May 23, 2007
The Orangery at Kensington Gardens
It was a beautiful day in London yesterday and it also happened that Umami was in London and so we met up at a cafe called The Orangery situated in the heart of Kensington Gardens.
It's situated in this building facing immaculately pruned lawns.
The white, refreshing interiors of the cafe mirrored the lovely weather outside.
Some lovely spring flowers to brighten the place!
I felt that I needed some greens just to keep a more healthy diet and decided to go for the tomato, feta and basil salad. This costs £3.95...I don't even want to think about it in Singapore dollars anymore, 'cos that just gets depressing!!! It tasted OK...I mean, there's nothing much to it anyway. I had a cup of lemon & ginger tea to go with my food too. What's afternoon tea without tea?
Umami ordered the Orangery Cake which had some icing at the top and some orange bits in within the sponge cake. I thought it was a little dry for me and didn't really like it that much when I tried a bit of it.
She also ordered the fruit scone which came with full cream and jam. We were rather disappointed with this scone as they had reheated it by microwaving it, and so it didn't taste very good (we were placing high hopes of having some good English scones here).
Seeing that it was such a gorgeous day, we decided we couldn't just sit in and that we had to do the weather justice by taking a walk in the park. After all, such weather doesn't come all that often in UK!
We came across many squirrels nibbling on their food and these squirrels are so used to humans that they have no qualms about coming right up and sitting next to people. They were all very adorable!
Many people were out boating on the Serpentine, a lake within Kensington Gardens. That just made me itch to paddle. I miss paddling!!! Hordes of people were also out sunbathing on the lawns. All that's missing is a beach which will never ever materialise here!
Meanwhile I've been exploring the neighbourhood and I must say it's really very nice and charming! Many small and pretty shops! But I can't buy anything at the moment so that's pretty useless to me now.
I've also discovered that my two pals, Joe & Keith are very good cooks. I need to hone my cooking skills now. I bought blueberries and strawberries from Sainsbury yesterday and so I'm enjoying these seasonal fruits!
Anyway, back to the Orangery. My verdict is that the place scores higher on ambience than its food. But I think I'd rather do a picnic in the open...bring some food, a book and just lie on the grass and enjoy the sunshine!
Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London, W8 4PX
Tel: +44 (0)871 3327927
Hi!! I hope you're enjoying yourself in "sunny" London! It's freezing in Sydney at the moment. I wish I could be there with you and Joe. You must be having a blast. Good luck with everything : )
Posted by: Knuffy's Owner at May 23, 2007 10:14 PMHeys if you are at Kensington area, be sure to visit Muffin Man at High Street Kensington, its scones rockkk!!! All my friends and I swear by them while we were studying in London, it's so sad that we can't find scones as good as Muffin Man's back in SG!
Posted by: JY at May 23, 2007 10:40 PMyeah... that's one of my favourite spots in London... just chilling out near the Serpentine and reading under the glorious sunshine...
not far away is the Hyde Park i think and there's the Diana's Memorial fountain area which is good fun too... dip your toes into the water and have a bit of splash about... =)
I can't believe you are there. I want to see a photo of you in the UK!
Posted by: Adrian at May 24, 2007 8:43 PMnectarines! get them nectarines! =)
Posted by: a l at May 25, 2007 2:02 AMI told your London's food is crap! The more you think about its price, the more depressed you get.
The worst thing is that you are not allowed to express how crap the food is in front of the Englishs because they feel insulted with their national treasures of Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and all these Michelin-starred restaurants behind them. I learnt to be quiet when asked about the food whilst in London.
Yes, their berries are quite good, better than Australia. But Hong Kong has better and cheaper ones. I am not sure about Singapore.
Posted by: Kuponuts at May 25, 2007 2:16 AMWell there is an Outrigger Club in London you know. Though paddling on the Thames isn't going to be the same as Singapore!!
I still haven't joined them, though I did eventually get round to emailing!
Posted by: Cal at May 30, 2007 11:23 PM