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.

Brunch at Brawn on Columbia Road

Last Sunday, my sister and I went to see our godfather for brunch. Our godfather, Justin, is rather good at spoiling us and even better at finding good places for food, so we knew we were in for a fun day!

We walked to Columbia Road Flower Market and were set a challenge. We each had twenty pounds and had to purchase flowers to make an arrangement each- I knew I had a short rectangular vase to fill and Lu had a tall one, so we off we went!

I battled my way through the crowds and perused the stalls. It was peony season and so they were piled high with fluffy pink blooms, along with just about every type of flower you can imagine! I umm-ed and ahhh-ed over what to pick before I noticed a stall stuffed with sweet peas in beautiful pastel colours. After a little bit of bartering, I walked away with five bunches in pale purple and white. The smell of them drifted through the air as a I walked away in search of the next element of my bouquet!

Then, I came across some rather unusual thistles. Before long, they were wrapped up in brown paper and added to my bunch.

I met Lu at the end of the stalls and after a quick pose in an art instillation, armed with our flowers (she'd gone for roses, canna lilies and normal lilies), we met Justin in Brawn, a restaurant that just has one set menu.

One of the great things about Brawn was that the kitchen was totally open and we could see everything going on as the chefs prepared our food. Before long, (as Lu and I subtly bigged up our flower choices,) a number of dishes to share left the kitchen and arrived at the table.

Look how tasty they look!

We happily tucked in as we chatted away.

Then out came the mains.

Needless to say, it didn't last long!

Once all the food had vanished, it was back to the house for some very competitive flower arranging. Now, flower arranging is definitely not something I've ever spent much time doing before and it was surprising difficult to put our vases together. But, some time later, we stood back and admired our creations.

Justin said he couldn't pick between our two bouquets, but I secretly knew mine was definitely better..!

Eventually it was time for us to leave. We'd had a lovely day with our wonderful godfather who always knows the best way to occupy us. I mean, who could ever say no to food and flowers?!