New blog post- highly anticipated update!

Hi everyone

It's been a long time coming but on this post I'm just gonna group a lot from my travels and I'll also do a few individual posts later. Let me know what you all think xx

SAKURA - Mayfair, London

This place is quite charming, non pretentious like a lot of other restaurants in Mayfair 

The menu

Looks cute but I was a bit awkward drinking from it, kept spilling everywhere 

Warm salted edamame beans, is anyone else obsessed with these?

I was still suffering from nostalgia, missing Tokyo so I ordered shrimp tempura with udon noodles in a hot broth . It comes with a boiled egg, mushrooms and seaweed - sooo good!

Another tempura dish with mixed seafood

The bill was quite reasonable and it was handwritten, there's this old Japanese lady that sits by the entrance with her old style typewriter and a calculator, she handles all the transactions. Very chic I thought 

Next up.....

Thailand!!! 

I travelled to Bangkok - Phuket - Krabi - Phuket - Bangkok 

I absolutely loved this place, and it's so true what they say about Thai people. Everyone was so friendly and helpful!

Best sign ever right? The beaches in thailand are all stunning, this one was in phuket 

We went to see the Fantasea show in phuket, the place was amazing. It was basically an elephant show with acrobatics thrown in. I cried! And not for a good reason, I know a lot of people enjoy it and I was told there was no mistreatment of animals but I found it so strange that these elephants and other animals were on this brightly lit strange doing a dance routine! And it was SO loud! But I guess each to their own

One thing I was totally obsessed with was Tom yum soup!!! I ate this everyday!! It's a hot and sour soup and so delish! 

Cold shrimp salad, this was so spicy that my poor friend couldn't eat it

The famous Bangla road in phuket, this is where you will no doubt find yourself in every evening 

The road literally has everything! Shops mainly souvenir ones stay open till midnight, restaurants, those famous ping pong places, clubs, bars, karaoke, street performances etc etc it has it all

Let me know what you all think! 

My Old Dutch

Happy pancake day!

I decided the best day to visit My Old Dutch should be on Pancake Day right? My Old Dutch is a pancake house with restaurants around London. I've eaten there on numerous occassions. I love their pancakes. They have savoury and sweet pancakes and also serve salads, soups, traditional dutch starters and desserts.

Their prices are quite reasonable. We had the Asparagus pancake with spinach, black olives, red onions, mushrooms and cheese. It was divine!As you can see served on the biggest plate you've ever seen!

We also had the the apple and cinnamon pancake with ice cream (also served with cream)

It looks good? It was so good, its hard to finish it all though. I love their plates, very dutch!

They also offer 'poffertjes' small fluffly mini pancakes to you and me. I had the berry compote:

Those mini pancakes are an absolute treat, If you're like me and want to try both kinds of pancakes I recommend the savoury first then the poffertjes. Bring your appetite and an empty stomach! The Deco is nice and simple, with some dutch touch. You get to sit pretty close to your neighbors.

I cant say enough how good the pancakes are at My Old Dutch so it breaks my heart that I have to tell you the service was appalling! I can normally tolerate snotty, slightly rude, sarcastic and I-cant-be-bothered waiters/waitresses. I normally just eat, takes loads of pics, pay, tip and get out. This time however it was just too bad not to mention on here. It was quite busy to the point people had to queue outside and on the door leaving it open so we all had to endure the cold wind blowing in. I ordered Assam tea which came in a pot, after 5mins it was so strong I could drink anymore. I ordered water to wash the taste down, I waited and waited, I asked again and guess what? No water was sent to me! Anyways not a big deal I bought water when I left but the customers on the table next to us had the worst luck. They ordered sweet and savoury pancakes to be served at different times. The waitress very rudely told them they cant do that, it will be served at the same time. The poor American man then decided to cancel his dessert order and only settle for main dish. His drink came (coke) the waiter was in such a hurry whilst pouring his drink he spilt it everywhere! The American customer was so polite during this whole ordeal. They ate so quick and was out of the door before we even finished our fist course. I absolutely feel terrible for this man and his daughter, mainly because he was so nice the whole time. We also had a bad service but again its the sort I can tolerate but we really shouldn't have to! All in all, I will recommend a visit to My Old Dutch but perhaps not the Kensington branch.

Koya - noodles with everything

There are many Japanese restaurants in London serving up amazing authentic food but for a while now I've been searching for a place that serves proper tempura and udon (thick noodles) without all the fuss of booking a table months in advance (e.g. Nobu) and prices that won't give me a heart attack! Something like this:


I had this in a small restaurant in Akihabara, Tokyo. It's very simple, thick udon noodles in a hot broth (refillable) served with tempura which is normally seafood or vegetables battered and fried. After reading a lot of reviews of cheap Japanese eateries I came across Koya which is in a great location, right in the heart of soho, but it's easy to miss. This charming little Japanese eatery is tiny, plain and minimalistic.


No reservations required, in fact they don't take reservations. It's exactly what I was looking for. The staff were very friendly, the seating arrangements means you might be seating next to other diners on the same table. The menu is very simple, basically noodles with everything! Or donburi (rice bowls). I ordered green tea:



Ten Mori (2 prawns and vegetable tempura) at £11.70!!


I wouldn't call this place cheap, it's reasonable but definitely not cheap. Or maybe I'm cheap, I don't know you be the judge but tempura shouldn't cost that much, granted its the best tempura I've had in London. My main was of course udon. They serve their noodles in three ways, hot noodles in hot broth, cold noodles in cold broth and cold noodles with cold dipping sauce. I had kinoko, hot udon with mushrooms and walnut paste.






The little brown thing on the small plate is the 'walnut miso'. I wasn't too keen on the walnut paste, it was sweet and I didn't want to add it to my udon, I'm def not a fan of sweet and sour. But the udon was amazing!! Totally authentic, a bit chewy and just delicious. My friend had beef donburi served with miso soup (again the miso soup was so good!) which got rave reviews too!

















I loved this place and will definitely be going there regularly for my tempura fix. Our bill was just over £40 incl. service charge. It's worth every penny because the food is so good!

Location:49 Frith st. Soho, London

Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason

It's been a while since my last post, I haven't stopped blogging I just took an unexpected break. But I have been busy eating all over London ;) Just before christmas I went to Fortnum & Mason for afternoon tea! With all popular 'afternoon tea' places you have to book a table in advance, especially on a weekend. F&M is pretty grand but not ott like The Ritz, so no dress code. St James restaurant, where we had our afternoon tea is on the fourth floor, here's what you see when you come out of the lift!


We were led to our table and given a tea list, or tea book!





We chose to have the 'classic afternoon tea' for two and from the list I opted for Assam tea.


How cute is that little strainer!! They have so many different types of teas from all over the globe, so if you are a tea connoisseur this is your moment!


After the actual tea itself was served, our warm canapés arrived. These were delicious, it's a shame we only got two cause I would've easily eaten ten! I called them cheesey pastry balls, but I'm sure they have a very fancy name.


Then the piece de resistance arrived! For afternoon tea rookies: eat from the bottom up! The bottom tier included finger sandwiches and smoked salmon canapés.






Middle tier had plain scones, raisin scones and sponge cakes.....2 of each. Fresh clotted cream and small little jars of different flavour jams are provided for scones.








I could actually get addicted to these scones! I much preferred the plain one though with strawberry jam. You can easily get carried away and eat the whole tub of clotted cream! It's so good!

The top tier comes empty but the waiter brings a plateful of mini cakes to choose from. You can have the whole tray if you like but we chose a selection of mandarin fondant, chocolate fondant, lemon meringue and coffee eclair.The miniature cakes were so sweet but so delicious! I also like the fact that they make small individual cakes instead of cutting you a slice from a huge one.








All in all i really enjoyed it, the atmosphere was lovely but i did feel a little self-conscious, I was trying my best to sit up straight and hold my cutlery properly! Luckily only one table of snobs were staring at us, the rest were all tourist and seemed as anxious as we were!

I should have probably gone there with an empty stomach, it was so filing! Luckily they do doggy bags!








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Location:St. James, Piccadilly