Imogen Lloyd Webber says she relishes dining as a single woman — “You can eat cereal for dinner if you want to” — and she should know. She’s the author of the recently published Single Girl’s Survival Guide. “When you’re dating someone,” she says, “you tend to keep up with their eating habits.” (Not that she wasn’t happy, when in town from London, to keep up with her father Andrew’s dinners at the late Manhattan Ocean Club). This week, though, she struck out on her own and hit some more au courant restaurants.
Saturday, October 13
At home I had fruit and pumpkin seeds and English breakfast tea, and I got wheatgrass juice from Jamba Juice. I used to have a thyroid problem, and an alternative-health person told me to drink wheatgrass. It tastes disgusting but makes you feel good.
England is in the Rugby World Cup final, and I went to watch it at Opia. We had lots of red wine and green salad and pumpkin soup and, of course, les frites. If you’re at a match, you drink beer, but if you’re watching, it’s okay to drink red wine. White’s a bit girlie.
I went to the Waverly Inn for dinner. I was with my Vogue friends so the food was correspondingly “healthy”: I had tuna tartare and the large vegetable salad. Candace Bushnell was there, Marc Jacobs was there. It was very exciting for me.
Then we went to the Beatrice Inn. It was surprisingly intimate and low-key, though it filled up later.
Sunday, October 14
I went to Jamba Juice and had a Mega Mango drink and wheatgrass and an English breakfast tea.
Brunch was with some family friends at their apartment. We had tomato soup and salad niçoise but without the egg. Six weeks ago I got diagnosed as wheat, gluten, dairy, and egg intolerant. I used to live off frozen yogurt and muffins. Every time I pass a frozen-yogurt shop, I start pining.
In the evening I went to the Library Bar at the Hudson for a glass of Merlot with a friend who used to work with me at CBS News. She and I went to Sushiya. I probably wouldn’t eat sushi on a Sunday in London, but it’s fresher here. I had sashimi, salad, yakitori skewers, and tuna sushi. I finished it off with some Lindt chocolate: 85 percent chocolate doesn’t have bad stuff.
Monday, October 15
I had soup, pumpkin seeds, and tea.
At the Great American Health Bar I had lentil soup and fruit. Then I had a pink vanilla cupcake at Babycakes and took a chocolate cupcake home with me.
I had drinks at the Peninsula and went and got takeout from the Pump. I had a grilled-lemon-chicken salad and my chocolate cupcake.
Tuesday, October 16
I had the Mega Mango at Jamba Juice and a wheatgrass.
I had split pea soup from the Great American Health Bar. I bought Green and Black’s organic dark chocolate. It’s on every street corner in England — less so here.
Then I was at the premiere party for Gone Baby Gone at the Soho Grand. I had roasted chicken, roasted carrots, and dried fruit. In London the film premieres are massive, with a huge red carpet. Here it was wonderfully low-key: The stars attended their own party and stayed!
Wednesday, October 17
I had a Strawberry Whirl and a wheatgrass juice at Jamba.
At a salad bar I had a mixed salad with everything I could eat — tuna, falafel, chickpeas. And I had some Lindt 99 percent dark chocolate, which was very bitter but extraordinary. And a banana.
My book launch was at Bloomingdale’s Soho. We had some amazing sugar-cane rum and some chicken-satay sticks. Then afterwards all the book-launch people went to have French fries and green salad at Soho House. I’m a member of the one in London. They’re everywhere I need to be, really: During Cannes they have a place there; during the Oscars they hire a place. The one here is so much nicer than the one in London.
Thursday, October 18
I had fruit salad, pumpkin seeds, and wheatgrass juice from Jamba Juice, and an English breakfast tea.
Then a mixed salad with falafel, chickpeas from the Great American Health Bar, a Lindt dark chocolate, and strawberries.
Visit Single Girl’s Guide Online for Imogen’s London restaurant recommendations and more.
