Second Tip For A Sweet Sunday!

For Sunday staying local to Old Street but just a bit further east is The Boiler House in
Brick Lane.

Here, they are now housing food stalls at the weekends with customer seating areas and attending this weekend according to their twitter, will be My Sweet Tooth Factory whose wares can be viewed below!
@SweetToothFctry


Now I will admit I'm not mad on cupcakes and find it all a bit faddy if I'm honest, but I tried one of
the chocolate ones from here on reccomendation and OMG it was GORGEOUS!

You are supplied with a fork and eat it like a proper desert and one was enough for two to share as a light snack. You don't feel too full or over sweetened, hands down best cupcake in town!

For those in the centre of town, may I suggest dessert in the form of ice cream.

Now there are lots of gelato joints popping up everywhere these days and lots of claims to be
the best in London well let me narrow this one down for you because I know where to go!

Head to the Covent Garden area and make a beeline for Scoop (there are other branches but I find this one the best)

http://www.scoopgelato.com/parlours.html

Natural Luxury Gelato is their slogan.

You can keep the natural and gelato and just go with pure luxury as far as I'm concerned, keep it
simple go for vanilla and milk chocolate two scoop cone, Winner!

Something For The Weekend

So my first weekend tip is for the Old Street area.

Jamie Olivier is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of his Fifteen Restaurant with a fab street party!

From 11am - 5 pm on Saturday 30th June there will be music and food and a general happy atmosphere on Westland Place N1.

I've heard there will  not only be stalls featuring Jamie's cuisine and you know I'm partial to a bit of that! But sellers from the ever growing Kings Cross East Street will also be in attendance, scrummy!

http://www.fifteen.net/post/40/Street+Party+on+the+30th+June

Barbecoa Restaurant

Need a top quality restaurant with prices that only slightly break the bank? Barbecoa is you answer!
A joint venture between Jamie Oliver & Adam Perry Lang it is situated in the heart of the city
at New Change.

This was my second visit over two years and I can honestly say it did not disappoint.

On this occasion we were not lucky enough to get a table with views of St Pauls which was amazing first time round but were around the back of the restaurant which in all honesty was more intimate and relaxed. Therefore depending on your occasion it would probably be best to request the location of your table before arrival.

Opted just for two courses and a bottle of wine on this visit and it was more than enough.

The wine list is impressive but not cheap, it does however match the cuisine perfectly and I feel
is some of the best I've ever tasted. There is no pressure to finish your bottle I saw many a customer with a wine doggie bag!

Starters consisted of  my absolute favourite chicken liver toast with shallots and a huge portion of pork scratchings, which I am told were "imense".

Mains were a pork pulled shoulder served with waffles, BBQ sauce & coleslaw which was soo
rich but amazing, although I did sneak in some garlic mash potatoes as well yum!

A Barbecoa Burger was scoffed away in seconds with a total bill for two circling £80.

How much I hear you roar?! If you could smell and taste the image below you would know it
was worth it!

http://www.barbecoa.com/

Udderbelly

The Udderbelly Festival on London's Southbank has been running since April but you still have a couple of weeks left to catch a show or just visit the pop up bars and food trucks around for the festival.

The Fairground Bar Was A Favourite For Me As You Could Sit and Enjoy A Drink In The
Dodgem Cars Despite The Weather Being A Bit Iffy  To Say The Least. The Relaxed Atmosphere And Fairly Reasonable Bar Tariffs Make A Nice Change From A Night Down Your Local!

Check It Out At The Link Below

http://www.udderbelly.co.uk/

Celebrating Summer & Gearing Up For 2012

A much overdue return!
From Now On Look Forward To A Constant Stream Of Info As We Head Towards The London Olympics!
Wimbledon Is Underway And Murray Is Through The First Round So We're Not Gonna Dwell On

The Euros Here When The Image Below Says It All ...............

It's Been A While.....

After a quick spell out of the Capital, I'm happy to return with a restaurant posts of a positive nature!

I mentioned on an earlier post the good and the bad thinks about an American themed chain called The Diner. I commented on the lack of customer service and overall slow delivery of food in most of their outlets. A week or so ago around 9pm ish, I returned to the Islington Restaurant after a few Friday night drinks and I have to say the quality of service and overall attitude of the staff had improved 100%.

After requesting a table for three we were told the wait would be approximately 20-30mins. Not unreasonable for a Friday night so we ordered at the bar, by the time we'd taken up our stools, the seater arrived to tell us our table was ready. Seeing we had drinks, bags and coats to carry, the seater asked if she could help carry anything and assisted with a friend's drink who was otherwise disposed. On his return she pointed him to where she had seated us. On any previous visits to this franchise I would have been grateful for eye contact when I entered so I was mightily impressed with this improved front of house presentation. The waitress herself was quick and efficient without being pushy and the food arrived within 15 minutes. There was no pressure to vacate the table once we'd finished our actual food, which was good as always and we were left to our own devices to finish our drinks in peace.

For the first time at any The Diner restaurant, I was happy to leave a tip and my tummy was full!

Well done The Diner, fingers crossed for future visits!

Sunday Selection

Today Sunday 20th March may I suggest you visit the Cheese and Wine Festival on London's South Bank.

I strolled down to the event situated behind the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday and was greeted by the excitable buzz that surrounded the small but perfectly formed collection of stalls.

Cheese and wine from around the globe are available to sample and buy in all manner of volumes. Alongside breads, pastries and specialist olive oils, the biggest queue was for the Raclette, a dish based on this type of cheese that is melted and accompanied by potatoes and chorizo among other things. I opted for a chocolate twist pastry as I'd already eaten lunch but believe me Raclette is the next thing on my food must try list!

It was very busy, so a sharpening of elbows is recommended but it's worth being patient to get to the front of the stalls to sample everything. There is a tent holding food and drink demonstrations throughout the day.

The Merry Widows Wine stall ( http://www.merrywidowswine.com ) served the most smooth and delicious red named Zweigelt and if the bottle had been a little less pricey, it was around £16, I definitely would have made a purchase but I'll have to wait for a special occasion to treat myself. Instead I came away with the biggest muffins I have ever seen, some divine Red Leicester cheese and a huge ciabatta loaf.

Tomorrow is the final day of the event happening between 11am - 6pm.

Please find link below

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/whatson/cheese-and-wine-festival-london-article-8522.html

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!