I was in London for a meeting yesterday, and as usual tried to maximise the trip by squeezing in seeing some friends while I was there. It was a grim, rain-soaked day – exactly the wrong day to discover your favourite boots aren’t waterproof while realising you still have a 10 minute walk to your fancy meeting – but at least I got to try some new places.

London Grind is a buzzing coffee shop / restaurant / bar that my friend N chose both for convenience to her office and out of consideration to my terrible sense of direction : it’s literally on London Bridge, so impossible even for me to miss. Slightly hipster in vibe and with stools and tables so high you need a step ladder to reach them (and squeezed very close together: clearly the place expects all that caffeine to keep you thin!) it was nonetheless graced by friendly staff, and we managed to get a table at lunchtime (just!) so it won my approval. (I also liked the neon signage, even if I had to keep looking away).

After my meeting, I started off at one of my usual Kings Cross haunts, Vinoteca – chosen because it’s a walk away from the station – but it was super busy, so my friend Z and I decamped to the nearby Megaro Bar. Now rebranded to match the hotel it’s situated in, this used to be called something else – Kalpo, maybe? – and I have eaten in the ground floor restaurant before, but as we were just meeting for drinks we went to the pleasantly speakeasy style bar downstairs for a cheeky wine in a much less crowded atmosphere, which set me up nicely for the journey home.