London, city of my birth, and not a street in Zone 1 without a memory attached to it. It’s wet and grey and I’ve mistimed appointments, so instead of the gentle ambling and browsing that I had planned, I am dodging the rain and trying to dry out in small corners of shops, steam rising from me like a just-baked loaf.
This sort of weather reminds me of indoor playtimes at school, safety, and the promise of my Ma at the end of it with a Danish pastry. Bittersweet.
I have missed my turning to William Curley’s chocolate emporium in Smith’s Court (just behind Piccadilly Circus and really hard to find, but worth finding), which is a shame as I fancied a hot chocolate and a nostalgia bar. On I go through Soho, first to Silver Place where I used to work in a haunted underground office, round the corner from where they filmed bits of Sid and Nancy, then the John Snow pub on the corner of Broadwick Street – scene of a first date.
Then, imminently missable but not to be missed, is Said, an Italian chocolate shop further along Broadwick Street, that’s really famous for its hot chocolate. Incredibly, there is no queue and the waitress ushers me in, seeming to sense I need a bit of TLC, and to the coveted window seat, small and cosy with a view on to the wet world outside.
The hot chocolate here comes in three sizes, starting at £3.50, in dark, milk or gianduja. You could – and I should have – opted for the three-chocolate sauce addition. Instead I went dark, small, perfect – and order was restored.
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