Cocktails with a touch of mystery

Speak easy bars have become the rage around the world. Hidden tiny drinking spots for those in the know. 

Speak easy bars are an ode to the US prohibition era, when little inconspicuous bars would illegally sell alcohol to the thirsty. 

I had never been to one before, and when a friend now living in London recommended we meet up for a drink at a hidden gem I was very excited. 

After a night at the theatre seeing Wicked, we met up on a street corner and made our way towards an discreet door reading "Evans and Peels Detective Agency". 

We buzzed at the door and told the lady on the other end of our "appointment" name and time. (You have to book). 

We made our way down the stairs into a small office with a desk full of papers, a book shelf and a female detective.

"Why are you here?" The lady asked us. "What is your case that you need us to investigate?" 

We then spent the next five minutes awkwardly (think baby giraffe trying to walk) trying to convince the detective that we suspected my brother had been murdered as he was a dealer of hard core narcotics and we hadn't seen him in two weeks. 

Slightly unimpressed but probably feeling sorry for us, the detective stood up and pushed open the book shelf, uncovering a gorgeous candlelit underground bar. 

We took a seat and all ordered drinks, needing to take the edge off from what had been an absolutely awful display of impromptu acting. Safe to say I mustn't have got any inspiration from the show earlier in the night! 

I would recommend this cocktail bar for anyone looking for something a bit different. It was quite quiet when we were there so I would suggest it for a bonding night with friends rather than trying to meet people. 

You can try and find Evans and Peels at:

310 Earl's Court Road, London SW5 9BA 

London: so fresh and so clean, clean

One of the things I was most looking forward to when scrupulously planning our time in London was going to the Borough Market. I was excited to see the way other countries and cities do fresh food markets and it is safe to say that this place does it bloody well! 

We left our hotel (Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch, majorly recommend) practically skipping as we made our way towards the famous markets. 

On the way we were distracted from our journey as we spotted the huge dome of St Paul's Cathedral out the corner of our eye. We detoured from our market mission to check out the famous sight, as we had missed it on our tourist-day-fail the previous day. 

The sheer grandiosity of the cathedral was amazing, the doors were enormous and when inside the ore-inspiring details of the ceilings and the famous dome inside left one feeling quite insignificant. 

Once inside we climbed hundreds of stairs (to the Whispering gallery) to get an incredible view of the inside of the cathedral, and then a few hundred more to arrive at a picteresque view over the city. 

After all those stairs our tummies began to rumble and we remembered our originial destination, and off we went. 

It was such a beautiful walk, crossing a bridge over the Thames, walking along the bank of the river and finally arriving at the Holy Grail. 

The markets were amazing. There were stalls for anything your little heart desired (British or not), fresh and of impeccable quality and for such good prices. You could go there instead of a meal and fill yourself to the brim in no time at all (but we had our eye on lunch as well as the market nibbles). 

Mmmmm, I'm salivating just looking at the pictures again! 

Thinking the day couldn't get any better we wandered across the road to a cute looking restaurant, Elliot's, for a late lunch and a couple of bevvies in the sun, unaware we were about to experience the best meal of the trip! 

Hold onto your hats. 

We started off our meal with the best bread and butter we had both ever tasted. Sounds like a pretty stupid award, but their amazing in house baked bread was to die for. Packed full of seed-y goodness and so so fluffy! 

We ordered a round of gin and tonics. Being G&T enthusiasts when a menu say home-made tonic, it would be rude not to try it! 

For starters, we got an amazing, but not so photogenic, dish of guanciale (like a pancetta), peas, lettuce and savory......

... and what was simply "crab on toast" on the menu, but to my tastebuds was so much more than that!! So sweet and meaty.I wonder how well it would go in the post? 

Next came the venison with a side of grilled corn. To be honest any meal with 'corn on the cob' is a good one in my books! 

Full of delicious food, sun kissed and oh so happy we basked for a little longer before hopping to our feet to venture home for an afternoon (drunken) nap! 

If I haven't stressed it enough already, I highly highly recommend (or demand) you head to the Borough Market if you are in London. It is a fun way to try what England has to offer in terms of their traditional food or that which has been introduced. 

 

And if you still have room after you have sauntered around the stalls, give Elliot's a try. You will not be disappointed! 

London: the best buns in Covent Garden

I absolutely fell in love with Covent Gardens in London. Its an area that doesn't get enough air time and that many people would miss when visiting but it was fantastic! So many interesting places to eat, amazing boutique shops and its bustling with people and performers working hard for your buck. 

Its a pretty good start when an area has an Opening Ceremony store and that was the first place I headed. Even if you have no intention of buying anything, all the clothes are so interestingly beautiful thats its worth stopping and browsing the items. Me, on the other hand, I had full intention of buying things, snagging myself a Kenzo jumper and Acne tee. 

For lunch, we headed to a new Asian-inspired restaurant called 'Flesh and Buns'.

After walking about the streets and shopping up a storm, I was quite thirsty and ordered myself a Peach Blossum Sour, which quickly did just the trick.

We started off with some edamame and beautiful fresh tuna tataki, the dressing was so refreshing! 

And some beautifully crispy soft shell crab with jalapeño mayo.  

Then came the restaurant's 'piece de resistance'- the flesh and buns! Lovely fluffy cloud like buns are brought to your table and you order what you want to fill them with. 

We chose crispy duck leg...

... and flat iron steak with pickled shimeji. 

They were both utterly delicious, but the crispy duck leg took out the win in our eyes (tummies). 

Ohhhh yeah! 

I would highly recommend this restaurant when visiting London. They have fantastic cocktails, Japanese beers and sake that just slide down with the food. And lets face it, who doesn't like a good set of buns!

Sophie x 

This place is quite hidden, you will see the logo on the door and then head downstairs underground

at 45 Earlham Street, London, WC2H 9LX. 

      

London: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Golly, if thats how good dinner is I wanna know what it's like when Heston takes you home!! 

I often worry about celebrity chefs' restaurants, you've got to wonder how, with all their TV appearances and the rest they can still keep their eye on the goings on of their restaurants. (I'm looking at you Maze NYC). 

But stop your worrying, give out a sigh of relief, with Dinner by Heston Blumenthal you having nothing to fret about. 

Situated in the heart of London, near Hyde Park in the amazing Mandarin Oriental hotel, the restaurant has one Michelin star and last year was voted the 9th best restaurant in the world. 

The meal was incredible from the get-go, even getting seated at our table was some of the best service I have ever experienced. 

We started off our meal with their famous "Meat Fruit", made from chicken liver and foie gras all disguised in a little mandarin costume. Not only was this dish amazing to look at and extremely clever, it tasted unbelievably delicious!!! Even for those who aren't into liver-y and stomach-y things, you will love it!

This was followed by the Salamagundy (say that fast ten times), which was chicken oysters with salsify, marrow bone and horseradish cream. Sounds pretty tame for Heston standards, but tasted bloody good. 

For mains, we hoed into the Black Foot pork chop, which we both agreed was the best pork we'd ever eaten, and the succulent Hereford Ribeye accompanied with mushroom ketchup and fries. 

We learnt a fun fact: surprisingly ketchup was first invented in Malaysia where they would literally make anything into a ketchup before Heinz came up with the world-changing tomato variety. 

My only qualms were that there were no "thrice cooked chips". I had so been looking forward to Heston's famous chips that are boiled, frozen, fried, frozen and fried again. 

My worries were quickly put at bay when the dessert arrived. May I present to you the Tipsy Cake with split roasted pineapple: 

The thought of a pineapple dessert didn't exactly get me going, but the waitress insisted and boy did they deliver. The cake itself was so crisp on the outside and so soft and buttery on the inside and the pineapple paired with it was just beautiful! 

Even though by this stage we were completely filled to the brim, we couldn't come to a Blumenthal establishment and not experience something with liquid nitrogen. So we nodded to the ice-cream trolley and what a show it was. 

Filled up to our eyeballs, still jetlagged as a mo'fo, we rolled out of there completely satisfied. 

Sophie xx