Koenig Books

Dear friends of the world wide web, today is a windy day and I am home listening to Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens. Not bad!

Today I will talk about a nice bookstore located in Charing Cross Road, a street in the city centre full of pretty interesting shops and bookshops. Its name is "Koenig Books" (sadly the link is only in German) and you can find it on 80, Charing Cross Road. The nearest tube station is Leicester Square (so, for example, you could go browse through the books after you have lunch at Tokyo Diner...).


The store you see on the pictures is the one located near Charing Cross, but there is another one, the first one to open in London, in the Serpentine Gallery (although I've never been there), the closest tube stations being Lancaster Gate and South Kensigton (where you can find all the awesome museums, like the NHM, which I'll talk about in the future).

This library specializes in art, namely design, architecture, and photography, so if you're looking for literature, you'd better go to the second-hand bookstores found a few meters down the road (I will also talk about these in future entries). Anyway, it's a pretty cool store and you're sure to find interesting things. As for the prices, I'll tell you when I check them out, since the last time I went I didn't spend much time in it. I'm the best guide, I know.


And that's basically it. Charing Cross Road and the surrounding areas are awesome, so be sure to go when you visit London!

Cath Kidston

Cath Kidston started a little business in 1992 in Holland Park, London. At the time, she would sell vintage fabrics, wallpapers and other objects that reminded her of her childhood. The store had quite a success and gradually the business started to grow, which prompted Cath to start making her own fabrics and homeware. Since then, her business has only thrived and she now has "merely" 28 stores all over the world including some in Ireland and Japan. She also sells women's clothing and accessories (purses, bags, etc.).


This is a picture of one of the shop windows of her store in 51, Marylebone High Street, which may help you get a hint of what her products look like. As you can see, she relies heavily on dots and flowers, which may be sometimes a bit corny, but generally, it rules (or so I think).

Anyway, I highly recommend you check her website so you can get a better idea of what she sells, and maybe you'll see something you like or find a store close to your home.

And, speaking of nice fabrics, my friend Martatu has recently started an online etsy shop where she sells little purses she has made herself with carefully chosen fabrics. She also recently finished a collection of dresses with prints of white rabbits and arctic foxes. ARCTIC FOXES!!!


Peace.

Tokyo Diner

Greetings companions; today, while listening to No Knife's Riot for Romance!, I will talk about Tokyo Diner.


This is one of my favorite restaurants in London. Ironically, it is located in Chinatown... the nearest tube station is Leicester Square, so as you can see it is in the center of the city. A road that is pretty close to the restaurant is Charing Cross, which is full of nice bookstores that I'll talk about in future entries.

Tokyo Diner is a little and cozy restaurant that also happens to be affordable. Besides, they don't ask for a tip, contrarily to most London restaurants. As for the food, I've only tried the chicken teriyaki or kara-age, the aubergines, and the plain rice, but it was excellent, really. I've been with a lot of friends and they all say it's really good (and they've ordered other things, like chicken katsu curry, sushi, etc.). Also, they give you free green tea. Not bad, right?

Here is a picture of a delicious chicken kara-age dish. In the background you can perfectly see (notice the irony, hilarious I know) chicken teriyaki, plain rice, and aubergines:


Awesome. If you don't like japanese food you can always order this dish, but if you do, there are plenty of great options, like sushi, sashimi, donburi, noodles, bento boxes, etc. You can download a pdf version of the menu here.

Santi and his tea.

I hope you get to go to this nice restaurant and you enjoy the food! I always do.