Live East, Die Young - East London

On Sunday, I visited a friend in the very hip, east end of London. We planned to wander the flower markets on Columbia Road, before a quick lunch at the Albion cafe, and then a look at the shops. It is a shame the weather wasn't better for my visit, indeed it felt like winter had finally arrived, but it still made for a wonderful day out. Here were three of my favourite spots of the day.
 

Quilter Street

As I walked up to Columbia Road from where I parked on Brick Lane (it seemed that 90% of the tube network was shut for the weekend...again), I came across Quilter Street a block from Columbia Road. It is a line of beautiful, workers-cottage style, Edwardian (?) terraces. Each seems to have been lovingly restored, with glossily painted front doors and neat brick work. As I wondered up the street, I imagined the women who must have worked behind these doors, quilting away. They say in London, that the street names derive from whatever use was made of the streets in the old days, generally, from what was sold there. Threadneedle Street and Petticoat Lane owe their names to the Huguenot weavers who settled there, and as Quilter Lane isn't too far from these, I assume it might have been named for the same group. My dad is very interested in our family history is always telling me his latest theories for where our family came from. I remember one of these was that we were descendent from the Huguenot's, so who know, maybe its were I get my love of all things textile from?

Beyond Fabric
http://www.beyond-fabrics.com/
What a super fabric shop, with a real emphasis on traditional looking, old fashion, 30's style fabrics, as well as some more vintage style 50's & 60's-esque children's fabric. You can buy online too, but personally, I love going in and looking at the different fabrics together, pulling them off the shelves, um-ing and ah-ing, driving the shop assistant mad, before finally making off with a nice little stash of fabrics. I got about 6 metres or so. The prices aren't cheap, probably average from what I have seen around London, with prices at the £12/metre mark.

Nelly Duff
http://www.nellyduff.com/
Across the road is Nelly Duff, a very cool gallery and shop selling very cool prints. Mainly silk screen printed, I have also seen some letterpress style posters in there and they have a VERY cool colourful print of some Mexican skulls. I am pretty desperate for them. They are so bright and beautiful I thought they would look great in a nursery, when I said this to my friend, she said "what kind of nightmares do you want to give your children?!". She has a point. I am eyeing off another one of their items for my husband's first anniversary gift. The first anniversary is paper and I think I have found something he would love - if you read this, don't freak out! Nothing I saw in that shop is over £100.

The name from this post is from a print in the Nelly Duff shop, not to be confused with the following piece of graffiti. The print in the shop looks like a wood cutting with an image of an east London street in the 1800's (I'm guessing). A play on words, and very true if you were living there 100 years ago. Unfortunately it seems to still be the case, I saw someone comment on that flickr post for the graffiti art, that the age expectancy of people living in East London dropped with each stop on the eastern extension of the Jubilee line. I don't have a source for this, only hearsay, and very sad if it's true.

New York, New YOOOORRRRRRKKKKK - My favourite food spots

I have only been to New York once, and it was 18 months ago now, but a few of my friends have been heading over that way for holidays recently and it got me reminiscing about the wonderful time my husband and I had there (when we were still only engaged to be wed!). We were lucky enough to stay with friends (thanks Ali and David) and that some other friends of ours happened to be visiting the city all the way from Australia at the same time. It meant we did a lot of eating out and street stomping together. Here were some of my favourites.

Breakfast / Brunch

Sarabeth's Central Park South
http://www.sarabethscps.com/
My American friend Meagen recommended this place. She said "The oatmeal is great, the eggs benedict is fantastic and the portions are HUGE." If only I had listened. Instead, I went for the massive serving of hotcakes! It was amazing, delicious, scrumptious fantastic! I probably put on about 5kgs from that one sitting, but my word was it worth it! The decor is a bit old, but I found it very 'American' and cool anyway. Luckily, you are just across the road from Central Park so you can walk it all off after you are done. Not to mention the calories you burn whilst shopping. There are a few Sarabeths around as well as a bakery, so if you cant get into this one, try one of the others for sure.

Lunch

Mandarin Court
Mott Street
With such a vibrant China Town, it was imperative we sampled some of the Yum Cha - I have trouble finding authentic Yum Cha's in London. You know the ones I mean, with the lobster tanks near the front door, and the trolley women with major attitude, where you are like the only "westerners" in the restaurant? Like when you were a kid (a lot of my Saturday mornings were spent at Yum Cha, my dad is a huge fan). Well, I found one, it was brilliant, proper authentic Yum cha, complete with all the dishes you cant bring yourself to say yes too. All the old faithful items were there, pork buns, dumplings, those big fat flat noodles with the beef inside.  Our live-in-NY friends take other visitors there now too. So yum.

Dinner

Ok I have a few places that were amazing for different reasons.

Schiller's
www.schillersny.com/
Wow. Can you get any cooler than this place? I loved the fans. Seriously, if you go, look up and check them out. And the bar, so brassy and glittery and gorgeous. It was almost colonial in style, but crossed with a French brasserie. A real treat. I think the food was good, I cant quite remember, it certainly wasn't bad cause I would remember that. I'm sure I had something pasta-ry. The cocktails were good. And we saw Owen Wilson a few tables away. Really cool bathrooms too in a colonial way (don't worry, they flush). I think I spent the whole time there gushing like an idiot cause it just is so COOL!

Megu
TriBeCa
If you want to feel like you are in an episode of Sex and the City - go here. Just make sure you have a bit of cash to burn too cause even though I wasn't paying, I remember it was pricey. First of all, we were directed to the bar which had this grungy vibe crossed with 'pretty', and when I say pretty, I mean the most amazing beautiful patterned papers lining the walls (perhaps this was the inspiration for my wedding invites? Don't know what I am talking about - click here). We were in a booth drinking lovely cocktails for about 30 mins before a woman came to collect us to take us to our table. I remember a lot of cream coloured marble and very carefully making my way down a few sets of stairs (I was wearing shoes a la Carrie Bradshaw) to a huge, heavy, possibly velvet curtain. It was pulled back and the woman leading us gave an almighty yell (something I assume in Japanese) and the chefs (what do you call sushi chefs?) and other diners responded with a shout of their own - AWESOME! There is a massive pond / water feature type thing in the centre of the cavernous room, you can see all the chefs slicing and dicing their way through all types of sashimi, sushi and wagu in their open kitchen (if I remember correctly you can sit up right next to them at the counter and watch - although im sure you would need to book a place). I remember thinking the food was fantastic, and just what I needed to counter the hotcakes with lashings of maple syrup I had been devouring. Its an experience I will remember for a long time.

Odeon
145 West Broadway, TriBeCa
Yum yum yum, this place was very much reminiscent of a French Brasserie, with all the brass and service that comes with it. I remember eating amazing Dauphine Potatoes. This was before I got beside myself with jetlag and being over tired and burst into tears at the table - not brilliant, but I still remember this place very fondly, so it was pretty good! My friend Meagen said "They serve fantastic Bloody Marys and the BEST mashed potato I have ever in my life eaten.  It gets really busy so I would suggest reserving a table." She is a wise woman, follow her advice.

Snacks

There were some amazing cup cake places, that of course I can't remember a name for, but those sorts of things are fun to find yourself anyway.

Bon appetite