London, day 2.
The charms of the english country side in the city? On Sloane Street? Hackett, of course.
My boyfriend, Thomas, is a huge fan of this extremely british brand (men only) and what can I say, he has great taste! When we got to the Hackett shop, we raised some eyebrows… I guess it was partly due to the fact that unlike most couples, I’m not the one selecting the clothes.
That and the fact that we’re both very attentive to details which made the shop attendant curious (he thought we were designers or merchants, checking Hackett out… Maybe we should be mystery shoppers?).
The only shame about it though, is that just like other brands, their ‘slim fit’ shirts aren’t really slim… As we already knew, American brands (Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren…) don’t do slim fits. So why not, Hackett? After all, you provide for the rowing team, aren’t they eager to wear slim fits?
I’ll spare you the details of the afternoon, we visited more shops, and more shops… Ah, London!
As we had reservation for Bentley’s at 8, we thought about getting a quick aperitif before hand. I had found Dirty Martini online and it seemed like a good moment to try it out. Well, it didn’t work as planned: I guess the happy hour combined with a table of 8 ordering cocktails didn’t help us, but soon, it was 5 to 8 and we had to rush, without martini’s! So sorry about that, Dirty Martini, we’ll come back.
Bentley’s was once again, a perfect experience. We love to sit at the bar, watch the waiters fight the oysters… The food was delicious: grilled squid with hummous and of course lobster linguini. We finished off with a shared dessert, lemon curd-like mixture with rasperry and shortbread: amazing!
But more disappointment followed from the Gaucho, not allowing us to have drinks on their terrace anymore (but we could stay seated if we wanted to?).
For a friday evening, London was quick to go to bed… we followed and retired to our room in the St Martin’s lane, happy and exhausted
On a side note, I’m nicely surprised by how friendly all shop attendants are in London. They help you with a smile, they ask about you, where you come from, they give you a personalized card so you can contact them regarding your purchase… It never happens in Belgium. In most case, you feel like you’re lucky to be allowed in the shop. Beware shop attendants, if I’m not feeling welcome, I won’t give you my money. There.