Food and Drink, London

The English are well known for their great love of tea, it is almost a national obsession, but it was not always so. In the early 18th century coffee was the preferred hot beverage but a man called Thomas Twining, a lifelong tea man, decided to start selling it from his coffee shop in the Strand. It proved popular and by the 1750's had overtaken coffee as the preferred drink. Twinings is still in the Strand and still selling tea, although what the founder would have thought of , say blackcurrant, ginseng and vanilla is anyones guess.

one onteresting fact about Twinings is that it has used the same logo since 1787 making it the oldest commercial logo in continuous use.

Open Monday to Friday, from 8.30am to 7.30pm

Saturday from 10am to 5pm

Sunday from 10am to 4pm.

Nearest tybe is Temple.

What to buy: Tea, obviously. There is probably not a blend in the world you cannot get here.

What to pay: No more expensive than buying in the supermarket and a great experience.

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Currently being addicted to cupcakes, when I read about the Buttercup Cake Shop in Kensington I added it straight to my to-do list. A couple of weeks later I came up with the ingenious plan of taking my sister and her BF to Whole Foods, but beforehand suggested we head to Buttercup for morning tea, as it is not a good idea to visit Whole Foods on an empty stomach!

Buttercup is hidden away, a few blocks back from Kensington High Street. It is a small shop with only a couple of tables, and a small display cabinet of delicious looking cupcakes. There is a good range of flavours - the friendly American owner has bought over some American recipes, and added a few British concoctions as well. You can eat in (with a cuppa) or take away, and they also offer delivery.

What to buy: Between the three of us we sampled four cupcakes - the Mocca, Banoffee, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and the St George's Day special - which was a vanilla cupcake with red and white icing. My sister and her BF liked the Banoffee best, while my favourite was the Chocolate Peanut Butter - yum!

This narrow building has been in the Twining family for over 300 years, since 1706, when tea was a newer import from exotic lands in Asia. Now you can go in and have a look at the broad selection of teas the company offers, and of course buy some too. They also have mugs, biscuits and other assorted items for sale, as well as some historical displays about the company and the tea trade.

It's worth a quick look if you are in The City.

What to buy: Can you guess?

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Whole Foods is a huge, gourmet food supermarket located in the gorgeous old Barkers building on Kensington High Street. Laid out over three floors, this is a foodie's heaven.

The 'Market Hall' is on the lower ground floor, and here you can browse amongst the displays of beautifully arranged fruit and veg; make up your own muesli; buy a slab of mouth-watering looking air-dried beef; purchase the ingredients for that seafood platter; and stock up on those grocery items that you can't seem to find anywhere else.

What to buy: On the ground floor is the 'Provision Hall', where you enter to the smell of freshly baked bread, pastries and cakes. Continue on, and the smell will be replaced by the odour from the large cheese section - follow this scent and you will come across the charcuterie, and more importantly the wine bar where you can sample some meats and cheese and a glass/bottle of some of the large range of wines on offer in the store. On this level you will also find around 28 checkouts, which were nice and queue-free when we visited.

On the first floor is a posh food hall, where you can eat food that you have purchased on the lower floors, or sit at one of the food bars and enjoy a meal. We had some very tasty sushi at Genji Express, though are already talking about returning to try out the oyster bar, or one of the other tempting options.

I have to confess that I loved Whole Foods. Ok, it isn't cheap, but for someone like me who would much rather browse in a supermarket than a clothing store, this is about as good as it gets.

What to pay: Not cheap - bring the credit card

Central London is not the best place to buy fresh vegetables or family sized bag of snacks and huge bottles of soft drinks. In fact, some of the small corner grocery stores look so filthy that I have to check the best before date for each and every product I'm purchasing.

Fortunately, there is a solution on Peter Street, central Soho. Somerfield has been operating a mid-size supermarket there for years, and they will cater all needs a hotel dweller might have. The location is excellent as you can pick the stuff on your way from a restaurant -- even double so, if you are living in one of the fancy design hotels in the area.

As an additional bonus, there is a good fruit market next to the store. You just have to be there during morning or midday, as the market closes in the afternoon.

The English are famous for drinking tea, especially for breakfast and in the afternoon.

So if you are looking for something "Very English" to buy, just go to a supermarket and get yourself some English Breakfast tea. It is usually a blend of several black teas derived from various countries like India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, China etc.

Website: http://www.tetleys.com/

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A specialty store featuring vintage style candies, some homemade.

It's on Columbia Road, NE part of the city, where the famous Sunday Flower Market takes place (see my "off the beaten path" tip on the market).

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Whole Foods market has got excellent vegetarian and vegan food. This store has saved me when in London and living in a hotel not being able to cook. As I am extremely allergic to food I cannot eat in restaurants so this store and the stores in Chinatown are lifesavers. They sell the best vegan spinach pankaces and calzones I have ever tasted. The calzone is out of this world (in my opinion). It is made by the firm "Laura's Idea" (see my photo). You can buy ready made food like this or warm food in The Whole Foods market. I just love this store, but it is expensive - which is a pity as vegetarian food doesn't have to be overly priced like this.

There are 5 Whole Foods market stores, but the ones where I go are in Soho and Camden Town (49 Parkway).

This store used to be called Fresh and wild.

What to buy: Health-food.

What to pay: A lot, health-food seems to be getting more and more expensive. So I buy only necessities there, like the vegan calzone and the vegan spinach pancakes. For other stuff I go to the Japanese store opposite this store and to Chinatown.