The sister of Duck Soup and Raw Duck restaurants is always a safe bet for a brilliant breakfast, lunch or dinner—I have been known to eat breakfast and lunch at Little Duck Picklery on a day of meetings. Their homemade pickles and kombuchas are the best in London, and I always take home a bottle of their drinking vinegar to keep in the fridge.

They sell, in my opinion, the best sourdough in London—milled in-house from grain they grow themselves. I always think you have a meal if you have a good loaf of bread. They also have a cafe serving hard-to-beat toasted sandwiches, soups and seasonal specials, as well as amazing coffee and local cheese.

I don’t often eat at restaurants alone, but when I do it’s always at Koya Bar. They serve a warm bowl of noodles, which feels like salvation—but these aren’t just any noodles. Homemade udon noodles are served until they run out, which they do every night. I always order the udon with walnut miso and a poached egg to top it.

This tiny, but perfect café is so good that on weekends it has a queue around the corner. I love the courgette fritters, and the corn fritters, the chai and all of their cakes. If you can, get a table in their little courtyard.

Home of my all-time favourite cake, Violet’s Ginger and molasses cake is pleasingly dark and dense. This bakery never fails to remind me that a really good piece of cake is something to eat, enjoy and treasure. Run by my brilliant friend—and cake-maker-to-the-royals—I have been eating Claire Ptak’s cakes since her very first stall on Broadway Market, which was fortuitously outside my old house many years ago.