Marylebone

West is a real-life baby whisperer. At the largest holistic fertility clinic in the UK, West, a trained midwife, and her team of medical doctors and holistic practitioners consider and treat the whole person. That treatment can entail acupuncture, nutritional advice, tackling emotional stressors, and IVF. In person, West is both calmly practical and hugely empathetic, with a sense of humor that usually dissolves any nervousness. All courses of treatment start with a consultation and chat on the sofa; for those seeking some of West’s wisdom from home, her informative books and supplements are available online.

When you meet Dr. Wendy Denning, you can’t help but sigh with relief. Denning, a general practitioner and functional doctor, radiates the calm competence of someone with twenty-five-plus years of experience. Specializing in heavy metal testing, hormonal imbalances, and chronic pain, Denning operates her integrated medical clinic from Harley Street. Booking several weeks in advance is highly recommended.

Cornelius O’Shaughnessy is one of those hard-to-pin-down figures whose name is reverentially whispered by meditation devotees around town. He’s something of a wellness guru, which is why we had to have him lead a session at our first In goop Health summit in London. The founder of Bodhimaya, a retreat-style experience centering around recovery from stress, burnout, and addiction on properties like Villa La Coste, O’Shaughnessy teaches meditation and Eastern philosophy at his Bodhimaya headquarters on Harley Street and at Fiona Arrigo’s A Place to Heal.

Breathwork is a deeply personal practice. Hyperventilating and releasing in a room full of people and the sobbing, laughing, and shaking that often accompany that release require a certain willingness to bare all. This is why our first session with renowned breathworker Stuart Sandeman was a one-on-one. When we arrived at the Scotsman’s Dalston studio (there's a second space in Marylebone), his cheery, confident nature immediately put us at ease. And though the next hour of open-mouthed belly breathing and releasing by slapping our hands and feet against the (padded) ground as we loudly exhaled was intense, the release of emotion (okay, we cried) and the subsequent energy burst is not to be understated.

Marylebone is full of bakeries, bookshops, and quiet residential streets, despite its proximity to bustling Oxford Street. One of our favorite stops is the bar at the Chiltern Firehouse, which feels almost like spending time in a garden (while being inside). Nearly all the seats and sofas are embellished with colorful florals, and dozens of trailing green plants form a cornice around the room. Afternoon tea is a special treat—a silver tea tray stacked with chocolate and coffee éclairs is presented by the stylishly attired staff. It’s a great place to counteract a midday slump, and for the freelancers out there, to get some work done.

Glow Bar is a welcome one-stop wellness shop in one of the more chaotic parts of town. The philosophy centers around stress management in the form of sipping, sweating, and shopping. The café section is a calming pink and green corner with an adaptogen-heavy menu of moon milks, smoothies, and pitaya bowls to help soothe the nervous system. The infrared sauna is meant to assist with sleep and collagen production, while the shop is stocked with clean beauty, herbs, and other wellness essentials.

Open for over a decade, this Marylebone shop is part clean, nontoxic beauty store and part amazing day spa. Upstairs, colorful shelves are stocked with Four Sigmatic, Intelligent Nutrients, Oskia, Juice Beauty, and Vintner’s Daughter. You can book a full or express facial using the store’s most popular brands—Pai Skincare and Tata Harper—and withdraw to the super quiet treatment rooms downstairs.

Carousel is a fairly novel concept: a three-story creative hub that hosts a turntable of food pop-ups with a rotating cast of stellar international chefs monthly. Most recently, Carousel hosted Scott Smith of Scotland’s Norn, followed by Turkish chef Esra Muslu. Smith created a menu that looked like Scottish classics, but each dish was dressed up with the techniques of the moment—kombu and salt-baked hogget loin, buttered wild leeks and fried seaweed. The space itself is industrial and raw to accommodate the various cuisines that pass through, and polished, with long communal tables meant to encourage conversation with strangers and a gallery upstairs.

Jikoni owner Ravinder Bhogal is of Indian descent and was partially raised in Nairobi ("jikoni" means kitchen in Swahili). And her food tells the story of her geographic biography: prawn toast freshened up with pickled cucumbers, chickpea chips with Bengali-style chutney, a Scotch egg made with venison instead of pork, scallops and congee. British and African influence is evident, but at its core, Jikoni serves up flavor-packed comfort food that transcends culture. The restaurant itself is a refreshingly colorful break from the cool minimalism sweeping the capital’s interiors. The tablecloths are brightly patterned, the cushions are colorful, and the tapestries that cover the walls are loud and cheerful. Like the food, the décor feels fresh and hopeful, definitely a welcome addition to a stretch of town that often seems akin to a one-note French village of bakeries and cheese stores.

Finally, a brick-and-mortar manifestation of Simon Rogan’s beloved pop-up, with most of the original staff making a return. Roganic’s produce comes straight from Rogan’s own farm, with a sprinkling of greatest hits from the rest of the British Isles. The fourteen-course tasting menu makes for a long evening, so best to leave the kids at home. Nordic flavors abound, most in the desserts—smoked juniper fudge, iced dandelion seed snap, to give an idea. The rest is a mix of the most delicious things you can think of, one course after the other. Raw bavette, scallops, buttery poached halibut, duck—they all make an appearance. Salt-baked celeriac (is there anything better than this? No, there is not), artichoke broth, beet sorbet, and a clever use of herbs and fruits balance out all the richness. If you’re going to commit to the tasting, go big—get the wine pairing, too.