Over the weekend I met up with a certain cake lover, a recent birthday boy, the esteemed human effigy of a claymation penguin and my favorite Chanel loving graduate.
I visited Chapel Market for the first time on a Saturday, and while I was not impressed with the actual goods on the market, I came across a street off of it called White Conduit Street that I highly recommend visiting if you're in the area. I met Dave at S.Cohen, a shop of which only one photo seems to exist on the internet. It is a melee. Piles of victorian petticoats, beaded waistcoats, top hats, a stuffed ferret here, an antique gilt mirror there and piles and piles of dusty volumes. I nearly fell over and knocked myself out thrice. It's a place to spend hours and very little money on many things. The taxidermy window display itself is worth the trip alone. What I like most about it (besides the hidden room up the stairs which seems to have been a makeshift chapel and/or the stuffing room) is that it's not like Bolongaro Trevor or any of those purposefully haphazard shops, it is actually a right old mess with many treasures to be found. I wish I had my camera with me, but alas I didn't expect to come across such a gem. Please go discover it for yourself.
The purpose of the trip Dave and I made was to sample some cake at the Euphorium Bakery, which if Google is to be believed, the best cakeshop in London. With locations in Angel, Belsize Park and Hampstead, all modernly furnished and no frills fellow cake lover Dave and I saw no reason not to try it out. We approached and sampled a tart and a swiss roll, as well as some frappes. Both baked goods were light, just rightly moist and presentable, but while hitting the spot just so on a hot day, were certainly not the best cakes in London as proclaimed. The frappes were pretty blah. This judgement may be slightly warped however by the fact that later on that same day Dave and I visited another eatery at which more cake was sampled. If it were not for the delightful blueberry and vanilla cupcakes of Ottolenghi on Upper Street (with locations also in Notting Hill and on the Kings Road) I may have even recommended Euphorium as a prime cake location in Angel, however these cupcakes put everything into perspective. Light, fluffy, and just the perfect size for sharing. The cupcakes had a cream cheese frosting that rivaled Hummingbirds and lacked the overly sweetened sponge that most cakes fall prey too, therein making the combination absolutely spectacular. Ottolenghi is a little pricier than Euphorium, but the sheer variety of the desserts on offer and the taste sensation they provided make the expenditure 100% worth it. The service was great, the ambiance was buzzing (and mostly female- lots of amazing salads here too) and the location at the Upper Street-Cross Street junction was convenient for pre and post meal sauntering. The prettier part of Regents Canal runs just behind it, as well as the maze of gorgeous tree lined residential streets and squares of Islington that surround the antique marvels of Camden Passage and Essex Road.
It is worth noting that Essex Road has become one of the best thrifting spots in all London, and is amazing for cheap and quality goods ranging from typewriters to furniture to vintage clothing. The market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays 10-2, and I highly recommend a visit, not least for cheap art supplies at the CASS warehouse and the glorious Annies vintage.
Camden Passage is one of my favorite places to bring out of towners because it never happens to be as busy as the other major London markets, and yet retains all of the charm.
The evening held antics including suave new rides, sick bachelor pads, Kurt Vonneguts Jailbird, Cloverfield and Linderman (in retrospect, actually a very American themed night in Ealing.)
The next day I hopped onto the east bound line to Brick Lane, where I'm spending the next three weeks. This particular trip however was not for work but to continue the still incomplete mission: ballgown. I have to wonder how my Oxbridge friends deal with this kind of stress many times a year, as I simply can't take it anymore. I tried to budget at £50, an optimistic figure I am aware, and failed. Next I angled for a £100, now in my day before the ball desperation I have raised the bar even higher and feel a little sick about it. I searched high and low, I considered renting a dress from girlmeetsdress, I tried on more dresses than any girl should have to.
At one point I grew so desperate I started trying on dresses in the middle of Dray Walk, modesty be damned and still ended the trip with no dress. I'm not particularly picky, but why does every full length gown have to be coral? Coral is a putrid colour unless you are in a tropical climate, and even then it borders on Donatella Versace.
I then proceeded to kick it with the Neens (who had already gotten her dress for the ball from Bluebird, damnations) and wallowed in my Japanese pancakes (SO GOOD) in the Sunday Upmarket before heading to Urban to buy a consolation hat (evidently this is a pattern, the day before for some reason I bought a top hat "to keep things in"). I bought this one in white and moseyed up Oxford Street, the best way one can mosey on a Sunday in central London. I met up with the family for some fun in Berkeley Square and a meal at the Princess Gardens of Mayfair on North Audley Street (aka the end that is not home to Marc by Marc Jacobs).
The food at Princess Gardens was pretty standard. It's an older crowd than I'm used to- think more Scotts or J Sheeky than Hakkasan, and is armed with an amazing wait staff, but I was fairly underwhelmed by the food itself. The only really remarkable dish I had was the Bean Pancake I tried for dessert, which was really only good because it sounded so weird that I assumed it'd be gross and it wasn't. In any case I shan't return.
On the way home the family and I deliberated over what restaurants we deemed best in London (we eat as a family every Sunday) and the five names that came up consistently were Le Caprice, Cecconis, Hakkasan, Roka and Ciprianis. Honorable mentions also went to Nobu, Scotts, the Soho Hotel, Thai Rice (I once saw Micheal Cera AND Mclovin there) and Lupa (best local pizza delivery place you'll ever try). I wonder if most people would agree?
Finally, now after a pretty heavy days work (and more gown hunting, tear) I am in bed, with some awesome music...
A Subpop gem. The only label I can listen to in the morning gives us a Jeff Lewis-Good Life-Modest Mouse hybrid here. Evidently it is best for starting and stopping, I'm making this my lullaby tonight.
Man they sound happy. Of course they do, they're from Toronto. This is like pop punk if it were played on a ukulele, banjo and keyboard. So Warped Tour 2009.
3. Woods
REAL folk music.
Louder, Faster, Harder music for kids who wish they'd been able to take to the floor of CBGB's before it became a John Varvatos store.
5. Pollyn
Awesome electro-pop Zero 7 style.
6. Air Waves
Look who's here! Brooklyn again! Hiiiiiiii Brooklyn.
Shoegaze. Stoner Rock. Summer haze. Lazy mornings. These guys. All in one breath.
Kitschy and kind of cheesy. If you could hear neon pink, or Simpsons yellow this is what they would would sound like.
More and more and better music to come!
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