Monday 27 November 2017

WEST LONDON VS. EAST LONDON: BRUNCH EDITION


London is, in many ways, divided in two: east & west. East is known for the cool nightclubs, arty streets and cheap(er) rent. West is known for being more cultured, posher and significantly more expensive too. 

Before we go into this post, I'm just gonna state that I'm a West kind of gal. I enjoy a day out in Shoreditch or Spitafield's Market but it would take more than cheaper rent to make me call it my home. Not that there is anything wrong with East, but it's simply not my vibe. Even though I have to admit it's growing on me lately. 

As any average Londoner, I do love a good brunch - whether it is in East or West London. There's no better way to spend a lazy Sunday morning than catching up with your friends over indulgent food and hot lattes. 

Both East and West London have some pretty incredible cafes and restaurants that will make you want to go back weekend after weekend.  After living in London for over 4 years I have had enough weekends to visit plenty of places and find my favourite brunch spots. Let me share my wisdom with you. 

WEST LONDON


GRANGER & CO

If you are a fan of scrambled eggs, you must go to Granger & Co. I have no clue how they do it, but I have never had eggs that are so creamy, tasty and just all around perfect. They ricotta pancakes are not too shabby either. Their aesthetics are also very much on point, marble and gold with a hint of green. Your Instagram is going to be lit. 

They have a branch in Notting Hill and another one in King's Cross. Even though they don't take reservations the queue is 100% worth it - just make sure you don't go on Sunday at noon unless you are ready to queue up for a good half an hour or more. 


NAC

This narrow cafe in Mayfair is a little gem. The place is absolutely gorgeous, it's somewhere I could picture Serena van der Woodsen meetign Chuck Bass for coffee. And their food is equally stunning. Their dulce de leche pancakes never disappoint, and neither does their french toast or acai bowl. 

Their coconut iced latte is my third favourite coffee ever (fyi, my top coffee is Starbucks' Eggnog Latter followed by The Breakfast Club's caramel latte). They use coconut milk to make it, which also acts as a sweetener. It tastes delish. 

THE GOOD LIFE EATERY

Whilst this one is more on the healthier side, they still have some killer cake and juices. Let me tell you, if you're looking for the best red velvet cake, Chelsea is the place. And the portion is very generous too. 

Their acai bowl is probably the best one I've tried, and it's surprisingly filling too so you're not left hungry afterwards! 

EAST LONDON


HOI POLLOI

This beautiful restaurant hidden inside the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch is the perfect place to spend a few hours in the morning enjoying some incredible food and listening to live music. The decor is very zen,  it makes you feel calm and comfortable. It's the kind of place I could hang around for hours just chilling.

Their mac and cheese is incredible, easily one of the best mac and cheeses I've ever head. I'm dying to try their french toast, it sounds (and looks) amazing. And I'm always down for a good french toast. 



CEREAL KILLER CAFE

Who doesn't like cereal? Specially the sugary, nutrient-lacking kind. They have any cereal you could every dream of, from rare Lucky Charms editions to plain boring Weetos. They also have a variety of topping to choose form (Happy Hippos being my absolute favourite), and so many different milks. And I am not talking about this healthy trend of nut milk, oat milk or any other healthy type of milk. I'm talking chocolate, vanilla, caramel and even strawberry. 

You're likely to leave with a sugar overload, but I guess it is better to overdose in sugar than cocaine? 


THE BREAKFAST CLUB

Whilst The Breakfast Club is not strictly an East London cafe, since they have branches all around London, writing this post has made me realise I don't know that many good brunch spots in East. I guess I'll have to start frequenting the area more. 

But if you love pancakes and eggs benedict as much as me, you'll want to pay this place a visit. They usually come with long queues, but you'll be glad you waited when you taste their delicious food. And, as I said before, their caramel latte is to die for. 


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Wednesday 11 October 2017

BEST MARSHAMALLOW BROWNIES


I love brownies, but then again who doesn't?

Sometimes a simple brownie won't cut it though. At first I thought about baking Slutty Brownies, you can never go wrong with chocolate, Oreos and some cookie dough. But I felt like trying something new.

There are two things I associate with autumn and cosy evenings: pumpkin pie and S'mores. Whilst I could have added some pumpkin puree to my brownie batter or even some actual pumpkin, I thought S'mores brownie was a safer bet.

I didn't end up baking a proper S'mores brownie purely because 1) we don't have Graham Crackers in the UK 2) I didn't want to fuck it up by using similar biscuits that are not the same 3) it was too much work. So... I decided to bake some yummy brownies and top them with toasted marshmallow. It was fab.



These are honestly super easy and quick to make. They were also very popular with my flatmates, their literal words were "this is the best thing you've ever cooked". So they were either really amazing or I am a very bad cook. I'll go with the former. 



Ingredients


1 cup sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter
100 g dark chocolate 
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence


Instructions


Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a double boil, making sure you're constantly stirring. Once it's melted let it sit for a few minutes to cool down a bit. 

Add in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla essence and sugar. Slowly add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until it's all well combined. 

Bake at 180˚C for 20 min. 

Pour the marshmallows on top and grill for about 3-5 min or until the marshmallows are toasted. 

Let it cool before cutting into it as otherwise the melted marshmallows will go everywhere (speaking from experience. 

And enjoy!!
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Wednesday 23 August 2017

BERLIN TRAVEL GUIDE | OUT AND ABOUT


Germany has never been a country that has particularly caught my attentions as a holiday destination. However, I do think their history is fascinating so when the opportunity to visit Berlin rose up, I obviously said yes. 

I only visited the capital for four days, but I think that was the perfect time to visit the city without getting bored. It's plenty of time to visit most landmarks and walk around  with no rush but not to the point where you run out of things to do.

Before going, I had heard very mixed reviews; some friends loved Berlin and some hated it so I didn’t quite know what to expect. Here is what I did, what I ate and where I stayed during my time in the German capital.



WHERE I STAYED


I stayed at the NH Collection Hotel Berlin Mitte which was right next to a high street and in a really central location. Only about 20 min walk from the famous Brandenburger Tor and around 30 min to Alexnderplatz. These might sound like long distances but I found that everything in Berlin is so far from everything else. It is definitely not one of these cities where you can walk from place to place - Uber and public transport will be your best friends.

The hotel itself was very nice and reasonably cheap; and they had a great breakfast (which is my favourite thing about any holiday, I live for buffet breakfasts).

WHAT I DID




I had done zero research before getting on my flight to Berlin, and when I say zero I mean I didn’t know what there was in Berlin other than the Brandenburger Tor which I had seen on Eva Gutowski's Instagram.... Thankfully, my sister had done some research so I wasn’t left clueless in the middle of an unknown city. 

My favourite thing about Berlin was the Brandenburger Tor, I honestly cannot describe how beautiful and majestic it looks. It was the first thing I saw when I got to the city and I was left in complete awe. On our way to the Brandenburg Tor we stopped at the Holocaust Memorial, which as the name suggests is a memorial to the jewish victims of the Holocaust. Nearby the Brandenburg Tor, you'll find The Parliament (Reichstag) which has a glass dome that you can visit and has spectacular views of Berlin. You can book online in advance or buy tickets a few days before in person but the queue is usually quite long.






Another great building to visit is the majestic Berlin's Cathedral. We went there at sunset and it was BEAUTIFUL, the cathedral was practically glowing thanks to the warm late evening sunlight. Checkpoint Charlie is also worth visiting, it was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. The sign is still up and there still are American guards where the crossing point used to be.

The Scheunenviertel (Barn Quarter) is definitley a must-visit if you like to wander around. You can get lost in beautiful patios where you will find the coolest independent shops and some cute cafes. One of my favourite shops there was this place called Golem Ceramics. They sell tiles, which may sound rather weird, but if you are somewhat into home decor you'll love it. They have every colour you can imagine and also a lot of  very cool patterns, I got a turquoise one which I use as a coaster. 






We also visited Alexanderplatz, and whilst it is quite famous, I honestly don’t know why. It is meant to be kind of like the main square, but it just looks like a chaotic mess. If you’re in Berlin you might as well go just because why not but don’t have high expectations.



On the other hand, the East Side Gallery was pretty cool, specially as I had seen it on social media so much before! There are so many different paintings from artists from all over the world, and it's so interesting to see how they all represent freedom and suppression so differently. The other 'arty' place we visited was the famous Pergamon Museum - which as every freaking thing in Berlin was under construction being renovated or something. However, we still got to see the Ishtar Gate which was our main reason for going there.





Finally, one morning we took the metro to a place right outside central Berlin called Potsdam, which was really beautiful. We visited this palace called The Sanssouci Palace and I have to say it is probably the most beautiful palace I’ve ever visited just after Versailles. The gardens were spectacular and enormous,  even better than the palace itself.




WHAT I ATE

My favourite thing about traveling is getting to eat different foods and trying new restaurants. When I think Germany the food that pops up in my head are hot dogs, however the best thing I ate there was not even meat or savoury. It was an ice-cream waffle. It was from a small place called Woop Woop Ice Cream. It was a delicious waffle filled with liquid nitrogen ice cream (which is meant to make it more creamy). They had four flavours that day, we tried Ferrero Rocher and White Chocolate & Raspberry - the latter was 100% the best one and it is one of the best ice creams I have ever had (even better than many of the ones I had in Italy).


Another great food I had there was a kebab. I think I had only had kebab once or twice before and whilst I liked it I wasn't  too into them. Germany's kebabs are so much better though, or maybe I was just very hungry. Either way, it's worth trying one whilst you're out there. I also had many different kinds of sausages, all with different yet similar names which I cannot remember, but the best one was the one photographed below... bratwurst maybe?

The best restaurant we went was this place near Brandenburger Tor called Berlin Pavillon where we had some incredible roasted potatoes and different types of meat.















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Thursday 10 August 2017

DUBROVNIK TRAVEL GUIDE || OUT AND ABOUT

And finally we have the last post about my time in Croatia. Our last four days were spent in Dubrovnik, a very beautiful town that was unlike any other place I had ever visited. The big city walls made it seem like you were in the Middle Ages or in Games of Thrones, and the many many many stairs made you reevaluate your fitness regime. 

Here's what I did, what I ate and what I photographed. 

HOW I GOT THERE


If you've read my previous post about Croatia you'll know I spent some time in Zadar. We took a bus from Zadar to Dubrovnik which was about £10 and it took about four hours. It was very long and by the time you get to Dubrovnik you will be so done with buses, but it's the most practical way to move around Croatia unless you want to take a taxi. Something worth mentioning is that you'll have to go through Montenegro to get to Dubrovnik from Zadar and other cities so make sure to have your passport ready!


WHERE I STAYED


We stayed in an AirBnB which was a bit outside the Old Town which could have potentially been very inconvenient but, as many other times, Uber came to the rescue. We managed to get into town in 10-15 min and it was fairly cheap (around £10) and we found the drivers were quite chill there and would usually let us be five in a regular Uber which is pretty great when you're a group of 5 and there's no UberXL.

Staying outside the Old Town makes the price drop significantly, so if you don't mine not being right in the middle of everything, it is definitely worth it!






WHAT I DID


I'm going to start by saying that we didn't do much in Dubrovnik. We were all tired, sleep deprived, done with the heat and hangover. However, we still tried our best to enjoy the city. 


The first day we decided to just walk around the Old Town, exploring the beautiful narrow streets, the architecture, and admiring the city walls. We also decided to book an island tour for the following day. It was a very chill day. Later that day we decided to go out, as we hadn't had a night out yet in Croatia. We had heard about this club called Revelin... O M G, best club I have ever been to. I don't even like clubbing that much, but I had the time of my life. You literally party inside of a castle and the music was the perfect mix of dance, R&B and hits. It usually is free entry before midnight if you have a flyer, otherwise is £15. If you fancy a night out, you HAVE to go to Revelin.



The following day, after about two hours sleep, we hopped onto a boat and explored the coast and some islands. We visited the a blue cave where we got to snorkel in crystal clear blue water. After that, we visited three islands: Lopud, Šipan and Kokošar. They were all kind of similar and, whilst they didn't have the most paradisiac beached I've seen, they were nice and it was great to swin after exploring cities for so long. I have to say though that the water was incredibly clear, it kind of seemed fake. It was the perfect place to snorkel!

The final two days were spent chilling and swimming just outside of the Old Town and wandering around. As I said, our energy levels were very low at that point and we didn't really had the will to be proper tourists. Even then, I loved Dubrovnik and it was by far my favourite city in Croatia! 

WHAT I ATE

Seafood, seafood, seafood and more seafood. I had so much of it. I love seafood so freaking much, but even I got a bit sick of it. Croatian food is mainly based on fish and meat, so being vegan or vegetarian there is not the easiest. I had some incredible grilled fish, amazing ham and even better fruit. My favourite thing though was the watermelon juice I had one morning - it was from a smoothies and juices place called Mr. Fresh and it was incredible. Exactly what I needed to survive in that heat.




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Wednesday 2 August 2017

SPLIT AND KRKA WATERFALLS IN 48HRS TRAVEL GUIDE || OUT AND ABOUT


After spending a day in Zadar, we packed our bags again and headed to Split. On our way there we made a stop at the Krka National Park. Whilst the park in general was not as stunning and impressive, in my opinion,  as the Plitvice Lakes National Park, the waterfalls were astonishing and more interesting that the ones in Plitvice. 

After that we made our way to Split where we spent the night and the following day exploring the Old Town, eating delicious seafood, refreshing ice cream and trying not to melt in the heat. 

DAY 1: KRKA NATIONAL PARK


How to get there

The cheapest and easiest way to get there is either from Split or from Zadar by bus. The bus is only about £10 and it only takes a couple of hours. You can also take Uber - which is way cheaper in Croatia than in the UK - but since it's quite a long journey it would end up being quite expensive.

What to do

The park isn't too big so if you follow the marked path you will get to explore all of it in about 2 hours depending on how fast you walk or how many times you stop to get that perfect Insta. There are loads of gorgeous viewing points along the route and it's very easy to follow, you won't get lost! 

The best thing about the park is that you get to swim by one of the main waterfalls. It is VERY crowded and because of that the water is not as clear as in other parts of the park but it was one of my favourite things of the entire trip. I am used to swimming in the sea in salty water, so it was cool so swim in a lake by a massive waterfall. 

Where to eat

As you walk around the park you'll find a few cafes and places that serve food. A lot of people seemed to take their own lunch, and we did too, as the food there was quite overpriced (as expected) and it didn't look too appetising. 

DAY 2: SPLIT

How to get there

Again, the easiest and cheapest way to get to Split from the national park is by bus. The ticket is also about £10 and takes about an hour if I remember correctly. 



What to do

My favourite thing to do was wander around the Old Town and explore the narrow and historic streets. If you are a fan of Games of Thrones you will love Split, I don't really watch it but I felt like I was in Games of Thrones all the time. 

It's also worth visiting the Dioclestian's Palace, as well as the Cathedral and Bell Tower of St. Domnius where you can climb the tower and get great views of the town. By the bell tower there is an underground market which is a great place to buy some souvenirs or to wander around. 

Finally, in the afternoon/evening walked along the sea front and had a drink or two at one of the bars which are not exactly very cheap but the view is cool and there is a very lively and upbeat environment. 

Where to eat

Croatian cuisine involves A LOT of meat, fish/seafood and cheese. So after a few days of eating fish for every meal of the day pretty much I was craving some vegetables. We ended up at Marta's Veggie Fusion where I had quinoa salad which is exactly what I needed. 

Ice cream is the perfect snack when it's 30˚C outside, and there are plenty of ice cream shops all around town so you won't have any trouble finding one. 

For dinner we didn't feel like a big meal so instead of going to a restaurant we went to the supermarket and bought some gnocchi and tomato sauce and cooked a delicious meal (which was also way cheaper than any restaurant would have been).





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