Cybercandy

Cybercandy has 4 shops (Covent Garden, Islington, Brighton and Birmingham) selling some crazy sounding sweets, chocolates and soft drinks from a range of countries: Australia, Austria, Canada France, Finland Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, USA.

A taste of home

There's a small shop in Covent Garden that sells products from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada for expats who want a taste of home.

http://www.australiashop.co.uk/

Ethical shopping

Ganesha in Covent Garden and on the Southbank have a range of fairly traded products sourced from India such as bags, jewelry and greetings cards, several of which have been created using recycled materials. 

www.ganesha.co.uk/

E Lucevan Le Stelle

My first visit to Covent Garden Opera House was a brilliant experience!

I read a synopsis of the plot of Puccini's Tosca in advance so that I'd be able to follow what was going.  I watched a couple of operas that had been filmed for cinema back in 2009 so I was expecting a rather heavy going experience but it was much more enjoyable to watch everything in real life rather than on a screen.  And I really enjoyed going out at the interval to see what everyone was wearing and to listen to their discussions about the opera (one of the guys in my row was watching Tosca for the 15th time!).

The story was easy to get into and I found myself getting annoyed with Tosca in the first act for not trusting Cavardossi and then routing for her in Act 2.  In terms of the music itself I didn't find it especially captivating apart from this aria from Act 3, which was very moving:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l571-ctxNcQ

The 'floating' bar

Nothinng to do with Tosca I just liked this costume on display.

Pubs you could get very lost in...

So London has plenty of 'Irish' pubs but I'm going to class the Porterhouse in Covent Garden as Irish for my blog because the first two pubs in the Porterhouse Brewery chain of 6 were in County Wicklow and Dublin.   I was here for a friend's birthday but I realised when I went into this maze of a pub that I'd been here before around January 2010 with an Irish guy I know, before I moved to London.

There was a band playing and although they were good, they were so loud that it was hard to hear what people were saying.  If we had been after a more boozy night and a boogy they would have been perfect.

 Combined contexts of pockets/handbags along with a selection of beers.  All you need for a good night out in London.

 The Porterhouse has a large beer menu, with beers on offer from lots of different countries.  Even though I'm not a beer fan, I'm sure I'd find something I'd like here.  I tried a passion fruit flavoured beer which was nice and sweet.

As an aside: Waxy O'Connors in Soho is also a maze of a pub, though the connection to Ireland seems to be limited to the name and the tree inside.  But it's not often you find venues with trees inside (Portobello Gold and Rainforest cafe are the only ones that spring to mind) so I'd say it's worth a visit on that basis.  I got stopped by a guy in Waxy's once who was unable to find his way out and said he had been searching for an exit for quite some time.  If you ever stop by and he's still there, help him out will you?

For for information about the tree www.waxyoconnors.co.uk/

Stanfords

Stanfords in Covent Garden is a travel bookshop selling guides, fiction and maps.  It's a great place to spend some idle time browsing and there's a little cafe at the back of the shop.

www.stanfords.co.uk/

Bouvelard Brasserie

Country: France

Cost: £10 to £14 for a main, though they have a pre and post theatre menu during the week

Location: Covent Garden

A perfect location to catch up with my friend Sian, since we first  met in the gastronomic capital of France (Lyon) nearly 5 years ago.  Sian has a taste card so we got 50 % off the bill.  The food was delicious: I had venison and gratin dauphinois, Sian has tartiflette and we both had creme brule for dessert. Mmmmm.

www.boulevardbrasserie.co.uk/