ITALIAN FOODIES

                                                            
                                                                                               

So everything has calmed down and returned to normal, I had to do a phone interview with a local paper this morning regarding the win which was pretty cool and any press we get from the award is great for the shop. The princess is still sick so there hasn't been much cooking going on and the only reason I'm posting now is because of that bloody "champions league", I lose all rights to the remote on Tues and Weds(proper order I hear Bruno shout) so I'm all yours:) I wanted to do another post on London as we ate in a few other good places and had some tasty cocktails along the way as you can see above.

We stayed in the Cumberland Hotel which turned out to be in a great location, it's at the top of Oxford St at Marble Arch so it's right beside the tube station. It's a pretty cool and funky hotel as you can see from the photo and seems to be used mostly by business people, there were lots of conferences going on. The rooms are a bit disappointing especially when both the safe and the heating don't work but in saying that when staying in London you are only using the room for sleep and although they are small and decorated in a strange turquoise Ikea style they are perfect if you are in London for a short break, Gary Rhodes restaurant is located in the hotel and Locatelli's is just around the corner.




I love London and the variety of food on offer always amazes me, there is every type of cuisine possible. As usual we tried to fit as many eating establishments into 1 day which resulted in complete savagery and over-eating which in turn resulted in no room for dessert in Locatelli's and I soooo wanted the Amedei chocolate tasting selection, I will live to regret this until my dying day!!!  The day of overindulgance went something like this

 - arrived on Oxford st and had a very good cappuccino and croissant at Fratteli cafe down one of the side streets near Topshop!!

 - lunch at Tootsies, although this is a huge chain in the UK the quality of food is pretty good. It's simple casual dining focusing on breakfast,  light bites like chicken wings and nachos, burgers, steak sandwiches etc. Gourmet dining it isn't but it's great with a group of friends for a casual bite with a couple of beers. I wish we had more options like that here in Ireland, casual dining is really lacking.

 - an espresso and limoncello at Bar Italia in Soho which were a little bit disappointing but then I think people just go there because it's so famous so it's still worth a visit for Italian foodies.

                                                  


 - a couple of really good mojitos as pictured above at Meza bar in Soho, Floridita is also located here.

 - at this stage you would think we would have stopped and saved ourselves for Locatellis but no there was sushi to be had!!! We've never had sushi, I know we probably lead a sheltered life but it's not readily available this side of the country so we couldn't leave London without doing so! We headed into Yo Sushi which is a very popular chain in the UK, the staff are really friendly and ask if you've been before and would you like some help so you are instantly put at ease. Luckily my sister is a regular so she took the reigns with great pride, makes a big change for us to know nothing about the food we are about to eat so she loved it!! I don't know how good this chain is compared to "authentic" sushi bars but I really enjoyed the whole experience. You basically pick either hot dishes from the menu or choose cold dishes from the conveyor belt, deciding what to have was the most difficult decision as there is so much choice. The plates are all colour coded and you pay by colour, we had a few different plates to try as many as we could and really enjoyed everything.


                    

                     

 - Locatelli's for dinner, a couple of bombay g&t's at the hotel bar and then rolled myself and my 5 bellies into bed.

We had a few hours to kill the next morning before our flight back home so more "food researching" was done!!

 - breakfast at Napket which turned out to be the coolest deli I've ever been to. It's design is "boutique chic" with a fantastic selection of take-away sandwiches, salads, desserts. It is really small but is so well thought out it is definitely worth a visit. Their slogan is "snob food" and even the plastic knives and forks are black and very posh!! I loved it!! Sorry about the pics but they even had a sign up that no cameras allowed!!

 


 - lunch at gbks for the best burgers ever!!

 - flew home and haven't eaten since;)