The new Café François, Slave Play, Soho House Mayfair and a dinner Henry Holland's collaboration with Harlequin...

For the last six months, my love affair with London was beginning to wane, so I decided to do what anyone does when their relationship hits the rocks and organise a dedicated date night.

I took a trip to London for nothing but pure culture and connection, doing almost* all of my favourite things and seeing the people I love.

I left my house at 9 am and headed to London in time for lunch at the new Café François.

Arriving in London and heading straight to Borough Market filled me with such joy. Being totally devoid of a variety of food in the countryside, it was such a delight to be surrounded by coffee and oysters and empanadas. I pushed through the tourists straight to Stoney Street for a preview of Café François where restauranteur François O’Neill has taken his St James spot south of the river with his second restaurant.

Taking inspiration from California’s delis, Montreal’s bistros, and Paris’ cafés it's a beautiful vibe, where you have to weave through the kitchen to get to your seat. I always love walking past a kitchen when I go to a restaurant. It makes the whole thing feel alive.

I invited my dear friend (who also lives in the countryside), Kharmel Cochrane to join me. Kharmel is a casting director and we speak on a near daily basis on the telephone so it was great to catch up IRL. I was running late so she ordered ahead for me and we ate the Comté gougères, tomato salad, steak, chicken, and harissa cabbage.

This was probably the best Béarnaise sauce I've ever eaten and next time I'll be having lobster and frites.

I finished it off with a fig tart which I was expecting to be a cakey thing but then I remembered I was in a French restaurant so it was a pretty little pastry with the freshest fig placed on top. Delicious.

Side note, I was really obsessed with the bathroom design of the restaurant... Definitely a location I love.

By pure coincidence, both Kharmel and I were seeing matinees that were next door to each other on St Martins Lane, so we grabbed two Lime bikes (my favourite mode of transport) and cycled to Covent Garden.

Kharmel had a perfect Autumn look on. I want these Gucci Loafers in brown…

I have this rule when I go over any London Bridge, I have to shout - LOVE YOU LONDON at the top of my voice. Tell the city you'll love her, and she'll be kind to you.

I saw Slave Play at The Noël Coward Theatre and it was a masterpiece. I'm going to write a whole separate post about this play because just wow. It was so layered, so clever and so cool.

It lingered with me throughout the day and I woke up this morning still thinking about it. You must see it before it ends this month!

After the play, I was so hyped, that I just started running. I was running through the streets of Soho and I realised I had a bunch of voicenotes from Laura Jackson so I just called her and it turned out she was 500 yards from me at Quo Vadis. I wrote previously how I don't find London too serendiptious for bumping into people but today is proving me all wrong.

I had a brief chat with Laura and then left because I was going to see her later and headed towards Mayfair for the new opening of Soho House Mews at 8 Lancashire Court. But on my way, I also saw my friend Arthur Kay and we did a few laps of Green Park where I told him about the play and then I went to his club, Brooks to use the bathroom.

These old gentleman's clubs have always been interesting to me as further proof of power and networks. I had to change out of my trainers into my heels to enter. The first time I went to Brooks, maybe 6 years ago, I was like - there must be a women’s version - and googled for a historic women's club in London. I found the University Women's Club where I have recently become a Member. More on that next time…

After that, I finally made it to the preview of Soho House Mews and was greeted by all the familiar faces, and got a tour from my friend (and UK Membership Director) Velma Simmons.

I love that it's in a completely private little mews. It's a very luxe townhouse vibe and felt like the right amount of SH fun mixed with the uptown crowd. It's more of a cocktail party, no laptop energy than Little House Mayfair and I guess is competing with 5 Hertford etc. I've never been the biggest fan of Mayfair clubs tbh, so it's great to have a central spot I can pop into.

After this, I jumped in a Black cab to Toklas (named after Gertrude Stein's partner, Alice B. Toklas). I bumped into 180 Health Club Manager Sara for a quick huge and chat before running for dinner.

I attended Henry Holland's dinner to celebrate his partnership with Harlequin, a division of the Sanderson Group hosted by Elle Decoration.

I've known Henry for almost all my London life as we both worked for EMAP in Endeavour House on Shaftesbury Ave. I was at Arena Homme+ and he was at Bliss Magazine. It's been incredible to watch him pivot his career as many times as I have. He told me that his mum said, "You'll have eight careers in your life, so don't worry about what you're doing right now."

Henry has taken inspiration from his ceramics to create a playful range of textured wallpapers and fabrics. I love the checked fabric especially.

I had the best time catching up with Laura Weir, Pixie Geldof, Yinka Ilori and others. You can shop the collection here.

I left the dinner at 10.15 pm so I could get the last train home. I got back at 1.25 am, drove my car home, and collapsed into bed at 2.15 am.

This really reminds me of my capacity to pack so much in a day! But when I was living here it would include meetings and actual work too…

Overall a capital day!

This post is public now, but in the future it will be for members only. Sign up for free to comment and let me know what I should see and do in the city next!

*I didn't get to go to a spa :(