Friends Day out in Covent Garden

On a cold and dreary Saturday in March, Covent Garden is the place to be for an exciting day out with my good friend A.

Misty Covent Garden

Starting off exploring the trendy Covent Garden area, we stopped briefly to watch the street statue entertainers who seem to have all caught on to the latest trick of suspending themselves in mid air.  It is impressive on first sight but is not too difficult to suss out how it is done.

Then onto the main market area, where amongst even more street entertainers and throngs of tourists, we  found an amazing classical orchestra playing in the middle of the piazza.

We wandered some more and browsed the stalls and small shops.  Then back on the main streets, I was struck by  how many cycle rickshaws now seem to be on the streets of London’s West End, battling for trade with the Black Cabs.  I know which one I might have chosen on this cold, drizzly day!

Now time for lunch, it didn't take much browsing before the elegant Palm Court Brasserie caught our eye.  

Palm Court Brasserie

We were fortunate to get a table without having booked.  The Palm Court Brasserie is chic and stylish and is based on a 1920’s Art Nouveau theme – my favourite era.  The restaurant itself is long and thin but made to look bigger with mirrors and giant palms positioned throughout.  My friend treated me to a class of Kir Royal which was a lovely start before savouring our delicious meals of butternut squash risotto for me and lamb with gratin dauphinois for A.

After whiling away some time and feeling thoroughly relaxed and refreshed, it was time to venture into the outside world. We still had more than an hour until we were due at the Theatre so we set about on a hunt for Bubble Tea. 

I am totally hooked on Bubble Tea which for those of you who haven’t discovered this pleasure yet is a drink that originated in Taiwan and consists of black, or green tea or fruit juice, with or without milk, hot or cold and in various flavours and the best bit is the tapioca balls at the bottom.  It is like a drink and dessert in one go.   I chose a salted caramel black tea – cold with no ice.  My friend chose a mango flavoured one.  It was good but not as good as the  rose milk bubble tea that I had earlier in the week at Bubbleology in Stratford’s Westfield – delicious!

Bubble Tea Shop

Tea in hand, we then had just 7 minutes to spare to get back to St Martin’s Theatre to see the Mousetrap.  We made it with a couple of minutes to spare and relaxed into our seats.  Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap is now in its 63^rd year and is the longest running show in London’s West End.  At the end of this murder mystery, the audience are requested to keep the secret of who the murderer was, so I will honour the tradition of the show and keep my lips sealed!

After a brief farewell coffee in Leicester Square, our day was at an end, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways until the next friends day out!  Thanks to my good friend A for making this such a lovely day.

If you are wondering why the photos are misty, I thought my camera was faulty but turns out it was just a dirty lens - whoops!