London in Love

I’ve been lucky enough to visit many cities around the world: Paris, New York, Rome, Sydney, all beautiful cities with unique characters… but as much as I love the food, culture and people of these places my heart will always lie in London.

 

An earlier post this week described how I spent my formative years growing up in Amersham, before three years studying for an English literature degree at Warwick University. After completing my degree I headed to Leeds for a year for a master’s degree. Amersham is just outside London so I was often in the big city for the museums, night life and shopping but it had always been my dream to live in the Big Smoke. After my year in Leeds I finally made the transition to live in our capital city, as did many of my friends and we settled into our lives as recent graduates and young professionals.

Redrow London, a luxury property development company, recently contacted me to write a blog post on why I love London or what makes the city special to me. London for me will always be intimately connected with love as it’s where I met Mr Silver and where I fell in love.I decided to write about five aspects of London that have been significant to me during our relationship and remind me of special times together.

1. Our first date and our favourite restaurants


Our first date was drinks at Thai restaurant, Crazy Bear, a gorgeously opulent grotto in Fitzrovia. As I wasn’t drinking and just had a tea, Mr Silver thought I was a girl of simple pleasures…oh how wrong he was! I was impressed when he took me on our first dinner date to Hakkasan which is one of my favourite restaurants.

We discovered a mutual love for Asian food and both adore top London restaurants Nobu, Roka and Zuma as well as Hakkasan. Though Mr S’s actual favourite restaurants are Nando’s, KFC and Big Bob Rib’s shack. That’s one thing we don’t have in common…

2. Seeing London From the Sky 


One Valentine’s Day we had an incredibly romantic date, I booked tickets for the London Eye and we sipped champagne and ate canapes while flying over London. Obviously the canapes were heart shaped because everything tastes better that way!

 

Nothing is quite so romantic than seeing the city lights from a great height and I also love Aqua, The Shard and The Oxo Tower for a date. Sushi Samba is another restaurant on high that is particularly special to me as that’s where we went the night Mr Silver gave me my engagement ring that he’d made especially for me.

 

Or heading to Belgravia, one of our favourite areas that has more of a village feel. We love some of the pubs around Belgravia such as The Thomas Cubbitt and the Pantechnicon. It’s is also the location of the gorgeous Peggy Porschen cafe, where we bought our wedding cake.

 

4. Our Favourite Non-Foodie Date


Mr S and I love a cinema date night and our favourite cinema in London is the Electric. Here you can recline in comfortable leather armchair or sofa under a cosy cashmere blanket with some delicious fresh food and the beverage of your choice.

You can probably guess the beverage of my choice… Mr S and I love going to watch a good film and he’s pretty flexible about the fact I always want to see chick-flicks or silly comedies.


5. Our Wedding


And why will London always have the greatest significance to me for the rest of my life? Because not only is it where I met the love of my life, it’s also where we got married. I was lucky enough to have my wedding reception at The Dorchester Hotel, one of the most iconic and luxurious hotels in London.

 

I think that The Dorchester will now always be my very favourite place in London. Every time I past it on Park Lane or stop for a drink I’ll remember my special day. I promise an extended blog post on my wedding soon but I’m still waiting to get back all the photos.

You can see why I love London so much. The city holds so many memories of love, romance and good times. I couldn’t pinpoint one particularly thing about the city but I know my heart belongs there and I’ll never leave for too long…