The American sitting on the table next to us in the glorious Berners Tavern dining room at the London EDITION hotel declared her mac and cheese with poached lobster the best mac and cheese she had ever tasted. (NB: it's also available with braised beef blade, which might come in a close second.)
She wasn't the only tourist relishing what the city had to offer when we made our 36-hour trip south from Cheshire. London is filled once more with the sound of a multitude of visitors from home and away, and on our short break we crammed in just a few of the many capital things that revitalise your spirits.
The EDITION in Fitzrovia on the edge of Soho and just off Tottenham Court Road, was the ideal base for a couple of days crammed with activities but with the proviso that nothing should involve standing in a queue.
So after checking in (every aspect of service at The EDITION is superb) and dropping our bags in one of 173 guest rooms and suites, we took the tube to Camden Market for a late lunch and people-watching and bargain hunting.
In the evening we wandered down to Chinatown for dinner and more people watching and that feeling that I hope never goes away of appreciation that we can walk freely through crowds of people enjoying life once again.
Saturday was a sunny day in London town, so after a delicious breakfast in Berners Tavern , where the picture-lined walls mean you always have something to look at and talk about, we set off, again on the tube (which may be purely functional to a daily user but to me is always an adventure), for Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to walk and sail and eat ice cream, hire deckchairs and snooze.
Then back via the Tottenham Court Road shops to dress for dinner, preceded by drinks in the EDITION's intimate Punch Room, a reincarnation of London’s 19th-century private clubs, which serves crafted cocktails, wines and beers with panache and pride. I tried the delicious signature Milk Punch, whose ingedients and creation, described enthusiastically by the mixologist, is as intriguing as its appearance and taste.
Despite the recommendation of our neighbour for her Berners Tavern mac and cheese we decided on main courses of roasted lemon sole with royal blue prawns and crushed potato, and a fillet steak from grass-fed Scottish beef served with Koffman’s fries and peppercorn sauce. The meal had started with Berners Tavern pork and pistachio pie bread and butter pickles, piccalilli, and mustard, and the raw vegetable crudité, chickpea, and harissa hummus, black olive crumble with toasted sourdough bread, so we only had room for a shared pudding, which, actually was meant to serve two anyway – the coconut and pineapple Alaska, with pineapple and lime coulis, flamed with white rum and garnished with coconut flakes, pistachios and lemon peel.
And then out into the night for a stroll along the byways of Soho before settling into our very comfortable bed. Sunday breakfast started in a healthy manner with fruit salad from the extensive menu, but the Dingley Dell pork sausage was calling and couldn't be ignored.
We walked off some of the excesses by stepping out to Covent Garden to watch the street theatre and browse the market and then back to Oxford Street for shopping and window shopping before heading for Euston, feeling revitalised and definitely not tired of life.
The London EDITION, at 10 Berners Street W1T 3NP, is part of the global EDITION group of individually-styled hotels, described by Forbes as, 'The world's hottest hotel brand.
The Berners Tavern is the domain of Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton.
The hotel is currently offering a 'London Style' package giving guests the chance to taste what ‘real’ London has to offer.
Including:
Two tickets to the Photographer’s Gallery, the UK's leading centre for photography
£100 to spend at Liberty London
£50 F&B tab
Daily breakfast for two at Berners Tavern
Rates from £665
editionhotels.com/london
