Sunday 27 October 2013

Luncheon, The Harwood Arms : LOCAL LOVES


I am full to the brim. 

I am absolutely full to the brim from a lunch I had YESTERDAY. 


My lovely best friend Arabella's dad celebrated the big Six-Oh yesterday. He very kindly invited me along to the party and when I found out that it was going to be at The Harwood Arms I was over the flippin' moon!

Tucked away in a residential area of leafy Fulham The Harwood Arms has only been around for a couple of years but has already earned itself a cracking rep - it is the first and only London pub to be awarded a Michelin star. Yep, pretty special.

They describe themselves as a' rural haven' so for those country folk amongst you this is the ideal place for a special meal. Famed for their game and wild food the venison is actually shot by the owners of the pub. The menu is meticulously sourced and selected so you really are getting the best of the best....hence the price tag. But don't worry, if meat isn't necessarily your thing, the vegetarian menu is equally delicious and I can personally vouch for that. There were 14 of us at the lunch so I got a sneaky peek at pretty much the entire menu...



Treacle cured smoked salmon with smoked cod roe, whisky jelly and watercress
Roast Berkshire partridge with salmi, creamed livers and game tea
The atmosphere is so relaxed and fun, they've managed to keep the 'pubby' vibe whilst serving top notch grub and this is just my cup of tea. I love a luxurious meal but hate stuffy quiet restaurants - I need a bit of noise and silliness. There was quite a gap between the courses and I really liked that, it meant we all had a chance to swap seats and get the gossip from the other end of the table.

The birthday boy heading up the table


Then the main courses descended and all conversations ceased....blimey, they were good. Arabella is still harping on about the veal she had - it's a two person dish so she recruited her brother and got stuck in.





Now, it's not just full on five hour lunches that The Harwood Arms specializes in (yes, we were there for FIVE hours) - you can just pop in for a drink, plonk yourself down in front of the fire and enjoy a swift scotch egg if you like. They always maintain that they are a pub and not a restaurant so keep things nice and relaxed - dogs are welcome and there's a rowdy quiz night on a Tuesday.




But let's not digress - there's pudding to talk about! Yum. Just yum. That's all I can say really.


Pear cooked in Earl Grey with almonds, sherry and burnt butter ice cream
Brie. What a babe.
The birthday boy was very jolly after our mammoth meal. The staff really looked after us and made the day so, so brill - thank you if you're reading! 


So this lucky lunching Londoner thinks that you should...

- Get yourself over to The Harwood Arms - it's got it just so fantastically right, luxury nosh and a chilled vibe. Book me a table for life.

N.B. Nearest tubes are Fulham Broadway and West Brompton.

Saturday 19 October 2013

Starry Eyed, Ellie Goulding at the Hammersmith Apollo : LOCAL LOVES

London loves music. There's no doubt about it. The music scene is incredible in this city.

I went to see Ellie Goulding at the Hammersmith Apollo this week and had a bloomin' brilliant time. I went with my uni friend Louise (she's a black belt in karate and knows more about Harry Potter than JK Rowling) which was a lovely excuse to see her. She works at Woburn Safari and lives near the park in the gorgeous countryside so I don't get to see her much - the animals don't tend to work normal office hours you see.



 Again, this was another first for me - I've lived close to Hammersmith for three years now but had somehow missed out a visit to the Apollo. Well, when Ellie came along I couldn't say no. I'm a MEGA fan and people always say that I look like her, even strangers, very odd! So I thought I should grab a ticket and say hi to my long lost twin.



We got there a bit late so did our best 'polite elbowing' to get nearer to the front - Louise was much better at it then me, I reckon it was because of her ninja skills.

As a little aside - I wasn't expecting the inside of the Apollo to be so nice to be honest - the foyer is flooded in mint green light there are two swanky white bars shining in the corners. Fancy.


Ellie opened with a total corker -  Figure 8. It's a really bass-y track from her second album Halcyon and the crowd loved it. Other highlights were her acoustic version of Guns and Horses and a very emotional performance of I Know You Care which is about her dad. My absolute fave Ellie song is Joy; it's an album track so hasn't had much coverage but there's a lovely live version here - such a damn good voice! She really gave it some welly on the night and I just loved it.






One of the best bits of the night though had to be My Song - the version Ellie did for the John Lewis Christmas ad a few years ago - I took a little video which I keep watching back, the entire crowd was singing along so loudly you could hardly hear Ellie. Also, I found a kind of dubstep version of it a while ago - I'm nowhere near cool enough to be in to dubstep but this is really brill. It sits cosily on my ipod surrounded by McFly and Ed Sheeran.


The two major crowd pleasers of the night were Anything Can Happen and Burn - the two big singles from Ellie's most recent album. I had total "OMFG I really really really love Ellie Goulding, she's the best thing ever and I want to be her best friend and always listen to her music!!!" moments. You get those too, right?

So yeah, it was awesome and here is some more proof of Ellie being super cool - proof.

If you're a Londoner you are lucky enough to live close to some of the UK's biggest and best music venues - the O2 Arena, Wembley Stadium and Arena, Hammersmith Apollo but the city is also home to brilliant smaller venues like Water Rats in King's Cross and 12 Bar Club in Soho. The first time I went to Water Rats was to see Toploader - I went because a friend of mine knows the bassist and we ended up drinking cider with them in their dressing room. If you'd told my 13-year old self that.....ha!

Because my life is so mega full of theatre I don't actually get to that many gigs - I personally find the O2 a bit too big and expensive, you can fork our £50 to sit about a mile from the stage. I need to go to more stuff and would love to check out some smaller venues - so let's flip this blog round - do any of you musical Londoners have any suggestions?

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Let them eat cake! W Hotel Afternoon Tea : LOCAL LOVES

Lovely Catriona went and got older at the weekend so to celebrate we went for Afternoon Tea at the rather swanky W Hotel in Central London. 

 

Afternoon Tea is definitely one of my favourite ways to while away an autumnal afternoon but at an average price of £25 it's sadly not something I can do every weekend! Also, I don't think the bikini bod would like it much either.

This was actually the second time I'd been to the W for Afternoon Tea - it's a good'un. They call it the W Rock Tea and everything is rock themed - the sandwiches, the cakes, the cake stand, the crockery - all of it. Here's the menu so you can see what I mean:
W Rock Tea
Dark side of the moon – (Pink Floyd, 1973)
Smoked salmon, cream cheese & dill
Cucumber & herbed butter
Ham & caramelised onion
Curried chicken 

Rule Britannia
Currant scone, clotted cream and jam
London’s burning – (The Clash, 1979)
Chocolate pudding, hazelnut crunch 
Sticky fingers – (Rolling Stones, 1971)
Vanilla meringue & attitude 
Sweet emotion – (Aerosmith, 1975)
Chocolate & passion fruit
Every rose has a thorn – (Poison, 1988)
Rose financier & rose petal jam
Purple haze – (Jimi Hendrix, 1967)
Victoria sponge, psychedelic marzipan
Cherry bomb – (The Runaways, 1976)
Chocolate, mascarpone & cherry

And here it is in all it's glory...yep, that's what I thought too - get in my belly!







The service at the W is fantastic and makes your party feel very special - our lovely waitress was very knowledgeable about everything on the menu and all the different teas on offer. Emily (the original mega babe) went for a pomegranate one which we all had a hearty slurp of.

Afternoon tea has become a real trend in London at the moment for celebrations - I've been for birthdays and engagement celebrations, and also been given an afternoon tea as a gift voucher (thank you Santa). It looks like a lot of food to eat in one sitting but in my experience it's not frowned upon to ask for a doggy bag so get those treats packed up and take them home!

So this very full Londoner would suggest...

- Go for a lovely afternoon tea. Other than the W Hotel here are I couple that I would recommend for really special occasions:
     - Harrods - £29 per person. A real classic. You are served from the finest antique silver tea pots - luxury!
     - Sanderson Hotel - £35 per person - Mad Hatter's Afternoon Tea. Brilliant theme and a wacky setting.
     - The Landmark - £40 per person - this is where the England cricket team stay when they're in town ;)
     - The Corinthia - £42 per person. You'll have your tea sat under the light of a chandelier that cost £1m!
     - The Ritz - £45 per person. Seriously swanky.
     - The Savoy - £45 per person. I spotted Will Smith the last time I was there!
     - The Dorchester - a stonking £51 per person. Blimey.

- Find a nice offer. As you can see Afternoon Tea can get pretty expensive but there are ways to keep the cost down. The W Hotel are currently running a 20% off deal for WOW Card holders. For other offers this website is great for snooping them out. You can also search by location and this covers the whole of the Uk.

Enjoy! x

Sunday 13 October 2013

Richmond Ramblings : LOCAL LOVES

How fantastic was the weather on Sunday?? With glorious October sunshine like that it was impossible to do any kind of indoor activity so off we went to Richmond Park!

Yes - this is in London!
 Richmond is a really gorgeous area of the capital - out to the South West in Zone 4 it sits prettily on the river and has lots of lovely restaurants, pubs and shops. But the park is the real gem of this stunning slice of London life and, at 2,360 acres, it's pretty damn massive.


We drove over and parked by the Roehampton Gate but it's really easy to get to the park on public transport. We leapt out of the car and bounded off across the grass like little spring lambs...well, slightly hungover over little spring lambs...damn you Putney and your lovely bars. Heading in the direction of the Richmond Gate we stumbled across a rugby tournament - sadly there were no Chris Robshaws or Ben Fodens but what a brill place for a game.


And of course, if you see water you really must sit by it.

This is Lauren and Annie. Lauren calls lunch 'dinner' and dinner 'tea', and is one of the loveliest people I know. Annie also falls into the loveliest people I know category and has some cracking party tricks.



We walked a pretty direct route to the Richmond Gate which took just under an hour and happily we found ourselves on the steps of this fine establishment - The Lass O'Richmond Hill. It's a foodies paradise there and has a fantastically British menu. Trying to make up for the night before I plumped for a goats cheese salad but spent the entire meal eyeing up the bangers n' mash and fish n' chips the others had ordered. Bloody food envy.



After lunch we went back into the park via the Richmond Gate and headed South West towards Pembroke Lodge.

Annie had just managed to capture photographic gold - Sophie (centre - my partner in crime at work) trying to gracefully recline on a log...unfortunately she was a little too short and ended up heaving herself onto it and rolling into position quite inelegantly shall we say.



10 out 10 for a fantastic lunge from Annie


On the way to the lodge you walk through a garden called Poet's Corner where we came across the most fantastic views and in the distance you can actually see Windsor Castle. On this spot, known as King Henry's Mound, is a telescope through which you can spot St Paul's Cathedral! We all took a turn and ooo'd and ahhh'd appropriately. It really is quite amazing.


After a brief ice cream stop at Pembroke Lodge (yes, of course we needed more food) we cut through the woods in the direction of Roehampton Gates. And blimey did we see some proper nature! Deer. SO MANY DEER. The bucks, with their handsome antlers, really made a racket - I'm not sure of the official term for the sound they make but frankly I thought it wouldn't sound out of place in a Jurassic Park movie. They are such beautiful animals and it looked like a lot of the other park visitors had the same idea - sitting on logs, up in trees, peering round trunks - everyone was having a little peek.




It was such a gorgeous day and I really want to go back when proper winter has set in - I imagine the park is even more beautiful with a blanket of snow over it. So this Londoner, who is a country girl at heart really, suggests...

- Go to Richmond Park. It really is so easy to get there and t'is completely free to get in. You can walk, cycle, run, sail, play sport or just sit. Even though half of London will have had the same idea as you the park is so huge that it never feels over crowded or busy.

- Go to Richmond Park again! It is impossible to do and see everything in one day there. We only managed to cover the North part of the park and we were there for a good 5 hours. The park is also so differently beautiful in each season so a quarterly visit it the only way to do it really!