London grub and late spring barbecues

I have just spent a gloriously sunny weekend living la vida loca in London with friends - and eating my way around the city.
What I really love about London is the melting pot of cultures in each different district, and the melange of cuisines they bring with them.
Highlights included gigantic cakes from a Greek bakery on Camberwell High Street, deliciously crisp pizza from Pontis in Covent Garden (one of the cheapest and best in the area), and a decadent and thigh-wobblingly chocolatey miniature gateaux from Boulangerie Jade in Blackheath - I was litererally drooling (well, not quite drooling).
A must for foodies visiting the city is a trip to Blackheath. This was my first time in the area and I was taken there by a friend who lives nearby.
We picked-up lemony houmous, piquant olives, crusty bread, vegetable crisps and samosas from the local shops and walked for about 10 minutes past the kite-flyers and lobster-coloured topless men enjoying the sun, to Greenwich Park - surely one of the most breathtaking in the city.
This really is the ideal spot to sit, eat, chat and watch the world go by - oh, and you could make sure you're watch is bang on time at the Observatory too.
I didn't lift a finger to cook during the weekend, except for preparing breakfast for host Yelena and other friends Marina and Lu who were staying. You can take the cook out of the kitchen but you can't take the kitchen out of the cook....as they say.
I rustled-up cheese pancakes with confit tomatoes (1 punnet of tomatoes roasted until gooey with lots of chopped garlic, basil and black pepper) and roasted mushrooms - plus crispy parma ham on top for the meat eaters.
Feeling knackered and blistered after having lugged my considerably heavier suitcase back to Suffolk, I had to have a barbecue and take dinner outside.
We had delicious marinated chicken, wilted greens with fresh garlic and roasted Jersey Royals with fennel and red pepper. mmmmm.
You just HAVE to try this chicken recipe - the end result tastes something like kebab house chicken kebabs - but in a good way.

Ingredients
500g boneless chicken pieces
1tsp paprika
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
handful fresh oregano and thyme
1tbsp olive oil

Do it:
Just mix it all together and grill on the barbecue until cooked through - about 10 minutes.
Serve with salad and pitta or middle eastern flatbread.

Ingredients