Manchester - London - Day 5 (London Eye - Hungerford bridge - Trafalgar Square - Piccadilly Circus - Oxford Street - China Town

It's our last day here at Manchester. Morning started off cold with the temperature around 3'C. We walked around looking for a place to eat breakfast and saw an old man stood opposite McD, wore a sign on his back reading "McDonald's STOP avoiding UK tax & RESPECT YOUR WORKERS!" He was protesting alone.

Finally we found a place for breakfast and it's just 3 minutes walk from our hotel. The Paramount served breakfast until noon and full food menu until late night. I ordered Traditional breakfast comes with fried egg, bacon, sausage, baked beans, hash browns, tomato and slice of toast. It was good and I really enjoyed my breakfast. My partner on the other hand feeling famished and decided to order their American breakfast include two fried eggs, two hash browns, maple-cured bacon, two sausages, three pancakes and maple-flavours syrup. His breakfast portion was huge and ended up he couldn't finish it.

We both shared a cup of hot chocolate. The waitress just gave him an empty cup and a chocolate stick as self service drink machines are available at the corner. You just have to pour some hot milk into your cup, dip and stir your chocolate stick. Make sure the milk is hot enough to melt the cocoa. Perfect drink for a cold day.

Mc Strike

The Paramount

Restaurant ambience

Hot chocolate - just dip and stir!

American breakfast - £5.40

Traditional breakfast - £3.90

Address:

The Paramount

33-35 Oxford Street,

Manchester

Opening hours: Sun to Thu - 7am to midnight; Fri to Sat - 7am to 1am

We checked out from the hotel around 9am and took an Uber to Manchester Piccadilly Rail Station. Some of our friends has yet to have their breakfast so we accompanied them at TGIF. Our train to London Euston scheduled to depart at 10.55am and we reached London around 1.05pm. (Ticket price: £20) Temperature in London was around 11'C, slightly warmer compared to Manchester.

Manchester Piccadilly Rail Station

Virgin trains

London Euston Railway Station

Euston War Memorial

Once we reached London Euston, we took an Uber to our hotel. Traffic was really bad and it took us around an hour to reach our hotel - Premier Inn London County Hall. Along the way, we saw protesters marched through the streets with flags and banners.

Our Uber driver

Street protest

We were all famished after leaving our luggage in the hotel room and had our late lunch at Neds Noodle Bar. The restaurant is just 1 minute walk away from Premier Inn London County Hall. As usual I prefer to order kids boxes so that my stomach still have rooms for other food later. Here's how you placed your order at Neds:

Step 1 - choose your base

a) Egg noodles (thin spaghetti like)

b) Rice noodles (wheat & gluten free 1cm wide and flat)

c) Udon noodles (thick Japanese)

d) Steamed rice (steamed Jasmine)

e) Vegetables only (no noodles no rice)

All boxes includes beansprouts, carrots, peppers onions, broccoli and Chinese cabbage.

Step 2 - choose your sauce

a) Singaporean hot (madras curry eggs and soy sauce)

b) Yakisoba (sweet Japanese soy sauce and pickled ginger)

c) Chinese BBQ (Chinese BBQ sauce and soy sauce)

d) Malaysian hot (shrimp paste lime coriander soy sauce)

e) Sweet and sour (Neds own recipe gluten free)

f) Black bean (blank beans and soy sauce)

g) Thai green curry hot (green curry coconut gluten free)

h) Oyster sauce (oyster sauce, sesame oil and soy sauce)

i) Thai spicy sauce hot (red chilli red curry fish sauce soy sauce)

Step3 - choose your filling

a) Chicken / beef / duck / prawns / squids / mix 2 fillings - £7.95

b) Tofu - £6.95

c) Vegetables - £5.95

You can even choose kids boxes as follows (also available with rice):

a) Egg noodles & soy sauce - £2.75

b) Egg noodles & sweet and sour sauce - £2.75

c) Egg noodles, soy & vegetables - £3.45

d) Egg noodles, soy, chicken or beef - £3.95

e) Egg noodles and sweet and sour chicken - £3.95

Add vegetables - £1 extra

Neds Noodle Bar

Neds Noodle Bar - dine in, take out or delivery

When the pager beeps, your order is ready

My noodle box

Kids beef egg noodles and soy - £3.95

Steamed rice with oyster sauce chicken - £7.95

Address:
Neds Noodle Bar
3E Belvedere Road,

Lambeth, London

A full stomach makes a happy heart and it's time to burn some fats by walking! So we walked over to London Eye, saw a wild squirrel with no fear of humans, street artist, carousel and a frozen yogurt food truck. We walked along The Queen's Walk and passed the Hungerford bridge, The Sherlock Holmes Pub, Equestrian statue of Charles I at Charing Cross, The National Gallery, Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street and Oxford Street. All of us decided to shop on our own at Oxford Street and meet again for late dinner.

London Eye

Living statue

Adorable wild squirrel

Carousel

Food truck - Frozen yogurt

City cruises

London bus and street view

The Sherlock Holmes

Equestrian statue of Charles I at Charing Cross

The National Gallery

Nelson's Column

Trafalgar Square

Charing Cross Underground & Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain

Regent Street, London

While wandering along Oxford Street we stumbled upon Burger & Lobster located at Binney Street just 8 minutes walk from Oxford Street. We decided to try their lobster and shared an original roll which include lobster with Japanese mayo & lemon served with chips and salad. It was good. I just love the lobster. It's tasty and fresh. Yup... we will definitely be back in the future. (Additional Singapore chili sauce - £1.50)

Burger & Lobster

Original roll - £25

Original roll - Lobster with Japanese mayo & lemon served with chips and salad

Address:

Burger & Lobster

28-29, Binney Street,

London

While having our yummylicious lobster roll, the rest of the gang just done with their shopping spree and texted us to join them for a drink at Spread Eagle, one of East London's oldest pubs. Spread Eagle is just 3 minutes walk from Burger & Lobster. A good place to chill and relax...

Spread Eagle one of East London's oldest pubs

Address:

Spread Eagle

8, Woodstock Street,

London

We decided to have our late dinner in China Town, 20 minutes walk from Spread Eagle. Along the way we passed by the stunning Palace Theatre currently playing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Since our stay in London was really short (only 3 days 2 night), we didn't get to experience London musicals and shows.

Harry Potter and the cursed child - Palace Theatre, London

Address:

Palace Theatre

Shaftesbury Ave,

Soho, London

We had our late dinner at Four Season Chinese Restaurant located in China Town. It's a small restaurant and eight of us have to squeeze into a small round table located on the first floor. Staircase going up were narrow and steep. Luckily the restaurant wasn't really crowded when we reached there around 9.30pm. We shared a plate of rice with 2 combinations of meat - barbecued pork and duck. We wanted to order the crispy belly pork but it's already sold out. You can choose any combination of either barbecued pork, crispy belly pork, soya chicken, barbecued duck or barbecued spare ribs. Overall food was just okay.

China Town

Four Season Chinese Restaurant

2 combination barbecued meat on rice - £8.90

Address:

Four Season Chinese Restaurant

23 Wardour Street, China Town,

London

Opening hours: Sun to Thu - 12pm to 11.30pm, Fri & Sat - 12pm to 12am.

After our late night dinner, the rest of the gang walked back to the hotel while me and my partner decided to hang out a little bit longer at Piccadilly Circus. We walked to M&M World and it's a huge candy store. The kids will surely love it! In fact I feel like a kid again when I walked into the store. Spread over 4 floors, there's tubes of colourful sweets, chocolates, merchandise plus limited editions and seasonal items. Cool place but expensive products.

Piccadilly Circus Station

Regent Street, London night view

M&M World

Address:

M&M World

Leicester Square

1, Swiss Court,

London

Opening hours: Mon to Sat - 9am to 1am, Sun - 12pm to 6.30pm

We wanted to visit the largest Lego store in Leicester Square (just opposite M&M World) but it's close by the time we walked over there from M&M World. It was almost 11pm (London time) and it's time for us to head back to our hotel. It took us around 20 minutes to walk back to Premier Inn London County Hall and along the way I managed to capture some nice photos of Hungerford bridge and London Eye. It's so cold when the wind blows and my fingers were freezing when taking photos!