Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - All the London Recommendations with Three Feral Kids

00:00:00.160 I want to date with Roars, Carti says.

00:00:03.420 Roars? Raka asks.

00:00:05.540 This is the love story of real-hinged couple Carti and Raka.

00:00:09.620 Written and read by me, Nicola Dynan.

00:00:12.380 Listen to the free audiobook now.

00:00:22.980 Hey all, Joey here, and you're listening to Under the Influence.

00:00:27.280 I'm in London.

00:00:28.340 Yeah, with the whole family. All three kids, my mom, my brother-in-law, two of my cousins,

00:00:37.840 and then four of Nick's family friends. We didn't all plan this. I mean, my immediate family did,

00:00:45.340 but then we found out that a bunch of other people were going to be in London over Thanksgiving.

00:00:49.780 So now we're having a big family and friend to do here in jolly old England.

00:00:56.440 And we chose London because, to be honest, the tickets were cheaper to fly here and we could use miles easier than we could to fly anywhere in the U.S. to see family. 0.99

00:01:08.460 That was bananas, but I was also like, we're going to take advantage of that shit. 0.99

00:01:13.360 So here we are. 1.00

00:01:14.780 And we have a jam-packed itinerary.

00:01:17.140 I'm so excited about it.

00:01:18.440 I put out a call for recommendations on my Instagram and on my newsletter, and people did not disappoint.

00:01:26.440 I got to say, they were so good that I had the idea to do this episode.

00:01:31.300 Because one of the things that I love as a regular traveler and as a travel journalist is the anticipation of a trip, the planning of a trip, the thinking about all of the wonderful new places that I'm going to go.

00:01:46.620 and getting these recommendations has been so much fun that I thought I would just start doing

00:01:52.320 a podcast of all the recommendations I get before I go to a place. So today I have on my friend

00:01:59.460 Lindsay who lived there for a long time and is just the best tastemaker that I know. I mean I

00:02:04.880 will pretty much go anywhere and do anything that Lindsay tells me to go and do and she's just

00:02:13.620 she's just the best and her recommendations are always so so good. I think this is going to be

00:02:20.060 a lot of fun and I want you to keep sending me all of your recommendations. I'll compile them

00:02:25.200 when I do all of my London newsletters. So it's a lot easier for people just to find cool places

00:02:30.240 to go and great things to do especially with kids because that is not always easy. So first up we

00:02:35.980 have my friend Lindsay like I said the best tastemaker that I know and one of the coolest 1.00

00:02:40.000 and smartest ladies that I know, too. Hi, Lindsay. Hi, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. And I'm so 0.94

00:02:54.780 excited to have you on and see your face. I wish that you were coming to London with me because

00:02:59.400 every time I go through my list of things, I'm like, Lindsay would like to do this with me.

00:03:03.220 I would love to do that with you. Honestly, there is nothing that would give me more joy than to be

00:03:08.120 in london with you no i know totally but the next best thing is you're gonna tell me where to go

00:03:13.840 and i'm gonna send you all of these pictures and videos of all of us going to them i'm so excited

00:03:20.720 for you uh it's the best i mean i think yeah you know when you're tired of london you're tired of

00:03:27.020 life when you're tired of london you're tired of life so you had a really great list of places i

00:03:33.120 should go on a sunday and sunday's gonna be sunday's like our first big day that we can

00:03:38.580 actually function while we're there so what what should we do on a sunday so sundays are actually

00:03:44.720 my favorite day in london and so i'm like i'm so excited for you because i think they are the best

00:03:51.360 because that is when pub roast culture is at its best and my favorite market comes to life which

00:03:57.240 is the columbia road flower market which is just on sundays it's absolutely magical and it is just

00:04:04.860 filled with flowers and people greening flower prices and it's um just beautiful there's lots

00:04:11.880 of gorgeous boutiques there's a great place to grab cardamom buns on the market as if like flowers

00:04:18.000 and cardamom buns i don't know for me that's kind of a version of heaven and yeah no i was also it's

00:04:25.140 it's so early in our trip. So we can get beautiful flowers for our Airbnb, which I like to have

00:04:31.060 flowers with me when I travel. I love that. They are cheap and beautiful. And I used to live

00:04:38.620 directly behind Columbia Road on this magical street called Elwynn Street that I hope you go to

00:04:43.940 on this little green called Jesus Green that sits just behind Columbia Road. But it is just

00:04:51.840 a magical part of the world. And there's so many, so many great things on Columbia Road that I think

00:04:58.420 are just also exceptional to explore. So if the kids are kind of like, I'll get me some, a treat

00:05:05.980 or I need to sit down. There's so many options. There's this like lovely little place called

00:05:12.860 Campania that is just really charming and has kind of great Italian dishes, but also kind of

00:05:23.320 sweets to go. There's a great pub. The Royal Oak was my absolute favorite pub in my local

00:05:33.220 for many, many years, and it's just a great pub. Unfortunately, a lot of the locals don't go on

00:05:39.500 sundays to that pub just because the market is so popular that it becomes a bit of a scene and i

00:05:46.000 know that kind of with instagram obviously there's also lots of people posing with flowers which is

00:05:51.540 like i know that one of my favorite things is taking pictures and videos of influencers out

00:05:56.340 in the wild and then posting them on my own account because i just i get a lot of joy from

00:06:01.100 that well you will love this then because on our street that we used to live on uh right this is

00:06:07.240 elwynn street is your dog named after the street he is because when i moved back to the u.s i just

00:06:14.140 basically wanted to recreate as much of london life as i could in every single way shape and form

00:06:19.660 and so yeah named uh named the dog elwynn and but funny enough my friends who stayed on in that

00:06:28.380 house after i had left uh used to just complain because it's next to this door that is a very

00:06:34.000 pretty pink door now that i say you're gonna like you're gonna laugh about it and i guarantee you 0.92

00:06:39.080 there will be an influencer taking a picture in front of that damn door and it just became so 0.86

00:06:44.940 obnoxious but all the same you should still definitely go to columbia road market it's 0.97

00:06:49.760 exceptional there's a great gallery called nelly duff on the street lots of little boutiques to

00:06:57.020 explore lots of charm and then if you want to go for a real walk i would love to recommend that

00:07:02.920 You can kind of walk down from Columbia Road down to Brick Lane because it is just another kind of vibrant market.

00:07:14.280 There's usually vintage fair out on Sundays, and it's just kind of a great opportunity, I think, to see some of the best of London, which is the markets that could happen on very specific days.

00:07:27.500 lots of little boutiques and artists and makers and just also great food for the cardamom buns

00:07:35.000 the place is called pavilion highly highly highly recommend okay but i love a cardamom bun bun i

00:07:42.200 think cardamom buns are are you know just not celebrated enough and i'm very excited to eat

00:07:48.660 as many as i can while i'm there do you know that some people don't like cardamom it's a you know

00:07:53.960 some people don't like cilantro yeah i don't know about those people but i don't know about those

00:07:58.480 people my husband doesn't like mushrooms and i don't trust him because of it that feels valid

00:08:03.920 i know that feels valid it's fair also if the kids are kind of giving you a bit of a hard time

00:08:10.360 at the market and it's really um crowded there's actually a city farm like a couple minute walk

00:08:17.080 away from the market called hackney city farm which has animals in the middle of the city it

00:08:24.060 actually also has an exceptional brunch we used to go for brunch all the time um and so if they

00:08:30.900 kind of want to see some goat or feed some chickens i don't remember all the uh things that

00:08:38.880 are there but there's a little city farm maybe like 200 feet up the market road

00:08:47.220 Oh, my God.

00:08:48.540 Like, it's like you know my kids really well because you're like, you know what they're going to want?

00:08:52.280 They're going to want a cardamom bun and then they're going to want a goat.

00:08:56.380 Of course they are.

00:08:57.400 I mean, I think as an adult, those are things you should definitely want on a Sunday, too.

00:09:02.500 They truly are.

00:09:03.140 They truly are.

00:09:03.820 Yeah.

00:09:04.780 And then you're going to get into the best part of London culture, which is a Sunday roast, which is the best meal in the whole world.

00:09:12.120 This is something I'm very excited for.

00:09:13.520 In the whole world.

00:09:13.980 Yes.

00:09:14.280 I told Nick that we have to do a Sunday roast on Sunday.

00:09:17.040 So like, what is a Sunday roast?

00:09:20.100 So a Sunday roast is really just a long lunch, but it's something you either do with your

00:09:26.260 friends or your family or a combination of.

00:09:29.160 And Sunday roast can range from just, you know, sitting out in somebody's garden, having

00:09:34.020 a roast chicken or whatever they might make for a Sunday roast to kind of like a pretty

00:09:38.300 debaucherous kind of pub time.

00:09:40.260 it really runs the gamut which is one of the things I love about a Sunday roast is that it

00:09:46.320 kind of starts at a very reasonable hour no matter which direction it goes you're kind of usually

00:09:51.300 imbed by 10 it's a great way to get rid of any Sunday scaries that you might have but it's also

00:09:57.820 just delicious so I think there's no bad way to do a Sunday roast it's it's just about taking as

00:10:06.680 much time really as you want and just enjoying the all i love all of this let's take a really

00:10:13.680 quick break we'll be right back i didn't like what you said odin pauses about the future

00:10:19.980 this is the love story of real hinge couple odin and edward

00:10:24.640 written and read by me curtis garner listen to the free audiobook now

00:10:29.940 okay and we're back so we're we're talking about a sunday roast you can have a sunday roast at home

00:10:38.100 we don't have a home so should we go to a pub you should definitely go to a pub a hundred percent go

00:10:43.740 to a pub uh there's so many good pubs to go to but remind me again where are you staying

00:10:48.900 we're staying in paddington okay perfect um well if you're already in east london that day and you

00:10:56.160 don't kind of need to go home and recharge. I love the Albion in Islington. It's a magical pub.

00:11:06.180 It has a beautiful outdoor garden. So if it's at all a nice day, is it going to be nice on Sunday?

00:11:12.600 It might be a little rainy on Sunday, but we packed raincoats and we are a family that believes

00:11:18.760 there is no bad weather. There are just not the right outfits for the weather.

00:11:23.560 i love you guys that's exactly right you're so i would if you can make a booking there i think

00:11:31.160 you'd really enjoy it it's a big kind of classic pub with kind of all the trimmings um if you're

00:11:37.800 in columbia road market there's a couple places near there as well that you could make a booking

00:11:41.900 and typically like you'd go kind of one o'clock two o'clock three o'clock so it kind of depends

00:11:47.240 on what time you think the the kids might want to eat um but it's just kind of a beautiful big meal

00:11:55.100 it's like my favorite thing in the whole world is i think like the luxurious lunch is something that

00:11:59.780 we don't um talk enough about but i think it's just just so nice to be able to have a long

00:12:08.200 warming lunch i know there's nothing better you and i talk about that a lot how it's important

00:12:14.000 how for us too we're trying to do more lady lunches like in the middle of the week where

00:12:19.920 we actually just sit down with friends and turn off our computers and eat delicious food it's I

00:12:26.820 think it's so important and what I love about a roast is there's just no pressure to it you know

00:12:32.040 you can take two hours you can take five hours it's kind of like it is what you want it to be

00:12:37.880 or what you need it to be on that day if you're near Columbia Road there's also two other great

00:12:42.360 pub so i wrench in the royal oak which is my old local i've heard that the food isn't as good as

00:12:47.160 maybe it once was but i remember i've always loved it so i would recommend that the marksman is also

00:12:53.920 around the corner just on hackney road and it's kind of another um classic pub but it's very

00:13:00.620 chef forward so it has it has really great food i think for some reason british food gets this

00:13:05.260 bad rep and i don't think that's disturbed at all it does yeah it is so good it is just oh my gosh

00:13:13.700 like sausage rolls toffee pudding lamb roast like chicken with bread sauce i mean a great pint it's

00:13:23.140 just i don't think there's anything better i don't really understand why why we're beating up the

00:13:28.740 british on this because americans like to beat up the british like we we still have this thing where

00:13:33.580 We think a British accent makes someone smarter than they are and and handsomer than they are.

00:13:38.540 And yet and yet and yet we like to find a way to feel superior. 0.99

00:13:43.780 That is so completely true. 1.00

00:13:45.860 I have some friends with some shocking British accents that joke when they come to the U.S.

00:13:51.280 People will say how much they like their accent and they have almost literally choked on whatever they're drinking or eating.

00:14:00.180 They certainly get away with hell off the island.

00:14:03.580 So another favorite place, not for a Sunday roast, but it's in the same kind of East London

00:14:08.900 area that I really like think you should try to go to is Rochelle Canteen, which is just this

00:14:14.960 magic, magic spot. It's actually located in around this great public square, which is the first

00:14:24.600 public housing project in the UK. And it's called Arnold Circus. And there's another great place

00:14:32.000 off of that called Layla's Cafe. But Rochelle's Canteen is this really magical kind of little

00:14:39.320 cottage garden shed that was converted into a restaurant. It's a part of an old school and it

00:14:47.240 just has exceptional, exceptional food. And I would highly recommend that. Another great place

00:14:53.240 for a long lunch, even if it's not on a Sunday. You can sit in the garden. It's lovely.

00:14:58.660 all right here for that totally here for that no talk to me a little bit about shopping where

00:15:06.620 should I go shopping oh so many good places to go shopping I mean I think you know going to

00:15:13.120 Oxford Circus and kind of which is the high street of the high street is kind of a great place to

00:15:18.520 start it has all the kind of big brands and but I think there's a few brands that you can't get

00:15:24.640 here in the U.S. that I think are really great. So I would recommend Arquette, which is kind of

00:15:30.400 kind of like a cooler version of Koss. Maybe if Koss and Gap had a great baby with like a little

00:15:39.660 bit more Nordic thrown in, just really accessible price point, really well tailored, great materials,

00:15:48.000 but things that you can wear every day. Highly, highly recommend that. You have to go to Liberty

00:15:53.300 when you're there i feel like that is like oh my gosh yeah no i feel like i'm bringing a whole

00:15:57.640 extra bag for liberty because just the prince i can't i can't get enough of them so liberty is

00:16:03.740 literally catty corner to arquette and is just exceptional it's an institution it's fantastic

00:16:11.800 i think also for kids it's really fantastical and that it has it has just it's kind of this

00:16:19.740 Tudor-esque building and five floors to kind of explore and the fabrics are on the top floor and

00:16:26.700 it just it feels really charming and sweet I would highly recommend that um also for the young kid

00:16:35.480 families it's kind of like this classic toy store I think that would be very popular and then

00:16:43.340 another sadly it would it would I know I mean maybe a little dangerous to walk into but you

00:16:51.340 know um and then Fordham and Mason for teas but pretty much everything highly recommend a great

00:16:57.760 thing to bring home for people um Fordham and Mason is kind of this classic department store

00:17:03.680 that specializes in teas and they just have beautiful tins and I think especially kind of

00:17:09.300 going into the holiday season they'll have holiday blends and again it's just kind of a beautiful

00:17:14.980 a beautiful institution so i would really really recommend those um you know the high street will

00:17:23.480 have everything though it'll have and you're right next to seville row you're um right next to

00:17:29.760 carnaby street which is kind of like a little pedestrian trendy um shopping street and so

00:17:35.420 just kind of lots to explore and i think it's if you kind of only have a few hours i think it's

00:17:43.020 kind of the best way to see as much as you possibly can um in a short period of time

00:17:49.780 there's kind of everything from you know sketch near there if you're kind of again into taking

00:17:56.100 pictures of instagram girls taking pictures of themselves i think that's a yeah yep a hot spot 0.88

00:18:02.020 for that. And there's also some great Indian nearby. What is it called? Hold on. I'm now in

00:18:12.320 my head. It's so good. Cricket. Everyone also keeps saying we have to go to Dishoom.

00:18:19.560 Yes. And there's actually a Dishoom that just opened on Carnaby Street. So I would also

00:18:23.960 recommend that. Dishoom has multiple locations. They're actually coming to the U.S. They're

00:18:27.920 coming to new york which i'm also okay great we'll go we'll make a trip uh it's great they

00:18:34.080 also don't sleep on their breakfast their breakfast is amazing maybe not something that

00:18:39.640 you would think of but it's great they also have masala chai unlimited and so um if you order it

00:18:46.680 you can just drink as much of it as you possibly want um it is exceptional i really think it's

00:18:52.080 great and yeah they're kind of throughout this city at this point and they're fantastic but

00:18:56.800 there's one right on Carnaby Street, so right behind Liberty of London. And then Cricket is

00:19:03.440 another great one. And then there's actually tons of also Otolenghi restaurants. And Nopi is right

00:19:08.460 near there, which is one of their restaurants. But I think I'd recommend going to one of the

00:19:12.300 originals, maybe when you're in Notting Hill. Are you there on a Saturday or a Friday?

00:19:18.380 We're there on a Saturday. It's our first day in town, but I was going to push through to go to

00:19:24.680 notting hill should i i mean it's gonna be really really busy i would say you could attempt it and

00:19:32.460 you could also return to notting hill on a friday because the market is also on on fridays and it's

00:19:37.980 just going to be a little bit less chaotic um yeah similarly with borough market which i think is

00:19:46.780 another must for food i would really recommend going on not a saturday essentially because it's

00:19:55.400 just so much more enjoyable when it's a little bit less crowded um if you're there on a thursday

00:20:01.560 i think borough market is exceptional you have to go to neil's yard dairy and get some great cheeses

00:20:07.940 you'll have kind of shakespeare's you'll love it and it's right near the globe theater um

00:20:15.140 which I'm sure is on your list of things to see but you should definitely see if you can walk on

00:20:21.280 the Thames there's kind of like a really lovely walk that you can do from Borough Market

00:20:25.280 passing the Globe Theater passing the Tate Modern going up to the South Bank Center which is just

00:20:31.480 kind of this exceptional public space and if it's raining the doors always open you can kind of

00:20:37.520 always just go in and just kind of hang out to be honest you'll pass the BFI the British Film

00:20:43.740 institute which again if it's really rainy and you don't know what to do they have these little

00:20:48.600 um these little rooms that you can go into and i'll give you a pair of headphones and you can

00:20:54.340 search through their entire archive and watch little films and on really rainy days i would

00:21:00.600 do that the hayward gallery is there as well um it's just you're gonna have such a great time

00:21:08.580 there's just so much to do i don't know how you're gonna see it all we're not we're not which means

00:21:13.240 that we're just going to go back together, all of us and your baby, and we'll just plan another

00:21:18.260 trip. That's the best thing is that you're not going to see everything. And then you just get

00:21:22.560 to look forward to the next trip. That's true. Yeah. I think that London, I mean, there's just

00:21:28.620 so much to explore. The V&A, I'm sure you're going to go to the National History Museum because

00:21:33.100 Charlie, I know, is just going to adore that. Charlie has been watching a whole documentary

00:21:39.440 on the Natural History Museum, in addition to demanding that's where we go the second that we

00:21:44.560 land. Amazing. I love that. Yeah. And then my mom, of course, is a Tudor history nut.

00:21:51.180 So we're going to the Tower of London and yeah. And then also the V&A Museum. And we just

00:21:58.420 discovered that the Victoria and Albert Museum also has a kids version. So we're going to go to

00:22:02.960 that. Yes. The V&A is exceptional. Highly, highly, highly recommend. I think it's just

00:22:09.940 such a beautiful, beautiful museum and space and place. And what's amazing is that all these

00:22:15.400 museums are free. And so they're great to just kind of bring the kids and be able to explore.

00:22:23.280 And oh, and she's like a huge Henry VIII. Oh, yeah. Mom loves Henry VIII in like a really weird 0.59

00:22:32.380 way yeah i love that i love that i'm trying to think of other places that you can go see um

00:22:39.440 what there's one there's one that's outside of the city it's like 30 minutes up the thames

00:22:46.840 uh and we might mom's only there for four days so like we've got to figure out what we can do with

00:22:52.080 her but if and if she doesn't get to do this one i this is her first trip out of the country in

00:22:58.780 more than 20 years and it's just kind of a get your feet but i can do this kind of thing

00:23:05.140 she can definitely do this all of this is perfect as are you and i love you thank you

00:23:11.580 thank you so much thank you so much for all of these recommendations and you're about to get so

00:23:15.820 many pictures and videos from london you're not gonna know what to do with them uh i know exactly

00:23:20.300 what to do with them just rage with jealousy that i'm not there with you because i am just

00:23:26.500 so excited for your trip. I'm so excited for you to explore, and you're just going to have

00:23:30.720 the most exceptional time. But I'm really excited for your perfect Sunday. I think that

00:23:36.040 you're just going to have such a good time, and it's just going to be really special.

00:23:43.060 And that's it. We're going to try to do as many things on this list as we can,

00:23:46.500 but also give ourselves the grace to realize we can come back to London. Hopefully. Hopefully,

00:23:54.080 London would like to have us again. We'll see how the children behave. But yes, we don't have to do 0.67

00:24:00.040 all of it in this trip. We're just going to try to enjoy ourselves, rest, and also teach the kids

00:24:05.580 to enjoy traveling because I think that these early trips are just so formative for them to

00:24:12.380 start to understand a love of visiting new places and meeting new kinds of people. Cheerio all.

00:24:17.620 Happy Thanksgiving. Talk to you soon.

00:24:24.080 Thank you.

00:24:54.080 You matched on Hinge.

00:25:09.880 You're vibing.

00:25:11.040 Then her energy completely changes.

00:25:13.820 What do you do?

00:25:15.180 I'm Raven Smith and I wrote and read a real love story about this exact sitch.

00:25:20.020 Listen to the free audiobook now.

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - November 27, 2025

All the London Recommendations with Three Feral Kids

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