London Christmas Date Night

Recently I wrote a blog post about how sometimes I feel like with growing up I’m getting boring and I don’t go out anymore. Whilst I definitely have a lot more nights in than I used to I still have this constant craving to be doing something. And it’s especially heightened by living in London. There is so much to do and see! A million interesting things happening every week and I miss most of it. It’s kind of exhausting just thinking about the things you’re always missing out on.

I’ve lived in London for 3 years now and I’ve never gone to a Museum Late, something I’ve always wanted to do but every time I remember I seem to have just missed one. When family and friends visit and ask where I would recommend for them to eat I am completely stumped. There are so many different and exciting restaurants in London yet I always find myself in Nando’s. Why?!

Then there’s my unfulfilled love for live theatre and comedy. Let me repeat myself. I. Live. In. LONDON. And I’m complaining about not seeing enough live theatre? That’s my fault and my fault alone.

But when I do go for a dinner date with a friend and we go to a restaurant they’ve recommended or I spontaneously buy tickets to a show it is such a great feeling. It’s my new kind of fun that has replaced the clubbing days of university. You can drink, you can chat, experience something new and (this is the best part) still get home before 11pm.

Last week my boyfriend, Dan, and I had a fantastic evening out in Leicester Square. London West End asked if I’d like to experience some of their recommended date night activities and of course I said yes. Christmas in London is busy. There is so much on and it’s even more exhausting and feels like you’re missing out on even more things. But between our busy schedules we found an evening to enjoy a proper date night.

First we had a pre-show steak dinner at Heliot which is the steak house inside the Hippodrome Casino. Now I’ve had drinks inside the Hippodrome many times before and lost £10 on Black Jack once but I didn’t even realise they had a steak house! It felt very fancy being in there. Not sure if I’ve ever been to a proper steak restaurant before. Dan and I have recently been watching a lot of Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen so obviously we now think of ourselves as food experts and I have to say the steak was cooked perfectly (if you like it rare!).

Then it was time for the show! Leicester Square has a Christmas market this time of year and also a huge theatre tent. It was so big inside I still can’t quite figure out how they fit it into Leicester Square. We went to see Black Cat Cabaret. Now I love cabaret. It’s the perfect mix of everything I love: music, comedy, dance, circus, burlesque and witnessing pure talent. I think my favourite act was this woman who played the cello but in the most unusual way using it as percussion as well as string. She made very strange noises with her mouth and sang these really funny songs. It’s difficult to explain but it was so entertaining!

There were definite moments during the show when we had our mouths wide open in awe and others when we were crying with laughter. Thanks so much to London West End for inviting us along and sorting us out with an amazing date night. It’s very easy almost a year into a relationship to spend most of your time at home together. And don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a lot of pyjamas and Netflix evenings. But I’ve learned that I am someone who needs to have plans, activities, adventures. But I still like to get my 8 hours of sleep.

I would love to hear in the comments in you have any recommendations for things to do in London – food and live show related. And if you’re interested let me know if you would like for me to write another blog post of a list of some of my favourite things to do in London. It’ll give me an excuse to do some research and go out more!

Merry Christmas!