Cinematic Dining: Lunch at Olympic Studios, Barnes

Whenever my mother comes up to town, we tend to end up exploring areas that perhaps I wouldn't usually venture out to. (In part, this may be because she tends to bring a car, whereas usually I rely on public transport.) This weekend, we headed out to Barnes which, admittedly, is really just a stone's throw from my doorstep. Since the weather was down-right grotty, we found ourselves taking refuge in Olympic Studios - a local cinema and (it seemed) a rather popular restaurant.

A little research post meal lead me to understand one thing - Olympic Studios is rather a big deal. Back in its hey day, Olympic Studios was a recording studio where some of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll history came to record their latest tracks. Artists included the Rolling Stones (who recorded six albums there!), The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin and even Queen! Later on, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Oasis and my personal favourite, The Spice Girls, all paid the studio a visit. It seems the studio wasn't just a rock and pop haven however - film soundtracks (The Italian Job, The Rocky Horror Picture Show...) were also recorded there. Personally, I found all this quite astounding given Barnes to me seemed like a lovely but quiet end of London!

Anyway, back to lunch.

You wouldn't maybe thing that a recording studio-cum-cinema would have a particularly good restaurant attached. However, in this case, you'd be wrong - we had some wholly unexpected excellent food!

As the rain poured outside, we settled down to a starter of a large ball of burrata on a bed of beetroot, pomegranate and pistachio served with bruschetta. We also ordered some tasty pineapple based smoothies which were delicious and came beautifully presented!

Then, Mum opted for a lovely looking salad and I (feeling slightly unadventurous) went for the cheese burger. The burger was definitely tasty, but I have to say the chips were fantastic! I'm not normally a big chip person, but each one of these was crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, without being too thick or thin. The texture on the outside almost looked 'bubbly' so I wonder if they had been double fried? Anyway, they were great!

We finished the meal with an absolutely stunning little pudding (a mille-feuille filled with baby rhubarb and pistachios) and just about felt ready to face the very British weather outside.

All in all, the Olympic was a completely unexpected and enjoyable surprise. Not only was the food good, we also had an excellent waitress - attentive, friendly and generally helpful. I can definitely see myself venturing out to Barnes to go again, although I may wait for a slightly less-wet day!

What January Blues? Lima and a Little Dose of Childhood

For most, January can be a pretty dreary month - the festivity of Christmas is over, the new year has been waved in and the January diet has started. However for me, the month is just one big count down to my birthday! So, with the aim of kicking off the new year in the right way, here are a couple of little recommendations to perk you  up!

To kick us off, this month my friends and I finally had the chance to eat at Lima Fitzrovia, a Michelin starred Peruvian restaurant. We chose food from two set menus - the Andes menu or the Amazon menu - whilst sipping on the restaurant's signature Pisco Sour cocktail. I was very excited as my last experience of Peruvian food (at Pachamama) had been excellent!

The meal started off with a small amuse-bouche and large hunks of brown bread. This was then followed by the black bream ceviche, thinly sliced beef in a yellow aji sauce, beef pachamanca (which literally means 'cooked underground with hot stones') with Andean roots and finished off with a dulce de leche cream and port pudding, dotted with shards of meringue.

Personally, I found the food absolutely delicious! Around the table, we'd all chosen slightly different dishes and (after nabbing a couple of bites off my boyfriend's and friend's plate) I can safely say the octopus starter off the Andes menu and the lamb off of the Amazon menu were also fabulous. The only dish which slightly let the meal down was the pudding - the dulce de leche port mix didn't go down so well with the group of us. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the food! Not only that, but the waitstaff were attentive, friendly and knowledgeable (without being overbearing), which definitely added to the experience. I would most definitely recommend heading there for a taste of Peruvian cuisine.

This month I also finally got a chance to potter down to the V&A to see the 'Winnie the Pooh' exhibition and the 'Opera: Passion, Power and Politics' exhibition.

Now, I know I bang on about the V&A a fair amount on this blog. But this is because I honestly believe it is an absolutely brilliant institution.  We are very lucky in London that so many amazing resources are open and free to the public: the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the  British Library (and of course the Victoria and Albert!) to name just a few. Special exhibitions like the above you do have to pay to enter, but the ticket cost helps support the thousands of other exhibits on show. I've chosen to buy an under-26 V&A membership (which allows me free entry into the special exhibitions) and I have to say I'm so glad I have - I have 'earned back' the cost of the membership many times over and I'm more than happy to support the museum!

ANYWAY. The Winnie the Pooh exhibition was just adorable and surprisingly interesting. I just had no idea that the little portly bear had captured the hearts of so many people all the way around the world. Not only that, but learning about how the illustrations and the words came together to bring the stories to life was really insightful.

As you went around, there were original sketches everywhere and little corners where you could sit and listen to extracts from the books, along with tiny doors and cupboards of 'hunny' to open. The curators had managed to make the exhibition really rather magical.

'Opera: Passion, Power and Politics' was quite a different kettle of fish. On entering the exhibition, I was given a headset which, rather like the Pink Floyd exhibition, cleverly played the relevant soundtrack as I moved around the cases. The exhibition walks you through the (often quite dark) history of opera and the influence it's had on the masses by taking you on a journey through a number of  cities where prominent operas were first performed. Not only used to provide entertainment, the opera was an opportunity to socialise, display your status or even spread social change or political ideas - the independence of Milan from Spanish rule, the social recognition of the 'lower classes' and the independence of women for example.

I thought the exhibition was very cleverly put together - the different music complimented what you were seeing and the undercurrent of gunfire, dock workers' clatter and city life hubber brought the history to life. I had been unsure whether I was going to particularly enjoy the exhibition (mainly as I have no real interest in opera) but it definitely left me wanting to learn more!

So that's it from me for now, but let me know how your new year is going! What places would you recommend to visit over the next month?

A Slightly Delayed Mini Update: Promotion Celebrations and Chelsea in Bloom

So, I was on a bit of a roll with posting annndd thennnn.... Well, with Joss visiting and it being Summer, I may have got a little behind... Sorry!

Anyway, before getting into the meat of what I've been doing recently (or should I say 'cheese'? More later, I promise!) I thought I'd write a little update on something I'm really chuffed about - I got promoted!

<Queue wild whooping>

Okay, well, this actually happened a little while ago, but that doesn't stop me from still being happy about it!

Luckily for me, when I found out the good news my Mum happened to be in town and so we went back to an old favouite to celebrate - Rabbit on the King's Road.

Now, I'm fairly certain I've told you about Rabbit before (or Shed, its sister restaurant in Notting Hill?) but to recap, it's a lovely rustic restaurant that serves sharing plates for you and your dinner companions to fight over civilly share. (See the following photos for a quick taster.)

In my humble opinion, it's definitely worth a visit.

At the time of all this promotion malarkey, it also happened to be Chelsea in Bloom. This is an event which happens every year, coinciding with the Chelsea Flower Show, where shop fronts all around the Chelsea area deck themselves out with beautiful flower displays. Obviously then, we had a quick run around, trying to pick our favouite.

This little elephant duo nearly won the crown...

... but in the end, I loved this colourful giraffe just a bit more!

So there you have it, beautiful flowers and good food. What more could a girl want?

Bite Me Burger Co. Launch Party!

My lovely bestie Joss (who you may remember from 'The Travel Diaries') recently landed in the UK to come and stay with me in London for a month! (YAY!) Luckily for us, on Monday I was invited to the opening party for the Bite Me Burger Co. so we both went along to see what this new pop up was all about.

The Bite Me Burger Co. is hidden away within an existing restaurant in Holborn and the pop up is introducing us to an entire new burger concept - burgers by the dozen!

Yes you heard that right, dozen!

Essentially, there's a diddy menu with a surprising range of burger types in it (including duck, lamb and a bloody Mary burger!) and a whole bunch of milkshakes. These burgers all come in 'slider' size - i.e. small enough that it's socially acceptable to consume more than one...

You pick up to twelve burgers which are then packaged in cute little boxes.

Anyway, since it was the launch party, the burgers and milkshake shots were free flowing and Jossi and I did the only sensible thing - grabbed a box, filled it up to bursting point and found a corner to devour our plunder!

My favourite thing about Bite Me has to be the range of choice of interesting flavours. For starters, there are five choices of different beef burger, plus a chicken one (served with an yuzu mayo which was delicious) and the aforementioned duck and lamb. The duck is served with truffled mayo and hoisin, where as the lamb is served with mint and cumin!)  Additionally, there's a veggie option where you can have any of the fillings, just replacing the meat with aubergine (for once the veggies aren't left out!).

The milkshakes also cannot be forgotten. Weirdly, two flavours which I really didn't think I'd rate turned out to be my favourite - the peanut butter and the coconut shakes!

Essentially we were two very happy girlies in the corner, stuffing our faces with tasty tasty food! (For one person, really two or three should be enough, but hey, six down and we were still going!) I really enjoyed the opening party and I have to say, I feel the restaurant will do very well - who doesn't want a selection of burgers to go? Maybe then I shouldn't have been surprised when I heard whispers of a more permanent venue soon to be popping up - keep your eyes peeled!

Mum's Birthday: Aqua Kyoto and Aline of Lebanon

Last week was my Mum's birthday and, since she was away in sunny Spain on the day, I took her off for dinner over the weekend.

 We met out the front of Liberty before going for a bit of a wander in the Spring sunshine (which translate 'sunshine with the occasional flurry/downpour of rain), popping into shops and galleries along the way.

 The Mayfair Flower Show was kicking off at Sketch so we paused for a moment to snap a photo in their doorway...

 ...Before popping into Aline of Lebanon for a quick drink. The place settings at Aline of Lebanon were just so beautiful I had to grab a snap before any beverages had even made an appearance!

 I had a banana and ginger smoothie which was just delicious (and two flavours I wouldn't have thought to put together) whilst mum had a rosewater lemonade.

 Shortly however, it was time to head to the 'main event' - dinner at the Japanese restaurant Aqua Kyoto. Located on Argyll Street, to access the restaurant we were whisked up in a lift to the 5th floor, before finding ourselves in a large space with an open sushi kitchen.

 We took our seats at the bar where we could watch the chefs slice and shape all the tasty food on offer. Before long, our cocktails arrived - a delicious 'mojito', although I can't say I've ever had a mojito quite like it - it had sherry and passion fruit in it!

 Starters swiftly followed - a beautifully presented sashimi selection and an octopus salad. Mum and I quickly established that we would share all of our vibrant food in an attempt to try as much as possible!

 Mains arrived just as well presented - wagu beef with a yuzu dressing for me and mackerel with a ginger miso sauce for Mum. The mackerel was finished with a blowtorch at table which was a fun theatrical touch. We also had rather a interesting time trying to split up the filet with just our chopsticks - I think perhaps, we may need a little more practice....

 The beef however stole the show. Deliciously tender and rare whilst the yuzu sauce was sublime - I was practically licking my plate clean by the time I had finished!

 Pudding took on the form of a Japanese cheese cake. Not usually a cheesecake fan, I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this one. For starters, the presentation was simply delightful, but I especially loved how the cheesecake topping almost had a 'mellow-y' texture, whilst the accompanying ice cream of sakura and strawberry cut through all the flavours deliciously.

 Dinner at Aqua Kyoto was a very enjoyable experience. The waitstaff were attentive, the food wonderful to look at as well as eat and the setting was vibrant. My only niggle would be that the bar was rather noisy. However, this wasn't the end of the world and we had a very enjoyable evening!