It was awhile since I had a Sunday Roast chicken. I went to Prime Steak and Grill in Chandler's Cross and enjoyed a roast chicken and a cocktail. I had this on New Year's Eve. The food was pretty good, and this was my second visit to this restaurant having first visited a few years ago.
Earlier this month, I stayed at Landmark London for a hotel spa break. The Landmark London is a luxury hotel with a spa located near Baker Street tube station on Marylebone Road, and it is known for its dining area "Winter Garden". I stayed at the hotel on a package deal. The deal included one of the deluxe rooms, which was large in size and luxurious. It also included a spa treatment from a selection of four options - massage, wrap, and facials. The package also included a bottle of champagne and breakfast in the morning in the "Winter Garden" and use of the spa and fitness rooms. I needed some time to take a break after a very difficult six months with work.
I arrived mid-week on a rainy day. Most of the month has been rainy so far.
I was wowed about the room. It had an entrance hall, lounge, huge bedroom and bathroom with bath, shower, and two sinks. There was a lot of room, and I would be happy to live in this.
Nice touches were in the communal hallways with fresh plants and flowers. I enjoyed the wrap at the spa and enjoyed the use of the spa and swimming pools, jacuzzi, steam rooms, sauna, and gym.
I did have a couple of drinks at the bar area in the terrace with views over the "Winter Garden".
The next morning, I enjoyed a delicious breakfast made with the finest ingredients. The omellete was delicious and there as a huge selection of fresh fruit, cooked breakfast, cool meats and cheeses, cereals, pancakes, and a large selection of pastries. There was a large selection of items to choose from to cater to everyone.
I took some of the breakfast items and enjoyed with the champagne.
I enjoyed my stay at the Landmark London and would like to visit it again.
Earlier this winter, I visited Megan's Restaurant in the shadow of the Battersea Power Station. The restaurant is rated highly and serves Mediterranian food. This is a chain brand with several trendy restaurants, each decorated differently, across London and outside of London. The Battersea one is decorated with Mediterranian-style tiles and branches of trees with decorative lights, taking diners to the sunny Mediterranian.
The place was fairly quiet when I visited. I got in my starter and main order and some cocktails. I ordered the halloumi fries, which came with a honey chili dip.
The main I orderd was a chicken kebab served on bread.
I ordered three cocktails. Tammy's Salted Caramal Martini is served with a brownie on top, and is a creamy and chocolate-flavoured drink. Picante Margarita is a tequila-based cocktail with a delicious spice and served with a chili. Cherry Negroni is a cherry-flavoured gin cocktail.My favourite was the Picante Margarita.
For dessert, I had the Half-Baked Cookie Dough, and it was delicious. It was served with ice cream and pistachio topping.
I really enjoyed my visit to Megan's Restaurant in Battersea and would visit it again.
A few days ago, I visited the play "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" at London's Phoenix Theatre near Tottenham Court Road station. I am probably one of the only people who has not watched this series, but I was invited along to the play and decided to see it for myself. I attended without having any knowledge about the storylines of the series or characters.
I had a CrossTown doughnut and a themed cocktail on arrival, which were fashioned as American tastes. I had the "Jolly Rancher" one on the left, which is fruity and named after the American candy. There was also an apple pie one.
The play was actually very good, and I did not need to know the backgrounds of the characters to understand the story. Of course, those who have watched the series will get more out of it since the characters and background of the events in the play do feature in the series.
This year, Pancake Day fell on the day before Valentine's Day. What better excuse than to celebrate both events in one day. I headed over to Freya cafe at Marble Arch in London to enjoy some Valentine's Day special pancakes. They were delicious and dyed a red-pink colour and served with white chocolate, strawberries, blueberries, and cream cheese. I also had a drink, which was a mocktail called "Flirty Fizz", and this was a berry and herbal refreshing drink.
The pancakes and drink were delicious. The only downside was that the service was very slow and disinterested, and they were stocking up and left all the boxes of items on the floor and blocking the stairs down to the toilets, which is a trip hazard. The staff were not professional, which is a pity.
This year, I took the day off work for Pancake Day to watch one of the races, and I was looking forward to the Inter-livery Pancake Day Race, but it was rained out. I headed a ten minute walk away to watch the Leadenhall Pancake Day Race at Leadenhall Market. This year marks the fifteenth year of the race, which is put on by the Lamb Tavern at the market. I watched this race a few years ago for the first time, though I did catch part of one of the earliest races in 2011. Due to schools being off, the area was very crowded.
I watched the teams compete. They had to run one way and flip the pancake three times, then pass it to their team mate, who had to race it back. This was good fun. This year, they used bowler hats for everyone participating. Only one person dressed up; I do like the costumes so it's a shame others do not dress up.
Hopefully I will get to the Inter-livery Pancake Day race next year, if the rain holds.
Check out some of my Pancake Day posts:
I visited the Great Scotland Yard Hotel last weekend with a friend. The Great Scotland Yard Hotel decor pays tribute to the hotel building's former use as a headquarters of the London's Metropolitan Police. Around the hotel are various items relating to the police. I booked the bottomless champagne afternoon tea.
The afternoon tea is in association with Floris, and the sandwiches included a mushroom and chestnut quiche tart, smoked salmon and caviar, chicken coronation, egg truffle mayonnaise, and a chestnut and cheddar Yorkshire pudding. I had the vegetarian options, which replaced the meat with avocado and an Indian-inspired savoury. The menu was the winter menu.
The decor felt very 1920s.
I noticed that the design on the plates and teapot were the Thames.
I hope I got my worth of the bottomless champagne.
The desserts included: chestut vanilla and cassis tart, orange and chocolate, and bergamot and spiced. I had the vegetarian/vegan options, which were diffrent.
Two scones were also a part of the aftrnoon tea, and these were served with clotted cream and raspberry jam.
The afternoon tea was quiet with a small room in The Parlour, which made it a more intimate event. There is also a bar, which is designed in the art deco style.
Valentine's Day is around the corner, and I thought that I would post some "love locks" or "locks of lov" that I photographed opposite Shoreditch High Street overground station in London. Over the past twelve years or more, this fencing has become home to many locks and heart-shaped trinkets describing the initials and names of people who are in love.
I first discovered a few "locks of love" here on the fence in Shoreditch in 2012 (read about them here), and they keep growing each year.
Battersea Light Festival is back for its third year this year with more interactive light sculptures to be found in and around Battersea Power Station, which is one of London's newest regenerated places. Battersea Power Station sat empty for many years until it was developed, and it now contains shops and restaurants in and around the station. The Battersea Light Festival has been running for three years now, but I never got to see it last year due to the workload that I was under. This year features five installations in and around the power station.
If you want to head over to Battersea Power Station to see the light sculptures, there is still time. The light festival started on the 25th of January and will finish on the 25th of February.
"Butterfly Effect" - Masamichi Shimada: This light sculpture projection features six large butterflies in and around the fountains near the power station. They are in different poses, and the small butterfly magnified gives a sense of power and beauty at the same time.
'Cloudy Lanterns' - Mad Rhizome. These thre tree-like sculptures are actually clouds and change colour and light pattern in a subtle way, shifting glows from green to orange to red to purple and then to blue.
'Singularity' - Squidsoup: This sphere uses audio and different light patterns to depict population growth and change.
'C/C' - Angela Chong: This interactive sculpture can be used as a bench and lights in the dark. It is motion-sensored, and the different LED lights produce a rainbow of colours once interacted with.
'Lightbattle III' - Venividimultiplex: The power of energy from cycling these bikes creates light and movement. The sculpture is fully interactive and encourages visitors to go to either side of the sculpture and cycle in attempt to battle the other cyclists by using the lights to show who is winning.
'LightPiano' - Arion de Munck and Mark Ridder. Located inside the power station, this piano can be played and adjusts the colours and patterns of the cube lights on the sculpture overhead. This attempts to visualise the audio producd by the piano.
'Large Diamond' - Freerk Wilbers: Inside the power station is a large glowing crystal object that catches the surrounding light. The sculpture rotates and causes the light to shimmer and dance off surfaces.
Previous visits to the Battersea Light Festival on this blog are linked below:
Circolo Popolare is located in Fitzrovia near Tottenham Court Road and Goodge street where there are several very good restaurants. The hotel is owned by Big Mamma restaurants, and it was their second branch opened in London. The interior of the restaurant is unique and very photographic with its high ceilings draped in lights and foilage and walls filled with bottles. I visited the restaurant on a Saturday at the start of January for lunch.
I loved the decor of the restaurant, and the tap water comes in glass fish-shaped bottles.
I ordered three different cocktails. I had the silk road Negroni, which was made very strong with saffron and cinnamon. I also had the Pom-Pom Mojito, which used pomegranate. I also had an alcohol-free cocktail, the Coco Loco, which was served in a breast cup.
I had the truffle pasta, which was delicious. For dessert, I had the Incomparable Lemon Pie. This was a massive slice of lemon pie with toasted whipped meringe. I could not finish all of the mergine and found it too sweet. I would have liked more of the lemon in the ratio.
The food and cocktails were delicious, and i enjoyed my visit.
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