For those of you out there who want to move to London to live a posh life surrounded by royals and rock stars, I have a valuable piece of information that you need to consider before hopping on that plane across the pond: London is really expensive. 

Of course, people told me this before I came here, but I don’t think I grasped it until I went to a restaurant my first day here and ordered the most basic pasta on the menu for a whopping £8, or about $14. This pasta literally had pasta, tomatoes and sauce and was from a restaurant that is the equivalent of a Chili’s. I could have made it for about £2. It just got worse from there.

I’m starting to accept the high cost of living that London demands, and it’s apparently no secret to the locals. (My Exploring London lecture for next week is entitled “Poor London,” so I’m obviously not alone in my predicament.) Thus, I’ve been making a real effort to cook as much as possible, which for me means pasta every night. I started off just adding jarred tomato sauce. Then I got a little crazy and added tomatoes and “rocket” (aka arugula), sometimes even some pesto. One time I put little pieces of salami in there because what the heck.

Despite my obvious expertise in the art of Italian cuisine, I’m getting a little tired of pasta, which is why I was beyond blown away when I entered the magical food emporium that is Harrods. Wow.

The sight of this place is indescribable. Imagine the nicest department store you have ever seen, and then imagine there is an enormous Whole Foods inside. Harrods is like a hundred times nicer than whatever you’re imagining.

I didn’t even realize Harrods had food until someone told me about it after I arrived here, but the real question is why isn’t the main attraction of Harrods the food? I was so overwhelmed by the majesty of this culinary wonderland that I think I cried. There were salads, sandwiches, meats, fruits vegetables, cakes, chocolates, like five restaurants, prepared foods and more. I could go on for hours, but to sum it up, it was amazing.

I decided on sushi, a salad and cherry pie. It might sound like an odd combo, but let me tell you, it was hands down the best meal I’ve had in London. Oh, also if you go at the end of the day, everything is half price. I think this was the happiest I’ve ever been in London.

The next day, I went to Hummingbird Bakery for a cupcake. I always see a line snaking out the door of this place, so obviously I had to see what the fuss was about. It was gooood. Scroll for more food pics because dessert.

All in all, it was an excellent food weekend. Cheers!