It was midnight, and I was walking down a street last Thursday, just looking around. "wtf I'm in London!" .. everything was very hectic before my flight, so it was really surreal to suddenly be surrounded by a Harry Potter-esque atmosphere. It was also ridiculously cold, so I loaded up google maps, and typed in "Basement."
Heathrow Airport is not particularly close to London at all. My friends cpfr and lani had talked me out of leaving the airport and I was very concerned about missing my connecting flight at 6:30a to Brussels. They were friends who used to live in the US, but had been overseas for a while. Our plan was to meet in SOHO at a speakeasy called Basement Sate.
I found the entrance, marked by a "This is not a brothel" placard. I then went down some stairs, and opened a door to a dimly lit room. I spotted my friends in a tiny alcove in the back. They greeted me by filling half my backpack with British Candy. Key to my heart!
They also had ordered a couple desserts - a "carrot cake" and a banana thing. The carrot cake was particularly interesting because it was served in a pot, and had a real baby carrot planted inside. (not the fake kind in US grocery stores.. like an actual baby carrot plant). The top "dirt" was like a chocolate cookie smashed up - dry, grainy, crispy. Then a creame layer, with a small cakepop made of carrot cake. It was extremely fun to eat.
Their cocktails were also masterfully done. Absolutely worth leaving the airport for.
8 Broadwick St, Soho, London W1F 8HN, UK if you're in the area and want to check it out.
Since we had dessert for breakfast, we wandered around Chinatown for a bit, then took an uber over to a 24/7 spot called Beigel Bake. We ordered a bunch of stuff, but cpfr mostly wanted me to try the hot salt beef bagiel (sort of like corned beef and a pickle on a bagel) and we got pickled herring on a bagel. To round it out, I also got cream cheese and lox. Real food was just what we needed, so I jumped into another uber and made it back to the airport after that. http://www.beigelbake.com/
Note: finding outlets at Heathrow sucks. Also some of the terminals are closed at night.
Next post: Belgium! Stay Tuned
