We love our California Christmases – hot chocolate on ice, Christmas tree lots flanked by rows of palm trees, and Californians bundled up for those low 70’s. But if there’s one other city in the world we could visit for the December holidays it would be London. The great city with it’s charming streets full of black taxis and red buses just seems built for this winter holiday.
We asked luminous Brit, Ella of Deliciously Ella to let us live vicariously through her this season through her guide to London’s healthiest hotspots.We love our UK readership and are guessing that our British readers are already familiar with Ella’s incredible blog already. If not, get acquainted with this wellness-minded beauty and get ready to hit up some of her favorite spots in the city…
Your name:
Ella Woodward.
Your City:
London.
Best Farmer’s Market:
Borough Market – it’s absolute heaven for a foodie.
Top Outdoor Recreation Location:
Hyde Park and St. James’s Park are both so beautiful.
Top Natural Grocery:
Planet Organic – it has everything you could ever need but it’s a little more manageable than Whole Foods.
Fave local produce right now:
Kale! I’m obsessed with kale and I love that purple and green kale are in season at the moment.
Best thing you ever ate from your city:
Such a difficult question. There are so many great things, but I absolutely love the Sri Lankan sweet potato curry at Mildred’s – I crave it all the time. Drink-wise, the medicinal mushroom latte at Tanya’s is incredible.
Best local ‘food foraging’ experience:
There’s not that much foraging in London, sadly!
Best Local Artisan Food Source:
Chegworth Valley at Borough Market, they’re a local organic farm that always has the best produce, plus they make great juice too.
Best Restaurant Utilizing Local Resources:
I love Nama in Notting Hill and Tanya’s in South Ken. Both have incredibly delicious healthy food!
Best juice bar:
Juice Baby on the King’s Road – the juices are so great and they have incredible food too. The kale salad is divine, as are the raw caramel slices and brownies.
Best place to get a good workout:
Evolve yoga studio in South Ken and Psycle in Soho (it’s an English version of Soul Cycle).
Favorite local experience living in your city:
I honestly love everything about London (minus the weather), so it’s hard to pick just one experience. I do love spending weekends exploring Borough Market though, enjoying some of the food stalls – there’s an amazing Middle Eastern stall that makes the best hummus, baba ganoush and artichoke salad, and an amazing stall for the best veggie burgers with pesto potatoes. I then pick up some juice from one of the juice bars and stock up on beautiful local produce to take home and cook with all week. The market is right by the South Bank and Tate Modern too, so it’s fun to take a long walk along the river before or after – there’s always so much going on and the Tate Modern has an awesome permanent collection, which is free, so you can just jump in for a few minutes and soak in some art.
Best local resource unique to your town:
I’m not totally sure to be honest. Food-wise, it’s hard to pick just one great resource!
Favorite recipe from local resource:
I wish I had some of their recipes! I’d love to know how to make Mildred’s Sri Lankan sweet potato curry, Nama’s raw sushi or Tanya’s tacos. Maybe one day they’ll share the recipes!
