FIRE AND FEATHERS

Sorry for a couple of day's silence on the blog. I travelled back to France from London very early on Sunday morning and wanted to embrace the one family day we had that week. Then yesterday it was a day of unpacking and tackling mountains of laundry. 

But let's get back to London. I really want to tell you about a great, brand new spot on Fulham Road called Fire and Feathers. It's a new restaurant that serves the best ever piri piri chicken. The cuisine is from Portugal, the food delicious, atmosphere casual and relaxed and the bill won't break the bank either.

Let me show you some of the dishes. Some nibbles in the format of garlic carrots. Yummy! I wouldn't eat these on a date though... they are seriously garlicy!

Especially if topped up with these; garlic prawns. Soooo tasty.

Meet the proud owner and my friend, Harry.

Back to the food; a grilled vegetable and halloumi salad. There aren't many things better than halloumi are there?

Some side orders; rice, peas and tomato. I could have eaten the tomatoes as their own dish, they were that good.

And then the signature dish of Fire and Feathers, their chicken. It was unbelievably good. You can choose the level of your preferred hotness. I liked the hottest!

A quick drink outside on the street in the warm summer night. 

And some posing! This is how casual Fire and Feathers is. Jeans are totally appropriate even on a Friday night.

Back to the bar. I have to tell you, they make the most incredible cocktails. And the bar is nice and lively to hang out in.

Bye! I went home with a very full tummy of delicious food.

Well done Harry!

Minna x

LONDON LOFT

Here's some Saturday inspiration in the format of a very cool East London pad. Shoreditch is a total contrast to West London where I used to live. It's cool, edgy and young. And so is this flat. I love the decor. Very New York1

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I'm soon going to get across town again for our friend's wedding. Will be a lovely day no doubt!

Minna x

LONDON CALLING

There is no better place on earth than London! To me, at least! When I got here yesterday I was literally smiling to myself whilst walking through the busy streets. I was trying to find a cab, dragging my suitcase through endless building works (Why is my suitcase always so heavy? Must be a manufacturing problem.) and clutching onto my M&S bag of goodies and I felt like I was in heaven! (Why oh why can't there be an M&S everywhere in the world? Btw I'm proud to tell you that all those goodies in that bag were "clean"... berries, nuts, chicken and tomatoes. That bag could have easily contained chocolate covered Brazil nuts, Jelly Babies and Percy Pigs but I walked past them as quick as I could!!)

You can probably spot from the pictures that they were not taken anywhere that I used to live! I'm in the East End for the weekend... Shoreditch to be exact. A whole new experience for me! But now... I'm going to take the tube across town and head to Notting Hill ;-) Have a great Friday everyone!

Minna x

LAST BREAKFAST

As you're reading this these little girls and I will be on a plane towards the sunny (I hope!) Nice. This was us having one of our last breakfasts in our London home. Little M is kindly helping me to mix the eggs.

What ever she does Baby M wants to copy so of course she had to have a go. She tasted it too but decided raw eggs weren't for her.

Cooked ones though are a different story. They love scrambled eggs! Even with big chunks of spinach.

Our next breakfast will be had in France. See you there!

Minna x 

RIVER CAFE

Let me do yet another restaurant post and introduce one more great London restaurant called River Cafe to you. This one is located by the river (funny that) in Fulham. Or maybe it's classed as Hammersmith. One or the other. I had heard about it a fair bit over the years but never gone. Probably due to pure laziness as it's that bit further. I mean it did take at least 15 minutes to get to from Notting Hill! 

Apparently the space used to operate as a canteen to an Architect's office who then went ahead and turned it into the restaurant it is today.

The food is pure quality. You can tell that they take great pride in it. Everything was mouth watering. 

This was their buffalo mozzarella starter. The garnishing was delicious. I think it was broad beans but I'm not sure... sorry! The menu, I hear, changes constantly. 

Scallops. Another master piece of food.

My friend's grilled lobster. 

And my salmon with zucchini fritti. 

An incredible lemon tart. No staying off sugar that evening, I had to have a taste!

And a very creamy selection of ice creams.

This is how we spent our last Saturday night in London. I'm so glad our friends finally managed to persuade us to go to there! Why on earth did I not go before!?

Minna x

SQUARE GARDEN

London is full of private square gardens. They tend to be rather small but then again you don't have too many people going in there either as the access is restricted to residents only.

My friend's square is an exception - it's a nice size garden with a playground for kids, tennis and plenty of space for dogs.

 

Kids love the little play ground.

By time I'm posting this we've already left London and we are settling in Paris. Wish me luck!


Heidi x

CIPRIANI, LONDON

I did a post about a New York Cipriani last week so I thought I would also invite you to join on our London Cipriani lunch over the weekend. We had a huge table of seven adults and eight children. They were clever enough to section us off in our own little corner! And I don't mean that because of the children, I mean because of us adults.

The children happened to be impeccably behaved that day. Including these two youngest ones. Future Mr and Mrs!

The older children had their own end of the table.

Then let me tell you about the food. We shared a bunch of starters again. Here is one of my favourites, Vitello Tonnato. I'd see it on different restaurant menus without knowing what it was but some friends have introduced me to it and it's very tasty. Veal carpaccio covered in creamy tuna sauce. Might sound odd to those who haven't tasted it but let me tell you the combination is delicious.

This is Cipriani's beef tartar. For me it's the best kind. Super soft and fine in its texture. 

As my main course I had sole with cherry tomatoes and olives. This is not a dish on the menu, I took the garnish out of one and the fish out of another.

My other half's veal chop. Remember when I told you how good it is in New York Cipriani? It's also one of the signature dishes in the London one. On my books the New York chop wins though... sorry London. Only by a teeny weeny bit, it's still delicious here too!

This is how much fun we had!

And this is what the main dining room looks like. It wasn't empty that day by the way, we were just the last ones to leave. As always!

A fun, London lunch with friends. As always!

Minna x