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Stephanie

    Food

    Oblix at the Shard

    Forget the London Eye, the best place to enjoy London skyscape is Oblix Restaurant in the Shard. Not only do you get phenomenal views (see the magic below) you can drink alcohol out of a rocket ship. What more could you want in life?

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    I booked Oblix last minute as my Mother In Law was going out of town and we wanted a nice dinner together. Because I booked it so late, we were only able to get at 6:30 reservation in the lounge. They still serve the full menu, so it’s not a huge issue, but I will say, I snuck over to the restaurant side and I think the sunset is nicer.

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    Sunset view from the lounge

    Oblix at The Shard is an American style restaurant without being a diner. It’s actually exactly what you would expect from a high end chain in the US. Attentive servers, mac and cheese and a vast choice of interesting cocktails. However, it’s not well signed. The entrance is to the right of the Shagri-La hotel lobby (n.b avoid having a drink at the Shangri-La before hand. It takes forever, is expensive and doesn’t taste good) and you will have to have your bag screened for security.

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    Kiss The Rainbow glowing cocktail

    After taking the quickest elevator in the world, we were met with a dark, minimalist concrete hallway. Upon entering the Oblix lounge, I noticed the average age of the patrons was fairly high, but that could have been because we were eating during the grandparents sitting.

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    The menu was fish heavy, but I didn’t mind. For a starter I had the crispy chili squid which was tasty, but didn’t come with a dip. My MIL had the Caesar salad to start (with dressing on the side) and I dipped the squid into her spare dressing and it was surprisingly good.

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    My main was the salmon with salsa serde. The salmon was ok. Nothing too special, and I feel like salmon is hard to mess up. The salsa verde came on the side and was actually pesto and way better than I thought it would be with the salmon (I had very low expectations).

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    The best dish we had was the side of mac and cheese. At any American restaurant, always order this. If there is one thing Americans do exceptionally well, and that is able to cross the pond, it’s mac and cheese.

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    I saw a woman walking around with a graffiti cup and decided I wanted to drink whatever was in that so I pointed at her when ordering. Turns out it was called a Crossfire Hurricane and absolutely delicious (ask your server about the stories behind the cocktails).

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    I wasn’t about to go to a restaurant that served drinks in rocket ships and not order that either, so we finished with more drinks and waited for the sunset while they made our dessert. Side note: The drinks aren’t as expensive as you would expect for a bar with this view (£12.50 each).

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    The Forgotten Cosmonaut

    Dessert was the chocolate brownie Sunday and it was really good as well as huge. Easily big enough for 3 people to share. I avoided the New York cheesecake because it’s baked and in my humble opinion, only no-bake cheesecake is the real deal.

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    All in our dinner was three hours. We waited a really long time for our main (close to an hour) but in the end, we had such an amazing view of the sunset, so we didn’t mind. Had it been a typically horrible London day, we may not have been so forgiving.

    What to wear: The website and hold message say the dress is ‘smart’ and ask that you not wear sports clothes or beach wear.  So if you plan on going for a quick dip in the Thames beforehand, you’re out of luck.

     

    Oblix

    Level 32

    The Shard

    31 St. Thomas Street

    London SE1 9RY

    020 7268 6700

    www.oblixrestaurant.com

     

    Oblix at The Shard Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Food

    Tennis and Afternoon Tea

    British summer is finally here (YAY!) and the only way of knowing that when the weather doesn’t cooperate is because Wimbledon is on. And you know what else? You guys. I got paid to eat ice cream. I know, I don’t believe me either. Read further down and you can have a bar of Haagen-Dazs strawberries and cream for free!

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    The other evening I got an email to participate in a blogger event at selfridges. Haagen Dazs is the official Wimbledon ice cream sponsor and was wondering if I’d like to join them on the Selfridges rooftop restaurant Forest to drink champagne, watch tennis, have afternoon tea. On top of that I got try the new strawberries and cream flavour being sold exclusively at Selfridges and Wimbledon. And they would pay me for my time.

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    My answer, obviously, was hell to the yes. I arrived late because I’m an asshole and there were some lovely other bloggers there patiently waiting so they could start their tea.

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    If you’ve never had a traditional English afternoon tea, you haven’t lived life. It’s a weekday reason to drink champagne during the day and they cut the crusts off your sandwiches. Basically, you’re Kate Middleton for a few hours.

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    There are also macaroons, cakes and scones. It’s all very British and very very tasty. The afternoon tea  at Forest was one of the better ones I’ve ever had.  The scones were really fresh and delicious and the cakes incredible.  I thought they could have added a bit more to the sandwich section as they were quite bread-y and mostly vegetarian.

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    Strawberries and cream is traditional Wimbledon fare. It’s unclear how it started but every year British tennis lovers consume over 7000 liters of cream and 23 tonnes of strawberries per year. Why not consume in frozen form?

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    The Haagen-Dazs strawberries and cream ice cream was really good. In addition to the chances of real strawberries, the bar was covered in chocolate. I probably would have preferred white chocolate but that didn’t stop me from eating the whole thing (obviously).

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    So, here’s where the free Haagen-Dazs ice cream comes in for you.  If you head over to watch Wimbledon on the beautiful Forest rooftop this weekend (and why wouldn’t you? It’s sunny today!) they will give you free ice cream! So, head on over and grab some brunch and a beanbag and watch Serena absolutely crush it.

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    Forest Restaurant

    Selfridges

    http://www.forest-restaurant.co.uk
    Forest on the roof Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Food

    Smack Lobster Roll

    I have walked by Smack several times and several times I’ve been with someone who wasn’t as into eating their weight in lobster rolls as I was. Then finally! The fates were looking favorably upon me in a moment when I walk by alone and I was famished.

    It was linner (lunch and dinner. It’s not a thing, I checked on twitter, but I’m making it a thing) and my original destination, although only a block away was too far. So, I ducked into Smack and out of the rain. Created by the wonderful magicians at Burger and Lobster (you can read my review of them here) Smack is everything you want in a lobster roll without having to wait. However, a tad pricey at £12/pop + £3 for sweet potato fries (obviously), it’s still less than Burger and Lobster.

    I put my order in for a California Lobster roll (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado mayo, with lime and chives) and it was as delicious as it sounds. Smack also has the original Burger and Lobster recipe (try this first if you’ve never had one, if only to have a bar to judge everything else in your life against) as well as a Seven Samurai Japanese inspired lobster roll.

    There were also salads on the menu, but seriously, if you go into Smack and order a salad instead of a toasty buttery brioche roll full of delicious lobster, you need to start examining your life chooses. I was also tempted by their brisket roll offerings, at £8 each, but I had an event later than evening and didn’t want to have to explain my food baby.

    I added sweet potato fries, or as I like to call them, diet fries, because they were the only carb based side, strong choice Smack. I know waxing lyrical about sweet potato fries is such a basic bitch thing to do, on par with ordering a flat bread appetizer and just below taking pictures of pumpkin spiced lattes whilst wearing Uggs. You know what, judge all you want, sweet potato fries are delicious and they are fried to within an inch of their life.

    You can take your spoils away or eat on one of the many benches available, either way you are in for a treat.

    Come one, come all or order online! And Smack, can you add a few more options, please? I vaguely remember seeing that you once offered a Mexican lobster roll, although that could have been another one of my food dreams.

    What to wear: I was between meetings and wearing a business casual dress. I saw a guy walk in with a newspaper pirate hat though, so I think anything goes.

    Smack

    58 Dean Street
London W1D 6AL

    smacklobster.com

    Smack Lobster Roll Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Food

    Farmacy

    Brunch! The most basic habitat of a basic girl. Unsurprisingly, I love finding new brunch places, so when my friend invited me to Farmacy (not to be confused with Damien Hirst’s Notting Hill restaurant, Pharmacy, which closed in 2003) in Notting Hill on Sunday, I was intrigued. Is it brunch at a former pharmacy location, clever marketing for farm fresh food, or are we just going to go get the morning after pill and a green juice?

    Turns out, it was just a good name. This tasty vegetarian spot on the corner of Westbourne Grove opened in late April. I do wonder why they haven’t branded themselves as fully vegan as there’s only one item on the menu that isn’t, and it’s only because it contains an optional egg. Normally, I roll my eyes at vegan places or those that proclaim themselves to be, gluten, dairy and meat free because, not only does it have the potential to bring the most annoying people in the world together, what do they serve? Usually, very expensive carrot sticks. However, I was pleased to see Farmacy has plenty of (still expensive) options and it was all very flavourful.

    We ordered a bunch of stuff to share, which I recommend in order to try the large variety they offer. Farmacy has everything from pasta and pizza to ‘earth bowls’ (think quinoa and veggies) and ‘syringes’ containing cannabis oil, which I sadly didn’t try. But, I’m glad the pharmaceutical theme found it’s way into the menu without being creepy.

    Opened by Camilla Al-Fayad, the daughter of former Harrods owner Mohamed Al–Fayed, Farmacy is, according to their web site, “not just another food and beverage play. It’s a game changing lifestyle brand. A positive lifestyle choice which connects people to source, self and community through healthy and holistic eating”. I don’t know what that means, but they have plant-based burgers and nachos that are ‘healthy’. Even the coffee came with a vegan twist, only offered with almond milk and coconut sugar. Because everything coconut is healthy, right?

    Many of the ingredients had quotes around them, which made me wonder what was actually in it. Not enough to ask, mind you. I didn’t want to be the ravenous carnivore at the table and offend anyone. Although, delicious, it did make me think twice while digging into the ‘sour cream’ on my nachos.

    The nachos were really tasty, if a little sparse to share and low on toppings. Insiders tip: dip the remaining tortilla chips in a side of hummus.

    The hummus! No exaggeration, it was probably the best I’ve ever had. It came plain, so, had we not ordered the mixed potato sticks (more on that on a second), I’m not entirely sure how we were supposed to eat it.

    So, what made me giggle the most was ordering the mixed potato sticks with aoli. I knew some quinoa and beetroot wasn’t going to fill me up, so I was looking for a heavy carb fix and the mixed potato sticks was my contribution to the group order. Then it arrived….

    Chips. I’d ordered chips. Sniffing out the only unhealthy thing on the menu is pretty much the most me thing I could have done at a healthy vegan restaurant. They were good.

    We ordered 3 earth bowls: the green eggs bowl (which actually came with a single egg) reminded me of Dr Seuss which is why I suggested it. It contained kale, broccoli, avocado and a poached egg. From my understanding, they ran out of eggs as I heard someone else was unable to order it so I’m not sure if it was supposed to come with just one.

    The middle east bowl (above) was probably my favourite. The baba ganoush was fantastic, although I’m not sure exactly what an ‘activated seed’ is.

    Which also brings me to the ‘activated quinoa’ in the macro bowl. I couldn’t tell the difference between the macro bowl quinoa and the green eggs bowl quinoa, which was apparently not activated.

    What to wear: I came from Yoga (that basic lyfe) so my hair looked like ass and I was wearing ripped jeans. But to be fair, a lot of people in there looked like they’d come straight from yoga.

    I’m definitely going to make my way back to this place. Be warned though, it’s quite pricy (£20/girl for brunch with no booze) and there is a bit of a wait list. We put our names down and went to have a juice for 40 minutes while we waited, so I recommend making a reservation. It’s surprisingly good for a veggie/vegan haunt. If they can figure out eggs benedict like The Good Life Eatery has (more about that here) and combine that with the nacho offering, Farmacy would be my new favourite healthy brunch place!

    Farmacy

    74 Westbourne Grove

    London

    W2 5SH

    020 7221 0705

    farmacylondon.com

     

    Farmacy Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Restaurant Ours 

    A group of us managed to get a table at Restaurant Ours a week before the official opening May 19th and I was really looking forward to it. Touted by Tom Sellers himself as the biggest restaurant launch in London this year (cue eye roll), it seems like he hopes it will be the next Chiltern. And it might be, I mean, they both have delicious fried chicken snacks.

    Restaurant Ours is a stone’s throw away from what used to be the bustling Walton Street, and South Kensington has been hungry for this type of restaurant for a while. A crafted, low key atmosphere with good food and even better décor is exactly what will revitalize this area, which seems to have lost it’s mojo in the last few years.


    Situated in the space formerly occupied by the Collection nightclub, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The last time I was at Collection was 2008, where I had the worst cosmopolitan of my life, was knocked over by a Russian prostitute and never returned. For me, the most striking thing about Restaurant Ours is what they did with the space. The exposed brick is still there, but whereas before there would be a model swinging from the chandeliers, there’s now some beautiful greenery. The familiar long hallway entrance is lit beautifully, but the real attraction is the open plan dining room’s large trees adorned with fairy lights. To add to the ambiance, a troupe of (bearded, obvs) acoustic musicians walked around and serenaded the tables.

    We dined on a Friday night and there was a real mix of people (a table of 15 instagram models with three men as well as a family of four in our section), and since I went during their soft opening, I won’t necessarily be as critical as I usually would. Yes, there were hiccups. Most of the bathrooms were out of order, and the one that did work, didn’t have any soap. They didn’t have their lowest priced champagne (Ruinart at £85/bottle), brought a mocktail full of gin and they don’t take American Express. But, that aside I am so happy to have a restaurant like this in our neighborhood.

    We were told by our waiter that Restaurant Ours was a ‘sharing concept’ dining experience and modern European cuisine. Although, the menu felt quite worldly, with influences from the American South (buttermilk chicken), India (lamb samosas) and Japan (vegetable tempura).

    The menu was divided into several sections: Starters, Raw, Salads, Mains, Beef, Sides and Desserts. There was also an additional menu attached called Snacks.

    The relatively large portion of Tuna.

    He suggested we get a few starters for everyone to share, our own main, and then share the desserts. The selection looked fantastic, so we ordered several items off the snacks menu and the starters. The prices were reasonable, especially for this area, and the reason became clear when we saw the portions; they were all over the place.

    The ham croquetas were plentiful, but contained far too much cheese and fell apart easily.

    The salt and pepper squid could have been crispier and I found them to be a tad on the rubbery side, but the spicy dipping sauce was excellent and the dish came with a few pieces of asparagus tempura.

    Whatever you do, you need to order the buttermilk chicken (or fancy chicken nuggets as I like to call them). They were delicious, perfectly cooked, crispy and came with an interesting creamy pineapple dipping sauce. This was by far my favourite dish!

    The crab, avocado and apple was really good, but there was no way it was meant to be shared, unless it was between two small children or the type of date that pretends to eat, which if that is you, go for it.

    Steak Tartare, from the raw menu.

    Much of the food we ordered was charred, which seems to be in right now. Although it tastes good, it comes with that, “I could do this myself at home” feeling. Like when you go to a modern art museum and see some splatter painted canvas roped off and wonder if someone would pay you a million quid to colour outside the lines. But of course, if I was to char dinner at home, it would be referred to as burned and met with a smile that said, at least you tried. When you go to a restaurant it’s on purpose and you pay more for it.

    For my main, I had the chicken ballotine, truffle and sweet corn. Although the portion was the smaller out of our mains, it was fantastic! I ordered it for the truffle, but it wasn’t a strong flavor in the dish. However, the sweet corn was served as a cream corn base, which was my favourite food growing up. It’s difficult to find here, so thank you Tom!

    The table gave a thumbs up for the lamb.

    And had a bite of hub’s veal chop, which was charred, but very tender and tasty.

    The cauliflower was great, and as you can see in my post about NAC here, it’s the new superfood and never in stock in the grocery store. Expect to find this on every menu in the near future, possibly usurping kale, but most likely broccoli or green beans will take the hit.

    My picture doesn’t do it justice. This was a huge portion compared to everything else we ordered.

    We ordered the chips without the foie gras because I hate foie gras. The portion was big enough to feed a family of four.

    We also had the sea bass, melon and almond as well as the scallops with pickles and grapefruit. It was too raw for me, but my friend seemed to enjoy it.

    Then came desserts! We ordered the peach soufflé to share because it was made with champagne and the doughnuts, because, doughnuts!

    The soufflé was ok. I’m not a huge fan, partly because it’s so high maintenance but this one had interesting ingredients. So if you’re into soufflés, I’d give it a shot.

    The doughnuts were awesome! Actually, they were little doughnut holes, but I like those even better. It was a bit of a pick and mix with cinnamon, salted caramel and apple. This is definitely a dessert you can share as it came with two of each kind, my favourite being the apple.

     

    What to wear: I had absolutely no idea on this one. The early reviews said it was low key, but it’s still a hot restaurant in Chelsea. Several women were dressed like Kim Kardashian (and actually quite a few men were dressed as Kanye), but others were very Kate Moss in jeans and a white shirt. I wore a white vest top and leather skirt to split the difference.

    Overall, if you can get a table, I highly recommend it, if only for the incredible space. I already have my next reservation booked! I’ve dined at both nearby The Ivy Chelsea Garden and Chiltern Firehouse recently, and I thought the food was comparable (if not a bit better at The Ivy because they have an incredible roasted cauliflower and stilton soup). Restaurant Ours should have all the bugs worked out soon and most people don’t go to a restaurant as ravenously hungry as I was.

    Restaurant Ours

    264 Brompton Road

    London

    SW3 2AS

    020 71002200
    Restaurant Ours Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Food, Travel

    The Basic Girl’s Guide To : Tokyo Food 

    I had such an amazeballs time in Tokyo that I had to split the posts up into all the fun you can have (which you can read here) and this one: FOOD!!!! Tokyo is arguably one of the biggest foodie capitals in the world. Since 2009, it has had the most 3 Michelin starred restaurants in the world. Side note: If you don’t know what a Michelin star restaurant is (I had no clue for ages), my eating at a fancy restaurant guide is here. Anyway, in the land of sushi and teppanyaki, I was bound to eat myself into a coma. Below is a detailed guide to a gluttonous trip. Enjoy my Basic Girl’s Guide to: Tokyo Food!

    First and foremost, I would recommend downloading Waygo. It’s a translation app for Japanese, Korean and Chinese characters to English and this really helped when pictures weren’t available. Although not always accurate, it was sometimes overly descriptive. Case in point, uni, which is essentially sea guts, comes up as blow ones nose. When our dish arrived, it looked exactly like someone had blown their nose into some rice.

    Sushi – Tsukiji Fish Market

    We went here straight off the plane while we waited for our hotel room. You can’t actually get into the market anymore as a tourist, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of gross fish heads for you to see in the surrounding area. There are hundreds of little sushi restaurants/stands around the market, all with fantastic fresh fish.

    Our friend knew of a place just around the corner from the main entrance and I’d like to tell you exactly where it was, but it was literally a maze. We went up some stairs and through a back door somewhere… then, surprise, amazing sushi!

    But you really can’t go wrong. These are the experts and once you eat sushi at this market, everything else will taste sub-par.

    There are also lots of little stands with ‘try me’ baskets. I have no idea what was in them, but it tasted like fish jerky. http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm

    The Kill Bill Restaurant (Gonpachi)

    This place was really yummy. They have a set menu for lunch as well as a la carte. I really liked the shrimp tempura dish, especially if you are as hung-over as I was from Karaoke the night before. It’s a pretty lively atmosphere and we went during Sakura, so I’m not sure if the cherry blossoms are always there, but they were a lovely touch. http://www.gonpachi.jp/nishiazabu/?lang=en

    Those little white things on the salad are little fishies. I tried one and then scraped the rest off because they were really fish-y.

    Korean BBQ – Yoroniku Yakiniku

    Oddly enough, if you ask locals, they will say some of the best restaurants in Japan are Korean BBQ. Basically, you get a whole bunch of meat and cook it on a little grill in the middle of your table. Try not to be deterred by the meat selection. I was persuaded to try beef tongue and it was actually pretty tender.

    https://savorjapan.com/0006044267/

     

    Convenience stores

    I didn’t actually eat at one of these because we had so little time, nobody was willing to risk a bad meal out of a 7/11. But I WISH I had. They have everything in weird colourful packaging and I imagine the ramen is out of this world. If you are strapped for cash and a little peckish, definitely give this a shot. They also have little cans of sake which I did try and it was very very tasty.

             

     

    Starbucks

    It wouldn’t be a basic girl’s guide without a sampling of the Japanese Starbucks. I’m as basic as it gets, so I just had a skinny vanilla latte. However,  I was really impressed with their special offerings. Apricot honey soy frappuccino? If it wasn’t 20 million calories, yes please!

    Commune 246

    Near Harajuku, Commune 246 is this cute little outdoor market/food truck place where you can get different kinds of food from all over. We had the most delicious schnitzel burgers, my favourite being the avocado. They also have fantastic coffee and events throughout the year. http://commune246.com

    Brunch/Breakfast at the Intercontinental

    Most days we were so jet lagged that we woke up and went straight to lunch, but, it was my birthday so I insisted we have breakfast somewhere and that somewhere turned out to be the lobby cafe/restaurant at the hotel. They had absolutely everything, from friend rice, to dim sum to hash browns and hummus. But the best was the bacon. Oh my word. It was crispy and PERFECTLY straight! I had so many pieces, I was waiting for the wait staff to come over and tell me I’d exceeded my personal quota. The cost was ¥3400, or around $30 USD. http://www.anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp

    Teppanyaki

    So, this is my brother’s favourite kind of food. Like, we were in Portugal for his birthday and he found a Teppanyaki restaurant to celebrate in. So I was insanely excited to try one in Tokyo. Apparently one of the best ones you can go to is in the ANA intercontinental, but I insisted on going to the rabbit café when the reservation was available. Instead, we went to Teppan Bambina. It was ok, but there wasn’t really a show which is what I was most excited about. You really can’t go wrong when it comes to beef in Japan. They care about the quality of their beef almost as much as their fish, so always order the wagyu when you can.

    The one you should go to: http://www.anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp/e/rest/akasaka.html

    The ok one: http://teppan-bambina.com/en/


    My advice? Come to Japan hungry! You might just have to trust the process though, because this is the real deal and the Japanese don’t bend to appease western cultures. Use that as an opportunity to expand your palette! Do you have any Tokyo food suggestions? Comment below!

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