Lobster Festival at Smithfields Market | The Blackhouse Grill, London

I’m always on a quest to visit restaurants serving seafood, (ok this fact you already knew about FoodieClaire) so I jumped at the opportunity to visit Blackhouse – The Grill on the Market Restaurant in Smithfields, London. I had been sent an email about their Lobster Festival, which has been running throughout the month of March. I thought it would be a great excuse to visit my first restaurant in Smithfields – an area I previously associated with viewing from the confines of a black cab en route to client meetings back in my agency days.

The timing was perfect as Chanelle had decided that she was going to stop being boring during throughout weekdays in 2013 and start partying instead. Well we weren’t quite having a party – but eating seafood does kind of get us excited…

Barrio East VIP Press Launch | 141-143 Shoreditch High Street London E1 6JN | La Boca Barrio Boom Boom Room

Those creative thinkers have pulled out another stop introducing Shoreditch to the Barrio family as I found out recently having attended the VIP opening for their latest addition – Barrio East.

The dying crappy “nothing bar” Avalon had finally been shut down (cue cheers all round, really was a weird place), the underground brothel walls were knocked through and bright sunshine paint and South American fusion music entered in its place to infuse Shoreditch High Street into a way of socialising that Poland and Upper Street have already embraced.

Google Event #GoogleMeatCrawl | Beard to Tail, Tramshed and Death by Burrito @ Catch

Who in their right mind would participate in a meat crawl of three different venues? Sounds like something you’d see in Man vs. Food doesn’t it? Well the Google+ Local team made it happen and I am eternally grateful for the privilege of being invited along.

Our locale this time still remained to be East London (have to say these East adventures really agree with me) and first stop was Beard to Tail in Curtain Road – haven’t heard of it? Well neither had I til I looked it up.

Cabana Brasilian Barbecue Restaurant Taster Event | 7 Central St. Giles Piazza, London WC2H 8AD

This past weekend, I attended a food tasting session at Cabana Brasilian Barbecue restaurant in Central St. Giles Piazza to road test the newest addition to their menus; Combos.

Going Gaga over Espresso Martini by Gaggia

Happy New Year!

It’s been a busy one – apologies for the (wow) 2.5 month absence (smacks wrists). I’ve changed jobs again! I’ve left the world of digital media agencies and entered the client side world of fashion retail. So understandably that, coupled with Christmas – it’s been bu-sy…

So New Year… New ideas – drinks on FoodieClaire (that’s a first).

I’ve always been a fan of cocktails, this will come as no surprise if you know me – and I, like many have a deep love for good quality coffee. I don’t think a good latte is produced by the likes of Costa Coffee and the laughable Starbucks.