London is an absolutely magical place to experience the Christmas season!✨ This was our second time spending Christmas in London and I'm going to give you a breakdown of all the places we visited, where we ate, and what we would absolutely do again (and a couple things we would do differently)!
Logistics:
🏨 Hotel: 1 Hotel Mayfair (highly recommend—walkable to just about everything, great food, excellent hospitality, nice but with a relaxed vibe and nature-inspired design)
🗓️ Dates: Dec 24th - Dec 31st (we were able to get MUCH cheaper flights these days)
✈️ Airline: we look a direct, overnight flight on British Airways from Austin to Heathrow
🧳 Travel essentials: linked in my Amazon storefront. The vacuum-sealed bags are game changer when packing big winter coats. https://amzlink.to/az0c2kYXtYv8H
Experiences we would recommend:
🛍️ A trip to Harrod's (we aren't big shoppers but we love the Food Hall and Chocolate Room!)
✨ For lights: Regent Street, Oxford Street, Carnaby Street, New Bond Street (where the luxury stores have light displays)
🍱 Lunch at Borough Market (come HUNGRY)
🫖 Diamond Jubilee Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason
🚶♀️➡️ A long walk through Hyde Park
🎄 A trip to Covent Garden
🎭 Seeing Wicked (or any play really) at the theater
Restaurants we tried (ranked):
5. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (Contemporary British; Knightsbridge) - Two-starred Michelin fine dining restaurant offering unique flavor pairings, a quiet atmosphere, and the "what am I eating?" vibe known to Michelin-starred restaurants. The full 6-course experience was about 3 hours. If you like fine dining and you're checking off your Michelin star bucket list, this was a very cool experience; however, it wasn't for us.
4. Pavyllon (French; Mayfair) - Another fine dining establishment that is located in the Four Seasons hotel. The food was very good. We'd highly recommend sitting at the bar. It felt a little stuffy to us but we are discovering that we like a relaxed, lively atmosphere. (Now this is going to sound like blasphemy but we are also realizing French food isn't even in our top 7 favorite cuisines.)
3. Agora (Greek; Borough Market) - Casual, bustling, half of what we ordered was FABULOUS and the other half was okay. We loved the atmosphere and would eat here again!
2. Ambassador's Clubhouse (Indian; SoHo) - Whoa!!! This is a sister restaurant to the famous Gymkhana, which we couldn't get into even though I set my alarm to alert me the minute reservations opened 90 days out. Ambassador's Clubhouse was exceptional and its hard to imagine Gymkhana being better. Our waiter was really helpful in navigating the menu because we aren't super familiar with Indian cuisine.
🏆 1. Lita (Modern Mediterranean; Marylebone) - So good we went twice! Doesn't seem like you can go wrong ordering here. We wouldn't be surprised if they earn a Michelin star soon so go while you can still get in relatively easily. Strozzapretti, Pumpkin Salad, Chocolate Sorbet, and their bread and butter were the standouts, but again, you can't go wrong.
*We went to Elystan St (Modern European; Chelsea) last year and it was fabulous!! Would highly recommend! This would be tied for #2.
And if you're looking for a good matcha latte in London, this is my ranking of all the places we tried:
6. Kiss The Hippo (SoHo, many locations) - I want to rank this higher because they make their own but milk but it wasn't sifted and it was a very dull green. Pro: they have tons of locations.
5. HJEM (Knightsbridge) - Again, I want to rank this higher because of the homemade nut milk but it had a very weak matcha flavor and the nut milk was pretty bland. Would I go again, probably because I liked the little cafe.
4. Granger and Co. (Marylebone) - Best nut milk by far!!! It would be my #1 if this was a nut milk test but the actual matcha wasn't sifted and wasn't very vibrant in color. Would happily order again though.
3. 1 Hotel Mayfair (Mayfair) - Vibrant green, sifted and whisked, good coconut milk, good flavor. All around a great matcha latte.
2. H.R. Higgins (Mayfair) - All of the pros of #3 but I preferred their matcha to milk ratio (their to-go cups were smaller so you didn't get as much milk, which I like). They also have amazing lattes here! This was Kyle's favorite coffee shop of the trip.
🏆 1. Whisk by Jenki (Borough Market) - Best quality matcha (vibrant green, great flavor), sifted and whisked to the point of creaminess, delish!
What we would do differently next time:
If budget allows, go earlier in the season. The crowds are crazy at Christmas so a late November/early December trip would be preferred. There are also a lot of shops that close for 1-2 weeks around Christmas.
Go to the theater 2-3x. We've loved our theater experience and wish we did 2-3.
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