24 Hours in London

I've been to London loads of times so this quick trip was mostly just to wander around town. Actually, the main goal of this trip was to go to Core by Clare Smyth, our three-Michelin star restaurant of the trip. I had managed to snag a reservation for their second seating at 21:30 but then shortly after they called to confirm the reservation (a few days before), I happened to be checking the website again and got to adjust to the 18:30 time slot, which was so much better. I would have fallen asleep in the late seating.

We stayed at the Standard, which was fun because we've stayed at the one in the city and it had the exact same vibe. It was also super conveniently located across from St. Pancras where the Eurostar comes in.

Our first order of business was to go to Borough Market where we got a cheese toastie from Kappacasein Dairy and then some oysters and uni from Furness Oyster Bar.

And then, we just walked around town a bit. We went from Borough Market to the Millennium Bridge and across to St. Paul's Cathedral.

Then we hopped on the tube to check out Parliament and Big Ben and then popped into Westminster Arms for a pint.

Then we were off to St. James Park and Buckingham Palace before walking over to Flight Club for another round of cocktails.

So dinner at Core was awesome, although, it was just a little too much food for me and I left feeling almost ill (but in a good way).

For our amuse, we had a lobster roll, caviar sandwich, gougere, and roast chicken skin taco thing. We also got a big chunk of delicious bread with a whipped butter with buttermilk.

The next course was a portland crab. We also got a generous dollop of caviar on top of the crab mousse (I just forgot to photograph that).

Next, we got a cep tartlet with white truffle, sea bass, a white truffle linguine (which was an add on to the tasting menu and well worth it), a cheese and onion course (might have been my favorite). The last savory course was a beef & oyster, which was my least favorite, especially since my cut of beef had quite a bit of sinew in it, to a point where I was chewing it for a long time and I couldn't break it down so I had to spit it out. Rather disappointing for a restaurant of this caliber, but I'm not a complainer (I just blog about it).

For dessert, we started with a cherry bakewell with a cherry cola cocktail. The cocktail was impeccable.

Next, we had the core-teaser which was inspired by the Malteaser. I'm actually not a malteaser fan but I did love this dessert. It was well balanced and I loved the sticky, chewy, gooey texture.

Lastly, we had a handful of petits fours, including wine chellies and a chocolate and clementine tart. And then J was given a nice little birthday treat.

The next morning, we were able to go to Dishoom for breakfast before having to catch the train. I got my beloved naan breakfast roll and was pleasantly surprised to find that now they give you an extra little cup of the sweet chili sauce. It was a lovely way to end our time in London.

xoxo.