bubbles again... but this time with a Japanese twist

As the oldest champagne house in the Moet Hennessy portfolio, Ruinart prides itself on remaining true to its roots whilst also moving creatively and innovatively with the times. As such, Ruinart has collaborated with Japanese design house Nendo, and artist Oki Sato to create a stunning gift box. This will be launched in the UK by Oki Sato at the design, contemporary art and antiques fair : Masterpiece 2011.

A multi-functional, multifaceted box, Nendo has drawn inspiration from nature and the skies, with Kotoli’s literal translation being ‘small bird’. As well as a bottle of Blanc de Blancs champagne in the box, Nendo has designed two beautiful champagne flutes and a delicate bottle stopper which doubles up as champagne flute holder

Ca'Bolani Wine Dinner with Friuli cuisine

I was very lucky to be invited to a Zonin wine tasting dinner earlier this week. The wine as expected was perfect.

The venue was Bacco in Richmond. Lovely space with a decked terrace, very nice indeed.

We have a hearty 4 courses of wonderful Italian food ahead of us so i didnt want over over indulge on the 'Cichetti Misti' aka canapes.

And so the evening went something like this ...

Welcome Aperitivo

Cichetti misti (small bites)

Polenta chips with fresh black truffle very nice love a bit of polenta 

Crostini of smoked eel - my friend loved these - i wasnt too fussed. 

Fagottino of puff pastry with Montasio cheese - ok 

San Daniele ham wrapped home made herbs grissini - ok, apparently this ham is the king of parma hams 

With a glass of Prosecco frizzante Ca’Bolani - my new fav bubbles!!

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Prosciutto stagionato di San Daniele con zucca

Aged San Daniele ham served with grilled butternut squash- Didnt like this at all, cold butternut squash, what? 

With a glass of Traminer Ca’Bolani- Unoaked 2010 with a very aromatic nose, very floral which would be lost if oaked. Straw yellow with golden highlights

~ ~ ~

Ravioli di granseola con brodetto alla Triestina

Home made crab ravioli with crustaceous broth - not really a broth more like a gravy - again a bit of a let down here. 

With a glass of Pinot Bianco Ca’Bolani - This comes from the Pinot Noir family and has been awarded "the three glasses' award. Grown close to the sea the vines are kept healthy, it is best drank with food like pasta.

~ ~ ~

Costolette d’agnello alla griglia servito con tortino di patate

Grilled lamb cutlets served with cheese, onion and potato cake - This was lovely very well cooked lamb and 3 cutlets which is always good. the 'cake' was actually very tasty too. 

With a glass of Refosco 2005 Ca’Bolani - Red, i dont do red but it was nice. Its so old that the Romans drank it. From my notes i can see that i didnt like the smell ?

~ ~ ~

Torta di pere marinate al vino dolce con salsa di mascarpone 

Marinated pear cake served with mascarpone & orange zest mousse - didnt like this either so no coment really. 

A glass of Ramandolo Zuccolo - not for me far too sweet but if you like dessert wines its very good i am told. 

We were also treated to a very special Pure Sauvignon Blanc from Friuli. This was my favourite - so much so we bought an extra bottle for the table - very good indeed!!!! 

All the wonderful wines are available from Zonin www.casavinicolazonin.it

cheap and quick lunch in soho

Popped out for a bite to eat last week in soho. Thai was the chose of the day @siam - two courses for £8.95 very good value i thought. The service was superb, the food - good portion sizes and tasty good. I was very pleased indeed. I will go back again for sure. I must say though i think i would go back again mostly because the service was so good.

I had pad thai - how wrong can you go?

Good service will make or break!

Aubaine on High street ken for a work lunch. This new restaurant looks lovely, very trendy and fresh. The waitress was very grumpy. The food, good, I think... On this occasion I ordered rather badly- crab salad- covered with an avocado mayo dressing. It looked very pretty, just a little rich for me.
I don't know what the bill was but the menu prices were those to be expected, around 9-18pounds for a main.

Don't think I would recommend it or bother going again. 

A foodie in Aldebrough

A little romantic get away last weekend to Aldebrough meant lots of food and lots of good wine. We had lunch and cream tea and dinner all in the space of about 7 hours. Dinner was at The Regatta on the high street, we chose this purely because of the specials. We had been recommend to go the Light House but didnt like the look of the menu. 

The Regatta www.regattaaldeburgh.com

Wonderful fresh Lobster and Crab and salmon - all just to die for. It was so so good and the service was excellent. The best dish was my boyfriends - he had home smoked salmon three ways and smoked prawns which i didnt like the sound of but it was all super yummy! 

Afternoon cream tea - www.brudenellhotel.co.uk

Pretty standard but we were on our hotel terrace in the sun next to the sea so made it all ten times better! 

total let down

A new concept on trail at Zizzi's, small dishes of Italian food kind of tapas but Italian.

So we thought we would go and check it out - my message to them is DONT DO IT! it was terrible, so bad that the only good thing was the bread board and thats from the regular menu. I will let the photos do the talking on this occasion. 

Mr smoker

Amazing!! Amazing home smoked rib of beef! Over Easter or actually i think it may have been Royal wedding day we popped to a fellow foodies for a bbq. And he did not fail to impress, a massive tablet shaped smoker sat proudly next to his bbq where sat a massive rib of beef slowly cooking away. It was just delicious! He severed simple on a think cut of toasted white bread rubber generously with a garlic clove.

I hope the picture says it all - i know every time i see it my mouth starts to water. 

Here's to you mr smoker!

Good old Ping Pong

Haven't been for a while, never really disappoints. We had the pork buns with we always have, it was good, the service was good the food was good and the price was good. We had procesco and about 7 dishes, including some asparagus- well it is asparagus season, but this I must say were a little over cooked. 

So that little lot came to 38pound including service charge. I don't think that's too bad. 

Finally we go to Polpo

So finally after many attempts we go to polpo, the amazing polpo. Well no not in this case, we waited what seems to be the "mandatory" "just over an hour" wait. Which of course you end up drinking in the tiny cramped bar area. This is all fine, we knew there would be a wait so I really shouldn't moan about that. 

So on to the food... We ordered their signature meatballs dish, some pork wrapped in pancetta, arancini, aka those amazing Italian rice balls and asparagus in an anchovies butter  melt artichokes. 

The verdict ... It was very disappointing. The signature meatballs were dry and over cooked and pork was also very over cooked and the rest was just average. Apart from the asparagus, that was lovely, but maybe an anchovy or two too many. 

All in all I won't be going back. 



No photos i am afraid as it was just too dark.


www.polpo.co.uk

Breakfast in a caravan ...l

Breakfast at the lovely Exmouth market. Bit of a trek to be honest but worth it. We had a lovely breakfast with all sorts on offer. I went with two poached eggs with blackpudding and toast. It was very good service great food and a lovely relax atmosphere. Would defiantly go back but as its a little out the way for me I probably won't. But if you in that next of the woods check it out. www.caravanonexmouth.co.uk

The best bubbles in the world are Zonin bubbles!

Being a girl that loves bubbles its seems odd to me that I haven't yet written about them. I have always preferred to drink the fizz, its so much more that just a drink, it's the glass, the sense of occasion, the sound of the cork and the sound of thousands of tiny bubbles racing to the top. 

I have never been too fussy either until late. Now I am not sure if this is down to age or experience or dare I say possible both, dont get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with a little drop of cava from time to time but its always nice to have the good stuff if you can. 

And It is with this in mind that I call to your attention to my favourite new number one fizz to drink.... Prosecco Doc Spumante Brut from Zonin! 

Made with 100% Glera grapes using the traditional Charmat method, this Prosecco is a beautiful bright pale straw yellow in colour, with intense fruity bouquet of apples and flowers all of which work perfectly to create a well-balanced and deliciously delicate almond note, typical of the Glera grape.

The perfect bubble of all bubbles to share with friends. Its great to pair with a light and crisp summer salad. Or if you're like me... just pair it with fine sunshine and exception company! 

Casa Vinicola Zonin Spa - Via Borgolecco, 9 36053 Gambellara - Vicenza 

 www. zonin.it

New new new! Douwe Egberts coffee

New and brilliant Aromettes by Douwe Egberts amazing compressed coffee. A very clever little way of delivering flavour conveniently and with minimum mess. The tub/tin comes with 30 individually pressed ground coffee servings in the shape of a large over sized coffee bean, so no need to grind, spoon, measure or in my case spill. You simply take a bean for each person drinking and drop t in to the cafetiere and then add water. 

I must confess I am not a massive coffee drinker in fact I dont drink it so when it came to the tasting I tested it out on my boyfriend and his family over the lovely Easter weekend. And what better time with the over eating we did it was quite fitting and perfect timing to have such brilliant coffee to hand. 

The general feeling was good, they loved the compressed beans and loved the flavour too! All in all its a bit of a winner! Everyone said they would buy it but it, so it must be good! 

Pick some up for yourself from £3.69 and they are available in two varieties (Intense Aroma and Smooth Aroma) exclusively from Tesco. 

The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants Awards

Monday night I was lucky enough you be invited to The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants awards. 
I have added a video link below of the top 5 receiving their awards. All the expected super culinary names where there from Heston, Raymond Blanc to Fergus Henderson in his butchers apron suit and the beautiful Gizzi Erskine. 
Please let me apologise in advance for my somewhat less than steady hand on the recording. 


Link to the awards here

London's Secret drinking spot

Ok ok not so secret... thanks Stylist magazine and now Evening Standard too!


My friend and i went here last week and felt super cool and with it! hahah 


We were told by our lovely waiter at dean street town house to check out a new little speak easy in china town, yes you heard correct, china town. So we popped along after dinner. And sure enough right where he said was a door a beaten up door no sign no nothing. So we asked the guy and up we went. We walked up to which could only be described as a little like an old members club, a mix of people, business men, Chinese, the super cool and then us. It was really lovely, set over three floors they have love jazz most nights. Now the cocktails were amazing! I have the Basil one and my friend went for the poppy seed one. We also asked for signal measure as my friend was driving and i'm a wimp with cocktails. They were happy to help and we both ended up with amazing cocktails which also by the way were half the price. 


I pinched a menu for you to see the drinks on offer. 


Its amazing we will defiantly be going back, thats if the whole of London doesn't start going there!

the new place on everyones lips

Dinner at Spuntino. So it the new offering from the genius behind polpo and Polpetto! Needless to say we were not disappointed! We arrived at a site on Rupert Street Soho with no signage apart from a scribbled name on the corner of the rusted outside of the restaurant. We arrived and were immediately met by a queue we decided to wait it out after we were advise that we would be seated between 45mins to an hour. We have a drink, 2 small house white to which we were given a very small 500ml carafe, very nice, oh and water glasses no less to drink it from.

We waited and we ordered some fried stuffed olives... Very yummy.

We sat, ordered... Mac and cheese, soft shell crab and salt beef. All amazing particularly the mac and cheese! Just delicious at least a500g of cheese! We got the bill as wanted to check out a new secret speak easy bar round the corner for cocktails.

All in all very very good menu, wine, service and surprising, value!

Would totally recommend to all!!

i know terrible pic but it was only candle light in there. This is our fried stuffed olives and our little carafe of wine as we waited.  

I WANT AN EASTER EGG!

So every year I moan to my poor boyfriend..."please get me an Easter egg". I never get one and then the next one comes and I moan more. This year he has promised - so to help him on his way I have discovered the king of egg's Chococo.

Chococo’s have a delicious new range of Easter treats, all freshly handmade in Wareham, Dorset. From its Union Jack Egg through to its Mini Dorset Duck eggs, there’s something for everyone and most of all for me! 

All the eggs are made from Venezuelan Carenero Superior bean chocolate and carefully hand decorated to add that extra special touch. All the large eggs come presented nestling inside Chococo’s iconic Easter multi-coloured egg box - which features cut out window patterns on the side with a heart, a flower, a bird in flight and Easter eggs as the shapes.

www.chococo.co.uk