Fancy London?

‘It’s mayhem here around Christmas,’ smiles manager Michael Gale. His butcher’s shop, Allens of Mayfair, is slap bang in the middle of – indeed – Mayfair, where the cars are chauffeured, the shops are unaffordable and the women cosmetically pretty. Every winter the ceiling of this tiny butcher’s, with its listed tiles on the walls, is covered to within an inch of its life with turkeys. Allens will get through eight thousand of them during the holidays (‘Our Christmas season starts in November, ’ Michael explains, when the Americans from around the corner celebrate Thanksgiving.’) and they are all aged hanging from the ceiling. One look inside the shop and the craftsmanship, care and love that Allen’s puts in its products becomes instantly clear. ‘The beauty is, that with us, you can just walk in off the street, look up and handpick the turkey that’s just right for your Christmas celebrations. That’s unique in London.’ In the holiday season you will see Michelin starred chefs, American embassy workers and neighbours, all queuing up in a nice orderly line, waiting with a patience that only the English seem to possess. Queuing for you turkey? It only adds to the joy of Christmas.

Michael's worked at Allen's for many years
Pic by Bonnita Postma

No nation is looking forward to Christmas as much as the English. Traditions are being dusted off, Christmas trees, houses and whole streets are covered in tinsel and baubles, and the whole of December, in pubs around the country, another round is being hauled in ‘because it’s Christmas time’. Restaurants are filled with groups of friends and colleagues sat at long tables for their annual Christmas party, drinking champagne, eating a set menu and – it’s a silly sight – wearing a paper hat. The hat stays on, all night long. It’s Christmas after all.

Even the traditional English Christmas is victim to trends and foodie fads. Turkey is making way for meat dishes such as oxtail, pig’s cheek and slow-cooked stews. These are old-fashioned dishes, bigged up by trends such as nose to tail eating and the nostalgia of days gone by. For a maximum dose of tradition, aristocracy and Christmas chique, The Wolseley is the place to be. Waiters in black and white penguin suits open the doors to this stately restaurant on Piccadilly from seven in the morning. You step into a different world, where the floors are marbled, the walls panelled and the ceilings churchlike high. Medieval chandeliers hang from the ceiling. The round ballroom setting makes you wonder whether, in the evenings, the tables are carried out to make way for a waltz or two.  The food is good, the prosecco bubbly and you can spend hours here, watching the posh people. Women with enormous hats and skyscraper heels, famous TV presenters and film stars, business men with ipads tucked under their arms; everyone is here to be seen.

Pic by Bonnita Postma

Spend a few December days in London and you cannot get around the Christmas madness. This is the time of year to drool in front the window displays of big department stores like Selfridges, Harrods and Liberty, the time to roam around the delightful street lights of New Bond Street. But no place exudes more Christmas spirit than Borough Market. Visit on a dark day, clutching a mug of hot cider in your hands, and you’ll be transported back to Dickensonian times. Carol singers dressed warmly in gloves and hats, old fashioned pork pies and lovely smelling pork and leek sausages on the grill will be fighting for your attention – and a place in your tum. At the Flour Station stall you’ll find the very same sourdough bread that Jamie sells in his restaurant, Fifteen.  Furness fishmongers are displaying the largest prawns I’ve ever seen, beautiful, fat, brown and pink striped creatures, weighing half a kilo each. And at the Pie Minister they sell their immensely popular Heidi pie, a vegetarian pie filled with sweet potato, goat’s cheese, spinach and roasted garlic. ‘Yum, yum, put a pie in your tum,’ it says above their stall. Yes please.

Hot spicy cider at Borough Market
Pic by Bonnita Postma

Neal’s Yard Dairy is tucked away in one of the lovely little streets surrounding the market. Salesmen in white overcoats, rubber boots and hair nets convey the message that selling cheese is a serious business here. Try one of the many English cheeses that are maturing on the shelves in the shop and you’re sold. It’s very hard deciding between a Montgomery’s Cheddar (creamy, mature and chock full of flavour), the one and only Wensleydale (dry, crumbly and milky in flavour) and a nutty, bright orange Red Leicester. And they say Dutch cheese is the best… I opt for the Wensleydale, some handmade Orkney oat cakes and a packet of Barry’s tea. Much later, in my hotel room, I lay it all out on the table for a true Wallace and Gromit moment. Cheese and crackers, anyone?

Neal's Yard Dairy
Pic by Bonnita Postma

After a short visit to my old colleagues at Jamie headquarters, I have a stroll around the neighbourhood that was my stomping ground for years of lunch breaks. Shoreditch is still one of the hottest places in town – urban, trendy, full of musicians and artists and whippersnappers. I turn a corner and to my great delight there’s Christina, perched in a chair outside The Shepherdess, puffing on a smoke. She still works there then. The Shepherdess is a so called greasy spoon, a working man’s café where builders and taxi drivers come for their cup of tea. You can order a single slice of peanut butter toast, and it’s up to you how many eggs you want in your omelette. Christina happily chats along with me although she probably doesn’t have a clue who I am. She tells me that in all the Christmas excitement, she’s looking forward most to a well-deserved two-week break. Nice and honest then.

The Shepherdess
Pic by Bonnita Postma

I continue my walk through the area full of old favourites and new haunts. Vietnamese eateries seem to have popped up everywhere. I spot some great new cocktail bars and notice that the unavoidable chains of coffee shops and bars have found their way in as well. Thankfully there are many unique places left to be discovered. Following the advice of Jamie himself, I have lunch at Rochelle Canteen, hidden away on the red brick roundabout of Arnold Circus. This lunch time place is run by Melanie Arnold en Margot Henderson. It’s been going for five years in the garden shed of an old school, Rochelle School, built in 1899. There’s a link to the sublime St John’s restaurant – Margot is chef Fergus Henderson’s wife and together they’ve been successful in the food industry since the 90s. I rock up without a reservation and on the late side of lunch, so I’m lucky to be getting a table at all. There’s only a few dishes left to choose from; favourites such as smoked mackerel with celeriac and roasted chicken with lemon potatoes have sold out already. Pure nosiness makes me pick the bobby beans. Bobby beans? They turn out to be ‘just’ green beans, blanched ever so slightly and dressed in a zingy mustard dressing served with caramelised red onions and toasted sliced almonds. It sounds simple but must have been the best thing I have eaten in months. It only costs £6.50. I order a second one and leave a happy girl indeed.

Bobby beans at Rochelle Canteen
Pic by Bonnita Postma

In Kilburn, where there’s guerilla gardening going on at the tube platform, I meet Kerstin Rodgers. Her Underground Restaurant is notorious as well as well-known. (The London Underground tried to sue her for using the name Underground Restaurant.) It’s located in her small but cosy flat, in a light room with double doors leading to a cute little patio. There are stylish black and white images on the walls (Kerstin’s a photographer too) and there’s quirky details everywhere. It’s obvious: this is a restaurant that is being lived in. One of the first to open a living room restaurant, Kerstin started a trend that is still growing. Since then, she’s written a book, held many themed nights (Elvis! Liza Minelli & Judy Garland!) and built a field restaurant for the Bestival. Kerstin thinks that Christmas is the perfect time to be inviting strangers into your home and feeding them a good meal. Christmas at the Underground Restaurant means sharing a table with a warm family of strangers. A good chat is part of the deal, and you end up feeling you’ve just been in Wonderland and have experienced something quite special.

Mrs Marmite Lover in her kitchen
Pic by Bonnita Postma

London at Christmas is a fairy tale. Whether you take a bite out of your very first mince pie (see box), glide around the Somerset House ice rink on your skates – where it seems you’re on the set of Pride and Prejudice – or go on the hunt for the prettiest bauble in Fortnum & Mason, the magic will be contagious. If there’s one thing the British are good at, it’s celebrating Christmas.

CITY GUIDE - my fave places to be

CHRISTMAS

Borough Market 8 Southwark Street, SE1 (Borough), +44 207 4071002, boroughmarket.org.uk  The foodie market in town breathes that magical Christmas feel. Walk around clutching a mug of hot mulled wine and try morsels of the many wares on display.

Fortnum & Mason 181 Piccadilly, W1A (Mayfair), +44 207 7348040, fortnumandmason.com  Come to this gorgeous food department store for all your typical British Christmas products – mince pies, Christmas pudding, brandy butter, cranberry sauce. Their hampers are an institution and vary in price from expensive to unaffordable.

Pic by Bonnita Postma

Christmas tree on Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square, WC2N (Westminster) Every year, the Norwegian city of Oslo buys a tree for the city of London. The lights are lit with much ado on the first Thursday in December and from that day right up till Christmas you can enjoy the angelic sounds of carol singers under the tree, trying to scrape together some money for charity.

Sometset House ice rink Strand, WC2R (City of London), +44 207 8454600, somersethouse.org.uk/ice-rink  Tie under your skates and glide around the majestic inner court of Somerset House. Worked up an appetite? Pop into Tom’s Skate Lounge, run by Michelin starred chef Tom Aikens, for a bite with a view.

FOOD

The Breakfast Club 2-4 Rufus Street, N1 (Shoreditch), +44 207 7295252, thebreakfastclubcafes.com  Friendly service and a happy, eclectic decor make this caff, known for its breakfasts but open all day, a place to hang around.

Cây Tre 301 Old Street, EC1V (Shoreditch), +44 207 7298662, vietnamesekitchen.co.uk  Thanks to Cây Tre’s branches in Soho, Dalston and Shoreditch you’re never more than a few steps away from authentic, zingy Vietnamese fare. Try the kim chi for an explosion of flavours (salty! sour! hot! fresh!), or the unique savoury afternoon tea with jasmine tea, salt and pepper squid and tamarind soup.

J+A Café 4 Sutton Lane, EC1M (Clerkenwell), +44 207 4902992, jandacafe.co.uk  Tucked away in a little courtyard, off a labyrinth of streets where sustainable carpenters, artists and media types do their jobs, you’ll find this warm, cosy caff where locals flock to for a stack of pancakes, a hot lunch or a thick slice of homemade cake.

Lantana Café 13 Charlotte Place, W1T (Fitzrovia), +44 207 6373347, lantanacafe.co.uk  Lantana is sat in a little street close to Tottenham Court Road. Try their sausage sandwich with spicy salsa – a perfect hangover cure – and enjoy the breakfast bustle, or gather your own lunch at the salad bar in the Lantana shop next door: you’ll get a big container for £6. I filled mine with salad leaves, roast veggies and a generous piece of quiche.

Pic by Bonnita Postma

Nordic Bakery 14a Golden Square, W1F (Soho), +44 203 2301077, nordicbakery.com  A Finnish bakery and coffee house with wooden tables and chairs and a relaxed vibe. Their cinnamon bun is amazing. If you’re lucky, it’s just come  from their basement bakery and is still warm.  
Polpo 41 Beak Street, W1F (Soho), +44 207 7344479, polpo.co.uk  Hot, inexpensive and in the middle of Soho. You can’t book a table here, so get ready to queue before you get to sample their tasty Italian tapas. Thank goodness there’s the industrial interior, a decent cocktail bar and a lively atmosphere to keep you amused while you wait.

Rasa 55 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 (Stoke Newington), +44 207 2490344, rasarestaurants.com  Combine one of the best vegetarian restaurants and one of the best Indian chefs and you end up with Rasa. On top of that, it’s in one of the sweetest non-touristy streets in London. The South Indian food is authentic and fresh – their dosa, a thin pancake filled with a spicy potato mix, is especially good.

Rochelle Canteen Rochelle School, Arnold Circus, E2 (Shoreditch), +44 207 7295677, arnoldandhenderson.com They say it’s an old bike shed but with its whitewashed walls, wooden tables and enamel water jugs it feels more like you’re in a Scandinavian beach hut. The restaurant humbly calls itself a canteen and is open just for lunch. A local favourite, with good reason.

S&M café 48 Brushfield Street, E1 (Spitalfields), +44 207 2472252, sandmcafe.co.uk  To fill up your tum, come to S&M for sausages and mash. Choose your favourite sausage, mash and gravy from the daily selection and eat it in the American diner surroundings. Tasty, cheap and hearty.

The Shepherdess 221 City Road, EC1V (Shoreditch), +44 207 2532463  Simple food is served here. Many photoshoots and film shoots took place in this little diner – among them a shoot for Jamie’s book, Jamie’s Dinners. Whatever you order, it comes with a handful of their thick cut chips.

Trullo N1 300-302 St Paul’s Road, N1 (Islington), +44 207 2262733, trullorestaurant.com  Former Fifteen student Tim Siatadan opened this charming  restaurant last year, a stone’s throw from his training grounds. Using simple cooking techniques, Tim gives the seasonal ingredients he uses a chance to shine. Try the fish grilled on charcoal.  

The Underground Restaurant NW2 (Kilburn), marmitelover.blogspot.com  Blogger, photographer and food fanatic Kerstin Rodgers runs one of the most talked about underground restaurants in the city. Book a place through her website and dive into her wonderful world. In December, there’s and Edith Piaf lunch and an organic market, both held in her living room.

The Wolseley 160 Piccadilly, W1J (Mayfair), +44 207 4996996, thewolseley.com  This is the place to be seen –celebs like Kate Moss and Stephen Fry were spotted here recently. Their breakfast is one of the best around. The dining room is like a grand ballroom with Asian art and chandeliers hanging off a churchlike ceiling. Sounds odd? Step inside and goggle.

DRINKS

69 Colebrook Row (Islington) Won an OFM award for the best bar in the country. Cocktail maker Tony Conigliaro distils his own booze and his cocktail creations are inspired by design, fashion and science. You can attend a cocktail making workshop too.

Gordon’s Wine Bar 47 Villiers Street, WC2N (Charing Cross), +44 207 9301408, gordonswinebar.com  A narrow staircase leads you to an old wine cellar that is Gordon’s Wine Bar. Little snugs, candles on the tables and a wine menu as long as your arm make this a top location for a glass of warming red. In summer there’s a large terrace outside. 

Happiness Forgets 8-9 Hoxton Square, N1 (Shoreditch), +44 207 6130325 (no website) Hoxton Square is one of the hottest squares for going out and this basement cocktail bar is its newest watering hole. Order a Perfect Storm and check out the beautiful people.

The Nightjar 129 City Road, EC1V (Shoreditch), +44 207 2534101, barnightjar.com  The cocktails in this  ‘speakeasy’ bar are a work of art. The pina colada comes with a whole arrangement of garnishes. Some nights they have live jazz music.

The Prince Alfred Pub 5a Formosa Street, W9 (Maida Vale), +44 207 2863287, theprincealfred.com  Triple your knowledge of British ales, stouts and in this Victorian pub. Grade II listed wooden panels and engraved window panes divide the space into cosy sections. A gem.

SHOPPING

Allen’s of Mayfair 117 Mount Street, W1K (Mayfair), +44 207 4995831, allensofmayfair.co.uk  For many a London chef, Allen’s is their favourite butcher. They’ve been preparing meat on their giant wooden butcher’s block since 1887. This is were Londoners queue up for their Christmas turkey, wonderful sausages or a pretty pot of cranberry sauce.  

Books for Cooks 4 Blenheim Crescent, W11 (Notting Hill), +44 207 2211992, booksforcooks.com  This shop, full to the rim with cookbooks, is cute and a haven for foodies. Chefs come from across the world to give their workshops here.

Pic by Bonnita Postma

Broadway Market E8 (Hackney), Saturday 9am till 4pm, broadwaymarket.co.uk  A Saturday market in hip and happening East London that hasn’t yet been run over by tourists. You can buy organic veg, Jewish bagels and fat, shimmery olives. Violet Cakes has a popular stand with coffee and cupcakes.

The Idler Academy 81 Westbourne Park Road, W2 (Notting Hill), +44 207 2215908, idler.co.uk/academy  Magazine maker, writer and professional idler Tom Hodgkinson followed his heart and opened this quirky café where he also sells books and organises lectures. Or is it a book shop that serves coffee as well? A fascinating place to drop by when in Notting Hill.

Neal’s Yard Dairy 6 Park Street, SE1 (Borough Market), +44 207 3670799, nealsyarddairy.co.uk  In this gorgeous cheese shop they sell the most amazing selection of British cheeses, plus crackers, chutneys and tea – everything you need to enjoy your cheese to the full. They also have cheese tastings.  

Paul A Young 33 Camden Passage, N1 (Islington), +44 207 4245750, paulayoung.co.uk  With his ginger hair and small stature, chocolatier Paul Young couldn’t look more British if he tried. His chocolate creations are just as British – how about marmite truffles or port and Stilton chocolate? His Christmas pudding brownie is the perfect Christmas candy.

Spitalfields Market Brushfield Street, E1 (Spitalfields), Mon to Fri 10am till 4pm and Sunday 9am till 5pm, spitalfields.co.uk  Covered market selling homemade and vintage clothes, jewellery, bags and trinkets. Surrounding the market is a treasure chest full of decent foodie chains such as Carluccio’s, Leon and Canteen.

Wholefoods 63-97 Kensington High Street, W8 (Kensington), +44 207 3684500, wholefoodsmarket.com  An impressive organic supermarket straight from the States. There’s an incredible selection of food, all fresh, organic, local, healthy and where possible, coming from small producers. If only you could only shop here every day…