Eating During a Winter Staycation in London

Today, we should have returned from a short holiday to Vienna (my belated birthday present). However, you’re probably aware of the difficulties facing travellers in London since Saturday and yup, we were affected too. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip; I do realise, though, that we were the lucky ones as it’s much better to have a holiday cancelled here than to be stuck in another country. Rather than mope around (though I may have been a little guilty of this that morning!), we decided to try to make the most of our free time in London. Of course, when I say make the most of it, I mean eat lots – and eat we did, a good mixture of comforting regulars, a seasonal eaterie and a little something new tossed in too.

After waking up a second time (the first was to confirm that our morning flight was cancelled. We made numerous calls to the airline to rebook but our trip would just be impossible and after, we went back to bed.), we pulled on some warm clothes, strapped ice treads onto our boots and walked to Ealing Common. We treated ourselves to a fine lunch at Kiraku: a nabeyaki udon for Blai…

… and a tempura and chicken teriyaki lunch set for me. Their teriyaki sauce is just gorgeous – I could just eat that with rice.

The next day, we woke up quite late and decided to have some lunch at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. If we couldn’t visit the Christmas markets in Vienna, we’d visit them in London! A bratwurst, …

… sauteed potatoes with bacon and onions, …

… churros, …

… and a Nutella crepe filled our bellies and warmed us from within. It was very cold that day!

We then made our way to the centre of town. After some Christmas shopping, we headed to HK Diner for a light dinner. That is, if you can call mixed seafood noodles and Mongolian crispy lamb, to be wrapped in lettuce leaves, a light dinner.

And since it was a “light” dinner, we thought we’d treat ourselves to a little something afterwards. I’d been wanting to try Gelupo for absolutely ages (and I do still need to visit Bocca di Lupo across the street) but I’d not done so as I just couldn’t find it every time I was in Soho. But I’d finally got my bearings straight and there we were, choosing between all the delectable sounding gelati and sorbets and granite. I know it seems a little insane to have gelato on such a cold night but it was very warm and cozy in the shop! We first shared an exquisite pistachio gelato and refreshing blood orange sorbet…

… before turning back to the counter to buy a small taster cup of burnt almond granita. What amazing flavours in all their products; I do believe we will be regulars here.

Fingers crossed that we can go visit Blai’s family for Christmas later this week. Good luck to everyone trying to fly in and out of London or anywhere else affected by lots of snow this winter! Happy holidays, everybody!

Kiraku
8 Station Parade
Uxbridge Road
Ealing Common
London W5 3LD

Winter Wonderland

HK Diner
22 Wardour Street
London W1D 6QQ

Gelupo
7 Archer Street
London W1D 7AU

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