Foodie's Finds in London - A Little bit of Everywhere

As a welcome break from revision this Easter Holiday, my Father and I spent the traditional day traipsing gleefully around London, poking around in small quirky shops and alleys, while I snapped away contentedly with my camera. A couple of my finds from the other week are places frequented by my Dad and I (and not strictly food related), whereas the other two are places I have been chomping at the bit to try for what seems like eternity.

Books For Cooks 4 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill

First stop on our self conducted tour was this beautiful bookshop. If I could have a heaven on earth - a large percentage of it would look like this. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling, tabletop to tabletop; all covered in food writing. Food biographies, food fiction (yes, you heard right), food recipes, food guides.... everything foodie. 

I have to admit that I found the whole experience so overwhelming that I only came away with one book (my new treasure - a Lonely Planet book on Street Food) which jumped out at me from a counter top. I fear that if I had really started to browse in earnest I could have spent the whole day lost in the crisp freshly pressed pages, dithering for evermore. 

Books for Cooks also hosts cookery classes, supper evenings and demonstrations, and has it's own little cafe at the back, where they test recipes from the books on sale. We tried the rhubarb and ginger cake, and although I didn't catch which book it was from, it was one of the most deliciously moist cakes I have ever tasted. That said, I will warn you that cakes come served more like desserts, with a drizzle of chocolate sauce and a scoop of yoghurt on the side. 

Ping Pong Dim Sum, (Carnaby Street)

This wasn't on my original list of possible places for lunch, but we were walking past at lunch time and I had looked at their menu online before, so we decided to give it a go. It was only my second time in a dedicated dim sum restaurant, and it was an altogether nice experience. Dishes arrived as they were ready and were stacked in their baskets on top of eachother, so that we had the pleasure of lifting the empty basket to discover what was underneath. To order you tick the dishes you want on a checklist, and they recommend 4-5 dishes per person. Everything we had tasted fresh and was perfectly cooked, but what I really loved was the size of the ice cream portion I had for dessert - all too often you are faced with a mountain, but I was served a refreshing portion of three "ping pong" sized balls of ice cream; two honey and ginger, and one vanilla.

It was also my Father's first experience of jasmine flowering tea, which he declared looked like an alien.

There are plenty of seats, either around a bar or at private tables, and I thoroughly enjoyed sitting at the window and inspecting busy business men as they dashed past in the ever changing London weather. 

Duant's Bookshop, Marylebone Highstreet 

I love this place, and have returned many years since I first discovered it. I was so exited to arrive that I forgot to take my own pictures! 

Duant's is a travel bookshop - enough said. This is the second percentage of my heaven. 

At the front of the shop is fiction, childrens' books and cookery books. But further back is where the magic happens. At the back of the shop, spanning three levels, the books are organised by country. Travel guides, biographies, fiction and non-fiction books, all organised together by country. This is the perfect way to browse for something new, and I can loose myself for hours. 

The layout of the shop is not it's only selling point. Duant's is also beautiful. A large window lets light into all three levels at the back of the shop, and the colour scheme is relaxing too. 

This is a shop worth visiting, whether you intend to buy anything or not. 

Yours,

The Anxious Foodie <3