A Weekend in London

Yesterday I arrived home from a weekend away visiting a friend in London. If this reunion alone didn't make me happy enough in itself, I had the best time exploring the city, seeing some fantastic art and eating ridiculously good food along the way. I'll try and keep this fairly short and sweet, give a quick rundown of some of the best bits of my trip and finish up with a shed load of photographs to swoon over.

First up, as always, the food. We went to a fantastic little cafe called The Spoke where I had probably the best pork sandwich I've ever had...pretty big claim there. Not to sound too much like Greg Wallace or anything, but the combination of tender pork and soft, fresh sourdough was so on point. It seems a bit dramatic, but it was just that good (and HUGE). Other food highlights included Wahaca on the South Bank for some delicious Mexican street food and The Bread and Bean where, surprise surprise, I went for the pancakes. I'm almost bored of hearing myself talk about pancakes again (!) but seriously they were brilliant (and HUGE). We also sampled some Lebanese street food at the Yalla Yalla pop up in Shoreditch (mmm, falafel) and a final shout out on the food front goes to Ruby Violet in Tufnell Park for transporting me back to my childhood with their super tasty raspberry ripple ice cream. 

I don't know why I bother pretending to justify my food obsession on here anymore, but in order to make myself feel better, let me just say a quick word on the amount of walking we did (that must surely work off some of the pancake calories right?) We took part in an Alternative London walking tour which showcased some incredible street art around the East End. I honestly can't recommend these tours enough - we had a lovely guide, Lily, an artist herself, who took us around and discussed some of the history of the area as well as telling us about the artworks we came across. It was such a fantastic opportunity to see a different side of the city and really encouraged you to open your eyes and look at what's around you. I haven't inserted photos of every piece we saw as I didn't want to risk spoiling it for anyone else who might be interested in doing the tour themselves, but hopefully the images I have included will do it justice and encourage you to go along! 

Another place I really enjoyed was The Photographer's Gallery, which is currently exhibiting some work by photography students. It was brilliant to see some new, up and coming UK talent, but I also loved their John Deakin exhibition which focussed mainly on his portraits and gave an interesting insight into Soho in the '50s and '60s. Again, I would definitely recommend paying it a visit if you have the chance.

My final afternoon was spent seeing yet another side of the city, surrounded by beautiful greenery in Hampstead Heath, sunbathing and catching up on trashy magazines, as you do, before going for dinner in Covent Garden. I also definitely saw Jack from Bombay Bicycle Club, just saying. All in all a fantastic weekend!