After a lovely cycle along the river from Aldgate East, it's just a hop over the river and even though the river is not the most direct route (probably is the easiest) it only took half an hour, which is about half as long as I was anticipating.
So, after a little basking in the sunshine in battersea park, we had to have lunch and we went to a lovely spot on Battersea Rise called Entrée. Now, it was a while since we went but it was fantastic. T had pork belly (I remember distinctly the food envy) and I had trout for the mains - both were great. The atmosphere is very nice for a late lunch as well and there's a cocktail bar downstairs which must be lively come the evening. The service was also excellent, very attentive. I was leaning to the side so I could see the kitchen past T when the waitress came over asking if we were ok as she thought I was trying to get her attention. I then had to explain that I was just being nosey and looking at the kitchen as everything smelled so delicious. Hey, at least I wasn't lying! Worth a look if you're in the area at any rate.
After a little shopping, a little mooching there was suddenly a need for something and that something was CAKE. We didn't have dessert with lunch after all (as if there's ever a need to justify cake).
I've wanted to go to visit Cake Boy for ages but it is totally out of my way. When I knew we would be going to Battersea though, how could we not go? I became aware of Eric Lanlard about 4 years ago, maybe? When a friend invited me to a wedding cake tasting at the shop where she was working at the time. The cake was absolutely amazing, and since then, Eric has had a tv show on channel 4 and released a book all about his fantastic cake creations, he was at the cafe the day we visited which was nice to see.
Although it is in a slightly unusual location, (it's back by the river away from the main shops in the bottom floor of a new block of flats). It's unusual in the sense that it's out of the way but it is worth the trip, the picture below speaks for itself. When we arrived, a cake class of some description was just finishing up and all the students had the biggest grins and had clearly really enjoyed themselves. I also overheard Eric give career advice to an aspiring baker which was so nice! It's a very chic cafe with something for everyone and the counter literally spills over with treats, both made at the cafe and a few others thrown in. It is a very hard choice I went for a chocolate walnut slice that was just so rich and decadent with amazing decoration including gold sparkles! This coupled with a beautiful cup of tea was perfection.
In the evening, it was off to the beautiful Battersea Arts Centre for a performance of Homer's Odyssey by The Paper Cinema. This will mark the fourth time I've seen them since I first became aware of their work in 2009 as a volunteer for the East London festival. Essentially, the team that is the The Paper Cinema create films out of beautiful ink drawn puppets and projects them live to live music and sound effects. That description doesn't really do it justice at all but the video below gives you more info. They'll be going on tour this year and I urge you to see it. It's just gorgeous, see anything they do for that matter.
What better way to spend a saturday in London than exploring a different area of the city? It's definitely something I should do more often! What's your favourite way to spend the weekend?
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