A Stroll in Marleybone

Sunday October 8 was another beautiful, sunny day with a high of 25C.

We started the day with a trip to Borough Market to pick up some provisions.  The Market is open every day from 10-5, except Monday.  We thought the place was reasonably busy when we were there on Friday, but the Sunday crowds were out of sight.  

Sunday late morning at the market

Lots of cheese shops with English cheeses

The paella guys doing a good business

There are two adjoining buildings with food

We had a nice chat with these folks as we bought some pecorino and prosciutto.  Our server was a huge Leonard Cohen fan and we showed him a photo of the mural in Montreal.

After dropping the food off in the apartment, we took the tube over to Bond Street, to start our walk up Marleybone Lane and Marleybone High Street.

Matt Smith for Paul Smith and Allan in the Tube 

However, we first had a coffee mission to execute.  Allan wanted to go to Kaffeine, a coffee shop with beans from Square Mile Coffee Roasters, that a friend had recommended.   It was about a 10 minute walk to the Fitzrovia neighbourhood where the café is located.  Kaffeine is an independently owned café and espresso bar with two locations.

Very nice buildings in an upscale neighbourhood

Barista at Kaffeine

We shared an avocado toast on great sourdough and the coffee was very good.  Kaffeine featured beans from a multi-award winning coffee roasting company, Square Mile Coffee Roasters, which was founded in 2008 by Anette Moldvaer and James Hoffmann, who has also written books about coffee. 

Allan discussing beans which we purchased

Definitely a popular place to hang on a summer-like day

We walked back to Marleybone and headed up Marleybone Lane which turns into Marleybone High Street.  We passed an Ottolenghi restaurant that had just opened in 2021.

Putting new sweets in the window at Ottolenghi

We stopped at the Ortigia store.  We had discovered Ortigia in Sicily a few years ago.  I like their fico d'India eau de perfume and both Allan and I have scarves from their collection.  Interestingly, while Eataly in Toronto has some of their products, the shop in London is one of their few stand alone stores outside of Italy and carries their scarves and housewares.

Ortigia store--- I bought a scarf (cashmere and silk- in the darker blue on the left)

Full range of Ortigia products

We stopped in a few beautiful up-scale grocery stores with beautifully displayed foods.

Lovely fruits, veg etc.

Our next stop was one of our favourite book stores- Daunt Books.  Daunt Books is an independent chain of bookshops in the UK, founded in 1990 by James Daunt.  There are now nine stores across the UK.  The Marleybone store is housed in a former Edwardian bookshop with long oak galleries and a beautiful skylight.  The store originally specialized in travel and Daunt Books still arranges its sections geographically, with guides, travel writing, history and fiction grouped by their relevant country.  There is also additional fiction and non-fiction sections.  The staff is very helpful and friendly.  We had a nice chat with someone who was working his first day at the store.  Definitely a dream job for a bookie.

Entering Daunt Books

Beautiful interior (two floors).  Busy on a Sunday.

It's always fun to see the books we know with their different British covers.  

We passed Marleybone Bar and Natural Kitchen- housed in a building with a sign-
The Old Rising Sun, 1866

Another restaurant (Fischer's) housed in a beautiful building.
The restaurant serves Viennese food and has been open since 2014.

Marleybone has been a Low Emission Neighbourhood since 2016


Beautiful park at the top of the street

We meandered some more and then walked back to Marleybone Lane where we stopped for a glass of wine at 28º-50º Wine Workshop and Kitchen.  It was still warm and we chilled out there before heading back to the apartment at around 6:30 p.m.

We were sitting at the next table looking up the street

Allan prepared a lovely charcuterie plate with some vegetables and a salad.  A glass of wine and chocolate for dessert.  I don't think we have ever experienced such a nice period of warm, sunny weather in London on any of our visits.  It definitely is conducive to exploring different neighbourhoods and staying outside.   However, we do have a visit to the Tate Modern planned for Monday October 9. 

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