Dining Out « Little Miss Sunshine’s Life

{January 25, 2010} Beer then?

We celebrated B’s birthday in the Chamberlayne pub in Kensal Rise on Sunday afternoon. It was a lovely bunch of people and two of the cutest dogs, Oscar and Freddie.

Sarah and Oscar, Naz and Freddie

A few people were intrigued about my new regime and were surprised that I’m not drinking for a whole year. I seriously think I’d have had less of a response from everyone if I told them I’d developed a smack habit.

The conversation with B and D the night before went something like this…

“So you’re not drinking for a WHOLE YEAR?!”

“Yep, that’s right”

“What about vodka?”

“Nope.”

“Whiskey?”

“Ew, I don’t like whiskey anyway.”

“Gin?”

“Gin makes me mental and I’m actually ok with not drinking.”

Cue a look of disbelief… “BUT you’ll have to find a drink for S and B’s wedding or you just won’t enjoy it.”

OH MY GOD!

So back at lunch now and I was recounting this story to Benny who was sitting opposite me. My food arrived, a lovely roast sirloin, (with no gravy or yorkshire pudding). I had a few bites and then we did a happy birthday cheers to B, the birthday girl. Then calamity struck and glasses just started toppling over on our side of the table. Benny’s beer spilled into my plate and on to my food. ”Oh no, I can’t drink beer either” I exclaimed. Benny kicked into action and rustled me up some more food and all was well in the world again. I’m still a happy teetotaller.

Thanks for a lovely afternoon B, many happy returns sweets xx

I think she likes it

Birthday Balloons

{December 23, 2009} But it’s Monday night!

Every year at work we have the same leave it to the last minute rush to book in somewhere for our Christmas dinner. We’d all rubbished the suggestion that we go to Busaba Eathai or to Wahaca. Not to say I don’t love both of them. I really do. But Thai or Mexican is hardly very Christmassy! (Although both are unlike any Thai or Mexican food you’ve EVER eaten, SOOOO good!)

Lila was tasked with the thankless job of getting us somewhere decent on a night that most of us could make it. There were 20 of us at the dinner and booking in late November is a hard ask. This sets the scene as to where we ended up – through no fault of Lila!

Lena restaurant is in Shoreditch and there were 20 of us amping for a big night (well not all 20 as some were soft and went home early). But for those of us that were, bring on the cocktails! Uh, sorry, there aren’t any ingredients for cocktails. If you really wanted a cocktail then your only option was a dacquiri, as it didn’t need any fresh ingredients.

The first course arrived. It was billed as goats cheese fondue. It was a watery cheesy soup with an egg floating around in it. Yes, doesn’t that sound delish. To top it off, it was bacteria forming luke warm. The rest of the table sent theirs back to get reheated. I didn’t want mine back and told them they could keep it.

Cheesy eggy lukewarm soup

In lieu of my cheesy eggy soup I requested a basket of bread. The response: um, it’s Monday. We don’t have bread on a Monday. Wondering if there was a new religion that didn’t eat bread on Mondays, but thinking surely not, I enquired why. No deliveries on Mondays. Even if there is a party of 20 coming, that might fancy some bread with their dinner? Or in my case, bread instead of my dinner! I wanted to cry out Nip down to Tescos you lazy little scamp!

You call that bread?

The servers were studiously avoiding our table by this stage, which was weird as there were only a couple of other tables occupied in the restaurant. We had money to spend goddammit! The boss was paying!

My main of seabass, fennel and potato was good – flavoursome, crispy and hot. The turkey roast which I nicked from Marton’s plate was rubbish. I won on the food front down my end of the table. Although the pumpkin ravioli was quite good too I was told.

Seabass, tastes better than it looks

Lena, you not only let us down, you let yourself down. From a table of 20 you could have had a couple of hundred extra quid from cocktails – but you did save a tenner on fresh mint and fruit though didn’t you. The food needs a kick up the arse and so do your waiting staff. There was so much more revenue lost through lack of attentive service on the drinks front.

We couldn’t wait to leave and move on to the next place. Which is what we did. I haven’t been to Mother bar since I was a club queen a few years back. I was introduced to Jaegar Bombs (don’t see the attraction myself) and met up with my old friend the Tequila Shot. We cut up the dancefloor, busting out our best moves to some truly cheesy tunes.

No one embarrassed themselves (unfortunately for the office gossip the next day), luckily no one got food poisoning and next year we’re going to book in early. Or maybe we’ll be going to Wahaca.

{December 22, 2009} Cottons Rhum Shack

About a month ago I went to a cute little restaurant in Camden called Cottons Rhum Shack. I know how much Koi-lee likes her rum, so I said we simply HAD to go back and have dinner there. When I went the food was great, we had duck salad, ribs and goat curry. The duck salad and ribs aren’t really authentic Jamaican dishes, but they were tasty. The goat curry was delicious and tender, served with a fluffy roti. The interior of the restaurant is charming, with a sprawling layout over several floors, cute kitschy decorations and open fires.

When I went back with Koi-lee I arrived early and ordered a cocktail at the bar. It took about ten minutes for the bartender to make my drink as he chatted to his friends whilst VERY slowly making my cocktail. By this stage Koi-lee had arrived and we both watched him, slightly amused, as he laboured over a small piece of cucumber for my drinks garnish.

The ten minute masterpiece

Koi-lee ordered her rum and coke with lots of lime and the other bartender started assembling it, much quicker than her colleague. When she brought it over Koi-lee asked for another piece of lime. The woman looked at her and said ‘you’ve got enough lime’. I nearly spat my cocktail over the bar at her rudeness and asked her if she was serious. She stropped over to the limes and sullenly picked out another wedge. She walked back to us and slammed it down on the napkin by Koi-lee’s drink and said ‘there you go’. We were gobsmacked. I was actually lost for words, just staring at her. It takes a lot to make me speechless!

We used this as our cue to sit down at our table, moving away from the princess of darkness. In contrast to her sullen and aggressive manner, our waiter was lovely, friendly and attentive. Just what you’d expect in the service industry!

Unfortunately he couldn’t make the food taste better. We shared a starter of crab claws and he set the plate down on the table, almost apologetically and said that they were normally bigger than this. We stared at the plate, trying to spot the crab claws. When we did find them they were watery and tasteless, hardly worth the effort of finding them.

Crab Claw Surprise

We filled up on bread and waited with some anticipation for our main. I assured Koi-lee that our food had been delicious on the last visit so the main would be good. Not wanting to risk food envy we chose the same dish, Adobo Rubbed Pork Knuckle roasted with ginger and spices with a ragout of black eyed peas and callaloo served with hot sauce and corn bread. (I didn’t remember that, I just copied it from their site).

It arrived. After a quick blog evidence photo, I pulled the meat off the bone and popped it into my mouth and chewed, and chewed and chewed. It was tough, stringy and microwaved. The flavour wasn’t subtle, spicy and full of depth as I had imagined it would be. It was so disappointing, especially as I’d set Koi-lee’s expectations high.

We sat there poking the food around our plates. The waiter asked if I wanted to take my leftovers home and I politely refused. I’m normally up for complaining about food, but I just didn’t think this was worth it. He knew it was crap, we didn’t really need to discuss it. I won’t be going back.

Word of advice: If you go to Cottons stick with the goat curry and don’t ask for more lime.

{December 20, 2009} Private Dining at Gaucho Grill Smithfields

Little Mel had her birthday bash at the new Gaucho Grill in Smithfields. The interior is black and shiny, with lots of glass and a stunning private dining room. This was our table for the evening and what a table it was! The huge black table dominates the room, which is surrounded by cowhide panels and black glass.

I had a total Bridget Jones moment when I realised I was the only single person at the meal and I was sitting at the head of the table, flanked by couples on both sides. After my protests I was quickly moved and I felt far more comfortable sitting on the side. Although I think my table companion at the time thought I was protesting to move away from him. It wasn’t you Beat! We even moved places after every course, so we could mix it up and speak to people that we didn’t normally speak to. I think the couples enjoyed it more that way too, getting away from their other half!

We had signed up for the signature menu. The starter choice didn’t set me on fire – I was going to go for the scallops but the waiter kindly told me to expect that they were cold. I don’t really go for scallops sashimi style so I chose chorizo sausage. I ended up with a chorizo sausage. Not sure why I should have been surprised, but I did expect it to be cut up and artfully arranged. I got a sausage on my plate, with some roasted red pepper.

The mains were a selection of three cuts of steak; fillet, sirloin and rib eye. The accompaniments were; tomato salad (fabulous and flavoursome), fries, humitas (delicious creamy corn mash wrapped in a corn husk and you scooped out the filling with a spoon) and spinach. The fillet steak was definitely the winner, melting in your mouth like only good steak can.

Dessert was a tad disappointing for me. We only had three choices, ice cream, cheese cake or panacotta. I chose a just OK coconut panacotta. I had a bit of food envy for the dulche de leche cheesecake, which was delicious. I don’t think icecream should be a dessert choice on a set menu. You can have that as an extra, it’s no effort to scoop it out of a carton is it?

The bill came to an eye watering £106 a head, which you don’t really expect for Gauchos. True, there were cocktails consumed at the beginning and everyone was quite merry, but I don’t think that the set menu lived up to it’s £55 a head billing.

{October 13, 2009} Momofuku Magic

When Tammy told me that pork was the latest big craze in New York restaurants I was impressed. What an excellent way to get piggy revenge for swine flu, if you can’t beat em, eat em!

So after a happy hour of drinking fabulous malbec with Tom at Morrells wine bar, and a quick visit to the Rockefeller Center, I made my way to Momofuku in the East Village.

Pretty New York Skyline

Tammy’s recommendation was spot on and she wasn’t kidding about the fact that pork was the menu flavour of the day either. This place is famous for their pork buns and for good reason. They are A.mazing! So was my waiter who remembered that I wanted my photo taken when they arrived. He was so good that he came back when my main arrived to see if I wanted another photo taken. Boy, you gooood! If you ever want to go on holiday with me you’re more than welcome. What more does a girl need, someone who is happy to take her photo and knows instinctively that every photo needs a seal of approval or a re-shoot.

A happy girl and her pork buns

My only very slight criticism would be that my main came out a little bit too soon after my entree. But what a main it was, so they were forgiven very quickly! I had Bev Eggleston’s Pork Shoulder Steak, which came with grilled eggplant, eggplant puree, beans, seaweed and of course melt in your mouth pork. I meant to ask my waiter why Bev Eggleston, but I forgot.

Bev Eggleston's Pork Shoulder Chop

I didn’t think that I could possibly finish, but sometimes I surprise myself. A chilled glass of chablis helped and it all comes down to mind over matter. In a freak of nature way I fit far more food in my belly than I thought physically possible.

A little dent made

You can do it!

Oh. My. God, I'm full!

But the fun didn’t stop here. I broke through the pain barrier and walked through Momofuku Ssam to Momofuku Milk bar. I hate milk, but this place does amazing milk infusions. To be honest, I’d rather have a vodka infusion. But with cereal milk and other inventive creations on the menu I just had to have a look.

My stomach started churning at the thought of another food onslaught, but I whispered to my groaning belly that I wasn’t eating anything else, so it settled down long enough for me to buy some cookies for my breakfast. It would be more nutritious than the gourmet jelly beans I had yesterday!

Momofuku Cookie Menu

The milk bar has some weird and wonderful dessert concoctions, as well as the famous pork buns. There were crack cakes, towering banana cakes, milk infusions and some very strange soft serve icecream options. I had a little taste of the salty cucumber soft serve. Before I tasted it, other patrons warned me that it was weird and salty. They weren’t wrong, it was salty but quite pleasant. Weird and salty was an apt description.

Salty Cucumber Soft Serve Icecream

So it’s 4.50 am New York time and I’ve tasted the cookies. They are amazing. My choices were the compost cookie which includes chocolate chips, pretzels, potato chips, butterscotch, and coffee grinds. Strange, but it works! The other choice was a cornflake (hey it is breakfast after all!), marshmallow and chocolate chip cookie – Brilliant – not quite as good as the compost cookie. It’s the coffee grounds that make that cookie so good. My last little taste is of the blueberry and milk crumb cookie. Even feeling slightly sick from cookie overdose I think this cookie is fabulous. If I had to rate them in order, it would be compost, blueberry and then cornflake, but it’s a close call!

Me Love Coooooookies! (say it cookie monster styley)

Momofuku, I’m glad I made the trek across town – you have to go if you’re in New York. I’ll be back.

Momofuku Ssam and Milk Bar

Neighborhood: East Village
207 2nd Ave
(between 12th St & 13th St)

{October 10, 2009} Shumai Superstar

After working for the last three days in NYC I wanted to feel like I was on holiday. Going away for work is totally over rated and I’d rather be at home in my own bed – but having the weekend in NYC was an upside of my trip.

Saturday afternoon was put aside to meet up with Tammy and J.C and to meet little Liam. The last time I was in New York he was a little bundle swathed in blankets. Now he is a delightful little character that I’ve gotten to know through Tammy and J.C’s facebook updates. He didn’t disappoint in person either. Who can’t love a kid who is just as at home in Shun Lee, our dim sum restaurant – eating shumai and pork buns with finesse, as he is on the couch eating macaroni cheese.

Shumair Superstar

The dim sum was ok, the company was fabulous and meeting Liam again was wonderful. Liam’s verdict on Shun Lee dim sum? It’s ok (said with a little shrug of his shoulders and the gesture below). We were on the Upper West Side and the dim sum in China town is ten times cheaper and quite a bit better according to Tammy and J.C. Next time I’m in town we’ll have to catch up there, I think I’d like them as Chinatown guides, as you could get it so wrong going by yourself!

It's ok

Shun Lee Catch Up

{August 21, 2009} Birthday Bliss

I turned another year older yesterday and celebrated in the most fabulous way, all DAY! Taking a day out to pamper and indulge oneself is such a decadent treat and I enjoyed every second.

The fun started when I got up and walked out my door to find some gorgeous White Company products and a heartfelt card left by my wonderful flatties. Calls, texts, emails and facebook posts all contributed to my warm happy glow for the day and left me feeling very loved and cared for.

Fact: You cannot gain weight on your birthday, no matter how much you eat. Which is just as well really, as I ate delicious food and drank copious amounts of champagne and wine all day. I started off my culinary indulgence at Raouls where I had lovely eggs benedict. Then it was time to buy myself a present - bath and body products from Philosophy. I’ve fallen in love with their Amazing Grace range, it’s divine and I truly smelt heavenly after applying nearly every product I could find in the store.

You MUST eat chocolate on your birthday and only the finest chocolate will do. The Artisan du Chocolat counter at Selfridges was close by, so I popped over to pick out a little selection of high quality, hand made chocolates. Then on my way out of Selfridges, I fell right into the cupcake stand and left with a DELICIOUS red velvet cupcake. Life is good when you’re stuffed full of cake and chocolate!

Artisan Du Chocolat Selection

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Not feeling guilty about catching a cab a very short distance, I made my way to The Sanctuary Day Spa in Covent Garden. I lounged on comfy day beds with my magazines, sipped champagne cocktails, went for a few swims (they even had a noodle, brilliant!), had a spa, massage and sleep treatment. What a wonderful way to celebrate your birthday, I highly recommend it.

The rough patch of my day was going to a new salon (Saco) and being kept waiting for my hairdresser for 45 minutes, looking very attractive with my towel turban head. Not the best introduction for a new client really. EXCUSE me, it’s my birthday and I have a dinner to get to! Stress crept in around the edges of my beautifully relaxing day, but a quick dash home, shower and speedy make up application had me at the restaurant only 20 minutes late.

Dinner was at Maroush 1 on Edgware Road. I’ve been to loads of Maroush restaurants, but hadn’t been to this one yet. The drawcard was the belly dancing and live music. I was so incredibly spoilt and I felt very blessed as I opened all my presents and cards.

Me and Bec

Me and Sands

The stunning belly dancer came out and put on an amazing show, getting us all involved.

Belly Dancer

The live music had everyone jigging about in their seats, until you couldn’t help getting up and busting a few moves on the dance floor. The waiters were brilliant and I even got one to show me some Lebanese dance moves.

There was another table celebrating a birthday, so Happy Birthday was sung to both of us. They even shared their birthday cake, bringing a few pieces over with candles so I had something to blow out too. What’s a birthday without a champagne toast? The waiter brought over a complimentary bottle of champagne for yet another toast. There was such a lovely warm community feel in the restaurant, fuelled by fabulous music, fabulous people and thoughtful touches.

Birthday Girl

Pampering, Indulgence, Shopping, Dinner, Dancing, Champagne, Presents, Cards, Cake and Fabulous Friends. What a lucky girl I am!

{July 12, 2009} Rules to live by…

I’ve become very fond of the Italians. They are a rule unto themselves and I kinda like that… except when this lady thought we were taking too long at the metro ticket machine and stepped in front of me and started inserting her own coins. She couldn’t understand when I said she was rude and had butted in, she seemed genuinely baffled that I was upset that she’d cut right in front of me as I was putting my ticket transaction through. The other idiosyncrasy is the ‘rules are a suggestion, not a directive’ attitude. This is illustrated quite well by the picture here of a car parked on a corner – driven straight up on to the pavement. It wasn’t the only one either. Try that in London and you’d be towed before you’d even put the handbrake on!

Parking Italian Style

Yesterday we walked, and walked, and walked. We went to the Vatican and saw the pope. We had a spot of tea with him and looked around his crib. He’s been on MTV cribs actually; you might have seen the episode. (That is a lie, an outright fib, a fabrication to make my story more interesting).

The Vatican

Sooo the Vatican. It’s quite a cool place, but quite a long tour. Sorry if I don’t seem cultured but jeeeeeesus (excuse my blasphemy) how long can you talk about one bloody painting. I was skipping rooms and rooms ahead of my tour group. For two reasons really, the first to get a seat and the second to look like I wasn’t part of a tour group (although the MI5 headpiece gave me away I’m sure). There’s something a bit embarrassing about it all, being herded around like a flock of wayward sheep. Anyway, our guide was good. He was from the same tour company as the day before, so was also on speed and WAAAAAAY way over excited, even just saying hello to us he was jumping up and down.

I really liked the cherubs and ended up taking loads and loads of pictures of them.

Angelic Innocence

I also really liked this picture, it’s quite gruesome but there was something about it that captivated me

Stunning yet gruesome

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel… This little gem had been hyped from the start of our tour and when I first saw it I was like, is this it? I think if you had a chance to walk through by yourself and contemplate then you’d be awed. But wrestling through a throng of people, getting stood on, camera flashes everywhere and the noise level the same as a bustling market took away from it. It was only when I got a seat, blocked everyone out and stared at the ceiling for ages that I got it. What an amazing feat. Shame he was a grumpy bastard and that’s how he is remembered as well as being an amazing artist.

We left our tour group, I felt liberated, we could go anywhere we wanted! So after a quick look see in St Peters Basilica we headed off through the square and out into the wilderness of Rome.

Free from the tour!

We were starving! We sat down for pizza anticipating a thin crust and lovely fresh topping. That isn’t what we got, it was the worst pizza I’ve ever had. We ordered a capriosca (spelling?) but when our pizza arrived it wasn’t the same as on the menu – it had tuna and some sort of mystery meat that I think was meant to be parma ham, gross. I called the waiter over who informed me that the menu was more of a suggestion and yes, this was our pizza even though not one single topping matched the menu. According to our waiter, the caprioscca is ALWAYS made with the closest things to hand. Not in my world buddy, I sent it back. It came back again totally wrong again, so we ate around the tuna wanting to leave as soon as we could. The waiter came over again to repeat his story, like I was slightly dim and needed educating about the Italian pizza way. I wanted to beat him with the dry disgusting pizza. I gave him my most withering glare (as much as you can behind sunglasses) and he finally got the hint. I warned some other friendly tourists not to eat there as it was so terrible, culinary justice was served and the world dining karma balance restored.

After a bad food experience you have to ensure that your next food experience is excellent, to ensure the great food equilibrium is maintained, so we had afternoon tea at our favourite local patisserie. I had walked enough to build up quite a few calories in the food bank and spent them wisely on a cake AND some gelato! They make all the cakes onsite and do a bloody fabulous job. A thin wafer, dipped in chocolate, covered in jelly, sponge and creamy topping. Fresh fruit toppings, tiramisu flavours, and the tiniest little wild strawberries I’ve ever seen! I’ve made a pact to eat gelato, cake and limoncello every day. You need rules to live by and these are mine for the holiday.

Heaven in a wafer cone

Loving the cake a day rule

{July 11, 2009} When in Rome…

Chad and I have been in Rome for a day and a half and I LOVE IT! What an amazing, chaotic, bustling, gorgeous city. Ancient ruins co-exist right beside modern architecture in a fabulous architectural mash up.

Italians are super friendly and take time out to explain to our dumb ignorant selves about items on the menu that we can’t read. We’ve just been to dinner, to a VERY busy, fabulous, yummy, local Italian restaurant (we were the only tourists, which is just how I like it) and the wait staff tried to help us out as much as they could explaining the menu. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t quite enough. Now I’d much rather take a chance on menu lotto than go to some shithouse place in a tourist trap area, so I no complain (well not much anyway). After I’d ordered my meal, which I’d been told was fish, I was telling Chad about how much I’d hate it if the fish came out with a head still attached (seriously, how can you eat something that’s staring at you) or if I was served up little baby squids and tentacles. Calamari, love it, baby squids (tentacles, GROSS!) not so much. This isn’t a thriller; I think you can see what’s coming. Yep, it was ‘The Tentacles’. I was grossed, a little tear came to my eye and a pout automatically appeared. Chad graciously let me eat some of his delicious pasta and I sorted through all the squidgy bits to find the rings and fish bites.

Here I am talking about food and I’ve been discovering so much more. YES, for a change, life to me is more than what I’m having for my next meal (or what everyone else is having). We’ve been ultra busy in the short time that we’ve been here. We’ve interacted with locals, found an A.Mazing local patisserie cafe/gelato yummy place and we’ve been VERY cultural. We started out yesterday, with a trip to the Colosseum. Wow, what an amazing place. Did you know that not all the gladiators died? If you think about it, that would be SO bad for business. Get a good gladiator and have him last one match? No, these guys were kept on for a while to earn their keep. When there was a match where someone was supposed to die, they’d meet before hand and do a bit of match fixing so there would be a draw. WWF took its acting style from the Romans it seems.

Love having a travel partner/picture taker!

Then we went on another tour in the afternoon of the Roman Forum, apparently the heart, soul, business and political centre of Rome in the good ole days. Our guide was absolutely fabulous, granted I think she’d popped some amphetamines before taking our group around, but her hyper enthusiasm was welcome after a long afternoon in the sunshine. She filled us up with facts about ancient Rome, of which I remember absolutely nothing but it was nice feeling learned for a few hours anyway. I truly think the NZ education system has a lot to answer for. Neither Chad nor I knew any answers to the questions she posed. Romulus, Remus, Octavious… WTF!

Modern art amongst ancient ruins

There was a guy who was a total swot/teacher’s pet who delighted in answering every question, so even if I’d known an answer I wouldn’t have got a chance to say it anyway. He also wore socks with his sandals, enough said for crimes against fashion.

Crimes against fashion exhibit one

{June 18, 2009} Persian Delights at Alounak

Alounak

When Mel suggested we meet at Alounak in Westbourne Grove for our catch up dinner I accepted eagerly. I’ve passed this place so many times and noticed the queue outside, but I’d never ventured in before. Actually, this would be my first taste of Iranian food. I didn’t capitalise on the opportunity as I should have by trying lots of local dishes. Instead I went for an old favourite, Chicken Skewer with rice, salad and houmus (or hummus, hommos, whichever way it’s spelt in Iran!). It wasn’t an adventurous choice but it will give me a reason to go back there and try other dishes!

Before we met I did some investigating on review sites and there were quite a few negatives, which made me slightly wary but we didn’t have any problems at all. One of our waitresses was a little dim admittedly, but the other was absolutely lovely. Another complaint in a review was about the lack of wine glasses. I take this as part of the charm of a BYO restaurant. The bread was DIVINE, fresh from the clay oven at the front of the restaurant. My dish would have been pretty hard to screw up, but other plates served around me looked amazing… and those queues wouldn’t be there if the food isn’t top notch!

So I’ll be back soon to sample some other delights of Alounak and to eat a mountain of that delicious bread!

Alounak Bread

{June 13, 2009} Attempted Larceny at Lunch

Naomi, Lila and I went for lunch at Villandry Kitchen yesterday. We were lucky enough to get a seat outside and sat there, wine in hand, savouring the grey british day and constant flow of traffic. It was a fabulous place for people watching, especially the old man sitting at the table facing me, who was literally drooling and couldn’t keep his eyes off two sexy girls sitting beside him. He just wanted to sit at their table as well, it was most funny to watch as they tried to keep talking pretending they didn’t see him ogling at them.

Two unkempt youths came up to us and approached Lila and I, as we were closest to the pavement. One came around the back of me, forcing me to turn away from the table. My bag was on the chair next to me and my hand automatically went to cover it. My handbag is like my blankie, we’re never far apart from each other. They had tube maps in their hands and were asking for some intelligible station. I was a bit impatient but still unaware of the scam. Lila got it straight away and as he started to put the map down on the table she put her hand over her phones that were sitting there and just glared at him. He knew he’d been busted straight away and started backing off. The scam is to put the map down and pick it back up again, along with your mobile phone. Dodgy little buggers. We got rid of them quite quickly and then tucked in to our delicious lunch, high fiving ourselves for being so vigilant.

The food was lovely, the setting fabulous (a bit of sunshine wouldn’t have gone astray, but at least it wasn’t raining), the people watching was most interesting and crime busting most satisfying. It may have to become our tradition, Charlies Angels at lunch deterring would be petty crims.

Villandry Kitchen

{June 7, 2009} Artisan du Chocolat

Yesterday I fell in love. Deeply, madly and irrevocably in love with Artisan du Chocolat in Westbourne Grove. Sam had been to the opening and was raving about it. We just had to go. Our lives suddenly seemed incomplete without a trip down to chocolat heaven(love the french, everything sounds exotic frenchy style).

Now I don’t want to build this up too much, you know, like a blockbuster movie that you just HAVE to see and then it’s shit and you just want to leave halfway through, but you haven’t quite finished your jumbo popcorn and gallon of coke (Pearl Harbour springs to mind, pass me the barf bucket wrapped in an american flag!) This is different, this place is special. It’s all in the details and they’ve really thought things through. Did you know that a cacao pod isn’t like a coffee bean, it’s more like a gourd. You’ll see models of them there so you’ll see the stuff inside is actually quite fleshy and it makes a bloody good bellini too!

The tables are like blocks of chocolate and the seats are like tubular marshmallows. The smell is enticing and there are even generous samples dotted around the place. There is a giant globe in the middle of the ceiling that is decorated so you feel like you’re in a cacao plantation, complete with the sound of birds. I tell you, they really have thought of everything. There are menu items that will have your mouth watering like a boxer puppy; warm chocolate fondant, dipped fruit fondue, salted caramel ice cream – chocolate ceremony for 2 (Japanese tea ceremony inspired). The chocolate options are far too comprehensive to list, but here’s a selection; Jasmine Tea, Passion fruit, Banana and Thyme (I tried this, A.mazing!), Basil and Lime, Lavender, Earl Grey Tea, Coffee and Star Anise.

You might expect to pay a small fortune for such an exotic adventure, but you’d be mistaken. Sam had a Theobroma cacao pulp bellini which is lovely and I had a cacao martini – not quite as sweet as a chocolate martini, which is excellent because I had a calorie credit for the exquisite chocolates they gave us with our cocktail. There were also plenty of other chocolates you could sample and I asked for a taste of the salted caramel icecream. It was like a food orgasm. All of this for a fiver. Yep, £5! I know, bargain! I’ll be making this a regular haunt, what’s not to like, chocolate, booze, gorgeous place AND credit crunch friendly.

I don’t have the vocabulary to do this place justice. You must check it out for yourself and you’re lucky because there are a few options; Sloane Street, Selfridges and Westbourne Grove. So you have no excuses not to experience chocolate heaven if you live in London. Actually even if you don’t, air travel is cheap and it’s worth it!

I love their philosophy (they have a few but this is my fave) ’Chocolates are food, not a war time supply so pumped with fat, sugar, alcohol or preservatives that can be left on shelves for years. Choose fresh, short shelf life chocolates kept refrigerated for purer ingredients and more intense taste’ Couldn’t have said it better myself, ditch the cadbury and go for the top shelf pure ingredient chocolate orgasm – what girl wouldn’t?

Artisan du Chocolat Interior

Artisan du Chocolat Cacao Globe

Artisan du Chocolat Cacao Pods

Artisan du Chocolat Cacao Martini

Artisan du Chocolat Display

{June 3, 2009} Picnicking on Primrose Hil

Recipe for a Memorable BBQ Picnic

Add fabulous people, endless jugs of Pimms, fresh supply of ice (cold drinks feature highly in the list of picnic priorities), football, croquet, frisbee, birthday boy, birthday cake, guest of honour from Mumbai, far too much beer and wine, more hamburgers, sausages and chicken that can possibly be eaten - cooked on an illegal bbq, they taste even better

Mix up well and serve on a hot summer day – like the day we had on Sunday!

Chet, Chief Pimms Maker

Chet, Chief Wine Drinker

Raj, Guest of Honour

Danilo - Birthday Boy

Me and Naomi

Action Imad

Me and LH

{June 2, 2009} Starting the weekend early

I had a fabulous Friday afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and I was out of the office on a customer jolly. I took my clients to Hakkasan and as always the food was AMAZING! These are the same people behind Busaba Eathai, which I also love.

I ordered food for the table which is a bit of a daunting task, but I think I did pretty well. Or if I didn’t no one said anything.

My favourite dishes are:

Whole prawn, prawn toast

Gently Smoked Jasmine Tea Chicken

We also had Dim Sum, which was amazing but I was so excited to dig into it that I forgot to take a photo! My favourite dish at Hakkasan is the champagne cod. I don’t remember it having bones in it previously, it didn’t ruin the enjoyment but it would be nicer without it.

Melt in your mouth Champagne Cod

All this was washed down with a delicious chilled Chablis that Tim chose. We made an executive decision to continue drinking and not go back to work. I’m quite good at making executive decisions like that. So we moved to the bar and I decided to take some photos of the restaurant interior, but got told off rather quickly. This photo doesn’t really do the restaurant justice but since I got told off I’m definitely going to use it!

I just had to have a cocktail and my tequila cocktail ‘Lost Heaven’ didn’t disappoint.

Lost Heaven

Appetites sated and unable to drink anymore, we all headed outside into the bright gorgeous sunshine, blinking like nocturnal animals as we adjusted back to the frantic pace of the 5pm rush of Oxford Street. Yay for easing in to the weekend!

{May 29, 2009} Traditional Eating at Masala Zone

Most of our office went to Masala Zone in Covent Garden for dinner last night. Even though it’s a chain and it’s not in Brick Lane, the Indian food here is great. The place is massive, with hundreds of Indian puppet people hanging from the ceiling, and masks dotted around the walls. The kitchen is open plan which adds to the whole ambience. There were loads of us so we were downstairs, away from the main action.

Masala Zone Kitchen

Masala Zone Masks

Masala Zone Masks1

Poppadoms are always a favourite and these were the best poppadoms I’d ever eaten. Apparently Little Heena’s mum can make them like this too – I’m still waiting for my dinner invite!

Masala Zone me and H

First up I had something mash like with chickpeas, yoghurt and relish. It doesn’t look very attractive but the subtle blend of flavours was delicious. What was a bit weird and didn’t really work on it was the potato stick crisps drizzled on the top – most peculiar.

Masala Zone Mash

I’d spoken to some work colleagues who were born in India and they say they still eat Indian food with their hands, even though they eat everything else with knives and forks. I was slightly bemused by the whole idea and thought it was a piss take to start with. But no, they really do. Getting into the spirit, I decided to give it a go. A bit hesitantly at first and rather messy too! There is a definite technique which goes something like, ball the rice up, drop it in your sauce or dahl or vege and then scoop it up, using your thumb to push the whole lot into your mouth. Using the bread is loads easier than the rice. Once I finally got the hang of it I really enjoyed it. Although now I have yellow tinged nails from the spices. Not such a good look.

Getting stuck into the Thali

Dessert was mango kulfi which was quite nice but very rich. I dropped my spoon in horror when I heard it was basically made from clarified butter. Four times more fattening than ice-cream. Give me Ben and Jerrys any day.

I’m going to my favourite restaurant for lunch today, Hakkasan. It’s Asian so I’ll be using chopsticks. How very international of me.

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