Time Out's "101 Best Things to Do in London" - My Top 5 Recommendations

To see my recommendations for Time Out's "101 Best Things to Do in London", click here. 

On a perfect weekend in London, what are your top 5 things to do? 

My Five Secret London Spots for Time Out London

I was chuffed to be asked by Time Out London to recommend my five secret London spots recently. If you would like to know what these are, click here.

London's Best Independent Cafés - Empório São Paulo

**THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN**

Every now and again, I come across a gem of place which makes me wonder where on earth I have been in the last year or so. Empório São Paulo has been open since 2009 in New King's Road, Parson's Green, but I only recently happened to find it.

The owner, Carminha de Castro, spent most of her life working in marketing, but decided to take the plunge and open her own business - an upmarket Brazilian empório (delicatessen) and café. Years of experience in her field has clearly taught her a few tricks in presentation and customer service - her shop has an impressive range of top quality produce from Brazil and other countries which is beautifully displayed, and while I was there, I saw that she had a friendly word with all the customers who walked in.

Her shop reminds me of some of the more elegant outlets in the upmarket Jardins or Moema districts of São Paulo. Decorated mainly in black, white and red, the store has fine produce from Europe, Asia and Brazil. Brazilian guaraná drinks were side by side with fine French cheeses and Champagne. Artisan breads, Italian coffee and Swiss chocolate were also stocked alongside Brazilian products.

For Sunday lunch, we started with some excellent Pão de Queijo (small, light cheese breads served fresh from the oven). These can be purchased frozen from the shop (£3.50 for a bag of 10), where she has a special Pão de Queijo freezer! For those who haven't tried them, they are the number one street snack in Brazil, which I sometimes make at home (recipe to follow soon). They can be fiddly to make, so having them frozen and freshly baked at home is the next best thing.

Next, we had Feijoada (£6.50 per person). This is Brazil's national dish - a rich black bean stew made with various cuts of cured pork, including smoked bacon, chorizo, smoked ribs among others. It is served with white rice, finely sliced and fried spring greens, farofa (Brazilian fried cassava flour), and orange slices.

I am a feijoada fanatic, and not easily satisfied. However, Empório São Paulo's version was, I thought, good - the beans were well textured and tasted delicious in a rich, meaty broth. While the original version can be heavy and include various less palatable cuts of pork which were available to the slaves who invented the dish (for example, ears, snouts and trotters), Carminha wisely eschews these in favour of fine cuts of cured pork she selects herself.

Later, we had a fine cup of latte coffee. Empório São Paulo is the sole importer in London of fine Italian beans from Anhélo which are also sold in the shop. Carminha told me that the delicious chocolate brownies that accompanied the coffees were homemade, freshly baked and delivered daily to the shop by a local supplier.

Empório São Paulo has three eating areas (one outside and two inside). The basement has a children's play area stocked with books and toys, but it is multi-purpose and has hosted business meetings and parties. Carminha told me that they plan to develop this site for live Brazilian music evenings in the summer.

Scanning Empório São Paulo's menu, I was interested to find some other Brazilian favourites which I look forward to trying on my next visit. Bauru is a Brazilian ham, cheese and tomato toasted sandwich (£2.90 eat-in) that goes well with the Brahma beer also on the menu at £3 a bottle. Coxinhas are delicious Brazilian deep-fried snacks made of shredded chicken in a potato pastry and breadcrumb case. I really love coxinhas, and they are on sale in the shop at £1 each.

If you would like to try some Brazilian delicacies in an elegant and friendly environment, I would recommend a trip to check this place out. I will be returning, so might bump into you!

London's Best Independent Cafés - Foxcroft & Ginger

I remember a time in London not so long ago when a request for a cup of coffee resulted in a solitary option of filtered, sometimes stewed, bitter coffee, or with any luck a milky capuccino. Then we had the advent of chain coffee houses like Costa and Starbucks. While quality was improved, what these places did was to give us endless choices. No longer was asking for a cup of coffee a simple task - words like "grande", "double macchiato", or "decaf-latte" had to be mastered, as well as high prices, and those dreadful large paper cups.

We have come a long way since then, and the latest development in this story is a wave of new, independent coffee houses in London that want to take things a step further. Foxcroft & Ginger is one such cafe, which I had meant to visit since it opened in January 2010.

It occupies a new residential development in Berwick Street, taking in the ground floor and basement, in the heart of the fruit and vegetable market. Owned by husband and wife Georgina and Quintin, this is the first cafe they have run themselves, having been employed in the restaurant business for a number of years.

I loved the trendy but laid back feel of the place, with exposed brickwork, white tiles, polished cement counter, old Unions Jack flags and large antiques scattered around. The basement sitting area is spacious, containing comfortable sofas and chairs, and looks like a place designed to allow people time and space to enjoy their coffee and food, and as a great meeting place.

The coffee is prepared from the excellent beans of Monmouth Coffee House and is served in quirkily mismatched vintage crockery. The food, which is predominantly British, is beautifully and invitingly laid out on the ground floor counter.

Georgina bakes cakes and pastries on the premises, including nowadays hard to find English varieties like Bath and Chelsea buns and Eccles cakes. They also serve a variety of delicious cold or toasted sandwiches and other brunch items like English Muffin with Black Pudding, Scramble Egg and Chives @ £3.50 or Chunky Bread with Mushrooms, Roasted Tomatoes, Pesto and Parmesan @ £3.50.





On very few occasions do I find myself struggling to make a choice from a menu - this was one such occasion. After much deliberation we opted for the "Ham & Cheese French Toast" - this was three layers of eggy bread, with a filling of hand-cut honey roasted ham, Béchamel and melted cheese, topped with a drizzle of the most heavenly mustard-flavoured honey. Superb!

Next we had a sandwich of crusty bread, filled with slowly braised chuck steak, cheddar cheese, Béchamel, tomato chutney, radicchio and rocket leaves. This was also excellent - Quintin told us he makes them in batches of just three at a time, so that the bread has no time to be made soggy by the contents.

We finished with banana bread - served warm, this was delicious, sweet, and with plenty of cinnamon, just how I like it.

 

To accompany our food, we had a couple of cups of coffee - black/filtered coffee and a capuccino (old habits die hard!). Both coffees were excellent - rich, with a great depth of flavour but also smooth.

We were interested to hear Georgina and Quintin's plans for the place. Currently, it is open 8am to 7pm seven days a week, but they have just been granted their alcohol licence, so they plan to stay open until 10 or 11pm, and perhaps until midnight at the weekends.

Their aim is to serve platters of cheese and salami in the evenings as well as some hot food options, along with boutique wines, and they may even host wine tastings. They have also just recruited two bakers, so that they can make their own bread and a broader range of pastries in house.

Cost: About £6-£7 for an excellent cup of coffee and a sandwich or cake.

Likes: British themed decor, cakes and food. Excellent Monmouth coffee at reasonable prices. Great location in the heart of Soho.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: Foxcroft and Ginger is such a refreshing change from the international coffee chains we have grown familiar with. In addition to excellent coffee beautifully served, Georgina and Quintin also bake their own breads, cakes and buns as well as freshly made sandwiches and other brunch items in-house. I loved it. Very highly recommended.

London Best Independent Cafés – Pavilion Café

Pavilion Café - Victoria Park, E9

Dr G and I recently had a Saturday morning outing from Islington to Victoria Park, jogging along Regent’s Canal. Tired but exhilarated on one of the few beautiful summer days this year, we staggered to the refurbished lakeside Pavilion Cafe for a reviving breakfast.

The lovely glass rotunda is encircled by a mishmash of tables made from old wooden benches and chairs overlooking a splendid lake and fountain. Apart from the charming location, the real draw is the food which is a real cut above what you might expect in a public park.

Delicious dishes are written up on blackboard walls, with the likes of Eggs Benedict (with ham) @ £6.50 or Royale (with smoked salmon) @ £7, and variations on English breakfast. The ingredients are all well sourced (Ginger Pig meats, Monmouth coffees) and, where possible, organic.

The only downside is the place's popularity - on a sunny day it's invariably over-run. Fortunately, there are more seats next to the lake, so it's worth taking a numbered marker and waiting at one of the tables for your food to arrive.

Normally we go for the Eggs Benedict or Eggs Royale but on this occasion, we opted to try the cafe’s cooked breakfasts. I ordered a “Pavilion Breakfast” @£8 (fried egg, bacon, sausage, mushroom, roast tomatoes, home baked beans and toast).

Dr G had the “Farmhouse Breakfast” @£8.50 (2 eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, homemade beans and toast), with two steaming mugs of orange-brown coloured ‘builder’s tea’.

The breakfast options we chose were of course fairly standard however the quality of the ingredients made all the difference - the black pudding was richly flavoured, with a gamey, spicy quality while the bacon was thick, irregularly cut and with a pleasing texture.

The baked beans were homemade, with the skin of the yielding beans still in place, a delicious, richly concentrated and herby tomato sauce, thankfully lacking the artificial taste of the tinned equivalent. The tea was good and strong as befits this kind of breakfast.

Cost: £8 to £8.50 for the cooked breakfast + £1 per mug of builder’s tea.

Likes: great lakeside location, delicious homemade, organic produce and excellent brunch menu.

Dislikes: On a summer weekend, the place is packed, the kitchen and serving staff struggle to cope and service may vary from charming to plain rude.

Verdict: A wonderful venue for a lazy breakfast or brunch after a night on the tiles. The quality of ingredients is good with prices to match. Recommended.

London's Best Independent Cafes - Jak's Cafe

Jak’s Café

I was recently invited to review Jak’s Café on the glamorous Walton Street in London’s Knightsbridge. Living in Islington, I hardly ever head to that part of town apart from the rare occasions when I go to Harvey Nic's.

Unlike other shopping areas like Covent Garden or the dreadful Oxford St where the choice of food outlets is mind-boggling, I always felt rather stuck around Knightsbridge.

We arrived at Jak’s to find a very charming café/deli - the place was buzzing with a cosmopolitan well-heeled crowd. We were soon greeted by the manager and owner Val who quickly showed us around before finding us a table.

Most impressive was his organic fruit and vegetables counter, where platters of gorgeous prepared  fruit and veg were stacked up to be freshly made into various juice concoctions. Val prepared us a couple of glasses of pear, apple, celery and orange juice @ £3.50. This was deliciously refreshing and bursting with flavour.

The food cabinet contained many different types of salad and other choices, mostly Mediterranean in style with strong Italian and North African influences. We were served two selections of salads – these are sold @ £7.50 (3 types of salad or vegetables) or £9 for a larger selection of 5 items.

Considering it was well past 3pm, the salads were still very fresh and tasted delicious. Of note were the cabbage with apple and herb salad, and the tabbouleh and quinoa salads. The vegetables were perfectly cooked, fresh and al dente. As we ate our salads, we noticed a constant queue of people ordering food, and the freshly prepared bowls of salad, cakes and other platters being brought out from the café’s busy kitchen.  The high turnover is a good indicator of the freshness of Jak’s food.

 We were then served three main courses – “Portobello mushroom stuffed with quinoa, rice and herbs and topped with cheese” (served with two sides @ £9.50), “Lasagne” @ £8.50, and “Brouchettes de Poulet” (served with two sides @ £9.50).

The mushroom dish was utterly delicious - the stuffing had an interesting combination of ingredients and flavours. It was filling and felt very wholesome, the sort of food I love eating.

The lasagne was perfectly made, with the ragu sauce very rich and delicious and @ £8.50 it is very well priced for the generous portion served. It puts Carluccio’s version to shame.

The Brouchettes de Poulet or Chicken Skewers were also good – the organic chicken had been perfectly cooked, and the tomato sauce was well flavoured, delicate and obviously freshly made in the premises. 

I do not have much of a sweet tooth, and generally by the time desserts come around I will give them a miss. I am glad that I did not on this occasion as Jak’s Strawberry Sponge Cake was fantastic. The sponge was very light, and the cream not overly sweet, counter-balancing the tartness of the strawberries. I loved this dessert.

 One of the strong impressions I gained from Jak’s was the proprietor’s passion for what he does and his commitment to serving food that is healthy, very fresh and delicious. I took an instant liking to Val – a generous man, a gourmand, someone who is proud of what he does and isn’t afraid to share his love of food.

 

I am glad that I went to Jak’s Cafe on Walton Street, and to have found a real gem of a place in Knightsbridge’s busy shopping area – I will certainly be going back to Jak’s whenever heading that way. 

Verdict – Excellent, fresh food in the heart of the busy, exclusive shopping area of Knightsbridge, at non-exclusive prices.   A must for anyone visiting the area.