For those of you who don't know what this is, its 15,000 women (and a few men) power walking either a marathon or a half marathon through the streets of London at night in their bras, to raise money for Breast Cancer causes.
It all starts in Hyde Park where all the walkers congregate in the pink palace. Here we all make last minute tweaks to our outfits, get a hot meal, do a mass warm up and be entertained by various acts whilst waiting to be called to the start line.
This year I was walking with my very good friend Julie and her daughter Gail. This would be Julies third year and Gail's first. For me it was my second year. Last year Julie and I did the full marathon but decided this year to just do the half marathon. Its still great fun, a huge challenge, raises lots of money but is slightly less painful that a full 26.2 miles.
Seeing London at night is a fantastic experience, particularly as the sun comes up and there are still no other people about. Its the first time I have walked past Buckingham Palace and not one single tourist has been there.
So, we completed the half marathon, it took longer than we thought it would (5 hours) but this was due to heavy congestion and long waits at many of the road junctions. I wore my running watch and when I got home and downloaded the data it told me we burnt 1241 calories, not bad and now onto spending them......
We knew we would finish the walk long before the trains started running out of London so we had a look in advance for a 24 hour cafe in London we good head to once we finished. I also asked on face book for recommendations. We decided to head to Balans Cafe in Soho.
Balans is a small place in the heart of Soho right next door to G.A.Y the nightclub so the clientele were interesting to say the least. When our taxi dropped us of outside we found a bouncer guarding the door but he was really friendly and quickly sorted us out a table for 3 inside. Unfortunately the table was tiny and squeezed right in the corner with the toilet door behind my chair but frankly by that time I just wanted to sit down in a warm place and drink very strong hot coffee.
The guy on the table next to us was an interesting looking neighbour.....long pink skirt, black corset, leather biker jacket, German army hat, red nail polish and eyelashes to rival Katie Price!!! I very quickly realised that we were practically the only straight and female people in the place. I didn't care though, it was a great atmosphere.
The last time we had eaten was just a cake at about 9pm last night so by the time we arrive at Balams we were hungry. The cafe does a night time menu which includes various breakfast items including steak n eggs, mixed berry bowl, three egg omelette's and full english breakfast. There was also small plates like duck spring rolls and crab cakes, big plates like Thai green curry and chili con carne, breakfasts as already mentioned and a selection of salads and sandwiches. And last but not least there were desserts.
To start with I ordered a very strong black coffee for me, a cappuchino for Julie and an apple juice for Gail. I often find black coffee to bitter but this was perfect.
To eat I ordered the full English breakfast which consisted of a very fat sausage, two slices of really tasty bacon, baked beans, grilled tomato, field mushroom, saute potatoes, a slice of sourdough toast and two eggs and way you like them (I had them poached). The whole plate of food was really tasty but strangely enough once it was in front of me I lost my appetite. I didn't touch the eggs or mushroom and left most of the beans and potato. Gail had the same as me.
Julie ordered the American pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. Three huge pancakes, 2 rashers of bacon and a pot of syrup to pour over yourself arrived. I don't like bacon a syrup together but I have to say I could of left the bacon and eaten the rest.....yum.
So all in all I would 100% recommend Balans cafe. If you happen to be in Soho and need to find somewhere to eat during the early hours of the morning, this is the place. Great food (the eggs Benedict a few tables up looked amazing), great coffee, great service, and really friendly fellow diners made waiting for a train totally enjoyable. We did get a few double takes though as we were still dressed in our walking gear and numbers and looked exhausted.
http://www.balans.co.uk/Restaurants_Cafes/Cafe.php
34 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, W1D 4TS
Sharon x
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