OCCUPATION: Jewelry Designer, Rosa de la Cruz London
MY STYLE IS: Classic and contemporary. My daytime look is Balenciaga jeans, a Chloé blouse and a pair of Roger Vivier or Lanvin flats. Stella McCartney, Chloé, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin and Miu Miu are my favorite designers. At home, we love contemporary works, (Christopher Wool, Kelley Walker, Wade Guyton), Christian Liaigre classics, and pieces from the ‘50s and ‘60s.
I LOVE LONDON BECAUSE: It has all the benefits of a city (theater, museums, great schools and parks) and the benefits of a village too.
Portobello Market
Stretching over two miles, this outdoor market has been a favorite destination in London since 1870. Six days a week, you’ll find thousands of vendors selling exotic foods and ingredients, plus secondhand goods, fashions, and other miscellaneous items. On Saturdays, you can get a good history lesson while you browse antiques from around the world.
Osteria Basilico
The key is in the details at Osteria Basilico, which serves Italian classics in a warm and welcoming setting. We recommend the seafood salad, fettuccine with veal-rosemary ragout (all pasta is homemade), and pizza diavola. Though the restaurant gets crowded, Osteria’s two sister restaurants—Mediterraneo and Essenza—are just down the street.
Sadler’s Wells Theatre
Sadler’s Wells brings some of the most cutting-edge dance to life for the London public, and keeps the afficionados happy with a rotating set of programs featuring everything from the Birmingham Royal Ballet to the Havana Rakatan Cuban dance show. For a more intimate showing, catch a contemporary performance in the Lilian Baylis Studio, a smaller performance space within the Sadler’s Wells building.
Serpentine Gallery
Nestled in the Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park, Serpentine is home to some of London’s most exciting contemporary exhibitions. A permanent outdoor installation by artist Ian Hamilton Finlay is dedicated to former patron Diana, Princess of Wales. There’s also a branch of Walter Koenig Books attached to the gallery, containing art books and fiction alike.
The Electric Cinema
The Electric Cinema in Notting Hill takes “dinner and a movie” to a whole new level. Not only can you get popcorn for the kids and cocktails for the adults, you can also get anything from organic ice cream to pork belly, all up until five minutes before the movie starts. If you go with younger kids, the cinema also has specific “Kids Club” screenings. You won’t have to squirm uncomfortably in your seat, either, because they have big couches and “red velvet sofa chairs with foot rests that allow you to get cozy in your seat,” says Allegra Hicks.
Petersham Nurseries
With a Michelin star under its belt and a gorgeous English countryside atmosphere, the Petersham Nurseries Café is worth a gander. The chef and cookbook-author Skye Gyngell, uses only grown-on-site ingredients, though the menu changes every week, the quality of the dishes remains constant. There are also activities to be found on the premises, including wine tastings, beekeeping classes, and a playhouse that produces intimate plays and dance performances in a turn-of-the-century ballroom.