London's Best New Cafes and a Hidden Gem of a hotel honest review

London’s best new cafes

Whilst in London recently I visited a couple of London’s best new cafes and will share them with you now. I also found a hidden gem of a place that’s going to open a Dubai branch soon. So if you’re heading back to Blighty this summer, you may want to check out these on trend eating places.

One of London’s best new cafes is Hemsley and Hemsley

Have you heard?

You may have heard of H & M,
but have you heard about H & H?

It’s healthy eating all the way as far as London is concerned at the moment. We’re on the 3rd floor of the iconic Selfridges department store, eating at the instagram inspired Hemsley and Hemsley café or H & H.

Find it on one side of the enormous Body Studio unveiled in April 2016, so it’s brand new.

Expect to eat miso quinoa vegetable broth, cauliflower tabbouleh and coconut buckwheat porridge.

Run by Jasmine and Melissa, 2 young, home cooks whose philosophy is to use whole food, nutrient dense recipes that are free from grains, gluten, refined sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils. That doesn’t mean it’s vegan or even only vegetarian though!

Onions are fried in ghee. Salmon burgers with home made spicy Sriracha sauce are also on the menu.

I tried the feta and black bean burger served with lime slaw and probiotic ketchup. In fact I was inspired enough to make a version of these when I got home to Dubai. Recipe coming soon!

We also had the prettiest beetroot and mung bean hummous with crudités I have ever seen; tasted good as well. I will try a version of this soon.

This restaurant serves alcohol (anyone for gluten free ale?) and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but you can’t book, so be prepared to wait at busy times.

The feta and black bean burger meal cost UK pounds 12.50, about AED 80. Filtered water is free but cold pressed juices are around UK pounds 7.00 that’s AED 42.

Can you imagine a healthy Bounty Bar? Well H & H has come up with one, it’s called a Paradise Bar. The ingredients include coconut, honey and chocolate readily available here in Dubai so I may try to recreate these too.

Do you have a Recipe?

If you have a recipe for a bar like this using Dubai based ingredients then please send it in. I’ll try it and then publish it on the site giving you the credit.

Good + Simple
The probiotic ketchup is on page 278. It is fermented for some probiotic goodness.

Gingernut biscuits made with almonds and ground ginger are missing from the cookbook but my pal in the UK saw them being made on channel 4 and they have been in constant demand since. The Cinnamon Banana Cake that looked so delicious being made is also missing from the cookbook, for good reason – the how to is on their website.

A link to Channel 4 TV in the UK – Eating Well with Hemsley & Hemsley Watch the series on demand.

The Mae Deli

Another one of London’s best new cafes

Deliciously Ella’s newest venture is The Mae Deli.

This café is based at 21 Seymour Place, just a short walk away from Selfridges. The café is big on vegan cuisine. The café is quite small, and is all self service with a very homely, almost cottage feel about it.

Ella is followed by hundreds of thousands of loyal people on instagram including many of my daughter’s friends here in Dubai.

Fresh bottled blended juices cost UK pounds 7.00, that’s about AED 42, a little steep considering you serve yourself.

We visited on a Saturday morning, it was full. We waited almost 20 minutes for a table but then left, so we didn’t actually try the food here apart from the very tasty peanut, cocoa slice that we sampled on the way out. I would go back hoping for a quieter time.

Ella’s food philosophy is to focus on plant based goodness so there are plenty of hot and cold salads and vegetable dips, but they also serve marinated chicken and salmon. Expect to eat chia pudding or porridge bases with nut butters and berries, granola and seeds for breakfast here.

Their cacao and almond energy balls cost one pound each! Try making DoinDubai’s energy balls at a fraction of the price.

A favourite from this book are the Gooey Black Bean Brownies (page 201) Deliciously Ella Every Day: Simple recipes and fantastic food for a healthy way of life

A favourite from this book are the Granola Bars (page 75) but make half the quanity, its plenty for just two for a week. Deliciously Ella: Awesome ingredients, incredible food that you and your body will love

Hidden Gem – Dukes Hotel in Green Park

I’ve lived in London for most of my life and thought I knew most of the hidden gems in central London, but this time we experienced the champagne tea at Dukes in Green Park.

Come out of Green Park tube and walk into the park. With the park on your right hand side, turn left into the first narrow alley you come to and walk a couple of minutes till you find Dukes Hotel on St James’s Place. (number 35)

The building itself is over 100 years old and was a favourite of British nobility, the lift is one of the oldest in London and it’s even got a leather banquette seat in it!

The hotel was recently awarded a World Travel Award in 2015 and I really liked the location, the history and the uniqueness of the rooms. We had tea in the very elegant, duck egg blue drawing room that opens out onto a sort of covered majlis/tent!

We drank Perrier Jouet champagne and had tea and warm scones and sandwiches. But we could have sat in the very feminine Perrier Jouet room itself or had a martini mixed especially for us at our table on the ground floor bar. Expect to wait at busy times.

I am really glad to have found this place and love the sound of their tea in the park deal where a member of staff will personally pack a hamper for you and lead you to a secret place in the park, lay out your tea and then clear up and bring back your things! So a picnic in the park without the fuss, ideal if you’re on holiday! Cost is UK pounds 35.00 a head, about AED 200, great for a special occasion in London.

Or you could just have a pot of endless tea and fresh warm scones in the Drawing Room for just UK pounds 14.00 about AED 70.

I’m really excited that Dukes is opening a branch here in the Oceana building on the Palm and is bringing an old favorite restaurant of mine from Mumbai, the Khyber restaurant, I will report from there in October 2016.

The Cavendish

Neighbourhood restaurant on New Cavendish Street off Marylebone High St

Run by Andrea, an Italian in London who knows a lot about food and the executive chef is Douglas Santi. This restaurant looks like it would be expensive but it isn’t! I think it’s the formally set tables with white linen table cloths and silver ware that make you think it’ll be pricey but don’t be put off.

We sat outside in the sun and had a lunch of burrata salad and tuna tartare to start with and a fresh trout with perfect mustard mashed potatoes followed by a pistachio creme brûlée.

The sea trout with accompaniments was 14 UK pounds so around AED 84 for quality you’d expect from a top Dubai hotel. The pistachio dessert was more than enough for 2 to share and cost UK pounds 6.00 so that’s AED 30.

Great for an evening drink too, half pints of Peroni or Asahi in a very contemporary setting cost just UK pounds 2. 60 that’s about….AED 16.00 !

We will be back. I suggest you have lunch here and wander down Marylebone High street. Pick up the Eat Dirt book by Josh Axe from Daunt Books if you’re serious about healthy eating, or have another drink at The Cavendish instead!

Happy Holidays wherever you are.

If you discover a hidden gem in London leave us a comment, we’ll publish your review and give the best hidden gem review a prize of a meal for two in Dubai in September.

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More to come: the results (recipes) of having been inspired by London’s best new cafes. Or will it be one of your recipes? Challenge me to make one of your recipes and I will publish the most delicious.

And here are the podcasts to accompany this post

PODCAST Talking about Hemsley and Hemsley and the Mae Deli

PODCAST Talking about Dukes Hotel and a tip for Tea at the Shangri La at the Shard!

Thanks Monica

LONDON’S BEST NEW CAFES