Sans Pere is my new favourite place to have breakfast, café or lunch. In the heart of Shoreditch it really feels like a modern home. Their quiches are delicious and they have an in-house patisserie kitchen and let me tell you their cute bite-size choux and bronuts (brioche-donuts) are worth the detour.

This is one of the only buildings in London that can lift depression. Each concrete block in the building is hand cast and hand hammered. Certainly the best bannisters in town.

In terms of materials and form, these galleries offer so much. On an abstract and typographic level, so useful. This is a section of an altar frieze, from the Eye Temple at Tell Brak (N.E. Syria), dated 3300–3000BC. The Egyptian rooms take the tourist weight; these spaces are much quieter and amenable time spent drawing and thinking.

Best Udon in London, with an exceptional specials board. The head chef Shuko Oda opened the first restaurant in Soho 11 years ago, and they now have restaurants in the City and on Broadway market. Great for kids, our son loves the Mackerel udon.

I trust owner and director Tamsin Clark completely with what I could and should be reading.