Friday 23 November 2012

Honey & The Honeyyss

Honey & Co is a lovely little new joint tucked away behind Warren Street tube station. It was recently opened by the ex chefs of Otto Lenghi’s Islington restaurant and serves ‘Food from The Middle East’, as you can see.


My wonderfully persuasive (…ahem, pushy) friend Livvy managed somehow to book out the whole restaurant for her birthday shortly after it opened. So we filed into the intimate surrounds (it seats about 20 people total), sat back, sipped crisp white wine and ate 3 courses of delicious food. The thing I love about Middle Eastern cuisine is that you can totally taste the colours in the food. Every single dish was full of subtle spices, harmonies, contrasts, textures. 

We started with bread, olives and pickled cucumbers, followed by a selection of mezze style dishes to accompany chicken and chickpea casserole. 




The crowning glory was the ricotta, honey and toasted almond pots - one of 4 different kinds of deserts put on for us. 



They also sell a great range of jams and other preserves so if you’re passing, pop in and pick something up for later. It’s worth it.




Check out their super-cute website here for opening times etc. 

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Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street Goodge Street Fitzrovia Middle Eastern Cuisine Best Cheap 
Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street Goodge Street Fitzrovia Middle Eastern Cuisine Best Cheap 
Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street Goodge Street Fitzrovia Middle Eastern Cuisine Best Cheap 
Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street Goodge Street Fitzrovia Middle Eastern Cuisine Best Cheap 
Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street Goodge Street Fitzrovia Middle Eastern Cuisine Best Cheap 
Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street Goodge Street Fitzrovia Middle Eastern Cuisine Best Cheap 
Flo & Elle Flo and Elle Review Warren Street Review Honey & Co. Honey & Co. Jams opening times review review restaurant review dinner near Warren Street

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Elle's Christmas Weekender



Last week I decided it was fine to embrace the festive season and start dancing (or skating) my way towards Christmas. My 'extended family' or collection of close friends are having their annual Thanksgiving this coming Sunday - actual thanksgiving is Thursday for those who don't know - and I've already been to see a musical so it's officially time to drop all pretences of being cool, don some stripy knitwear and become an overgrown child.


If you're not quite there yet, then go Skating at Somerset House. I challenge anyone to not feel a warm glow upon seeing this view. The Somerset house Skating rink has to be the best one in London. Others include Canary Wharf (just too out of the way for anyone who doesn't work there - and corporate blah) and The Westfield's own which launches this week. For the last few years Hampstead Heath transformed their tennis courts into one but sadly it won't be around this year. 

So Somerset house is the best - I love the venue anyway. I feel a particular attachment to the permanent art collection at The Courtauld which keeps me going back regularly. Then of course there's London Fashion Week too but their Christmas transformation is always so magical. Ignore what people around you are wearing, and you could absolutely be in Victorian Britain. This year, their new Fernandez and Wells is open - F&W being my favourite Soho after work, pre-dinner hangout. Where else is it socially acceptable to eat a whole plate of Manchego cheese as a snack?


We were lucky with a stark clear sky, crisp air, cold sunshine for our skate. I only fell over once, which removed the fear barrier, and though it took about 20 minutes to learn how to skate, the next 40 were amazing. 







Afterwards we drank extra sweet mulled wine from paper cups and enjoyed the entertaining view of other people falling over before heading through beautiful twilight-lit streets to the Covent Garden Christmas market. More lights, more cheer, oh and then more wine at the cosy Covent Garden Pix.





 I love this branch of Pix (the aperitivo bar where you pay per small plate and wash it down with good wines or fizz).



Book Somerset house here, See what's happening in Covent Garden over Christmas here, and get 30% off Christmas jumpers here!



Flo and Elle 
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Tuesday 20 November 2012

Here's Lukin at you





As one of many resident advertising industry folk in Noho (Fitzrovia), I've been to a lot of bad pubs. When I say bad, I don't mean the real old man pubs- my favourite of which has to be The Ship; fruit machine, stained carpet and all. Not the kind of pub where the wine options are 'either. We have both kinds!'. No when I say 'bad', I mean ok-ish, nearly gastro, Peroni or Stella sipping joints, guaranteed to be heaving by 5 on a Friday with a wait of 20 minutes for the bar and only knock off jumbo printed wall paper to look at whilst you do.

Not the Lukin. The Lukin is great. Being found or stumbled across near Fitzroy Square Gardens behind Warren Street gives The Lukin the advantage of a little seclusion. The food menu here is seasonal, inventive-yet-hearty, and changes regularly. They  don't shout about it. In fact they don't shout about anything. The only thing you know is going to be on the menu is their burger, which is genuinely as big as my face and comes served with triple cooked chips. Menus and service are simple, graceful, unintrusive. I love it. Can you tell?
Their home made ketchup is a nice touch

I go a fair bit but most recently went for a casual work bite. I had tempura battered cod cheeks with a homemade lemon mayonnaise and a roast vegetable salad. The boys had sausage and mash. Obvii. The other notable feature of The Lukin is their great ale selection - many from Cornwall to wash down your hearty lunch with. Clearly I girled out and had a g&t but they are seriously good.

So next time you want to escape somewhere far from the adding crowd (sorry: shoe horned literary pun), head there. You won't be disappointed.


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Friday 16 November 2012

Elle's Weekender: Down by the riverside



























Last weekend, me and my bestie Anna headed down to the riverside for a big day out. We started at The Maltby Street market near London Bridge. 




Matlby Street is the more discerning London Bridge market goer's choice. Located by the old furniture market, round the back of storage warehouses in a narrow corridor of a street, it's full of the real foodie goodies, true Londoners, excellently tiny dogs and Raybans.  First we sampled everything that was going, before indulging in the most incredible brownie. Salted caramel centre, sticky middle, crisp crust. Mmmmelty.

Our Brownie was from @eddibles bakery. He's a charming chap who sure knows how to impress the lay-dees.

Sliders by Market Gourmet

Maltby Street caters for both foodie ingredients shopping and the hungry hung-over kind of Saturday. Sea Bass van is popular with the former, and Monty's Deli has to win the prize for the latter, with a snaking queue of ashen-faced people awaiting their pastrami, gherkin, mustardy baps - immediately restoring full colour to their cheeks once they're stuffing them afterwards.  


There are also a variety of permanently temporary restaurants and bars that you can sit down inside to indulge properly, but by the time we arrived at noon, these were heaving and the brownie was enough to set us on our way towards Tooley Street for some art.



 We headed over to The White Cube to see Theaster Gates' My Labour is my protest, a mixed media exhibition of painting, sculpture, video and installation art about racism in Chicago continuing to the present day. It's one of the most compelling exhibitions I've seen this year. This truck outside is one of the works, accompanied by a video of its making. I couldn't recommend it more.


After The White Cube, we headed over to Tooley Street's Village East where we had a light champagne brunch - but of course. Village East is one of those places that suits almost any occasion - a light casual breakfast, champagne brunch, Sunday roast, after work drinks or a dinner date - and I say that as someone who has been there for all such occasions. If it's your first time, have the mammoth fish and chips. They are some of the best in town.




After lunch, we walked over to The Tate Modern. My Tate membership card is probably my favourite thing in my wallet. It's so great to have access to any exhibition, any time, and with a friend too for the one off membership fee I pay in spring.

We saw to Willheim Klein, Daido Moriyama exhibition and then headed up to the cafe to enjoy the view out over the river.
One of William Klein's Models in Rome images 

The view from the Tate has to be one of the best in London at nighttime, I often recommend it to non-art lovers to try to get them into The Tate in the first place.

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