Things are seriously changing. I'm moving back to Canada in little more than a month, ready to begin my PhD in September. I'm leaving a city that has truly become home to me, a city that has at once terrified, fascinated, engulfed, and exhausted me. When I moved to London, it took me months to reset my internal pace to that of the city; years later, I find myself able to walk at full-speed through a crowd on Oxford Street. It is in this city that I learned how to live like a salmon constantly swimming upstream - and it's made me much stronger in so many ways.
I didn't have a clue about the city when I moved here, really. But I made a point of figuring it out as best as I could; I explored all my local restaurants, tried some of the nicer ones, and started cultivating a routine. Today, I feel badly for the millions of tourists who find themselves in the middle of London, confronted with a daunting array of bad restaurants. There are good ones if you know where to look, but even for those who live here, this takes time and research. Testing and more testing. But you eventually find those fantastic little spots, off a side street or tucked off the tourist routes. There are some places that are ever popular - St. John, Ottolenghi, etc. - but likewise there are places that lots of people know and love but just keep quiet about.
Each time a friend has visited the city, I've received a kindly-phrased request, usually along the lines of "Where is good to eat in X-location?" I always enjoy taking friends into my favourite places. When I announced my plans to move away, a few of them suggested that I use the next few weeks on the blog to document these - my definitive list of places to eat in London. Some cafés, some bakeries, some restaurants. High-end to on-the-go. So this is my first suggestion.
*****
Nordic Bakery
14 Golden Square, London, W1F 9JG
http://www.nordicbakery.com/
The Nordic Bakery is exactly as you might imagine it: blue walls, simple wooden tables, and a shiny glass frontage. On the days that I work in the Victoria office, I like to hop off the bus at Regent Street and wander over to the bakery. There is always a queue first thing - everyone waiting for one of their indescribably strong coffees and warm, intensely sticky cinnamon buns. I pop in and grab mine to take away, then walk, eating and drinking, down Piccadilly. It is a brilliant wake-up routine.
But I also go here for a completely different reason. When I have loads of writing to do and simply can't bear the British Library, I go to the Nordic Bakery. Because this place has a distinct lack of atmosphere. No music, no noise. The interior is non-offensive. It's both physically and audibly quiet. And this isn't a bad thing... it's pretty darn special in the middle of Soho. I've sat at a back table here for an hour and gotten more work done than I'd do in the library in an entire day. And they're really welcoming - get a cup of coffee and stay for quite some time. No one will bother you.
They specialise in an array of Nordic pastries - cinnamon buns, karelian pie - and they do a selection of smørrebrød. They sell lingonberry jam and elderflower cordial, and even have a nice little cookbook available. Worth a stop-off for breakfast or a snack after a long day's shopping.
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