"A Princess always knows she's a Princess"
Elizabeth Taylor as Amy in Little Women
What better place for a princess than London - Land of Princesses!
In fact, there's The Princess above in her natural surroundings, firstly at her home, Buckingham Palace, then playing with the guard at The Tower of London where her most precious treasures, The Crown Jewels, are kept.
This little Princess, though, is somewhat different to most princesses I suspect - SHE LOVES TO EAT. And eat she did. Fortunately for our Princess, she had a wonderful guide, Queen Supergal, who took her to the most wonderful Princess places in the city to taste and test the best Princess delights on offer!
Harrods
The obvious Princess foodie haunt! So full of wondrous Princess food opportunities...the Harrods foodhalls are the most amazing retail food experience on this earth. It brings tears to my eyes every time I visit. It's like how I imagined being in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory must be.
You can see The Princess in raptures by just one of the many cake counters (pic 3), we spent quite some time drooling (yes, even Princesses drool, I discovered) over the chocolate halls and the bakery halls...then moved on to one of the biggest Princess places on the face of this earth. Laduree.
Laduree is actually a French institution - famous for those insanely delicate french macaroons - the Laduree shop and cafe at the back of Harrods is the prettiest one I've ever seen, in fact it's the prettiest cake shop I've ever seen. The Princess was equally enthralled - we sat down for lunch followed by a few of those magnificent delicacies with our posh French tea (all served on Limoges porcelain)...oh-so-Princessy (and oh-so-yum - we took some home with us for "afters"!)
Harrods has a number of special Princessy places to eat, and one of them caught The Princess' eye. Morelli's has an old fashioned ice cream parlour feel - you sit at the counter and order the most ridiculous ice cream sundaes imaginable. The Princess certainly enjoyed her super dooper sundae, while Queen Supergal here went for something more traditional...a Champagne Cream Tea! I handed the champers over to The Princess - she is a princess after all, and does love her bubbles - and dove into my scone! Mmmmmmmmm
When you're finished at Harrods, make sure you pop across the road, a bit further up, and duck into Harvey Nichols - it's a place for cool princesses! The foodhalls on the top floor are hip, quirky and faulousssssss.
Liberty
This is a Princess' paradise. This 135 year old emporium on Regent Street is a veritable treasure trove for Princesses. On the ground floor is a wonderful little cafe called TEA, it's like a little bohemian cave that serves a delicious English High Tea...the perfect snack for a Princess! You can see her above there amongst the finger sandwiches (smoked salmon with cream cheese, cucumber, ham and egg), with the crusts cut off, cakes, scones and posh tea. Tally ho!
Fortnum & Mason
This is the ultimate in Princessness (is that a word?). As the website says..."Fortnum & Mason, since 1707 (that's before Australia was discovered by Captain Cook), has been the quintessential English store"...there you have it...and it's sooooooooooo perdy! Have a look at the picture above, under the high tea pic, it's all as beautiful as that. It's smaller than the other stores, but has such an elegance, and such a special air, it must be visited by all Princesses. The chocolate and lolly departments are definitely for the Princess in all of us!
Wilton & Noble
Wilton & Noble is just around the corner from our London castle...which so convenient for this royal family because they sell my favourite English chocolates, Ackermans (pictured above). I trained the Princess in which ones to select (all my favourites of course); rose creams, violet creams, kirsch cherries, and marzipan - all in dark chocolate of course. These chocolates are this Queen's naughty little secret!
Prix Fixe
Now this one was new for Queen Supergal. Her and The Princess were taken to this fab Soho restaurant by a very very old university friend, Mr Armani, for dinner after the royal London Eye experience (see pic above). So, after an AMAZING meal, where I ate the fattest, biggest oysters ever, and the most DIVINE foie gras, the best I've ever eaten in fact, I declared that this restaurant is perfect for those sophisticated Princess moments. The Princess agreed wholeheartedly.
Gail's
Gail's is for the everyday Princess moments, and let's face it, we all have those! Even the most princessy Princess has to ride the Tube (London underground) sometimes (pic above), even with their new Valentino handbag, and so do they need to sometimes frequent a regular cafe! Gail's is the one. It's my belief that the scones here are the best scones in London (and I've tried a lot of scones) - the original Gail's, and still my favourite, is the one at Hampstead, but luckily for the everyday Princess, you can now find a Gail's in St John's Wood, Notting Hill, Queen's Park and a few other locations that Princesses probably wouldn't visit! Go and eat scones there - they're wonderfully short and crumbly and are like heaven in your mouth. But here's a tip Princesses, anything at Gail's is breathtakingly good.
So, Princesses, there you have it. The Princess Foodie Tour of London! But don't worry if you're not a Princess, now, at least, you can eat like one!
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