Mum's Birthday: Aqua Kyoto and Aline of Lebanon

Last week was my Mum's birthday and, since she was away in sunny Spain on the day, I took her off for dinner over the weekend.

 We met out the front of Liberty before going for a bit of a wander in the Spring sunshine (which translate 'sunshine with the occasional flurry/downpour of rain), popping into shops and galleries along the way.

 The Mayfair Flower Show was kicking off at Sketch so we paused for a moment to snap a photo in their doorway...

 ...Before popping into Aline of Lebanon for a quick drink. The place settings at Aline of Lebanon were just so beautiful I had to grab a snap before any beverages had even made an appearance!

 I had a banana and ginger smoothie which was just delicious (and two flavours I wouldn't have thought to put together) whilst mum had a rosewater lemonade.

 Shortly however, it was time to head to the 'main event' - dinner at the Japanese restaurant Aqua Kyoto. Located on Argyll Street, to access the restaurant we were whisked up in a lift to the 5th floor, before finding ourselves in a large space with an open sushi kitchen.

 We took our seats at the bar where we could watch the chefs slice and shape all the tasty food on offer. Before long, our cocktails arrived - a delicious 'mojito', although I can't say I've ever had a mojito quite like it - it had sherry and passion fruit in it!

 Starters swiftly followed - a beautifully presented sashimi selection and an octopus salad. Mum and I quickly established that we would share all of our vibrant food in an attempt to try as much as possible!

 Mains arrived just as well presented - wagu beef with a yuzu dressing for me and mackerel with a ginger miso sauce for Mum. The mackerel was finished with a blowtorch at table which was a fun theatrical touch. We also had rather a interesting time trying to split up the filet with just our chopsticks - I think perhaps, we may need a little more practice....

 The beef however stole the show. Deliciously tender and rare whilst the yuzu sauce was sublime - I was practically licking my plate clean by the time I had finished!

 Pudding took on the form of a Japanese cheese cake. Not usually a cheesecake fan, I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this one. For starters, the presentation was simply delightful, but I especially loved how the cheesecake topping almost had a 'mellow-y' texture, whilst the accompanying ice cream of sakura and strawberry cut through all the flavours deliciously.

 Dinner at Aqua Kyoto was a very enjoyable experience. The waitstaff were attentive, the food wonderful to look at as well as eat and the setting was vibrant. My only niggle would be that the bar was rather noisy. However, this wasn't the end of the world and we had a very enjoyable evening!

January (and Feb) Adventures

The start to the new year has been rather exciting to say the least and rather a lot has happened. Below are some of the highlights:

My birthday is in January and this means that the family has to spoil me! So, with this in mind, I ended up being taken to lunch at the Charlotte Street Hotel and dinner at Chai Ki.

The Charlotte Street Hotel has an amazing set menu which is not only very reasonable, but also is far too difficult to choose from just because everything sounds just so yummy.

Look at how good it all looks!

The Hotel's restaurant is also such a lovely environment - light and bright with colourful walls and, most importantly, delicious cocktails.


Chai Ki in Canary Wharf  has a very different vibe to the Charlotte Street Hotel. It serves modern Indian food which I love and so I was quite excited to try new dishes outside of the usual dishes I'd order.

We tried a pear and tandoori chicken salad, grilled aubergine steaks and a number of different curries. Safe to say, the plates were essentially licked clean!

I was also rather spoilt by the boyfriend too!

Once all of the birthday celebrations were out of the way, it was back to normal life.

One day, my Mum came to visit me and so we headed to Sticks'n''Sushi in Wimbledon for a light (but tasty) lunch.

Sticks'n'Sushi is a successful restaurant group which started in Denmark and is well known for having some of the best Japanese food around! Therefore, I was somewhat excited to try what they had on offer.

We were not disappointed! We shared some beef tataki and dug into two large salads.

Not only was everything delicious, all the food just looks beautiful!

Finally, some good friends took us to try out the roof bar at Selfridges - Forest on the Roof.

After speeding up in the express lift, you step out into a tunnel of fairy lights and tangled branches before walking into a magical grotto of a bar.

Happily for us, the cocktails were equally magical!

All in all, it's been a lovely start to the year - bring on the rest of it!

Shaka Zulu, London’s largest South African restaurant, knows how to make an impact. The entrance is guarded by an enormous Zulu warrior whose shadow you walk under before being whisked away by an escalator, down into the depths of the restaurant.

Once you reach the bottom, you realise just how large Shaka Zulu is. The restaurant stretches out in front of you and the whole place is immaculately themed – there are big cat sculptures and elephant heads hanging on the wall, all watched over by more huge Zulu warriors.

I was invited to Shaka Zulu to try out their rather exotic food and was intrigued to see whether it was as impressive as the venue. I soon found out I wouldn't be disappointed! 

As my boyfriend and I settled into our seats, we were given a welcome glass of fizz with some sort of pink candy-floss-like substance settled at the bottom which made me smile. We sipped on our drinks, excitedly awaiting our food! 

Starters arrived and the boyfriend and I eagerly dived in to the large sharing board which was presented. On it were lamb samosas, salmon and ostrich terrine, accompanied by a salad and garlic-y bread. The lamb samosas were delicious, but I was particularly taken with the ostrich - it was the first time I had ever tried it!

Next was mains.  I had (blindly and bravely at the time!) picked the ostrich steak and the boyfriend had gone for a steak (as in a normal-from-a-cow-beef-steak). We had also ordered a number of sides to share which included roast cinnamon butternut squash and sugar snaps with caramelised onions. 

The food may not be the most photogenic in the world, but my meat was cooked perfectly - pink all the way through and it just tasted delicious. Ostrich turned out to be quite gamey, but not as strong as venison or boar. I would definitely recommend trying it! The boyfriend was also very pleased with his steak, happily piling peri-peri fries and sugar snaps on top of it. 

Then came the puddings. Look how pretty they were! 

I was practically ready to pop after the mains, but managed a spoonful (or two!) of the yummy desserts! There was a little cheese cake, a chocolatey tart and a  creamy traditional South African tart. 

Once I had slightly recovered from munching through our rather large amount of food, I went for a little explore around the restaurant....

.....making a new friend or two along the way!

I really enjoyed visiting Shaka Zulu. The venue is just spectacular (we couldn't stop commenting on it all evening!) and the food was very tasty and definitely interesting! When I return, I am going to have to try the crocodile and the zebra! I would really recommend giving it a try, especially if you have a hungry boy in tow - I challenge them to manage to eat everything put in front of them! 

Thank you for having us Shaka Zulu- we will be seeing you soon! 

  

Bunga Bunga in Battersea

A couple of weekends ago, the boyfriend and I were invited to a Blogger's Brunch at Bunga Bunga in Battersea.

All I knew about Bunga Bunga was that it had a reputation for holding all day parties and I should bring my dancing shoes...

We rocked up outside a sleepy looking building at 11:30 in the morning, not quite knowing what to expect. We went inside and were lead to a big corner table next to the bar where jugs of juices and prosecco were already laid out waiting for us.  Then, as the others started to arrive, the food started to appear.

To start, there were platters of cured meats and juicy melon balls. These were followed by larger platters piled high with  mini pastries and fresh warm bread, with pots of jam and Nutella on the side. We tucked in happily while using the jugs of prosecco and juices to mix our own bellinis.

It was lovely being surrounded by other bloggers and, as my boyfriend pointed out, hilarious to be around other people who were all happy to sit there for a while photographing our food before eating it. Well, I thought it was hilarious. Andrew just wanted to eat and thought we were all taking far too long!

Anyway, after most of the pastries had vanished (quite an achievement given just how many of them there were...!), out came the main event. HUGE pizzas, Bunga Bunga style.

It turned out each one was divided into four flavours - 'An Englishman's Breakfast' (sausage and egg), 'Italy's Fun-Guy' (mushrooms and truffle oil), 'The Bunga Royal' (my favourite, with hollandaise, smoked salmon, egg and spinach!) and of course, Margherita.

I was in pizza heaven! Seriously, Bunga Bunga had caught on to something - people need to put more breakfast food on pizza!

By the time we had managed to eat the last crumbs, I had lapsed into a mini food coma. However, pudding arrived and so I had to just force myself to try one of the mini ice cream cones!

Suddenly I noticed the music was getting louder - it was time to party! A rather talented singer took to the bar (she spent most of her time dancing up and down it, dodging cocktail glasses!) and we all hit the floor for a boogie. Well, that was until I spotted the face painter in the corner...

All too soon, it was time for us to leave. Apparently, the karaoke was due to start and I wish I could have stayed all evening but unfortunately it wasn't to be. My whole experience at Bunga Bunga had been fantastic and unbelievably lively for a Saturday afternoon. I had an absolute whale of a time and I honestly cannot wait to return.

Fit for a Queen: Darbaar

Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of Darbaar, a new Indian Restaurant in the heart of the city aiming to give you the royal experience. Darbaar's is the brainchild of Abdul Yaseen, who was part of the founding team of the Cinnamon Club and went on to become head chef of the well renowned Cinnamon Kitchen. However, now it seems he has branched out on his own to create another pretty spectacular dining experience. The whole concept is based around the idea of food you can share and is inspired by the decadence of Royal Indian Court banquets. Understandably then, my sister and I were rather excited as we walked up the red carpet (past a rather fetching elephant) and into the restaurant for the first time.

We were greeted by sunset cocktails and trays of canapés which, in anyone's books, can never be a bad thing. Lu and I, never to be shy around food, dug straight in and went to explore the (rather large) restaurant. The decor was sleek but beautiful - we both especially loved the dramatic light fittings over head!

In the main restaurant area, there was a long bar from which you could see straight into the kitchen which included an open clay oven! I loved being able to watch the chefs dash around preparing the dishes. However, as you'd expect, the real stars of the show were the platters of treats circulating around.

 Now, I am by no means an expert when it comes to Indian food, so I have to admit I was not exactly 100% sure what I was putting into my mouth, but to quote one of the few remaining memories of English GCSE, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". The food was delicious, who cares what it was called?!

 After having eaten perhaps slightly more than our fair share of canapés (including some deliciously creamy prawn cups, sizzling lamb and delicate pastry filled...things) we realised we had made a near fatal mistake. Main courses were coming out and we were running out of room.

Around came pretty little silver buckets filled with rice and delicious curries, along with a variety of other dishes. If Abdul aimed to create food to share, on one hand he definitely managed it ("Lu, try this, it's amazing!) but on the other he had failed miserably ("No, get your own, this is ALL MINE!").

 We were also lucky enough to meet Abdul Yaseen himself. Even better, he came armed with a tray of flavorsome carrot cakes! My sister and I waxed lyrical at him about his food while he laughed at our enthusiasm for the Indian deserts. Lulu and I had a wonderful evening at Darbaar. The food was excellent and the cocktails good fun (did I mention there were bursting blue bubbles hidden at the bottom of one?!). All I can say is that I'm excited to return!