My 23rd Birthday last weekend!

Last week I turned 23! And to celebrate I ate a lot of food! To me food makes any occasion! You get to treat yourself and eat the foods you wouldn’t normally eat at home!

Now with every birthday you have to have cake and what better cake to have than a vegan biscoff cupcake from Crumbs and Doilies (http://www.crumbsanddoilies.co.uk)
This cupcake had a biscuit base with caramel tasting sponge topped with vegan ‘buttercream’ icing and adorned with a biscoff biscuit! My, my, my it was was good!

I live in West London which is starting to get more and more interesting and different places to eat at. Bluebird cafe originated in Chelsea and they have now opened on in up W12! The television centre is sat opposite Westfields London and round the front of it are spaces for restaurants or shops to open, one of which has been filled by Bluebird cafe. What made this birthday lunch time treat even better was that there was bottomless prosecco for £15 per person! An offer thats hard to refuse on any normal day let alone your birthday! For starter I had the Crushed broad bean with summer ricotta on sourdough toast! Mixed through this was lemon and mint which made it nice and light. It was perfect for a starter or even on its own as a light lunch. For main I got the Pork Belly! Oh I do love pork belly! My first mouth full was rather disappointing though as it was just full of gristle! But once I’d got rid of that and checked that there wasn’t any more of it I really got to enjoy it! A sharper knife to cut through the crackling would have been a bit better as it was a lot of hard work but otherwise it was absolutely delicious! The decor is nice light and floral. Perfect as a summer spot to go to for drinks after work or as we did to sit outside in the sunshine having a nice lunch! (https://bluebirdcafe.co.uk)

For brunch the next day I knew I’d want something delicious! After a heavy day/night of drinking (bottomless prosecco hit me hard in the day) I needed something that would cure the hangover! Dirty Bones fit ticked all the boxes! With Mac and cheese, chicken and waffles you cant go wrong! I had the shirt rib crumpets with a side of mac and cheese. This rich dish was absolutely amazing! The beef just melted in your mouth and the egg was cooked to perfection! Unbelievable! Decked out with a dj booth, lights topped with different lamp shades and in a slight American vibe to it, this place did just the job! Ive been here before for dinner and I must say its definitely worth a go! Even for fussy eaters! (https://dirty-bones.com)

I ate quite a bit on my birthday weekend but you do don’t you! And I must say I feel like I picked some good places to go to! Go check them out!

Where do you like to go for your celebratory/birthday eats? Let me know!

Feeling 22 ooo ooooo!

On Friday I turned 22! I booked the day off work, my mum and sister came down for a day out! We went to Westfield’s Shepherds Bush to do some shopping where I got a new top, some make up and some new trainers, and I also wanted my mum and sister to try a Snog! I really liked mine last time I had one and I knew my mum and sister would like it as well! This time we got mine ones, I went for the same flavours as last time but my mum went for Chocolate frozen yoghurt with brownies and strawberries! She said the brownies could have been smaller pieces but more of them. Otherwise my mum and my sister both loved Snog! I love showing people new things especially when it comes to food!

I asked around at work as to what the good places to go to in Notting Hill were. One of the recommendations was The Distillery. The home of Portobello Gin. The Distillery is built up of 4 floors each with a slightly different theme but all surrounding the ideals of gin! We went in for some pre-dinner drinks and we parked ourselves in The Resting Room. Its on the ground floor so is perfect for passing by! This floor is traditional but classy British in a nutshell! A large selection of wines, gins (obviously) and cocktails. They do serve food as well but I have head that the floor you really want to go to is the Gintonica floor! This will be a floor that I will try due to its long list of gins but also its tapas menu! This would be a luxury night out for me but by the sound of the recommendations at work it’d be totally worth it. The other floors are the Ginstitute which is a small museum with different cocktails to try which will enhance the gin history lesson. There are boardrooms as well as bedrooms as well at The Distillery.
For my pre-dinner drink I had an Aperol Spritz! I do like the refreshing yet slightly bitter taste of an Aperol Spritz. My mum and sister both had a glass of wine.

After our drinks we thought we would head down the road to Honest Burger. A place that calls themselves honest but serve some real good dirty burgers! Tucked away in a small narrow section of Portobello Road with a large bar taking up most of the space, your food gets cooked downstairs and come out quite quickly! The onion rings were gigantic! I had the special which was the Louisiana! Cajun-rubbed beef, smoked bacon, fried onions, American cheese, smoky ketchup and pickles. The burgers are cooked pink or to how you would like them! I had mine pink and my god did I make a mess! It was such a nice burger with gooey cheese and soft burger van onions! The sauce made for an even better flavour and the pickles added that slightly healthy element and added flavour! The rosemary salted chips were incredible! The rosemary made them! Best chips I have had so far! My cocktail also came in a cup! All three of us really enjoyed Honest Burger, but like I’ve most probably said before, you cant go wrong with a burger!

On the Sunday me and Hayden walked up to Shepherd’s Bush (Its only round the corner so you can’t blame me for being there so much) and went to Dinner at Jamie’s Italian. As part of the Gold Club, which is free to become a member of with so many perks, I got the taster which was a slow roasted tomato on creamy ricotta and basil topped onto a crunchy crostini! There was a large mouthful sized (a small bite for Hayden) for both of us! There was an intense tomato flavour but balanced out with the creamy ricotta! As well as this I got £10 off the bill and because it was my birthday, a bottle of Jamie’s Prosecco which me and Hayden shared.
For starters we shared the crispy Italian nachos which is actually deep fried ravioli with a chilli, tomato sauce that you dip them into. The filling is a cheese and its topped with shaved parmesan. The other starter we had was Crispy Squid. Cant go wrong with crispy squid and aioli. For mains I had Gennaro’s Mixed Grill which was Free-range pork & fennel sausage, Welsh lamb chop & herby marinated flash steak with crispy British coppa, smoky chilli ketchup & a side of your choice which I chose Polenta Chips. Hayden had the Pesce pizza! My mixed grill was so nice! Proper meat feast! There was so much meat (doesn’t look a lot from my picture but bearing in mind I’d had starters) by the end I was struggling but made sure I ate it all as it was too good to waste! But I couldn’t eat any polenta chips! I wanted room for pudding! I had 3 scoops of dark chocolate ice-cream topped with honeycomb and a butterscotch sauce! Hayden had the Chocolate fudge sundae! We came away from our meals stuffed and slightly tipsy from the bottle of prosecco! But we both thoroughly enjoyed our food and the atmosphere of the restaurant!

I had a lovely birthday weekend and the birthday celebrations don’t stop here!