A Weekend In London

A few months ago my friend Lorraine and I made a choice to save up and head to London for the ultimate girls weekend. Whilst I do frequent London often, it’s normally always on blog related work. Whilst that’s a pleasure, I really fancied just ticking a few places off my ‘To Visit’ list.

This is a long post, I’ve separated all the venues so feel free to skip to whatever might be of interest to you…

First stop…Leon & Hummingbird Bakery 

Can I just take a moment to tell you how much I love Leon? There’s always something tasty, reasonably priced and nutritious to order and I can nearly always find somewhere to charge my phone. I can only hope that one day they open a branch in the sleepy town of Northampton.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll have heard of the Hummingbird Bakery, the most natural choice for an ‘apres workout’ was a refuel in the shape of red velvet cupcakes.

‘I like the way you work it’...1Rebel

I’m not going to lie, we were so excited to visit 1Rebel and see if it lived up to our expectations. With a cracking social media feed and reports that the classes and facilities were excellent, we booked ourselves into ‘Reshape‘.

We entered the changing rooms in a flurry of excitement, wide eyes admiring all the ‘little extra’s‘ like GHD’s, hair bands, deodorant, heated benches, a fridge with chilled towels. Forgive me, but we don’t have anything like that in gym’s here (unless I’m working out at home) I might start chilling our towels (just kidding our fridge is stuffed with food).

The class was fantastic, Danny who was our instructor spent a few minutes talking us through the concept and how to use the treadmills. Before we knew it, the lights were dimmed and we were sprinting in what felt like the nightclub of my dreams. Let me explain,  as the set up felt a little surreal to me at first…The lights are dimmed, the playlist was completely on point and the flashing lights gracefully hid the fact I was turning a shade of green whilst trying to sprint at 15.5km for 30seconds.

The class provides a whole body workout with weights, running (uphill, sprints and dynamic mode), and body weight moves.  Lorraine is a fit, strong lady and we both agreed that it was one of the hardest but most enjoyable classes we’d ever attended, we will be back.

Fix up, Look Smart…The Ritz

In complete contrast to our previous pit stops, we showered, changed and smartened up before heading to The Ritz. This was my first time visiting and The Ritz, as one of the most iconic places in London with a several month waiting list, just for afternoon tea, it didn’t disappoint.

We were greeted on entering the building and directed to the bar, as we were just popping in for a cocktail, they kindly sat us near the piano which was the idyllic people watching spot. Guests of The Ritz are generally in a different league, we watched in awe as a lady swept past in the most exquisite jeweled gown, I deeply regret not stopping her to ask where she bought it.

Let me tell you about our cocktails, I ordered ‘A Japanse Garden‘ which was Bombay Sapphire Gin, Sake, Ginger Wine, Elderflower Liqueur, Sugar Syrup, Lime Flavour Drops and Champagne. It was absolutely delicious and served in a dainty little thimble type cup, terrifying for someone as clumsy as me. Lorraine ordered ‘Ritz 110’ which was Gold Infused Absolut Elyx Vodka, Grand Marnier and Peach Liquor, finished with Champagne.

As you would expect, they are not practically cheap (£22 each!) however if you’re feeling indulgent and want to completely escape reality, visit The Ritz. 

A Time To Dine…The Savoy

A short taxi ride and we were at yet another luxury hotel, this time we were drinking and dining, that’s always okay with me!

I was showing off my most impressive Bambi impression (heels and cocktails don’t mix) as we made a slow journey towards Kaspers for our evening meal. Enroute we stopped to admire the creations in the chocolatier situated in the hotel and dream about something from the Boodles collection on display.

We sourced a deal for The Savoy from book a table  and this is well worth checking out if you fancy dining at a more upmarket venue or just enjoy a good deal when dining out. Our deal included 3 courses and a peach bellini, and at £35 a head we felt that was good value. However, whilst I try not to talk about prices, it’s worth noting that water for the table was £6.50 and most courses require a side dish at extra cost (around £5-8). Our total bill, including an additional drink each, was about £63.00 each, if you’re on a budget it would be worth considering a few drinks elsewhere beforehand.

I devoured a plater of bread with lashings of butter, olive oil, and soft cheese, before dining on a beetroot soup. There’s a funny story about this, I’ll try to explain the best I can. When the bowl was placed in front of me there were only a few TINY cubes of beetroot and cabbage. I looked at Lorraine, who was trying not to laugh and then, as if by magic the second part, which was the beetroot soup was added! *phew*.

To follow I enjoyed steak with sweet potato fries and Lorraine had pork belly, which she said was delicious. The dessert menu was rather small which was disappointing for a huge dessert fan like me.  I had a raspberry sorbet with a white chocolate and pistachio moose and Lorraine had mixed berry sorbet, as she’s gluten and nut free this was the only option for her.

Whilst I thought The Savoy was wonderful; I’d say that I’d eaten better meals for a similar price and maybe I’d try the afternoon tea if I was to return.

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Talk to me – Do you have a ‘To Visit’ list for London? Have you been to any of the above venues?

Katie

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