A London Food Adventure! 2 Days, 8 Healthy Spots
I finished my masters
degree in Manchester at the end of September last year, and this July we had
our graduation! My whole family (my parents and my brother) were coming over,
and to make a trip of it we decided to take a few days on London on the way. If
you know me or follow my youtube channel, you know that finding new
healthy food places is one of my favorite things. I have so many stars saved
all over London on my google maps so when we decided we were going I started
planning every meal I would have while we were there so that I could visit as
many of those places as possible. Am I crazy? Maybe just a little, but that's
okay! It definitely gave me plenty of amazing food experiences :) As we were
only there for a little less than two days, I worked out that I would be able
to have two lunches, one breakfast and two dinners. I decided to have dinners
with my family as they were not too keen on being dragged all over the city
just for some food. So that left me with three meals open. Not that much, I
agree, but I really do feel that I was able to make the most of them!
Amongst all of my saved
stars on google maps I also have quite a few stores selling healthy and organic
items, so of course I had to try to factor those into the equation as well. The
main ones I wanted to visit were Planet Organic and Whole Foods, and the
Selfridges food hall if I had time. I managed to get to all of them, so overall
I would say that it was a very successful trip! Here are my thoughts on the
places I went to:
Farm Girl is an independent cafe on Portobello road, and it is
inspired by the cafes in Australia. You walk into the cutest little yard, where
they have both indoor and outdoor seating. And their menu is so great. They
have both breakfast options like smoothie bowls, granola, eggs ++, and they
also have a ton of lunch options, drinks and sweet treats all made form good
ingredients. My mum and I went there for breakfast, so I had a pitaya (or
dragon fruit bowl) and a rosewater latte with almond milk and my mum had a bowl
of granola with yogurt and berries, and this golden liquid drink with turmeric,
ginger lime and a bunch of other amazing ingredients. This is honestly one of
my top favorite food places of all time, I highly recommend it!!
The next one is The Mae
Deli, founded by deliciously Ella and her husband. As they are more of a deli
style they have a lot of premade dishes that you can choose from, and also
breakfast options, smoothies, juices and sweet treats as well. One of their
meal options is that you choose four of the remade dishes so I had a quinoa
one, a sweet potato one, some amazing guacamole and sweet potato falafels. I
also ordered a green smoothie which was such a dream, and a signature cake.
Everything was really tasty, but the smoothie was probably my favorite.
Then I went to Farmacy in
Notting hill which is another favorite. The place was just so beautifully put
together. It is a pretty new vegetarian place and I’m so happy I managed to go.
Again, they have such an amazing array of dishes: breakfasts, lunches and
dinners, sweets, drinks, health shots and more. I had a middle eastern super
bowl which was just so wonderful with a ton of elements to it, and I also had a
lemonade with was amazing as well. This is definitely another place that I will
come back to next time I’m in London, and I highly recommend it!
A place that I had planned
to go to was 26 grains, but unfortunately they actually closed for the summer
two days before I got there. Such a bummer! But they open again in September,
so if you get the chance to go they have the most amazing and delicious porridge
selection!!! And their location in the middle of Neal’s yard is so cute too!
The final food place I went
to was La Gelateria. This one is not particularly healthy, but I wanted to
mention it as they have some amazing vegan ice cream there. It is in the covent
garden area and is definitely worth a visit if you’re an ice cream lover like
me! I got the pistachio gelato and it was so yummy!
The first shop I went to
was Planet Organic. They have 7 different locations throughout London, and is
such a great stop if you’re into healthy food. They focus on organic, natural
and sustainable products and they sell most things you would find in a normal
grocery store, just healthier versions. It is definitely a bit more expensive
than a regular grocery store, but so worth it in my opinion! And they have
fresh items and a juice bar too. I got an amazing green juice with pear,
cucumber, kale, parsley and lemon, and I would say that it is probably the best
fresh juice I've ever had!
Then we have Whole Foods,
one of my favorite places ever!! It is a bit similar to Planet Organic, but so
big. The store that I went to on Kensington High Street was two floors and
pretty much pure heaven! They also have four other stores in the london area,
so you should be able to find one close to you. I don’t even know where to
begin with this store, they have so much stuff! Everything from juices, spices,
beans and grains, fresh foods, premade foods, dried goods, supplements,
vitamins, superfoods, natural beauty products to a food bar, books, a deli
area, literally everything you could want! I found that some of the prices were
actually slightly cheaper than Planet Organic, but I only checked a couple, so
it might be the other way around with other products.
As I mentioned, I also managed
to get to the Selfridges food hall, which was my last spot. It has a ton more
than just healthy food, but they have a good selection of that as well! They
have some great things in the refrigerated area and also an entire isle of
health foods too. They also have a press juice bar, fresh produce and it is
just a really fun place to have a look around in!
So those were the places
that I managed to get to! I filmed a video showing all of them, and I also
filmed another video with all of the food and health stuff that I picked up
while I was there so I'll leave those at the end of this post.
First I would like to
mention some honorary places though, that I didn't get to go to this time
around, but that I've been to before and really liked. The first one is The
Detox Kitchen. They have a really great selection of healthy food, and is
another amazing place to eat of you’re close to any of their two locations.
Another great one is The Good Life Eatery. I'm pretty sure they have a few
different locations now as well, and their food is so good and so good for you!
I also have a few (read
100) other places still on the list, ready for the next time I'm in the area.
They are: Mildreds, NAMA Raw Food, Tanya's Cafe, Wild Food Cafe, Ethos, Roots
Juicery, Yorica! and Honey & Co. So I definitely think I have some yummy
times ahead! Please let me know if you have any other suggestions, the list can
never get too long! :)
