Taste of London: Regents Park

I ruuuuv food. I ruv fine dining, but not the rip-me-off-and-take-my-money-please type of fine dining. The Taste Festivals are the perfect way of sampling food at otherwise unaffordable restaurants. I'm also happy to hear that that the festivals have reached the Antipodes. Yay! *clap clap*

So happy to eat food!

Well I was hoping for a sunny, summer's day but of course, we got nothing of the sort. At least it wasn't too cold or worse yet - raining. The restaurants on show this year included Pearl, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Le Gavroche and Salt Yard. I wish I kept the menu of the food on offer from each of the exhibitors but hmmm I threw it out once I was full. The £20 worth of Crowns (the festival's currency) included with my ticket didn't seem like much given that dishes cost about 4 - 8 Crowns each. But when we realised that £20 was 40 Crowns, that seemed allllll the much better.

My first dish - Monkfish. From which restaurant, I don't know, maybe Zilli. I love monkfish.

Mmmm scallops. Smell soooo good....

Judging from the sign in the background, one can only assume that this the pork roast from Canteen.

So I'm assuming that this pork roast roll with apple sauce is also from Canteen. Succulent? Yes, indeed.

Can't wait to eat up!

The one dish I do know. A 'classic lobster creamed soup flavoured with brandy' from Le Gavroche. I only know this because Kahoons has it on facebook. Soup doesn't look anything fancy but there was small lobster tail in the bottom. Tasty too!

Another one from Le Gavroche. Braised beef with scalloped potatoes. Very heavy food but tasty nonetheless. The meat was so tender and just melted in your mouth.


My dessert of choice. Chocolate mousse from Joel Robuchon. They had these amazing mini hamburgers but had run out by the time I got there :(

Doesn't sound like I disliked any of the dishes I sampled eh? It probably helps that I'm not particularly fussy. Afterwards we walked around the stalls to sample wine, spirits, cakes, chocolate and anything else that was thrust in our face. Fresh Spanish jamon was available right off the pig's leg:

Kicking it to ya, piggy-style.

A novelty sized soy sauce bottle. Me getting sucked in by novelty-sized objects.

For those with an appreciation for food, this will be a great afternoon out. Anyone who is fussy and unadventurous, you might as well crawl under a rock and eat your plain food. I can't wait to go again next year!

Strictly Gershwin

I've heard of George Gershwin - 'I got rhythm, some-thing, some-thing, I got some-thing, ne-neh neh neh ne-ne-ne-neeeh...!'

Ok I do know a little bit more than that but admittedly not that much. I know he played the piano and was a modern composer with jazz influences. I know he wrote Rhapsody in Blue though I couldn't recall what it actually was until I heard it played this evening. For those who need a reminder, here you go:

I'm not a fan of ballet. I certainly don't hate it, my hand just doesn't fly up quickly when there are tickets to a performance. Gershwin music with the English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall - yeah why not?

Strictly Gershwin for the ballet purists would probably be disappointing. The hall is intended for orchestral performances, not stage ballets. It was huge! It was kinda like looking at an ice skating rink. Good thing that they had some roller-skating folk during the show. The tap dancing routines were good too. The ballet was good, but what would I know anyway.

Did I enjoy the show? Yes, I did. Would I watch it again? No, why would I do that? Though I'd probably go watch another ballet, but it would be one aimed at the masses, like... The Nutcracker.

Les Mis

A late 'yes' to cheap tickets meant that I was watching Les Miserables tonight. I last saw the musical about 10 years ago while in uni. I was quite looking forward to this production mainly because it's been a long time since my previous viewing.

Cheap tickets = cheap seats and we ended up in the upper circle. Seat H7 to be exact. I felt this view was even worse/more steep than the theatre where Marguerite was staged. I found myself squinting even though I knew it would make no difference! At this angle I was able to see the background staff rearranging the stage and the dead people being 'dead' hehehe.

I do feel my money was somewhat wasted. I detest not being able to view the actors faces clearly when watching theatre. I'll happily go back and watch it again but in better seats. The actor who played Jean Valjean was just excellent. Cosette was ... ok. Eponine was.... ok. For those who haven't seen Les Mis, the entire dialogue is sung which is a little different to most newer stage productions and can be a little off-putting and draining. Still it's one of the world's longest running musicals for a reason, so if you haven't seen, make your judgements after you have.

Big Asian Dance Party

Well last night was always gonna be a big night - the birthday of three Asian Aussies. I knew two of them so my right to be invited was justified. With the invite list stretching out to 200+, it was well on the way on being written into folklore. The surprising thing about London is the lack of Asian people. Or Orientals as we're known here - such a colonial term. I guess it's all relative - Australia's proximity to the rest of Asia = accessibility.

Anyway when I walked into the club Loop, I felt like I had just turned back time and that I was walking into the infamous Salt nightclub or RnB Superclub. Poor ventilation was included for added atmosphere. It is somewhat sad to still be clubbing at my old age (hahaha) but I do find that the London clubbers tend to be of the late 20s variety. Probably because this demographic can actually afford the entrance fee, drinks and cab ride home.

The music was a mix of pop, rnb and 80s classics and the highlight of the night was when they played the Ghostbusters theme. Sad. Even sadder was my pretending to hold a proton gun. Even more sadder was Kahoons' proton gun retaliation. Good thing no one took photos of that.

Stacks on!!!

Hai SuBoo! Happy birthday!

One of the most fun nights I've had out in aagggeess!

Threading

Here's a free advert if you want one. SuBoo, Kt and I went for a group defuzzing session last night at Sajna after I complimented a friend on the state of her eyebrows. It wasn't the best day to venture to South London on the Northern line with our intended station closed and us three having to get off one earlier stop and walk the rest of the way. Whingeing from the non-exercising folk (I won't say who, but you know who you are) resulted.

This was the first time I was having my eyebrows and moustache threaded. Too much info? Well too bad. This form of epilation has always been a fascination to me as I've never had the opportunity to have it done and I don't know of any salons in Oz which do it, though I'm sure they exist. I mean using a cotton thread to remove hair? Wtf?? Anyway, I'm willing to try anything at least once.

Plucking and bleaching have been my methods of choice for the past few years. Waxing eyebrows are fine, but I'd only ever had that done once and have managed to maintain a relatively good shape since. Waxing of the mo is another story. I stuck to bleaching as my last resort. Too many times (okay it was only twice but that is often enough) I have ripped off enough skin on my upper lip to cause it to bleed and scab. Each time someone asked wtf happened to my face, I had to lie that I scratched myself.

Person: Really? You scratched yourself there?

Me: Yeah, I did. Now go away, you annoying person.

The good thing about travelling out of Zone1/2 of London is that services and the like drop in price dramatically. The bad thing about travelling out of Zone 1/2 is well.... travelling. But for a mere £5 to have both my brows and lip done... it's a hard deal to beat. The services can't be that different but Blink in Selfridges charge £17 for just brows! I hardly think I would get THAT much better a result.

You get what you pay for. It's a no-frills place that runs like a sausage factory. Go in, take a ticket from the deli-counter ticket dispenser and sit down. Wait for the next available lady to call your ticket number (there are usually 6 or so) and then follow her to the chair where everyone can watch your de-fuzzing.

I'm sure there is some variation in result as some women were holding out for a particular beatician but I was pleasantly pleased with my result. My pain tolerance is quite high and it only hurt as much as waxing. The result last just as long, if not longer. My only worry now is..... finding a threading salon after I leave London!

A Beer impersonator...

Dinner was had at Village East, a funky little gastropub near London Bridge. Food was worth returning for, ambience relaxed and they did some pretty mean, original cocktails. The purpose of this post is to show everyone my beer impersonator:

One of the nicest mocktails I've ever had. For those interested, I think it's listed as the 'Amp' and contains pressed apple juice, cinnamon, honey and gingko tea. I think that's it... otherwise, look for a cinnamon/apple drink on the menu because I don't really remember the tea being a part of it. A refreshing drink for the relatively 'hot' day in London. This drink alone is enough for me to return!