London's top 20 smells
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
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Do you agree? Tell us your favourite London 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?
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