... he's going to want another cookie to go with it. If you're at Ben's Cookies, you're in luck. Founded about 30 years ago by an Englishman in Oxfordshire (say that 10 times fast), Ben's Cookies has a handful of locations around the United Kingdom. The first was opened in Oxford's Covered Market, and my favorite is tucked into a tiny corner shop of London's Covent Garden. The cookies are perfectly crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and not so big that you'll feel too full exploring the rest of the market. Flavors range from classics like Double Chocolate Chunk and Oatmeal Raison to more adventurous Cranberry & White Chocolate and Ginger Dark Chocolate Chunk. Go crazy and try two. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday and bank holidays. If you can't make it to the store and you live in the UK, never fear — you can order online and have cookies delivered to you! And yes, you do recognize the logo — the drawing was done by Quentin Blake, the well-known artist who illustrated the Roald Dahl books. I'll raise a cookie to that.

Monmouth in Borough Market has the most divine coffee. The coffee is so sweet and smooth you don't need to add sugar. They also serve fresh breads and jams on long communal tables inside.

Looking for delicious home cooked comfort food, and a great breakfast served in the hip funky area of soho London- then look no further. The Breakfast Club is so good you will want to go everyday. There are some great egg dishes you must try with a big cup of great coffee- this is the place to be. Cool tunes are always playing in this no frills atmosphere for the hip and cool. If your not cool enough. No worries - there are 3 other locations in other parts of London. Enjoy!!!

Upstairs from Soho's pub, Coach and Horses, lies a wonderful cheeky little tea room, Soho's Secret Tea Room. You have to ask the bartender to be let upstairs. He will call the tea room to let them know you are about to make your way through the wandering back staircase behind the bar. Once there, you have your choice of homemade scones, tea sandwiches, and a lovely selection of English teas all served on mismatched floral china. The feeling is quite like an old English grandmother's living room, but there is a playful hip twist to the experience, with tattooed servers providing you with some of the best afternoon tea selections!

If you're looking for that quintessential neighborhood spot where you're welcomed with a smile and can easily spend hours going from Bloody Mary to Eggs Benedict to Lemon Cheesecake to Coffee back to another Bloody Mary, well then Bill's is your place. If you don't have a ressie, expect to wait awhile: On a recent Saturday around 1p.m. at the buzzy location in Covent Garden (there are 15 city-wide) there was a line that wrapped up the staircase to the second floor. It's worth waiting, though. There's good music, friendly faces and a bright, sunny vibe. The super-high ceilinged space also features shelves upon shelves of locally made take-away items to buy like oatmeal, marmalade, honey, chocolate and more. Come hungry, leave happy.

London is famous all over the world for its thousands of pubs - in fact, there are so many of them, it can be hard to pick out the ones that are lousy, and the ones that are absolutely fantastic. The Harp is the latter. It's small, it's intimate, it's beautifully decorated and it claims to focus on "real ale, real cider and real conversation". I can't help but believe them - especially since they've won the London Cider Pub last year. Don't be fooled by its tiny size - here, quality far outweighs quantity. If the ground floor appears to be full, go have a look upstairs, grab a seat and enjoy your drink.

I had a 12-hour layover in London, strategically chosen around three things I wanted to accomplish - lunch with a friend @ Canteen Spitalfields, taking in the Damien Hirst exhibit at the Tate Modern, and Alternative London's free East End street art walking tour. Banksy, Stik, Toast and many others were on display in this 2.5 hour, awesomely informative tour in a neighborhood that fosters and attracts an amazing creative spirit - colorful, large, original.

The National Gallery in London holds art works from Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, to Rembrandt. Most important, the entry is free! Currently, there is a "count-down" clock outside of the Museum for the 2012 Olympic.

An artsy bar in Soho’s Golden Square, Graphic serves punch in paint cans and swaps artistic themes through its menu and décor every six months. (This fall the focus is on 3-D art, complete with 3-D glasses to enhance the drinking experience.) Gin is the true motif at Graphic: The bar has a 182 entry-thick gin bible, and a gin club, the Juniper Society, which holds free tastings, workshops and discussions with different gin makers every two weeks. 44/20-7287-9241. Read "London Distilled," about the first new gin distillery to be built in London in nearly 200 years.

St Pancras International Rail Station is set in the heart of Central London with more underground connections than any other London station. One of the main services is the Eurostar line, which can have you in either Paris or Brussels in about 2 hours. Right across the street is Kings Cross Underground Tube hub. Have a great meal within the station at either Betjeman Arms or St. Pancras Grand or just just have a drink at The Champagne Bar. The Premier Inn 2 blocks away was an excellent, clean and inexpensive hotel with a fantastic restaurant called The Fellow right next door.

Hopping on and off the stereotypical double decker bus around London, you find yourself in front of typical destinations in rapid succession; take a picture, hear a brief story, jump onboard. Great way to get your bearings for the remainder of the trip.

Chef Fergus Henderson, best known for resurrecting Britain’s rural tradition of whole-hog (“nose-to-tail”) eating, isn’t one for embellishments. The seasonal menu at the ground-floor restaurant of his new St. John Hotel in London reads like a shopping list (if yours includes duck hearts and lamb tongues). I order the “Barley, carrots, and curd” to start, hoping it’s geared toward palates more modern than Miss Muffet’s. Indeed, the goat curd is mixed with crème fraîche, and the whole dish is dressed in lemon-watercress oil. The “Skate, bread, and brown shrimp” is a succulent second course, and my “Custard tart” finale is more like “Creamy sliver of nutmeg-perfumed perfection.” The dining room—with whitewashed walls, dark wood chairs, and a stainless steel open kitchen—was designed in the same minimalist yet tasteful vein as the menu. The food is the star here, and the rest of the hotel was built to spotlight it.The St. John is one example of a growing number of hotels headed by prominent chefs. These modern auberges not only serve great food; they provide a creative outlet for chefs beyond the kitchen and afford visitors an easy commute from dining room to bed. Trained as an architect before becoming a chef, Henderson put his stamp all over the property: The Italian digestif Fernet Branca, his favorite hangover remedy, is stocked in the minibars; fresh-baked buns with surprise fillings are served in the afternoon; and the bare-bones aesthetic of the dining room continues in the bedrooms.After my decadent dinner, I’m thrilled to be within crawling distance of my room. I enter the white sanctuary of paneled walls, plantation shutters, and shiny Caribbean Sea–colored floors, and immediately lie down to wait for my food coma to abate. I’m content until I discover the room service menu, which teases me with Welsh rarebit, strawberry sundaes, and other tempting treats that weren’t on the dinner menu. I ponder whether I should open the Fernet Branca to get my stomach in gear for dessert. Then I realize I should save room. One of London’s best restaurants will be downstairs come breakfast time.This appeared in the October 2012 issue. Photo by Michael Franke.

I love standing on the steps of the National Gallery and looking out over Trafalgar Square-- pubs, fountains, double-decker buses and a view of Big Ben. The National Gallery is wonderful, but when looking at the building, walk around to the right and head to the smaller entrance that is the National Portrait Museum. Walk thru the halls to meet the entire lineage of British royals.

Yes, the National Portrait Gallery itself is an obvious destination for tourists and locals alike in London. But do yourself a favor (if you can) and go during their "Late Shift" hours on Thursday and Friday when the museum is open until 9p.m. Not only will you avoid the crowds, but there's a DJ, a full bar and lots of mingling about. You can wander the galleries downstairs with a bellini in hand and marvel at the new portrait of Catharine, The Duchess of Cambridge and her oddly puffed cheeks and pursed lips. The main galleries and permanent installations are also open (no drinks allowed, though), so grab an audio guide and learn a thing or two about the Tudors, Beatrix Potter and Churchill.

There are Somali and Bangladeshi communities in the East End, so there’s a strong element of that. Brick Lane is the curry center of London. Brick Lane, south of Cheshire Street. —Sophie Howarth This story appeared in the Premier 2009 issue. Photo by Graham Marks. See all of Sophie Howarth’s favorite places in Shoreditch.

More than 40 types of gin are offered at this Soho bar, which has its own gin club. Membership is free and includes access to rare gins. Read "London Distilled," about the first new gin distillery to be built in London in nearly 200 years.

Under the Waterloo Bridge on the Southbank, you'll find second-hand books for sale at the outdoor Southbank Centre Book Market. I used to come here over the weekends, thinking it was only then the market was open. But now I've learnt it's open every day.