Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a good friend of mine from Dubai, who was over in London on business. A Swedish beauty who is smart and well travelled, but prefers off-the-beaten-track cooler spots as opposed to the usual tourist destinations. The Londoner’s London. Luckily, last week I stumbled across the perfect spot!
I put Raff’s to bed early and raced to the station to get the train into Waterloo where we had arranged to meet under the clock (I can’t help myself, such a romantic). We walked down to Southbank as the sun was dipping behind The Houses of Parliament; street performers in full swing and the place is buzzing. I love Southbank as it’s so atmospheric but not too touristy and there’s always something going on. At the moment there’s the Wonderland event there with a packed schedule of shows and a rather disorienting rotating carousel themed bar, which I’m pretty sure doubles the alcohol effect… but that’s another story.
We stopped and had dinner at Wagamamas, opting, against the waiter’s advice, for an uncovered outdoor table. Obviously the second that our food arrived at the table, so did the rain. Luckily we had just enough shelter from the railway bridge that our food wasn’t washed off our plates and were ale to huddle together at one side of the table to stay dry. After dinner and one of those heavenly ginger chocolate fudge cakes we popped around the corner to The Bloody Oyster.
The Bloody Oyster is a red London bus, parked up just back from Southbank, tucked behind the Southbank Centre on Belvedere Rd. Serving Bloody Mary’s, Oysters and Cocktails (and old school hip hop) this super cool concept bar/restaurant hit the spot. It was heaving when we got there but the lovely barman found us a table upstairs on the top deck. It felt so nostalgic sitting up there with the rain lashing down outside and the bus wobbling as people walked around. Just like school trips, but with cocktails! We had a round of daiquiris, mine cucumber and hers grapefruit, basil and black pepper, followed by a round of margaritas. They were so delicious.
The guys running the bar were so attentive and good fun and the bus is so beautifully finished with red leather seats and little oak tables. Everything is finished with such quality and attention to detail, it’s the perfect summary of all the things I love about London. So I had the best night in the cutest bar with the loveliest company, some drinks and an awesome catch up. It would all have been perfect had we not got absolutely soaked on the way back to Waterloo. But hey, that’s London!
More information about The Bloody Oyster here. 
doingalotwithalittle 