Granger & Co. - Notting hill, London

It's been so long since I last blogged! I've been so busy. But for the past month or so I've been dreaming of London and its grand, grand beauty. Also of its amazing food :) 

Once Leo was back with us, all we wanted to do was take her to Notting Hill. So we did! We woke up and headed over for brunch at Granger & Co. 

There she is, the little beauty! 

We waited in line for a couple minutes, and soon enough we were inside. 

Granger & Co is beautifully decorated, its white walls and beautiful flowers lit by all the light the big windows let in. Touches of gold and yellow here and there to make for the sunniest of brunches! 

To start with I ordered iced coffee, while everyone else ordered freshly squeezed orange juice. 

And the full aussie breakfast: scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, bacon (yes!!!), cumin roast tomato, miso chestnut mushrooms, chipolatas, and most importantly, a side of avocado. Its the most delicious combination. And the eggs! They are heavenly. Their consistency is smooth and cotton-candy like. This dish alone is worth the trip. 

We ate in Granger & Co. twice, and here are all the dishes we tried: 

I had the beef burger, which was perfect in every way. 

The kale, lemon and pistachio pistou, parmesan, spelt linguini & broccolini for my vegetarian (and uncommonly picky ) sister. 

The parmesan Crumbed chicken schnitzel and fennel slaw. My mom was delighted with her choice. 

 Potato, creme fraiche, and dill. The creamier, the better! 

Some sort of spaghetti and shrimp. It looks so good! We were all pleasantly surprised at how restaurants in London sprinkle arugula to top off their pasta. It adds just the right amount of green to the deliciously carb-filled ensemble.

Chopped fruit bowl, greek yoghurt & honey. We seemed to find greek yoghurt everywhere in London. It's so hard to do so here, in Ecuador! 

One of the best desserts I have every had. I can't remember if its ice cream or just cream, I can just say it was sooooo good! Pistachios and strawberries make a wonderful combination. 

Everyone was so nice there! We even got a picture of the whole fam. 

Notting Hill is the best background for photos. Its vibrant streets and picturesque scenes just called our names. We couldn't resist! 

After our outings, we always came back to the lovely flat we rented… exhausted, but oh so joyful about being in London. 

Canary Wharf, London

A quick post to remember when we visited Canary Wharf while I was in London with my family. 

The first thing we thought upon arriving was how different it feels from the rest of London. Canary Wharf is a business district, but beautiful nonetheless. 

The sky was grey when we arrived, but the sun came out in the afternoon. 

It was subtle at first, but then kept getting brighter and brighter, giving us great lighting for pictures!

After snapping a few, we crossed a small bridge...

Finding small restaurants, cafes and a wonderful museum on the other side! 

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of our food or tried to take any photos inside the museum… 

Just a few more of us around the area. 

And my sister, who is color crazy, couldn't resist the fact my lips matched the flowers, and took wonderful pictures! She deserves all the credit for the next ones: 

The sun was full on when she took these!

Thank you +Lucianna Ballesteros !!!

My dad sat around for a while with two new friends he made...

And then again, with some more! 

Before we left, we had to make our way through what seemed to be millions of working guys & girls, who at 5:30 sharp, came out to the pubs to drink beer. It was quite a scene!

The sun was setting, so we started our longer-than-usual trip back home. 

Until next time, Canary Wharf! 

Hutong - The Shard, London

My dad made a reservation for lunch at Hutong, one of the restaurants located inside The Shard (the 33rd floor to be exact!). 

The Shard offers amazing, panoramic views of London. We were thrilled! 

Ok now, dear family and friends (and whoever else might be reading this), you'll have to excuse the lighting in these pictures. I could make them brighter, but I'm trying to keep it as true as it was on that day. 

Hutong has a wonderful, dream-like wishing tree that draws your attention just as you walk in. The wishes people have made are on the red tags, which are the tree's leafs. 

My lovely sister, +Lucianna Ballesteros and me, under the tree :) 

Decision time came soon! There's me, smiling at the infinite possibilities...

Here's a little snap of the table my father took while we all used the "loo", as the english would call it. 

We started off with dumplings. 

Mixed Vegetables Dumplings. A special thanks to Sheldon (from the Big Bang Theory) for introducing our family to dumplings :) 

Rose champagne shrimp dumplings. Exquisite!

Crystal crab meat dumplings. Absolutely delicious, and my favorite from all three kinds. 

Vegetarian spring rolls. We all had a little piece and loved them!

Roasted Peking Duck for my parents. They shared, and later decided they shouldn't have. 

The "second stage" of the duck dish. 

I asked for Kung Pow-style fried prawns. Spicy and very, very addictive. 

Fried noodles with seasonal vegetable for my sister, who had a smile on her face even though the veggie-friendly menu was limited.

She asked for egg-white rice as a side. Her meal wouldn't have been complete without it :) 

My dad, gazing at the view after having devoured that poor duck!

After lunch, we headed over to the bar to have coffee and dessert. 

There's Lu, with her perfect little outfit! 

On the way to the toilets there is a wall covered from top to bottom with red lanterns, which made my mom and sister's jaw drop open. 

We sat down once again, ready for what was next. 

Look at that menu! 

As I said before, we were ready to order dessert. But the waitress told us we should have done that in the restaurant, so that they could serve it later on, at the bar. That meant no desserts for us!

The news gravely upset my mom… 

But she cheered up once my dad assured her we would find a Starbucks and get one of our beloved Rocky Road bars. 

We took a few snaps of the city…

And of ourselves with the city as the background...

And were happily on our way! 

Lunch at The Shard is definetely a must when in London! It was one of those days I'll always remember.