As part of my birthday weekend surprise from my Mum, she booked up for dinner at Hudson’s House. For someone who is never in London she did really well with all of the planning. Hudson’s House is situated in St Giles Hotel (where we were staying), which was a short ten minute walk from the theatre.

I went for a little lunch time walk beforehand and found the St Giles Hotel before we went and I was amazed at how central it was. It’s about 2 minutes from Tottenham Court Road station and you can also get a bus from Fenchurch Street that takes you really close. I’ll be honest – the outside isn’t impressive. The outside has kind of a cold war vibe so you can be forgiven for not expecting much when you go in. The hotel itself is amazing inside though. We were on the fifth floor which was great as we had a view of the whole of London, we could even see the Shard from our room. The room was lovely and nice and warm which is really what you want when you are trekking around London for the evening. My favourite part about the room was the bathroom because it had a bath, so I soaked myself and caught up on Celebs Go Dating before we went down to dinner.

Hudson’s House, London

The restaurant is located in the hotel so we didn’t have far to walk for dinner. Hudson’s House had a real trendy vibe. They were playing 80s tunes which is a bit random but I’ll always welcome a bit of 99 Red Balloons while I’m tucking into my salmon. The tables were also quite private which is nice as I’ve eaten in places before that put you so close to the people next you you, you might as well be cutting their food for them. Because the venue is so trendy you’d be forgiven that the menu will be pretentious, but it is actually simple, elegant offering that focuses on good, whole food.

Any time I go out to eat I order something I wouldn’t usually have at home. If no one else in the house likes the same thing as you then really what’s the point of cooking something entirely separate. I had the salmon which came with roast potatoes which had a distinctive crunch and tasted a bit cheesy. I have no idea if they did have cheese on them or not but if they did – that is GENIUS. As I ordered, the waitress apologetically informed me there was no kale. Thank heavens I escaped that one! Green beans are far less dreary than kale.

Since I’ve been blogging I’ve made it my mission to try as many different cheesecakes as possible. Bring them on! Who cares if I’ll be fat for Marbs, YOLO. So of course, I had cheesecake for dessert. This particular little delight was of the New York variety and it was like a little slab of cheerful. I’d eat there again in a heartbeat, it was a wonderful birthday treat.

VQ Cafe, London

When I saw our hotel also had a VQ restaurant I was quite surprised as I know they are quite famous as a restaurant in their own right. To be honest hotel breakfasts are so poor nowadays you are lucky if you get a croissant and decent cup of coffee so after a comfy nights sleep in the St Giles Hotel’s cosy bed I was thrilled to be going downstairs for a full English. We were off to the Chinese New Year parade on the Sunday so I was glad of having a great breakfast before we went. They even did a veggie option which worked out perfect as my Mum doesn’t eat meat. The staff at VQ were so, SO helpful and they were super cheerful for that time of the morning. I need at least three coffees before I put in that level of effort – fair play to them.

The entire experience was fantastic. I’d highly recommend the St Giles if you are spending a weekend in London. It’s so central and really reasonably priced.