Personal | Laura’s birthday

If you’re a Twitter or Instagram follower, you’ll know I recently bombarded your feeds with pictures of my weekend, which I spent in London to celebrate my best friend, Laura’s birthday. Although her birthday is on the 25^th, it was the only weekend we both had free and we definitely made the most of it! So what did we get up to?

Laura drove to Stratford and we parked overnight at the Westfield car park. For lunch we went to Ping Pong, where we shared plates of dim sum and I had the most beautiful watermelon martini. Ping Pong has to be one of my favourite lunch spots, as you can order as much or little as you like and it’s a good thing to share rather than ordering tonnes just for yourself. We chose duck spring rolls, roast pork puffs, char sui pork buns, vegetable rice, chicken & cashew nut dumplings and black sesame seed prawn crackers.

Up @ The O2 was great fun! Upon arrival, we watched a video de-briefing and met our guide, before we got our shoes, jackets and harnesses and we were then ready to climb. It wasn’t scary at all, although it was pretty steep – even on the descent. On the way up and down, your harness was connected to a metal wire and there were several points with locks, which was totally confusing. But at the top, it was time to disconnect, admire the views and take lots of photos! I’d thoroughly recommend the experience and I would love to do it again! Thankfully it didn’t rain either.

 

I had booked a room at the Radisson Blu at Canary Wharf, so we had somewhere to get ready and obviously stay the night! We were totally spoilt with a king-size room, with a large bathroom (including walk in rain shower). We only had an hour to get ready before going out, so here’s a quick selfie!

 

We had dinner at The Drift, on the bottom floor of the Heron Tower. I’m not going to be dedicating a full post to the restaurant and our meal, but it was lovely. It’s such a cool place to meet with friends for food and/or drinks, with a bar downstairs and a restaurant (with lounge seating for those wanting drinks upstairs) on the first floor. It’s all open plan and very airy, so makes for a great experience. I had a fillet steak, which was excellent and we shared chocolate brownie for dessert (which was gorge). The menu is good, with plenty of choice; service was great; prices were reasonable; great atmosphere – lively but not too loud. I’d definitely go back!

 

We followed dinner with drinks and first we went to Sushi Samba, which is on the 38^th floor of the Heron Tower. I have to admit it wasn’t what I was expecting at all, considering the hype which surrounds it. Both inside and outside were absolutely heaving and I felt sorry for the people eating, with the crowds of people constantly pushing past to get to the patio. Outside was beautiful, with the bar in the middle and seating all around the outside.  The views were incredible too, as were the cocktails. I had the Lychee Cooler (Grey Goose, St. Germain and vanilla sugar, shaken with lychee juice and coconut milk) which was lush. We then went to Steam & Rye just off Bishopsgate, where I had an equally extravagant cocktail in the Five Dollar Shake (topped with whipped cream, hundreds & thousands, mini Oreo and mini Twister Lolly). It was busy, with a live singer when we arrived, followed by dancing girls – it was certainly an experience! It’s definitely a place suited to larger groups!

On Sunday, after stuffing my face with a three course breakfast, we made our way back to Stratford, dumped our bags in the car and hit the shops! We also went to the cinema to see Trainwreck, which was hilarious if you’ve not seen it already (go and see it!). I ended up buying a couple of bits in Lush, a new purse in River Island and a cute Aztec print skirt from Stradivarius (my favourite shop). Before leaving for home, we grabbed some food at the international food court and as Laura fancied Chinese, we went to Lotus Leaf. I chose the Malaysian-style creamy red curry with beef (below), which was excellent, if a little on the hot side. There’s so much choice on that floor and it was good ‘street food’.

 

As you can see, it was a fabulous weekend with my best friend and lots of celebrations. Happy Birthday for tomorrow Laura and see you on the 12^th!

Love, Lucy xx