August Bank Hol & Whitstable Day Out

Instead of going away for the weekend, Jaimee and I opted for a jam-packed London weekend. It was such great fun. This is how I want to spend all my weekends - making the most of where I live, doing new things, and sharing it all with friends.

Saturday afternoon we spent wandering around Shoreditch, had a late lunch at Albion Cafe (I had the best chicken sandwich in town), had a cocktail at Nightjar and then went to dinner at Bruno Loubet's new restaurant, the Grain Store in King's Cross. I went to his restaurant, Bruno's Bistrot, in Toowong years ago. My salted watermelon, peach, basil and smoked salmon salad starter was refreshing and delightful; and the lamb belly with broad beans, spiced mash, mint pickled cucumber and pink top turnips was a perfect spring dish which felt super healthy with all the veggies. My dessert was a little disappointing - never let the waiter choose.

On Sunday we saw an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery called an Alternative Guide to the Universe which turned out to be quite freaky and unsettling, had a bite to eat at the Waterloo food market, a couple of glasses of wine at Vinoteca and then went to see 90s fave Janeane Garofalo (of Reality Bites fame) doing a stand up session at Soho Theatre.

And today Jaimee, Damian and I escaped to the seaside for the day. We walked for miles along the pebbled beach of Whitstable in both directions. We had fish pie for lunch, ice cream cones, I ate some oysters (must be done in the home of the oyster), we sipped on cider in the sunshine and we ate fish and chips for dinner as the sun set.

It was an excellent weekend. And if it marks the end of summer so be it. It ended on a day of glorious sunshine and I was out in it all day long.