Exploring Victoria (And Eating A Lot)
Usually when I head to Victoria it's to either catch a train or to go to the theatre. It was a nice change to head south and see what else this area has to offer. Side note: I'd still recommend the amazing shows on here, including Wicked and Billy Elliot. There's also the new St. James' Theatre where I recently saw the awesome and oddly named musical Urinetown. Joining me on my exploration was Angela from The Awkward Blog, and she added her artistic touch by styling the food photo (above), but more on that particular meal later.
We started with breakfast at Benugo on Victoria Street, a branch of this chain that manages to have a the vibe of a cool independent coffee shop; high ceilings, arty walls, and friendly staff definitely help with this. I had a cheese and pickle baguette whilst Angela had the egg and bacon on rye. Both really fresh and yummy!
We wanted something sweet and shared carrot cake and a brownie, the latter being possibly one of the best brownies I've ever had! Angela randomly also wanted to try a chia pot, and I pre-warned her about the 'frogspawn' texture (chia lovers will know what I mean), but of course she loved it. Who doesn't love chia pots?
We headed off to look round, and I was surprised at just how good the shops are here. The Cardinal Place shopping centre has everything you need, film lovers can pop into the Curzon, and there's also the beautiful Westminster Cathedral (below). Built in 1895 in Byzantine style it's definitely unusual for a Roman Catholic church and is a striking piece of architecture. Angela and I went inside (equally stunning) and found that there was a St. Patrick's Day mass going on. The cathedral is so blumming huge that tourists could still walk around unnoticed as the service went on. The cathedral has a huge tower that you can go up. We decided to come back another day and attempt this stair marathon because we can imagine the view from the top would be spectacular.
After all this walking it was lunchtime and we went to artisan cafe Iris & June for something light. This is a really pretty place, all white tiles, flowers, and fresh, seasonal food with plenty of vegetarian and gluten-free options.
Everything looked and smelt amazing and is made onsite by Jodie, the manager and chef. Angela and I chose the caramelised onion tart with bulgar wheat and butternut squash salad. Within the blink of an eye all the tables had filled up (this place is popular!) so we decided to get a takeaway and head to the rooftop garden above the Cardinal Place Centre.
I can imagine this big garden area being full of picnickers in summer, but it was a bit of a breezy day so there were only a small handful of us out in the fresh air munching on al fresco lunch. There are so many bars and cafes in the area, this is actually a really good place to hang out and meet up with friends.
Angela and I found the Iris & June lunch to be absolutely yummy! I'd definitely want to go back there and try some of the other salads, and possibly the gluten-free lemon cake too. Hmmmm.... After a long chat about blogging and life (mostly blogging), we headed off to the nearby tube station. Victoria is so easy to get to from central London, and pretty much everywhere! It's less busy than Oxford Street, but still enough to keep shoppers and cafe-lovers happy. If you want to do more touristy things Westminster Abbey, Tate Britain and Buckingham Palace (which I blogged about here) are all within easy walking distance. To keep up to date with events, places to try and things to do in the area follow Create Victoria. Do you like Victoria? Got any recommendations? Let me know in the comments x
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