006 - England Edition

Written By Jana Shemano
 

Hey y'all! Welcome to my 6th culture roundup! I’m so excited because this one is an England Edition!!! Wooooo **cue the applause track**  

Here’s a bit of an overview of my 3 weeks – I stayed at my fam friends apartment in the small town of Calne (in Wiltshire county) and visited Bath (only hot springs in England.. hence why it’s called Bath), Bristol (this is where Banksy’s from! He has a bunch of graffiti all around the city. See down below for pics!), Marlborough (random village in Wiltshire county) and London (you know)! 

I know at least a couple more of you are coming to London this summer so if ya’ll don’t hit up a couple of these spots I might shed a tear.  ;) I had the most lovely time and have come back even more obsessed with tea and with a newfound love for gardens.

I did a deep dive on 3 spots and then below you can see names + links to other places I went/really enjoyed. I hope ya’ll enjoy! <3

London

I spent maybe a total of 7 days in London and the BIGGEST highlight was this little farm stand/cafe called Natoora, but more on that to come.

My friend Alice (who I was visiting in London) is an environmental machine learning masters student at Imperial. She lives in Notting Hill (right next to Hyde park) with her super cool roommate who's getting a masters in Biodesign at Central Saint Martins.

Yes, Notting Hill is hella bougie, but so lovely. And yes, their wonderful 2 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment costs way less than any of our apartments in nyc. Smh. The even have access to a private garden across the street! Here's us in the garden hehe

I spent most of my time in Notting Hill/Hyde Park and in the East Side in Hackney/Shoreditch. We basically just walked around and ate. As Alice says “the best parts of the day are breakfast, dinner and going to sleep.” Which basically describes our time together.

First stop: Natoora — 5/5 **would definitely go for a 2nd time in the same month. #love #NottingHill

I had the best produce in my entire life at this shop. Big statement ik. Alice and I were absolutely shook and she has insanely high standards. 

I typically am not a tomato person but literally ate one of their tomatoes like an apple. Left pic is alice loving the tomatoes in the shop and right pic is Alice eating a tomato like an apple in hyde park haha. The theme here is Alice + Natoora Tomatoes = Happy

We literally went to Natoora every single day and are basically bff's with the staff now. Lol not really. But they are super nice! One lunch we got their avocado toast with egg and it was delicious – a super simple dish, but you can really tell all of the ingredients are the best quality!!

Basically, Natoora has a super awesome mission – their goal is to create a more "meaningful and responsible food system that preserves seed varieties, growing techniques and flavours that are threatened by modern industrial farming and supermarket culture." (yes, I pulled this straight from their website) Basically, all the best cafes I went to in England shared this mission in common (to an extent). England really knows what's up with seed varieties and knows the importance of preserving them. 

Fun fact — If you watched the new Bridgerton series then you’ll know about Kew which is Kew Gardens which houses the most seed varieties in the world!

Next Stop: E5 Bakehouse — 5/5 **would definitely go for a 2nd time in the same month. #love #Hackney

For context, Hackney — is the "Bushwick" of London (that’s what everyone calls it who is from the states and has lived in London). TBH I didn’t find the vibes of Hackney similar at all to Bushwick… But that's really a whole other conversation lol… Anyway, Hackney has like all the climbing gyms and all the youthful vibes of the city. On the weekends there are tons of people hanging outside of cafes, in the park, etc. It was so lovely.

But omg the bread at E5 was so freaking tasty. One Saturday, we went rock climbing in the morning in Hackney and then had lunch at this bakehouse. I had a pastrami sandwich and a yummy orange soda. They had the cutest garden in the back and sat there for a while with Alice and her friend Stephan. It was such good vibes.

It was really sunny and one thing I really really liked about the east side is there are so many young people just sipping their coffees in front of the cafes on the street. It’s kind of like Fanelli Café on Prince and Mercer but way less pick me girl and much more chill/low key.

Bath

Final stop on this brilliant English tour: Landrace Bakery + Restaurant! — 5/5 **would definitely go for a 2nd time in the same month. #love #Bath

I had the best cardamom bun at this shop. I would literally go to Bath just for this restaurant. It's like maybe 1.5 hrs from London, but so worth it and super easy on the GWR! The vibes were amazing. The bakers were so cool. And the shop was just ugh amazing. I wish they had more shops like this in NYC.  

The ground and first floor were open plans. So on the left side of the ground floor they had a little shop with products you could buy i.e. wheat, oats, jams, etc. and pastries/coffee to go. And on the right side the bakers were doing their thang. It really felt like you were in the kitchen with them. Which I loved. It was super communal and intimate.

Then on the first floor was the actual restaurant. And it was the same as the ground floor — open floor plan and all — except tables to sit at and similarly bakers going at it on the right side. I bought Alice some flour for sourdough making and bough myself a cardamom bun and latte. Can’t recommend this place enough. Would literally go back to bath just for this spot! Here's my half eaten cardamom bun and the super cool bathroom. You can literally see the moisture in the bun!!

Ok, that’s all i’m going to share big deets for!! But below you can check out some more places I went and really enjoyed and totally recommend you go if you are in the areas! <3

London

Bath

Bristol

Jana Shemano
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