My Ultimate List of Desserts in London

We all joke about bloggers having separate dessert stomachs - it's a necessary job prerequisite - but as I sat here thinking about my next blog post, I realised that a) we didn't have any dessert in the cupboards without getting my baking tins out,  b) I had a space in the blog calendar and c) I'd never actually thought about which of the London puddings have been my favourite.

These are the ones that we've gone back time and time again for - occasionally popping in late in the evening just for a sweet bite or planning a whole evening around that crowning pastry.

The most unfortunate side effect of writing this post is the realisation that it doesn't change the state of my cupboards....

Modern Brunch : Percy and Founders in Fitzrovia

Jay Rayner doesn't like this place. He called it "an evolutionary dead end".

But, sometimes of a morning, you just don't want a fuss. I've been into Percy and Founders a few times - entirely intentionally and pre-planned - but this time we had fallen afoul of our booked restaurant not actually doing brunch and found ourselves a few streets away.

A Bedazzling Brunch at Berners Tavern

A good 75% of my friends are bloggers (not bloogers as my confused fingers seem to think) and online based lifeforms who have transcended the matrix. The other 25% are fellow expats. It makes sense, right? Friends are with you for a reason, a season or a lifetime and when your conversations are littered with algorithm references (jokes, we aren't that smart) or cultural frustrations it makes sense to hang out with kindred spirits.

Why am I blathering about my friend type ratio and not the lovely brunch we enjoyed at Berners Tavern? Honestly, it's probably because this beautiful corner of Fitzrovia is so pretty that it is often fully booked out - and I don't want you to take my table. You would be more than welcome to join us next time though.

'We Love Saturday Brunch' at the InterContinental Hotel, Doha

I can't tell you how many times I've opened Polly's instastories and looked on in envy as she and her friends settle down to beautiful Middle Eastern brunch feasts on the weekends. Seemingly endless selections of international cuisines, icy glasses of bubbly and the chatter of much loved friends.

Friday brunch (the first day of the weekend there) has become an art form in the Middle East, and sadly we missed out on our trip to Dubai due to our night sleeping in the desert running over, so I was more than excited when the Intercontinental Doha invited us to try their 'We Love Saturday Brunch' whilst I holidayed in Qatar.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of the Intercontinental Doha, 

but my (very many) opines on champagne and sushi are only ever my own.

It was all kinds of deliciousness.

Brunching in style at The Wolseley

"Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life," wrote A. A. Gill in his introduction to his book 'Breakfast at The Wolseley'.
He was a wise, wise man.



We always seem to visit for birthday breakfasts, gathered around a table with my nearest and dearest friends, all smiling and sipping coffees.

Best London brunches - according to a few experts!

The old advice is to 'breakfast like a king and to dine like a pauper', but I completely and utterly disagree.

Brunch like a Queen instead.

Whilst I'm out of London, a bevy of my favourite, trusted blog friends have taken up the mantle of mid-day feasting to share their favourite brunch spots - all well kept secrets that will knock your socks off.

An elegant brunch at The Balcon, Pall Mall

In a million years we probably wouldn't have met. In a city of 10 million+ people the likelihood was even slimmer. And yet our lives have converged thanks to the "faceless screens" of the internet.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of The Balcon but my (very many) thoughts on Saturday morning eggs benedict and champagne are only ever my own.

Of course, I'm talking about the one and only Sir Aftab of Fresh and Fearless. Most recently our adventures took us to a Parisian corner of Pall Mall.

Aqua Shard: Brunching in London clouds

The Shard and I have a tempestuous on again, off again relationship. On our first rendezvous this bastion of the London skyline was moody and somewhat icy, our second dalliance was a touch more blue sky and secretive (an unbloggable lunch at the Shangri-La), and the third a cheeky twilight drink - but on this particular date, we managed to enjoy an early brunch cementing our liaison as an everlasting London romance.

 Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Aqua Shard but my (very many) thoughts are only ever mine and more repeat visits on lovely days are going into my diary. Ps. Sister restaurant Aqua Kyoto has a bottomless brunch reader special until 28th May if you click this sushi treatise about our visit... (#notspon, just delectable)

After a flurry of activity organising a secret trip in honour of Aftab's birthday, 3 of the self-named Angles (sorry, random insider joke) gathered around a table with one of our American favourites (she is definitely not square, I promise) to breakfast and gaze over the London skyline full of anticipation for our incipient journey. Laden with weekend bags full of mischief and a train booked for 11am, early on the Sunday morning we checked in with the restaurant front staff (who didn't even blink an eye at how much clothing we had packed) and took our seats over the London city skyline.

Roux at the Landau, Langham Hotel - a luxury brunch.

Recently I've been dreaming of our honeymoon in the South of France. I think I can firmly blame my friends who have been planning their post-wedding dream holidays, jetting off on their own honeymoons and starting their families (join the thought dots for that one.)

We spent 10 days sampling the markets that French gourmets take for granted and inside the 150+ year old Victorian bastion of British luxury that is the Langham hotel, the opulent flavours of the Farmhouse Brunch served in the Roux at the Landau evoked our honeymoon all over again.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Roux at the Landau, Langham Hotel but my (very many) opines on eggs benedict and champagne are only ever my own.

Instead, a hashtag of bloggers settled in for a balmy Sunday in the shadow of the iconic BBC building, to enjoy an elegant weekend meal in the magnificent Langham Hotel. (Well, I actually spent 24 blissful hours there, but more on that another day.)

US Roadtrip Diary: A serving of Dallas glamour and cowboys

It really is true. Everything is bigger in Texas, from people’s hair to their pickup trucks.

If we're being totally honest we made our way across the northern section of the Louisiana/Texas border intent on uncovering a slice of JR Ewing's family home city - for you younguns, Dallas was an 80's TV show that even I was too young to watch, charting the wheelings and dirty dealings of a mega rich oil family in the world's first uber soap.

A handful of unusual London foodie destinations

Do you ever find yourself in an out-of-the-ordinary corner of London, and hankering for bite to eat? How about when you have to run an unusual errand or meet up with a friend halfway between your place and theirs?

Nb: Post contains a couple of blogger invites**/discounts##.

Or even, when your friends have left it up to you as the 'foodie' to pick a venue for dinner in an awkward part of town not known for gourmet credentials? That's when restaurant selection can run a little bit creative and come up some unusual discoveries. (Pssssssst. To jump on the thematic bandwagon, these would make great surprise Valentine's Day spots with partners, friends or family.)

A Texan brunch at The Big Easy, Canary Wharf

Reliving our roadtrip through a couple of American Gulf Coast States lately had me Hank Marvin for a taste of the Southern hospitality that we enjoyed in each leg of our holiday. Scheduling in a touch of more refined culture afterwards (learning about Lady Emma Hamilton at the National Maritime Museum) the one and only Claire and I tee'd up a post-New Year catchup over cocktails and and a helping of Bar-B-Q.

Life is all about balance after all.

My 13 best London dishes 2016

It's that time of year. The week or so where we look back over our metaphorical shoulders and ponder on the successes, challenges and downright wrong turns of the last 12 months. As a foodie each year I think back over the best dishes I've enjoyed, and 2016 has been utterly delectable.

London seems to be hitting her cuisine stride and 2017 is only going to get better.

A perfect... birthday and a #travellinkup

30 years old. I am now officially 30 years old.

I'm fairly sure I'm the only person on the planet who isn't freaking out about reaching such a milestone at the age, but there we go, I'm not.

Instead, I used the excuse to extend the usual week of festivities around my 36-hour birthday into a fortnight (along with an amazing 2 week holiday we have coming up shortly!). It's 36-hours long with the time difference in New Zealand - an exclusive benefit to the expat lifestyle - but with the lovely, lovely friends and family around me, what can be a homesickness trigger was actually a whirlwind celebratory champagne, fantastic meals and a secretly organised long weekend in a beautiful European city.

Iris and June, weekend brunch in Victoria

Years ago when I worked in the area, Victoria always seemed like a little bit of a gastronomic no-man's land. Sandwiched between the tolling bells of Westminster scuttling with politicians (though I do kinda love the Blue Boar and have spent far too much time drinking champagne, breakfasting and afternoon tea-ing in the Conrad St James) and Belgravia bustling with the yummy mummy's, thankfully there are more up and coming restaurants beginning to showcase their chef's credentials.

Over the years we have discovered a few of the [bloggers favourite klaxon] 'hidden gems' in the area that aren't necessarily fine dining (though we've found a few of them too). The cake menu hidden beneath Westminster Abbey, the cockney cobbles of Strutton Green, the rumored Royal favorite Thai restaurant (ok, ok, I began the rumour), the uber-touristy Albert pub where British Army retiree's sit hoping to warm their bones with a free pint and the cabbie's favourite greasy spoon The Regency Cafe.

10 of the best luxury London brunches (I've tried so far...)

Balance. Ying & Yang, fruit and vegetables, salt and pepper, knife and fork. Having recently scribed a list of my favourite 15 of the best London Brunches for under £15 it felt only right to redress the other side of the table, and relive a few of my favourite luxury brunches.

luxury

ˈlʌkʃ(ə)ri/

noun

1. a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense.

It seems to be a term bandied around with abandon these days, but luxury really is a personal thing. For some it's half an hour without a baby crying, for others it is a state of being that very much involves gorgeous handbags and opulent surroundings. One of my favourite luxuries is a good coffee first thing in the morning. I'm on my own, might have a book in my hand and when really lucky there is sun peeping through the clouds.

Eating & drinking in Bordeaux

Bordeaux seems to be going through a renaissance. 10 years ago it seemed to be a grimy port town that people knew of mostly for the ruby red elixir that makes the town infamous. With a mayor who realised the tourist cash they were missing out on, he set about rejuvenating the city and promoting Bordeaux as a destination within its own right.

In my limited experience of the world, I feel it's safe to say that the French live, breathe, eat and drink. And possibly not in that order of importance. Following that train of thought, it would be a little remiss to blog about the lovely Bordeaux, and omit sharing our favourite places that we imbibed. As a tourist armed with the internet, I can't pretend to be any kind of authority, but after 4+ years of blogging and calling myself a foodie I do know what I like.

The best places to eat in King's Cross, London

This entire blog is essentially a love letter to London. As much as I mercilessly tease that husband of mine that London isn't the best city in the world, it's definitely in the top 2. Maybe 3.

But as far as a foodie scene goes, 10 years ago England really wasn't considered very highly reputationally. Bangers and mash, fish and chips, likker and pie, jacket potatoes maybe. It was all beige. beige, beige, beige. (No, I take that back, call it up and coming - obviously not absolutely everywhere was so limited.) Take my English husband for example - before I accidentally skidded into his life, he had never tried sweet potato, pumpkins were for Americans celebrating Halloween and his favourite treat was a piece of bread doused in vinegar. Admittedly he still does that even now (usually when I'm distracted with blog stuff) you can take the boy out of Grimsby...

8 reasons why I adore Brighton

Brighton is one of those cities where the pulse thrums with music, the taste of fun is in the air and streets are filled with more than a glimmer of mischief. We've visited a few times - firstly as a brand new visitor to England, later for hijinks with friends and often as a seaside day trip from London - but haven't revisited for years.

The culture is a little offbeat, the locals are friendly and the coffee is AMAZING. Neighbouring Hove is a little more reticent and refined, but Brighton is where the fun starts - and when the train companies behave it's only an hour or so away from London.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Ibis Brighton but all of my very, very many thoughts are only ever my own...

So when a tribe of bloggers along with our plus ones (the lovely Leigh, Lisa, Leanne and I were invited and corralled by my pink-haired beauty Erica) were invited to a night of open air cinema and to snooze a Friday evening away, how could we resist another taste of the city?

Friday figments and photos: Are you going to Scarborough Fayre...

This week has been a whirlwind of delicious chaos (and at least one night collapsed on the couch.) Amongst other tidbits, we discovered a pop-up garden overlooking the busiest Street in London...

We attended the dreamiest wedding in Scarborough...