A Birthday & A Gastronomic Adventure in London

Cutie Pie


I once asked Lil L and her friend who they thought was the scariest mom they'd ever encountered. They immediately pointed to me. Geeeeezzz! Honesty is over-rated. Anyways.... being the scary mother (Asian tiger mom yada yada yada) that I am, I gave my precious and only child a couple of options to celebrate her birthday.

Thankfully, she didn't go down the birthday party route because dealing with 20 squealing divas ain't the way I imagine spending my precious weekend. Instead, we had one of the most amazing weekends in London watching the Lion King, catching up with her godparents (self professed scary mom number 2) who are one of our closest friends and their gorgeous cutie pie as well as eating our way from one end of London to the other (okay, it's an exaggeration but I've now ditched my skinny jeans in place of track pants). Lil L declared it was the best birthday ever.

First stop: The Breakfast Club situated in the heart of the famous Spitalfields. It's unpretentious, kitschy, gimmicky, noisy, wannabe American type restaurant that served okay food. The service is excellent and the queue stretched right out to the street. There's a cool Smeg fridge door which is in fact a real door that takes you downstairs to a nightclub.

 

Princi

We dashed off to the Lyceum Theater just in time to watch the Lion King which was truly a spectacular performance. I dragged the hubs and Lil L off to Soho to taste the best ramen noodles in town (Bone Daddies Ramen Bar). They admitted the noodles were good enough to knock their socks off. We wandered down Wardour St in search of a birthday cake. As always, there was a queue to get into Princi, a popular Milanese bakery/pizzeria which has spilled outside to the pavement. We grabbed a couple of rolls and vowed to visit again one day.





Next Stop: Hummingbird Bakery. I've resisted buying their cookbook thinking it was yet another Magnolia Bakery knock off. I'm no cupcake fan but their red velvet cake was seriously moist, scrumptious and to die for but not sickeningly sweet. I'm one of those weird individuals who scrape icing off the cake but their cream cheese icing was delicious.





I managed to snag a cheap last minute room at an Ibis hotel near our friends' apartment. Get this, £49 for the 3 of us! My father was utterly convinced it would be a rat infested hole. It couldn't be further from the truth. The room was sparkling clean and new. It was also a 3 minute walk to the DLR train station. I'm not all that fussed about hotel rooms as long as the location's good and the room's clean. We headed out the next morning to a local church and bumped into a friend that I haven't seen in 20 years (hi there, Eileen!).

Ever since I read about Honest Burgers from Fleurette, I've been itching to check it out. Funnily enough, Fleurette was wondering whether I'd made it there last weekend. Now that's what I call foodie telepathy! Before I bit into their massive burger, I knew it'd be a good one just by looking at their plates. Hah! You thought I was going to say something intelligent like the beef came from cows which had daily massages, ate organic grass and hay and slept in a cow hotel. No. They use Falcon enamelware which is exactly what I've switched to these days. The rosemary fries were soooooo soooooo good. So was the coleslaw.


Lil L's godmother and I attempted to take a photo together and was photobombed by an elf in a grey coat.


Next shot with the said elf was a little better.

Outfit: Christys' fedora, Alexander Wang t-shirt, Etoile Isabel Marant Kady jacket (similar here), James Jeans Twiggy, The Kooples trainers (similar here), Louis Vuitton leopard stole and Louis Vuitton Speedy Bandouliere 35cm

My Etoile Isabel Marant Kady leather jacket was a godsend this winter. I've worn it non-stop as it's roomy enough to wear a few layers underneath without looking like a puffer fish. The temperature dropped drastically on Sunday and snowstorm was in the horizon. To top it off, I'd forgotten to bring my sweater as well. Thankfully, the jacket acted like a windproof outerwear despite wearing only a thermal vest and a thin Alexander Wang t-shirt underneath.




By the time we staggered off in search of another warm cafe, we were too full to eat anything else including those luscious, mouthwatering sweet delights and only managed a hot drink.


**Please excuse the quality of the photos. These were all taken using my Samsung Galaxy Note phone as my camera battery died on me.




The Breakfast Club
12-16 Artillery Lane
London E1 7LS
Tube: Liverpool St


Bone Daddies Ramen Noodle Bar
30-31 Peter Street 
London W1F0AR
Tube: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus

Princi 
135 Wardour St
London W1F 0UT
Tube: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus

Hummingbird Bakery
155a Wardour St
London W1F 8WG
Tube: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus

Honest Burgers
4A Meard St
London W1F 0EF
Tube: Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus