need to have my own tea and home-baked cake in the room this afternoon (thanks ashie for the cake which functions as my tea/dessert/supper too, never ever put a whole cake in my kitchen unless you are ready to part with it...)
along the camden high street with lots of interesting buildings
gotta love the place!
crossing the canal
two scones places, Yumchaa and Cafe Crema, both in the camden lock market. crema's scones look bigger and yummier, perhaps cause yumchaa's scones look ordinary, again maybe cause they specialize in tea.
Camden Lock market, definitely a food haven and there's lots and lots of international food around, its impossible to try all! the concept of Camden Town markets are it consists of several markets which are Camden Lock, Camden Stables, Camden Buck Street and Inverness Street market, perhaps similar to Brick Lane where there's Brick Lane, Upmarket, Spitalfields and Columbia Flower Market all in the same area.
out and about
random shots around Camden
gotta love the motorbikes overlooking the canal. wonder what the significance of the lion is. pei pei was excited when she say India 2 China as she just got back from Nepal after a month.
and tada! a Nepal shop called Namaste! she's back at 'home'.
more shots
camden stable market with loads of statues of bronze horses
could not cover every market, what more every stall.. definitely need to return and do the rest of camden next time!
for their afternoon tea set (33). when booking for an afternoon tea, you need to specify which (chocolate, pink, martini, traditional) if not the default is set at traditional.
i had to specially request for a chocolate afternoon tea set as they have prepared the traditional set, and thankfully they could still accommodate for us. so its 3 tiers with little chocolate or non-chocolate treats on top, chocolate scone with chocolate cake and sandwiches at the bottom.
5 very lucky university students pretending to be Datins in a hotel in Mayfair after designer-bags-shopping, celebrating Fatiha's 25th birthday with a hotel chocolate afternoon tea!
after spending a lot and eating a little (which rich people always do) its time to get back down to earth and eat a lot but spend a little, so the best option is revisiting Asakusa for its cheap and yummy sushis! the last time i was here i was vegetarian thanks to Lent so tonight i was going All Out!
salmon sushi, spicy tuna sushi, salmon skin sushi, king prawn sushi, takoyaki, eel and egg starter, cold udon and cold soba with tempura ending with black sesame and green tea ice cream, superb!! can't get sick of japanese food somehow!
Mc D breakfast with pancake, double sausage McMuffin and bacon & cheese bagel meal sets.
i must say, i had a great time being rather tourist-y and went for cafe crawling endlessly for the past few weeks looking for tea & scones, binging, checking new places, walking across London and just basically hanging out like a tourist..
#1: a surprise lunch by Pei Pei's Nepalese friend, a small friendly college girl in Stratford. Pei pei wanted to pay a visit and pass something from Nepal but we were invited to her house, and lo and behold she made masala chai (tea) and a hearty nepalese meal with chicken, dal bhat and rice!
#2: was an hour late to my next meal stop, sorry yin hui! was craving for dim sum and after surveying 4 websites who promote different Best Dim Sums in London, i settled for Pearl Liang in Paddington (already tried Yautacha for my birthday last year)
the food was yumsss, though lesser choices but good enough, seems like they make good dishes although less variety compared to mass production of mediocre food. and the prawn ravioli in soup was delicious!
a stroll along Paddington
there are 2 interesting cafes to check out in Hampstead, both doing scones as well which are Maison Blanc and Ginger & White. Maison's cream tea looks good but Ginger's scone was not recommended, they specialize in coffee instead.
#3: the reason i was in this part of the world is for the really cute tea place called Bake-a-Boo which i have been meaning to go since i started this craze for scones. travel tip: take the Jubilee to West Hampstead and the bus C11 to Brent which stops not far from this shop. i really looove this cute pink cozy girly place, and i admit that the cakes/scones are not the best i've ever had, but i really enjoy the environment. mind you, you have to pay a 50% deposit when you make a booking for this place.
sitting and being served some tea. aren't everything so cute??
the tea set with 2 scones, 2 chocolate coated strawberries, 1 big muffin, 1 cookie, 1 lemon cake and 6 sandwiches with a choice of tea for £15. not too bad. (32)
my favourite afternoon tea setting :) i wish i can have a little shop like this too.
#4 was back in canary wharf. i remembered this lobster tail italian dessert from Cafe Brera and as much as i had a sugar overdose thanks to Bake a boo, i still had to buy 3 yummy nutty creamy pastry-ish desserts. kinda reminded me of ferrero rocher.
#5 meet up with a few friends at a good cheap mexican/latino restaurant in Canary Wharf called Wahaca. i agree, its good, its cheap, and i love the street food concept with this little portions of food for £3-5, similar to the dim sum/sushi concept so if you feel like having little bites of everything, drag 2 friends along like how you would do when u head to dim sum/sushi. the churros dessert was warm and good too. i have to say, although i was stuffed to the brim, the food was still yummy!
#6 reached home to celebrate a friend's 25th birthday, and lucky her, she had little korean-series characters on her chocolate-cheese muffins! so cute! and we had rojak fruits with grapes, tomatoes and mangoes as well.
revisited the Jasmine Kitchen which is at the end of commercial st where it meets aldgate, its in a corner in a little road so you have to look out for the bright pink shop. cute place with only 2 big tables and 2 sofa sets.
not bad for the price (£5 average) for the dishes, but its not so authentically Malaysian, the dishes are ok on their own but not what i would have expected with the chicken rice more of oyster chicken On rice, and the penang laksa more like curry bihun. the owner is from penang though. i suggested more dishes but her concept was more of quick easy-to-make food, not a restaurant with a long list of dishes. fair enough, have to look out for the mon/wed/fri specials if you want something different.
off to brick lane (again and again) to chill in cafe 1001 (31), didn't realize there's an upstairs full of comfy sofas and seats for people with laptop using the free Wi-Fi. the place is open 0600-0000, and by 6pm the DJ starts working up the music as the cafe transform into a club. wow. unfortunately we left with a not-so-good experience due to a casualty, but although the staff was unreasonable, the boss was helpful.
Nude Espresso at Hanbury St. Noticed a chinese restaurant called Hanbury just few doors away as well. Nice cafe to hang out in which does nice coffee, minimal card transaction of £6.00, and because that i didn't have enough cash for a chocolate chip cookie. (28)
not too far north is cafe 1001, very nice hang out place as well with free Wi-Fi. apparently the carrot cake is good, but the drinks are definitely cheaper! high ratings in Qype too.
There seems to be a fashion show at Spitalfields market although i didn't stick around to watch it. perhaps i should, it would really be interesting since i cant afford the real stuff.
back to Whitechapel Road is the Whitechapel Gallery which has the dining room and the cafe. i must say, going to the cafe is like a treasure hunt! anyways i had the chocolate brownie here cause it was promoted as London's Best Brownie by Stella magazine! not bad, very brownie-chocolatey and not too dry :)
the rest of the crawl wasn't fruitful as the Idea Store cafe is closed due to change of management, the Rinkoff Bakery nearby is closed due to the new store actually located somewhere else i think, and the Don't Panic Go Organic is closed maybe cause its already late!
found it at Bethnal Green! but no scones :( (30) 'Rinkoff is the last Jewish bakery in the area and specializes in breads and sweets from traditional old recipes. Cheesecakes, apple strudels, chola, sourdough and rye breads with biegels are all available for industry and retail. The bakery was established in 1911 by Mr.Rinkoff and still maintains Jewish cakes and recipes from Russia.' decided to give one of the biscuits a try.
since i was in the area, i decided to revisit E Pellicci. they do cheap good meals, not so much desserts (although they have portugese egg tarts) so i had a roast beef salad roll instead, and more tea.
came home to find a chocolate cake from Kipferl, the only Austrian delicatessen in London. yummies, thanks neighbour! should check it out myself. since we are in that area, that's a Hungarian cake place called Louis Hungarian Patisserie as well, featured in Time Out's best afternoon tea article.
"the availability of 24-hour eating joints allows more Malaysians to eat late into the night. Should there be a time limit as to how many hours such restaurants should be allowed to operate in a day?"
75% said No! and immediately i felt good again Haha..
first stop - Stoke Newington, Islington. accidentally stumbled upon a farmer's market
Camia, an Italian Delicatessen. i remember trying an italian dessert, the lobster tail pastry and i liked it. will definitely have more italian desserts. passed by a cafe called the Fat Cat Cafe :D
walking down Stoke Newington Church Road and passing the Town Hall into Albion Road. Stoke Newington is pretty alive on a Saturday!
a kids restaurant called That Place on The Corner at Newington Green. so cute!! kids at the park on a sunny Saturday.
and Acoustic Cafe, good for its breakfast. nice relaxing setting and there seems to be quite a lot of people.
finally walked into Upper Street, another pretty happening street with full of cafes. Checked out Euphorium Bakery which is also recommended by Yelp and Time Out's Best Bakeries (i think i been to a few now) and i walked so much i passed two branches in a go!
going down Upper Street.. hmm
more interesting places like Ottolenghi, Carluccio's and Fig & Olives.. honestly, at this part of the world, every 2/3 shop is a cafe or restaurant so it's impossible to cover all!
reaching Angel Tube station.. then further east to Kings Cross.. passing by the British Library.. then Euston, passing by UCL .. and the walk seemed Endless..
Lantana cafe, an Aussie cafe which was also recommended, and a cute Yog place, very similar to Snog with its frozen yoghurt, both feature in London's best frozen yogurt. surely gonna be a hit towards the hot summer months!
saw Oscar bar and restaurant which is part of a hotel and people having afternoon tea! and a bakery called No. 26? hmm
walking towards Soho passing by Milk Bar, the sister cafe of the famous Flat White. there's Maison Bertaux very near Chinatown which is also feature for one of the best afternoon tea! would be checking it out soon.
the famous chips (which i like), stroopwaffles (which i also like), pancakes, sausages.. yummmm i miss amsterdam!
sights and signs around the festival
escaped into the National Portrait Gallery cafe for scones (27) since its recommended as well not only in the museum/art gallery section but also the best afternoon tea section.
and the last but not least stop, the British Museum. it was closed so i was not in time for their (cheap) scones.. perhaps another day.
after all that, a good savoury meal at Siam Central, a Thai restaurant back to north a little. had the pad thai, drunken noodles, pineapple fried rice and deep fried ice cream. wasn't too bad, better than some which i had before. yet to find a good Philippines or Indonesian restaurant.
walking from Stoke Newington to Trafalgar Square took me 3 hours cause of the constant pausing at cafes and hunting for toilets along the way.. but as of now, i do not intend to break this record whether its sunny or not.. *rubs sore feet* thank goodness i am not a car, mileage super for sure!
afternoon tea at The Ritz..
