New York Habitat Blog

Some people love them. Some people almost can’t stand to look at them. Either way, we at New York Habitat think you should at least try them. We’re talking about the full English breakfast, also known as a “fry up”—and with good reason. Stay at a New York Habitat vacation rental in London and we’ll help you find a full English almost right outside your door. Whether or not you clean your plate is entirely up to you.

A full English Breakfast

A full English breakfast is itself an institution—as are many of the places that serve them. Heartier than an afternoon tea, it is said to be the perfect cure for a hangover, is often served all day in cafés throughout the city, and is perhaps one of the best culinary bargains to be found in London. In fact, you may barely need to eat for the rest of the day.

The typical ingredients of a traditional full English breakfast are fried bacon, fried eggs, fried tomatoes, fried bread or toast with butter, fried sausages and baked beans (see? some things aren’t fried!). It’s usually served with a mug of not so strong tea that many places will refill for free. And you can get all that for about £3.75.

There are also vegetarian variations, which cut out the bacon and sausages and sometimes replace them with fried mushrooms. Or you can opt for the “full” full English, which can include black pudding (not a dessert at all—actually, more sausage) and fried mashed potatoes or hash browns.

Benjy’s in Earl’s Court offers a satisfying fry up in traditional “caff” surroundings, plus it has great business cards with a photo of the food that can be used as a souvenir bookmark. Since you’ll want to walk off your breakfast, it’s about twenty minutes on foot from the museums on Cromwell Road. The Ideal Café on Ebury Bridge Road is also a favorite with locals, and isn’t a far stroll from Buckingham Palace. Poppie’s Diner in Wapping serves a traditional English breakfast among American kitsch and is a nice walk to Tower Bridge.

London Accommodation in West Brompton (LN-607)

To burn off your breakfast, we recommend staying in a centrally located New York Habitat vacation accommodation, such as:      

• A lovely 1-bedroom rental flat in Bermondsey, Southwark (LN-811) just off Tower Bridge Road on the third floor of a converted wharf building with elevator. This accommodation on a quiet street comes with two double beds, a laundry/dryer, a balcony and free calls to landlines in the U.S. and U.K.
• A spacious 2-bedroom rental accommodation in Kensingston-Chelsea, West Brompton (LN-607) on the ground floor of a private gated development. This flat comes complete with one queen and one double bed, two baths, a laundry/dryer and a parking space.
• A light-filled 1-bedroom vacation accommodation in South Kensington, Kensington-Chelsea (LN-62) on the first floor of a period building overlooking a quiet communal garden. This flat features a queen bed, laundry/dryer, high ceiling, bay windows, parquet floors and balconettes.
   

Enjoy a full English breakfast and a fully furnished New York Habitat rental flat! Let us know some of your favorite traditional foods in London with a comment below.

Most Londoners today don’t have the time to take a leisurely afternoon tea. They grab a ‘cuppa’ on the go or duck into one of the city’s many chain coffee shops. But proper afternoon tea is such an English institution that it would be a shame for visitors not to experience it at least once while they’re there. So New York Habitat has compiled a short list of tea rooms for you to enjoy—and you can always put the kettle on in your own private New York Habitat apartment in London. 

London Accommoadtion Notting Hill (LN-259)

One of the most charming, quintessentially British spaces for afternoon tea is a café called Still Too Few. This tea room is attached to the basement of an antiques shop on Westbourne Grove. It’s the perfect place to take a break from browsing the stalls on Portobello Road or the shops at Ladbroke Grove and tuck into tea, sandwiches, scones and homemade cakes (which are offered à la carte).    

The Orangery behind Kensington Palace in Hyde Park offers afternoon tea in an opulent setting, which was once the site of Queen Anne’s sun room. For a real retro treat, order the Debutante’s Tea (still served the way it was in 1958), go regal with the Champagne Tea, or stick to the original Orangery Tea, which is still enough to cause quite a sugar rush. No worries—you can always walk it off in the park afterwards!

Of course, there’s always the wonderful and reliable standby: The St. James’s Restaurant in the Fortnum and Mason department store, straddling St. James’s Park, Green Park and Hyde Park. Loyal customers come here for the ambiance, the live piano music, the view over Piccadilly, and the splendid selections for afternoon tea.  

To stay a short distance from one of these top tea destinations, consider the following New York Habitat apartments:

• A light and airy 1-bedroom vacation rental in Notting Hill, Kensington-Chelsea (LN-403) with its own street-level entrance in a pretty Victorian building on a quiet, residential street. This newly refurbished accommodation comes with a double bed, a double sofa bed, laundry/dryer, high ceilings, wooden floors and large floor-to-ceiling windows to let the sun in. A recent client raved: “The apartment in London was really good indeed, nicely furnished, clean and very well-equipped.”

Twinings tea room

• A charming 1-bedroom rental accommodation in Notting Hill, Kensington-Chelsea (LN-259) on the ground floor of a walk-up building conveniently located on Portobello Road. This lovely flat has a double bed, double sofa bed, laundry/dryer, central heating and a small balcony overlooking the street.

• A comfortable, well-appointed 1-bedroom vacation accommodation in Notting Hill, Kensington-Chelsea (LN-151) on the upper ground floor of an end-period walk-up centrally located off Westbourne Grove. This flat offers a queen-sized bed, double sofa bed, laundry/dryer, open kitchen, once-a-week cleaning services, and an open gas log fireplace. Past clients have enthused: “We were very pleased with the apartment’s quality, cleanliness, space and proximity to central London transport systems.”

Enjoy the relaxing settings of London’s beloved tea rooms—and a New York Habitat vacation rental.

Leave a comment to let us know your favorite place for tea in London—and whether you take one lump or two!

London Apartment Studio Vacation Rental in Camden Town (LN-508)

Beer may be Britain’s drink of choice, but wine is fast catching up in popularity among Londoners. To get some wine-tasting in on your next trip to London, New York Habitat is bringing you a short list of the city’s top spots for connoisseurs and amateurs alike—and, while you’re there, how about a toast to your comfortable and convenient New York Habitat vacation accommodation?

Caponata is a recently opened restaurant in Camden that offers a small but well-selected list of Sicilian wines. What makes it really special, though, is its leafy ground-floor osteria that features live jazz. What better way to spend an evening than with good wine and music?

If you’re searching for a broader selection, head to Kensington Wine Rooms, which has over 100 wines to choose from, many from lesser-known regions and plenty of by-the-glass options that you won’t find elsewhere. Glasses are poured from Enomatic machines that work like soda dispensers but keep the wine fresh and at the exact right temperature. Guests can help themselves by buying a ‘smartcard’ for a

London Accomodation 1 Bedroom in Camden/ Brent (LN-718)

determined amount and then sample away!

For another extensive list, there’s Vivat Bacchus on Farringdon Street, whose cellar holds over 20,000 bottles of wine! What it may not carry, however, are the natural wines and artisanal cooking on hand at Terroirs in Charing Cross, which has become a hit with the locals.

A great setting makes any glass of wine taste better, so check out 1707, the wine bar in famed department store Fortnum & Mason’s lower-level food hall. There, you can enjoy New World wines in traditional, elegant, Old World surroundings. A more modern alternative can be found in fashion emporium Selfridge’s Wonder Bar, which has a wine jukebox that measures out good-sized samples and experts on hand to offer advice.

Of course, another choice is to stop by Green & Blue, which is half wine bar, half wine shop, and pick up a bottle to bring back to your stylish—and much more intimate—New York Habitat flat. Some suggestions are:

-A lovely 1-bedroom vacation accommodation in Camden-Brent-Hampstead (LN-537) on the second floor of a Victorian apartment building with elevator. This homey flat has a laundry/dryer, king-sized bed, hardwood floors, lots of light and a three-acre common garden.

-A colorful and funky ground-floor studio in Camden Town, Camden-Brent (LN-508) that comes with a double Murphy bed and has direct access to outdoor gardens. Plus, it’s just a ten-minute walk from Camden’s famous markets.

-A 1-bedroom rental accommodation in Holborn, Camden-Brent (LN-718) that has contemporary furnishings and clean lines. This flat comes complete with a laundry/dryer, one double bed plus a double sofa bed, a welcome pack, well-stocked kitchen amenities and free shampoo and conditioner to boot!

So enjoy your stay in London, which is quickly becoming a wine capital of the world, and raise a glass to your New York Habitat accommodation. Salud!

Have a favorite wine destination in London? Let us know with a comment below.

London has long had a reputation for being one of the most expensive cities in the world—but tourists never stopped visiting anyway, and who could blame them? Now, with the pound down and bargains to be had all over the city, it’s time to come to London and see what all the excitement is about.

London Apartment 2 Bedroom Mayfair (LN 476)

For years, New York Habitat has been providing visitors with high-quality, low-cost places to stay in England’s capital—and now we’re bringing you a bargain hunter’s guide to one of the most beloved cities in Europe. Renting a New York Habitat vacation accommodation? Cost-effective. Not putting off your travel plans to London any longer? Priceless.

One of the areas in London most associated with luxury is Mayfair. Home to the designer fashion houses on Bond Street, Bonham’s private auction house, an outpost of Sotheby’s, and other British institutions such as The Ritz and Savile Row, parts of Mayfair may seem prohibitively expensive for the average tourist. Yet it would be a shame to miss the amazing architecture and long-standing traditions on offer there.

So instead of having afternoon tea at The Ritz, which will set you back almost fifty dollars per person and requires a jacket for men, head to the neighboring Fortnum & Mason department store, where you can enjoy tortes, mini strudels, sandwiches and an assortment of sorbets and ice creams in exotic flavors at the pretty Parlour Restaurant on the first floor. Kids will love it a lot more—and it will end up costing less than ten dollars per person. Of course, to make it more authentic, you can always order tea, though we prefer lemon curd sorbet, especially on summer days!

If a bespoke suit on Savile Row is too rich for your blood, consider hitting up the London stores featuring hip street styles along Oxford and Carnaby Streets (perennial favorites Top Shop and Ben Sherman among them). If you’re in London at the end of June, lucky for you—that’s when the huge summer sales begin, though prices (as well as stock) continue to decrease well into August.

Skip pricey lunches and dinners in Mayfair and opt for a budget-conscious buffet at Govinda’s vegetarian restaurant on Soho Street. The food is spicy, tasty and run by the International Society for Krishna—not something you’ll find in every city, but a long-time London institution. Or head to Soho’s Berwick Market to buy fresh veggies, fruit, cheese, olives and fish from the nicest

London Vacation Rental 2 Bedroom in Mayfair (LN 334)

vendors in town, complete with Cockney accents, and cook up a quick lunch in your nearby New York Habitat vacation flat, such as:    

• A contemporary and colorful 2-bedroom vacation rental in Westminster-Soho (LN-334) on the third floor of a modern serviced apartment block with elevator. This apartment is on Soho Square, one of London’s oldest garden squares and also the heart of the Soho area. The apartment comes equipped with laundry/dryer, and the building’s communal roof terrace overlooks the square—perfect for people watching!  
•  An elegant and “very English” 2-bedroom vacation accommodation in Westminster-Mayfair (LN-476) on the third floor of a refurbished building. This flat, just a few minutes from Green Park station, has wooden floors throughout, a spacious kitchen with maple wood, granite and two ovens, and marble finished baths in both bedrooms. A previous client enthused: “The apartment was great. It was in the perfect location and I thought was a reasonable rate.”  

 New York Habitat knows how to make even the “ritz”-iest areas in London affordable and accessible. 
Leave a comment below to let us know your favorite bargain hunting tips in London, and make sure to catch our next money-saving secrets.

London in Song
“Through the streets of London”

So how can you tell me you’re lonely,
And say for you that the sun don’t shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Ralph McTell’s famous song is an invitation to go through the streets of London… but did you know that London counts over 80,000 streets!! Add to them thousands of acres of open space and nearly 200 miles of waterside walks and waterways, walking through London could take you a lifetime or more! …

If you are not a born Londoner, just experience being one by choosing a London rental in your preferred area and uncover the city through the Georgian and Victorian streets, don’t miss the best-known tourist sites like Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London or Buckingham Palace, but do also explore London’s parks and pubs, its amazing variety of domestic architecture, its markets and countless surprises from even the most unexpected spots of the city and its ‘villages’. 

Choose your accommodation away from the beaten tracks, make yourself home and become a Londoner, even if for just but a few days! And if you go as far as Putney, open both eyes and ears, you may bump into Ralph McTell himself…