More of Hawksmoor, please!

So I turned another year wiser and the other half turned another year older. And to celebrate us getting another year closer to the grave, my mates bee and bottom took us to The Hawkmoors steakhouse at Spitalfields. Now, I knew this was happening and had to keep my tummy well empty and I’m glad I did.

If you love your meat, then chances are you have heard of Hawkmoors and if you have been there you know it’s worth the hype. The restaurant is just a walk from the Spitalfields Market and oozes British decadence. The interiors are just lush with brick display walls, leather seating and wooden tables.

We had reservations for lunch on a Sunday and it was buzzing with people queuing up. We grabbed our seats next to the window and right in front of the special board displaying the variety of different cuts of beef.
 

The girls had their minds set on the Chateaubriand (the most expensive one) and we opted for the Porterhouse. The meat is priced according to the quantity you order, I ordered 900g for the two of us and the girls ordered 800 g between the both of them. We ordered our meat Medium rare and it was just lush….and by far the best I have ever had. My taste buds have been too pampered and a bit spoilt now. It’s difficult to explain just how perfectly tender and moist the meat was. Another recommended item that we tried out was the Bone Marrow with Onions for starters, which was still good but did not have much portion-wise and I preferred my Roasted scallops with white port & garlic. The sauces we had with our meat were the bone marrow sauce and the béarnaise sauce. And trust me when I say this it was lush and I am partially drooling as I write this!!!!

Now the meat just comes on its own so it’s up to you to order your sides we had Anya potatoes, creamed spinach and roasted field mushrooms and all played a perfect part in making this the best food I have had in a while. The food was excellent, if you haven’t figured out yet and the service was excellent. It is a bit up there price wise but it does deserve at least a onetime visit.

 

Needless to say we were stuffed but had enough space to squeeze in one teeny tiny dessert in the form of the Strawberry &White Chocolate Cheesecake, the Crunchy bar and the Peanut Butter Shortbread with Salted Caramel Ice-cream….ahhhh Lushhhh!!!!

 

Bee, Bottom…the carnivore in me thanks you from the bottom of my hoofs and I have now realised that I am not drooling and it is in fact my taste buds shedding tears at the very thought of the lovely food! Respect!

 

 

 

http://thehawksmoor.com/locations/spitalfields/

Have you been to Hawksmoor? Would you recommend something else from here? Are there any other similar steakhouses out there?

Hello Hello Fresh!

Dia dhuit my loveliessss…..another day another post.

Now, if you live in London, chances are you have been handed a voucher for HelloFresh at some point or left in some package you got, like me. I got my £25 off coupon card with my Glossybox. So I grabbed this chance to check this service out.

Now, in our household, all the food shopping takes place on the first week of every month. And we usually stock up on things just to avoid the hassle of schlepping to the supermarket for an onion or a potato. But it was exciting to get a box with just enough ingredients for 2 meals. And I was impressed with the pre measured ingredients and with absolutely no wastage at all. I did read some reviews saying that some items were missing off their box but I received every little ingredient even the 2 cloves of garlic!!

The recipe cards for the 3 meals were very easy to follow and if you follow it to the t you will have no issues getting it right. So a Michelin star chef you definitely don’t have to be.

Hello Fresh gives you 3 options for recipe boxes. You have your Classic box which comes in options 3 meals per week for 2 people (£39), 3 meals per week for 3 people (£49), 3 meals per week for 4 people (£59) and 5 meals per week for 2 people (£49). I selected the Classic box - 3 meals per week for 2 people which came up to £39 and with the £25 off it came up to £14, which worked out really good for me.

There’s also a vegetarian option which comes up to £36 for the 3 meals for 2 people and £59 for the 3 meals for 4 people. And a Family box which consists of 4 meals for 4 –5 people per week.

You get an option to select the days and time you will be around to receive your box, weekends included, and this is a weekly commitment if you decide to stick with it and again you can choose the days you will be able to receive your box. I ordered the Classic box and it had fish, chicken and steak in it. I couldn’t open my box till the next day but it was fresh as it had ample ice packs and Styrofoam to make sure the stuff stays fresh.

Now I’m a total food junkie and would love to think I appreciate good food. But the hubby is tougher to please. Luckily, the 3 meals that we had were all crowd pleasers and definite summer style dinners. We had the Chicken Paillard with Rosemary potatoes, rocket salad and gremolata, Chipotle Steak wedge and Coconut Poached cod with kaffir lime and noodles.

Ok so pros – very easy process, easy to read recipe cards, Quantities are spot on with no wastage, fresh produce from local farmers and butchers, you don’t have to possess culinary skills or knowledge to have a go.

Cons – some of the recipes do require you to use techniques like butterflying a chicken breast, you can choose not to but if you have never even heard of this, it might put you off a bit.

Since we already had most of the items purchased as part of our monthly shopping, there were instances where the hubby had to turn around and ask me could you not have just made this yourself with the stuff we have. Meh!He is right though…I love cooking so the meals would have been something that I would make in my kitchen anyways and bar the chipotle paste, red wine vinegar and the kaffir lime leaf, I had everything else in my kitchen. I think this would be ideal for couples on the rush or for people who despise the thought of cooking.

There’s just too much food for one person for one meal and the measurements don’t include for just one person. The follow up calls…..oh the follow up calls! And emails- it just annoyed me! Now my deal with Hello fresh was a one off try it kind of deal but I have received at least one mail every couple of weeks since then. So if you ever do try it, please don’t give out a mail address that you usually use.

I know it looks like there more cons than pro but that’s not the case the cons are just teeny tiny things compared to the convenience this will compensate for. Overall, 3.5/5

Have you used Hello Fresh yet?What are your thoughts?

The Heartbreak Hotel

Yallllowww!!!! So I had a pretty busy 2 days and after a day to catch up on a well-deserved break I was back on my feet to check into the Heartbreak Hotel. No, I just didn’t make that up and yes, it’s another thing I ended up doing. For anyone wondering, all my weeks aren’t this exciting and there are some days where I treat going to the shops for grocery as a trip. But my friend Bee actually stumbled upon this whilst looking for places to eat around central London when our mutual friend decided to visit us. And yes, we all get very easily distracted. So the four of us (Me, Bee, Bottom and the hubby) decided to check out the show, which was based at the Jetty, along the River Thames, near North Greenwich tube station . Now my lovely husband is very very difficult to please and was quiet hesitant about joining us but tagged along as it was a lovely day.

So first things first...lunch!!! Grabbed some Kebab from the Yalla Yalla Beirut food restaurant.My lamb was a bit dry but the chicken tasted awesome...but dont you just love the yellow and black theme that the restaurant had going!!

Heartbreak Hotel is set in a…well, a hotel…which is a temporary theatre platform, by the riverside. Now we had tickets for the 18:30 show but were about 4 minutes late so we had to wait for the next show which was at 19:30.

 







You check in to the hotel by handing your tickets to the counter and getting a room number assigned to you ( Mine was 103), where you will be handed a sticky label with your name and room number. As we were late we sat by the Bar and snacks area for some drinks. There are some table inside the hotel lobby as well some outside by the riverside. TBT, one hour just flew by.

Then at 19:30 sharp, we made our way to the counter and were showed to our relevant rooms by the receptionist. The hubby and my friend Bottom left for another room (7).




We were led to the corridor by a bell boy where we met some disciples of the ACHE program, who explained what A.C.H.E stood for ( I forget now L) and what they hoped we would achieve by the end of this “experience”.The corridor was filled with A.C.H.E inspirationalists and it did give this whole "cult" vibe. It did get spooky when one of the inspirationalists called me out by my name ....till i realised i had my sticky badge with my name on it ....duh!! When the journey was about to start there was another inspirationalist talking to us from a recording from a small TV monitor.

The hotel corridor looked really dodgy and it looked like somewhere people who fled from the law would end up staying. It’s in these rooms by the corridor where little stories unfolded. Lost souls, couples trying to reconnect, guilt ridden lovers and overly excited camp inspiritionalist , which was my personal favourite. The inspirationlists lead you from one room to another....so basically from one story to another.

I don’t want to say out much about the plot, but this was something new to me and Bee tells me its quiet similar to the Punchdrunk shows but not that polished. The production did have its glitches as we kept bumping into the actors when we were led through the corridors and they kept breaking out of their characters and I also heard one of the guys throwing a tantrum as we started the show about 5 minutes late.To be honest I didnt know what to expect ,the Youtube video looked a bit grey and there were cautionary messages  on the tickets and around the place advising if any of the stories made anyone a bit uncomfortable or closer to the reality they should give one of the staff members a shout ...so I was expecting horror but was pleasanly surprised... I liked it as it was something different; hubby hasn’t still made his mind about it.



The tickets were around £15 each and the show was about an hour and a half. Although that hour and half flew by too quick.

Camden Town Market

I have been to many markets in London but the Camden Market is the liveliest and bubbliest markets that I have been to.

 In these days with new towers scraping the skies and construction sites all over the place, Camden Market is hanging on its unique style and doesn’t look like giving this up anytime soon.

Camden Market is definitely one of the coolest markets in London with its hippy haven, cradle of design talent and multi-cultural melting pot.

The history behind the Camden Market is when the commercial activity around the Regents Canal came to an end in the 70’s, the market was born with all the warehouse and storage facilities available. The Camden Lock Village Market usually has stalls selling ethnic and savoury dishes, but it was all closed when I went this time. Hope its back soon as there are some awesome food stalls based in this area of the market.

We weren’t really hungry but I had to show CeeCee the Chin Chin Labs with their ice cream revolution in their science themed parlour. The ice creams are created in front of you using liquid nitrogen…so you get a treat and a science show out of it!

I was actually looking for the Honest Burgers joint, but just couldn’t find it. And if I wasn’t hungry before I was looking for it, I definitely was famished by the end of the search, so we went to The Diner. Now, there are plenty of food stalls selling a range of food.

 But we decided to go to the Diner as we wanted to just sit and relax. So, The Diner looks quiet massive and stood out with the glowing neon red signs with outside seating area. I had the Arch Burger and the Sweet Potato fries and Cee Cee had the Juicy Juicy , both quiet massive and very filling.

Although I think I might just order the pulled pork separately as it was just a sloppy mess. But oh so tasty!!

The Market consists of stalls selling clothes, bags, shoes, jewellery and other bric-a-bracs. There are lots of young designers selling original ideas with reasonable price tags. Definitely a highlight for anyone visiting London and for anyone who wants to step out from their comfort zone. Don’t miss out the life-size tribute to Amy Winehouse.

Things to be noted, the markets going to be overcrowded and be warned about pickpockets and if they do sell Louis Vuitton wallets for £20, chances are it is an original FAKE.

Thursday to Sunday 10am to 5.30pm and the nearest underground station is Camden Town. www.camdenmarket.com