This weekend was my friend Clay’s last weekend in London, so I got to use the excuse to not cook at home and have a couple of my favorite meals out.
We started Saturday at my favorite breakfast place, Mel’s.
I didn’t remember to take a picture until I’d dug in, but you get the picture. (like what I did there??)
Veggie patty, toast, eggs, ‘shroom and grilled to-mah-to.
Then we went on a mini hike where I got stung by a little nettle and acted like a big baby.
Before heading to The Lion King musical we had dinner at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in Covent Garden.
I’ll use any excuse to come here!
The food is always so fresh and just … superb. My only gripe is that the portions are SMALL. I’ve never left Jamie’s Italian feeling full. Although the prices don’t seem too bad, in reality they are a bit steep if you want to get full or are totally starving because you’ll have to buy sides and appetizers as well.
We both got large portions of pasta, which was enough, but I was still a bit hungry afterward.
I got the day’s special, which was a fresh crab spaghettini. I was a bit hesitant about getting fish, but it was so good that I bought some fresh crab to try to recreate the dish this week.
Clay got tagliatelle bolognese topped with freshly shaved parmesan. Also great!
Since we were still a bit hungry we headed over to Hummingbird Bakery on Wardour Street. The chocolate sprinkle cupcakes were excellent, but I could have done without the sprinkles! I had about 50 sprinkles stuck in my lip gloss, which was rather attractive.
I took this picture for my mom, because I knew she’d be jealous that there was a Jaffa Cake cupcake. Brit specialty! Chocolate + orange.
The city was *packed* Saturday night. I think there was some kind of gay pride event happening, because every street in the West End and Soho was jam packed with people.
Lion King! I got us box seats again. Although the view is restricted a bit, they are cheaper and I like having an whole box all to myself!
I’ll be back later with an update about my awful race yesterday morning 
Hope everyone had a good weekend!
July 9, 2012 at 13:32
Uh-oh, awful race? Well, let’s focus on the good then–those eats! I’m not even a crab person and that pasta looks SO good. As does the breakfast. My chickens really need to get started with this egg-laying business, because faux-sausage plus egg plus tomato would be so easy and delicious to recreate at home.
July 9, 2012 at 13:34
How long til they are ready to lay eggs? Seems like its been forever! I know absolutely nothing about chickens though.
I was hesitant about the crab as well, but it was really great and also British crab!
July 9, 2012 at 13:36
Any day now! (And YES, it has felt like forever.) I did the math when I first got them, and it came out to the first half of July–which is now. I have been checking their coop about five times a day, not going to lie.
July 9, 2012 at 14:01
Lol this is a weird question, but are their first eggs just as good as once they’ve been laying a while?
July 9, 2012 at 14:12
From what I’ve heard they’re just as good–they do get smaller/less frequent once hens are older, and probably won’t be as frequent at the very beginning either, but I think the quality stays the same.
July 10, 2012 at 22:30
That’s so cool that you have your own chicken coop! How many chickens? Will your chickens lay eggs every day?
July 10, 2012 at 02:37
You should have gotten a shot of the place I had to keel over after that asshole hit me in the fucking sack.
July 10, 2012 at 10:42
And a picture of you on the ground.
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July 10, 2012 at 13:17
How cool! I’d love to go to Jaime Oliver’s restaurant! Also I had no idea that there were so many nice walking trails around London until you posted pictures.
July 10, 2012 at 13:18
I didn’t either, until I needed places to run! But it turns out London is full of parks, especially in the South West of the city.
July 10, 2012 at 22:35
That’s what I love about London – even though it’s a city, there are so many places you can go to forget it’s a city! I base this on little experience of other big cities, but that’s the impression I get!
Also, I really wanted to go to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, but I figured it was outrageously expensive. I’ll certainly make a trip to it next time though! I love Jamie Oliver’s food, and his philosophy on food. He cooks good hearty meals – he likes healthy stuff, but he won’t skimp on the butter if it makes it taste better!
July 11, 2012 at 04:29
That’s totally true! I haven’t been to many other big cities, but it’s true of London.
Absolutely go to his restaurant, but as I said, the portions are SMALL so you’ll likely still be hungry
July 11, 2012 at 23:51
That’s okay, if the portions were bigger, then I wouldn’t have room for Hummingbird Bakery or some other delicious English dessert like Banoffee cake. ;D
July 12, 2012 at 03:43
Omg I haven’t tried Banofee!! I need to do this!
July 12, 2012 at 23:24
I didn’t know it was an English dessert (and oops, apparently it’s Banoffee PIE) until I saw it on so many menu’s in London! I only got it once and it was sooo delicious.
July 16, 2012 at 22:01
These are some of my favourite things to do in Londn as well! Great post! The Bolonaise at Jamie’s Italian is always a hit but haven’t been to the famous Hummingbird bakery so will have to try it!
July 17, 2012 at 07:20
I recommend the red velvet cupcake. It’s always the best! The others are good … but red velvet is definitely top!
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April 1, 2013 at 12:13
Did you have to make a booking for Jamie’s restaurant? I’ve been to the one in Sydney, which has a no reservations policy (which is good because you always get in, but bad because you have to wait hours sometimes), and the one in Edinburgh, which I was able to make a reservation for on the same day,
So excited to find another London blog! (Although I have to admit that I never blog about the city, haha.)
April 1, 2013 at 12:32
I love finding other London bloggers too!
I think you used to not be able to make bookings for Jamie’s, but you definitely can now. I’ve only been to the ones in Covent Garden and Kingston. I’ve been many times and they’re always excellent and the service is fantastic. Whenever anyone visits me from the US I always take them here!