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. 

Bruges

An hours train ride away from Brussels lies the picturesque town of Bruges. Tourist heaven, it is laden with more chocolate shops than you can shake a stick at, horse drawn carriages, quaint houses next to huge masterpieces of architecture and lots of beautiful canals.

When we arrived in Bruges, it was raining. And we had no umbrella, and failed to find one for some time. It left us looking like this..

 

Until we took refuge in a cosy cafe where literally every person was warming themselves up on carrot soup, and we did the same



 Refreshed and a little bit drier, we set off exploring properly - once the rain stopped Bruges became much more attractive!



Excellent croissants from Le Pain de Sebastian - it had a huge queue of people waiting patiently in the rain, so we knew it must be something special (it was). 

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Having seriously underestimated the size of Bruges, we had a rest on a peaceful canal boat trip, meandering through the beautiful buildings, tiny roads and swooping under low bridges.







Definitely recommended, although a little packed & cramped, it is a beautiful way to see the town and scope out the bits you want to visit most.

My favourite thing we did in Bruges, and possibly in the whole trip (non-food related, of course) was attending the harp concert of Luc Vanlaere. I knew it was something Dima would enjoy, being music obsessed, but I actually loved it. Luc was really touching, he puts on 3 totally free concerts everyday (except Sundays I believe) and explains why (for people who can't afford to attend concerts), and how you can purchase his music directly from him in support, to quote him 'you'd be buying your potatoes straight from the farmers'.


A 35 minute concert, with 4/5 very touching songs, it is definitely worth going to if you are ever in Bruges. Luc is insanely talented and played a tonne of different kinds of harps and instruments he had picked up on his travels (like a Chinese harp) - really interesting and excellently played. More info here.

Then we proceeded with more cultural activities, discovering the chocolate of Bruges! We made regular hot chocolate stops, due to the odd showering of rain..


Dumon chocolates - the spoon with chocolate is swirled into the hot milk! 



We found the top rated chocolate shop on tripadvisor (I am something of a tripadvisor geek, and if you go on holiday with me I will have memorised it - incidentally their app is really great, it works offline if you download the relevant city before going) - The Chocolate Line. It is filled with bizarre chocolate concoctions - chocolate massage oil, lipstick, pills.. and chocolate flavours including absinthe, maize, bacon, iced coffee, cookies and so on.



Me & Dima got a selection of the most intriguing ones and sat down on a bench to share them and gleefully exchange the 'OMG' face. Although Dima is not a chocolate fan, he loved all of this chocolate which is quite an achievement. Up there we have the raspberry, blueberry, ganache, caramel, mint, maize and bacon chocolates. All were amazing, but the clear winner was the bacon chocolate - increeeeeedible.

Before we knew it, it was dinner time, and we needed food that wasn't chocolate. We went to Gruuthuse Hof, a beautifully tiny, cosy restaurant. Dima prebooked (as the restaurants seem to close from 3-6pm) which is definitely recommended as it was fully booked when we ate there, as they only have 22 seats. We were given a romantic window seat to watch the people try and escape the rain outside, very happy to be inside!

They had a very good offer on which was basically 3 courses for 17 euros (and when one main costs 17 euros, this is very good) but we decided to go for the Flemmish stew, which unfortunately wasn't included in the deal.


It was worth it - the beef was incredibly tender and the stew was amazing. There was also a giant bucket of chips next to us (the best I ate in Belgium)!

For dessert I went for a super tasty waffle, 'Belgium style' - just plain with sugar. Dima opted for Creme Brulee, which was also excellent.




Gruuthuse is highly recommended, the food was all amazing!

Definitely make a trip to Bruges if you have time, it was a really romantic place (when it wasn't pouring with rain), beautiful with a lovely vibe to it. The only thing I regret is not staying there longer!

Juicebaby UK

This year Juicebaby have been providing The Model Zone with all sorts of amazing food - I'm so grateful that they have because their food is literally incredible. They're about to open up in Chelsea, make sure you pay them a visit!

All of their food is vegan and plant based, but you'd never know it. Every single thing I ate I fell in love with. I (with no shame) tried all of their salads and loved them all, I've never actually 'liked' salad so this is a huge achievement!

This one, the Rainbow Bhudda Bowl was insane. Filled with 'Quinoa, arame, beetroot, kale, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, sesame seeds, sesame oil, ginger, miso paste, tamari, lemon, salt', it kept me going all throughout my show in the afternoon.

The Pad Thai Kelp Noodles was ridiculously tasty and filling due to being packed with 'Kelp noodles, squash, carrot, bell pepper, red cabbage, sugar snap peas, green onion, avocado, cilantro, almond butter, thai chilli, tamari, lime, ginger, seasame oil, agave, cayenne pepper, sesame seeds, maple syrup cayenne'. 

I also tried an 'undone taco' salad, which was probably my favourite. Tasted like taco-heaven and filled you up, without the unhealthiness! Me gusta :)

And the thing that totally hooked me... chia pudding. I'm a sucker for chia anyway but this took all of the best combinations to make chia heaven.

Juicebaby's chia pudding is literally the best I have ever had. I would literally pay however much these are priced at, they are that good. A thick banana bottom layer holds up a tonne of chia seeds with a topping of home made jam & coconut butter, raspberries, flaked almonds and coconut chips. Also thrown in for good measure is vanilla, filtered water, dates, maple syrup and cinnamon. All the models who were curiously poking at the frogs-spawn like pudding fell in love with it too. Good as chia is super healthy, packed with protein and gives you bounds of energy which was useful for show-hopping!

These Sticky Toffee Balls taste something like chocolate truffles, and are actually made of 'Dates, desicated coconut, coconut oil, carob and vanilla'. I tried to make something similar once and failed drastically, these are much better and very addictive.

Ah, the juices of Juicebaby. I loved them all (I may have spent a bit too much time in the model zone), but the Vanilla Almond Milk was definitely my favourite (mega almond milk addict over here). 'Immunity' was a massive kick-starter with a ginger hit, Sweet Greens was the first green juice I have actually liked and Beet Baby was probably my least favourite as I'm not mad about beetroot, but still pretty good.

I was told that these smaller bottles of juice would be around £4.95, which is really good compared with others in the area (cough GLE).

Juicebaby do everything that is 'healthy' according to pinterest/instagram (chia, almond milk, avocado etc) but how it is supposed to be. They properly soak the almonds so the milk is nutty and delicious, they make the chia pudding from scratch, mix the avocado with the right complements. They do it for you, so you don't end up like me, miserably failing at pinterest's 'healthy yet delicious' recipes, covered in coconut flour, agave syrup, dates and so on.

Definitely worth checking out Juicebaby when they open (next week I think) in Chelsea, they are sure to be a massive hit. I will definitely be there continuing to eat up all of their supplies! Thank you so much for supporting us hungry models throughout London Fashion Week with your tasty amazingness :)

http://www.juicebaby.co.uk/

p.s - Although they were providing the Model Zone for free, everything I've said is the honest truth and I would definitely pay for everythiiiing I had! 

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/

Croatia - Hvar

It's not that often that you get to go away for a completely stress free holiday, with your best friend, where everything is really cheap yet amazing (yes I am talking about food) with (near) perfect weather. A couple of weeks ago me, Lisa, Chelsea and Nicole packed our bags and jetted off to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been - Croatia.

Our main base was the incredible Hvar island, reachable by a one hour, £12.50 catamaran from Split.


It is what I imagine St Tropez or Monaco would look like - a harbour dotted with independent restaurants and shops, unimaginably huge yachts, with lots of glamorous, good looking people milling about with their well behaved dogs.







It looked like something out of a story book.


We spent a lot of time at Hula Hula Bar, where the atmosphere was buzzing every night without fail as people gathered around to watch the sunset from the best spot on the island whilst sipping pina coladas and dancing the day away.



And of course visited Carpe Diem - the club which has it's own island, reachable only by water taxi (aka boat).



We may or may not have made friends with some lovely Mexican fellows who decided to buy us our own VIP table and not even harrass us at all... gracias!


Breakfasts were usually spent at Hello! bar, with sandwiches bigger than your face and fresh juice (like the rest of the island - food is ridiculously cheap and excellent)


Also... we found the most incredible bakery I have ever been to. EVER. In fact, we stopped there everyday for cake and their incredible cold chocolate drink, munching away greedily on the steps outside.


Chocolate mocha cake and triple choc cookie

This was also on top of the amazing gelato on sale in the harbour, a 'scoop' (as below) is the equivalent of about three gigantic scoops over here, and at 80p for the most incredible chocolate gelato ever it would be a crime not to eat it as often as possible.


We made friends with the local goat, Frederick..



And worked off all our indulgences by going on a huge hike up to the fort to watch the sunset, amazing!




Without a doubt one of the nicest places I've ever been, yet perfectly positioned for island hopping - more on that next time!