringing us food.
We were in heaven.
We walked-off our meal along the Thames River.
The next morning we enjoyed a small breakfast:
Well, my breakfast was small. Then we went exploring:
We ate lunch at Yashin Sushi. It is a little hard to find but well worth finding the next time you’re in London.
We both ordered the Omakase Eight – eight pieces of sushi served with the roll of the day.
And green tea ice cream for dessert.
I wanted to eat for hours but we had a show to catch.
Billy Elliot is a brilliant show.
If you like musicals, you don’t want to miss this one!
We went to The Quilon for dinner for south-west coastal Indian cuisine.
We read one of our favorite sentences on the menu:
If you prefer, our chef would be delighted to plan a tasting menu tailor-made to your requirements.
Done.
I was unable to capture photos at dinner but trust me when I say that our meal was an extremely gratifying experience, start to finish.
Sunday morning we decided to skip breakfast and save ourselves for our DimSum lunch.
We rode The London Eye:
And then went to Ping Pong in Soho for “Lazy Sumdays” – all the Dim Sum you can manage to eat for just £18.49 per person.
We started with lemongrass tea:
And then ate until the seams on our jeans busted.
We made it back to Westminster Abbey in time for their Evensong service.
The service was beautiful.
We were able to sit in the choir stall with the Abbey Choir and participate in the songs of prayer.
Our final meal of the trip was tapas in a charming neighborhood in the South Kensington district.
Cambio de Tercio Restaurant blew us away!
We ordered the tasting menu:
A bottle of wine:
And overindulged:
It is safe to say that we accomplished our goals for the weekend.
I highly recommend every researched restaurant we went to in London.
Thank you, Delta. That tiny arm-twist couldn’t have come at a better time.