As a luxury food blogger, I’m often in foodie capitals to check out their top restaurants. London is one of my favourite stops as the food scene here is always evolving. On every trip I find new eateries and food trends. Weekends in London are quite hectic with fitting in my favourite places, discovering newly opened restaurants, all while blogging and Instagramming. There are just too many good places and not enough time.
Friday
Friday I usually start at Barrafina (54 Frith Street, London, W1D 4SL, 020 7813 8016, barrafina.co.uk), a no-bookings tapas bar that will save you the air fare to Barcelona or San Sebastian. Waiting at the bar for a table is much easier with a glass of cava and the tapas are well worth the wait.
Hedone, above (301-303 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 4HH, 020 8747 0377, hedonerestaurant.com) is my absolute favourite restaurant in London. Swedish born, lawyer-turned-chef, Mikael Jonsson is obsessed with exceptional products and his minimalist style of cooking impresses me each time I eat there.
On my last trip I discovered that The Araki (Unit 4, 12 New Burlington Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 3BF, 020 7287 2481, the-araki.com) had recently opened here. It is the best sushi shop I have been to not only in London, but in Europe. Chef owner Mitsuhiro Araki is an über sushi master from Tokyo, who gave up the three Michelin stars he had in Tokyo and came to London because of his daughter's studies - a brave move. The counter sushi shop only has ten places, but it will blow your mind. The chef serves fantastic cuts of fish, caviar and truffles used for some otsumami dishes.
Saturday
After spending the morning browsing the food hall in Selfridges (400 Oxford Street, London, W1A 1AB, selfridges.com/en/foodhall), I head to Koya Bar (49 Frith Street, London, W1D 4SG, 020 7434 4463, koya.co.uk). The main focus of the restaurant is cold or hot udon noodles and various traditional or innovative broths that go with them, including smoked mackerel, beef shabu-shabu or mushrooms with walnuts miso. I love the small plates, too, like the miso marinated mushrooms.
I am a big fan of Japanese cuisine and have tried some of the best restaurants in Tokyo, so I’m always on the look out for other authentic Japanese spots all over the world. After the morning’s taster at Koya, I might move on to A Wong (70 Wilton Road, SW1V 1DE, 020 7828 8931, awong.co.uk) for dinner. This is far from your everyday dim sum - Chef Andrew has modernised traditional regional Chinese recipes, and the pork buns with a sugar coating are simply delicious.
Sunday
On a lazy Sunday afternoon, I go to Pitt Cue Co. (1 Newburgh Street, London W1F 7RB, 020 7287 5578, pittcue.co.uk) for my fix of pulled pork, which they do here in a truly decadent way - barbecued pork is my weakness.
My other favourite Japanese sushi place is the tiny, seven seater counter restaurant Sushi Tetsu, above (12 Jerusalem Passage, EC1V 4JP, 020 3217 0090, sushitetsu.co.uk) owned by Toru Takahashi and his wife Harumi.
I first discovered Aux Merveilleux de Fred (88 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7 3LQ, auxmerveilleux.com/A-Merveilleux-made-in-London) in Paris. Now I come to this London branch on Sunday afternoons, as I am now addicted to the coffee flavour Directoire -themed meringues with whipped cream. The light texture just melts in your mouth.
Aiste was born and raised in Lithuania. Besides professional modelling, she also studied business and finance in Paris. She writes a luxury food blog luxeat.com, is a skilled photographer and was featured in the 2014 documentary film, ‘Foodies’.
