Sitting pretty in the middle of Hyde Park, the Serpentine is an absolute must for contemporary art lovers no matter what’s on the agenda at the moment. Check out the yearly Pavilion designed by the most famous architects in the world. If you can’t swing a ticket to their wild & wonderful Summer Party, the free gallery entrance ticket is sure to soothe the pain. 

Yes, it is a café, hitting all the right hipster notes of excellent coffee, perfect pastries, hipster-friendly publications such as Pamplemousse and Kinfolk for the steady stream of international crowd that turn up for their daily caffeine and gluten hit. And yes, behind the panelled office at the back, it is also a money change bureau offering the world’s currencies in fair exchange for your readies. But it’s the styling that wins the prize: the soft peach and jade marble counter that runs the length of the room, mustard leather banquettes, a mosaic floor redolent of 1950s Italy and wall to wall walnut panelling. The sort of place you should travel across the city for. 

Known as ‘greasy spoons’ the old London cafes (known fondly as ‘caffs’) have these days been replaced for the most part by barista coffee joints across the city, with their accompanying sourdough and fancy cake offering. Yet Sheila’s hangs on to its origins, offering its all day fry-up (eggs, bacon, tomato, fried bread, mushrooms, baked beans in various combinations) with mugs of strong tea and no espresso machine in sight. On arrival, a plastic photograph of a plate loaded with Full English is slapped onto your (sometimes shared) table and from there on in, you are treated to a classic caff experience. 

By day neighbourhood deli and bottle shop, by night, wine bar and tapas joint specialising in well-kept, thoughtfully curated low-intervention wines from across Europe, many by the glass which you can happily taste before committing to. Eats on the menu are pitched just right, too, whether you are after a nibble to share or something more substantial: charcuterie plate with house-made pickles, braised butter beans with blackened delica pumpkin, roast hake with olive oil mash. A big table in the new extension next door will allow for pop-ups, too. In the summer, the front opens right up to form a bar at which you can perch streetside and watch the world go by.