Christmas in July at Carluccio’s – St. Christopher’s Place, London

Summer is over, so it seems. I’m really trying not to be ungrateful as we did have some very lovely days in June and July (I think), but as we tumbled into August (and we really did, as I write this, there are only a couple of weeks left before the little rugrats go back to school and my M25 journey is hellish once again) the weather really did start to go downhill. I can remember a couple of days this month when we had some really torrential rain. Certainly not what I’d expect to see in the “height of summer”. I really do feel sorry for brides and grooms (mostly brides as I don’t think grooms care so much) that got caught up in it.

The Imperial, Kings Road, Fulham London

My latest tastecard adventures took me to a part of London that I am not too familiar with. Kings Road, Fulham. Or “The Kings Road” as it’s fondly known as. What perception is conjured up by Kings Road? Well, it was famous in the 1960’s for style icons Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren.

Nowadays, it still has a reputation for being one of London’s most fashionable shopping streets. In addition to this, it is also known as being residency for Fulham’s 4×4 mums and Made in Chelsea.

Rucoletta Italian Restaurant | Hidden Gem in the Heart of St Paul’s

I love Italian food, so was delighted when I was offered the opportunity to visit Rucoletta, a quaint Italian restaurant, just a stone’s throw from St Paul’s cathedral. What exactly is Italian food? Ask many this question and they will tell you “pasta and pizza”. Even if it were “just” pasta and pizza, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a cuisine so refined. Wikipedia states that Italian food is tomatoes, all kind of meat and fish and pecorino cheese. I was about to put this to the test.

The Wharf Restaurant, South Bank, London

Last week I visited The Wharf as part of a tastecard review with my mother.

My tastecard reviews can be hit and miss. Sometimes they are pretty decent and a surprising delight. A lot of the time Sometimes they are a bit of a bore and you wonder how the restaurant is surviving at all let alone trading with offers on. It’s worth noting that tastecard does have some high end restaurants on its portfolio such as Marco Pierre White. You tend to find that restaurants are simply wanting to fill their doors during periods of quiet – because, with the amount of restaurants we have in this country, it does happen!

Lamb’s Devilled Kidneys Recipe. I’ll Stick to St. John, thank you

Just before Christmas, all  of a sudden, I had a kidneys craving. It was ironic as in October I’d suffered with a terrible kidney infection which had sent me rushing to A&E, off sick from work for a week, tending to myself with two lots of antibiotics and codeine (which I promptly put to the back of the medicine cabinet when I read how addictive they can be).

I have no idea where this sudden rush came from. In an ideal world, I wanted to have it at St. John or a similar restaurant but I instead decided that I would try cooking it. Off I went to Tesco, purchasing TWO packs of lambs kidneys. I read various recipes and settled on my trusted chef Nigel Slater, who had a great but simple recipe of devilled kidneys.

Home Cooked Fried Chicken and the Brine Process | The Lost Posts…

Note to reader on “The Lost Posts”;  This is a series of blog posts that I either started, or took photos with full intentions of blogging, and then life took over and I never got around to it. I actually wrote this particular post on my way to Atlanta in February 2015 – it’s taken me a year to publish.

I just love fried chicken. I know what you’re thinking. How very truly stereotypical. I mean I can live without chicken. If I were on a desert island (yes, sometimes I do think about this) and I had a choice of fish or chicken for the rest of my life, I would choose fish every time. Especially if seafood is thrown into that category. The options for fish outweigh chicken so much. There are so many types, ways to cook it and it never gets boring.

But chicken is SO good. I seriously don’t understand how vegetarians can give it up!

Clockjack – Rotisserie Chicken in the heart of Piccadilly

Last year, the UK was still partaking in the burger revolution. I couldn’t keep up with the number of restaurants springing up dedicated to burgers, some of which I am still yet to work my way around. Meanwhile, for those that wanted something a little more “clucky”, two and a half years ago, Clockjack opened its doors in London as the first specialist rotisserie chicken restaurant featuring high tech rotisserie ovens.

I recently visited Clockjack on behalf of tastecard to sample review, on a day when I was hot-desking in London and wanted a tasty but healthy lunch which would give me energy for my gym session I had planned for the evening. Clockjack fitted the bill as it’s extremely rare that you find chicken that has been cooked in such a healthy manner.

Barbican Lounge Lunch – Hidden Gem amongst Brutalist Beast

It’s all been a bit quiet on the tastecard front recently. Work, life and finding nice places to visit has been a slight challenge – but I had a nice treat a couple of weeks ago when I took my key agency contact out for lunch around the corner from her office.

The Barbican Centre is an institution in itself. Famous for the arts and located in the City of London – it is the largest of its kind in Europe. The design of the building is Grade II listed and a brutalist style building – most people would think hideously ugly but brutalist buildings are very sought after and a big deal these days! I LOVE them.

Would you consider eating there? I wouldn’t have until last week, but largely because I didn’t know you could! However my latest tastecard adventure took me small plate exploring at their exquisitely designed Barbican Lounge.

Cristina’s Restaurant – The Best Steak in Barking

There are times where I think about my first childhood home. It was a great house. Largely because of the space. A massive loft, cellar and kitchen as well as a through lounge, in “proper” East London – Forest Gate to be exact. All this despite it being a terraced house. My parents decided we should move when I was nine years old because they didn’t rate the secondary schools in the area and wanted better schooling for me – many parents have similar challenges in life! To this day I always say “if only you could pick up your house and move it to your ideal area”. The same could be applied to restaurants in some cases.

Award Winning Louis Delaunay Champagne £8 (down from £25.99) at Tesco

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a post on HotUKDeals earlier this week regarding a deal at Tesco on champagne.

’tis the season for supermarkets to slash their prices on beers, wines and spirits and the likes of Lidl and Aldi have been doing a good job on the wines front this Christmas.

This week, Tesco made their position very clear by slashing the price of their award winning champagne Louis Delaunay from £25.99 to £8.