Culture Recs: The Best Things I Saw, Ate, and Read in London

From Hampton Court to Abba Voyage to the magic of British eggs

Greetings from London, where I have been averaging a cool 19,000 steps a day for the last week and eating my body weight in scones with clotted cream. My family and I are staying in Richmond, the neighborhood known to many Americans because of its starring role in Ted Lasso, but which has much more to offer, including the sprawling Richmond Park, a host of riverside pubs and restaurants, close proximity to Kew Gardens (where King George III once lived), and—most important to me as a pastry addict—a newly opened Ottolenghi outpost. (There’s also a Ted Lasso Store where you can buy AFC Richmond jerseys and scarves, if that’s your thing.)

Our trip overlapped with part of J.D. Vance’s visit to the U.K., a supposed family vacation during which he met with numerous British political leaders, including foreign secretary David Lammy and Trump ally Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigrant Reform U.K. party, which is surging in the polls despite Trump’s deep unpopularity in the U.K. (See the sign above from the window of a local cheese shop). Vance and his enormous motorcade spent much of his time irritating locals in the bucolic Cotswolds, who trolled him with a van displaying a notorious bald baby meme of the veep.

THINGS I SAW

We narrowly missed a run-in at Hampton Court Palace, former home of Henry VIII, which was closed to the public for several hours so the second family could get a private tour. (Was Vance taking notes on what to do with disobedient wives? Or perhaps looking for lavish design inspo?)

Despite its association with tyrants past and present, the palace is well worth a visit, even if you’re not obsessed with Tudor history. We got there by taking a leisurely boat ride from Richmond that took us past landmarks like Eel Pie Island (where the Rolling Stones played in their early days) and Marble Hill House (home of Henrietta Howard, King George II's mistress).

At Hampton Court, you can tour the vast kitchens where servants prepared lavish meals and even check out the garderobe (a.k.a. bathroom) where courtiers relieved themselves while waiting to catch a glimpse of the king. There are also beautiful gardens and an elaborate playground, dubbed “The Magic Garden”; with a cafe where parents can park themselves for an hour or two. (The playgrounds in London are superb and seem designed with less concern about liability.)

Speaking of history, we took our kids (7 and 10 years old) on a Terrible Thames boat tour, which started near Tower Bridge and included a torrent of grim, gruesome factoids about everything from the Gunpowder Plot to the British slave trade, plus a heavy dose of poop jokes. (Our hammy tour guide also did a great Trump impression.) The vibe was similarly scatological at the London Dungeon, which is definitely a tourist trap but was worth it, thanks to the extremely silly reenactments of the Black Plague and other dark chapters from Britain’s past.

The performances were somewhat more refined at the Garrick Theatre, a lovely if not very well-ventilated old West End venue where the grown-ups caught one of the final performances of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, starring the legendary Imelda Staunton and her daughter Bessie Carter. George Bernard Shaw’s once-banned play follows the fraught relationship between Vivie (played by Carter), a bright, ambitious young Cambridge graduate whose mother Kitty (Staunton) made a fortune as the proprietor of brothels across the channel on the continent. Though it was written written in 1893, the play—sympathetic to women in sex work—feels stunning ahead of its time. Despite the star-studded cast, tickets didn’t cost an arm and a leg. West End shows are generally cheaper than the equivalent on Broadway. (You just have to pay extra for a playbill.)

Heaven is a place on earth.

THINGS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

I have friends who speak in quasi-religious tones about seeing Dead & Co. at the Sphere in Vegas. And while there are few things that sound less appealing to me than that, I now understand where they are coming from, having had a transcendent experience at ABBA Voyage, the “virtual residency” at a purpose-built arena in way, way East London where you can watch digital avatars—a.k.a. “abbatars”—of Benny, Bjorn, Anni-Frid, and Agnetha circa 1979 perform a cavalcade of hits like “Dancing Queen” and “Fernando” for 3000 fans in sequins. It was magic of the most uncanny variety. (I will have more to say about it at some point.)

Behold.

THINGS I ATE

London is a breathtakingly expensive city, even more so for Americans given the current weakness of the dollar against the pound. But there are a few things that are more affordable on this side of the pond. Basic groceries, even at bougie stores like Waitrose, are generally less expensive, as is wine from France, Italy, and Spain. Chains like Marks & Spencer offer a large array of ready-made foods that enable quick, cheap, tasty dinners for under $10 a head.

Speaking of basic groceries, and with apologies to my vegan friends, nothing can really compare to British eggs. At home, where the price and availability of eggs has become a hot-button political issue, your average store-brand eggs are white with wan yolks and almost translucent shells. Here, you can find eggs with rich, luxuriously dark orange yolks at the local Tesco Express for a few pounds. You can also shop for eggs not just by color (white or brown) but by the variety of chicken that laid them. Just look for them on the shelves rather than in the refrigerator.

It’s been days and I am still thinking about the mushroom skewers (not to mention everything else) I ate at Bubala, a Mediterranean restaurant that is quietly vegetarian but where the food is so rich and flavorful you won’t miss the meat. The name comes from the Yiddish word for “darling” and perfectly captures my feelings for this place. Here’s hoping they expand west…like, way, way, west.

Also delicious were the gunpowder potatoes and black daal from Dishoom, is a popular chain of Indian restaurants inspired by the Irani cafes of Mumbai. Thankfully for my taste buds, it will reportedly open a location in New York City sometime next year.

WHAT I READ

I like true crime with a large side of social history, so when I saw a paperback copy of The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale on sale at the local bookstore, I scooped it up right away. The gripping book explores a notorious 1953 murder of four women whose bodies were found in the walls of a rundown home in Notting Hill, a neighborhood that was decades of gentrification away from rom-com fame. Summerscale paints a vivid picture of post-War Britain and the tensions that gripped the bomb-scarred city during a period of vast social change.

How much would you pay for this?

AND FINALLY, THINGS I BOUGHT MY KIDS

Also weirdly cheap on this side of the pond? Labubus, the ugly-cute plush toys beloved by celebrities and grade schoolers the world over. I got my Labubu-crazed 7-year-old a (most likely fake) rainbow-hued one for £6, which is half what they go for on Canal St. in New York City, a famed destination for discount knockoffs. (Yes, I know the going rate for Canal St. Labubus. I don’t mess around.)

Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian. We miss her!