Wee Birdy

What to take home: Fortnum's Honey

Fortnum & Mason is one of my first stops if I’m looking for something quintessentially London to send to family and friends in Australia – whether it’s a canister of their iconic tea or a jar of Rose Petal Jelly.

 


Now I can add Fortnum’s honey to the list, which is actually harvested from the hives on top of the building in Piccadilly. I love the idea of bees getting busy high above the bustle of Piccadilly. The bees feast on pollen in the nearby gardens of Green Park, Hyde Park, and Buckingham Palace, and the honey is limited to just 400 jars. But apparently there has been a rush on pre-orders, so there are just 60 precious jars left.* Available now for £10.

Fortnum & Mason
181 Piccadilly
London W1A 1ER
Tel. 020 7734 8040
Nearest Tubes: Piccadilly and Green Park
Click here for a Wee Birdy map.

* NB. I've just been informed by Fortnum's PR that there's been such a buzz (sorry, couldn't resist) about the honey, that stocks may in fact be depleted. Best to call customer services on 0845 300 1707 first. If they're out of stock you can put your name on the waiting list for the next harvest. Can you imagine? The bees have a freakin' waiting list!

My Secret London with Imelda Burke

In the latest instalment of My Secret London, I caught up with Marylebone's organic beauty queen, Imelda Burke, owner and founder of Content Beauty/Wellbeing. She opened up her little black book to share some of her secret London gems...

Best for a books?
Books are an ongoing obsession – our house is covered in them. We’ve got everything from art and photography books to medical encyclopaedias - it’s quite an eclectic collection. I go to Donlon Books for the hard-to-finds. It has the best photography and art collection and books on subculture. It’s now got two stores - one in Bethnal Green and one in Broadway market.

For books to give your brain a workout, I love The School of Life. Their faculty have read their way through thousands of books to bring you a carefully edited selection. They have the best categorisation of any bookshop I’ve been to. Shelves are organized in the following topics:

How to turn over a new leaf
How to know you’re in love
How to be green on the cheap
How to be more creative
How to enjoy your own company
How to make the world a better place
How to find pleasure in everyday things
How to understand your childhood
How to survive melancholy
How to find a job you love
How to think deeply about life
How to get on with other people

Charlotte Mann's hand-drawn walls at The School of Life.

Best for vintage?
The Peanut Vendor, a mid-century furniture shop based in Newington Green in Islington. It’s filled with wonderful, previously-loved pieces of furniture and homewares as well as design classics. Look out for G-Plan and Ercol classics.

Best for interiors and gifts?
Rob Ryan’s store on Columbia Road, Ryantown, would have to be my favourite. From tiles to prints, glassware and now cushions – we decorated the treatment room at CONTENT BEAUTY/WELLBEING with his ‘No other planet could be as beautiful as this one’ print.

Best for stationery?
I love a notebook and the best come from www.o-check.net. Their ‘Another Day, Cloudy Memory’ notebooks are sometimes available from twentytwentyone. Made from old-school heavy newsprint paper, numbered and fabric-bound.

I also love their cards, especially the ‘Spring Bird’.

Others I love are from the Monocle shop in Marylebone. Great linen-backed notebooks designed by the Monocle team in London and produced in Germany by Brandbook.

Best for kids?
Jabberwockie in Islington has the best clothes, gifts and shoes for kids. Great for presents, skincare and quirky Japanese ranges. Don’t bother with the mainstream.

Best for beauty/skincare?
That would be my own shop, CONTENT, of course! A selection of the best organic brands such as Dr Alkaitis and Pai Skincare and established near-natural brands like Ren and Nude. We also have one of the most extensive collections of natural perfumes and hold CONTENT wellbeing evenings once a month, which include food and wine tastings and tips for keeping healthy from our team of naturopaths.

Best London souvenir?
I think the best thing to take home from London is an appreciation for the diversity living in a large city brings and the energy it creates.

Best place to eat?
Saf vegan restaurant in Curtain Road.

Click here for a Wee Birdy map of Imelda's secret addresses.
Click here for more Secret Londons.

London must-drink: Bloody Mary at Automat

Anyone who's spent a little time in my company knows that I fully appreciate the finer qualities of a well-made, full-bodied Bloody Mary. I won't linger on the makings of the perfect Bloody Mary, suffice to say that it usually comes down to good quality tomato juice (and vodka), as well as just the right balance of Worcester sauce, chilli sauce/Tabasco, salt and pepper. And a deft squeeze of lemon is crucial. Too much lemon can be a great Bloody Mary's undoing. Same goes for too much ice (watered-down spicy tomato juice is not very pleasing).

I've had quite a few excellent Bloody Marys in London (The Wolseley, The Narrow, and The Diner) but I love visiting Automat on a late Saturday morning, usually following a prolonged tour of Dover Street Market. May I suggest that the Bloody Mary goes down particularly well with the classic Automat burger, which comes complete with pickle and a side-serving of fries. Very pleasing, indeed.

Happy Saturday!

Automat
33 Dover Street
London W1S 4NF
Tel. 020 7499 3033
Nearest tube: Green Park
Click here for a Wee Birdy map.

For shopping in Mayfair, click here.

My Secret London with Neal from Present & Correct (Part 2)

In part two of My Secret London with Neal from Present & Correct, we find out exactly where he shops for stationery, children's toys, skincare ... and stacks more. Dig in, birdies.

Best for stationery?
Present & Correct of course! I always check out Magma, Muji and Shelf too to see what they are stocking on their shelves. Most of all I think that there are some brilliant old-school stationers dotted around. Belsize Stationers in Hampstead is a good example. Lots of binders, school notebooks and an eraser for any mistake. Holloway Arts, on Holloway Road is another good one. They have an old Letraset sign that I have been coveting for around 8 years.

Some of the design and stationery goodies from Neal's online shop, Present & Correct.

Best for kids?
Caramel has a great selection of things. The museum shops too, especially The Natural History Museum. And Couverture. Anywhere that sells traditional wooden toys makes me happy.

Above: wooden toys at Couverture.

Best for skincare?
I always buy Aesop products for myself and as gifts, I love the old-style apothecary packaging. The store itself is original and fun. You can’t beat Boots though. A good long walk in any London park will work wonders, too.

Neal out for a stroll on Hampstead Heath.

Best London shopping secret?
My friend Emma introduced me to Sunbury antiques market in Kempton. Get there early and be prepared to dig through lots of nonsense to find a great gem.

Above: Treasure to be found at Sunbury Antiques Market.

Best London souvenir?
A bag of Brick Lane bagels and something to put on them from Fortnum & Mason.

Best place to eat?
There are a few, because I love to eat lots and try new places. For breakfast The Modern Pantry on Clerkenwell Road is brill, as well as Bob Bob Ricard in Soho which is an OTT diner/brasserie where the staff have gold and pink uniforms and the menu features Farley’s Rusk milkshake!

Above: the fabulous interior of Bob Bob Ricard.

Ottolenghi is always good for lunch, as is Leilah's at Arnold Circus near Brick Lane. Market on Parkway in Camden is great and not dissimilar to the brilliant Quality Chop House in Farringdon - hearty British dinners.

Café Paolina on Kings Cross Road is a wonderful, cheap Thai café. Wood panelling, fake flowers, melamine chairs. An old greasy spoon now run by a super-friendly Thai family. Monmouth is always great for coffee, at Borough Market or in Covent Garden. I plan to go to Petersham Nurseries this year as I have been wanting to go for ages. 

I like eating on the sofa at mine, too. It’s BYO at P&C headquarters.

For all addresses and a Wee Birdy map of Neal's secret London, click here.

Read more about Present & Correct here.

For more secret Londons, click here.

Wee London finds: Walk-in cocktail

I’m slightly obsessed with kooky-foodie architects Bombas & Parr, the London-based company behind the rather fabulous St Paul’s jelly.

The walk-in breathable cocktail is their latest theatrical food experiment, and it’s being unveiled today on Ganton Street. They're using the same technology as Anthony Gormley’s Blind Light at the Hayward Gallery – which was quite an unsettling and disorienting experience.

It also involves donning a special protective suits before walking into a mist of gin and tonic water. To further enhance the ‘inner cocktail world’ experience, the interior will be decorated with giant limes and oversized straws. Once inside you can order food from a special menu that compliments the cocktail.

And by the sounds of it, Bompas & Parr are just getting started. Harry Parr says, “I’m interested in states of matter. Here we’ve vaporised a cocktail. In the future I would like to make a liquid banqueting table. In the 1905 Gondola Banquet the Savoy Hotel was flooded and the meal was eaten on a floating gondola surrounded by live swans with dessert presented on the back of a baby elephant. That would be the ultimate meal.”

While we’re waiting for the liquid banqueting table, feast your eyes on some of the other edible creations in Bompas & Parr’ s portfolio… I adore the bespoke tiered jelly display - perfect for wobbly wedding celebrations!

Alcoholic Architecture
16 to 18 April and 23 to 25 April
2 Ganton Street
London, W1F 7QL
Opening hours:
5pm – 11pm
Tickets £5, available from www.jellymongers.co.uk