Kulttelaa

Although my brother and I share our London apartment, due to our schedules it isn’t often we get actual quality time together to catch-up. My brother is 4.5 years younger than me and we’ve always been close, so when an invite to test out Smith & Wollensky’s brunch menu and new weekend Sundae Sessions came through, it was perfect timing!

We arrived at Smith & Wollensky, one of London’s top steakhouses, around 11am on a sunny Sunday. As soon as we stepped inside I knew I would love it – the decor feels so American and really reminded me of my recent trip to Chicago! We chose the two-course set menu rather than the three-course offered as we thought dessert AND unlimited ice-cream sundae would be a bit much. This turned out to be the best decision as we were so full from all of the incredible food!

I started with the Smashed Avocado on Sourdough Bread, which wasn’t the best I’ve ever had – the avocado itself was a little bland and personally I think they should lose the spring onions, and add a squeeze of lime juice, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese instead. My brother on the other hand had the Eggs Benedict which looked delicious and I had massive food envy!

For our mains I chose the Smoked Bacon Hash & Poached Eggs, while Christopher chose the Dirty-Double Cheeseburger with Philadelphia, Gorgonzola, and Pickled Onion. He wouldn’t stop raving about how amazing the burger was, and it did look pretty epic! You’ll have to excuse the lighting on the photos of my Smoked bacon hash – for some reason it suddenly went really yellow/orange JUST when taking photos of that particular dish, and no amount of editing could sort it!

I mean, just LOOK at that molten cheese!! ^And then there was the main event: Sundae Sessions! Sundae Sessions runs from 10:30am-3:30pm every Saturday and Sunday, and guests can have bottomless ice-cream and toppings for 60-minutes! We loved the treasure trove of ice cream goodness and table heaving with toppings for us to choose from.

There’s a choice of over 15 toppings including S&W wafers, homemade honeycomb, raspberry marshmallows, nougat, fresh berries and lashings of salted caramel sauce to name a few! All of this is just £15 for adults and £9 for children up to the age of 12 for the bottomless option – a great treat for a special occasion or just a weekend.

We had the best brunch at Smith & Wollensky and absolutely loved the food and very American feel of the steakhouse interiors. I’m desperate to go back for dinner now to try their steaks!

One of the very first bloggers I ever met was Melanie from Sunny in London. Back in the early days of blogging we had a little group of fabulous ladies, and we would all meet up every so often for glamorous cocktails and dinners. I hadn’t seen Melanie since before I moved to Australia three years ago, so when she invited me along to test out the Indian High Tea at Cinnamon Bazaar in Covent Garden, I spent the week excited to catch up with one of my oldest blogging friends! And not only was the company brilliant, but the afternoon tea was pretty delicious too…

I’m quite fussy with afternoon teas as I’m actually not the biggest fan of scones (I know right, my Cornish and Devonshire ancestors are rolling in their idyllically-set graves), so it needs to be a really special tea for me to agree to it. Thankfully the High Tea at Cinnamon Bazaar is one that I fell in love with – it was so refreshing to experience an afternoon tea so different to the usual style! Not to mention the gorgeous restaurant space…

The Cinnamon Bazaar afternoon tea was created by Vivek Singh and Great British Bake Off star Tamal Ray. They’ve come together to create a modern, Indian-inspired take on the quintessential classic afternoon tea, with the menu being inspired by the duo’s shared family roots in Kolkata.
We started off with a glass of prosecco each, and tea – White Peony for Melanie, and Fresh Mint for me – in the most beautiful tea pots!

Then it was onto the food. We started with the Chaat, which included Puchka/Pani Puri (Semolina shell with tangy sweet & sour water), and Papadi Chaat (Crisp wheat, tangy tamarind, yoghurt and chickpea vermicelli). My favourite was definitely the Papadi Chaat, as I found the Puchka/Pani Puri a little too spicy for my bland English taste-buds.

Next we moved on to the nibbles, which consisted of a delicious Fish Finger Sandwich with tomato chutney, and the Chicken Katti Roll-in pastry with mustard & pepper (another favourite of mine)! Unfortunately the bread for the Fish Finger Sandwich was quite stale and dry, and again I found this one quite spicy.

The desserts were INCREDIBLE! I absolutely loved the Macaron with cinnamon cream, the Mishti Doi (Baked/steamed yoghurt with mango curd), and the Pistachio Cake with a rosewater marshmallow.

We had the loveliest afternoon at Cinnamon Bazaar and I really recommend it if you’re looking for something a bit different to the traditional English afternoon tea!

I was chatting to friends the other day, and they were saying how every so often they love reading back on my old blog posts as a way of remembering the fun things we’ve done together over the years, and that they’re really grateful that I’ve actually written it all up and we have all these incredible memories and photos to look back at. I admitted that I do the same, although I’m not sure I should admit that I read back on my own blog posts – it just sounds rather self-indulgent. However it did make me realise that I miss writing up small little blog posts about things that at the time don’t seem important or particularly blog-worthy, but actually are nice just for me and my friends, even if a wider audience isn’t as interested. I guess at the end of the day that’s why I started this blog in the first place, almost ten years ago!

So this year I’m going to make more of a conscious effort to write about the smaller moments again. Those brunches and lunches, afternoons in galleries or picnicking in the park. Starting with this post, a girlie brunch with my best friend at the Double Standard at The Standard Hotel in Kings Cross. After the end of lockdown we were desperate for a girls brunch just the two of us, with plenty of cocktails and food. I’ve really cut down on my drinking since the first lockdown started last year, and I just fancied an afternoon with my bestie drinking as many cocktails as I liked and seeing where the afternoon/evening took us! And that’s exactly what we did…

We chose Double Standard at The Standard because they do a bottomless prosecco brunch. We were also missing American vibes and food after our big US roadtrip was cancelled last May. Although we actually didn’t end up doing the bottomless brunch because we wanted cocktails, so we ended up spending far more than if we’d just done the bottomless option. Oops. It was 100% worth it though, as the cocktails were amazing, and for a few short hours we felt as though we were actually on holiday. Imagine! An actual holiday, overseas, with Pina Coladas! We can dream.

First of all though, we loved the seventies vibe of The Standard. It felt far too cool for us, but we really enjoyed it and the cocktails made us forget that we weren’t cool enough to be there. We’d really wanted to sit outside on their beautiful terrace, but sadly it was miserable weather (classic English summer), so we sat inside where there was an epic s**g wall!

Food-wise, I chose the delicious pancakes with banana and berry compote, and CMK chose the burger (it wasn’t much to look at, but she said it was amazing). We then also had a portion of chips to share…but ended up getting a second portion because one just wasn’t enough. They were very good chips!

Cocktails-wise, we had many, many of them. The Sparkling Colada’s were our favourites, so we ordered a few of these. Then we also tried the P**n Star slushie, which was also excellent. Suitably inebriated we then met our friends at Home House for a few more drinks to celebrate Ilayda’s 30th birthday, before moving on to the Royal Automobile Club for dinner and champagne.

Needless to say, I went back to not drinking alcohol the day after. But for that one little, joyous afternoon, it was totally worth breaking my no/low alcohol rule.
If you’re looking for a painfully cool brunch spot with the perfect ambience, brilliant cocktails and proper comfort food, look no further! And if you do fancy the bottomless option, it’s just £20pp for 2-hours of unlimited prosecco or Bloody Mary’...

I’ve been a big fan of Bob Bob Ricard for many years, so when I had the opportunity to check out new sister restaurant, Bob Bob Cité, I jumped at the chance! One of my friends from Sydney, Nicole, was in town recently so I booked it in for when she was visiting and we had the best time! The new restaurant is so beautiful, and although it feels super different to Bob Bob Ricard, it’s still swanky and glamorous and all the things you think of when you think of Bob Bob Ricard, but in more of a contemporary French style rather than Russia.

The food at Bob Bob Cité was amazing and we loved every course. After plugging in our phones to charge in the handy in-wall chargers, pressing the ‘Press for Champagne’ button and sipping on champagne, our starters arrived and we tucked into the Duck Egg Au Plat and Crabe Mayonnaise…
Press for Champagne button at Bob Bob Cité, London
Duck egg au plat at Bob Bob Cité, London
Crabe mayonnaise at Bob Bob Cité, London
For our main course we chose a glass of red wine each, with the Beef Wellington to share. A 35-day Aged Scotch fillet with truffle jus arrived, along with the creamiest truffled mash, and glazed carrots!

After a short break to let our main course go down, we chose our desserts. Nicole opted for the delicious Île Flotante, a Floating island with Vanilla Anglais, soft toffee and toasted almonds.
Île Flotante dessert at Bob Bob Cité, London

I on the other hand chose the Lemon tart with soft meringue. The lemon tart was delicious but not quite zesty enough and it lacked the expected pizzazz and tartness.

Overall our meal was delicious and the perfect girls evening! We spent hours catching up over champagne and exceptionally good food. It is important to note though that you shouldn’t expect a carbon-copy of Bob Bob Ricard. Bob Bob Cité is it’s own restaurant, and although a sister restaurant, the menu is very much more of French brasserie-style rather than Russian opulence. The restaurant design also feels much more contemporary and sleek compared to the ostentatious Soho outlet.
If you’re looking for somewhere for a special occasion, definitely check out Bob Bob Cité!

Finally the sunshine has arrived! For a moment there it really did feel as though the rain would never disappear and let us have a bit of spring warmth. A couple of weekends ago – our first warm-ish one in ages – I made a visit to a great lunch spot in a newish part of London for me. You all know by now that I tend to stick to the same areas, but with my boyfriend living in East London, it was time to explore his area a bit more! A short twenty minute walk along the canal from his apartment is Barge East, a gorgeous 118-year-old Dutch barge on the canalside in Hackney Wick.

We were invited for lunch and ended up very grateful to have chosen a rain-free day, although there is covered seating if it does rain! We sat in one of the little greenhouses (it has an open doorway so it doesn’t get too hot) and loved how cosy it was. We were kindly offered prosecco to start our lunch with, but declined as we’re trying to make a conscious effort to reduce our alcohol intake (both of us find that not drinking massively helps our sleep, mental health, and overall wellbeing), and instead opted for a coffee (him) and an elderflower fizz (me).

There are different areas for you to sit in, and you have the choice of sitting on the old barge itself, or on dry land in the gardens or terrace. The gardens around the old barge are very pretty, and the relaxed, canalside setting makes you feel as though you’re in the middle of the countryside rather than London. I loved the different areas, and all of them are served by the street food style vans near the entrance. With covid you order through an app and everything is brought to you, but it was still refreshing to have a sort-of street food style experience after 18-months without, and it was the perfect relaxed Saturday afternoon lunch.

Food-wise we were in for a treat! We began by sharing the Hoisin Duck Scotch Egg which was out-of-this world good, but my goodness the mains were even better. I chose the Hackney Cheese Steak Burger, while the boyfriend chose the Buttermilk Chicken Burger, and each came with a side of Chickpea Fries which were unusual but tasty.

Despite being full-to-bursting, I couldn’t resist the Barge Eton Mess (after all, everyone has a separate dessert stomach, right?!), which was an orange cake served with strawberries, vanilla ice-cream and meringue. It was one of the best desserts I’ve had recently – I absolutely adored the orange cake and am now desperate for the recipe!

Our relaxed lunch at Barge East was just what we needed. We really couldn’t have asked for more – a lovely walk along the canal to the barge, delicious food and wonderful service, and although the clouds came over by the time we left, glorious warmth after weeks of rain! It made me feel really excited for summer and we both agreed it would be a great place to visit with a group of friends on another sunny day.

After four months of lockdown, outdoor dining opened up the week of my 30th birthday. Great timing? Certainly. But with a huge array of big birthday plans thrown out the window (and my previous-years 29th birthday plans completely out of the window as we were in full lockdown still), it meant I had to quickly reassess and plan a smaller selection of celebrations for my thirtieth. One of them was a catch up with Aftab, one of my oldest and dearest blogging friends. We planned an evening of drinking bubbles and eating cake at Hotel Cafe Royal’s Cakes & Bubbles terrace, and then an Italian dinner at Forty Dean Street. The entire evening was perfection, and we loved Cakes & Bubbles so much I just have to tell you about it!

I got there a little early so ordered a glass of V***e Clicquot champagne and settled into our V***e Clicquot-coloured seating on the side of Regent Street. It was pure magic just sitting there watching the hustle and bustle of London come to life once more. After months of eerie quiet on the streets, I relished the atmosphere as I sipped on my champagne. As soon as Aftab arrived he joined me with the champagne, and we chose our cakes for our little reverse birthday dinner.

World-renowned pastry chef Albert Adrià is at the helm of Cakes & Bubbles, so we knew we were in good hands. Aftab chose the impressive-looking Golden Egg Flan, while I opted for the very pretty, and delicious, Baklava Pistachio Pillows.

D&D Group are home to some of my favourite restaurants in London: Quaglino’s, 100 Wardour Street, Bluebird, and Orrery. So when I was invited to test out Aster, their French restaurant in Victoria, I instantly said yes. I was already a big fan, but had only ever visited for breakfast and the last time I had dined there was before Covid-times. So I was thrilled to finally be able to experience dinner there, and it truly did not disappoint!

I dragged kindly invited my boyfriend along for a little date night, and he very patiently waited for me to take photos of his food before tucking in and even offered to order a different starter to me so I could get a better variety of photos. He’s a keeper, I tell you! Thankfully he loves food just as much as I do, so we ordered a bit of a feast! We started off by ordering a selection of artisan breads to nibble on, along with our drinks: a pear bellini for me, and a Rothaus, alcohol free beer for him (which he declared a very good non-alcoholic beer.