A Dinner Party with La Belle Assiette - Fine Dining At Home.

Numbering 4 nationalities (5 if you count yearning) amongst 6 diners, we gathered on a snowy evening gathering from all corners of London to make merry in a pre-Christmas celebration. We covered the globe ranging from Antipodeans (New Zealand and Australian) to Americans with a token English Rose, we knew by the tone of the late excuses from "sorry I’m going to be 5 minutes late" all the way through to "I got held up at carrot point by snowmen - they wanted to know where I was hiding the penguins but I refused to tell them. Trying to uber a reindeer now..." it was going to be fun night.

Disclaimer: Our meal was provided courtesy of La Belle Assiette, but I would absolutely use them again - and with the 3-course meals averaging out from a pub dinner to a luxury restaurant pricing, without having to put up with other noisy diners, I will definitely be using them again. 

Sorry for the long disclaimer. Which I've just made longer.

On the table we spread out Eucalyptus fronds in a beautifully haphazard array, crowned with a bronze ornament placed just so and star tea-lights sprinkled amidst the table centre, twinkling merrily away. Gathering in our good friend’s lounge, we hugged and told tales of our recent adventures.

Aqua Kyoto - Reviewing The Go Zen Lunch Boxes

What a difference a year makes. Roughly 365.25 days ago I was sat in Aqua Kyoto, surrounded by my workmates in a job that wasn't challenging enough, hiding my blogging obsession and being teased about having a raging travel addiction. Funnily enough, our big group were seated at the very table that I took the below photo on. So many things have changed, though the raging travel obsession (obviously) hasn't subsided.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Aqua Kyoto but my (very many) thoughts are only ever mine and my repeat visits, I mean victory feasts attest to simply how much I enjoy their cuisine.

This time around, I'm becoming an established freelancer with clients who seem fairly happy, I've written articles for all kinds of places and I've been to New Zealand and back, but I still love to schedule in lunchtimes of indulgence and zen because goodness knows I'm only a human-bean. But, that's more than enough rambling about me.

A Two Michelin Star Lunch: Hélène Darroze at The Connaught Hotel, Mayfair

Approaching birthdays seem to strike terror into the hearts of many people that I know - for a huge variety of reasons - but I've always just seen it as an excuse to hang out with the people that I love and as a reminder that life is too short to drink bad coffee.

Last year I celebrated a milestone birthday, and managed to eke it out to 6 weeks of celebrations (which is ludicrous, I know - but we had to wait for Dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to finish their renovations. Honestly, Heston, really did you have to make us wait so long?) so this year as it wasn't a milestone, I managed to tamp things down to around a week - which I think is totally reasonable in the scheme of things.

Booking in a few lunches and dinners with a load of good people who helped me to celebrate, first up was a leisurely (ahem, four hour) lunch with Shikha (Why Waste Annual Leave) and Connie (Connie Consumes) at the luscious Connaught Hotel.

Where to eat and drink in Chelsea - 10 of my favourite places

Chelsea began life as a Saxon village some miles from the thriving town of London (the name derives from Saxon words cealc hythe, the word hythe meaning a landing place for boats) and has long been a sought-after area. So sought after that in 1536 Henry VIII built a manor house in Chelsea but it was demolished in 1760.

Disclaimer: Any of these that I was a press guest at some point are indicated with a * in the title. 

As ever I review as if I had paid for them and only share the ones that I have loved, 

(too) often returning on my own dime.

Fast-forwarding to modern times, much hasn't changed in Chelsea. The beautiful stone and brick buildings that could tell juicy enough tales to make your hair curl, the roads which still occasionally host horse & carriage and there is a delightful selection of places to spend a few hours with friends; to eat drink and be merry.

Beneath The Colour: The Hyatt Regency Hotel Marylebone

The pianist started to softly play a familiar tune. My friend Kate turns to us, and exlaims 'oooooh, it's someone's birthday!' Guiltly exchanging glances as the waitress got closer and closer - birthday cake crowned with merrily dancing candles in hand - my other friend and I tried to stifle giggles as realisation dawned on Kate that the cake was floating closer and closer to her, and that we had schemed a way to celebrate her birthday whether she liked it or not.

Disclaimer: This time were invited guests of the Hyatt Regency Hotel

but all previous visits, errant thoughts, and misuse of literary quotes are entirely my own.

This was in the Montagu Restaurant, the main restaurant of the Hyatt Regency hotel, our usual haunt for a ladies only monthly catch up. Not only a plush place to enjoy an evening, it was so conveniently located in Marylebone that we could all assemble easily, fresh from a long day in our offices. Now that we have all changed jobs, we don't meet quite as often, but every time I walk through the doors I think of those friends who made the long days bearable.

Date Night: Galvin At The Athenaeum Hotel

Do you prefer the hubbub of a busy restaurant or the slightly sleepier buffer hours around opening and closing times when you have the whole place practically to yourself?

It makes me feel kind old to admit this, but I really prefer an early evening repast; one where we are tucked around a corner that makes our meal a cosy, intimate evening - whether with the long-suffering Mr Kiwi or a group of friends who I haven't seen in ages.

Also, if I had to wait until 8/8.30pm for dinner (without strategic mealtime planning) hanger would undoubtedly kick in, and I can not be held responsible for the results.

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.

Ladies Who Lunch: Bronte Restaurant on the Strand

"The human heart has hidden treasures, In secret kept, in silence sealed; The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, Whose charms were broken if revealed."

Wrong Bronte in this particular instance, but we know that as soon as we walked through the blossom draped archway entrance to Bronte on the Strand, that our Instagram timeline hearts would be getting a thorough exercise.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Bronte, 

but all thoughts and misuse of literary quotes are entirely my own.

The splendiferous Angie and I met for a leisurely ladies lunch - one of the best things about being a freelancer is the ability to move my hours to suit my social diary. Bronte is tucked away in plain sight on the Strand; I must have walked past the arches for years without taking a thought for what they contained.

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.

Orbit 360° Dining - Restaurant Review - SKYCITY Auckland, New Zealand

"You spin me right round, baby right round" Ahem, sorry.

In my experience over the years, restaurants with amazing views have more often than not have low quality food. There have been a few exceptions; Hutong at the Shard, Duck and Waffle brunches and Peninsula Restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel. It seems as though the restauranteurs know they can get away with this because the view is so beautiful and restaurant goers are usually tourists who have money to burn and won’t go back any time anyway.

Sorry, grouch over. The Auckland Sky Tower is totally different (and that’s not just national pride kicking in). I’d been there a long while ago for their sumptuous buffet, but my sister visited a couple of years ago and pronounced that it hadn’t lost any of the quality.

Eneko at One Aldwych Restaurant Review - Adventures of a London Kiwi

I mentioned in a previous post about Barcelona, that Spain seems to be cropping up in my psyche a lot at the moment. All that sunshine and sangria just seems to be beckoning. So, when an invite to Eneko landed in my inbox, I knew it would be a great chance to slake that wanderlust, and also manage it without any airport security queues.

I've seen a lot of reviews around and about, so I was most intrigued to try out their modern take on traditional Basque cuisine.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Eneko at the One Aldwych Hotel, but all thoughts, flavour opines and misuse of Spanish are entirely our own.

Eponymous chef Eneko Atxa is the man behind Azurmendi in Bilbao, the three Michelin-starred restaurant voted no. 16 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Luckily for us, he has opened this Aldwych branch and trained all of the handpicked chefs who run the kitchen in his absence. Luckily he was in the evening we visited, so we had fare prepared by the very man himself (after popping out of the kitchen to say hello.)

Hutong at the Shard: Luxurious dining with a London vista

Breathtaking London views, incredible flavours from Northern China, elegantly arrayed surrounds and a beautiful Wishing Tree, every branch perpetually hung with lucky red wishing cards. Hutong at the Shard is both everything that you think it will be, and yet nothing quite like your imagination.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Hutong at the Shard,

but my palette and misuse of ancient Chinese proverbs are all very much my own.

Invited to try out the newly launching menu courtesy of Head Chef Fei Wang's home province of Sichuan (the home of giant pandas and Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze), Shandong (known for its Taoist and Confucian heritage) and Beijing (known as much for its modern architecture as its ancient sites such as the grand Forbidden City complex) we toasted our good fortune with crisply poured glasses of Veuve Cliquot and much laughter.

Eating at the luxurious Bovey Castle Hotel - Codename: OperationDon'tTellAftab

They say an army marches on its stomach, attesting to the importance of forces being well-provisioned, but when this phrase was invented they hadn't quite encountered the voracious appetites of 4 particularly travel obsessed food bloggers.

Having organised a night at Bovey Castle escaping the confines of London for a few belated birthday celebrations, we made sure to enthusiastically test their onsite restaurant offerings, not least as we were a 40 minute drive from Exeter St Davids.

Hitting the high notes - A limited edition jazz afternoon tea at the Sheraton Grand Hotel Park Lane Hotel

Our evening started as the sun set over the Hyde Park tree canopy. Shaking off my long day at a desk and having sat for a reflective half an hour, I was more than ready to slip into the Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel, to try out the limited edition Jazz Afternoon Tea with Binny & Aftab.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel
but my verbose words are all mine.

As I sank into the luscious carpet, the harpist gently strummed the final chords of a catchy pop tune (the song escapes me now) and I looked up to see the mischievous grin of Binny float through the door, Cheshire Cat style.

A delicious staycation: The Vicarage in Cheshire

The Vicarage, a hotel in the small Cheshire of village of Holmes Chapel intrigued us.

Identifying itself as 'a restaurant with rooms' we couldn't resist testing out their foodie credentials, so for the last night of our Chester staycation we hopped back into the train and shot out into the countryside.

Cornwall roadtripping: our favourite places to explore

Both my friend and I had eyed up the beautiful scenery, cosy thatched cottages and wild beaches of the Cornish coast often enough to each have a wishlist of places to explore, so on our long weekend, we tried to fit in as many places as we could.

Result? The best road trip we could have hoped for, complete with excellent tunes, copious snacks and occasionally crazy weather conditions. Full of pirates and smugglers, intriguing history, rampant gardens, cream teas where we discussed the big questions (cream then jam, or jam then cream, obvs) and weather conditions that changed by the minute from hail to beaming sunshine.

Important disclaimer: I've only visited Cornwall the once so I can't ever call myself an expert, and ideally we needed an extra day to spend in St Ives properly, but these were the places we loved.

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.)

Bottomless brunching at Aqua Kyoto

Every monumental expedition should be celebrated with a victory feast.

Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay as they summited the jagged peaks of Mount Everest, Susanoo-no-Mikoto (the Shinto god of the sea and storms) defeating the eight-headed dragon Yamata no Orochi, and, er, me conquering the shoeaholic shopping crowds that crest the busy shops in Oxford Circus and Regents Street - we all had reason for jubilation and a touch of bacchanal merrymaking.

Disclaimer: We were invited guests of Aqua Kyoto but my (very many) thoughts are only ever mine and my repeat visits, I mean victory feasts attest to simply how much I enjoy their cuisine. 

Ps. there is a reader special if you make it all the way through this sushi treatise...

But, I wasn't alone. Luckily, after an epic Saturday journey battling through the rising tide of jubilant shopaholics, a resplendent crew of brave* bloggers gathered high above the famous fashion draped crevasse** of Londonium, metaphorical swords pens at the ready.

Rowley's Steak Restaurant Review, St James

A decade ago, almost to the day of publishing this post, Mr Kiwi and I met on our first official date. Having spent a couple of months in each others company but with the expanse of a bar top separating us and crowds of fellow office revelers, we decided that a more intimate evening where we could properly get to know each other was required.

Whisking me to Picadilly Circus where my expat heart was set a-flutter (by those iconic lights) we stood near the Eros Statue (to get a picture of said iconic lights, nothing more risque), he escorted me to a charming restaurant where the lights were romantically low and the tables are perfect for an nice date.

And I panicked.

A Birthday Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park REVIEW

Food history and the inherent psychology has always intrigued me. Why do we reach for certain flavours when we're happy, and avoid foods that have bad memories attached, thereby creating our own personal history maps? As a child I can clearly remember the alluring smell of my Dad bringing home fish and chips on dull afternoons (don't judge me ok?) and the taste of my Aunt's Jaffa Slice always conjures Summertime Christmases - to the extent that I had the recipe sent over to the UK as soon as I had a big enough kitchen to cook in (and obviously put in a request every time I go home for Christmas).

Take this to another level, and the recipes of yesteryear can't help but evoke the society that it comes from. (Let's take a moment here to consider the current crisp sandwich pop-up and freakshake generation. What will our descendants think?) Heston Blumenthal has taken this level of thought up into the gastronomic stratosphere and donning his trademark specs, he and his team have developed a decidedly unique approach to developing dishes both at the eponymous Fat Duck in Bray, and the glamorous Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.

It's probably no surprise that dining at the two Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal was on my birthday shortlist (it almost was the venue for the #KiwiSpoon birthday extravaganza but sadly had to be delayed with restaurant refurbishment works and our trip to the States) but 6 or so weeks later a leisurely lunch with one of my favourite Kiwis was set in stone and all I had to do was patiently (well, mostly) wait for the day to roll around. Who says that birthdays have to be only 24hours? Beginning with cocktails as the best dinners do, we settled in for an afternoon of indulgence.