East to West

Last weekend was spent at two very different London locations with two very different bunches of Londoners.

First stop was neighbouring Putney for second biggest event in the South West sporting calender (after Wimbledon) = THE BOAT RACE!
We got there around an hour and half before the big race began having not really given it much thought about how busy it was going to be, and it was packed. I have never seen the streets of Putney so busy. Every bar, pub and piece of pavement was occupied by pashmina & flip flop wearing Jack Wills fans. The pubs along the river were making a killing some charging £9 for a pint of Pimms.

Despite the over priced drinks we managed to find a spot, buy some tinnies and soak up the atmosphere in the less then tropical temperatures and although Cambridge didn't bring home the bacon I will definitely be back next year (though I will get there around midday to secure a place!).

On Sunday I headed East to meet my parents. After a delightful wonder round the Museum of London to see the London Street Photography Exhibition we went to The Albion cafe in the Boundary hotel. The Boundary is a newish Coran designed boutique hotel on Boundary Street, Shoreditch. The cafe has a deli and shop which sells very reasonably priced pastries, cute cupcakes and tasty savouries that can be eaten on the wooden tables outside. 'The Caff' is a large airy light space with an open plan kitchen with huge Baker's ovens. Homemade bread is the big draw here, every table gets a lovely rustic loaf tin of freshly baked bread on arrival.

The menu is British based, very brunch orientated focusing on old classics with a modern twist. We settled for a lovely spiced kedgeree & a butternut squash, leek & mushroom bake.

Although the drinks were overpriced even for London standards the main courses were pretty reasonably priced at around £8-10 with gigantic door step sarnies coming in at around £6. All in all the Boundary is a gorgeous light space with some lovely touches: old fashioned water jugs, vintage coffee pots, jars of marmite (if that's your thing) placed on the tables this is a  relaxing, reasonably priced place to lunch in East that's even suitable for parents. The resturant in the basement of the hotel also looked stunning & which I will definetely be paying that a visit sometime in the future.