Travel

These are my 10 favourite places to eat in London

Edmond Chan · Sep 18, 2018 · Leave a Comment

I often get asked by my friends to suggest places to eat in London. Eating and drinking are two of my favourite pastimes.

London eating and drinking is very hit and miss. There’s far more terrible and average places than good places and when London is so expensive, that means that most places are awful value for money.

Here’s my favourite places based on quality, atmosphere and value for money:

1. Padella, Borough Market

This is the best pasta in London. It’s great value and there’s no reservations, so get there early or be prepared to put your name down and wait. The queue can be massive. Pop off to the Wheatsheaf pub nearby for a drink whilst you wait. The stand out dish here is pici cacio e pepe, so unctuously cheesy and peppery. The pastas are small plates so order lots and share them around.

www.padella.co

2. José Tapas Bar, Bermondsey Street

Insanely good tapas at this small bar on Bermondsey Street. It’s almost always busy but the wait isn’t long and you’ll have to stand most likely. The sherry is excellent and the jamon is superb. Definitely get the scaldingly hot croquetas, probably the best in London.

josepizarro.com

3. St. John Restaurant, Clerkenwell

A London institution. Fergus Henderson pioneered nose-to-tail eating and this shines through the menu here. Get two helpings of the famed roasted bone marrow on sourdough, and leave room for multiple puddings (here the word ‘pudding’ suits better than ‘desserts’. The house wine is own label and always excellent.

stjohnrestaurant.com

4. Motherclucker, Brick Lane

My favourite fried chicken in London bar none. Check out the outpost just off Brick Lane, near the Truman Brewery and Rough Trade.

motherclucker.co.uk

5. Bread Ahead, Borough Market

These cheese and olive sticks are worth going to Borough Market on a Saturday on their own. Wait for fresh batch piping hot from the oven. They sell like the proverbial cheese and olive sticks. An absolute bargain for the quality of bread.

www.breadahead.com

6. Kulu Kulu

When all you want to do is stuff your face with as much sushi as you can eat, head here for well-priced decent sushi. Some days even have 10% off your meal. It’s pretty basic conveyor belt decor but the sushi is very good and you can eat for fill for under £30 for 2 people.

vince1526.wixsite.com/mysite/shelton-street (slightly strange url)

7. Barrafina, Drury Lane

Another tapas place to make the list. My favourite branch is the Drury Lane one. Get the Rabo de Toro and a glass of Oloroso sherry, and a few croquetas and a plate of iberico.

www.barrafina.co.uk

8. Dirty Bones, Carnaby Street

Need I say more than this photo? This is The Mac Daddy, described on the menu as “Double brisket & dry aged steak burger topped with pulled beef short rib, mac & cheese and espresso-spiked BBQ sauce on seeded brioche”. Mmm. Enjoy with one of the finest sides I’ve ever eaten: Crispy Lamb Fries, described as “With crispy lamb, sweet miso, red chilli and jalapeño”.

dirty-bones.com

9. Pizza Pilgrims, Soho

Superb value Neapolitan-style pizza on Dean Street. Sit on the bench outside facing the iconic Toucan bar and watch Soho life go by.

www.pizzapilgrims.co.uk

10. Bone Daddies, Soho

Get the 20 hour pork bone broth Tonkotsu and load it up with extra eggs and fresh crushed garlic. Wash down with a Kernal IPA. If you’re really hungry, get the fat, juicy, chicken wings too. Immense.

www.bonedaddies.com

UPDATE! (19/09/2018)

11. Bleeker, Victoria and Spitalfields

I completely forgot to add Bleeker Burger to this list! This double cheeseburger is one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten. Ridiculously juicy, ever so slightly greasy. Just meaty goodness.

www.bleeckerburger.co.uk

Did I miss any off this list? Let me know your London favourites in the comments below!

Advice to my mate for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro

Edmond Chan · Aug 30, 2016 · 1 Comment

457085_10151122740165499_46252533_o — My trekking group with Kilimanjaro in the background. I’m in the red tshirt and flat cap in the right foreground.

One of my close friends is climbing Kilimanjaro this November.

Over a recent curry, he sounded pretty relaxed about it.

I asked him what training he was planning to do.

He said, ‘A bit of cardio.’

Is that all?

‘Yeah, bit of running. What else do I need to do?’

I thought I’d write this for him and anyone else looking for advice.

I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2012.

I did the Lemosho Route.

Kilimanjaro is easy to underestimate and that’s why I’m writing this.

She’s just under 6,000m, which is high, but no technical climbing is needed.

There’s even a route disparagingly called ‘The Coca Cola Route.’

So people of above average fitness think it’s a walk in the park.

It’s true that if you hike regularly and run a few times a week, you should be absolutely fine in terms of fitness needed.

But summiting is still not a given.

My group had 14 members.2 didn’t summit.

However, one of my good friends who didn’t, he returned the following year to retry and this time, he successfully summited. Big respect to him.

So it’s not a cakewalk. It’s a real challenge.

1 in 7 didn’t make it on my trek.

I barely made it as did several others on the trip.

So how can you maximise your chances of summiting?

There are two big hurdles.

1) Altitude

You can be super-fit and still get affected by altitude sickness.

This manifests in headaches and fatigues.

Altitude causes the brain to swell, which pushes the brain against the cranium.

It’s temporary and is relieved by moving to lower altitude.

I’ve seen it affect fit people on Machu Picchu at 4,000m as well as at Huayna Potosi around the 5,000m mark.

It also affected me massively on Kilimanjaro.

I was at 5,600m.

It was daylight already.

We were walking around the edge of the volcanic crater.

I couldn’t walk.

I kept falling over.

It was like I was drunk.

I couldn’t keep my balance.

I kept falling over in the snow.

Luckily, my friend Sue helped me walk to the summit.

I remember the Steve the doctor trying to get me to come off the mountain.

I think to my regret I swore at him and said I wasn’t going to waste the 2 grand I’d paid for this.

As soon as I reached the top and posed for photos I don’t remember, I was whisked by a guide down the mountain as soon as possible.

What would I recommend if you can’t prepare for altitude sickness?

Firstly, it is possible to acclimatise to altitude. Slowly.

You can stay longer in places up your ascent but the time restrictions of most trekking suppliers mean that you will have to stay with the group.

If you can, go to mountains in the same height bracket beforehand.

The tallest mountain in Western Europe is Mt Blanc.

My best recommendation which I would do if I had to do it again would be to visit an altitude centre and acclimatise.

Setting up camp in the lowlands of Kilimanjaro

2) The final push to the summit

Aside from altitude, the biggest obstacle to successfully summiting is the final push to the top.

You get to the camp beforehand at 6pm, then have dinner. Then you’re supposed to get some sleep.

But no one ever does.

Everyone is in sombre mood. Very apprehensive and very nervous.

This is what you’ve been working towards and you want to get it right.

At midnight, you all walk off.

Up the mountain, you can see other groups looking like a procession with their headlamps on their heads as they make their up.

It’s already 5,000m and the climb is steep for the first 5 hours.

It’s exhausting and it would be so easy to quit.

You want to sit down but you know that sitting down would mean that you don’t carry on.

You move slowly, focusing on one step at a time.

You’ll get there. Just keep going.

You’re sleep deprived and altitude sick. You’re so tired.

This is where people don’t make it.

My advice here is to stay close to the person in front of you.

Make sure they’re keeping up and watch their heels.

Just keep moving one foot in front of the other.

You’ll get there.

Keep going!

Me looking completely punch drunk on altitude sickness at the top.

Any questions, let me know in the comments below.

The selling secrets of Moroccans, the world’s greatest salesmen

Edmond Chan · Jul 17, 2016 · 2 Comments

I’ve just come back from a trip to Morocco, which was incredible.

One of the things that struck me most was how damn good the Moroccans are at selling stuff.

We bought so many things that we just didn’t need!

If you’ve been to Morocco, particularly Marrakech, then you know what I mean.

The souks of Marrakech are filled with master salesmen.

I’ve thought about how they do it and what we can learn from them.

Make a connection, no matter how small

The first thing a shopkeeper in the souks will do is to engage you. He doesn’t care how he does it. He will say something to get you to look around.

Even if you say ‘no thanks’, he will say, ‘where are you from?’ or ‘not selling, just come and take a look’.

He lowers your guard against him. Once you hesitate walking away, he has you.

What we can learn:

Say hello with good eye contact. Be genuinely friendly. Smile with your eyes as well as your mouth.

Physical contact as soon as possible

You’ve stopped, next he will shake your hand. Often with two hands on your hand. The contact will go on for as long as he can without making you feel uncomfortable.

What we can learn:

Get in your handshake as early as you can. Get someone you trust to assess the quality of your handshake. Err on the side of gripping too hard than gripping too softly. A wet limp of a handshake undermines you.

Put you at ease

Now you are in his shop, the hard sell goes away and you are encouraged just to enjoy the experience. You are asked to touch various products and the moment you like something, you’re hooked.

What we learn:

Don’t go hard sell all the time. Your customer knows you’re selling; there’s no need to be aggressive all the time. Don’t scare your prospect. Allow their guard to drop.

No prices

It’s likely that you are from a richer country than Morocco, so you probably think something is more expensive than the shopkeeper would think it might sell for.

He uses this anchoring to his advantage and lets you pluck a figure from the air.

He knows that you probably don’t want to offend him, so you will err on the high side.

What we can learn:

This is tricky if you only have fixed prices.

But we can see that there’s always a market if we move the price.

If you’re pitching your services, and you’re not getting any takers at the higher price, try reducing them or asking what they’re willing to pay.

marrakech souk — *In the Marrakech souks*

Assign value to the product

Everything will be ‘handmade’, ‘genuine Berber’, ‘made locally’. All words designed to increase your perceived value of the product.

What we can learn:

Whatever you’re selling, find the words that add value for your product or service. Whether it be ‘bespoke’, ‘tailor-made’, ‘customised’, ‘artisanal’ etc. Find those words and make sure you communicate them clearly.

There’s always a call to action.

They NEVER forget to ask you to buy it.

What we can learn:

Ask your prospect to do what you want them to do.

How to successfully complete the 3 Peaks Challenge – a detailed guide

Edmond Chan · Mar 28, 2016 · 1 Comment

Introduction

I’ve done this challenge twice now. Once in 2010 and again in 2012. It’s an awesome experience and I wholeheartedly recommend it. In 2010, I did it with friends from school, Dave Macaulay and Grant Rowley, and Dave’s dad, John Macaulay. In 2012, I did it with some friends I’d made from a trip to Kilimanjaro earlier that year.

What is the 3 Peaks Challenge?

You have to successfully summit and successfully come down the three highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowden) in no more than 24 hours. It doesn’t matter how you do it and in what order.

So say you start at the bottom of Ben Nevis at 4.30pm, you have to finish Scafell Pike and have summitted and returned to the bottom of Snowdon by 4.30pm the next day.

It’s not easy and relies on good fortune with the weather and good traffic conditions. A traffic jam between peaks can kill your challenge.

Why do it?

It’s a classic challenge and a pretty difficult one to complete successfully. There’s a real sense of achievement.

You see incredible scenery in some of greatest wildernesses of the UK.

It’s a great bonding experience.

Planning

You need a great team

It’s possible to do this yourself in theory or with just yourself and a driver. But where’s the fun in that? Get a quality group of mates together and commit to doing a challenge that you’ll be able to look back on with fondness and pride.

What makes a great team member? Someone who doesn’t whinge when things are getting a bit tough and someone who doesn’t rely on the team to drag them through. They need to be someone who will stay cheerful in the face of adversity and will add something to the group. We all know who these people are. People who genuinely relish a challenge.

I’ve been lucky enough to have had great teams on both occasions, everyone being highly positive, enthusiastic people.

You need a GREAT driver

This is more important than almost anything. It’s your driver that’s going to hammer it from mountain to mountain, in the dark for most of it, with little to no sleep and through the night on single lane winding roads and dual carriageways. More often than not, he or she will be driving a minibus, a vehicle that they’re unfamiliar with. They will not have the glory either of actually completing the challenge despite being integral to it.

A rare diamond.

Our driver in 2010 was my friend’s dad, big John Macaulay. He was a great driver. He had a big Volvo off-road 4×4 and was a quick driver. John is a former RAF officer and British Airways captain and was really up for the challenge. He got us from mountain to mountain in double quick time and was a fantastic support.

Our driver in 2012 was Mike Hibbert, who came on the Kilimanjaro trek earlier that year.

When to do it

You want the longest days possible with the most sunlight. You definitely don’t want to be climbing down mountains in the dead of night. With this in mind, you want to be going in June. June 21st is the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. The further north you go, the longer the days are. At Ben Nevis, the sun will be up until 10pm.

The only downside of going in June is that the peaks are very busy because everyone else doing the 3 Peaks has had the same idea! Although I think it’s quite nice to be part of a movement.

What order to do the Peaks?

Both times I did it, we started with Ben Nevis, then to Scafell Pike, then to Snowdon.

Equipment

You don’t need boots. I saw people doing it with trainers. The downside of trainers is the lack of ankle support but the advantage over boots are that trainers are more lightweight.

Bring a lightweight rucksack with no more than 25l. You don’t want to be lugging a huge back pack with you.

Take at least a litre of water on each mountain and some high calorie food such as Sureen malt loaf. You don’t want too many sweets as your blood sugar will just spike and crash.

You want waterproofs. The British weather is notoriously changeable and showers are to be expected.

I recommend several pairs of anti-blister socks, at least one fresh pair for each mountain.

A team t-shirt is worth the effort.

An external phone battery to charge your phone for photos.

A first aid kit (you never know)

Lip salve (Vaseline or Neutrogena). It gets very windy up there.

Layers. Always layers. Bring an moisture-wicking undertop and cycling shorts style underpants. This will prevent chafing. Bring a merino wool top and a wind cheater.

Don’t forget a hat and gloves. The top of Ben Nevis is sub-Arctic all year round. It gets bloody cold up here!

Walking poles are not essential but are very useful for balance both uphill and downhill.

Preparation

You’ve got to train. It’s not a straightforward challenge. There will be times when you have to pick up the pace to make the time limit. In 2012, I had to run the last 2 miles with a backpack to make the deadline. It’s a long way home if you didn’t make the time.

Get miles into your legs

Walk everywhere. Do at least 10,000 steps a day. Your smartphone will have an app for this. If in doubt, download a step counter app.

Get used to walking uphill. Take the stairs wherever possible.

Run at least 15 miles a week. This will help immensely. The foundation of fitness you will build doing this will see you in good stead.

Do long walks on the weekends. In 2010, I walked from Dorking to Guildford, about 12 miles. Check it out here. In 2012, I trained by walking up and down Box Hill, the highest hill in Surrey. Find whatever you can and train.

Execution

Aim for a 4.30pm start at Ben Nevis. There’s a bridge there that is the starting point. Allow for 4-5hrs to get up and down Nevis. This means that you’ll be coming down in the twilight but not in pitch darkness.

From here you’ll drive 4hrs to Scafell Pike and start that in almost darkness at 2.30am. You’ll be down at around 7.30am and from here it’s a race against time to get to Snowdon. Remember you’ll have to get down from Snowdon into the carpark by 4.30pm.

Between Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike, try to get some sleep. you might get one or two hours and this will stand you in good stead for the next two mountains.

Be careful with your steps. There is a variety of different terrain on the mountains. There are stretches where there are big steps in the path. Nearer the top, there are large areas of scree (small stones). It’s easy to lose your footing and twist your ankle, which would put an end to your challenge.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t dawdle but don’t do yourself an injury either.

Last thoughts: Enjoy it!!

The End of the Road

Edmond Chan · Mar 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Seoul was incredibly good fun, but after five days, it was time to leave South Korea. We flew back to Hong Kong where I stayed just for one more day before boarding a flight back to the UK.

I’m back! So what’s different?

In Little Gidding, T.S. Eliot wrote:

“We shall not cease from exploration,

And the end of all our exploring,

Will be to arrive where we started,

And know the place for the first time.”

It’s an absolutely gorgeous lyric about how travelling provides new lenses through which to view the familiar but I’m not sure that that Eliot was quite right! Being back is undoubtedly weird but contrary to Eliot’s musings, nothing has changed. Fair enough, I was only gone for seven months or so, but I thought that at least some things would feel different. However, the streets of London felt absolutely the same, my relationships with my friends and family were exactly the same, which I suppose, on reflection, was a very good thing.

I naturally shy away from questions such as “What did I learn?” or “Have I changed?” which I think of as indecently corny; however, I’d be pretty unreflective if I hadn’t given them at least some thought along the way. All I can say with certainty is that I’ve probably never been happier than I was when travelling these past seven months. It sounds ridiculous but there were so many times that I would just skip down the street with a loon-like grin on my face. I remember several times walking down Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne without a care in the world and just feeling happier than I’d ever been. I remember strolling around Hanoi’s Old Quarter with a full belly and a couple of great coffees in me and feeling euphoric. I remember countless great encounters with some of the most interesting and stimulating people I’ve ever met. Also, time after time over the course of seven months, I saw some of the greatest things in the world; sights and places that I’ve wanted to see for most of my life.

Looking pretty pleased with myself in Macau

If I had to try and boil it down, I think I was happy for four main reasons unique to travelling. Firstly, I’ve never felt as free at any point in my life as I did on whilst on the road. You do exactly what you want to do when you want to. You get up when you want to; you move on when you want to; you spend time with who you want to when you want to; you just do everything as you want to do things; it’s brilliant!

Secondly, I’ve never felt as ‘open’ and receptive as I did on my travels; open-minded to new things; open-minded to new people; open-minded to new experiences; open-minded to new perspectives and this just kept breeding more and more receptivity to the point where everything seemed possible, positively compounded again by the fact that I was on the trip of a lifetime. It makes you reassess everything that you think is at the core of your personality and, surprisingly, that’s a good thing. It’s a virtuous circle: the more open and receptive you are, the more stimulated you become, and the more stimulated you become, the more open and receptive you become and so on. There were times when I was literally bursting with ideas and new thoughts. Openness is definitely something that I want to hang on to wherever I am.

Thirdly, there were the fantastic people that I met throughout my trip. I list the most important and most memorable encounters to me below, but aside from those listed, I consistently met fantastic people along the way, whether local or traveller. The friendliness of the locals towards me, a random traveller, was incredibly uplifting and just made the rest of the world that much ‘closer’ to home. The friendliness of fellow travellers impressed upon me the existence of the ‘Traveller Code’, an unwritten but broadly understood rule whereby travellers look out for each other and help one another when needed. I found myself on both sides of the code at different times of my trip and it was great to be a part of such a global, civilised and unofficial network.

Fourthly, you can’t not be happy when you’ve had the great fortune to have seen some of the greatest sights in the world on a consistently frequent basis, week after week; from Machu Picchu to the Bolivian Salt Flats to the Cordillera Real to Rio de Janeiro to the Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires to the Andes to Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef to Uluru and the Kata Tjutas to Melbourne to Hong Kong to Angkor Wat to Halong Bay to Beijing to the Great Wall of China to Shanghai to Seoul – I mean – wow!

The majestic Uluru in Australia’s Red Centre

The incredible Iguazu Falls in Argentina

What was my favourite place? It’s a tough question to answer because I really enjoyed almost everywhere I visited. But, if pressed, I would say that in terms of places, I loved Machu Picchu, the Bolivian Salt Flats, the Great Wall and Angkor Wat the most; all simply mind-blowing and magical sights. I was probably most affected, though, by the Salt Flats; stark, viscerally beautiful and totally otherworldly; the kind of place and experience that your soul remembers forever.

Like nowhere else on Earth – the Bolivian Salt Flats

In terms of cities, I absolutely loved La Paz, Melbourne, Hanoi and Beijing. Each has an incredibly invigorating energy about them that makes living in them, even for a short time, such a heady and enlivening experience, and, with the probable exception of La Paz (which makes the list for its sheer craziness), all have an intensely creative atmosphere about them that is more tangible and palpable than anywhere I’ve yet seen in my life – the kind of environment that I’d like to live in and that, without question, all aspiring world cities should seek to emulate.