30 May 2017: Lego and afternoon tea
Today, we skip breakfast. We need to have an appetite for later in the day. But first, we hit the Covent Garden area. Then, we visit the new flagship Lego Store at Leicester Square which opened last Autumn. There are lots of lovely Lego decorations in the store. A life-size Lego tube train and an almost π life-size Big Ben clock tower. In the upper floor, there’s a huge 3D Lego mural of London. Just beautiful. I’m getting ideas for our flat! π
Now we have to hurry. We’ve got a reservation at One Aldwych Hotel for half past twelve, for a ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ inspired Afternoon Tea. First, the savoury bit: salmon, egg mayonaise, coronation chicken, a veggie wellington and a quiche. Served with tea of course.
This is followed by the sweet part: a basket with scones with clotted cream and jam, muscles shaped brownies and a blueberry brioche. And a little stand with some extraordinary delicacies: Lemon meringue pie in a glas, a raspberry cake pop with white chocolate and pistachios, golden eggs (made of chocolate and completely edible) with a cheesecake and mango cream, candy floss and chocolate caramel milk in tiny bottles. Wow!! It takes us two hours to get through all of that. π
Slower than before due to our heavy stomachs, we continue to our favourite stores. But are a bit disappointed both by Forbidden Planet (science fiction store) and by Foyles (book store). Their famously big selections seem to have shrunken to make room for mainstream merchandise.
We continue our way through the area, walk by Neil’s Yard, Seven Dials, Centre Point and up and down Tottenham Court Road. Where we discover hidden alleys, tiny streets and gardens that let us forget that we’re in the middle of a metropolis. London keeps surprising us!
For dinner, we plan to go to Dishoom. But even three years after it opened its doors (and at a remote location), there’s a long queue. No, we don’t wait an hour and a quarter to get a table. We drive back to the hotel and leave again on foot, to an Indonesian place we found online. We take a roti and noodles with us and eat it in the hotel.