Bob Bob Ricard

HAPPY EASTER! This is one of my FAVOURITE holidays, because I love chocolate a lot. Last night I went for an Easter meal with my family, and I have to say - I have found my new favourite restaurant. That is quite a big thing for me because I am really spoiled for choice in London, there are so many with amazing quality (Hawksmoor, Patty and Bun, Sapori Sardi are some favourites) yet Wagmama's somehow continues to lure me in for its Chicken Katsu curry time and time again. 

Anyway. If the first thing you see when you sit down in a restaurant is this, you know it is going to be good. 

We were at Bob Bob Ricard - the place I had wanted to come to for a long time but lacked necessary funds. Luckily my dad was in town and was ready to make up for lost time! The ambiance as you walk in hits you straight away - the waiters are impeccably dressed in pink waistcoats and bow ties and the entire place looks like a 1920s French first class steam carriage!

We ordered some incredible warm, crusty bread to begin with as we pursued our menus.. I decided to opt out of my alcohol-ban for the Easter weekend and order a salted chocolate martini.

If you get one thing (ok drink) here make sure it is this. It was INCREDIBLE, like chocolate milk with a hint of alcohol and salty deliciousness. So, so worth breaking my chocolate/diet/alcohol ban for... but it started me on a slippery slope. 

This was my dad's rhubarb gin and tonic - amazing. 

The menu was full of amazing-sounding food, but in the end I opted for 'Brezhnev' Oysters - baked with parmesan and black truffle. They were without a doubt, the best oysters and are probably one of the best things I have ever eaten. 

I lasted a full five minutes before greedily pressing the champagne button, where upon a waiter immediately popped up and offered me PINK CHAMPAGNE which was amazing. 

my dad went for Crab Salad with Chilli Avocado Mayonnaise

For mains I opted for lobster mash (naturally), creamed spinach and salmon tartare (healthy.. sort of?)

The tartare was incredibly fresh and there was a strong presence of dill (as in all the dishes) which reminds me so much of Russia! I should probably mention that Bob Bob Ricard is a Russian/English restaurant, and my dad lives in Russia. Also my best friend and boyfriend are Russian - surrounded! Russian food is realllllly good. 

Not quite sure how Russian this lobster mash was but it was decadently amazing. 

My brother's chips came in this cute box! They were also AMAZING (told you the martini started me on a slippery slope.. coupled with the wine I completely forgot that I was on a diet ;) ) 

a brief 'person' picture to break up the FOOD AMAZINGNESS - me and my brother. 

Then it was dessert time. I have impressively managed to resist desserts for the past two months, but as I said, the excellent food, company and alcohol had got to my head. Plus, when there is such a thing as 'BBR Signature Chocolate Glory - Chocolate Jivara Mousse, chocolate brownie, merginue and passionfruit jelly - served with fresh raspberries and a hot chocolate sauce' would I really be able to say no? It would be plain rude. So naturally I got that and forced my dad to get chocolate fondant so we could share! 

The chocolate fondant (my favourite dessert!) which was incredible. My brother decided to get one after seeing mine. 

and now for the glory... 

A large gold sphere, questionably awaiting the hot chocolate sauce which is promptly poured over it, causing the sphere to MELT AWAY and revealing the chocolate innards. Probably the most incredible dessert I have ever eaten. (and I have eaten a lot!) 

(IT DESERVES THREE PICTURES) 

After this insane haze of luxurious food, we attempted to calm our stomachs with fresh mint tea.. and more chocolate (truffles). 

They had everything down to a T here. The service was impeccable - waiters hovered close by without being obvious, but so lovely and welcoming despite the very high prices and luxury-feel of the place - it wasn't really stuck up at all, only in a good way of 'we serve oysters, champagne and lobster and they are all FAB come try!'. The place also smelled amazing because of these giant flower arrangements everywhere. A definite new (luxury) favourite - for very special occasions only, as it is very pricey! I would say it is SO worth it though.

Happy Easter! Indulge freely - today is a day for chocolate, happiness and love! 

Yoga Challenge = Completed!

I LOVE breakfast. After I finish eating my massive bowl of porridge with peanut butter/apple/banana/raisins/coconut flakes/maple syrup (delete where appropriate), I generally get really sad because it was so great and crave more delicious-ness.

When I started my 'health kick' I also started a 30 Day Yoga Challenge by DoYouYoga, not expecting to stick with it at all... but I HAVE FINISHED IT! 

There is the challenge, and it is seriously so ridiculously easy and yet challenging at the same time that doing it for 15 minutes a day feels like something to look forward to! For me personally, doing it straight after breakfast meant I soon forgot about any pesky cravings (mmm maple syrup..) and instead relaxed my body! 

Erin Motz (the instructor) is really relatable and lovely - she makes the exercises really accessible and easy to do no matter what your level, which was great for me. I did it (almost!) everyday with no yoga mat, and when I went to a class last week I was amazed at how much I have improved.

I've pretty much lost the weight I needed to now, unfortunately not from yoga alone, but a combination of seriously healthy eating and very regular exercise - a change in lifestyle, not diet. I've learned some pretty good tips along the way!

1. Do it for yourself 

This is the only way you will be able to motivate yourself to not eat that creme egg, or drag yourself to the gym in the rain. If you have good motivation (I definitely did!) then it becomes less of a chore and more of a way of achieving what you need to.

2.  Drink up!

I drink roughly 10-12 glasses of water a day, and about 5 cups of green tea (reusing the bag!) It becomes easier if you put slices of lemon, cucumber or apple in your water and have many glasses to hand at a time! 

3. Stay full

Don't starve yourself - you will end up gnawing madly on chocolate in a mad rush (guilty!). If I get snack cravings I try to have a satsuma to hand (35 calories) - it will usually kill my sugar cravings. But if it is only chocolate that will work, I'll eat a bit of dark chocolate. 

4. Stay happy! 

A way of making healthy eating/exercise a bit less awful is finding ways to make it fun! I have recently followed SO many healthy 'fitspo' blogs/instagrams and they all have such great ideas on how to get healthy and eat good food! :)

staying healthy during revision

I am in a revision funk. My facebook password has officially been changed for exam period, meaning I have had to resort to other ways of procrastinating... food! It can be difficult whilst revising all day not to reach for the chocolate, or whatever is easiest but I have tried to separate my days with cooking healthy meals, so that doesn't happen! 

I bought some green tea from Amazon (maybe or maybe not because I really liked the mango lychee flavour and couldn't find it anywhere else), here I found four 'variety' packs for £10 - now reduced to £7.50! At 25 bags per box, you basically get 100 bags of tea to work your way through. This was probably quite a good buy as I now drink about ten cups of green tea a day - I just refill the cup with the bag in it over and over again! (you can't over-do green tea right?!) 

My favourite is mango & lychee, but the others are all amazing so it is definitely worth buying if you are trying to up your green tea intake and think regular GT is boring! 

Ok I did technically also buy the years supply of tea because I wanted to buy coconut oil, and amazon have a really irritating new policy where they don't give you free delivery unless something is over £10 :( 

But all's well that ends well - this coconut oil is amazing! The benefits are endless, and as a coconut-obsessor I use it on everything and even as a body moisturiser! 

This is the superfood buckwheat, or 'Kasha' (I stole the pack from my Russian boyfriend muaha - but it is pretty easy to get hold of here.) Buckwheat is really reminiscent of my childhood for some reason, I think my mum used to force us to eat it with everything! 

Apart from tasting really great, it also has endless health benefits. It's not even a wheat, despite the name, it is a fruit seed coming from the rhubarb family! So you are basically eating a giant portion of fruit :') It's also chock-full of proteins and has antioxidants that make it great for regulating blood sugar, to stop you from craving snacks! More health benefits can be found here but it is basically great for you whilst being a great comfort food. 

I ate a massive portion of buckwheat (at an average 150 calories per serving), grilled salmon and spinach and mushroom salad. Can something be called a salad if it was lightly fried in coconut oil?!

 whatever, the 'salad' was pretty incredible for a salad and I definitely recommend making it. To make you simply fry a chopped onion and mushroom together in a little oil and then add spinach at the very end to soften it up! Amazing! 

This deserves a second picture because it was SO GOOD and lifted me out of my unmotivated revision day, even if I am now procrastinating from studying by writing about it! 

xxx

Brighton

Last weekend, Dima and I decided to leave the dusty, grey streets of London for a day at the seaside! I can't believe I have lived in London for three years now and never been down to Brighton, it is only an hours train ride away and we paid £10 for return tickets. It also basically exudes happiness, although that might have been the sunshine!



The pier was a short walk down from the station, and we spent a long time searching for shells and tasting the local delights 




I was SO happy to be back by the ocean, with people smiling at you and saying good morning unlike in London where you get shoved as people rush past you with stressed faces. Growing up in Cyprus I lived five minutes from the beach and it was amazing.

everyone in brighton seems to have a dog. that is probably why they are all so happy and smiley - this dog played football! 

We eventually found ourselves at the world famous pier, and we were not disappointed :)




another thing about Brighton is that everything is ridiculously cheap compared to London, even the rides (above) were half the price of fairs I have been to before. We ended up spending most of our money in the arcade..... like quite a lot...

we may have over-exerted ourselves and needed a lie down - conveniently the pier had laid out deckchairs for people needing a snooze in the midday sun!

For lunch we found a restaurant hidden deep in the streets- one thing I found so cute was that basically all of the roads in Brighton share their names with London ones - which served amazing fresh fish and mussels. We spent the rest of our time wandering around the tiny streets filled to the brim with vintage shops, eloquent bakeries and countless coffee shops.

We had such an amazing time in Brighton, it is definitely worth a trip down there, especially if you live in London which can get quite dreary after a while!
xxx