I quickly realised that Washington DC has a very cool foodie scene, and it’s growing. The city is full of different zones which reminded me of the London boroughs, each with its own style, foodie intrigues, and charm.

For us, Georgetown at the top of the list. Home to Georgetown University, this beautiful part of DC had a very Chelsea/Notting Hill feel to it, with some student vibes thrown in there. The university buildings were stunning, not dissimilar to our older universities and colleges in the UK, and even though it’s been a while since my uni days I couldn’t help but feel envious of the students who get to live on this gorgeous campus.

The first thing we did after visiting the University was head Georgetown Cupcakes. Friends had told us this cupcake shop had its own TV show, and we needed to see what all the fuss was about…

OH MY…These cupcake are the real deal. I now understand why the queue is usually out the door and right up the street! Think about gorgeous little bites of fluffy sponge with butter cream icing and you’re pretty much there. Not too big either and the perfect sponge to icing ratio – I really don’t like cupcakes that have more icing than sponge!

And there are plenty of flavours to choose from, including simple vanilla cupcakes with birthday springs – I like that touch! After much debate we chose our flavours and pulled up a pew on the wall outside. I can vouch for the red velvet and the marble chocolate and fudge vanilla cupcake, both incredible. At 3$ a piece, for a shop with it’s own TV show I didn’t think that was too steep.

After just a couple days mosying around Georgetown we felt very at home! Visiting the university and wandering the streets was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. One day we popped into Kafe Leopold for lunch – a delightful little Austrian delicatessens hidden down Cady’s Alley.

At Leopolds we enjoyed some sharing platters of meat and cheese and some afternoon tea sandwiches. The trio of sandwiches were very tasty and included smoked salmon and cucumber (that really made me feel at home!), a mini gruyere toastie on sourdough bread and a croissant with chicken salad filling.

The cured meats and cheeses came with two lovely ramekins of spiced honey and current marmalade.

And finally a cool and refreshing long island iced tea to wash it all down.

The final foodie destination for this post is Dean and Deluca. Having been in a New York Dean and Deluca which sold coffees and lunches to go, this branch in Georgetown seemed like the mothership! I’m not sure if most of them are like that and I have only been in a smaller store in the past, but if they are, I’d be in heaven each time I ate there. This cafe was not really a cafe, but more of an enormous, upmarket food hall. Complete with a full deli counter, a wine hall, an espresso bar, fresh baked treats, a salad bar, and plenty of farmshop- esque items to buy, it took me a while to decide what to have for lunch.

I opted for some fresh shrimp tempura sushi rolls and a peach and passionfruit yoghurt whilst Mr F&P had a toasted ciabatta with roast beef and salad. The sushi was so fresh and delicious and this large tray of rolls was only 7$ – if I went looking for that much fresh sushi in Edinburgh I’d be paying way more than that.

Even if you’re not brunching, lunching or dining in Georgetown, it’s just a really lovely place to mosy around, which after we’d had lunch and cupcakes (second visit!) is exactly what we did. Once you’ve had a snoop around the shops make sure you head down to waterfront a sit at one of the many open fronted bars and soak it all up.

If you like the look of Georgetown, Old Town Alexandria will also be right up your street. Alexandria is just across the river and you can take the metro to Kings Station from the center of DC. Unfortunately Georgetown doesn’t have a metro stop, but it is only about 15 minutes walk from the waterfront to the metro stop at Foggy Bottom.

I can’t tell you how hard it was to drag ourselves away from Georgetown at the end of our trip, and I’m sure there are countless places we didn’t have time to discover. However I know if, no WHEN, we go back, this is where we will look to stay, shop and hang out.