Leila McAlister's grocery shop and café off Arnold Circus, Shoreditch. You can find the best of everything, from jars of horseradish to eggs and croissants.

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.

Escape the Eurocentric vortex here.

Sager & Wilde is a small wine bar on Hackney Road, close to many other amazing places on Hackney and Columbia Road. The perfect place for an aperitif or a nightcap.

I go to the Heath every weekend (often via the wonderful Waterlow Park which skirts Highgate Cemetery) and during the week too if I’m working from home; it helps to put things in perspective when I’m thinking about my work. It’s great in the summer for obvious reasons but I love it the most in autumn and on those rare days it snows so much London grinds to a halt (which doesn’t take much). Everyone heads up there to make giant snowballs/cats/creatures and surf down Parliament Hill on anything they can get their hands on. Grown ups turn into kids for the day. My husband and I made this snow yeti last year, it was sad to leave him behind but he soon made friends and even made it into the Camden New Journal.