London for the 4th time

What a dampener (after a nice weekend in London) to have found my car broken into and my gps stolen. Not really broken into per se since the windows & all are still intact, but I must have left it unlocked or the doors not properly closed. Anyhow, damn the person who stole it & also damn my carelessness for keeping my guard down. When I first had the car, I'd always lock the gps in the glove compartment. Obviously I had become too complacent & too trusting of Paris' security.

Oh well, if we were to look at the bright side of things.. at least I didn't have to sit on glass pieces while driving back home, my rayban glasses (which I usually leave in the car) were at home for some reason, and my gps isn't the most expensive around (~100€). So yep, when bad things happen, we can always say: "it could have been worse".

Pleasant weekend in London, but I think 4 visits in a year is about as many as it gets. The food may be (darn) good, but it's time to explore elsewhere. Won't be back anytime soon, except maybe for Wimbledon, IF we get the tickets!

Watched a play titled 'Design For Living' at The Old Vic theatre. We really liked it. Funny & well directed with an interesting plot in a warped way. As quoted from http://oldvictheatre.com,

"Old Vic Associate Anthony Page directs Tom Burke, Lisa Dillon and Andrew Scott in Noël Coward's wickedly witty dark romantic comedy.

Initially banned in the UK, this provocative play returns to the London stage for the first time in over 15 years.

From 1930s bohemian Paris to the dizzying heights of Manhattan society, a tempestuous love triangle unravels between a vivacious interior designer, Gilda, playwright Leo and artist Otto - three people unashamedly and passionately in love with each other."

More info can be found at wiki (Design For Living). Catch it if you can.

Ate at the usuals (tagged London in my previous posts) and had Indian food at 'Zayna', tripadvisor's top indian restaurant, which turned out really overpriced. Food and service were average. They changed our tandoori chicken to prawns (just cause they ran out) without asking us! What audacity. So what if they charged the same. We didn't have any choice since they were closing the kitchen soon. Okay, they made it up by giving us complimentary bryani but still. Also, the card machine didn't work & S had to walk quite far to draw cash. Overall, disappointing experience and definitely won't return.

On the last night, we headed to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon and tried their pre-theatre menu. Great value at 22£ for 2 courses and 27£ for 3. Like our dear friend YT once said, only we can turn something with such good value into something so expensive. With an extra entrée of iberico ham and a bottle of wine, the bill came up to be a whopping 111£. =X

Langoustine soup, creamy egg, sea trout, pork belly.

Name: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Location: 13-15 West Street, Soho, London

Expenditure: 111£

London 13-16Aug10

Booked this trip long ago since the Eurostar prices were so irresistible. 88€ return! The promotion looks like it's on-going, but you gotta book about 2 months in advance. We're already planning our next trip teehee.

For the both of us, London serves one and only purpose: food, food, and more food! Much thanks to S' friend Joan, we stayed at the Royal Garden Hotel. Love the Garden Room with an awesome view of the Hyde Park. Due to my goldfish memory, I forgot to take a nice picture of it. Oh wells, grabbed one from the website which looks exactly like it. On right: Dabao-ed dinner from C&R and Gold Mine. Roasted pork, oyster egg omelette, crab, fried tofu, sambal kang kong. Why don't we have any of that in Paris? :(

[source: http://www.royalgardenhotel.co.uk/Explore-Hotel/Photo-Gallery]

Next day, dim sum lunch at Royal China at Bayswater. We had A LOT of food actually but they came one after another so couldn't get a photo of them together. Crispy duck was not bad. Dim sum and duck tongue.. superb!

Visited The Monument but we were too weak (lazy) to walk up the 300+ steps! Apparently you can get a great view of London from up there. Maybe next time. People were even given a cert of some sort for completing the (two-way) climb.. no lifts this time to get back to ground zero!

Crossed the London Bridge and walked all the way to Tate Modern, where we visited an exhibition called 'Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera.' Check it out here: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/exposure/default.shtm. Rather interesting. Then, we experienced some serious tube disruptions and had to walk SO much as a result. Quite frustrating. Nonetheless, we ended up at Trafalgar Square, had a light dinner at Chinatown, and watched Chicago. Not bad :)

Shopped the whole of Sunday at Bicester Village (outlet shopping). About 1+ hr drive from London. Go early before all the good buys and sizes run out. Last meal of the trip was at Nobu. We concluded that this was the highlight of all! (as you can so see from the photo) :D Shared the 2 set meals & the authentic sake in frozen bamboo. YUMS.

Name: Nobu Restaurant

Location: 15 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DY

Expenditure: 105£

London w mum & sis (Jun10)

Brought mum & sis to London for a 3 day 2 night trip... Shopped (a hell lot) at the usual Chinatown, Oxford Street and Harrods till our legs almost gave up on us! And of course, we ate (a hell lot too) at all my favourite places. The only touristy thing we did was to go up on the London Eye..which was alright..

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London Day 5

Last couple of days in London dedicated more to shopping. Not so much the high street fashion brands but the local vintage shops, and also little handmade items that Elaine & I both love & appreciate! Visited Portobello Market (better to go on a Sunday morning when it's more lively & bustling but apparently very crowded). Interesting finds but they were closing when we got there... And then attended a concert by "The Temper Trap" at O2 Empire, Shepherd's Bush. Turned out superb! Totally exceeded our expectations :)) Love the interior of the hall & how people just sat around drinking while waiting for the
concert to begin..

Above: Opening solo singer (can't remb her name). Nice voice but no stage presence. And here's Temper Trap. Alternative music. Great band. Great stuff.

When it ended at 10.30pm, we rushed to Bayswater for a ducky supper. Even the noodles & jellyfish were so yummy. You CANNOT miss this if you're in London.

Name: Four Seasons

Location: Near Bayswater tube, London

Expenditure: ~40£

London Day 6

Shopped at our favorite Bricklane. I adore this place! You'll find treasures here that you can't get anywhere else.. We even spotted a crowd queuing for the opening of Oli Sykes' new "Drop Dead" flagship store. Cool.

When we were finally done with Bricklane, we went to "Dirty Martini" at Covent Garden for drinks. Cheap & good martinis. Worth going. Then dinner at a Japanese pancake place that was supposed to be quite popular but we didn't like the food (ex too) & we had to air our jackets for 3 days! What a boo boo.

So this marks the end of my London week. Day 7, home sweet home...

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London Day 4

First part of the day spent at Victoria & Albert Museum - also another highly recommended attraction. Started with the Fashion Gallery which showcases pieces from well-known designers like Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana etc.

Next, I ventured around the hallway which was filled with sculptures & also explored the photography room. Quite interesting.

At first look, it's just like any other black & white drawing. But it's actually a photograph of a burnt room!

After that, I headed to Covent Garden & shopped around with Elaine at the Covent market and Seven Dials (small streets with many cult brands & homegrown fashion shops). Ended the day with the much-anticipated dance musical "Dirty Dancing" which turned out REALLY disappointing. It was no more than an amateur high-school production - bad acting, poorly choreographed dance moves, poor storyline. Tsk.

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London Day 3

Visited Tate Modern (many recommended this) and explored some of the free rooms. Very abstract art expressed through objects, materials, paintings, photos etc. Interesting but a bit too abstract for me. Just go with an open mind & check out the special exhibitions on their website before going. Some are supposedly quite good, depending on the dates you're there. Afterward, I crossed the Millenium Bridge & walked all the way to Somerset House. 2.5km so it's up to you.

Somerset House is a major arts & cultural centre but not normally mentioned in travel guidebooks. I say totally go for this but again, check their website first. Lucky for me, the "Pick Me Up" Contemporary Graphic Art Fair turned out to be really good! You'll know from the photos. I love the Nadal one but it was NFS :( Each artwork is at least 70£ I think, but really depends on the number of pieces they have. For eg., the "red bulb with yes" costs 175£ as they only have one.

What's even better than the artwork is the installation of some of the artists' studios! You can see how the printing is done. Some by hand (like the 2 below), some by machine. But mind you, the machine-printed ones (forgot what the technique is called) are also not just a 1-step process. The 2nd photo shows the studio of a rather popular artist called Rob Ryan (http://rob-ryan.blogspot.com/). Very unique & intricate technique.

Ended the day with a nice Korean BBQ dinner. Apparently it's so good that many Koreans frequent here. Was a lil disappointed with the lack of appetizers (as expected from most traditional Korean meals), but the marinated meats were not bad. You MUST order the beef in the photo! So greedy we ordered 4 meats & a kimchi soup which left us with bad sore throats.

Name: Asadal

Location: 227 High Holborn, London WC1V 7DA

Expenditure: ~50£