Plum & Spilt Milk

I haven't been out for an amazing meal in what seems like forever, but this one more than made up for it. Plum & Spilt Milk is a restaurant overlooking Kings Cross, wonderfully wacky with great food.

The restaurant is beautifully decorated, with lots of random art dotted around, impressive jam jars for lights and milk stickers lining the walls. It was packed out, despite it being a Wednesday evening.

It was my sister's birthday, so we celebrated with lots of excellent cocktails before my dad finally arrived. We were also given warm, fresh bread which Dima finished off all by himself!

Raspberry Bellini - perfect

My dad arrived and we got on with ordering. Because he lives in Russia, whenever he comes over to England we go out for gigantic feasts, which often leave me comatose - this was no different. I went for Steak Tartare for starter, which was incredible. 

For mains me and my sister shared a roast chicken, and our boyfriends shared a gigantic kilogram of steak! (Which, at £42 for 2 is quite reasonably priced). Both were great quality and worth the money. 

Those onion rings still haunt my dreams, the best I've ever had!

The sides were as good as the main event - I particularly loved the caramelized parsnips and carrots (healthy right?!) and super creamy mash. Everything was cooked to perfection and the service was brilliant, we had a great waiter who gave the perfect level of service when he is nearby but not annoyingly so. He also recommended us the best red wine I've ever had - maybe if I hadn't drunk so much of it I could remember the name! 

We were all stuffed to the brim after this but the puddings were calling our names. 

If I hadn't been on a chocolate ban, the fondant would definitely be my first choice. I went for the maple, pecan and bourbon sponge pudding.

It was good, but Dima's Plum & Spilt Milk was SO INCREDIBLE that I ended up eating all of his when he wasn't looking. Two desserts, hey! 

We were all trying to debate what the 'spilt milk' part was. I think it's the ice cream, but my family think it is a type of milk - any ideas? Whatever it was, this was the BEST thing ever. Actually no, my sister's Iced Peanut & Salted Caramel Mousse was the best thing I ate that night. I definitely recommend getting and eating both of these, they were mind blowing. 

We finally finished our beautiful meal, after watching the restaurant empty out as we ploughed on with our eating and drinking. Luckily there is a food coma throne right on hand for those who can't make it down all of the stairs. 

Convenient! I'd definitely recommend Plum & Spilt Milk for a family dinner (or a very expensive amazing one with whomever can afford it) - it was an amazing setting and every single thing we ate was cooked to perfection. Judging by the instagram stalking I did, they do a mean brunch too. 

Find them here. 

Date Night

Last week, I went to a restaurant called Tohbang with some friends and was seriously impressed. The food was excellent value, and exactly the kind of salty, sticky, Asian cuisine my boyfriend Dima loves - so this week I took him along for a Korean feast. 

To start, we had some on the house tidbits - crunchy vegetables and potatoes. This was a nice refresher before the avalanche of food arrived, we may have ordered a little bit too much! The menu is huge and as it is very traditional can be a little overwhelming, but I had my previous order to hand and our lovely waiter was very patient and explained everything for us. 

We had korean (barley) tea which was amazing, and some Sake in this cute little pot! 

Out first came Dima's favourite - Mendoo - dumplings! Fat, crunchy little things stuffed to the brim with pork and vegetables. These are some of the best I've had in London. 

And my favourite - Pajeon! This can best be described as a 'seafood pancake' however it is so much more than that. Absolutely massive, it could be a meal on it's own and it tastes like yorkshire pudding. With squid. Odd mix, but it works - so well.

Glass noodles with beef, very addictive and will have you shovelling hard to grasp noodles into your mouth quite fast. 

Ox Tail broth - the meat in this is so tender, it tastes like it has been cooking for three days on a spit roast. The soup is a little bland until you put in the accompanying salt, which instantly transforms it to a warming, meaty broth. 

This was the pork belly, something I knew Dima would love. Basically just a big bowl of fried, salty fat and bacon, it is incredibly flavourful. We were recommended to get the lettuce and spring onions, then you make little wraps out of it! 

So, we ended up with quite.. a bit.. of food. More than we could fit onto the table. 

But that's what winter is for! Stuffing yourself with as much hot, good food as you can before venturing back outside into the cold. 

And good company, of course. 

Dima wanted ice cream (?!!??!?!) which came in green tea form and was very good.

Tohbang is a lovely date restaurant. Oriental music plays as the incredibly lovely staff buzz around you serving steaming plates of food. Their service is so impressive - I dropped my chopstick (not a seasoned chopstick user over here) and before I could even reach down to grab it (three second rule!) they had zoomed down, retrieved it and given me a new set. 

The place was packed out on a Friday night, rightfully so, so it is worth booking ahead (though we booked 30 mins before, so not un-bookable at all). Great atmosphere, staff and food. 

Find them here. 

Sapori Sardi

I'm sharing with you my favourite date spot in London. A little bit off the beaten path in Fulham (meaning it is actually bookable in advance and at peak times!), Sapori Sardi feels like you are walking into a Sardinian family's beautiful home and settling down for dinner. Which you sorta are - the restaurant is family owned and has a very homely vibe to it.

Ask to be seated in the back - you won't regret it! Although the whole restaurant is beautifully presented, out back is a charming conservatory-style room decorated with fairy lights and cute little tidbits. Intimately small, it is perfect for snuggling up with a date and stealing their homemade pasta!

I went along with my family last week for a dinner beyond words. Starting with champagne, like any good old family get together ought to, we moved on to the best bit about the restaurant.

Food! I shared this with Dima - richly flavoured mince wrapped in aubergines on a crispy base of bread. This dish explodes in the mouth, and was a well deserved special of the day,

I order the same thing every time I come here - the Taglierini with porcini mushrooms, wrapped in speck and drizzled with truffle oil and black truffle shavings. Literally explodes with truffle-y, amazing flavour in the mouth, sort of like a 'healthier' carbonara (replacing cream for truffle... you go glen coco!)

Seriously, this dish is pretty amazing. You can taste that the pasta has been made fresh, the ingredients are all wonderful quality. At £13.95 not a bad price at all considering the amount of fab truffles hidden within.

 

Dima went for Traditional Sardinian gnocchetti, fresh italian sausage ragout, tomato sauce and saffron, topped with rocket salad and pecorino shavings (£11.50). I'm not too big of a gnocchi fan but this was a rich dish vibrantly bursting with flavours - definitely recommended! I think it makes a massive difference when the gnocchi is fresh (*memories of incredible Croatian freshlymade gnocchi*)

I didn't manage to catch my dad and Naida's dishes because they were too busy munching away at them, but both were pretty impressed.

As we were off out for our first night out in absolutely ages, I needed some perking up from my food coma and opted for an Affogato - expecting a coffee with a nice little scoop of ice cream. Instead I got a huge, incredible ice cream with a little shot of coffee and a good old shot of Baileys to get the night going! Definitely perked up!

Dima was way too busy munching away on his favourite dessert - Tiramisu - so I stole one off the interwebz to show it off. Because it was a very beautiful Tiramisu.

A perfect ending to our dinner. The service was amazing throughout the night also, friendly and just the right amount of presence. A couple of personal touches were given at the end with free biscottis & shots of lemoncello.

 I think I actually prefer the food here to the food I had in Sardinia when I went a couple of years ago. Definitely worth checking out - just don't tell too many people!

http://www.saporisardi.co.uk/

Birthday

The past week has been a very busy week, filled with friends, family and food because... I turned 21! Last year I was in Disneyland Paris for my birthday so I was not expecting this year to even compare...
best day ever

However this birthday was actually even better very good because it was spent with the people I love most. (and really excellent food and presents!)

On the night before my birthday my agency very luckily had a dinner party at Blake's Hotel, which does a-maaazing food! We ate tartare, steak and.. cake! Where they very nicely sang to me :)


Then very drunk on champagne, I went to Dima's who tucked me into bed. We woke up at 7am (I got quite excited) and he gave me the most beautiful camera ever, in the hope that I take proper pictures as opposed to snapping literally everything I see with my iphone. I have had to buy a 'dummy guide' to it, it is quite overwhelming but it takes wonderful pictures :')
My other friends bought me a polaroid camera this year, so I have understood the hint - I take a lot of pictures.


After a hearty breakfast of pancakes we headed out to the Natural History Museum (in the pouring rain, cheers London) for some ice skating with two of my bestest friends, Katherine and Nicola. Luckily the rain held off for the hour we were on the ice, and we managed to teach Nicola how to ice skate on a penguin - I later made all 3 of them follow me skating on penguins whilst singing happy birthday :D



We then went for a leisurely stroll around Harrods, followed by the BIGGEST AND BEST PIZZA I have ever eaten. I have had Homeslice pizza before in a slice form, so after to escape the rain we popped in for a quick bite. The whole pizzas are 20 inches, but I don't think any of us really understood the 'actual' size - Dima got one to himself and me and Nicola shared. For £20 it is really good value to share as it is quite impossible to finish one off alone. A large slice is £4.

 
We waddled home, meeting my family ready for our next food adventure. My dad very nicely took us for a family meal to Hawksmoor, which is my go-to for steak and their salted caramel and chocolate tart with popcorn ice cream. Dima also really loves their Sunday lunches, but I am more of a dessert girl.

We were still in the midst of a food coma from the pizza, but free food = ordering a whole lobster and forcing yourself to eat it. Followed by ordering the above tart (which was not in its normal form that evening but a souffle-type thing, which is good because I love souffle but bad because I really love the normal tart) and the salted caramel rolos to take home. Because it was my birthday and I GET TWO PUDDINGS IF I WANT. But I very nearly passed out on the table trying to eat all this food. (Also, do not go to Hawksmoor on a weekend evening because it is very loud indeed).


My dad bought me a BEAUTIFUL Michael Kors watch/wallet which I shall treasure forever and ever.


and on Sunday I had a sort of food-party with my bestest friends. We ate A LOT. Monday was naturally, at Mahiki where we were delighted with massive drinks in seashells. I went with Central list who are always brilliant <3



It was also a pyjama party.

 
And that is almost all. I dragged myself to the last food adventure of the week with Stephanie and Aji on Tuesday, to an overdue dinner at Medlar, Stephanie's favourite restaurant. This is saying a LOT for someone who eats out every single day without fail. She very nicely managed to coerce the waiters into putting candles on our desserts in honour of mine and Aji's birthday :)

The food was incredible.
 
That pretty much concludes my 21st birthday! It was really, really lovely and I feel so lucky to have such amazing people to celebrate it with :)))
xxxx