Eating & Drinking in London

There’s never been a better time to eat out in London. British cooking is better than it has ever been, and the capital still has some of the best ethnic restaurants of any city in the world.

You will find Bangladeshi and Burmese, Ethiopian and Turkish, as well as fine French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Greek, Thai restaurants. And if none of that appeals to you, there’s always good fish ‘n’ chips.

Albion

2-4 Boundary Street, Shoreditch. Old Street tube

Few pull off the nostalgic trend for traditional British cuisine as well as this British ‘caff’ from Terence Conran. Inside a former Victorian warehouse you will find kitsch British products along with cupcakes and biscuits, and menu ranging from fish ‘n’ chips to English breakfast.

Bocca di Lupo

12 Archer Street Soho, Piccadilly Circus tube

With its lively open kitchen and tapas-style menu of Italian regional specialties.

Corrigan’s Mayfair

28 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, Marble Arch tube

Corrigan’s is a remarkably relaxes place.

Geales

2 Farmer Street, Notting Hill, Notting Hill Gate tube

Geales opened as a chippie in 1939, but it has long been the habitat of Notting Hill’s casually dressed middle-class. Fish remains the focus of the menu, and the likes of cod, hake and haddock arrive beautifully battered and fresh as the new tide.

Hakkasan

8 Hanway Place, Fitzrovia, Tottenham Court Road tube

When Alan Yau opened this glamours take on the Shanghai teahouse in 2001, he redefined Chinese dining in the UK. Today, its dark, moody, nightclub feel, chillout lounge music and high-ticket dining still pull some of the liveliest, richest crowds in town.

Hibiscus

129 Maddox Street, Mayfair, Oxford Circus tube

www.hibiscusrestayrant.co.uk

Lantana

13 Charlotte Place, Firzrovia, Goodge Street tube 020 7637 3347

York &Albany

127-129 Parkway, Camden Town, Camden Town tube

www.gordonramsay.com

Soho Bars

Must of London’s best nightlife has shifted east, but don’t fret: after-work drinkers and a central location ensure that Soho is always prime party turf.

Shopping in London

One of the word’s most exciting retail centers, London is also one of the most varied. The shopping scene spans multicultural street markets and deluxe department stores, cutting-edge fashion designers and traditional tailors, smart food shops and tiny delis.

Bond Street

Divided in two sections-Old Bond Street and New Bond Street. A street of fashionable shops and fine art dealers, with many respected names in fashion.

Fenwick’s department store, Chappell’s music shop, and the home of Sotheby’s the auctioneers.

Burlington Arcade

Running into Piccadilly and patrolled by uniformed beadles, it is very expensive but exquisite! Elegant specialist shops sell, silver, jewellery and knitwear.

Carnaby Street

Associated with the Pop Culture and fashion of the 60s this colorful street became a legend. Today it still retains a unique atmosphere.

Charing Cross Road

A road that never ceases to attract scholars and musicians. Many bookshops headed by the unique Foyles in two buildings, with over four million books on sale. Music shops are on this street and in side turnings like Denmark Street.

Jermyn Street

If you need shirts here is the place to have them made to measure. Expensive jewellery shops are here too with a perfumers and a specialist cheese monger.

Kensington High Street

A popular shopping street for young fashions, boutiques and high-class couture, landmarked by the 1938 modernity of Bakers department store-soon to become the flagship for US Whole Foods Market.

Kings Road, Chelsea

Boutiques, pubs, bistros, antique dealers, one department store on Sloane Square. On summer Saturdays the road becomes on long art gallery where anyone can display their paintings.

Knightsbridge

Unequalled for its fashion, food and art shops. This is where to find Harrods and what was Lady Diana’s favourite store, Harvey Nichols.

Oxford Street

London’s most famous shopping street with large department stores including Selfridges, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams etc. HMV has tow shops for CDs and records- the eastern one is the largest- see also Virgin store.

Regent Street

This gently curving street of noble architecture is where to find the immutable yet changing department store Liberty’s and the largest toy shop in Europe.

Tottenham Court Road

Apart from the great furnishing shop Heal’s, this is the home of bargain Hi Fi; TV; Radio; Computers and almost anything electronic. Check around before you buy and you should get a good bargain!

MARKETS

Columbia Road Market- Liverpool Street tube, then 26, 48 bus.

On Sunday mornings, this unassuming East End Street is transformed into a green swathe of fabulous plant life, and the air is fragrant with blooms. But it’s not just about flora: alongside the flower market is a growing number of shops selling everything from pottery and Mexican glassware to cupcakes

Portobello Road Market- Ladbroke Grove tube.

Best known for antiques and collections, this is actually several markets rolled into one. Antiques start at the Notting Hill end; further up are food stalls; and under the Westway and along the walkway to Ladbroke Grove are emerging designer and vintage clothes.

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London Sightseeing

MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES

When it comes to sightseeing, you are spoiled for choice. Indoors or outdoors, underground or overground, traditional English heritage or modern European attitude- all are on offer here.

But be sure to pace yourself: some of the venues detailed in these pages, such as the British Museum, can’t be covered in a morning.

Museum of London

The history of London, from prehistoric times to the present, is told through reconstructed interiors and street scenes, alongside displays of original artifacts found during the museum’s archaeological digs.

Opens Tuesday-Saturday 10.00-17.50, Sundays 12.00-17.50

Open Bank Holidays Free entrance!

Getting there London Wall, City (020 7001 9844/www.museumoflondon.org.uk). Barbican tube.

London Transport Museum

A replica of Shillibeer’s 1829 horse-drawn carriage is just the first of an extraordinary array of vehicles on display at this terrific museum.

There’s also Connections, a computerized exhibit that features 55,000 model buildings in its depiction of the journeys made through the city every day.

Opens Daily 10.00-18.00

Charge entrance

Getting there Piazza, Covent Garden (020 7379 6344/www.ltmuseum.co.uk). Covent Garden tube.

National Gallery

Situated in the domain of London’s pigeons, the gallery holds an unequalled collection representing the European schools of painting and it is particularly rich in examples of Dutch and Italian works.

One of the world’s greatest art collections has more than 2,000 works, starting with 13th-century religious pieces and heading towards today via gems such as Holbein’s Ambassadors and Velázquez Rokeby Venus.

There are also important works by Turner and Constable, but the real crowd-pullers are the likes of Monet’s famous Water-Lilies and Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières.

Opens Monday- Saturday 10.00-18.00, Wednesday 20.00, Sunday 12.00-18.00

Free entrance!

Getting there Trafalgar Square (020 7747 2885/www.nationalgalley.org.uk). Charing Cross tube.

National History Museum

A cathedral to the Victorian passion for knowledge. Build in 1880 in the Romanesque style, this fine, colorful terracotta building has zoological decorations along its wide facade.

The departments incorporate Botany, Entomology, Minerology, Paleontology, Zoology and the Museum of Geology, renamed the ‘Earth Galleries’, and has some interesting features- an escalator ride through a portion of a rotating globe to the ‘Power Within’ exhibition which explains volcanos and earthquakes. The film Jurassic Park stimulated interest in dinosaurs, and this museum has the real bones and some absorbing tableaux the children will enjoy.

Opens Monday-Saturday 10.00-17.50, Sunday 10.00-17.50

Free entrance!

Getting there Cromwell Road, South Kensington (020 7942 5000/www.nhm.ac.uk). South Kensington tube.

Science Museum

I enjoyed my visit to this museum; it was one of the first to allow you to interact in the discovery process. I have no doubt that children today find this museum one of the most interesting visits. The museum traces many of the great achievements in the discovery and development of science and industry, and displays on five floors some of the original machines and equipment: steam engines like Stephenson’s Rocket along with modern prototype locomotives. Mitchell’s famous Schneider Trophy Seaplane, the forerunner of the Spitfire; the Apollo 10 command module; veteran cars, and many other experiences that you can participate in: you can fly a plane, be an air traffic controller, mix and record music etc.

Opens Museum daily 10.00-18.00 Free entrance!

IMAX cinema book on 0870 870 4771 Charge

Getting there Exhibition Road, South Kensington (0870 870 4868/www.sciencemuseum.org.uk). South Kensington tube.

Tate Britain

For historical art in London, Tate Britain is second only to the National Gallery. Displays span five centuries of British art from the 16th century, taking in Hogarth, Gainsborough, Constable, Bacon, Moore and Turner. More recent artists such as Lucian Freud and David Hockney are also represented.

Opens Daily 10.00-17.00

Free entrance!

Getting there Milbank, Pilmico (020 7887 8888/www.tate.org.uk). Pilmico tube.

Tate Modern

Opened in 2000, the original Turbine Hall of the renovated Blankside power station makes an impressive introduction to this eclectic collection of international arts of the 20-21st centuries, includes works by Francis Bacon, Cézanne, Bonnard, Dali, Roy Lichtenstein, Magritte, Matisse, Mirò, Picasso etc., and sculptures by Rodin and Constantin Brancusi.

On the top floor is a café which has fine views across London.

Opens Sunday-Thursday 10.00-18.00, Friday-Saturday 10.00-20.00

Free entrance!

Getting there Bankside (020 7887 8888/www.tate.org.uk). Backfiars tube/rail.

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert’s grand galleries contain four million pieces of furniture, ceramics, sculpture, paintings, posters, jewelery and metalwork from across the world. There is an incredible collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture, along with home-grown treasures such as the Great Bed of WARE Canova’s Three Graces and Henry VIII’ s writing desk.

Opens Monday 12.00-15.45, Tuesday-Sunday 10.00-17.45, Wednesday 18.30-9.30 Free entrance!

Getting there Cromwell Road, South Kensington (020 7942 2000/www.vam.ac.uk). South Kensington tube.

London-Places of Interest

Albert Memorial

This memorial was not of Albert’s wish; nevertheless it is very impressive and is, if anything, a memorial to Victorian arts and crafts. The Prince Consort (1816-1861) sits under a canopy holding the catalogue to the Great Exhibition of 1851, beneath him is a high relief frieze of 200 figures: musicians, poets, painters etc.

Getting there Kensington Gore. South Kensington tube.
Read more about Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye...

Buckingham Palace

The London residence of the Queen the forecourt of which is guarded by the colorful sentries of the Guards Division, and the scene of the Daily ceremony of The Changing of the Guard.

Daily May-August 11.30, weather permitting. Alternate days September- April.

Getting there The Mall Street, the nearest tube is Green Park on the Piccadilly Line.
More sightseeing...

St. Paul’s, Covert Garden

Many parts of the Covent Garden area were owned by the EARL OF Bedford; he commissioned Inigo Jones to build the Piazza and the church which dates from 1638, although it has been altered slightly when it was restored. Known as the ‘Actors Church’, there are many memorials to entertainment personalities: Charles Cochrane, Ivor Novello, Vivien Leigh, Noel Coward.

Getting there Covent Garden, the nearest tube is Covent Garden tube.

Houses of Parliament

The supreme legislature of the United Kingdom, a late-Gothic style building designed by Sir Charles Barry on the site of the former royal palace. The House if Lords, a lavishly decorated Gothic chamber, contains the throne of the Sovereign, the Woolsack, the seat of the Lord Chancellor and red leather benches for the peers. The House of Commons, rebuild after war damage in its original style, has the Speakers chair and parallel rows if green leather benches for members. In the large Victoria Tower-336 feet to the top of pinnacles- are stored many Parliamentary records.

A part of the old 14^th century Palace of Westminster to survive is Westminster Hall, which is renowned for its hammer-beam roof- it has been the scene of great historic events and trials.

Big Ben the Clock Tower, rising to 320 feet has four dials and houses the famous fourteen-ton bell which is struck hourly. When parliament is sitting there is a light above the clock.

Book well in advance to see Prime Minister’s Question Time 15.00-15.30 on Wednesdays.

Debates on Mondays-Tues-Thurs from 14.30, Weds & Fris 9.30, when in session. In recesses 10.00-17.00.

Getting there Palace of Westminster, which is in frond of the entrance of Westminster tube.

London Aquarium

A spectacular display of aquatic life, with fishes and invertebrates from all over the world, including sharks, sea scorpions, sting rays and deadly piranhas.

Opens Daily 10.00-18.00

Charge

Getting there Country Hall, go out from the Westminster tube, cross the Westminster Bridge and turn left and you will be there, beside the Thames River and London Eye.

London Planetarium

Adjoining Madam Tussauds in a dome shaped building where you can sit and see a spectacular reproduction of the night sky, as seen from any point on the earth’s surface, projected on the hemispherical ceiling. Shows last 30 minutes.

Opens Daily Monday-Friday 11.30-17.00 Saturday-Sunday 9.30-17.00

Charge

Getting there Marylebone Road, Baker’s Street tube and turn on the left.

London Eye

The 443ft frame of this giant wheel, which has 32 glass capsules that each hold 25 people, commands superb views over the heart of London and beyond during 30-minute ‘flight’. You can book in advance, or queue for a ticket on the day.

Getting there Riverside Building, next to Country Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, South Bank www.londoneye.com. Waterloo tube.

Madame Tussauds

Renowned waxworks exhibition with figures of the famous and infamous from the past and present. The garden party, chamber of horrors and other striking tableaux.

Opens daily 11.00-21.00

Charge

Getting there Marylebone Road, Baker’s Street tube and turn on the left.

Tower Bridge

A unique drawbridge across the Thames- a symbol of London. The bridge’s twin bascules, each weighing about 1000 tons, are between two huge Gothic towers, connected near the top by a fixed glazed walkway with panoramic views, and standing 140 feet above high water level. The central span measures 200 feet and the suspension chains on either side 270 feet.

The bascules carrying the roadway are raised hydraulically to permit the passage of large vessels.

It is amazing the view from the Tower Bridge!

You can visit the museum daily on April- October at 10.00-18.30 and on November- March at 9.30-18.00. Charge entrance!

Getting there Tower Bridge, Tower Hill tube, gets there with Circle and District Line on tube.

St Paul’s Cathedral

The passing of time has done nothing to diminish the magnificence of Sir Christopher Wren’s domed cathedral: its extravagant façade looks as brilliant today as it must have when first unveiled in 1708.

Getting there Ludgate Hill, City, www.stpauls.co.uk, St Paul’s tube.

ZSL London Zoo

Opened in 1828, this was the world’s first scientific zoo. The 16,000sq ft walk-through squirrel monkey enclosure allows you to get close to the animals in an open environment, while animal adventure, a new children’ s zoo, is aimed at the three-to-six age group. Bring a picnic and you can easily spend an entire day here.

Getting there Regent’s Park (020 7722 3333/www.zsl.org/London-zoo). Baker street tube then 274, C2 bus.

Transportation in London- Getting there!

Gatwick Airport

0844 335 1802

www.gatwickairport.com

About 30 miles south of central London...

• The Gatwick Express rail service (0845 850 1530, www.gatwickexpress.com) runs to Victoria station, and takes 30 minutes. Tickets cost £16.90 for a single or £28.80 for a return.

• Southern (0845 748 4950, www.southernrailway.com) also runs a rails service between Gatwick and Clapham Junction/Victoria, with trains every 5-10 minutes. It takes about 35 minutes, and costs £10.90 for a single or £23.80 for a return.

• A taxi into town costs around £100.

Heathrow Airport

0844 335 1801

www.heathrowaiport.com

About 15 miles west of central London.

• The Heathrow Express train service www.heathrowexpress.com runs to Paddington approximately every 15 minutes, and takes 15-20 minutes. Tickets cost £16.50 for a single or £32 for a return.

• The Heathrow Connect rail service www.heatrowconnect.com runs to Paddington every half-hour, and takes 25 minutes. A single costs £7.40; a return costs £14.80.

• The tube ride on the Piccadilly Line into central London takes around an hour. Trains run every few minutes. A single is £4.

• National Express www.nationalexpress.com runs coaches to Victoria every 20-30 minutes. It takes 90 minutes and costs £5 single; a return is £9.

• A taxi into town will cost roughly £100

London City Airport

020 7646 0000

www.londoncityaiport.com

About 9 miles east of central London.

• The Dockland Light Railway (DLR) runs to London City Airport. The journey to Bank station in the City takes around 20 minutes, and the fare is £4.

• A taxi costs around £30 to central London; less to the City or to Canary Wharf.

Stansted Airport

0844 335 1803

www.stanstedaiport.com

About 35 miles north-east of central London.

• Stansted Express trains www.stanstedexpress.com leave every 15-45 minutes to Liverpool Street station. The journey time is 40-45 minutes; a single is £18 and a return is £26.80

• The Airbus coach service to Victoria www.nationalexpress.com takes at least 80 minutes. Coaches run roughly every 30 minutes; it costs £10 for a single or £17 for a return.

• A taxi to London is about £80.

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London is a cosmopolitan, tredy and exciting place to visit..

London is a cosmopolitan, trendy and exciting: a truly wonderful place to visit...

The city combines old-fashioned charm, cutting-edge fashion, quiet courtesy and a great deal of fun. All of these characteristics will be revealed as wander from museum to gallery, down Victorian arcades and busy streets, across vast parks and along cobbled streets. The contrasts are endless: next to every historical sight, there is a skyscraper gleaming with the wealth of modern life. Discovering these contrasts is one of the city’s great pleasures.

London-Places for interest.Read more here..