I haven’t been to London in two years and change, and it felt great to be back—albeit I barely left the beautiful Peninsula Hotel, as I was there for the festivities of a friend’s 40th birthday.
Some notes from London:
The new hotel in town, the Peninsula, takes all the accolades. Beautiful rooms, impeccable service, great food—all of it. The bar at the top has magical London views, and the Chinese restaurant at the hotel, Canton Blue, has the most perfect lunch menu one can ask for. It includes chicken just as you want it and ideal dim sum. Something extra to be said about Chinese food sans MSG in a restaurant: the feeling of amazing lightness is not to be taken for granted.
Dumplings and delicious sauces from Canton Blue
We know that London loves its members’ clubs, and part of the weekend festivities was organized at The Roof Gardens—a newly reopened old-school club where a lot of friends have memories from 20 years ago. The gardens on a sunny day are brilliant. You’re not quite sure if you’re in London, Marrakech, or Alice’s Wonderland—and that’s just how it’s intended.
(The only picture I have from that part of the party.)
The first night, we were treated to dinner at the newly opened Langan's Brasserie. As we know, I am a stickler for local culture, so I proudly chose the beef Wellington from the menu options. It was perfect.
Wellness:
And here I will share a trick. I arrived from NYC that morning, tired for plenty of reasons—including a major celebration of a close friend in NYC the night before, end-of-school-year fuss, etc., etc. The evening started at 7:30 P.M., and I knew exactly the kind of crowd I was dealing with. I KNEW that I wasn’t going to be allowed to go home OR stop dancing at least until 4:00 A.M. I mentally prepared. And then—here is the trick: the whole night I didn’t touch a single sip of alcohol aside from ONLY dirty martinis made with premium vodka. Olive juice, no sugar, no additives. The trick is to not mix a single drop of other alcohol and to avoid sugar at all costs. I was proudly the last on the dance floor with the birthday girl at 5:00 A.M. (Though some friends and I exchanged tips for joint pain recovery, as we are all kindly middle-aged at this point.) Anyway, so yes—dirty martinis.
Appendix:
Peninsula Hotel, 1 Grosvenor Pl, London SW1X 7HJ, United Kingdom
Canton Blue, The Peninsula, 1 Grosvenor Pl, London SW1X 7HJ, United Kingdom
The Roof Gardens, 99 Kensington High St, London W8 5SA, United Kingdom
Langan's Brasserie, Stratton St, London W1J 8LB, United Kingdom
I needed this tip a few weeks ago. I went to a close friend’s wedding in another time zone and knew it was going to go into the wee hours. I didn’t know what to do! Now, I’m set for next time I’m in this situation. ;)