Hot Spots

This sale season I seem to have acquired numerous spotty items. Mostly due to my overexcitement about Bimba e Lola, the relatively new kid on the block (launched end of 2011) from Barcelona.

Bimba e Lola do an eclectic mix of prints with 60s style tailoring and Vespa-like bright colours. What I really like about them is the quality of their leather (think soft, thick, slouchy style). I would have bought a bag too if I had the money.

Below are my 3 top sale picks from Bimba e Lola and others:

Spotty pony hair flats, £34 down from £85 available in tan and grey, as above, and white and red, Bimba e Lola

Blue and grey leopard print coat by Helene Berman £99 from £189, available from Fenwicks Bond st. in-store only

Not spotty but still worth a mention: Mel rubber booties £12 down from £38 at Office and perfect for the snow (with some thick socks) or for walking on the heath.

Cheap Date: The £9 Finborough Wine Tasting

UPDATE: I AM VERY SORRY TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE FINBOROUGH WINE CAFE AND THE SUMMERTOWN WINE CAFE CLOSED ON SEPTEMBER 21ST

Our French cousins moved to London a while ago. A catch up was embarrassingly overdue, so we decided to make it up to them by planning a fun and slightly more unusual evening… 

The bulk of the evening was centred around the Finborough wine café, a pretty, tall-ceilinged, pub-type establishment, tucked away in West Brompton (one stop from Earls Court). 

Why would two North London girls venture South of the river, you ask, when there are plenty of wine cafés in Soho? Well, this place not only has some impressive accolades from the likes of Raymond Blanc and Sotheby’s wine aficionado, it also has a great atmosphere, wonderful staff and … most importantly… an amazing deal…

They offer bespoke wine tasting where you and your group choose 10 wines to taste, from an extensive menu. There is no spitting at this tasting and you get around a shot or two of wine for just 90p each. Yup, the whole evening, with a charmingly anecdotal, conversational break down of each wine, comes to £9 per head.

Our charming expert

But no spittoon? I hear you cry, but really, the informality of it works. Conversation flits in and off the wines at hand, fuelled by a pleasant, gentle tipsiness. It is a great way to catch up with friends, bring a boyfriend/girlfriend, or go alone to find the wines that tickle your taste buds. The tone is approachable and detailed/customised enough that people in the know will still learn something new. Totally unpretentious, this place is built on a pure and simple love of wine.

There is no obligation to buy at the end, but if you do, its great to know that you definitely like it and even have a good idea of what food to serve it with. What is even better is their best price guarantee - lower than supermarkets, Majestic, Oddbins, any London merchant - and on top of that, there is a £2 discount per bottle if you buy six or more.

We also indulged in half a metre of pizza and some salads to share for £35 split 6 ways. Its proper wood fired pizza from the take out place next door – we went for the buffalina and the capricciosa, mmm…

Once the tasting was finished the night was still young so we staggered (because of the weight of the bottles we’d bought) down to Earls Court to Ping (see Elle’s review here). We danced, wiffed, waffed, and drank till our stomachs lead us to Balans in Soho (there is actually one in Earl’s court but we were heading Northwards anyway) where Elle and I shared our favourite post-clubbing treat, eggs benedict (sorry no photo).

P.S. I first came across the sister establishment to Finborough, the Summertown Wine Café in Oxford, which offers pretty much the same deal and an equally lovely atmosphere. Both also do great happy hours and wines by the glass if you plan on making it a regular haunt and the Finborough has a theatre upstairs. 

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Good Times at Notting Hill Carnival

Oh Carnival, come back. What a wonderful time we had this weekend... 

In our household it's not a special occasion without a decadent start to the day. After a hefty breakfast of french toast, bacon, berries and syrup, we headed out to meet the rest of the carnival crew.

What we were wearing: Hotpants, Michael Kors, stripes (love how you can rely on trendy boys to come out matching these days), American Apparel, BUM BAGS.

What we weren’t wearing but wished we were: feathers, glittery hats, Ed Hardy, string vests, camoflage… a boat

What we were eating: Jerk chicken from the Portabello flyover, plantain, dumplings, roti, rice and peas.

What we were listening to: Norman Jay at Good Times sound system, Glady Wax, Latin Rave street jam, Mayhem Crew rave.

The Legend MBE Norman Jay

What we were drinking: Saul’s special Tequila Corralejo. Straight with a slice of lime. Other than that, Red Stripe is the order of the day. 

Where we were walking: who knows, but it looked like this:

Where we danced after. This year we went back to Camden to the Lock Tav for our post-carnival night on the tiles, but it changes every year. Last year we were at Notting Hill Arts club. I'll be sure to post in advance for next. 

As Mo Farah said: M is for memories. Good bye carnival. I wish you could be every weekend or at least a the end of every month. 

(Photos courtesy of everyone who nabbed our camera over the weekend. Especially THE influential journo @oliviafeld)
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Review: It’s a Ping thing.

3 words: Ping-Pong, pizzas, cocktails. Sold?

Ping has recently opened in Earls Court, having taken over the venue of Miss-Qs: the guilty pleasure with no hint of irony nightclub that sat on The Earls Court road. This spot used to guarantee a late night boogie to commercial hip hop and R&B until the early hours any night of the week. 

I won't lie to you, I’m going to miss the possibility of heading here after listening to the sweet sound of Anna Byrne play at The Troubadour: the only other reason to head to Earls Court, correct me if I’m wrong. However Ping brings a long-overdue piece of East London style cool to this drab bit of West so we'll allow it. 

I’ve long been a fan of ping-pong. Since being initiated into the elite geek club in my last workplace, I’ve been adding to my list of good places to play London. My favourite is The Book Club in Shoreditch, though they only have one table and its usually in high demand.

Ping is just on the right side of trendy. It’s low lit, it has corners for couples, bars to schmooze at and big tables for parties. 

Ping is equipped with 3 tables and a foosball table too. It also shakes-up a fantastic cocktail – with simple twists on classics, including Rhubarb Aperol Spritz (rhubarb liquor, prosecco and aperol) and a cinnamon amaretto sour (amaretto, lemon juice, maraschino cherry and cinnamon – I have mine with egg white too but it's not included as standard). It's interesting enough that you’ll want to try more than one thing on the menu, but simple enough that you won't have to ask what every other liquor in the ingredients is (I'm actually a little bored of this game Milk & Honey). 

Rhubarb Aperol spritz

Asahis and Amaretto sours all round

The food is just a small selection pizzas and salads but they too are well concepted – apple sausage and parma ham, rocket and sundried tomatoes and at £7.50 a pop these make for great in-between-play sharers. Oh, and the waitress looks like she's just stepped out of a cheer leading scene in Glee. I'm not entirely sure why, but why not eh?

Why not?

This would be a great place for a first date - an ice breaking activity that doesn't make you cringe is hard to find but ping-pong may just be the perfect fix. It's also a good test of how fun/ competitive a person is... I mean you wouldn't want to waste your time would you? I went with a big bunch of friends after work and found that being at the table made everyone wind down much faster than they would if we'd just headed to the pub.

You can book here, but you probably don't need to as they're still quite young. We went mid-week and it was busy but not heaving.

Go forth, go play.

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