As a Brit, I am often engaged in conversation by my WFAA colleagues about London. I love my home city and could talk endlessly about it – the art galleries, museums, the restaurants in Soho, the bars, Regent's Park, the markets. Whatever your interests, there’s always something to do. Any first-time visitor to London is going to see some of the main tourist sights – Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the Crown Jewels, Westminster Cathedral but below are few attractions that are off the beaten track and may especially appeal to Texans.

Wikipedia.

A scone with clotted cream is part of an English afternoon tea.

1. Tea

Moving to Dallas from London, it was very comforting to find Texans like their tea as much as the British, even though they do drink it cold! Britons love their tea, almost as much as their beer, and afternoon tea is a British tradition that shouldn’t be missed. A lot of the big hotels in London serve afternoon tea – I quite like the ones where champagne is thrown in with the tea - but you usually need to make a reservation. The tea of all teas can be had at the Ritz. It’s expensive (around $60 per person), and you do have to dress up a bit, but it is an elegant experience you won’t forget. WFAA’s Computer Corner presenter Walt Zwirko recommends tea at Harrods. "Every time we visit London, my wife and I make it a point to take afternoon tea at Harrods' Terrace Bar," he said. "We get a panoramic view of the city's skyline from this fourth-floor eatery, which is enclosed in glass for all-weather dining. I'm not a tea-drinker, but I always make an exception for this most British of traditions - and formal attire is not required."

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Full English breakfast.

2. Breakfast

It’s my impression that Texans like breakfast. On the few days I’ve managed to get up in time to go to the gym before work, I’ve noticed there is a life-before-work in Dallas, which I’ve never seen anywhere else. The gyms are packed, the breakfast restaurants are full. The English breakfast – eggs, sausages and a concoction of pigs’ blood, known as “black pudding” - is quite famous. But with the arrival of the pain au chocolate and eggs Benedict, English breakfast rather lost its appeal. If I meet my friends for breakfast, we generally go to Patisserie Valerie in Soho’s Old Compton Street ( Leicester Square/Tottenham Court Road tubes). There you can nurse hangovers (a hazard of being in London, as no one drives) with large cups of cappuccino and get the blood sugar going with croissants and the café’s magnificent cakes (these are the real thing). The atmosphere is Paris 1920s – the walls are painted with Toulouse-Lautrec-style images, it’s steamy and the quota of beret-wearing customers is high. The café dates back to that time – it opened in 1926.

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Fish and chips - unhealthy but tasty.

3. Fish and chips

Once wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper – until the European Union ruled that was unhygienic – Britain’s best-known national dish is fish and chips. It’s not healthy – it’s the equivalent of having chicken fried steak – but it’s damn good. My favorite “chippy,” as fish and chip restaurants are known, is Sea Fish Restaurant near Victoria Station ( 80-81 Wilton Rd, SW1V 1DL (020 7828 0747) Victoria tube/rail). The plump waiters – ageing Greeks – are welcoming, and the portions are as large as their waistlines. But if you can’t make it to this fish and chip restaurant, try any – you can’t really go wrong with this dish.

View from the Oxo Tower Restaurant.

4. Bookshop and bars with views

London has some fabulous bookstores, including Waterstone’s on Piccadilly (203-206 Piccadilly, W1J 9LE, Tel: 020 7851 2400 Piccadilly/Green Park tube), which is not just the city’s largest bookshop but the biggest in London. It offers the American bookshop experience, where you can lounge in comfortable chairs and read books at leisure. You can even take your choices to the bookstore’s airy and fashionable 5th View bar on the top floor, where from the art deco building you can gaze across London’s rooftops. The bar serves light food, including tarts at lunch time. Another good lunchtime restaurant, also with a spectacular view, is the restaurant on the top floor of the National Portrait Gallery (St Martin's Place London WC2H 0HE, 020 7312 2463), just off Trafalgar Square. For evening dining with a view, try the restaurant on the 8th floor of the Oxo Tower, situated on the south bank of the Thames – you’ll be able to see most of central London. Weather permitting, try and get a table on the patio. (OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar & Brasserie, 8th floor, Oxo Tower Wharf. Reservations: +44 (0)20 7803 3888.)

Wikipedia.

Chicken tikka masala has become a British national dish.

5. Indian food

Chicken tikka masala is considered another one of Britain’s national dishes and across the country Indian food is much, much better than its counterpart in Dallas. Even the most ordinary Indian restaurants, in the most nondescript neighborhoods, serve excellent food. A restaurant serving very good and very cheap Indian food is Khan’s in Baywater, west London. It’s a huge restaurant attracting large families, students, workers, everyone. Walking through Bayswater is an experience – you’ll understand why London is described as cosmopolitan – you’ll see people from every corner of the world ( Khan's 13-15 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London W2 4UA). A more upmarket Indian restaurant is Chutney Mary in Chelsea (535 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW10 0SZ Tel: +44 (0) 20 7351 3113.) In east London, Brick Lane is famous for its curries.

Wikipedia.

Soho, London

6. Soho

Old Compton Street in Soho is one of my favorite places to go out – it’s full of cafes, restaurants and people and buzzing most hours of the day and night. I like Kettners (29 Romilly Street, Soho, London W1D 5HP 0207 734 6112). The modestly-priced food is not all that great – pizza and hamburgers – but entering the opulent dining room is like walking back in time. It is in fact one of London’s oldest restaurants, opened in 1867 by Auguste Kettner, chef to Napoleon III. Most evenings, a man plays the piano. The adjoining champagne bar is also interesting – it attracts London’s media and advertising crowds. I also like going to Café Espana (63 Old Compton Street, Soho, W1V 5PN). There’s no website for this old, family-run restaurant and you can’t book but the atmosphere and food are great.

Wikipedia.

Hamptead Heath.

7. Taking a walk

Hampstead Heath (nearest tube: Hamptead Heath) is a great place to go for a walk, have lunch in a nearby pub and if you are adventurous, swim in one of the ponds. Located just four miles from the central London, the area ancient woodland, bog, hedgerows and grassland gives a taste of the English countryside. Head for Parliament Hill for a stunning view of London.

Wikpedia.

London's Savoy Theatre.

8. London theatre

London has some of the best theatre in the world, and even with the pound strong against the dollar, tickets are still cheaper than you’ll find on Broadway. For a summer London experience, head to the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. On a cold night, blankets will be handed out and the last time I went there, hot mulled wine was available. At the moment, the program includes Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Boyfriend. There are lots of booths in central London selling half-price tickets to shows but the best place is the only official discount ticket booth called tkts, located right in the center of Leicester Square (pronouced "Lester"), in the clock tower building on the south side of the garden. For an up-to-date guide to what’s on in London, buy the weekly magazine TimeOut.

Walt Zwirko / WFAA.com

The Tube is a great way to get around London.

9. Public transport

Take comfortable footwear to London because you’ll be getting around by foot or The Tube. It’s not as clean or as punctual as the DART but trains come every few minutes – and almost everybody in London uses the service. Buy a daily travel card. I always take The Tube or Heathrow Express or Gatwick Express to and from the airports – a much quicker and cheaper service than a taxi.

COURTNEY PERRY/DMN.

You can find iced tea in London but only at a few locations.

10. Texas food in London

Finally, if you are missing home, you could head to the Texas Embassy, a central London restaurant, run by three Texans, which serves Tex-Mex. I’ve not been there but I’ve been told they serve passable iced tea. It’s located just off Trafalgar Square (1 Cockspur Street, SW1Y 5DL. Tel 0207 925 0077).

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Harrods' clothing department.

11. Buying a present

Some of London’s oldest department stores are a great place to buy gifts. Harrods, London’s most famous department store, has an entire section for souvenirs, where you can buy marmalade, teas, biscuits and more. Even older than Harrods, is Fortnum and Masons, founded in 1707, which located on Piccadilly (181 Piccadilly, London W1A 1ER) has an entire floor where you can buy Dundee cake (a favorite of Winston Churchill), tea, desert wine, biscuits and other British items.

Wikipedia.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.

12. The English pub

There’s a pub on virtually every street corner in Britain, so it’s hard to recommend where to go but there is one on Fleet Street I always enjoy going to. London’s Fleet Street used to be home of the British press – and the street’s name remains a metonymy for the British national press. The newspapers have long ago moved eastwards to Canary Wharf but some of the old journalist haunts remain, including Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese ( 145 Fleet St., EC4A 2BU – no website), which is one of the pubs to be rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Downstairs (be careful you don’t bump your head) you can buy standard pub fare (Ploughman’s lunch - which is bread, pickled onion, salad and cheese, steak and kidney pie and sandwiches). Upstairs there’s a restaurant, which last time I went, served high-quality British food.

Also...

Senior WFAA reporter Byron Harris regularly visits London. "I enjoy the Science Museum. They have an exhibition on spying. It gives you clues and asks you what you would if you were a spy... It's great for kids like me. They also have a lot of aircraft there."

Readers' comments: The original Texas Embassy in London

Several readers have written in to say that you can still see the site of the original Texas embassy in London. After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, the new country sent a Charge d'Affaires to the Court of St James’s, writes one WFAA.com reader, K. Meeke. This, the closest embassy to the palace, was based in offices rented from Berry Bros. London’s last duel was fought in this alleyway. You can see a plaque in Pickering Place, beside Berry Bros in St James's Street (Pickering Place SW1 Tube: Green Park).

E-mail ljones@wfaa.com.