It is strange seeing familiar faces in my grocery store. The lady who works there on Tuesdays lives on my street and I haven’t seen her at the till in months. I met my best friend for her birthday, after having to postpone two of my other friends’ as they were during stricter periods of lockdown. I see people sitting with their dogs outside cafes, drinking lattes and reading books. Everyone shyly coming out of cocoons to visit the world again. There is traffic and train delays and everything is slowly coming back to normal.
I just finished my last summative exam for the academic year (but still one last summer assessment left ☹), and I am feeling a little listless before the summer term starts up. We have an exciting research experience organised for our clinical research and innovation module; I have a blog post planned to talk about that in future but sneak peek it is neuroscience based. So I thought of things I am planning to do the next weekend I have free. This is sort of a follow up to my blog post titled ‘Some of My Favourite Places’ so head there for more things to do and places to eat in London.
With all that being said, here is an itinerary of things to do in London. I love eating (my friends always joke I have more than one stomach because I am always hungry) and I am sure that everyone is probably sick and tired of cooking every meal at home or ordering Nando’s off Deliveroo. Introducing a list of some cool places around Chinatown within walking distance of each other that I want to go to right now. These places are super affordable too, definitely suited to my student budget. I will link in websites so you can browse menus too 😊
Head to Soho and pick up the fluffiest pancakes I have ever seen from Hefaure. I have been making pancakes at home for the whole pandemic and I have seen the souffle style pancakes trending online. They also do really good bubble tea, or you could go to Biju or Xing Fu Tang both of which are nearby.
If you have a craving for some Mexican food, Mestizo is relatively close by, you should grab a drink as well. Indoor dining has just opened up and everyone is super excited about it. I am already fantasizing about crunching into some nachos and the cheese pulls on the fresh quesadillas. The heat of the spice and the meat that is so tender is just falls apart.
It has been a while since I have had some good fried chicken, Wingstop is right there. They do tenders, boneless, wings, and a brioche bun chicken burger with crunchy slaw. Obviously at a place called Wingstop the chicken has to be the star of the show but the sweet potato fries are definitely a scene stealer, they are so good I can’t even explain. If you are the type to get sauces, get the honey mustard dip.
Sakurado is a Japanese patisserie known for its matcha menu items but they have an amazing range of crepe cakes, cookies, macaroons and cheesecake. It is genuinely melt in your mouth food. They also do celebration cakes to order and serve afternoon tea at their flagship store.
Obviously, there are still guidelines in place so wear your masks, respect social distancing and sanitise your hands. Fingers crossed the weather turns around and we get some proper May sun soon because this energy that the hail and thunderstorms are bringing are NOT it. If we do, then Soho Square Gardens are nearby to all the places I have mentioned so you eat and chill picnic-style on some grass with a good book or take some pictures. Summer is just around the corner everyone, we are nearly there!
