FOODIE POST: FOXTROT OSCAR

Having purchased a pair of Time Out vouchers, we went to have lunch at Gordon Ramsey's Foxtrot Oscar, a local neighbourhood bistro in Chelsea. 

It was much smaller inside than I expected, a pretty average looking interior design and lay-out.

The voucher included a complimentary glass of wine each and a 3-course meal from the set menu. 

 

 

We both ordered the asparagus soup as a starter. Nice creamy texture, but maybe a bit too salty for the both of us.

For my main, I ordered the mussels which was served with chips - supposedly triple-cooked chips, but weren't quite as crisp as I thought they would be...

The mussels were also quite small in size. The tomato and chorizo-based sauce was quite light and tasty.

Lili ordered the Dingley Dell pork which was served with some pea puree - the texture was a bit tough and the overall flavour a bit bland for me.

 

And to finish off, I had the sticky toffee pudding with banana ice cream whilst Lili had the panna cotta.  I'd probably say that the dessert was the best out of the 3 courses I had, but I was unfortunately too full to finish it! (shouldn't have had that coffee and carrot cake in the morning - greedy feli! hehe).

In terms of service, the waitress who served us was quite attentive and checked on us in between each course. Standard service as what I would usually expect at a restaurant. 

On the whole, the set menu was quite average and uninspiring in my opinion.

Can't really comment on the a la carte menu - maybe another time if I ever decide to try this place again. Though with the highly competitive choice of restaurants around London I would say that this would be highly unlikely...

Well, that's another one ticked off my Gordon Ramsey to-do list.

Miss foodie signing off x

MAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Bank holiday weekend has come and gone so soon again...

So here's what I've been upto over the weekend.

I spent the weekend over at Wendy and Martin's - they made an amazing roast dinner, which I unfortunately was not able to enjoy as I was still suffering from a dodgy tummy...

Oh well, at least I have some pictures to look at!

 

In the evening we went to watch Iron Man 3! 

Robert Downey Jr. was dreamy as always... 

Woke up the next morning to some scrumptious bacon rolls...

The initial plan was to head to Legoland, but as expected there was a ridiculously long queue of cars, so we decided to go with Plan B - Brighton!

 

 

We were starving by the time we arrived, so our first stop was Harry Ramsden's for some good 'ol greasy fish & chips!

 

 

And then on to get some ice cream! - one where it didn't require us waiting ages for the ice cream machine to work!

 

 

 

After a long day out, me and Lili headed back to London to get some rest before our next meet up the following day.

We planned to rent some Barclay's bikes around Regents Park, but there weren't any available where we were, so we just went for a relaxing stroll - less risk of me falling down clumsily in public!

 

After much walking and working up an appetite, we stopped to have some brunch at Cachao Toycafe at Primrose Hill.

 

Not the most amazing meal that we've had (and also pretty pricy for the small portions!), but at least it filled our hungry tummies.

Spent the rest of the day just enjoying the good weather, which looks like it's going downhill again tomorrow...oh well, that's English weather for you!

Time to get geared up for work - urgh.

The Cheekster signing off x

FOODIE POST: SEOUL BAKERY

Having already tried the other Korean restaurants along St Giles High St, on a nice Sunday afternoon, we decided to pop into the (really tiny) Seoul Bakery which nests in between Pocha and Assa. The place is really small inside (probably able to accommodate a maximum of no more than a dozen customers at any one time), and always seems to be busy. Me and Lili sat ourselves along the side table - sitting almost shoulder-to-shoulder. The interior is rather quirky, the walls plastered with endless colourful sticky notes left by customers - saves having to decorate it yourself ay!

 

 

 We ordered a Chicken and kimchi soupy dish which came with rice and a side of kimchi, a portion of half a dozen fried dumplings, and a Kimchi pancake dish to share. 

 

 

The portions were much larger than we expected, compared to the ones served at previous Korean restaurants that we have frequented in the past. And even plus drinks it cost us an average of 10 pounds per person - cheap and economical!

A nice place for a quick stop - though I wouldn't recommend it if you have a large group of people! Unless you don't mind getting squashed together like sardines.

And no meal is complete without a sweet dessert - popped by one of our usual haunts, Golden Gate cake shop in Chinatown.

 

 

Yummy food = happy smiles x

SECRET SCREENING - FOOTLOOSE!

So after a long-awaited 5 months I was getting super-excited to going to Secret Cinema, only to be notified at the last minute that it had been cancelled due to some unforeseeable circumstances.

 Thankfully my tickets were for the Saturday evening, so at least I had a day's notice before. Unfortunately, as expected, there were some rather unhappy and angry ticket holders - I feel a bit sorry for those who were traveling from outside of London, but hey, these things happen, and I'm pretty sure Secret Cinema will do their best to get things back up and running (soon we hope!)

So as a kind gesture, they organised a Secret Screening of Footloose at the Troxy in East London on Saturday 27th April for those affected by the cancellations. 

Photo from Secret Cinema page

Me and Lili arrived nice and early before the crowd arrived, donning my pink dress, boots and cowboy hat! After 15 minutes of waiting under the rain (and hail!), we were finally allowed to enter the building, and got some nice seats at the front. 

The first scene played was set in the Beaumont Community Centre, and we got on our feet to dance for a bit before the actual movie was played. 

We were also told to bring some balloons which were being bounced and thrown around the cinema throughout the night.

 

There were live acts around the cinema as the movie was playing which was really fun and interactive, especially the parts where we could get up and dance like crazy!

 

 

 

Nothing better than some entertaining audience participation.

At the end of the film, the seats were stacked away and the place was turned into an awesome dance floor!

 

 

It was a really enjoyable night - Thank you Secret Cinema, job well done!

Looking forward to the new reassigned dates for the actual thing now!

Stay G.O.O.D. Things can only get better x

 

KYDnH signing off x