Image by Peter Hoffer

When I began making friends in London, a big revelation for me was the difference in toys and games everyone played with as children. In one conversation I mentioned playing “Hungry, Hungry Hippos” as a child. My British friends informed me that in the UK, the game is called “Hungry Hippos”. Perhaps in America the hippos are hungrier?

A visit to the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green reveals not only how different cultures today experience childhood, but explains how people throughout history experienced play through toys and games. A walk around the galleries explains key themes surrounding these toys and asks questions you might not necessarily think of with playtime – what did it mean to be a child in Tudor England? How do toys differ across a number of cultures?

The displays are not all serious though. There are many interactive exhibits that bring history to life. I dressed up as ‘The Mad Hatter’ on my last visit, but I had to eventually let other children have a chance to play as well.

The exhibits I found most engaging were the dollhouses – a grand collection of intricate houses from Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods reflecting tastes in fashion and interior decoration. What fascinated me most was the level of detail in each of these dollhouses – even their kitchens were well equipped with tiny copper pots and pans. All of the houses are enclosed in glass displays, so no playing with these houses is allowed.

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V&A Museum of Childhood | Art & culture | Free
Cambridge Heath Road,E2 9PA | East | +442089835200
10:00 – 17:45 daily

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Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

During the day people bring their laptops or books and work, read and drink coffee sprawled over one of the many mismatched sofas or lounge chairs. At night tea candles are lit and hot drinks are swapped for alcoholic drinks as people unwind and meet friends in what was once the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane (check the Brick Lane article). In summertime, people swamp to the outside picnic benches and the alleyway, though there is always a lovely cosy feel inside.

The boho and versatile venue opens at a very early 06:00 for breakfast and soups, jacket potatoes and sandwiches are on offer for lunch and dinner. Live music attracts a younger crowd with indie bands on Tuesday and jazz on Wednesday. Bands play in the smaller room at the back on Sunday and a dj spins tunes on Friday and Saturday.

Cocktails made with fresh fruit are available on the weekend and all year round you can grab a burger or corn on the cob from the grill stand outside. Tables and benches outside in front are great for people watching or smoking.

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Café 1001 | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks, Restaurants (intern.)
1 Dray walk, 91 Brick Lane | East | +442072479679
Mon – Sat 06:00 – 00:00, Sun 06:00 – 23:30

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Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

Brick Lane offers a multitude of choice in terms of bars and nightlife but Casa Blue sticks out, not least because of all the fairy lights and candles glowing from within.

A lacquered wooden panel of peacocks is hung next to a watercolour painting of a naval fleet. 50′s memorabilia is plastered wearily to the wall. While the predominantly red kitsch bric-a-brac decor means your eyes don’t know where to settle, the kooky collection of plastic chandeliers, hanging baubles and blinking strings of light make a unique setting.

Even though the music ranges anywhere from the Beatles to Manu Chau, the tunes are familiar and well-chosen. There are comfy plus sofas and yummy cocktails. Food is also available. While the menu is limited, the house specialty comes in platter form – international mezze for two or more people. For only £5 each, sharing platters come with a selection of hot and cold tapas and you can choose Mediterranean, Indian or Greek cuisine.

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Casa Blue | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Cocktail £ 6.00
228 Brick Lane | East
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 01:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00

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Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

This Brick Lane (check Brick Lane article) staple has been around for years, and serves as a remnant of the area’s Jewish past. While the bakery is not somewhere you would want to hang out long for – the bright white lights give it a clinical feel – the bagels are ridiculously cheap and very tasty, so it’s worth a visit.

A bagel and cream cheese will only set you back a mere £1 and they are made the proper way, by boiling then baking, creating the dense chewy consistency which is so more-ish. This makes a much welcomed change from most bagel store chains, who essentially serve bread rolls with a hole in the middle. Other fillings include smoked salmon, chopped herring and hot salt beef. Donuts and pastries are also made fresh daily.

Service is super quick and it’s open 24 hours, so after a night out on Brick Lane you can wander in for a bite, and find throngs of like-minded party-goers doing the same.

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Beigel Bake | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Bagel cream cheese £ 1.00
159 Brick Lane | East
24 hours daily

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Image by Phoebe Ferris-Rotman

After a trip to Tayyabs, it’s easy to see why the wall is plastered with framed awards and rave reviews. Most Londoners know the best curries are not found on self-proclaimed curry capital Brick Lane, and those in the know believe Tayyabs, within walking distance, is one of the best.

The no frills Pakistani restaurant is always bustling with an English and international crowd, truly reflecting the rich multicultural makeup of London. Tables are set close together to accommodate the steady flow of people and waiters seamlessly weave between them, providing efficient and fast service.

The food is less heavy than most ghee-filled Indian or Pakistani dishes and the delicately flavoured lentil and baby aubergine curry (dhal baingun) is a must. The fresh mango lassis come by the glass or in jugs to share and are a delicious accompaniment to the meal. Powerfully spiced sizzling grilled meats are a specialty. Although they don’t serve alcohol, you are free to bring your own. There is no corking charge.

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Tayyabs | Restaurants (Pakistani/Indian) | Dhal Baingun £ 5.00
83 Fieldgate Street | East | +442072479543
12:00 – 00:00 daily

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Image by Peter Hoffer

There are many moments in Londoners’ lives where we get very annoyed at the little things: people who stand on the left rather than the right of escalators for example (very annoying!)

However spending a few minutes in Postman’s Park with the Watts Memorial will make any cynical Londoner re-evaluate the important things in life.

Unveiled at the beginning of the 20th century, the Watts Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice is a haunting collection of ceramic tablets commemorating those people who sacrificed their lives for others. Along with the names of the heroes, the plaques record the stories of how they sacrificed themselves – often for total strangers. Some people drowned to save others, while others perished by fire or were trampled by runaway horses.  

The park itself is quite small and easily overlooked by tourists rushing to St. Paul’s or the London Wall. Personally, I think spending a half hour of reflection here will have more impact than any tourist destination London can offer.

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Postman’s Park | Relaxing | Free
Little Britain and King Edward Street | East
08:30 – dusk daily

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Image by Sébastien Cevey / theefer

Oto means ‘noise’ or ‘music’ in Japanese and that is exactly what you get at this amazing, innovative venue.

By day it is a mild-mannered café serving a selection of teas, coffees, organic fruit juices, Devon and Breton cider, wines, Japanese snacks, Sake, Plum Wine and Japanese Whisky but then, when the lights go out and the cafe closes for a couple of house for the soundchecks, Oto turns into the home of the experimental musician and easily fulfills its stated aim of ‘providing a home for creative new music that exists outside of the mainstream’.

Past performers include Yoko Ono, London Improvisors Orchestra, Joe McPhee, Marshall Allen, Matthew Herbert and, amazingly and thrillingly, The Sun Ra Arkestra who consider Cafe Oto to be their spiritual London home. The Wire magazine hold a monthly series of events here, called ‘The Wire Salon’, which consist of talks, panel discussions, film screenings and DJ sets. 

Some of the bigger names mean larger fees, but most gigs are around £10 entrance fee, but check the website first as the venue is small and gigs regularly sell out in advance.

Cafe Oto forms one point of the Dalston Jazz Triangle. The other two points being filled by the jazz daddy The Vortex and the newcomer Servant Jazz Quarters. These three venues are only about 500 yards apart and between them they cover everything from the folky side of jazz (SJQ), to the more traditional approach (Vortex) and into the avant garde (Oto). Jazz has definitely found a home (or three) in E8.

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Cafe Oto | Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Entrance from € 7
18-22 Ashwin Street,E8 3DL | East
Mon – Fri 09:30 – 17:30, Sat – Sun 10:30 – 17:30, gigs from 20:00

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Image by Roomie Rock

It’s small. It doesn’t take bookings. It has a maximum table size of six. You can only pay by cash. It certainly isn’t cheap at £15 per pizza (although wine by the glass is a reasonable £3.50). But it has an incredible rustic charm – as if the look has just been thrown together, although, of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth – and the pizzas are the thinnest and crispiest in town. Stretching the definition of a pizza to its limits. 

This location is (at least) its third incarnation, after Dray Walk just off Brick Lane and then a temporary space just round the corner on Sclater Street, so hopefully they won’t move again any time soon. Each venue had the same signature Story ‘look’ – a look that comes from the owners and their unique taste and style. In fact, there was originally a Story design/home/concept store in Spitalfields from where I once bought an organic leather cleaner/food which I still use on my sofa today. Sadly that store has now gone and we are left with just the Story Deli for our Story fix, but the natural, organic approach has been kept.

Certified 100% organically grown ingredients go to make the pizzas the price they are, I suppose, but, when the Chorizo, Pumpkin and Taleggio pizza tastes as good as it does a little treat every now and then is fine, isn’t it?

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Story Deli | Snacks, Restaurants (Italian) | per pizza € 15
3 Redchurch Street, E2 7DJ | East
12:00 – 22:30 daily

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Image by heatheronhertravels

The Geffrye Museum specialises in the history of the home. The collection of furniture, textiles, paintings and objects are displayed in a series of rooms which date chronologically from 1600 to the present day. This means that it is full of the everyday, common objects rather than of the precious exquisite examples of the landed gentry. Clearly some of the displays are now worth a small fortune to a collector, but what the Geffrye do is ‘find the relatively ordinary things of the past, owned and used by ordinary people, and to show these in their appropriate domestic context’.

The eleven Period Rooms depict the style of English middle-class living room and if, like me, you are into interior design, this makes for a fascinating museum visit. Especially when I get to the 20th Century rooms and see the furniture and designs of the 50s and 60s (which I love) and compare them to ‘loft living’ of the 90s which in comparison looks horribly dated. 

The museum is set in a beautiful set of 18th-century almshouse buildings, has attractive gardens, including a walled herb garden, and there is a newly built extension out back which houses a tasty cafe. Entrance to the museum if free, but there is a charge for the special exhibitions which run throughout the year.

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The Geffrye Museum | Art & culture | Special exhibitions € 5
Kingsland Rd,E2 8EA | East | +442077399893
Tue – Sat 10:00 – 17:00, Sun 12:00 – 17:00

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Image by Tommy / Violet

Violet has had a stall on Broadway Market for along as I have known it and the stall invariably sells out every week. Luckily, that success has meant that alongside the weekly stall Violet now has a permanent home just around the corner from the market on Wilton Way.

Wilton Way is itself an interesting place. The sort of non-high street that usually and unfortunately ends up with as a row of closed shops. Not here though. Wilton Way is now home to a thriving community thanks to The Wilton Way Cafe (go and try the fabulous avocado on sourdough toast with lemon and chilli), the recently opened branch of Borough Wines, Toppers of Hackney, the other side of the pillow and, of course, Violet itself. 

Violet are famous for their cupcakes – and rightly so, they are delicious – but the new home has meant there is time to sit, relax and watch the world go by as you have a coffee or tea and indulge in a piece of the great flour-less chocolate cake or the sticky treat that is the fresh ginger and molasses cake. But if there isn’t time for that, a friend of mine swears by the Salted Caramel cupcakes

In addition to making cakes, Violet herself (Claire Ptak) is a food stylist and food writer and she has recently written and had published ‘The Whoopie Pie Book‘. It can only be onwards and upwards for Violet from now on.

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Violet | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Cupcake € 0.90
47 Wilton Way,E8 3ED | East
Tue – Fri 07:30 – 18:00, Sat 09:30 – 18:00, Sun 09:30 – 17:00

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