Affordable​ Afternoon Tea in London

In my opinion, having a traditional afternoon tea is a must do for first timers in London! However, finding the right one that won’t break your bank can be a challenge. As some high-end afternoon teas can be £60 or more for just one person. But as a college student on a budget, I wasn’t about to spend £60 for just one meal. So I did some research to find the best afternoon tea for the best price and that’s when I found Candella Tea Room. Located in Kensington just a 5min walk from Kensington Gardens Candella has the perfect traditional afternoon tea atmosphere with the old English style furniture and wallpaper. The menu also featured a good amount of options for sandwiches and loose leaf teas to choose from. At first, we couldn’t decide which tea to try but ended up choosing the Vanilla Grenadine Black tea which I 100% recommend giving a try! I typically love vanilla black tea and found adding the grenadine to be a nice touch. Therefore, if your ever in London and looking to have that traditional afternoon tea experience without spending a fortune on it I definitely recommend giving this place a try!

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Social Raw

After a busy week spent away in Italy and going to Greece on Monday I spent this weekend running errands, which I had to go to Putney for on Sunday. While in Putney I decided to check out this cafe I always pass on my way to Putney Bridge called Social Brew/Social Raw. Which turned out to be this super cute, hip, raw food cafe that sells vegan baked goods, salads, smoothies, and iced coffee (basically all of my favorite things). I was really excited to see that they had acai bowls on their menu, which are a rare find in London! This was actually the first one I found, so of course, I had to get one! It ended up being so yummy and I was super happy I finally found a place that has acai bowls that happens to only be a 5min bus ride from my university. I can’t wait to go back & try another one of their options (or maybe just get another smoothie bowl). But if you’re ever looking to grab a healthy bite to eat around Putney be sure to check out Social Brew!

Italian Market in London? Say no more!

One final blog post before my trip to Italy because last night me and the four other people I’m going to Italy with got too excited about Italian food that we had to go to an Italian market the night before our flight. Okay, we didn’t really but we just wanted to go out for a fun night and my friend has been raving about this place and asked us to go here (and I’m super glad we did!). The market was called Mercato Metropolitano which has an atmosphere perfect for a fun but relaxed night. Hidden in south London, the entrance to the market is a small wooden gate off Newington Causeway street so you have to be looking for it. One of my favorite things about this market was that it has a great indoor-outdoor setting, where most of the vendors are indoors but you can choose whether you want to sit inside or outside. What makes the indoor-outdoor setting so great is that the inside is technically just a glass roof so even when you’re inside your still sorta outside. Despite the fact that it was 40°F when we went, we were still warm because it is well heated with heat lamps and calming brick fireplaces. I also loved how the yellow lighting created a very classy vibe even in a market-style setting. So if your looking for a great market in London but don’t want to deal with tourists this is the place to go! It is also great because it is open at night where most of the other markets in London close around 5-6pm. I would say this place tops Camden if it weren’t that this market was a bit pricey.

Another Day Another Brunch

Another day, another blog post of me eating brunch at some random cafe. I think at this point my blog has started to become more of a food blog than a study abroad one. But you know everyone’s gotta eat so I might as well make the most of my meals by eating them at super cute cafes right? Today’s brunch was the usual eggs benedict and to change it up berry ricotta pancakes from Alma Cafe (Lexi and I decided to get both and share). We originally went to this place because they were supposed to have acai bowls but they no longer serve them, it was okay though because you can never go wrong with some eggs. This week I’ve been trying to get my work done because I’ll be traveling for the rest of the month! But still, been trying to have some fun. I went to the mall yesterday win Fran (which was my first time since I got here) and ended up getting this really cute denim jacket that I’m obsessed with. I only brought a winter coat and my north face so this will definitely come in handy for the little bit warmer weather in Italy (in less than 2 days)! So stay tuned for some fun travel posts!

 

Brunch in Putney: Tried & True

Felt a little like I was home in NY today with my bacon and egg sandwich from Tried & True in Putney. Even though it wasn’t on a New York bagel it was still close enough to satisfy my craving. Especially when pairing it with an iced coffee <3, which I haven’t had yet in London. Unfortunately, school has taken over my life and I haven’t had the chance to go to brunch for a while now. And since brunch is one of my favorite things ever! Lexi and I decided to go check out this place down the street to treat myself after finishing my paper. We wanted to get some exercise in and since it was such a beautiful day this morning we decided to walk there. It ended up being about a 25min walk, which was perfect because we both devoured our breakfasts. 10/10 recommend this place and would definitely go back. It’s a little chillier now than it was this morning (London’s weird like that, everyday its super warm one minute then freezing the next) but it was still a really nice way to spend the day before having to attend class this afternoon. Because even though I’m living life here in London, I’m still a student and have to go to class.

 

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Travel with me: Seville Spain

I haven’t had access to a computer for the past couple days so get ready for a long update on my trip to Seville. If you don’t feel like reading this all, no offense taken, please enjoy the pictures instead! Today was my last day in Seville and my last day in Spain. We left our air BnB at around noon which was when check out was and roamed the beautiful streets of Seville one last time. Traveling to Seville was a great experience thanks to its stunning architecture, beautiful language, fabulous weather, and delicious food. The weather during February is around mid 60’s to low 70’s which is perfect for enjoying the sun while not being too hot. We decided to take full advantage of this and ride around on bikes touring some of Seville’s famous spots like la Giralda (the cathedral), Metropol Parasol, and my favorite, Plaza de España. These are three places I would definitely recommend going to if ever in this lovely city. One reason riding bikes around Seville was perfect was because most of the streets are so narrow that you can’t drive down them. Also, a lot of the time the distance by car was the same as walking so riding a bike saves time and gives you a fun way to get around the city. These endless narrow streets lined with restaurants and quaint shops was one of my favorite parts of Seville. We would bike down a random path and arrive on the plaza after plaza where you would find people buzzing around from shop to shop enjoying the atmosphere. This leads me to another one of my favorite things about Seville. This is that everyone here drinks coffee all day long and sits outside when eating just soaking up the sun in one of these plazas or along a side street. Which anyone who knows me knows how much I love my coffee and how I love being outside. So if your anything like me you will love this about Seville!! I also have a great appreciation for the language in Seville. Even though my Spanish is terrible I loved being in another country that didn’t speak English. Although I wouldn’t recommend going here without knowing Spanish a little or being with someone who knows Spanish because most of the locals don’t speak English very well. Two of my favorite places to eat in Seville was a gelato shop which was right by our air BNB called fresKura gelateria and Mercado Lonja del Barranco which was near the water. The gelato shop is just off of Alameda de Hercules which has great nightlife and all sorts of restaurants, great for grabbing tapas and a drink. Rather than your typical sit-down restaurant, Mercado Lonja del Barranco is an upscale market-style place to eat where you can go up to any counter and pick from numerous styles of food. There was a separate stand to get things such as pasta, sushi, ice cream, or snack platters. Behind the market was a beautiful patio sitting area and bar just along the water. Here we grabbed a nice cold drink after the bike ride to cool off and relax. Overall, I loved Spain and it’s definitely a place I hope to go back to again, hopefully, next time knowing Spanish a little better. Adios, for now, España, you were good to me.

Last day in Valencia

After having an amazing last day in Valencia I’m falling more and more in love with Spain. This morning we walked to a cafe for a fabulous brunch at the Federal Cafe to fuel us for the day. After eating we walked off the food by strolling through the city. We walked all the way to the city of arts and sciences museum and then since it was a super nice day continued to the beach, Playa de la Malvarrosa. Which totaled a 7-mile walk. Once we got to the beach we spent a good amount of time relaxing and having some much-needed drinks before heading back to our Air BNB.

 

Cereal Killer Caf​e

Today I took my third trip to the Camden Market! Clearly, it’s one of my favorite places to go to in London if that wasn’t already obvious. I had to go back again though because I’ve been dying to try the famous Cereal Killer Cafe which is located in the market. The cafe features a retro style with the walls decorated with 80s-90’s themed toys and novelty cereals. The seating area was also quite unique having the seats be beds instead of benches. The cafe sells a wide variety of global cereals including American and British brands. You basically choose the size bowl, the type of cereal, the type of milk, and then add toppings if you choose. The cafe also sells stacked hot chocolates which I couldn’t resist trying the peanut butter one while I was there. Then for the cereal and got cinnamon toast crunch and decided to try salted caramel milk which was surprisingly a really yummy combination! Glad I check this off my bucket list and would definitely recommend giving this place a try!

 

 

Brunch at The Breakfast Club

Today, Sana, Fran, Liv, and I headed into the city to get brunch at The Breakfast Club, which is known for its fabulous breakfasts! Honestly, we were a little underwhelmed after the huge hype up of how good the breakfasts were to find the waffles were kinda dry and hard. Despite the let down with the food, we still enjoyed the experience. On the way to eat I had to stop and snap some pics of these yummy looking donuts but opted not to get any since I knew I was about to eat my weight in sugar and carbs once we got to the restaurant. After eating we took a trip down the street to check out Whole Foods which was unfortunately not what we had hoped either. It sold VERY different foods than in America and I wasn’t really in the mood for trying random brands at this point. But at least now we know it’s not our favorite spot and to just stick to shopping at Asda. To finish off the day we headed to Oxford Street to do some light shopping.

First Time at Camden Market

Today I went to Camden and explored the Camden Market, which I absolutely loved! There were so many different types of foods that it was ridiculously hard to choose what to eat. They had crepes, pizza, burritos, Chinese, Indian, Tai, falafel and so much more food. I ended up getting a crepe since I kinda wanted a breakfast food and been craving crepes for a while. Fran, Zoe, Lexie, and Sana (the other people I went to the market with) ended up getting burritos from this Mexican place which definitely tasted different than the burritos I’m used to getting in New York but were still super yummy. Besides the crepe, I also had a little container of freshly squeezed orange juice that we watched being made right in front of us. After eating we went and explored the market were we saw vendors selling amazing artwork and handmade jewelry. Overall, Camden was amazing and definitely a place I will have to go back to since I really want to try more of the foods and explore more of the market!