Jamie Oliver's Recipease, Notting Hill via Fortnum & Mason, Serpentine Gallery

A great afternoon out cooking up Thai food. I was so stuffed by the end of it...maybe we shouldn't have gone for the Fortnum & Mason's afternoon tea at the Serpentine beforehand...

The lesson was fun, easy and the chef very helpful. I would definitely go again, maybe for a sushi class perhaps. I like the fact you just cook in the middle of the shop, with cafe upstairs.

Also, the freshly made pesto from Jamie's is to die for! Literally wanted to get a spoon and eat it straight out...

The sweet delights from Fortnum & Mason. Too good to even decipher what ingredient was in each piece.

The cooking begins

Excited faces all round

My work station - learning some knife skills

Yes chef!

Sweet beef, vegetables and rice. 

Dinner is served with Thai soup - all made by moi

Little meringues at Jamie's cafe - not the G&T flavour and the Unicorn Poo...

Review: Pearl Liang, Sheldon Square, Paddington

At last! I've found a place that does great dim sum in central-ish of London!

Barbecued pork in puff pastry - good meat

My favourite place to have proper authentic dim sum is still The Lotus - the floating restaurant in Canary Wharf. But Pearl Liang is up there for a more sophisticated style of dim sum.

I came here for lunch and it was the best lunch I'd had...ever - since working in Paddington. Paddington is growing into a more modern area outside of its train station to cater for the ever-growing offices and even though Pearl Liang has been around for a while, I've never thought to pop in for lunch until my cousin suggested it.

One of my favourites - fried turnip cake/pancakes

As you know, I'm quite snobby when it comes to eating authentic Chinese food, but the food we had was exceptionally good. We were both very impressed. The food was good quality and you can tell they use fresh ingredients and everything is cooked fresh too. The service was very quick, although we were stood by the waiting area for a while before anyone formally acknowledged us.

Of course - steamed buns are a must, or 'bao'

I'd like to compare the lunch service to dinner though, and compare the prices to full main dishes, as it looked fairly pricey from the menu, whereas we spent £30 for seven dim sum plates which is pretty cheap considering. I might even think about taking my parents here if they were to visit - now that is high praise.

RATING: 4 out of 5

A new one - wasabi and prawn dumpling

Sui Mai - with lots of meat

As an added extra - we had to get the egg tarts. So fresh and delicious!

Review: Steak & Co, Leicester Square

OK, so I seem to have a lot of 'don't's' concerning eating out in London - one of them is avoiding tourist traps such as Leicester Square.

However I was proven wrong on this occasion. After a trip to the pop-up bar, Roofnic (an amalgamation of 'roof' and 'picnic' which is, actually, just a rooftop bar) on Oxford Street, we all fancied some steak. We narrowed it down to two places, and we simply decided to go to the one closest to our location, so off we trotted to Flat Iron in Soho, which consisted of a two hour wait, so we swiftly turned back out the door, and onto our next closest destination which was Steak & Co.

My friend had given us a glowing review of the place, which seemed very interesting, I was just slightly concerned we were heading towards Leciester Square on a Friday evening. However, I shouldn't have been.

Even though the majority of tables were with diners, we were seated straight away. The menu was reminiscent of one you would see at Angus Steakhouses which was slightly alarming, but if you just focus on the steak section, you'll be fine. Choose your pick of any steak, weight, as well as your choice of seasoning, butter AND sauce. This may not be the best place to take the indecisive, but it's a fun place to go to if you want something a bit different.

Each steak comes on a hot stone plate, my sirloin steak was sizzling to the point I was choking slightly on the smoke, but it was well worth it. The smell is divine (although likely to get your hair smelling of smoke too). The method is to slice your steak, put a bit of your chosen flavoured butter on the stone, infuse the sliced steak with the butter, season, and maybe dunk into your chosen sauce for good measure.

The novelty didn't wear off surprisingly, though I did find I didn't need the butter AND sauce, and then once the butter starts melting in your pot, it gets a bit messy and fiddly.

Having said that, the meat was of good quality, if I knew what I was really ordering, I probably would have asked for my meat rare, rather than medium as it obviously cooks pretty quickly once you replace it on the stone.

I went for the sirloin steak with whole grain mustard butter, seaweed salt and red wine sauce. I prefer quite a strong mustard taste which I didn't find with this butter, the seaweed salt was just for fun really - seaweed doesn't taste of much when there's so little of it. I probably could have done without the red wine sauce, which I used mainly to dunk my chips into, it probably overpowered the other two combinations - but then I have no one else to blame but myself. The chips are lovely though - they tasted fresh.

I would go here again - it's a fun place to take friends and family. It might not be the steaks of all steakhouses but the concept is brilliant and the food is pretty good depending on your own personal choices of flavour. It's reasonably priced for steak and Central London. And for a place in the heart of tourists, it is probably a bit more understated and not overflowing with people, so it gets my vote.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Red's True Barbecue, Shoreditch

This place gets pretty busy so I would recommend popping by early to get your name down, and enjoy the cool basement bar while you wait. The smell is fantastic as soon as you step in with meat oozing out from the open kitchen.

The menu/bible 

The only thing is that Red's True Barbecue has a tendency to run out of food fairly early on - my friend wanted the cornbread, and by 7:30pm they were all gone. 

I went for the pulled pork with two 'humble sides' greens and fries with coleslaw, all at a very good price. Don't underestimate the size portion though - you get more than what the tray shows at first sight. 

A very trendy barbecue place - one to rival Bodean's and Red Dog Saloon. The pulled pork and coleslaw is a must-have at Red's True. It's a close call between these three places, but based on the pork alone, Red's True would have to be a close second...

For the brave, there is a donut burger on the menu, and it is exactly as it sounds.

The only thing I would say is that upstairs dining is tightly packed and the quirky furniture means, you may be sat up against a wall very close to your table and the diners next to you...but the food smells amazing, every cloud...

RATING: 4 out of 5

Just some coverage...

I know it's not cool, but for someone like me, who writes this blog simply because I like to cook and write, this is a momentous occasion.

This is the time Jamie Oliver reply to one of my Instagram posts after I made one of his weekday recipes of lemon, salmon, potatoes ;)

Review: Chicken Shop, Holborn

Hold it! I know what you're going to say..."Like Nandos?" "I don't like Nandos" "Chicken is so boring".

Well you're going to eat your words (or rather chicken) after this. Those were my thoughts exactly before I visited The Chicken Shop.

It's a simple concept with exquisite food. Chicken is cooked perfectly - not overdone. You can order a whole one to share for fairly cheap and it's flavoured and tender, that even though you'll think you might take some back for lunch the next day, you'll probably just end up eating it all.

The homemade coleslaw is a winner. Fresh and light - ideal with the chicken. We shared a whole chicken, 2 coleslaw, 3 (crinkly) fries and an avocado/lettuce salad between 5 of us and it's safe to say we gobbled it all up, and had time for the desserts. You know something's good when you order a lot of food but don't feel ill.

The lemon tart is phenomenal. And I'm not exaggerating.

It's cool, understated and friendly. A place you can sit and chill, or catch up with friends.

Would definitely take everyone here - this coming from someone who doesn't order chicken when eating out.

RATING: 4 out of 5.

Review: Cahoots! Kingly Court

Look, I don't want to give the game away as that's part of the fun but basically from the moment you book a table (and do - they have a three month waiting list but try your luck walking in anyway), it's part of the London Underground experience.

I don't know where to start - it's just such a good concept, the people there are so funny, friendly, quirky and helpful. Most important, the cocktails (and menu) are original and delicious. I visited on my birthday and the staff had cottoned on and brought me out a mini mint flavoured cupcake (how did they know I love all things mint?) and sang me the most tuneful 'Happy Birthday' with conviction. It was obviously embarrassing but also fantastic at the same time.

Also, listen to their answerphone message in full, it's funny.

My favourite bar by miles.

Review: Flesh and Buns bottomless brunch

I've never felt so full - of the good kind.
This was probably one of the best meals I've ever had - and it was probably worth the price to be fair. The service was great too with really helpful staff. The bottomless (really is unlimited, including the prosecco) brunch was so much fun. I think I'd quite like to try out its dinner though. Oh and if you haven't been to Bone Daddies for ramen either - then do it already!

Pork scratchings were delish

Sashimi was ok

We ordered two plates of the broccoli. I know I'm biased anyway because I just love the stuff, but the flavour from the grill was just so much better than anything else

Soft shell crab, wasn't oily

Sushi is always a nice little plate

Ok, so the steamed buns weren't the best that I've tasted - they were a bit too sticky and flimsy, but the meat was wonderful, although I have to admit it doesn't beat Korubuta's pork belly steamed buns

Here's me attempting to finish off the prosecco and s'mores chocolate  fondant dessert

Really loved this little touch to melt the marshmallow

A great little pastry from Hong Kong

A relative of mine has recently just moved to Hong Kong to live and work, she sent me this video and I can't stop watching it, it's fascinating. 

This lady has a shop in Tai Po Central in the New Territory, my family come from a small town village near here and so I'm often here. These are 'lor mai chee' chewy rice flour wrapped in any filling you like - red beans, black sesame or peanuts - there are many more interesting flavours, but I have to admit - these are my favourite. 

BYOC

Bring Your Own Cocktail.

So we did.

What started as an educational but fun 2 hours of cocktails turned into a slightly inebriated (not from us) dispute about what alcohol is gluten-free and demanding one more cocktail 15 minutes before time was up.

It was a fun experience, but one of those where I will probably never go again, just because the novelty sort of wears out after the first hour, and because they are quite strict on timing you have only 2 hours there. We asked for one more cocktail 15 minutes before time and was told no, we disputed this, and got a drink in the end, but were then told we had to down our drink and leave as the next reservation needed our seats. Seems fair, only when we arrived, we had to wait a good 15 minutes to get started.

Instead of the standard Smirnoffs and Bombay Sapphire, we brought an eclectic mix to the table.

This was the punch with Pimms and Bloom gin...I couldn't tell you what any of the other drinks were however...

A sour cocktail which was nice

We were then challenged to make our own take on an Old Fashioned. Mine was disgusting. 

Don't know. There was a beetroot cocktail which isn't as nice as you'd think.

Review: Hix Soho

I'm a big fan of Hix - Tramshed was amazing, and the cocktails in the basement in Soho are lovely (though the air con in the basement makes it slightly on the cold side). We decided to venture out for a roast dinner and we were not disappointed. At £23.95 for 2 courses, it wasn't an all that bad meal considering.

The rather lovely water jug that reminded me of a Chinese temple

We both went for the beef - rare to medium. Not your usual lies but more like a steak. The gravy pot is just out of shot. We were also given more potatoes after served just two of the lovely things. We could have done with more vegetables, but all in all it was a very delicious meal. I was still hungry at the end of it though.

Dessert - white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake which was exceptional

I can't order the same thing again, so I went for the rhubarb fool with shortbread. I'm not a massive fan of cream so didn't finish it all but the shortbread was yummy!

Review: GOAT, Chelsea

We decided to hang out in Chelsea for the evening, as we never venture that way and I thought it would be fun to act like one of the Made in Chelsea lot. Coincidentally, as I was explaining what Made in Chelsea was to my friend, we bumped into Spencer and Lauren from the show...their taxi they were getting into almost ran us over. It was a good day.

We'd been to Goat before to the 'secret' (it's not really that secretive) 'basement' (you go up some stairs and down again through some locked doors...so I don't think it's really a basement) called The Chelsea Prayer Room. I would definitely recommend the cocktail bar, quirky menus in classic novels and the cheeseboard is delicious - this coming from someone who isn't a massive fan of cheese.

We decided to enjoy the sunshine this time and had a lovely Friday meal...

The sea bass and broccoli with almonds. 

The gluten-free chicken. Portion size was a bit on the small side. 

Nearly every diner had ordered a pizza so I decided to go for the rocket, goat's cheese pizza. It didn't disappoint, I wolfed it down within minutes. Base was perfect.

Some limoncello from Capri to round the dinner off. Why not?

All in all, it was a lovely evening, the staff were very accommodating when we decided that sitting by the open windows were not so ideal when people outside were smoking. They were also very helpful in terms of what was gluten-free and what wasn't. My pizza I had was very high standard, it's not hard to see why every table had at least one pizza ordered. I would say it was on the pricier side, I ended up accidentally spending £45 (although that included a glass of wine, prosecco to share and the limoncello). It has a very friendly atmosphere and I would probably come here again if I ever fancy somewhere that's not East.

RATING: 4 out of 5