For all the times I have visited Bond & Brook I am rather ashamed to say that, until this week, I had no idea Fenwick also had an Affogato Bar under it’s designer wings.

A best kept secret by any fashionista’s standards, The Affogato Bar is tucked away in a quiet corner on the third floor at Fenwick Bond Street and conveniently overlooks designer favourites including Orla Kiely. Modelled on an original Milanese coffee bar, their celebrated namesake are their Affogatos (espresso poured onto a scoop of vanilla ice cream) though their fresh mint teas, juices (apple and ginger, in particular), and light bites are what happened to beckon me up a floor from Bond & Brook.

H Forman’s and Son smoked salmon plate was the catch of the day for me and included sliced smoked Scottish salmon with herb cream cheese and capers, lemon cheeks and toasted soldiers. When paired with a few glasses of champagne, a girly catch-up, and a slice of rich chocolate cake to finish, both the salmon plate and my dining partner’s ‘salad of the day’ offered wonderfully simple and light sustenance among our naughtier lunch choices. Molto buono.

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Last Friday happened to be a rare and ridiculously gorgeous day in London where everything was illuminated a little brighter than before. The type of day that calls for massive food and drink indulgence.

Thankfully, Camden Lock Market recently collaborated with We Make London (a creative organisation who support British designer makers) and City & Country Farmers’ Markets to launch Camden Lock Fridays – a weekly celebration of 30 or so small businesses and stalls in the Middle Yard which alternate Fridays between each organisation.

Naturally, I geared up with a plate of Hola Paella‘s theatrically-served paella and hopped around the stalls on one of We Make London’s allocated weeks. With an enormous selection of hand crafted products (heavy on jewellery, textiles, and small gifts) on offer, there was no better way to spend a Friday afternoon in the sunshine. Highlights included illustrated cards from Fur Feather and Tails, pocket-pimped shirts from Dead Gent, kitschy illustrated brooches from Andsmile, and – my personal favourite – Kate Rowland‘s Feminist necklace.

After rounding the afternoon off with a virginity-breaking trip to Chin Chin Labs (Europe’s first ever Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Parlour), I believe I am having a bit of a love affair with Camden. Don’t tell*.

*JK. Tell everyone.

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For a brief and lovely evening, I recently indulged in a last-minute staycation at London’s Millenium Bailey’s Hotel. Located opposite Gloucester Road Underground station, the Millenium Bailey is situated in one of the most accessible areas to the things I love about London; Hyde Park, the museums, and gorgeous historial streets that wind in and out of foodie hotspots like Tom’s Kitchen.

As a renovated Victorian townhouse, it is fortunate enough to maintain many of its original features (including a sweeping and photo shoot-worthy staircase) while offering every modern amenity you could possibly need. For staycation purposes, even the ‘Standard’ Rooms (ascending in price to Club Rooms and Luxury Suites) are large enough to invite a friend or two over to join in on the fun and build forts (not saying that’s what I did…ahem).

Having been built with the intention to be “not inferior to Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Gate” in a time when there were few hotels in London, Millenium Bailey’s has everything a tourist – or Londoner – could need (enormous room service breakfasts and more).

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Mackerel tartare with caviar, beetroot and horseradish by Dan Loflin of Kensington Place

From the 25th-27th April a brand new event, brought to us by the creators of Taste Festivals and sponsored by AEG, took over Tobacco Dock: The Lab. Welcome to foodie heaven.

Over those three evenings guests of The Lab were able to visit the docks and indulge in experiences led by some of the greatest chefs in the world. Based around the idea of wild experimentation (the X Factor for many of the chefs in attendance) and preparation techniques, the likes of Alex Atala (Chef-Patron of D.O.M), Massimo Bottura (Chef-Patron of the world’s 5th best restaurant, Osteria Francescana), and Ashley Palmer-Watts (Head Chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal) were just a few of the heavy-hitters headlining the event.

Though my schedule only allowed me to spend the first night there in full, it worked in my favour as many of my must-sees took to The Lab that very evening. Kicking off with Alejandro Diaz of Bubble Food taking on the Experimental stage, I was finally (FINALLY!) able to sample some of Bubble Food’s wonderfully insane culinary concoctions (bubblegum popcorn paste, anyone?).

Teased by tasters, I wandered around armed with a paper bag full of colour-coded casino chips that entitled each attendee to champagne, a Rekorderlig cocktail, three ‘Dishes’ (the best of which was Dan Loflin’s tartare, above) and an ‘experimental’ dish. Bubble Food, unsurprisingly, reigned supreme. In addition to trialling their liquid nitrogen poached mousse and creating molecular caviar, I almost stole an entire tray packed with demonstrations of their “spherification technique” (these guys are turning olives into liquid, injecting them into a bath of calcium to form into a bubble, and then letting them pop on the tongue). Mind BLOWN.

Before I could grab a second/third/fourth/whoscounting cocktail, my date and I traipsed into the ‘Noma Flavour Test’ to spend half an hour in a experimental tutorial with Lars Williams (Noma’s head of research and development) and create our very own Noma-worthy dish.

I cannot wait to see where The Lab goes from here…

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This may be one of my favourite Throwback Thursday finds in quite some time. Found in the August 1925 issue of ‘Popular Science Monthly‘, the article above – May Live to See – suggests that city dwellers would be living on four levels after 25 years had passed. Subtitled under ‘How You May Live and Travel in the City of 1950′, I certainly don’t disagree with the idea of a pedestrian-only level of land or a city full of spiral escalators.

Serious talk, guys. It’s coming up to 100 years later. Where my spirals at?