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    The Delaunay

    BRUNCH!!! My favourite meal. Ever.  It’s breakfast, but you don’t have to get up stupid early to eat and it’s not only expected that you drink, but the drink should be sparkly or contain vodka.  Best thing ever in life.  So, it has been my mission to become an expert on brunches wherever I go.  The reason there aren’t many brunch posts on this blog is because, if I’m honest, most of the time I scarf down my food and forget to take pictures.  You’ll just have to trust me on this, I’ve had brunch pretty much everywhere.

    So, where does The Delaunay rank?  Well, it’s not bad actually. I have two rules when it comes to brunch:  Order Eggs Benedict/Florentine/Royale/Whatever they decide to call eggs on a muffin covered in hollandaise sauce and accompany that with prosecco/Champagne.

    I met a group of my girlfriends on a snowy Sunday and I have to say, I love the location of the Delaunay.  It’s not too close to Covent Garden to be annoying and full of tourists, but it’s close enough to still have that busy hub vibe.  I also walked by this awesome place on my way, so it got extra points.

    Happy Go Lucky Funeral Parlor   Seriously.

    The bubbles were great, but let’s be honest, it’s not hard to get decent Champagne in London so i’ll move on.

    The girls ordered lobster rolls which I am never eating again unless it’s at Burger and Lobster and we were having brunch so I had to stick to my rules.

    I felt that I needed some iron after a relatively late night out, so I went for the Florentine.  If you want eggs Royale, they call it Arlington at The Delaunay.  I don’t know why and when I asked, they just explained what it was, not why they decided to change the name from the accepted convention.  I didn’t order it, so that’s all I can really comment on.

    My Florentine  however, was actually quite good.  not too soggy (which can happen due to the wilted spinach) but I will say the hollandaise wasn’t quite tangy enough for me.  to much buttery, not enough tang.  It was also a little thick for my personal preferences   But to each his own.  I still ate the whole thing.

    I also had an excellent cappuccino props to the person who made it, excellent presentation.

    My only criticism would be that it’s a little stuffy in there.  The atmosphere isn’t super welcoming and it felt like they were putting on airs as if they were The Woseley   They aren’t, although they are owned by the same group who also do Colbert in Sloane Square.  They also make an excellent Florentine.  But If I had to rank out of this group, it would be The Woseley, Colbert (amazing Atmosphere) and finally The Delaunay.

    The Delaunay is about the same price as the Woseley, so I would go to the latter if you have a choice, but either way, both are going to cost you about £30/head with a drink.

    If you’re interested in The Delaunay you can book through their website:  www.thedelaunay.com
    The Delaunay on Urbanspoon

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    Food

    Bodo’s Schloss: Apres Ski Without The Dislocated Shoulder

    So I finally made it inside Bodo’s Scholss! I was pretty excited when I heard about this place because I heart me some apres ski, and I have dislocated my shoulder snowboarding in Kitzbühel, which makes the apres part not so fun.

    I tried to get into Bodo’s Schloss before Christmas, but mistakenly went at 1:30am only to witness a girl being carried out by security sans shoes screaming about being from Essex. Kinda strange when you are in Kensington. Either way, they closed the doors and I clearly wasn’t drunk enough to be there.

    Take 2, my boyfriend and his friends book a civilized dinner table for 5 and I invite my hot Swedish friend Malin. She fits right in there BTW, most of the girls that work there are pretty and blonde. Anyway, we ordered a pretzel as a starter, and this teeny tiny pretzel shows up for all of us to share. If anyone actually wants a piece, you might want to order a few. As far as pretzels go, it was alright but that’s probably an unfair assessment. I have pretty high pretzel standards as demonstrated by the best pretzel I’ve ever had, which was fresh out of the oven on a random lake in Austria. It was so good I battled aggressive swans and wasps to finish it.

    Worth it, picture to prove it.

    Anyway back to Bodo’s and it’s apres ski feel. It’s pretty cool because you can go dressed like this:

    Or like a regular person in a Chelsea club. But if you wear some type of ski-like clothing/mountain wear/lederhosen, you get into the club without cover, so I would recommend that if you aren’t going for dinner. Personally, I wore my Edmonton Oilers hockey jersey and the next day the NHL and players reached an agreement to end the lockout. Just saying maybe people should send me thank you notes/chocolate/bacon.

    I ordered the chicken Schloss Wiener Schnitzel, however I was told this is sacrilegious by the German guy we were with. Apparently it should really only be Veal or Pork. Mine was pretty tasty though and not a bad price at £13.50. They are also huge, more than enough for two girls to share, if you’re into that kind of thing.

    My Wiener

    Bodos is owned by the same peeps that do Mahiki and Whisky Mist, so the music is decent (the DJ booth is a gondola!) and at least the people know how to run a club. Although, based on what I saw outside the first time I was there, they should be a little more selective at the door. They also need to sort the air con if they expect anyone to show up in the summer because it was pretty warm in there and they encourage ski wear. That can lead to some pretty bad smells/looks.

    For more info and to book a table, this is their website: www.bodosschloss.com

    I highly recommend a go. It’s not a gourmet restaurant by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a fun night out but probably best to have dinner there first, you know to line your stomach for the shot-skis.

    Bodo's Schloss on Urbanspoon Bodo's Schloss on Urbanspoon

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    Food

    Beard to Tail

    So, my boyfriend managed to get me to go to Shoreditch again to eat america BBQ even though our first attempt was an epic failure, (you can read about it here).  This time we were to venture out to a little place called Beard to Tail.  Now, I’m not a massive fan of restaurants that are so explicit about the food you are about to eat (the mains are called Into the Pig and Into the Cow…TMI) but I was willing to try.  And what animal has a beard anyway?

    We waited 45 min to be seated and the hostess was nice, but we were hungry.  Sat and had cocktails first and I drank the only one on the menu that was vodka based.  It was ok.  I forgot to take a picture of it when it was full, but you can use your imagination.

    Anyway, cut to the chase, right?  The menu had loads of meat on it so (obviously) not a place to take a vegetarian on a first date.  It looked promising although the starters were a little blah, and didn’t seem worth the calories.  I wanted the burger, but they didn’t have it (I know, seriously they had like 5 things on the menu) so my boy thought it was a good idea to order the 800g steak AND a rack (or several) of ribs.  It looked like something out of the Flintstones.

    It was tasty, but it took an hour for our food to arrive, so caveman meat was looking pretty good when I was personally ready to gnaw off my own arm.  The sides were the best part though, I highly recommend the cheesy cauliflower.
    The best part of the evening?  The fact that I was actually able to witness two people getting busted for trying to bump nasties the wheelchair bathroom.  Ya, that’s right, I got to see that in real life.  A larger than average girl wearing a sequin black and white dress (not exactly the most discreet outfit when you are planning on doing something like that, but I digress) snuck into the bathroom, whose door faced the entire restaurant.  She was followed shortly by a short skinny boy.  30 seconds into it they were caught by the manager who continued to bang on the door until they came out, which was about 2 min later (poor guy).  Then the manager told them off in front of the whole restaurant.  It was amazing, and they weren’t at all embarrassed.  In fact, they owned it, and then did more shots.
    All said and done, there are definitely better meat places in London.  If you want steak, Gaucho is usually my favorite.  They are all over the city and kind of a chain, but they have consistently decent steak and great wine.
    Where: Beard to Tail, Shoreditch http://www.beardtotail.co.uk .
    Cost: Really expensive for pretty lame service and average food.
    Go for: People watching, particularly those trying to do it in public bathrooms before midnight.
    Wear:  Well, it’s Shoreditch so I wore my Levis jean shirt, black jeans and knee high boots accessorized with my Mulberry clutch.  But it’s a kind of anything goes place, our waitress was wearing a backless bodysuit and black lipstick.
    I’ll leave you with a pic of the dessert, it was tasty!

    Beard to Tail on Urbanspoon

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    Food, Travel

    Manga Tuscany

    In the limited but awesome Italian I learned on my recent trip to Tuscany, I’m pretty sure the above means eat Tuscany, which I attempted to do.

    We stayed at San Felice which is an amazing old town that was turned into a beautiful hotel. Seriously, the whole town. It was small, but I still managed to get lost. This was the street our room was on.

    The restaurant was even more awesome and I ate what might possibly be the best ‘amouse bouche’ (they call it that in Italy even though its French. Europeans!) ever. It was Parmesan creme brûlée. Like, cream with Parmesan and then a sweet candied top like creme brûlée. It was amazing. Then I had prawns wrapped in bacon. In my books, anything wrapped in bacon is 5 star. Then I had a yummy pasta and some kind of fish. But by far the first two things were the best.

    San Felice is also a vineyard and the wine they produce is ace.

    In conclusion, I think you should go there even though its kind of a pain in the balls to get to.

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    Food

    Evans and Peel Detective Agency London

    The girls and I needed a night out and my fab friend Kim suggested we go to to this Evans and Peel Detective Agency/Restaurant. Niche, right?

    So, they don’t really give you any info. We had to make an ‘appointment’ ahead of time and then show up at the location near Earls Court. We met outside to think of our ‘case’. Since we made the reservation for 6 but only 5 of us could make it out of work on time, the story was we were missing out sister.

    We buzz in the discreet door and then give the ‘case worker’ at the front desk a detailed explanation of the situation (Kim: “She looks like Stephanie, except black.”). We also asked for a hot ‘detective’ to comfort us, and weren’t disappointed. A very good looking Aussie came to take our drinks… and that was it.

    We sat there in a room pretty much full of couples and drank £10 vintage cocktails and talked. Which is fine, but I thought there would be an continuation of the whole detective thing.

    Ya, it was decorated well and the bartender had his head shaved save a hand print of hair (literally), but if i was going to drink overpriced cocktails, there are far less high maintenance and more entertaining ways to do it.

    But, if you want to give it a shot: www.evansandpeel.com BTW, nobody enquired about our missing sister at the end of the night. Poor girl.

    Evans and Peel on Urbanspoon

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    Food, Unsolicited Advice

    An open letter to: Pork

    First off, let me just say this post comes out of love.

    Pork, please just be yourself. Nobody likes pork chops, so instead of trying to be ‘the other white meat’ appreciate your own amazingness. Be the best you can be which, incidentally, is bacon. I mean come on, seriously, how amazing you look in this pic with eggs cuddled up in your little brioche love nest?

    Be comfortable in your own clothes. If people want white meat they are going to have chicken. They always have and always will.  Once you accept that and move on with your life, you’ll finally find the happiness I know you deserve.  Dammit, you know you deserve it.

    You are so money and it kills me that you can’t appreciate it.  Like, look, people even flavor crisps after you.  That’s how awesome you are.  People are willing to eat anything that just tastes like you.  Read that last sentence again and really soak up what that means.  You are like the Louis Vuitton of meat, even fake is better than nothing.

    So, I hope this serves as a wake up call.  Be happy in your own skin Pork, especially when it’s crispy.

    Because we love you just the way you are.

    Yours forever and always (especially on Eggs Benedict),

    Stephanie

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