London: ladies-only style!
Where to stay, where to eat, where to drink, what to see… Karen Lawson gives us the lowdown on luxury London.
Girls weekenders tend to go one of two ways:, cocktail infused drinking, with elements of lost clothing and a vague recollection of reenacting Cindi Lauper’s ‘Girls just wanna have fun’. Or you find yourself stuck with a group of clucky females who are about to sprout feathers any minute who make Camilla Parker Bowles look darn right outrageous. In a bid to avoid either of these, my girl power pick for a weekender is the best woman I know in my life…my mum!
At this point I feel I need to point out that there is approximately seventeen thousand kilometres between us which often helps with mum ‘n’ daughter relationships! With the lovely Virgin Atlantic team flying me from Sydney to London in first class style, I have a ‘mother’ of all trips organized. So if you want to know how to have a cracking time in London read on, it’s all been road and ‘mum’ tested!
The Orient Express, British Pullman – A right royal service
It’s impossible not to have delusions of grandeur or succumb to urges to buy a corgi after this experience. A scene from Harry Potter unravels; commuters are pouring off trains as we sip tea in the private lounge at Victoria Station.
A white gloved purser checks our tickets and we board Cygnus who was the carriage train for Winston Churchill’s Funeral. She’s a beauty built in 1938 and decked out in fine Australian Walnut, how appropriate! Sinking into our armchairs (not seats) the dining table is impeccably dressed with white cloths, flowers and silver settings (makes one’s handbag very heavy I find!). Primi Prosecco Bellini in hand we commence eating a procession of never ending items including crumpets, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and caviar brought before us.
Exbury Gardens – Southampton
We are guided around the Rothschild Gardens famed for their Rhododendron displays, followed by a mini steam railway which has everyone gawping in childlike admiration. Mum is in horticultural heaven, whereas any living plant commits suicide under my care.
The journey home is the highlight with silver service which is nothing short of miraculous. Fernando, our waiter has the balancing prowess of Rudolf Nureyev ladling steaming soup from man sized silver cauldrons without spilling a single drop; we manage to sip our Laurent Perrier with surprising grace. Mum is beaming like the Queen but manages not to do the royal wave goodbye.
The Athenaeum Hotel – Penthouse Perfection
We awake in our two bedroom penthouse pad at the ridiculously A-list Athenaeum Hotel. The Kardashians and Kanye West have stayed here, heck even Take That romped around on the impossibly white sofas and broke up in this very room (sob!).
The views are insane. We fight the urge to raid the delicious complimentary (!) mini-bar and play eye spy with the help of our telescope. Mum’s not so sure of the name of that ‘spaceship building’ (Gherkin) so I win! Following a few laps in the bath, preening and testing all manner of cushioned, bed and seating surface we head out, with plans to check out the whisky bar downstairs when we get back.
Duck n Waffle- breathtaking breakie
In keeping with the sky high theme we grab a tube to Liverpool Street. Pressing ‘Level 40’ we shoot skywards in one of London’s only scenic elevators. Mum decides the view of the inside of the elevator is more comforting as stomachs roll!
Plan of attack is the legendary breakfast dish. Think American waffle topped with a poached egg then a dinosaur leg of confit of duck. Drizzle with mustard maple syrup and you have one heck of a dish. It shouldn’t work, but it does, in glorious palate bursting technicolour! Newly opened this is the ultimate high rise pit stop.
Borough Markets and Maltby Street
We bus it over to London Bridge Borough Markets which is bursting with east end chipper. Stalls are heaving with tomatoes, veggies and more varieties of apples that Walkers Crisps has ranges.
Maltby Street is the new eat street where food trendsters hang. A twenty minute march has us in artisan heaven as we’re ushered into secret arches to take a sneak peak at the newest fine goods such as rare Grecian Olive Oil (which doesn’t strike me as the culinary discovery of the century) but we do love Chaticas South American epinadas and Grant Hawthorne’s African Volcano piri piri sauce.
Walking back over Tower Bridge we wave a tall ship on, even at our age its rather exciting to watch the bridge lower all without any planning!
Dorchester Darling – champagne ice-cream high tea
You feel your IQ going up a few notches in a dining room which is a cross between Out of Africa and Downtown Abbey. It’s lined with huge palm trees, double Itallian collumns and some clever chap is tinkling the ivory’s. It’s dead posh. We delight in cucumber, egg mayonniase, chicken and smoked salmon sandwiches all with their crusts cut off so there’s more tummy room for the pastries!
Mum has her eyes on warm raisin scones and devonshire cream followed by Victoria sponge cake with passionfruit and coconut mousse. The ‘Dorchester tea’ blend of Assam and Ceylon is lovely but following a raid on divine rainbow flavoured miniture ice-creams we take a doggy box of cakes back to share with lovely Athenaeum staff.
Sushi Samba – The hottest table in town
The US has been sashaying its foodie hips to this food phenomenon blending Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cuisine, music and design. Four years in waiting and finally London has just opened 39 floors up. Getting a table here is harder than finding a seat on the tube at rush hour – book now!
We are wow’d with lollipop black cod, samba rolls of tuna yellowtail with tempura crunch and a crazy McSushi-esque El Topo with oozy mozzarella. Good and evil in one mouthful!
But it’s the signature Moqueca Mista which has us dueling spoons over its insanely addictive flavours (cross breed of a laksa/paella) seasoned with Dende Oil and chimichurri. We sneak in a mind-blowing deconstructed cheesecake and retire to the outdoor tree sculpture patio. With the sunshine sparkling off the city skyscrapers, there’s no better spot as we clink our Karririnha cocktails and say goodbye to a wonderful city and each other for another year.
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