“Cold when it’s critical
Cool but cynical
Maxed out, never minimal
That’s how we function
Welcome to London”
— Charlie Sparks
Despite Charlie’s views, it is the warmest-coolest place I have ever been to. The fact that I (a non-UK-born individual) am able to write this is emblematic of London’s more cosmo nature.
London is my favourite city in the world. I have been here three times now, and every time, she dazzles me with her bustling charm and congenial warmth (albeit with some chilliness). You keep falling in love with the same things over and over again, yet feel the need to explore more.
While throwing shade at English food used to be an international pastime, the PLURs of the nation have made it a true cornucopia of cross-cultural cuisine. There is something for everybody to enjoy and create.
On a personal front, I have developed an intimate relationship with the city. Last summer, all I would do was pick up a Lime bike or my Oyster card and traipse around town with no particular spot in mind. Along the way, I would stop at whichever famous or lesser-known café, shop, or restaurant caught my eye.
While I don’t mind the occasional touristy spot, I am most excited about exploring new places, talking to the people who work there, and learning about their stories. It has become a constant in a life where I have built intimacy with strangers in a strange place, where, for a second, I feel at home.
And then! Well then, it’s time to pack up and move! (Ex-consultant here!)
Below are a bunch of can-haves and recommendations that I came across during my visits.
Beigel Bake + Rough Trade East — Brick Lane
The East End is one of the more colourful and culturally rich parts of the city. Infused with beautiful graffiti and murals, this place was, at one point, a centre of the city’s cultural diversity. Nothing reflects that better than Beigel Bake.
Beigel Bake is one of the OGs. Started in 1974, it still runs 24/7 and offers beigels at the mouth-watering price of £2.50–£3. My favourites are the smoked salmon and cream cheese. Two of these, and you’re full for the entire day!
The beigels are a great combination of Jewish and Bangladeshi flavours (don’t ask how).
Follow this with a crisp and relaxing walk to Rough Trade East. Technically, it is a music store with records and merchandise from pretty much every well-known artist in the world. However, once you enter, you find out it is much more than that. It’s a musical theme park.
It is a must-visit if you like spending your time immersed in records, vinyl, and musical biographies while sipping a pint.
Regency Café — Regency Street
I just finished a full Cuban sandwich in Greenwich, and I’m not even half full. That porky biscuit set me back around £13. While the experience was delishhh, it is a grim reminder of how expensive it can be to eat a meal bellyful in London.
If, however, like me, you love a full English breakfast (and are cheap), please try Regency Café on 17–19 Regency Street. Their Full English costs £9.99, and believe me, you won’t leave seeking a single grain of food for the rest of the day.
The toast is nostalgic, the sausages are thicker than your domestic plumbing, and, well, everything else is just capaciously copacetic. Plus, the service is super fast!
Friendly tip: If you’re not in the mood for a full English, explore Sapori, an Italian café nearby (about 300 m from Regency). It’s a family-owned shop that serves all kinds of pasta, with extra cheese and a sprinkle of love. The grandma is super lovely and will compliment you in Italian!
Shawarma Hut — 292B Walworth Road
I dunno about y’all, but seeing a lump of chunky chicken roasting on a spit makes me happy. It reminds me that the world is indeed a beautiful and close-knit place, that something on this planet is going right, for shawarma (along with water) must truly be the most universal dish in the world.
And if you speak of shawarma in London, you must check out Shawarma Hut.
This place was suggested to me by Gary Eats (check out his channel for UK food reviews and recommendations). They have perhaps the cheapest meal you can get in London. You can get an entire shawarma meal for £4.99.
Apparently, this is one of the few restaurants in London where prices have actually gone down over the years (or so I heard).
The owner, Ali Alsahlane, is a great man who gives back to the community. He runs a service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., during which he sells 200 shawarmas for 5 pence. The price is immaterial; the gesture is massive.
Their meals are an explosion of flavour and can be enjoyed by everyone alike.
Mayflower — 117 Rotherhithe Street
I love Sundays, and I love Sunday roasts. Any sane person would.
Nothing beats the feeling of going for a nice run on a Sunday morning and then filling your belly with roast beef/pork/lamb, sausages, Yorkshire pudding (my favourite), mashed potatoes or roast potatoes, and gravy — lots of it.
Mayflower on Rotherhithe Street is an amazing spot for exactly that. Tables on the riverside deck and a cheerful staff make the experience even more colourful.
Roasts are meant to be enjoyed with patience and magnanimity. This place excels at exactly that.
Next time you’ve built up an appetite — or need to cure a hangover — pop in!
Borough Picks — Borough Market
Sooner or later, you’re going to want to check out Borough Market (closed on Mondays and after 4 p.m. — though we’ll have classes anyway).
While I suggest visiting all the markets to truly experience the city’s vibrancy (Camden is amazing), Borough has a place of its own. You can find everything from everywhere in this market. Prices range from moderate to cheap, but the quality of the experience is elite.
You genuinely feel as though all of civilisation has converged in one place, and guess what — that feeling is pretty fucking glorious.
You’ll develop your own favourites, and I’m excited to hear about them. Here are mine:
- The Sleigher from The Black Pig (a limited festive sandwich sold around Christmas). It costs around £13 and is worth every penny. One of these and your munchies are sorted for the week.
- Fresh oysters from the seafood counter were a novel experience for me, and you should try them too — especially if you plan to become a pescatarian someday (not recommended if you don’t like seafood).
- Try the raw salmon salad with the vodka dip if you love salmon as much as I do, or vodka as much as I do!
- The Venezuelan arepas (perhaps the only vegetarian recommendation I make here) and the Colombian coffee were absolutely beautiful.
St. John Bar & Restaurant — Farringdon
I first saw this place mentioned in Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown.
St. John is a Michelin-starred restaurant that is trying to keep traditional English food alive. A few of its signature dishes include the Welsh Rarebit and the roasted bone marrow.
This was a unique culinary adventure for me. While expensive, meals here feel like a really good, award-winning speech. The ingredients are few (read: “Subtract”), the décor is even more minimal, and yet you leave not only fulfilled but also enriched & inspired.
Goddards at Greenwich — Greenwich
One of my favourite things to do while hanging out in Canary Wharf (home to a few friends and my sister) is go for a run along the Thames.
I generally trace the riverbank to The Grapes in Limehouse (Ian McKellen owns it, by the way), run to Holy Cow (a funny name for an Indian restaurant), and then run all the way back to Greenwich.
The whole thing ends with a walk through the underwater tunnel to Greenwich. As soon as you emerge from the concrete cave, you see two things: the high and mighty Cutty Sark — once a ship, now a museum — and a big board chalked with the words “Goddards at Greenwich.”
This place is fantastic for a sumptuous breakfast. Get the King Pie and Mash (please have it with the gravy).
Hut Negril — Greenwich
I found myself lost and hungry in Greenwich one day but wasn’t in the mood to try the same things all over again.
My iPhone had run out of charge, and destiny was in charge.
I stumbled upon a small park by the street. Like a hungry pilgrim, when my eyes settled on the open flaming BBQ in front of me, I asked myself, Is this a mirage?
The answer became clear when I was greeted with a resplendent smile by the owner, Jacob.
An easy-going yet ambitious guy who, much like me, loved MMA, he spoke about competing with the bigger chains in the area.
The Jamaican wings were absolutely smashing, as were the extra-spicy dips.
Fully fed and fully inspired, we started discussing taglines for his business. He seemed to like one of my ideas:
“The Greenwich Meridian Line passes through our chicken wings. Come taste it!”
(He hasn’t used it yet.)
Flour & Grape — Bermondsey
I never really appreciated pasta until I attended a pasta-making workshop with my girlfriend.
From kneading the dough to flattening it and making perfectly even cuts, the whole craft reminded me of Claytopia utopia, that game where we built castles out of clay.
I’ve been in love with pasta ever since.
If you love pasta and enjoy watching it being made, this is your place.
You’ll need a reservation. However, even waiting in the queue (yes, even with a booking) is enjoyable because you get to watch the magic unfold behind the kitchen’s glass window.
The pasta version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will not disappoint you.
My sister took me to Flour & Grape with a few friends, and I must say — we’ve been closer ever since!
Café de Nata (Oxford Street & Chinatown)
Pastéis de nata might be the only dessert I truly like. (Not much of a sweet tooth, unfortunately — God made me sweet enough.)
I’ve been searching for the best egg tarts in the world all my life. Thankfully, London has plentiful.
While each café tells its own story, Café de Nata is one of the few places where you can consistently get fresh batches.
The one in Chinatown is my go-to.
Ask for a fresh batch, sprinkle on some cinnamon, scoop out the centre, and get ready to have a spiritual experience.
It will change you. It really will.
While simple, this dessert is extremely difficult to perfect. It takes 24 hours to prepare. 7 layers of dough are thinly stacked on top of each other. As it ferments, the lord blesses us with manna in the form sweet custard egg fillings! This experience will leave you feeling divine — all at the price of 3.3 GBP. It’s a shortcut to paradise.
The Devonshire — Soho
And now we are boozing.
Devonshire is rumored to pour the best Guinness in London, and I agree. While my drinking days are behind me, I wholeheartedly believe that the right kind of guinness with the right kind of vibe forms the right kind of tribe! Please pop in for pint and taste the stars!
Bermondsey Beer Mile — Bermondsey
This is a tradition.
The Bermondsey Beer Mile is a mile-long stretch of breweries, pubs, and taprooms located in Bermondsey, London. Operated in and around the conduit heading towards London Bridge and Cannon Street stations, it is something of a rite of passage to get pleasantly sloshed while staggering along this route, a beer art gallery with many rich paintings to enjoy from. Some say it is 2 miles, I guess; whoever does the mile will never find out! My main goal whenever I’m there is to drink a half-pint at as many pubs along the mile as possible.
I say half-pint because my legs fail where my spirit does not. By the sixth or seventh pub, I stop with the half-pint strategy nonsense. Black out before I tap out!!!!
Elephant’s Head — Camden
This was a random find for me! I was out and about the Camden market around Christmas, & eventually found myself inside a nearly-empty but jovial pub. I found myself talking to the bartender about the origin of the pub’s name and why similar names exist in the UK. Turns out, a lot of these old places used to have symbols instead of names, to be recognisable by the common folk, folks who did not have access to education and reading like the upper classes. Very interesting chat, she also lent me a cigarette! This place has a nice music system and the owner is super warm & cool.
Bermondsey Corner — Bermondsey
This was my first proper wine-and-cheese experience.
Located close to London Bridge, this place is an oenophile’s wet dream.
Small and intimate, tucked away in a corner that seems invisible to anyone who doesn’t know it’s there, it’s the perfect place to bring a friend, your partner, or even just yourself.
Grab a table, order a beautiful cheese board with pickles and a glass of good red wine, and watch your winter miseries disappear
.Did I mention ordering a bottle as well?
Why not?
Live a little.
El Vino — 47 Fleet Street
Be it the chilliness, or the windiness or just the freedom of self, I like a good smoke from time to time. Cigarettes are in the past for me now, & for good measure, however I can never say no to a good Cigar sess. Enter El Vino, Farringdon! Despite being located near the goldman and deloitte offices, the place is super class. Affordable if you are a smoke nut like I am, but yeah feel free to try any of the Cuban or Nicaraguan cigars with a glass of white wine! Try and get the bottle, glasses are bloody expensive. Don’t be cheap, take your friends & have 2! Puff Puff Pause!
Cyberdog — Camden + Fabric — Farringdon
These aren’t food spots.
These are my favourite rave spots(until now, wink wink).
Cyberdog, in Camden, is a rave shop filled with clubwear, glittering merchandise, and everything required to express your soul-surfing tendencies through consumer-driven actions (ooh, the irony!!!).
Located in the heart of Camden Market, this was one of the first places where I saw a DJ playing a live set inside a retail shop.
Almost everyone working there seemed to be an aspiring artist (or at least everyone I met was), and they were incredibly helpful in finding whatever you might need (IYKYK).
Fabric, in Farringdon, is one of London’s most iconic electronic music venues.
I’ve been there twice, and the sound system is absolutely top-notch.
It’s a multi-level underground club, allowing you to move between different rooms depending on your vibe and your mood.
Mau P was playing the night I went.
Super awesome!!!
There is so much more that this great city holds. Oftentimes, the most banal corner, stone, or street will surprise you in the most unexpected ways. So perhaps, always be on the lookout; For the grandest beauties hold the deepest secrets.
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