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night life

Food

Blakes Hotel

January 5, 2017

Chelsea is back and it’s all thanks to Blakes Hotel. The newly refurbished dining room is the new place to be along with the underground (literally) bar that you would never know was there unless someone told you. You’re welcome.

The art deco look is all part of the hotel’s boutique feel. It’s dark, sexy and there’s even a room you can stay in that Mickey Rourke trashed and Blakes has preserved so you can feel like a Hollywood insider. Downstairs is exclusive but not up themselves, they don’t do lines and chatter is spreading. This is the new Chiltern.

Armed with a great atmosphere and an amazing menu, Blakes restaurant is a Mediterranean inspired party in your mouth. We went with a pregnant friend of ours and they were totally accommodating. The staff are attentive and so confident in the dishes they recommend that our waiter offered to pay for my meal if I didn’t like it.

We started off with a complimentary artichoke dish with truffle mayo that was incredible. I’ve had artichoke once before and I thought I hated it. Turns out, I just hadn’t had it done right.

We shared several starters because it was difficult to choose just one. The burrata was fresh and served with a variety of tomatoes.

However, my favorite bite of the night had to be the truffle ravioli. Simple, yet so delicious. Screw summer, truffle season is my favorite time of the year.

I chose the main recommended by our waiter because he was so confident and declared it was the best thing on the menu (plus, as I said before, it was free if I didn’t like it). The Charcoal Grilled Pulma Belltoa Iberico, which is a fancy way of saying it’s a great pork steak, came with a generous side of kale and pardon peppers. Tender and filling, it was the second best thing I had after the truffle pasta, because, truffle.

The rest of my party were all equally pleased with their selections which included the Lobster Paccheri Pasta and the Sole.

I will tell you where this is on one condition, do not clog up all their reservations – and you will need one. They don’t do clipboards so don’t show up unless you book ahead or you’ll be disappointed. This is my new local and I don’t want to have to wait to get a table.

Blakes

33 Roland Gardens

London

SW7 3PF

What to wear: Giltteratti is everywhere, so dress accordingly if you want to fit in.

Who you’ll see: A celeb nobody is paying attention to because everyone there is chill.

Food

NAC

April 27, 2016

Stephanie

1 Comments

First off NAC, love you long time but can we just talk about the cocktails? I ordered the Popcorn Sazerac and it tasted like popcorn, like vodka tastes like mashed potatoes. I was also so distracted by the word popcorn that I ordered it without reading the entire list of ingredients. For future reference, a ‘dash of absinthe’ is enough to have you at a nightclub 3 hours later describing the women as Instagram models and the men as Gollum.

Anyway, I was surprised hadn’t heard of NAC – or North Audley Cantine- before my friend Michelle decided to have her birthday dinner there. They apparently have a speak easy downstairs, although when I went to the bathroom all I found was an empty popcorn maker. The restaurant has a scene-y atmosphere and decent food; perfect for a party.

The only main we ordered: grilled cajun chicken,

We ordered several small plates to share because we were a bunch of girls wearing tight dresses. Full disclosure? I was really hungry when I got home and crushed the hubs leftover Thai. My favourite dish on the menu was probably the crispy squid. I really wanted the burrata but they had run out. Mayjah sad face.

Crispy squid (and yes, that’s how much aioli it comes with).

I also really liked the truffle mac and cheese (obvi), but there wasn’t actually any mac. i.e macaroni. The pasta they used was Mezze Maniche Rigate (ya, I had to look that up) and it was far too big for the small pot the mac and cheese came in. There was probably 4 or 5 pieces of pasta in the whole thing, which is a pain in the balls to split between girls. Four bites of truffle mac and cheese IS NEVER ENOUGH.

Truffle and cheese with a tiny bit of pasta.

The other fan favourite amongst the group was the torched cauliflower. Cauliflower is the new everything right now: cauliflower rice, cauliflower pizza crust and my friend Michelle told me that restaurants in New York are now serving cauliflower steak for vegans. What we had was super tasty, but I would have liked some kind of sauce to go with it.

Brains… I mean cauliflower.

The tuna was also fantastic and I would recommend it as a main meal if you aren’t that hungry, as it comes with avocado and quinoa. That’s what I actually wanted my meal to be, start with the burrata and the tuna as my main. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I know , I know. I need to get over it. Cheese shouldn’t control my life this way…. But it does.

Said tuna.

What to wear: I was dressed like a classy late 90s call girl in honour of the late, great Prince. But you can dress like a normal person if you want.

NAC

41 North Audley Street

Mayfair

London

W1K 6ZP

http://www.naclondon.co.uk

Food

Bodo’s Schloss: Apres Ski Without The Dislocated Shoulder

January 8, 2013

Stephanie

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.

Food

Evans and Peel Detective Agency London

September 17, 2012

Stephanie

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.

Stephanie Wahlstrom

Hey! Cute top! Flattery gets you everywhere, right? Seriously, though, I like what you've got going on over there. Anyway, my name is Stephanie and I am a Canadian writer living in London. I like to eat, travel and make people laugh. The Accidental Socialite is the name of my debut novel and this blog where you'll find tales of my mishaps and far too many references to bacon. Enjoy!