Carluccio's Notting Hill

 I felt particularly beastly and went a little overboard with the food ordering. I've been to Carluccio's many times before and have probably tried nearly everything on the menu, this time I stuck with some of my favourites.

The Antipasto Supremo; a great mix of little things to pick at. My favourite part is the balsamic onions and the chargrilled aubergine. The balsamic onions are the sweet but with a slight tang from the pickling balsamic vinegar and the chargrilled aubergine has deep smokiness from the chargrilling, but is naturally sweet from the aubergine and is slightly fruity from the olive oil. The pancetta wrapped prawns are a little too salty for me. The hams are good but were slightly raggedy from the cutting.

In my beastly state I also ordered their fixed price menu which they offer all the time, which I think is good value. Bruschetta and penne alla luganica. The tomatoes on the bruschetta are amazing, they're wonderfully sweet and juicy. I could happily eat a plate of the bruschetta topping!! Penne alla luganica is penne served with a spicy sausage creamy sauce. The sausage has been broken up so is like mince, gives a background kick against the rich creamy tomato-ey sauce. This is definitely my favourite pasta dish at Carluccio's.

I'm glad Carluccio's permanently offer the fixed price menu, as the penne dish might be just enough for lunch, but for dinner not enough and you would need to get a dessert or starter.

Tenshi, Islington

 Tenshi is a Japanese restaurant located in Islington. It offers authentic Japanese food.

They offer Takoyaki, at the time there, they were being made fresh outside which tempted me, D and M in. I've been to other Japanese restaurants before that offer Takoyaki, but were frozen and just fried to reheat, they only reason I know, because they were cold inside. I've seen these in Japan Centre to buy also. Had to get these here as I saw they were freshly made. It was crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, really tasty.  

They also offer Okonomiyaki, normally vegetarian, but you can add extra chicken, pork, salmon, cheese, or prawns. We went for chicken and cheese. The first place I tried okonomiyaki was in Abeno Too, near Leicester Square which specialises in okonomiyaki. I later tried okonomiyaki in Tokyo, not the birthplace of okonomiyaki but was amazing. The okonomiyaki at Tenshi had thicker cut cabbage than what I've had in the past, I prefer the cabbage to be cut finer as it brings the okonomiyaki together more and you get less of the batter taste. The edges were more crispy than Abeno Too, I think the okonomiyaki at Tenshi has been made in a pan to get the edges crisp. But the okonomiyaki was delicious!!

Tenshi also offer a Bento lunch time menu, so I had to try the sushi bento. The bento look so pretty and colourful, the fish was fresh and had a slight sweetness from fresh fish. The addition of edamane beans and the vegetable gyoza made the bento box complete, it was all delicious.

Gu Hot chocolate souffle pots

Gu Hot chocolate souffle pots are delicious!! You can get them from supermarkets then just pop them into the oven. Once out of the oven, the top has a slight crust, revealing underneath rich, gooey chocolatey amaziness. I could easily eat two in one sitting.

These are pretty expensive normally but every so often are on offer in the supermarkets.

Tesco's mini vanilla cupcakes

I thought these looked so cute in Tesco's so had to give them a try. Tesco's getting on the cupcake bandwagon.

The cake itself is light, and overall does have a vanilla taste, you can pop the whole thing in your mouth in one go. For me it was a little sweet, but so cute for a tea party or entertaining.

Oreo ice cream cone

I LOVE OREOS!!! For some strange reason I think the mini oreos taste better than the normal size. I know they're exactly the same but to me the mini ones taste better, maybe it's the fact that it's so small and that you can eat more than one without feeling guilty.

When I saw Oreo ice cream and ice cream cones in the supermarket I was happy. The Oreo ice cream doesn't taste as nice as Haagen Dazs' cookie and cream ice cream as it doesn't compare to the creaminess of Haagen Dazs. But Haagen Dazs doesn't sell cookie and cream ice cream cones. It does have a bar version but is never sold in the supermarkets, so Oreo's ice cream cone is great. The cone is also made from the same base as the Oreo biscuit. Yummy

Casa Brindisa, South Kensington

Brindisa has many restaurants across London; London Bridge, Soho, Shoreditch and South Kensington, each slightly different, but all offering Tapas, as well as a retail outlet so you can try to recreate dishes at home.

I visited Casa Brindisa in South Kensington with D & M  for lunch.

From the picoteo; picking plates we had the marinated olives and vegetarian bomba. I'm not a fan of olives so I can't say how they tasted, however I told they were ok, nothing special to write home about. The vegetarian bomba had a deep smoky taste, the croquette was crisp on the outside. The sauce was very sharp and tangy. It tasted as though there was salad cream on the bottom.It was pleasant.

Of course an item from the charcuterie had to be chosen. As you walk through the door you're greeted with hanging legs of ham. We couldn't decide so opted for the Charcuteria selection, this gave a great selection; spiciness of the chorizo, pepperiness of the salchichon, the lomo and Teruel ham both were salty with a slight sweetness. These were all cut to a decent size, not wafer thin, which was great. My favourite was the Teruel ham as it had a intense depth of flavour and the chorizo due to its spice. This plate was served with bread and a fantastic fruity olive oil.

The table had to be cleared before we could proceed with; lamb cutlets, chorizo tortilla and a fish selection. 

The lamb cutlets were chargrilled, you could taste the grill marks, but it came with a sweet, fruity delicious sauce made from the reduction of Joven de Silos wine. The chorizo tortilla came with aioli, this was lukewarm and salty, it was ok. The fish selection was my least favourite dish here, I really disliked this dish. 

The fish selection's fish all tasted as though they were all preserved in some form. The texture and taste of the mackerel tasted as though the mackerel was slightly off, instead of being a firm texture it was soft. The mackerel looked and tasted as though this is what mackerel sashimi would have been like in the 16th century before fridges and fermenting was the technique used for sushi. The small sardines were babies, it seemed like such a waste to eat them as they were so small, it would have been better if they had been left to grow into actual small sardines, these came as though they had been preserved in oil. The mojama; air cured tuna loin was salty and had an incredible intense fishy taste, and the baby squid, my least favourite item on the dish, tasted as though they were off, incredibly fishy with a slightly crumbly texture instead of squid having a slight elastic texture as you chew. I would say I am a fish person. I enjoy eating most types of fish; cooked or raw, but perhaps I'm not a fishy person enough to eat this dish. 

After the fish selection I couldn't stomach anything else, which was a shame as I was still slightly hungry. I think we should of stopped at the charcuterie selection. Service was relaxed, some may call it slow, but it suits the restaurant.  

I think tapas works great if it was at a bar as a snack whilst drinking as it was designed for, or as a light lunch option I think it works, but as we were sitting there I thought if this was dinner I would be ravenous and would of had to order twice as much.

Claridge's Afternoon Tea

Get those little pinkies in the air ready for Afternoon Tea at Claridge's!!

Set in the Foyer and Reading Room, the centerpiece of the room was vases and vases of flowers, adding to the art deco look.

Me and M, went for the Afternoon Tea. We have been to the Ritz before for Afternoon Tea, what's different here is that the Afternoon Tea is served in courses; savoury (sandwiches) then sweet (cakes).

We had the White silver tip tea, which was light and refreshing. This tea can only be picked at certain times of the year so supply is limited so made this a fitting tea for this occasion. A special tea for a special Afternoon Tea.

The sandwiches: mini savoury scones topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon, caviar and pea shoot; ham and tomato relish, cream cheese and cucumber, chicken, duck egg mayonnaise and salmon. I'm not a huge fan or smoked salmon, the taste and smell reminds me of uncooked bacon, however my favourite item on the savoury dish was the mini scones. The scones were light and buttery, matching the creaminess of the cream cheese underneath the smoky salmon. It was delicious. I was disappointed in the chicken sandwich as the chicken was a bit dry, it definitely needed the tomato relish to moisten and liven up the sandwich.  

For the sweet course: plain and apple and sultana scones served with of course clotted cream and Marco Polo strawberry jelly. (Ok I got a little excited before I remembered to take a picture). I have no idea what Marco Polo jelly is but this was perfumey and very sweet. I think I would have preferred regular strawberry jam. M said she much preferred the scones they sell in Harrods or Waitrose as these scones tasted as though they were made with bicarbonate of soda. These scones were nice.  

The patisseries: fruit cake, a cherry topped crumble, chocolate with a layer of creme anglais and a profiterole filled with banana and topped with a thin disc of banana flavoured chocolate. Of all of the cakes I think my favourite was the banana puff. It had a crumble topping with a light creamy filling which reminded me of Beard Papa. This creation was like Beard Papa meets banoffee pie.

There was live music playing making it a relaxing and pleasant experience. The service was attentive, maybe a little too attentive, with nearly every waiter coming over to see whether everything was ok. There was a little wait between the "savoury" and "sweet" courses, as they changed your cutlery.

Upon leaving they give you each this cutest little box of chocolates to "remember them by". They also let you take home any of the cakes if you haven't eaten them all. They also had a trolley of different sweet jars which felt like a mini visit to the sweet shop as I filled up this paper bag.

I can see why many people go to Claridge's for Afternoon Tea, they do offer an unique experience. A mini getaway from the hustle and bustle outside from the nearby Oxford Street. I did enjoy the experience, but I can see why there are those out there whom see Afternoon Tea as a bit pointless, as you would have to eat a lot of sandwiches and cakes to make up for the £45 per person cost (plus 12.5% service charge), considering a sandwich, cake and a cup of tea at Pret for less than £10.