DEBORAH CROMBIE: Today, my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter are spending one day in London before leaving for a cruise departing Southhampton tomorrow morning. It's the first visit for my son-in-law and granddaughter, and of course my daughter (who would be a travel agent in an alternate life) has everything planned to the minute. I have been a happy co-conspiritor in this agenda, and because Kayti and I are always on the same travel wavelength, the day revolves around food!! We come by this tendency honestly--my dad planned every day of any trip around meals, and all my memories of holidays with my parents, especially abroad, include the places we ate.
So the London day begins with a very early arrival at Heathrow, and because they are staying in Mayfair near Piccadilly, I suggested breakfast at The Wolseley.
On Piccadilly, near the Ritz and Fortnum's and Hatchard's bookshop, The Wolseley is a fabulous cafe in the site of the historic Wolseley car dealership. Here is a wonderful little history.
And here is the link to the breakfast menu! The cafe is truly iconic, and also possibly my favorite place in London for afternoon tea.
But as for afternoon tea, they have other plans. That's booked in the Oblix restaurant in the Shard, on the south bank of the river, where you get one of the most stunning views in London.
Then, after a visit to Borough Market right next to the Shard (more food!) dinner will be in a much more intimate setting, Bubala in Poland Street in Soho. Kayti and I think this is the best vegetarian restaurant we've ever been to, and it is always Kayti's top of the list on a visit to London. Take a look at this menu! The food is absolutely amazing!
This is always my recommendation for anyone's first visit to the city, and especially when time is so limited. It's hop on/hop off, so you can take time to look at things, and it gives you a great feel for London's geography.
Your daughter’s family trip sounds absolutely amazing! Such exquisite menus and meals . . . .
ReplyDeleteGenerally, we plan sights first on a holiday . . . not that we don't care about the food, but we have a tendency to get caught up in the "where we are going" part of the trip and then end up searching out the food places once that's all settled . . . .
That works, too!
DeleteDEBS: That sounds like a great first day in London for your family!
ReplyDeleteNo surprise to those who know me, I do a lot of planning and research for my solo vacation.
And I usually do plan MEALS first!
On my recent trip to Singapore, my flight arrived at 7:00 am. I was in Chinatown by 8:30 am, dropped off my luggage at the Bliss hotel and went straight to a hawker centre for my first meal.
And at last week's trip to Montreal, I was staying in Vieux-Montreal for the first time in 12 years. My train arrived at 4:30 pm. I checked in to my Sonder suite, and walked down to my dinner reservation at a delightful Polish restaurant.
From Diana: Great ideas, Grace. Thank you. Though I do a lot of planning, it never occurred to me to plan meals or where to eat. That part of traveling is spontaneous for me. Now I am thinking that I want to visit the cafe mentioned in the Scotland Street series.
DeleteYou can organize my trips anytime, Grace!
DeleteSounds like a great first day in London.
ReplyDeleteI tend to plan the sightseeing first and then the meals. And I love the hop on/hop off bus tours. I try to take them when I'm visiting a location for the first time. It gives you the lay of the land.
What a wonderful tour. I hope they have the energy for all that. I would definitely include the pub.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Japan, it was slightly odd because breakfast and dinners were always on the boat. But I went ashore every day and made sure to find a little local lunch place. One day I was by myself and I found a little place that even Google translate couldn't help me with the menu. I sat at the bar next to two people who were possibly on their third or fourth liters of beer. The three of us chatted in a delightful combination of Japanese and English while I made my way through several small plates of but turned out to be chicken wings and pickled mackerel or something. It was delicious, as was my own liter of beer, and I wandered happily back to the ship. Next time, if there is one, I will do a land tour and plan it around food.
From Diana: I love the pubs in England. I was pleasantly surprised that children and dogs are welcome in pubs. In the States, you have to be over 21 years old. And I think only service dogs are allowed.
DeleteChildren are allowed in bars that also serve food, all over US. Dogs should not be allowed in any food establishment.
DeleteKayti's family trip looks like it will be fantastic. Weather is out of her hands, so as long as they are prepared for whatever, and keep a sense of humor, it will be great!
ReplyDeleteMost of our travel over the earlier part of our lives was to wilderness areas, I usually made the food. Ask me about the great squirrel attack someday!
Now, our trips are usually a few solo days added onto an excursion with a company like Off the Beaten Path or Natural Habitat Adventures, or a cruise. Our add-on days are pretty casual when it comes to food. I rarely make reservations before we go. We have done okay, but from now on, Grace is going to be my travel agent...or at least my foodie instructor. XXOO
Awww, thanks! Not everyone is as food-obsessed as I am, lol.
DeleteSingapore and Montreal are both cities/countries that are a foodie's paradise.
And frankly, after enduring a 16-hour long haul flight where they gave us a truly mediocre breakfast of limp tasteless Singapore noodles, I was desperate to eat several good iconic dishes to start my Singapore trip on a positive note!
From Diana: One of these days I want to visit Montreal. My grandmother was born there while her family was awaiting entry to the States. They had just emigrated to Canada from Europe.
DeleteEven though I had a good night’s sleep, this itinerary for your daughter and family on their first day off an airplane has me exhausted. (Of course, I have gotten jet lagged on a trip from NYC to Fort Lauderdale!) I’d be lucky to taste a bagel and sip a latte before falling into bed! Hope they have a great trip. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteI actually try to plan my trips to London so that I have NO obligations the first day. Get settled, nap, groceries if in flat, dinner, bed. Perfect.
DeleteI am so envious! Perhaps in another life I'll get to do things like that, too! I'm sure they will all have a grand time.
ReplyDeleteNot frequent traveller's but when we did mostly in the US to academic conferences for my husband. With the limited amount of free time it was neither food nor sights. It was always a bookstore or two we had chosen to visit where I am sure we made their day. MARJORIE
ReplyDeletePersonally, I plan the sights first--some of the best meals have been ones I stumble into! It's great that your daughter has plans to eat at some great places though. I'm sure it's necessary to book well in advance!
ReplyDeleteDebs, I was wondering if you are familiar with the YouTube channel "Gary Eats"? Gary is a kind of goofy guy who lives in Kent and just reviews restaurants, mostly in London. He and the "cameraman" (his adult son) give a really good idea of what the food, the ambience, and the prices are like. My son and I have been enjoying Gary for a few months now, and there are definitely restaurants we would like to try in London.
Thanks, Gillian! Looking up Gary today!
DeleteI don’t usually plan meals when travelling – of which I do not do much, but I do believe that you take the taste of what is there when it comes your way. We were on a bus trip to Britain in 1995, where we were disappointed that there was no lamb served on any menu, but I at least enjoyed the haggis. Every morning’s Full English was a study in sausage and mushrooms – such diversity. Highlights of the trip were the cockles in a cup eaten with a toothpick from a street vendor in York, an extraordinary Yorkshire pudding filled with beef, peas and gravy at a pub that was served too hot and we burned our gullets snuffing it down to catch the bus, and a sticky toffee pudding again in a pub which (cliché here) blew my mind.
ReplyDeleteI believe the food of anywhere you visit should be the highlight of the trip, and the more unplanned it is the better. For me, I will travel the side alleys and see what I find – and no matter how gross it sounds I will try it. I might like it!
I like planning but am always up for the side alleys, too. Sometimes those are the very best experiences!
DeleteFrom Celia: Oh Debs, what a fantastic day out, I am in total envy. Looking at the photos everything looks so familiar but reading the links I can’t believe that this is the city where I spent over eight years of my life. As for choices if I were traveling now it would be food and reading those menus made me hungry. Thanks for the memories and I hope they have a wonderful trip.
ReplyDeleteLondon is both very different--and very much the same.
DeleteFrom Diana: Wonderful initerary of the trip to England (London). And love the photos in your post today! This is going to be a long comment!
ReplyDeleteTea at the Worseley sounds lovely. I wonder if they will visit the Harry Potter Studio or visit bookshops? I do not know if the Ebuiry Wine Bar is still there on Ebury street. I loved the food there. I had a funny discussion with the bartender who said this (dry) wine was better than Chardonnay and I said that I prefer Chardonnay. He watered me that the Chardonnay was not good and he said I could try it. So I tried it and he was surprised when I told him it was delicious!
They have wonderful vegetables in England. I do not know if they still have greengrocer shops? I would buy lunch there. I was on a budget so I did not always go to restaurants or cafes. I remember the salmon was wonderful too.
Speaking of the London Big Bus, the Blue color Bus is better than the Red color bus from my personal experience. The tour guides on the Blue color Bus speak many languages and are way more tolerant of differences than the tour guide on the Red color Bus (English only) and no patience. Suffice to say, the moment the Red Bus tour guide started yelling at me, I got off the bus and got on the Blue Bus where the tour guides are polite.
Thank you for sharing the Gary Eats channel (just watched the review of the Diddly Squat Farm). We travel to England often and I will use this is a resource. All of my/our travels revolve around 1) independent bookstores 2) food & pubs 3) walking in the country & villages. That generally goes for any destination of mine.
ReplyDeleteLooking this up now!! Thank you!!
DeleteI just watched a Gary Eats restaurant review on YouTube. What a great show. I was in a hurry to do some other stuff but I couldn't resist watching a second restaurant review this time of The Glass House. Yum. Highly recommend his reviews. Plan to watch a few more later on.
DeleteStacia, we like independent bookstores and pubs as well. The best pubs are the local pubs in small villages where all the locals hang out. For small villages we really love the Cotswolds especially the smaller villages like Lower Slaughter. It's like walking back hundreds of years where time stood still. I have to say the Irish local pubs are super fun as the Irish love to drink, gab and sing.
DeleteHaving set a book in Lower Slaughter, it's clear that I adore it...
DeleteI imagine Kayti is very excited to share London with Gage and Wren! Hope they have a wonderful trip, and eat lots of delicious cuisine.
ReplyDeleteAll three of my kids and their husbands/boyfriend are foodies, but the youngest two are especially adventurous. Our last three "big" trips have been with Holly and her husband--twice to Nairobi and this last trip to Greece and Poland. Robin was with us for the last two trips.
If Holly wanted a new career she could be a bang-up travel agent, and many of our days were planned around food and/or where we could eat next. I love it, but my husband, who is NOT an adventurous eater--but he is a good sport, would have been fine with the local version of McDonald's most of the time. But he would have missed a lot. Ethiopian coffeehouse, where they make amazing, mostly vegetarian food, and serve fresh popcorn with the thick, strong coffee they make from scratch over a charcoal brazier (literally, they roast the beans for your coffee while we wait). Traditional Kenyan food, some of which it was best just not to know (but they don't serve wild game, it's illegal there). A Christmas Day feast while on safari, with Kenyan dishes mixed with Italian ones. A nine-course tasting menu in Athens with wine pairings. Luckily, the restaurant is visible from their apartment, so we could stagger home. A seaside fish market restaurant in Naxos, Greece, where the catch of the day determined the menu, presided over by the saltiest waitress ever. Even on the ferry to Naxos there was a lovely little cafe where they had delicious sandwiches and made all kinds of coffee drinks. Heaven forbid you should go hungry.
So many kinds of beet and cabbage soup in Poland, all delicious; the best was sour rye, omigod. The Warsaw cousins hosted us at their home, with a table groaning with platters of cured meats, pickles, cheeses, local breads, fantastic soup, and of course, a thimble of vodka at each course. A fabulous vodka tasting at the Wodka Museum in Warsaw, followed by a Ukrainian meal in a tiny Bohemian-looking cafe with mismatched chairs, shawls over the lamps, and every morsel delicious. At the historic family reunion in Poland (first time anyone from our America branch had been back to the original family hometown in more than 115 years), we ate family style at a restaurant, where platters of vegetables, meats, potatoes, and desserts were shared by 25 family members, ages from 95 to one month old (his meal came indirectly). And while on a family stroll around the area, we were treated to fresh pucskis, fried doughnuts filled with jam or cream.
Karen, I have to make sure Kayti sees this comment! She will be planning trips from it!! How fabulous!
DeleteArmchair travel at its best! Thank you. I really appreciated looking at the menus. We are inspired to have our own tea now, and also are excited about some new ideas for veggie-centric meals. I do hope this will be the start of a favorite memory for your family.
ReplyDeleteAh London. One of the greatest cities in the world! She has a great itinerary. Well done.
ReplyDelete"When one is tired of London one is tired of life." -Samuel Johnson
Years ago we ate at Bloom's the Jewish deli in the East End and subsequently in Golder's Green and even though the food is ok the waiters were a hoot.
One of my favorite London experieces was being taken to Beigel Bake in Brick Lane by some London friends.
DeleteIf I ate the Wolseley's "fried haggis and duck eggs in whiskey sauce" for breakfast, I'd certainly know I was in the UK. What a wonderful day you and your daughter have planned! Thanks for sharing it with us so we can be there vicariously as well. I like to plan my trips around art museums and architecture; I once planned a trip around England around towns with great Gothic churches (although we saw plenty of other lovely things as well.)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea, Kim!
DeleteThey've already deviated from the plan, having had breakfast at the Dorchester, then taken the bus to Portobello Market!! I think now they are settled in for tea at the Shard, however!
ReplyDeleteImprovisation! Always a necessary skill when traveling.
DeleteI love Portobello Market, such a fun place. They may have run into Paddington Bear at 32 Windsor Gardens. LOL.
DeleteKayti loves the market, too, and we always have it on my list when we go to London together.
DeleteSince my travels are infrequent and consists of driving Interstate 5 to Oregon, food is not planned beyond to desire to avoid a fast food drive through place. I want to stop and get out of my car for at least thirty minutes, eat and read.
ReplyDeleteLoved this. Looks like a perfect London day to me. Around London by bus is the way to go. And yes, when I started having the chance to go to London alone, a real bang-up British tea was high on my list. (I've done it a few times now) and the very first ever trip to London included a splurge - dinner at Rules - and a real Indian meal ( very hard to find in US then). And the last trip for awhile ( maybe forever) included a nice afternoon at Borough Market. Think food is part of every trip?
ReplyDeleteYes, Indian food in London is such a treat. That's always on my list, too. And I'd love to go to Rules someday.
DeleteHow delightful! I wonder if you and Kayti could plan my next trip…lol.
ReplyDeleteWe've been saying that there should be a Gemma and Duncan excursion to London based on the books, including sight seeing, restaurants and police stations...right?!
DeleteKayti and I are always happy to help!
DeleteI'm also of Joan's philosophy. Plan the sights first, let the dining happen on its own.
ReplyDeleteI plan the sights first and then look for food choices in the area of each. Although sometimes we just look for the places featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
ReplyDeleteOh, my. I am so hungry! And one of the menus reminded me of a dish my mother used to make that I haven't had since I left home at 18 - Welsh Rarebit. I need to look up a recipe.
ReplyDeleteI plan the sites first, and let food fall to local recommendations. So far I've found some delightful spots.
That's a good combination, Kait.
DeleteUsually plan the specifics of what I want to see, but with no time frame. In London there is so much to do that it’s nice to just walk around if the weather cooperates and see what you come across.
ReplyDeleteOne time I was walking through Regent’s Park and saw a sign for the zoo which I hadn’t realized was nearby and had no plan to visit. I wound up going there and saw the giant pandas which was a highlight of the trip
Another time I took a tour through the legal areas of the city and saw the Old Bailey courthouse and
was able to briefly sit in on a couple of trials, one criminal, the other civil. We also walked around the Inns where the barristers have their offices. Seeing these places brought to life many of the mysteries I had read.
Even though I have always made lists of things I want to see or do, I like the serendipity of being surprised by something that I may not have even known about such as a circus museum and an art museum in San Antonio neither of which I had heard of until I was there. I don’t think the circus museum still exists so I’m really glad I had a chance to go there.
As far as food, I like to go to restaurants which serve dishes from the area, lowcountry dishes in Charleston SC, beignets and hush puppies in New Orleans,etc and some of their classic restaurants.
I do like to try Chinese restaurants wherever I go, in this country or elsewhere. It’s interesting to see how the geographical areas influence the food and even the way the dishes are served.
The only time I have made specific lists for food was when I was going to New York City a few years ago and I wanted some places near my hotel. I wrote down some names with a variety of cuisine based on looking at their menus. There were French, Italian and, of course, Chinese options. They all turned out to be very good.
I discovered a French bakery that I really liked a short walk away from my hotel.The prices were very reasonable and they had a wide selection. I picked up things for breakfast and then, when I was leaving, I bought food to take on the train.
I think of those sorts of days as being "creatively lost" and often you discover the best things!
DeleteThis is so fantastic! I think...I plan sights first. And SO agree--you should be a travel arranger! perhaps the first Reds and Readers Expedition! (Which sounds like somethoing out of Pooh--didn't he call it an Expo-tition?
ReplyDeleteWherever I'm traveling, I always check out the restaurants and what's to eat in the area before I go. I do pick what I want to see, but part of that is seeing where I want to eat while I'm there. That was the problem with our Paris trip. It was so busy, there were no planned eating places, and in Paris of all places. Of course, we had our meals on the boat when we were on thee Seine cruise, and while the food was good, there were no lovely little bistros. However, Philip and I did eat outdoors at a cafe one day when we had time apart from the group. I got a simple dish of penne pasta with three cheeses, but it was delicious.
ReplyDeleteMeals! So much more important to know where (and what) you're going to eat than where you're going to stay. When we first went to London (1969) the food was meh almost everywhere (overcooked cabbage and potatoes...) except for fish and chips and curry. Of course we ate at Simpson's on the Strand with their liveried waiters and rolling carts with standing rib roasts. I probably couldn't afford to eat there now! Last time we were in London about fifteen years ago my daughter Molly was living there and we ate very very well. And cheaply! LOVE London! My daughter just made a trip there with her family, a first big trip for her kids Franny (11) and Jody (8). Turning them into travelers.
ReplyDeleteFrom Diana : thanks for the reminder! Loved loved the fish and chips though the fish more than chips.
DeleteI’m more of a seat of my pants kind of girl. We peruse a guidebook and loosely plan what we might do, or not, if something else appealed. No reservations usually, just check in with TI for what’s available. . We did look at our Rick Steves guidebook and call a day ahead for a hotel in Paris, which landed us in a little hotel on the sweetest conbled market street, Rue Clare. Pure luck. We’re usually on a budget, so we forego lovely restaurants in favor of more sightseeing funds. We have missed out that way, though. My daughter once ordered Neptune pizza in a little restaurant in Paris, then was near tears when her pizza with tuna arrived.
ReplyDeleteCobbled!
ReplyDelete