London

Your critical guide to arts, culture and going out in the capital

London's top 20 smells
By Time Out editors

Posted: Thu Jun 12 2008
From a plate of vinegary chips to a Chinatown kitchen, from a whiff of bergamot oil to grilled Easter lamb, London's bedecked with things to sniff. Here are the Time Out team's favourite capital smells

1 Vinegar hitting hot chips at E Pellicci.
	2 Baking biscuits at Ben’s Cookies… must eat them.
3 Tropical aromas: Kew Gardens in the rain.
	4 Greeks grilling Easter lamb in Haringey (the lamb, that is, not the Greeks).
5 Richmond Park’s Isabella Plantation during the rhododendron season.
	6 Hot chestnuts in December. But don’t taste them! Just sniff.
7 A faceful of coal smoke from a narrowboat on the Grand Union canal.
	8 Lady’s neck in Penhaligon’s perfume house. But careful now…
9 Madly strong espresso, Bar Italia.
	10 The lived-in leather of a reckless late-night minicab.
11 Freshly ironed sheets at the Lanesborough Hotel. In company.
	12 Passing a kitchen in Chinatown, and realising that aromatic duck really is just that.
13 Rose garden in Regent’s Park.
	14 The tang of chlorinated water on hot tarmac at London Fields Lido.
15 The smell of a leather Hermès bag from Mayfair, on your arm, everywhere you go.
	16 Whiff of bergamot oil from the doorway of Neal’sYard Remedies.
17 Bacon, 8am, drifting across Old Kent Road.
	18 Holy smoke! Incense at Westminster Cathedral.
19 Fresh cheese at La Fromagerie, with a simultaneous sip of wine.
	20 Hmm? Is that the whiff of scandal leaking from the House of Commons?