London Archives - All That I'm Eating

Buddha Bar Knightsbridge Afternoon Tea

June 3, 2015 By All That I'm Eating 7 Comments

This was a gifted meal.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person who likes tea and cake at any time of the day and I have a particular preference for them served together between the hours of 2pm and 4pm. I love it when you can try an afternoon tea with a difference; I have tried a gentlemen’s afternoon tea before complete with mini pork pies and sausage rolls, one that included soup and another with mini ice cream cones. The afternoon tea at Buddha Bar Knightsbridge has a fantastic Asian theme and I was really looking forward to trying it. read more

Arbutus Soho

May 18, 2015 By All That I'm Eating 7 Comments

This was a gifted meal.

I love a trip to London. If I get the good train it’s less than an hour and it’s a great excuse to see some friends who live in the big city. I always try to go somewhere I haven’t been before rather than returning to somewhere I’ve already tried. There’s always something new going on! My most recent trip up was organised to make the most of a restaurant offer from Bookatable. I didn’t actually know until I investigated that there are all sorts of deals available through Bookatable and the one at Michelin starred Arbutus in Soho sounded too good to pass up! I couldn’t wait to go there and get stuck in. read more

Matsuri at St James, London

May 28, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 8 Comments

This was a gifted meal. It’s been all go in London for me this month; I also managed to squeeze in a dinner at Matsuri St James. This was a meal of firsts for me: sushi, teppanyaki, sake and plum wine were all new to me and what a great way to be introduced to them. (I had tried sushi before but I don’t really think it counts as it came in a plastic tray from a well-known high street chain). As restaurant meals go this has to be one of the most fun places I’ve been to. I loved the buzz (about the place and from the other bloggers and writers there), the drama (there was flaming ice cream) and the venue. Oh, and the food. Teppanyaki is something I’ve always wanted to try; I love the idea and the theatre of watching your meal get cooked in front of you. And yes, that’s me having a go at cooking the black cod for the other guys on our table; I hoped I didn’t ruin it but everyone was very polite either way! Matsuri St James is a joint venture with Kikkoman, the soy sauce company, and they have been running in London for 20 years.

You might have noticed a lack of fish and shellfish recipes on my blog. The reason being I am intolerant to shellfish and the OH isn’t a fan of fish. While everyone else tucked in to their sushi, it looked lovely, we had the above vegetable sushi with soy sauce to dip. I liked that they looked like mini gardens surrounded by rice and they tasted honest, clean and fresh.
We then had tempura vegetables which were light and crisp. I loved the salt and spices that came with it to dip in. I was enjoying a fresh and slightly syrupy chilled sake (Houraisen – WA, Aichi Prefecture, Junmai Ginjo) with this course. read more

An afternoon with Twinings

May 25, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 12 Comments

As you know I quite like tea. As part of this tea appreciation I have become a fan of the more unusual teas and seek to try as many different types as I can. I was invited to spend some time with Twinings and meet Mr Stephen Twining himself. Their shop on The Strand is long and thin and you could spend a long time smelling the different teas on the shelves. We were sat at the back of the shop; it was great to see Fiona again (from the blog London Unattached) and to meet Choclette (from the Chocolate Log blog) and we settled ourselves in to sample and learn more about Twinings.

I thought I knew a bit (at least) about Twinings but I learnt so much! They have been operating out of the same shop in London since they started in 1706 and have a huge variety of tea available; all sorts of flavours and blends. It takes five years to become a master tea blender and, once qualified, you get a special teaspoon engraved with your name on (I really want one of those!). I also didn’t know that Twinings originally created Earl Grey; that’s why theirs is called The Earl Grey. read more

The UK Blog Awards and Three Very Different Places to Eat in London

May 1, 2014 By All That I'm Eating 14 Comments

I am very pleased to say that I got highly commended in the UKBA14 for individual food and drink blog! The evening was good fun and I met some lovely fellow bloggers; it was also a great excuse to spend some time in London and see friends I haven’t seen for a while. I know there are plenty of blogs about London restaurants and places to go but below are the places I ventured to (one Michelin restaurant, one breakfast club and one traditional pub) and can say are well worth a visit.

Kitchen W8 was recommended to me by Fiona who writes the fab blog London Unattached. Whenever there’s a cooking show or a chef on TV I always wish I could remember where they were so I could go. I envisage a clean cut restaurant, great service and fantastic food on a not too expensive set menu. This is exactly what Kitchen W8 does. Known for being the most reasonably priced Michelin star restaurant in London they offer three courses for £23.
Due to tube problems we arrived very late for our table but the staff were very kind and seated us; I’m so pleased they did.
We started with heritage tomato salad with sweet and sour peppers. The tomatoes were the perfect ripeness, temperature and texture, the peppers were punchy and the Kalamata olives added a lovely saltiness. I am a sucker for tomato anything and this was beautiful.
Main was breast and shoulder of lamb with heritage carrots and new season peas. It tasted as good as it looked (below). Sweet carrots and peas, the lamb was meltingly soft and there was a sort of pulled lamb crispy coated treat on the side of the plate which I could have eaten forever. We had a lovely carafe of Cabernet Sauvignon with this too.
Dessert was vanilla parfait with mango, passion fruit and lime which was just the right amount of sweetness and sharpness to finish the meal.
read more

PipsDish at Covent Garden

October 20, 2013 By All That I'm Eating 8 Comments

From the outside the PipsDish

restaurant in Covent Garden looks simple and understated, welcoming and homely. Inside is a similar story with a few wooden tables and chairs and big kitchen at the end. The kitchen gave me pretty bad kitchen envy with the piles of crockery on the huge shelves. It’s a nice place to be as there’s plenty to look at as people bustle around and you start to notice the fresh ingredients and food dotted around the place. read more

Le Drunch from Maille at Spitalfields

March 21, 2013 By All That I'm Eating 14 Comments

This was a gifted meal. I was invited to try an interesting meal dubbed ‘Le Drunch’ by the mustard brand Maille

. Normally I have to turn these invitations down as, although not very far, I’m not in London. Fortunately for this occasion I was in London anyway. Maille had a stand at Spitalfields Market where you could try some of the products they make. I was surprised to find they made read more

Bluebird at Chelsea

July 19, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 15 Comments

This was a gifted meal. A few weeks ago there was an elusive warm day. I ventured to London to meet a friend for lunch and was getting rather overheated. I’d planned my attire for a cold, wet day you see. In order to rectify my perspiring situation I decided to be cultural and went to have a gander around the Saatchi Gallery. It was wonderfully chilled in there; in both temperature and atmosphere. Worth a meander if you’re in the area. After a rather confusing start to the lunch where I didn’t know if I was meant to be in the garden area or the restaurant I finally found my bearings and sat down for a relaxing lunch at Bluebird Chelsea.

The meal started with an amuse bouche of gazpacho. This is the second gazpacho I’ve ever had in a restaurant and was decidedly more flavourful than its predecessor. When it was brought to the table it had crab in; I cannot eat shellfish but it was whisked away and a replacement brought in no time. It had an intense tomato flavour, was chilled without being too cold and I really liked the chives instead of the parsley you’d normally have. A really refreshing, clean way to excite the palate before the rest of the meal. read more

Cocktails at La Brasserie in London

August 2, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 8 Comments

This was a gifted experience. A good cocktail is a marvellous thing, a bad cocktail is an evening ruiner. I have had some atrocious cocktails and some incredible ones. I used to spend a lot of time in Leicester where there were loads of places to get good cocktails but unfortunately I don’t frequent Leicester as much as I used to and decent cocktails are now hard to come by.

I visited a friend in London over the weekend and we took ourselves out for some cocktails. I had been invited (by a PR company) to go to Pierres Bar in La Brasserie in Kensington. It’s in a lovely location and it’s just the right size to have atmosphere without being cramped. The staff were all lovely and seemed genuinely interested in making sure we were catered for in every way.
I didn’t take many pictures as I was too busy tucking in to the cocktails! I’m not a cocktail expert but when they’re using a fresh watermelon to make your martini instead of an ominous looking watermelon flavouring it’s going to be good. read more

Camellia at Carnaby Street

May 19, 2010 By All That I'm Eating 8 Comments

You know the drill. Shopping all day, buying little treats and you get to the stage where only a cup of tea can hit the right spot. I say cup of tea but I don’t mean of the PG variety.

Particularly when paying for my tea while out and especially so in London I expect more than a pyramid shaped tea bag for my money.

This is where I was lucky enough to stumble across one of those ‘gems’. I guess everyone else is fortunate to know about this place but I had never seen it until yesterday. This amazing place is in Carnaby Street in Kingly Court – Camellia Sinensis.

My friends K and E, and myself needed to rest our weary feet. It was like walking into a mini paradise, it was cool and calm and you’d never know you were in the middle of London. It was so…twee I suppose is the word. There were no doilies and fuss just simple but sweet. It seemed that there was a different kind of tea cup and tea pot for each type of tea. Quite a feat as there were more kinds of tea than one can imagine. read more