‘’YesLondon’’ Magazine Reader! Last weekend I was invited for an evening walk and dinner with my friend, Londoner, and the founder of the art publishing house, ‘’VIOCA’’. We arranged to meet at the ‘’Plants’’ restaurant in Central London.

This article wouldn’t exist if we remembered that it’s Saturday evening and we need to book the table in advance… This ‘’failed’’ beginning allowed us to plunge into 5 different worlds in one city during one evening, and for me to hear the stories about each of them. These stories I’m going to share here! 

When we entered the ‘’Plants’’, the restaurant was filled with warmth and a feeling of cosiness. I instantly thought that it would be really well for dinner with family or with loved ones. On our way to the next destination to have dinner my friend narrated to me the history of the restaurant’s creation. ‘’Plants’’ restaurant was founded by Deliciously Ella in 2021, showcasing one of the best plant-based eating in London. Ella’s plant journey started much earlier than this time. In 2011, Ella had health problems which made her spend most of the year in her bed, taking all sorts of medications that didn’t make much difference in order to improve her health. It brought Ella to do research in the science of nutrition and how food can have a positive influence on our health. In 2012 it was not as easy as today to find the abundance of plant-based recipes as there are nowadays, so Ella started the road of creation of her own ones. From the ‘’Deliciously Ella’’ website: ‘’Learning to cook took time, as did regaining my health. It was a slow journey initially, not an overnight fix. It often felt like two steps backward, one step forwards, but I persevered in the knowledge that I had little to lose, and over the next few months and years my health stabilised. I started to feel like myself again, and I've been off my medication for over eight years. I never take my health for granted now and my own experience is what drives me to grow Deliciously Ella, making a nourishing life as easy and delicious as possible.’’

Today Deliciously Ella has 2.4 million followers who came to follow the healthy and plant-based lifestyle, she created a recipe website, a Deliciously Ella cookbook, food products, an app, restaurants with no free tables on Saturday evenings, if you haven’t booked a table in advance; She is successfully and dedicatedly running her family business with her husband, Matthew Mills, and they say today ‘’...and we are just getting started!’’. 

The conversation brought us to the West End. My friend directed my attention to the ‘’Liberty’’, one of London's oldest department stores. (The oldest one is Fortnum & Mason, established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason). Liberty is a Tudor-revival building on Regent Street, established in 1875 and built-in 1924. My friend is an artist and a design lover so he proposed to explore the interior architecture and smell the fragrances. Keep an eye on the wood old staircase, textiles, designer clothes, letters on the walls, and documentary pictures from the past; In 1889, Oscar Wilde, a regular client of the store, wrote “Liberty’s is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper”. 

After exploring the “Liberty”, we aimed to dine in the iconic ‘’Ivy’’ restaurant. 
The “Ivy” was opened by Abel Giandolini in 1917 and started its history firstly as an Italian cafe. Now it is known as a popular place for theatregoers, with Marlene Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, and Laurens Olivier being habitués of the place. “The name came from an exchange between Giandolini and a regular. After he had apologised for his building works, explaining his desire to create one of London’s finest dining rooms, the actress Alice Delysia replied in the words of a popular song of the day: ‘’Don’t worry, we will always come to see you, we will cling together like the ivy’’. All tables were occupied as well but we had a chance to breathe in Ivy’s atmosphere, turbulent and enjoyable, social and very artistic, bright and full of vivid colours and designs. So if you aren’t aiming to have a dinner but are passing by the Ivy, it is worth your glance.  

Finally, we found a table. Roka Charlotte Street was our good luck place. Roka is a Japanese restaurant, serving contemporary Japanese robatayaki cuisine. We ordered a fillet of seabass, yuzu-shiso and ginger seaweed salad, Yellowtail Sashimi, Yuzu-Truffle Dressing, prawns, and sushi and for the dessert, we chose a selection of mochi ice creams. The food was amazing and we highly recommend Roka Charlotte Street to have dinner.  

The evening we decided to finish with a cup of tea at The London Edition. 5-star hotel located in a historic building on the outskirts of Soho invites you to chill at the relaxing and vibrant lobby area, where you can have a drink at the modern Lobby bar, play pull, or just simply enjoy your conversations at the comfortable sofas. We started drinking tea and tasting special shortbread, traditional Edition biscuits. My friend is a boutique hotel lover and has shared with me a story of his ‘’Afternoon Teas challenge’’.  

“About 7 or 8 years ago we with my friend visited all the boutique hotels and big brands in London for Afternoon Tea. Every weekend we used to go to a different hotel to see what creations are made there, and to experience some works of art; in addition, we love tea and we love cakes and pastries. We decided that let’s do the challenge, let’s go to places we haven’t been before. We visited all the boutique hotels in London. We found the experience with boutique hotels to be very personal. Now we are having with you a tea at the Edition; we could go to another coffee shop, but instead, we are coming here to have a unique experience. Ambience is part of the product. This place is homely for me.” 

The list of London’s 5 ‘’Hidden Gems’’ came to an end. Enjoy your London life and the city's best social and cultural landmarks!