Meandering Through Mayfair, London

Saturday was the start to a beautiful weekend, the first Jorge and I have had off or free together in months. Our recipe for a perfect day (when it can’t involve traveling, that is): exploring the back streets, delicious lunch, a few drinks, daydreaming about owning a house and how we would decorate, people watching, a spot of shopping and some time to ourselves before bringing it all back together with a tasty dinner and a wind-down movie.

So we set out walking into the sunshine with not much of a destination in mind, stopping first for breakfast at Paul for my favourite breakfast tea and a pretzel for me and a latte and ham and cheese croissant for Jorge.

We took a slow meander down Sloane Street where the roar of Ferraris is the sound of Summer. There’s fields of poppies growing wild in Cadogan Gardens. If there was one private garden in London that I’d love to have permanent access to, I think it would be that one.

We walked all the way to Mayfair from there, stopping to play phone box tourists with the hoards around Hyde Park Corner. For once, no one stopped and asked me how to get to Harrods from there, so I guess it worked.

It was almost noon by the time we hit the backstreets of Mayfair, so the light was really harsh for photos, but I loved the mysterious shadow play on this red church door, just around the corner from the Playboy Club where we saw people stepping out decked up in hats and tails for Ascot.

I find it endlessly amusing to wander through the side streets, the quiet residential areas just off of some of the busiest streets in the city.

I’m not sure how or why we ended up in Mayfair exactly, but we stayed around that area, poking our noses down mews and alleyways. We stumbled on some gems like Jack the Clipper hairdressers (“London born and bled”).

Sections of this part of London have a real European vibe with outdoor seating and cozy cafes.

While we were in the neighbourhood, we decided to swing by our favourite London art space – The Halcyon Gallery who were showing a combination of works by Colombian artist Santiago Montoya who creates with notes in different currencies from around the world and glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.

I’ve mentioned Chihuly’s work not long ago when we stumbled upon his sun sculpture in Berkeley Square. Well, we walked by again and Jorge hadn’t seen it yet so we got another close up. I still love it.

We sat down for a light lunch and a drink at a little place called Mews of Mayfair which afforded us some pretty spectacular people watching.

It was expensive as far as lunches go, but definitely a nice treat. The food was delicious, as were the cocktails. I chose a pomegranate martini.

Since we weren’t super hungry, we just shared three starters between us. The first was Wye Valley asparagus with a duck egg and dried mushrooms.

Then, the Neal’s Yard goats cheese salad with beetroot, fennel, watercress and toasted seeds.

And we finished off with black treacle cured salmon with Dorset crab, fine herbs and lemon balm.

From there, we started our 45 minute walk home, through the Mount Street Gardens, past Claridges and a lovely little flower shop.

Then it was through the streets of Belgravia where we spotted a metallic silver Aston Martin…

…passed some pretty homes…

…and a very British street party waiting to happen.

Later we headed back to Soho for some Korean food at Bibimbap, but more about that on Monday!