Natascha McElhone's My London

Actress Natascha McElhone remembers donkey rides around Hampstead Ponds and tucks into chips at Soho House...

Home is...
South West London.

What was the last play you saw?
Jerusalem, I thought it was extraordinary, I felt like I was living outside that little camper van and was part of that community for two hours.

What advice would you give to a tourist?
Visit The Hunterian, an anatomy museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. It's extraordinary. There is a skeleton of the tallest man, foetuses in formaldehyde and all sorts of things which are now highly illegal.

Which shops do you rely on?
The gorgeous The Shop at Bluebird on the King's Road, owned by Belle Robinson, who also owns Jigsaw. It's rather like a gallery; there are some wonderful artefacts as well as clothes, books and CDs; it's like going into someone's loft studio and looking at all their things but then being able to buy them as well. Opposite is Love Bakery, which does fabulous cupcakes.

What are your favourite meals in London?
That's tricky. I love ham and cheese toasted sandwiches at Megan's on King's Road, anything from Leila's Shop in Shoreditch, and the cheeseburger and tin of chips at Soho House. If I'm taking someone out to celebrate it would have to be fish and a glass of champagne at The Wolseley on Piccadilly.

What's your earliest London memory?
Sitting outside the Sir Richard Steele pub in Belsize Park waiting for my dad to come out, then later being rewarded with a donkey ride around the pond in Hampstead.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Making Eastern Standard cocktails like lime juice, fresh mint, cucumber, some honey or sugar, and vodka.

What would you do as Mayor for the day?
I thought I would ask my son, Theo, for this one: 'I would ban all the adverts on the Tube and make newsagents put all their porn magazines on much higher shelves; that stuff is disgusting, I'm 10.'

What's your life philosophy?
I read recently a quote from Seneca: 'Nothing is as certain as that the vices of leisure are gotten rid of by being busy.'

What animal would you most like to be and why?
A dolphin because I would have sonar skills and echolocation; I have no sense of direction so I think that might help.

What was the last album you bought?
Now That's What I call Music! 76... but it was for my son, I promise.