London is one of those cities that you can keep visiting, yet the number of sites to see, foods to eat, and beers to drink just never diminishes.  Luis and I had both been to London before our trip last weekend, but never together, so we wanted to go together for a food trip!  You know, for ‘research’.  We kept joking that it was a work trip, because our number one goal was to eat as much as we could, especially brunch and bagels.  Writing this post, four days later, and I think I am still full from all of the treats we had.  We had a great time eating in London, so I want to share our guide to eating in London.  Now, where can I submit my receipts for reimbursement for this work trip?

BAGELS

First and foremost, our trip was built around trying London’s famous bagel shops, to see how they compare to Bruja’s Bakery.  Anywhere you look on the internet, you will see the Beigel Bake is listed as the best place for bagels in London, and Beigel shop comes in a close second.  On Brick Lane, you will find both of these shops, basically next door to each other.  They essentially sell the same things, but it seems like Beigel Bake has all of the fame.

  Both places are bare-bones and remind me of the typical neighborhood Jewish bakery.  Between the two, I actually think I like Beigel Shop more, not only for the chewiness of their bagels, but also the staff is nicer.  Beigel Bake, on the other hand, has more of your traditional Jewish bakery offering, and the authentic no-frills feel.  Both places are extremely affordable, especially if you don’t get their salt beef bagel.  A salmon and cream cheese bagel is just 2.20 pounds!    Give them both a try and decide for yourself.

Also, this was hanging in Beigel Shop.  Dad, I think he looks a little like you….maybe just the hair.

Beigel Bake

Beigel Shop

And for comparison…

BRUNCH

Continuing with the food theme here, we tried a few places, but there were so many more we would have liked to try.

Ottolenghi

We found Ottelenghi because it was featured in a ‘best brunch places‘ article and my tastebuds and stomach were thrilled.  Luis and I both agreed this was our favorite spot on the trip.  From the beautiful presentation, bright colors, lovely staff, and delicious food.  I couldn’t stop taking pictures and those beautifully made salads had me absolutely drooling.  We decided to order one brunch dish (shakshuka) and order one of their salad plates, with a side of salmon (also, putting the food out on the counter was pricesely what sold us to try three salads instead of one or two.  What a marketing plan!).

For dessert, we split a piece of their wonderful rosewater,pistachio and semolina cake.  We were given a huge slice and licked the plate clean.

The Breakfast Club

Honestly, we went to The Breakfast Club 3 times in 2.5 days, but only ate one of those times.  We went twice to the one you see in the above picture- once to look at it and then once for dinner, but before ordering, they told us they were out of various things on the menu, so the next day we went back to another location.  I wanted to try some of their butternut squash dishes, so after a morning run, we gave it a go.

We shared the Butternut Bubble, which was butternut squash, potato & spinach pancakewith mushrooms, asparagus & avocado hollandaise and their ‘Butternut Shakshuka’.  Both were very good, but we are still trying to figure out what exactly the shakshuka part of it was.

Other London brunch places we wanted to try: