Nordic Afternoon Tea at Aster, Victoria

Its no secret that I love cinnamon buns. 50% of the few recipes I've posted so far this year have all been bun related. My quest for the year is to learn the perfect knot and unlock cinnamon bun superstardom.

So when I was invited down to Aster in Victoria to try their new Nordic afternoon tea, firstly I was thrilled to try their cinnamon buns. And secondly, I love Nordic food so was intrigued as to how they'd translate it into an afternoon tea menu.

First up, cocktails and bubbles. My choice was the Greenway with gin, St Germain, matcha tea syrup, fresh basil and lemon juice. Super fresh and infinitely better than a matcha latte, i.e. matcha with gin!

For savouries, Atlantic prawn skagen on sourdough, blackcurrant herring with egg on dark rye and pork rolls with aquavit mustard. I love Finnish egg butter karelian pies so was thrilled to see it on the menu in an open sandwich. 

And for sweets, cinnamon knots, blueberry pie rye croute and lingonberry macarons. The softest macarons around with lingonberries sourced straight from Finland.

Executive chef Helena Puolakka then gave us a demonstration on how to make the best cinnamon knot. Gone are the days of a big roll and slicing each bun, its all about knots to keep optimum filling in each and to maintain light airy buns. It really does make the difference!

If you fancy getting your fika on, I thoroughly recommend Aster's and its such a gorgeous venue! Served from 3.00pm-5.00pm everyday for just £20 a head, you can't go wrong.

For more information, and to drool over the menu, take a look here.

Thanks to Sheepa for inviting me, I had a fab time. Although my food was complimentary, all opinions are my own.

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Rum & Sugar, West India Quays

Situated in an old Grade 1 listed warehouse in West India Quay, Rum & Sugar offers one of London's most extensive rum collections. Showcasing our Dockland history, this is exactly where rum and sugar was stored in London when it was shipped over from the Caribbean. Now reincarnated into a rum bar with a modern British menu, you couldn't get a better location.

Last week I was invited over to try out their new Spring menu and to try my hand at making some rum cocktails. Sounds pretty harmless, right?

We settled in with a little initiation to our evening with a cocktail made with rum, vermouth, apple and ginger. Some bar snacks including pulled chicken twists, chilli cheese fritters and sweet potato crackers. Anywhere with snacks before the main event is a winner in my books.

Then to actually start we had beetroot cured salmon, smoked potato salad with a beetroot and spiced rum purée. Beetroot has a natural affinity for salmon, perfectly earthy and great with smoked potatoes and the tang of the purée.

Next up, herb crusted cod, red pepper ragù with a peppered leak velouté. Deliciously tender cod with a fresh lift with the piquant ragù. Who needs fish and chips when you can have crispy leaks like this.

Sweet cajun glazed chicken salad: avocado mousse, crispy shallots, semi dried tomatoes, grilled baby gem and parmesan crisps. I'd eat salad every day if it could be like this one. 

And my absolute favourite, baked chocolate ganache, orange caramel, salted nut brittle and clotted cream. There's no doubt that I'm going to try and recreate this at home.

Suitably stuffed, we moved up to the bar to learn some cocktail making tips. It turns out that free pouring isn't as easy as it looks but great fun for giving generous measures! We started off with a dirty mojito made with Ron Barceló Gran Añejo, a dark rum aged for 4 years in an oak barrel and then passed through a charcoal filter. Mixed with equal parts of sugar syrup and lime juice, some slapped mint (a little trick to intensify aromas) and muddled with crushed ice.

Then onto another favourite of mine, Cosmos. Instead of the regular Cointreau we went for an apricot  white rum, shaken with two parts lime juice and one part cranberry juice. I may need to practice my Boston Shaker moves but my drinks cupboard is definitely going to be stocked with more rum now so I can recreated this at home.

My night at Rum & Sugar reminded me of a holiday in the Dominican Republic a few years ago, rum-soaked and full of great food. I shall most certainly return to try the rest of the menu. Its been a long time since I've been this excited by a restaurant in London.

Thanks to the fabulous Rum & Sugar team and Shy PR for inviting me and for their hospitality. All rum-soaked opinions are my own.

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Food in August

August has been a bit of a mixed month, in weather and in recipes. I've been baking less and eating out more, never a bad thing. But now seasons are changing, I'm excited for cooler days and to get my slow cooker out once again. I've been flicking through crisp new cookbooks and pinning away on Pinterest for inspiration.

So without further a do, here are some of my favourite things from the last few weeks.

As August is my birthday month, I always look forward to getting some new cookbooks. I did get a few and have excitedly flicked my way through each and bookmarked recipes I'd like to try. As always, I'm always looking to add more to my collection. What do you recommend?

I'm absolutely in love with Gizzi's newest book, its so well presented. Some of the meals may take extra time to make so will be saving that for days off and weekends. I also won Anna Mae's book on a Twitter competition, there's some great cheesy recipes but also sweets and pickles.

I never used to be too fond of Gin. I'd have cocktails with Gin in, but never a Gin and tonic. I don't know what happened but somewhere along the way I have now become almost too fond of it!

My favourite gin so far (other than Tanqueray, darling) is Half Hitch. Made in Camden Lock using a combination of traditional copper pots and modern day vacuum distillation, the guys at HH add black tea and bergamot to their gin, made in small batches for optimum results.

Here, I made my own version of a French 75 cocktail, a pink one! For these I eyeballed my measures, but something around 40ml gin, 15ml fresh lemon juice a dash of pomegranate syrup and topped up with your choice of fizz. I had some Lanson floating around and decided to use that, cava would work equally well.

New to the Fitzrovia area, Percy & Founders offer a great all-day menu. Tucked away round the corner from Goodge Street, there's space for 200 covers with a few different dining and lounge areas to tuck yourself into. I popped over there to check out their burger, naturally, and couldn't leave before trying their peanut butter parfait also.

I shall definitely be returning for more PB parfaits! I also really enjoyed their burger. Its one of those places you can take 'grown ups' and still have a burger yourself. I.e. parent friendly restaurants.

And that, my friends, pretty much sums up August. Short and sweet. September is already looking jam packed and I'm excited to get cracking on those recipes!

I'll also be loading up a brand new blog header from the super lovely Angie B Studio. I'm excited to finally finish the last step of updating my blog and have loved working with Angie, she just knew exactly what I wanted (even if I didn't know before!).

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Review: Hide and Seed, Putney

This review is perhaps a little overdue. But I've been thinking a lot about my favourite burgers recently, naturally, and realised I'd missed this gem. 

Alex from Zomato kindly offered me voucher to try Hide and Seed in Putney knowing full well how much I love burgers.

Located just 5 minutes walk from East Putney station on the district line, or 15 minutes walk from Putney High Street, Hide and Seed is part of Lodge Hotel. The restaurant itself is situated on the ground floor, just off the lobby. The elegant dining room has a relaxed library style and a wall of black and white sporting photos, all very modern (if a little dark).

Whilst perusing the menu I ordered a cocktail from the bar. I'd like to say that it had bourbon, raspberry and prosecco in, but since I have the memory of a goldfish and there's no trace of their cocktail list online, I can't say for certain. The drinks list is quite substantial in terms of the bar's own cocktails and some classics.

We opted to get stuck into the mains straight away and both went for burgers. For boy, the hide burger (£14.50) and for me the seed burger (£12.50). Boy's hide burger was an 8oz patty with homemade BBQ sauce and a brioche bun. I managed to steal a few bites! It was cooked perfectly medium with a good balance of BBQ sauce. There was no doubt this patty was freshly made and hand formed. I'd definitely go back to enjoy one to myself.

In order to try something different (I do love my beef burgers) I opted for the veggie equivalent. The 'burger' itself was a little disappointing; breaded potato, carrots and peas. But the toppings made up for it. The burger was covered in a generous serving of melted cheese and the bun loaded with some fresh leaves, avocado slices, onion and gherkins. There was some of their homemade BBQ sauce but I feel that it could have done with something punchier, like a chilli jam. Not necessarily a bad thing, but when I say the bun was loaded with extras, it really was. This is the first burger I have ever eaten fully with a knife and fork, far too messy to pick up. Perhaps the bun could have been bigger to allow for the generous amount of toppings?

Onto dessert, we both had our eye on the same thing; chocolate textures (£7.50). But, in the name of research, I ordered the Pink Panther cake (£7.50) for myself allowing Boy the chocolate honour.

Boy's chocolate textures was served on a small slate tile, scattered with a few different components: layered chocolate mousse, a chocolate profiterole and chocolate crumbs and was decorated with fruit and chocolate work. There was a lot going on! Again, I stole a little taster. The mousse was a good balance of light and rich between the layers and the presentation was great.

I have mixed feelings about my Pink Panther cake. Again, the presentation was outstanding. There was plenty of fresh fruit, a drizzle of coulis, some shortbread crumbs, a scoop of homemade ice cream and even some spun sugar. The cake itself was a gorgeous looking 3 layer sponge, sandwich between fresh cream and had a pink frosting topping. The sponge perhaps wasn't as light and fluffy as it could have been; perhaps had been stored in the fridge and had left it a little dry. The pink frosting was a little too sweet but there wasn't too much of it and the ice cream always helps.

We visited late in the afternoon, 5pm, on a Friday and it was completely empty. I'd have expected a few people to be at least seated for Friday afternoon drinks, but there was only a small group sat at the bar itself just round the corner. I'm sure it would have picked up as the evening went on, especially with restaurants south of the river becoming increasingly more popular.

It did mean that, as hungry as we were, we got through our meal quickly and enjoyed an early evening stroll through town. The waiter was very friendly and attentive with just us to serve.

I'd definitely recommend Hide and Seed to anyone looking for cocktails and/or burgers in the area. The hide burger in particular. I should imagine its also a good restaurant for hotel guests fancying some of their small plates, or perhaps a wine and cheese board night cap.

Zomato kindly offered me complimentary vouchers to go which was a lovely gesture. All views are my own - I was not asked to feature this on my blog, just wanted to recommend cocktails and burgers!

Review: Galvin at Windows, Mayfair

Up on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane, Galvin at Windows offers awesome views of our fair city.  The contemporary style French menu from chef Chris Galvin is also as picture pretty as the views.

Both Neelam and Deena celebrate their birthday's within a few days of each other so we decided to book a table and celebrate. To start, we enjoyed Galvin's summer spritzer made with watermelon juice and Prosecco. 

Once seated we were offered some postcards to send to friends and family 'to make them envious of our view'. A nice touch from the hotel, who will send any postcard worldwide.

To start, I opted for a salad of heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, goats curd, black olive caramel and stem ginger. Light and refreshing, just what I needed after sitting in the park during the hottest day of the year.

Both N and D went for the fillet of sea trout 'mi-cut', peas, heritage radish and smoked trout pâté. Gorgeously presented, delicate fish with a scattering of pea shoots.

For mains, N went for the saddle of rabbit, pancetta, sweetcorn, liver, truffle and Madeira jus. Succulent, tender and perfectly balanced with the crunch of popcorn and the sweetness of the creamed sweetcorn. 

D enjoyed the roasted fillet of Cornish cod, brandade, samphire and red pepper ketchup. I'm already looking forward to recreating this ketchup at home, Heinz will never be the same again! Large white flakes of cod and crisp, salty samphire are the perfect pair.

And, in order to cover as much of the menu as possible, I had the tarte fine of summer vegetables, gorgonzola and basil pesto. The seasonal vegetables were perfectly presented on a thin square of pastry. It was perfectly crisp and buttery, but as a pastry lover, there could have been a little more. The pesto was a little on the rich side, but nothing another glass of wine couldn't balance!

For dessert, N had the apricot and cherry almond tart with verbena ice cream. A light sponge with baked in cherries and apricot dotted around the plate.

And my favourite, equatorial chocolate ganache, mint chantilly and earl grey tea ice cream. I'd have been more than happy to have taken a gallon of the ice cream home, such a great flavour with the rich chocolate ganache. 

To finish, our waiter bought over a selection of homemade marshmallows and chocolate truffles. Both N and D had never tried 'proper' marshmallows before and were well impressed with the strawberry and passionfruit flavours.

We all enjoyed our experience at Galvin at Windows, the impressive views and food. Although I do feel that prices were a little pricey, especially on the drinks front. We arrived early and was ushered to the bar to wait for our table to be ready. Most cocktails on the menu were around £17 so felt a little out of place not ordering anything whilst waiting for the table, however impressive they looked. A bottle of Pinot Grigio started at £34 too.

Our meal was part of a set menu for a Groupon voucher, two courses and a summer spritzer for £37. With dessert, water and service charge it was bumped up to £52 a head, with no extra wine/cocktails.

I look forward to trying a few things at home: the red pepper ketchup, earl grey ice cream and passionfruit marshmallows.



As mentioned, we paid for our meal and were not guests of the restaurant. All opinions are my own.

Food in June

Lemon and blueberry yogurt loaf

I've dusted off the cobwebs on an old recipe, this lemon and blueberry yogurt loaf I made for Onken's #OnkenTips campaign. The loaf is fabulously light and fresh, with the help of a quick squeeze of lemon juice when pulled from the oven. So far I haven't shared any, I've eaten half and stowed the rest in the freezer for emergency cake situations.

June Degusta box*

I received my first Degusta Box in the post this week and can proudly say that there's not much left. I'm thoroughly impressed with everything so far, including delivery notifications and how carefully packed everything was. Each month comes filled with different food items to try and is a great way of topping up with cupboards and trying new things.

This June picnic box comes with a variety of soft drinks, snacks, a fruit cider and vodka ice lolly. Stay tuned for a recipe using the coconut sugar; something I've wanted to try out for a while now.

Pip & Nut

Any snacks that come in a handbag friendly form get a thumbs up from me. I recently ordered a mixed box of Pip & Nut nut butter squeeze packs to try after stalking them for a while on Twitter. Their nut butters are completely free from nasties, just nuts, roasted and sprinkled with a little salt. Handy to stow away in your work locker, handbag, car or to take out for a boost mid-run these have certainly come in handy over the last few weeks.

My favourite way to enjoy these have been squeezed over a banana whilst reading my Kindle on the train to work, to dunk apple chunks in whilst watching OINTB curled up on the sofa or drizzled over my porridge to keep me going on night shifts at work.

Extra hot chilli sauce

I like making all manner of condiments, most especially chilli jam. But when I spotted a recipe for extra-hot chilli sauce in Waitrose's June magazine and thought I'd give it a go. The men in my family are hot sauce aficionados, so I altered the quantities and added a larger amount of scotch bonnet chillies to ensure this gave a good kick.

To make this extra-hot sauce, you will need to roast 100g red chillis, 50g scotch bonnets, 250g cherry tomatoes, 3 skin on garlic cloves and 1 halved red onion for 25 minutes. Once roasted, remove from the oven and remove the stalks from the chillies and place into a blender. Squeeze in the garlic and the onion free from skin. Add 6 tbsp water, 4 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp dijon mustard and 1 tbsp honey. Blitz for a few minutes until smooth. Be careful when opening up the blender, it'll be hotter than Daenerys' dragon's breath. Pour into spare jam jars or bottles.

Jim Beam's Bourbon BBQ Sauce*

To follow up from last week's post, that dreamy Jim Beam bourbon BBQ sauce is available to buy in Sainsbury's stores from this week. After using most of the jar in my BBQ shredded chicken sandwiches, I've used the dregs to stir through some baked beans for a little mix up. It tastes great!

Zomato app

If you're into eating out, and you haven't already, you must download the Zomato app. Its a great way of being able to see reviews for nearby restaurants and you can even upload your own reviews and photos. I love being able to follow friends and to have a nose at where they've been and what they chose on menus! The app itself is seamless and super easy to use.

Check out where I've been eating, here.

Sugru*

I'm genuinely intrigued and looking forward to getting some fixing and organising done with a pack that was sent to me to try. Essentially, its described as play dough for adults. Its a material that dries and sets firm so you can use it to organise your kitchen knives or to fix wonky drawers. So far I've used some to stick a hook up for tea towels and its super strong. I'm looking forward to taking some inspiration from their suggested kitchen hacks as well and will report back!

Recipes I've bookmarked to try:

Brookies - Jo from Every Nook and Cranny

Greek pork souvlaki with tzatziki and homemade pitta bread - Lucy from Supergolden Bakes

Gin and tonic ice lollies - Kirsty from A Dash of Ginger

Stay tuned, I have a giveaway coming up for one reader to win next month's box. Or, use the code '98VWM' to get £3 off which will last until the end of October.

Items marked with an * were sent to me to try out. I have not been paid for any posts and, as always, all views are my own.