7 Days in Lisbon, 8 Hours in London: Qantas A380 Y, Heathrow Lounges, TAP to Lisbon

[yflyer]

It was a very busy time at Heathrow Arrivals that day. The T5 Arrivals queue had overflowed the arrival hall, with the line leading out into the passageway.

I decided that, rather than exiting at T5, I would take the airside terminal transfer shuttle bus from T5 to T3 and clear UK border control there. That would also enable me to leave my luggage at the T3 left luggage counter.

The arrival immigration queue at T3 was also fairly long, but it did look a little less intimidating than the snaking queue at T5. I was out into the T3 landside arrivals area by 12.30pm...



...and first proceeded to leave my rollerboard at the left baggage counter for the day.



I then headed outside T3 for the short walk to the Heathrow Express Train Station, all set for a 6 hour visit to London...

[yflyer]

The Heathrow Express was busier than I had ever seen it...



In fact the train was packed. For many passengers, there was standing room only.

I made myself comfortable, and plonked myself on the spotlessly clean, carpeted floor of the train, for the 21 minute ride to Paddington Station in London.



But where to go for lunch? I had earlier asked Mrs yflyer for recommendations, and she had sent a list of possibilities.

On the train, I opened the OpenTable app on my iPhone and browsed available lunch options, cross-referencing it with the list from Mrs yflyer. Ottolenghi at Spitalfields came up as one of the options...I was not familiar with the style and cuisine of this celebrity Israeli-English chef, but I had seen one of his cookbooks lying on the table at home.

There was a one last seat available for a late lunch at 3pm that day -- I grabbed the booking...

21 minutes later our Heathrow Express train arrived at Paddington station.



I bought a London underground day travelcard to use for the rest of the day...





I emerged from the tube at Liverpool Street, and headed towards Ottolenghi at Spitalfields.



More narrow alleyways, but this time in the heart of London, on a grey, overcast day...

[yflyer]

Ottolenghi Spitalfields was located in a white and brick building overgrown with vines...



One side of the restaurant housed a bakery/deli...





The other side of the restaurant comprised table and bar seating in a stylish, intimate setting...





There was a beautiful a selection of salads on display...



Everything looked tantalisingly delicious...



This restaurant had a fairly casual dining concept, with salads and mains from the counter as well as a hot kitchen.

From 3pm to 5.30pm, a late lunch was served comprising only items from the counter, as the hot kitchen was closed, but I arrived just after 2pm, and a bar counter seat was available, so I was able to order hot items from the kitchen as well.



I took my seat at the bar counter, which was brlghtly lit with a skylight in the roof...



The day's lunch menu...



The cocktail list...

[yflyer]

After placing my order, I took a walk over to the salad counter. I had seldom encountered salads and greens which looked so appetizing...





I watched as portions of salad destined for other tables were prepared...





There were also tarts, bread and pastries...

[yflyer]

Back at my seat at the counter, I watched as my Mezcal Sour was mixed...this was a beautiful cocktail, garnished with red peppercorns, that tasted as good as it looked...



Before long, my food arrived...



I had ordered the grilled quail, along with two salads...



My choice of 2 salads were the kohlrabi mash, beetroot, caraway and watercress, as well as the caramelised celeriac, wild garlic, goat's cheese and parsley.



The salads were a revelation: light, creamy, and just bursting with intense, fresh flavours...

These were some of the nicest veggies I had ever eaten...

The grilled quail was served on a bed of hummus, and garnished with parsley and pickled barberries. This was savoury, delicate and delicious...



In lieu of dessert, I ordered a second cocktail: a Sichuan pepper margarita, where the rim of the glass was dipped in crushed in Sichuan hua jiao, or flower pepper.



With each sip of my drink, the ma la effect of the peppers grew more pronounced, and before long the corners of my lips grew numb...

[yflyer]

That said, the dessert menu looked quite appealing too...



...with many dessert options arrayed on the counter in the bakery/deli area.







Anyone with a sweet tooth would not be disappointed at Ottolenghi's.



Overall, this was an amazing lunch...one of the most enjoyable meals I have had in a long time. This is a place I would definitely want to return to if I ever headed back to London. And this was just one of many Ottolenghi restaurants in London. I would want to sample the others as well.

[yflyer]

After lunch, I headed for a walk.

Unlike the dockless bike sharing schemes that left bikes strewn all over the place, London's docked bike sharing scheme seemed to be doing fine, with neat rows of well maintained bikes docked at their fixed docking stations...



On the way to the Thames, I passed the Tower of London, which was as busy as ever...



I continued along the bank of the Thames, checking off landmarks as I passed them, including the Tower Bridge, and the HMS Belfast, now a floating landmark presented by the Imperial War Museum...



I also crossed under London Bridge, which was located not far from The Shard...



...before crossing the Millenium Bridge, with St Paul's cathedral at one end...



..and the Tate Modern at the other...



That was when I noticed a man walking with an EU flag draped like a cape...



What was up, I wondered?

[yflyer]

I continued my walk on the south bank of the Thames, towards the London Eye and Westminster.

There were fairs and market stalls set up along the path by the Thames...



Second hand books, artwork and LPs...



There was a food truck selling fish and chips...







And an ever increasing stream of people carrying placards and EU flags...



...was there a demonstration going on somewhere?

[yflyer]

As I walked westwards, I spied the towers of Westminster, but Big Ben was unrecognisable, all wrapped in scaffolding...



...and by the time I reached Westminster Bridge, the trickle had turned to a flood of marchers, carrying all manner of flags, placards and banners in favour of the Brexit "Remain" movement...



I later learned that this was the tail end of a major "Remain" march and demonstration that took place that day, and ended at Westminster...





There was police presence, but less than you would expect. It was all very calm and peaceful...







What struck me was the number of younger as well as older people involved. These were not angry young men, but senior citizens, children, fathers & mothers, whose banners reflected their wish for a future for their families and their offspring.



There were banners and posters on the fences of Westminster...





Of course, this being Britain, dry English humour was never far away and some of the posters and placards were downright witty, even funny...

[yflyer]

I continued through the crowd...my original plan was to catch the underground at Westminster, but Westminster tube station was closed for the day, which meant that I would need to get through the crowd in order to reach the another tube station further west.



As mentioned, this was a completely peaceful crowd of marchers...at no point did I feel worried or anxious.



The marchers had made their point, forcefully but non-aggressively, and were now largely making their way home, or just sitting around enjoying the remainder of the day. The atmosphere felt almost festive...



The crowd thinned out as I reached Birdcage Walk...



...and finally reached St James's Park underground station, where many marchers were on their way home, still carrying their placards and props. "How many still believe in brexit unicorns?" one placard read...



I took the underground back to Paddington Station.

This time, the Heathrow Express train from Paddington to Heathrow was almost empty...I sat back and relaxed in my plush purple seat as the train sped to Heathrow...



Later, I learned from the news that this Brexit "Remain" march was a major event and news story that day, 23 March 2019, that involved hundreds of thousands of people and not a few celebrities as well, including Game of Thrones star Lena Headey and Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys...

Not quite what I expected when I planned an 8 hour transit stop in London, but quite an experience all the same!

[yflyer]

I was back at Heathrow Terminal 3 at 6.30pm in the evening. Ample time to catch QF2 at 8.45pm.



I retrieved my luggage and headed to the Qantas Check-in Counter to check my bag and pick up my boarding pass...



There were no queues at security (And no outbound immigration checks), so I was through to the airside shopping area and airline lounges in no time at all.

[yflyer]

I headed to the Qantas London Lounge...



This was a two-storey lounge with bar counter and sit-down dining on the first level...







There was a large 2nd floor area with lounge seating, showers and buffet counter...



The upper level bar counter...



Seating area...







Shower facilities...



Children's room...

[yflyer]

There was a self service buffet counter on the upper level...



The buffet menu...



Some of the beverages available...





A Rockpool tea blend...



Cheese...



Salads...



French onion soup...



Beef lasagna...

[yflyer]

The buffet spread was pretty decent, but if you went downstairs, you were treated to sit-down dinner...



...which featured a light menu from the Rockpool team...



There were four choices available: I opted for the salt and pepper squid...



This was served piping hot, and was quite delicious...

Gin & Tonic seemed to be the tipple of the moment. The Qantas London Lounge offered a gin menu, featuring a multitude of different gins, and several unique G&T mixes...



I sampled the Tanqueray London Dry with an Aperol ice cube...



This was very refreshing...



I also could not resist trying a glass of Four Pillars...



Elsewhere on the first level were a selection of salads...



...and dessert...



Overall, this was an impressive lounge.

The only caveat I had was that, as a combined business and first class lounge, I would say the facilities were a step up from what you would expect in a Business Lounge, which meant Y and J pax would be happy. However, the lounge might be slightly underwhelming for F pax used to their own exclusive lounge facility.

I liked ths lounge very much. The design was stylish, the F&B was of high quality, and the lounge had all the facilities you would expect at a top international hub like London Heathrow.

[yflyer]

After eating and drinking my fill in the Lounge, I headed to the boarding gate, which was a large, spacious affair, well up to handling A380-sized passenger loads.



A380 registration VH-OQK, in new Qantas livery, was operating the evening's flight from London to Singapore.



A warm welcome on the main deck door...



The first Y cabin on the main deck (Immediately after the F cabin)...



2nd cabin Y emex row, with the emex door flush with the cabin side wall, without protruding into the cabin...



Seat 71D in the Y cabin, with extra legroom, as there was no seat in front of it...





My seat was in the 3rd Y cabin...