Where to Eat in London

If you remember, this blog started on the back of my first expansive international trip I took in 2017 with EF Ultimate Break, which was previously EF College Break. I did 30 days in Europe visiting over 16 cities. Our first stop was London. I’d done quite a bit of “research” err watching YouTube vlogs and reading blogs on the best things to do in London and Paris. I was so focused on those first cities, I didn’t have the time or energy to research things to do for the remaining cities. Previously, when I first visited Europe, I only wanted to eat local food, and experience the cities like locals do. Eating only English food in London did not make me a happy camper. Pubs are not my thing, and the restaurants that were selected for us, or near attractions, I found the food to lack flavor and seasoning. For a country that tried to colonize the majority of the world and trade with countries that had access to spices, tea, sugar, and herbs, it baffles me that their food does not use these ingredients.
During my first trip to London, and for 9 years later, I felt like London wasn’t my city and I didn’t have a reason to go out of my way to visit. Well 9 years later, the way we consume content and information has changed, and I have more resources at my disposal.

My friend wanted to celebrate a milestone birthday in Paris for a weekend. If I’m going to fly across the pond, I’m going to make it worth my while. The flight price from Chicago to Paris roundtrip was actually priced a little more than flying from Chicago to London, then Paris back to Chicago. Naturally, I figured why not go back to London and Paris! I’d been watching the flight prices for a few months, and I ended up booking one month before departure. My flight price rose by almost $200, but it was still a better deal to buy a multi-city flight than to buy only a round-trip flight to Paris. I figured I’d start the New Year in London solo, then meet my friends in Paris. This time, I’d be better prepared for London with my own itinerary of places I’d like to visit and better food options.

I left Chicago on a direct flight on New Year’s Day and landed at London Heathrow on January 2. From the Midwest and East Coast, you can expect a 6-8 hour flight, and given the time change, I recommend getting on an afternoon or evening flight to arrive in London first thing in the morning. I worked all of 2025 to get status on United Airlines without a credit card. I took 21 flights with them, but still did not meet the PQP threshold. I debated whether or not to use miles to upgrade my seat from 40D to a window seat in Economy, further ahead of the plane. To my surprise, as I was boarding the flight, the gate agent told me I had been upgraded to Premium Economy. Even though this United plan was a little dated, I fear I can no longer travel internationally in economy. Getting the upgrade set the tone for the rest of my trip as I knew it would be great.

When I landed in London, I took the Underground train from Heathrow to my hotel. Taxis and rideshare can easily cost over £100 leaving Heathrow to London proper, so when possible, I recommend using public transit. Things have changed quite a bit since the last time I was in London. You can use the Oyster card, Apple/Google Pay on your phone, and your tap to pay credit/debit cards to enter the train stations and buses. Most businesses are cashless, so there was no reason for me to go to an ATM to get British pounds. As a matter of fact, I did not touch any cash this entire trip.
The train ride in to the city to my hotel was a little over 1 hour. I stayed at the nhow Hotel London near Shoreditch and not too far from Angel and Kings Cross/ St Pancras stations. At the time of booking, I didn’t realize just how great of a location the hotel is to the bus lines that I needed, shopping in Angel, as well as access to the St Pancras International train station. I needed quick access due to my early morning train ride on the Eurostar headed to Paris. I arrived at the hotel shortly after 10 am. Check-in time is 3pm, but the front desk agent was nice enough to allow me to check-in early without cost, and upgraded my room. nhow, (pronounced now) is a funky, eclectic hotel with a presence across Europe. The hotel has double twin, double full, queen and king rooms. The Guity Bar & Restaurant on property serves lunch and dinner to the public and a breakfast buffet to hotel guests. The hotel has a gym on-site and a parking garage. My YouTube hotel tour is linked below.

When I booked this trip, I didn’t have any plans for London. When I first came in 2017, I saw all of the major sites and did most of the touristy things. This time, I primarily used TikTok to receive restaurant and food recommendations for good eats in the city, so I’m sharing a list of my favorite places that I enjoyed so you don’t make the same mistakes I’ve previously made in London. I’m usually a late adopter to everything, and fail to believe the hype of things when it goes viral. The majority of the places and foods that I tried likely have a cult following and have been recommended by thousands of people. Spoiler alert: the folks aren’t hying most things up.
I did find that London is accepting of food allergies, and everywhere I went, the waiter asked me if I had any allergies or intolerances.

Follow my time in London as I dilly dally for days with no itinerary, schedule, or plans. I only came prepared with a list of food spots that I wanted to try.

When planning travel and receiving recommendations, I save everything in my Google Maps. I tend to plan days around neighorhoods and when I am in an area, I can check the map and my location to see if there is anything nearby that I’d want to do or try without referencing notes or a schedule. Google Maps also allows me to easily get directions and share my saved lists with others who may be traveling with me.

After checking-in to nhow Hotel I needed breakfast, and Eggslut was the first thing on my schedule. Eggslut is an all-day breakfast chain with a few locations around the city. I went to the Shoreditch location, which was nearby. As you may be able to grasp from the name, eggs are on their menu. I’ve seen a fluffy egg sandwich online, and that’s what I was looking forward to. Clearly, I did not pay attention to the menu when ordering. Their egg sandwiches are prepared 2 ways, either over-medium or soft scrambled. I ordered the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwhich which comes with the over-medium egg. I should have paid attention to the menu to order a sandwich with the soft -scramble. All of the food is cooked to order in an open concept kitchen, and their buns are delivered to each restaurant daily. If you’re gluten intolerant or would prefer not to eat bread, you can get any sandwich filling on top of a salad instead for no additional cost. Besides breakfast sandwiches, Eggslut sells coffee, tea, and matcha. The BEC sandwich was £10.45, which is $14 USD, and that doesn’t include a side or beverage. I think it’s a steep price just for a sandwich, but there were at least 5 strips of bacon on my sandwich, so… I also ordered the truffle hashbrowns as a side, and they cost an additional £3.95 for 6 medium-sized round hashbrowns. The hashbrowns were delicious, crisp and hot out of the grease, seasoned with the perfect amount of truffle seasoning. The chiptle ketchup is a perfect compliment to the hashbrowns as neither flavor overpowers the other. Due to the cost of the standalone sandwich, I probably wouldn’t run back here, but if someone invited me to Eggslut I would join them. They sell a good sandwich with good service.

Unfortunately, I did not sleep much on the flight, so after I had the late breakfast, I had the itis. I went back to my hotel room for a quick 5-hour nap. Once I woke up, I met up with a friend to have drinks at her hotel bar. Ruby Stella Hotel London has a 24-hour bar with fun imaginative cocktails. We had three rounds of drinks, starting with the tiramisu martini. If you’re in the area and are in need of a night cap, I would recommend stopping at the bar. Located on the first floor, they open the terrace for outdoor dining and seating when the weather is warm. In colder months, the seating is cozy, plush bean-bag type chairs, and low-profile seating with board games throughout the area. The area is fit for small groups. The tiramisu martini was mixed with amaretto, Bailey’s, Kahlua, and espresso then topped with Biscoff cookie crumbles. It was a sweet drink, and all of the liquers blended perfectly. I’m looking forward to ordering this stateside and testing new ways to mix it, likely subbing vodka for amaretto to cut the sweetness. The bar is apparently known for its Negronis, and we didn’t get that memo until the end of the night. After our first round, we both ordered espresso martinis, which was my first! It was tasty, so I understand why it’s a go-to for the girls. I’m not a coffee girl, so I’m unsure if I would order it frequently, or even the right time of the night for me to drink it! Should it by my first drink of the night to keep me going, or should it be my last to wrap up the night?? Let me know when you order in the comments! After the second round, I was considering whether or not I should keep the night going with another round. My friend convinced me to go for it, so I ended with a prosecco, and she ordered the Naughty Lucy which is a strawberry gin cocktail topped with prosecco and egg white. The cocktail prices ranged from £9 - £12.50, which is $12 - $17 USD. Depending on where you live in the U.S., these are good cocktail prices! In Chicago, many hand-mixed cocktails are $16-$22, so I felt like it was a deal. Taxes are obviously included in the price, and tipping is not expected — there is not even a line item on the receipt to leave tips at most places in London. Considering the U.S. dollar is now weaker than the British pound, you lose value on the dollar. Unlike the U.S, the price you see on a menu or tag is the price you pay; there are no additional taxes or fees to consider.

After drinks, I plans to have dinner at Dishoom. I was first introduced to Dishoom by social media influencer TenickaB. Every time she’s in London she’ll post that Dishoom is her favorite restaurant and I was like, “okay, a highly rated restaurant in London that keeps you coming back?! Noted, I’ll add it to my list whenever I’m back in London.” Now initially, when Tenicka spoke about Dishoom, I thought it was a local, super niche, high end restaurant that only locals and London’s who’s who knew about. Dishoom is a Persian-Indian inspired restaurant with several locations across London. Allegedly, they are opening a New York City location soon for those that don’t want to leave the U.S. to try their food. When I was previously in London, several tour guides told us the national dish of London is chicken tikka masala due to the huge influence of Indian immigrants in the country and city. So, why wouldn’t an Indian restaurant be the best restaurant in the city?! When looking in to Dishoom, I saw that there were multiple locations, and because my hotel was close to Shoreditch, I decided to dine there. I tried booking a reservation in advance, and had issues doing it online, but I saw several people mention finding seating for 1 later in the evening is a no-brainer at all of their locations. I didn’t have a reservation, so I walked in to the Shoreditch location around 9pm on a Friday night and was immediately seated. If you’re not in the mood for dinner they are open at 8 am daily, serving breakfast and drinks. I skimmed the menu beforehand so I had an idea of what I wanted to eat, but I followed the advice of my server. I started off with the mango lassi which is a mango yogurt topped with fennel seeds. I debated ordering the mango lassi or a chai latte. It may sound tacky, but the best chai latte I’ve ever had is from the Nordstrom E-Bar. I’m sure Dishoom’s chai is more authentic, but I favored the lassi as I never tried a fresh mango lassi before. My only prior lassi experience is from the Whole Foods packaged dairy aisle. For my main, I ordered the highly recommended chicken ruby dish. The chicken ruby is Dishoom’s take on butter chicken. It costs £18.50 and served in a clay pot topped with cilantro. The dish doesn’t come with any sides or rice, so I ordered the garlic naan for £5.20 and basmati rice for an additional £4.90. The chicken ruby came out pipping hot and was so flavorful! The chicken breast pieces were thick but juicy and succulent. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner and was so thankful that at that point this was my best meal in London, and I would 100% book a flight back to London just to eat the chicken ruby dish and to try more dishes on their menu. When I think about cities that I’ve visited, I think about restaurants and meals at places like Dishoom which leave me thinking about it days later and give me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

After dinner, I went to meet with my friend’s sister to have drinks. Initially, our plan was to grab a drink at Nightjar, also in Shoreditch, but the bar was too crowded so we walked around the area to see what was open. We ended up stopping in Simmons Bar around the corner in Shoreditch. Simmons has 15 locations around London with great happy hours until 9 pm nightly. Since we got to the bar after 11 pm, we obviously missed the deals. For a Friday night, the bar wasn’t packed, but there was a DJ with a great playlist. London is obviously a pub city, but I’m so glad I found Simmons, which also makes hand-shaken cocktails, and has a fun menu. I ordered a pornstar martini and we stayed until they closed at 2 am.

On day 2 in London, and my first full day in the city, because I got back to my hotel so late I slept in and didn’t leave the hotel until after 1pm. Besides Dishoom, one of the main places I wanted to eat at was Borough Market. I saw so many people post social media content of Borough Market and the various vendors. The last time I was in London, we ate at a food market, but it was South Bank Food Market. Because I was in London during the New Year, so was everyone else and they were with their families celebrating the holiday season. Boroguh Market was quite crowded on a Saturday afternoon. I had a few stalls saved that I wanted to eat at, Black Pig was my first stop. I’m usually not a pork sandwich fan, so I was really skeptical, especially because I was solo and didn’t have anyone to share food with. There were crowds everywhere, but I feel like each vendor’s stalls had quick moving lines. I went to the back of Borough Market and saw a sophisticated 3-part line for Black Pig that included a queue manager. I stood in line 13 minutes total, waiting from the back of the line until I received my sandwich. I created a TikTok and offered my full review. At Black Pig, I ordered the honey truffle pulled pork sandwich which was absolutely delicious, another meal I would fly back to London for! At £12, the honey truffle pulled pork sandwich is a pulled pork sandwich stuffed with a fennel and apple slaw, a hearty honey truffle mayo drizzle, then topped with shaved parmesan cheese. I believe the bread that is used is ciabatta. Normally, I would be turned off by an apple slaw, but the sandwich is the best I’ve ever eaten. I didn’t taste sweet apple— the sweet apple helped to offset the bitterness of the slaw and tartness of fennel. It was around 30 degrees this day, with busy crowds and limited seating. Once I did find somewhere to set up and eat, my sandwich was cold in the frigid air.

After my sandwich, I still had room in my stomach, so I went to Bomba Paella, which is the viral paella stall in Borough Market and conveniently located next to Turnips, the viral chocolate-covered strawberry stand. The paella stand also had a pretty long line, and I waited 15 minutes in total from me standing at the end of the line to receiving my order. Bomba serves seafood paella with lobster, shrimp, prawns, and mussels. The paella is cooked throughout the day on several large frying pans. For a regular serving of paella which includes shrimp, prawns and mussels the cost is £23, and if you’d like a lobster tail, the price is £26. I’m not a fan of lobster, so the regular serving was fine for me. The paella was good, but the rice was a little hard, and could have been cooked longer. Because they use multiple pans to cook the paella, I don’t think they time the cooking to ensure the rice is cooked long enough. If they had a sit-down restaurant, I would stop by and try the paella again because under different circumstances, I’m sure there would be better quality control constraints. Because I got the paella right out of the pan, it was piping hot, even in the frigid cold. The paella was tasty, I don’t remember a specific seasoning or flavor, but I do know it was flavorful down to the individual seafood pieces. The prawns were quite large, and the nussels were fresh. Borough Market is said to be a tourist trap, and many Londoners don’t frequent. I saw many people with another person or a group of people who were able to share food. To me, the paella isn’t filling or delicious enough to eat on its own, but it’s a good finisher: have something hearty first, then finish with the paella.

After I finished the paella, I had a 4:30 pm reservation at The Wolseley for afternoon tea in Mayfair, near Picadilly Circus. This was one of the two reservations I made in advance before I landed in London. During my first trip to London, the group happened upon The Wolseley and we were able to be seated for afternoon tea as walk-ins. I wanted to relive that nostalgia at The Wolseley of remembering the great time I previously had in London while also consuming English classics. The Wolseley is very classic and semi high-class in my opinion. You don’t need to dress formally to enter, but most people dining here aren’t wearing jeans and tennis shoes: think European casual, not American casual. I arrived at the restaurant 45 minutes before my reservation and had to wait at the bar for a while. Once seated, I ordered the afternoon tea service, which includes one pot of your choice of tea with assorted cakes, scones with clotted cream and jam as well as finger sandwiches, all served on sterling silver and china. The finger sandwiches were cucumber, egg salad, smoked salmon, chicken salad, and cheddar cheese with raisin crustless finger sandwiches. The pastries included a cheesecake, pineapple and lemon cake with a fondant icing, chocolate fudge cake and a raspberry jam tart topped with pistachio icing. The two scones had raisins, I believe. The sandwiches weren’t my speed besides the egg salad and chicken salad, and the cakes were sweet and tasty, but I usually need a savory option to offset the sugar. Because I didn’t enjoy and eat all of the sandwiches, there was nothing to cut the sugar. Moving forward, I would probably only order tea with scones. Tea service may be better at other restaurants, but overall, I found the offerings not my speed. The cheesecake was my favorite, followed by the scones. I’d rank my favorite sandwiches as egg at the top, chicken salad, then cucumber. The salmon and cheese with onion were tied for my least favorite. Many groups and couples were in the restaurant for over 2 hours talking and dining, which is what afternoon tea is all about. Once I finished afternoon tea, I headed back to my hotel to call it a night.

On the next day, Sunday, I had a full night’s rest and finally felt acquainted with London time. I didn’t spend enough time at Borough Market, so I had to go back to try everything that I didn’t try the day before. I wanted to go as soon as they open so I can avoid the crowds. On Sundays the market opens at 10 am. I arrived ~30 minutes after they opened and there were several people there, but it was not as crowded as the day before. On Saturday, I really wanted to try The Bath Dairy which serves the viral mac and cheese at Borough Market. When I arrived, The Bath Dairy was still in the process of cooking the mac and cheese, and asked me to come back in 10 minutes. I ended up going to Turnips to try the chocolate covered strawberries. There was no one in line, so I was in and out. You can purchase a cup of fresh strawberries, chocolate covered strawberries or fresh squeezed juices at Turnip. The chocolate strawberries are tasty, and reminded me of the chocolage covered strawberries from Godiva in local shopping malls. The chocolate hardens fast, so by the time I made it back outside in the cold, the chocolate had hardened and the strawberries were cold, but it was a solid order. Clearly this isn’t something that the average Londoner is ordering daily, but as a tourist this is a treat and okay to fall in to the hype.

By the time I finished my strawberries, The Bath Dairy was open, so I made my way over. The mac & cheese isn’t baked, but cooked stovetop and filled with four types of locally sourced cheese. The mac & cheese costs £9.50 and they sometimes serve scalloped potatoes. You can add toppings to both the mac and potatoes. I am a die hard fan of truffle anything, so I added truffle oil to my mac, but you can also add jalapeños, crispy onions, blue cheese, and sometimes pulled pork. You can also top off your food with fresh cracked pepper for free. The mac was a hearty serving size, and came off the pan popping hot. It was gooey, flavorful, and cheesy. This is another meal I would personally take a flight to London for.

I was full after eating the majority of the mac and cheese, but still wanted to try more favorites, so I went to Bread Ahead to try the creme brulee donut. I ordered that and the salted caramel honeycomb donut for takeaway. The day prior, the bakery had a long line to the end of the street for the bakery. I also went to the Ginger Pig to order their sausage roll for takeaway. I was unsure if I would enjoy an English sausage roll wrapped in puff pastry. I tried it a day later, and surprisingly it was flavorful, juicy, and I could taste fennel and fresh herbs. Besides sausage rolls, Ginger Pig serves Scottish eggs and pork pie. Black Pig is also a butcher shop where locals likely come in to buy fresh meat.

After Borough Market, I had errands to run in Covent Garden, so I hopped on the Tube and headed over. Covent Garden is one of the transit stops that only has stairs and an elevator to get from the street level to the trains. There are likely signs warning passengers to take the elevator instead of the stairs. Take the advice to wait for an elevator.
Covent Garden is filled with many designer and retail stores. I saw Jenki on TikTok as a popular matcha spot. I ordered a signature iced salted vanilla matcha latte with coconut milk. I hated it at first because it was too much going on, and I didn’t think any ingredient flowed with the other ingredients, but I tasted everything individually. There are obviously other options and flavors to mix and match. I’m not sure if I’d run back to Jenki, I’d have to see something enticing on their menu for me to get excited.

Because I had no plans or itinerary, I had the rest of Sunday afternoon to myself. The British museum is within walking distance to Covent Garden so I took the 15 minute walk to the museum. It is free entry daily. You can reserve tickets online, but since I went spur of the moment, I went through a separate entrance line and walked in with the crowd without a wait. I’d already visited the museum, so I didn’t need to wander and browse for hours. I wanted to see more of the Egyptian artifacts and was stunned by the lack of African art and figures in the museum and even more appalled that Africa was banished to a small corner to the basement. After walking around the museum for a while and taking in some exhibitions, I purchased some books for my niece and headed back to my hotel to rest before dinner.

The second reservation I made was for No. Fifty Cheyne in the Chelsea neighborhood for Sunday roast. Sunday roast traditionally is a hearty meat-forward meal eaten on Sundays in London after church, similar to soul food Sundays in the Southern United States. Sunday roast consists of a roasted meat (lamb, beef, chicken, or pork), with roasted potatoes, gravy, Yorkshire pudding (a baked savory custard), and steamed or roasted vegetables. Sunday roast is often cooked at home, or in pubs. No. Fifty is a fabulous restaurant that serves a great roast on Saturdays and Sundays. Another TikTok recommendation that did not let me down. The service here was perfect. Their Sunday roast offers chicken, leg of lamb, beef, or cauliflower steaks for vegetarians. I ordered the chicken roast which came with a bread sauce, roasted vegetables of cabbage and carrots, Yorkshire pudding, and roasted potatoes that were seasoned and flavorful because they are fried in beef fat. The meal was delicious, and every item was flavorful! Why hadn’t I experienced this level of dining the first time I visited London?
I saved room for dessert and ordered the sticky toffee pudding. Now this I know I love, but it wasn’t my favorite at No. Fifty. The pudding tasted a bit stale, like it was baked the day before or earlier in the day then refrigerated until it was ready to be served. It was served warm with sauce and a scoop of ice cream. Maybe if I ordered it earlier in the day would it taste fresh. Besides sticky toffee pudding, they serve a berry crumble, brulees, and a cheese plate for dessert.

On Monday, I think I was tired of being out in the cold, I was tired from being out late the night before, I was tired of walking and taking public transit, so I stayed inside the hotel all day. I had to work and did everything from my hotel room and their lobby. I had a late lunch as my first meal of the day at nhow’s restaurant, Guilty Bar. I had another English staple of fish and chips served with mushy peas. The fish and chips were good once I added a generous amount of salt and pepper then dipped it in tartar sauce and ketchup. Fish and chips are found all throughout London, and I feel like it’s a burger in the U.S. It’s on every corner and hard to mess up since it’s a classic and basic. Since I wasn’t over the moon with my sticky toffee pudding at No. Fifty the night before, I ordered a sticky toffee pudding at Guilty Bar. Again, I wasn’t blown away, but it sufficed.
Monday was a pretty uneventful day in London for me as I truly did not leave my hotel. Once I finished my late lunch I stayed in the lobby and worked CST hours which meant I was up until 11 pm London time and went to my room to sleep.

Tuesday was my last full day in London so I had to see and do everything that I hadn’t done in the four days prior. I knew I had to wake up early on Tuesday to head to Notting Hill. I took a double decker bus to the tube, and luckily there was a Blank Street Coffee shop near the train station. If you remember my Boston blog, I first tried Blank Street in Boston hoping to try @melissaswardrobe’s matcha collaboration. Obviously, over a year later, the collab was discontinued. I was unimpressed by the matcha latte I had earlier in the week from Jenki so I had to go to my roots of a traditional almond milk matcha latte. I should have asked in the moment if their matchas are hand whisked to order because I saw a large Kool-Aid type Rubbermaid container of a green concoction as if their matchas are pre-batched.

Once I arrived in Notting Hill, I did some window shopping at a few shops on Portabello Road before making my way to Cheeky Scone. The only food Cheeky Scone serves is scones of the sweet and savory variety and a full coffee bar. Unfortunately, there are no protein options, so it’s a cheeky little snack to nosh on. I ordered a sweet, maple pecan and a savory, cheese and onion scone. I thought I would enjoy the cheese and onion scone, but it was served with an onion relish that was sprinkled with raisins. The maple pecan scone was tasty, but I was given cream cheese instead of clotted cream. I finally got a chai tea latte here. The scones were crumbly and served warm. The staff is friendly, but the restaurant does get packed quickly, even though there is seating downstairs. I would come back to try a different scone flavor with tea. Since I’ve been in London, I’ve tried Early Grey tea at different venues, and it has been my favorite variety that I will likely incorporate in my life when I return to the States.

Portobello Road is filled with antique shops, speciality shops, and vendors on the sidewalk and street. There were vendors selling jewelry, sterling silver silverware, tea sets, and serving platters, fur coats, wool socks, berets, cashmere gloves and scarves, and everything else in between. There are so many restaurants along Portobello Road and colorful homes on side streets. Close to the underground station, there are several vendors that are selling the famous Notting Hill canvas tote bags. I would have loved to spend more time on Portobello Road, or even have taken a walking tour to see the highlights and history of the neighborhood.

I did end up purchasing a wool blanket and socks from Highland Store, then a cashmere scarf from a street vendor. I’ve heard that it’s more vendors and variety on Saturdays when the streets are completely closed out to cars and the streets are filled with people shopping and dining.
I had to head back to the hotel to start the work day by 2pm, but I was happy I got a chance to visit a new neighborhood and finally get some shopping done.

Once work was finished for the day, I went to the Angel district, between my hotel and Pancras train station for more shopping. I always like to visit Le Labo stores in different cities and countries to smell the city signature scent. London’s city signature was Poivre 25, which has a vanilla base but leather and black pepper forward. Although all of Le Labo’s fragrances are unisex, I found Poivre to be more masculine, woody, earthy, and spicy. I wanted to love the fragrance as I do with all city scents, but I couldn’t get with it. I did end up purchasing the basil hand balm because the sales associate was nice and informative, and I felt like I couldn’t leave without purchasing. But again, we lose value on the U.S. dollar compared to the British pound. While the 3.4 oz hand salve was £38, I spent over $50 on lotion which I regretted because I truly did not need it.

I made dinner reservations the day before at Flat Iron. Flat Iron is a steakhouse with multiple locations throughout the city. The TikTok girlies were comparing it to Applebees… the two restaurants are nothing alike. Flat Iron King Cross location feels like an industrial restaurant in a hip part of town. Flat Iron starts you off with a cup of freshly popped popcorn instead of a bread basket. Their menu is rather limited, with the highlighted item being a flat iron steak, which I presume to be an 8 oz serving, and 3 beef specials of a cheeseburger, daily wagyu special, and Scottish Bavette which is a flank or sirloin cut of steak. There are more sides than meat entrees, and if you are a vegetarian or vegan, Flat Iron may not be for you. I ordered the creamed spinace and bone marrow mashed potatoes which were absolutely amazing! Another meal I would return to London for. Both side dishes were decadent, specifically the mashed potatoes that were topped with crispy garlic and bone marrow oil. Truffle mac and cheese, eggplant, green side salad, and French fries are the side dishes that are available. Once you’re finished your meal, the server will give you a mini cleaver with the bill and you can redeem the cleaver for a free soft-serve cone of Tahitian vanilla ice cream.

I enjoyed my time in London now that I did better research, had more time, and resources at my disposal. I now look forward to visiting the city more often as I have many more restaurants to try, things to do, and places to see. Leave a comment if you have additional recommendations, or if anything surprised you about my time in London!