A weekend of good food, good drink & sunshine galore

If I'm to reach my target weight of 25 stone by July (she says sarcastically), I have to make it my mission to eat my way round North London....correction...round London.  The first Bank Holiday weekend of the year was bathed in ridiculous amounts of sunshine and it would have been rude not to venture out on at least 3 out of 4 days.

Today's blog will be concentrating on some of my favourite eating & drinking establishments - some of which you may know, some of which you may not!  I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone feels the need to eat in Pizza Hut when there is a wealth of yumminess to experience out there.

So we'll begin on Easter Friday with a lunch in the Mediterranean Cafe' in Berwick Street.  Whereas all the "cool kids" go to Flat White next door, I prefer this for cheap, cheerful greek & turkish style food.  I havn't had a bad meal in there yet and I would always recommend it to anyone.  A 3-course meal for £8.95 is a bit of a winner in my book.  I had Grilled Halloumi (king of all cheeses) to start, followed by Feta pancakes, and then Banoffee Pie.  http://www.mediterraneancafe.co.uk/Home.aspx.  Off to my new 2nd home, Bar Italia next....one word...Martini.  'Nuff said.

Another sunny day on Saturday.  Whilst a lot of you night owls were sleeping off Le Beat Bespoke, I was up at the crack of dawn, heading for Muswell Hill, on a mission to check out an orange 60s coat/dress combo that had been spotted in a closed charity shop the day before.  A big fail on the clothes front but a big win as regards a new cafe'.  Swings & roundabouts and all that.  I'd heard about Nyborgs danish cafe' on Twitter and it's all that was promised.  As someone who has spent a lot of time in Scandinavia, Nyborgs is as authentic as you can get, due to the fact it's run by (I think) a dane.  We chose the danish bacon roll off the small but scrummy menu.  A lovely place for breakfast no doubt...which I will do one day.  http://www.nyborgs.co.uk/

More Bar Italia, more Martini & to end the afternoon, a trip to Zen Sai in Inverness Street, Camden.  Don't let any photos or music on the website put you off folks, this is one of my favourite places to hang out these days.  Happy Hour cocktails are a total winner - £3.50 each - the Mango Daiquiris are definitely recommended for a start.  Happy Hour tends to start whenever the management feel like starting it, and finish when they feel like finishing it....suits me!  Although I think late at night, this place generally turns into a bit of a house music bar, earlier in the evening, it's full of the most stylish 50s types, listening to great R n' B, Northern Soul etc.  I'm very much looking to next Sunday night where I shall partake in a Daiquiri or 3 myself .http://www.zensaibar.com/

Sick of reading about food & drink yet folks?  Worry ye not, nearly done!  Sunday was chores & baking day and neither of those things are interesting enough to write about on here.  The sun carried on shining today so we took a little trip to Primrose Hill, via Camden Market.  The market these days is beyond recognition and I had to get directions to a friend's vintage clothes stall, A Dandy in Aspic.  Get yourselves down there.  Today there were some particularly lovely shoes for ladies with tiny feet and some gorgeous dresses.  Unfortunately for me, my boobs didn't allow me to buy any of the said gorgeous dresses but I live in hope for my next visit!

Lunch in another favourite of mine - Trojka, the russian tearooms/cafe'.  On the menu for me today, Russian dumplings filled with mushrooms & sauerkraut, accompanied with smetana, and followed by baked cheesecake.  I love Trojka - it's particularly lovely first thing in the morning and the breakfast menu is lush! http://www.trojka.co.uk/.  A walk up Primrose Hill after lunch and then finally, as we'd promised ourselves as a treat before we go back to work tomorrow, a little trip to Marine Ices for a Knickerbocker Glory.  http://www.marineices.co.uk/

With all that talk of food & drink, I'm feeling positively STUFFED so I will love you & leave you.  I hope that some of you check out my recommendations & like them as much as I do. 

Ye Olde London Towne

My blog entries are becoming very erratic these days, as opposed to erotic, which is probably a bad thing!

Saturday arrived and off to London I went, on the hottest, stickiest weekend of the year so far.  For someone not good in the heat, this probably wasn't ideal but I couldn't miss the chance to catch up with the ladies.

First stop in Camden - Dr Strangebrew.  I love, love, love this place and if it was in Brighton, I'd be there all the time.  Although slightly off the beaten track (i.e. Camden Road!), this is one of my recommendations to anyone who likes their vintage, likes their coffee, and likes absinthe chocolate cake (if you're lucky!).  If they had a website, I'd put a link but instead you can find them on Facebook.

At the mention of 2-4-1 cocktails & 50s music, off we went to ZenSai in Inverness Street.  I'm not sure how long this place has been here but I'll be back, should I venture into Camden again - great cocktails and a lovely view of all the nutjobs of Norf Landan.
I can't remember what yummy cocktails I had but one was a peach martini I think - not a cocktail umbrella in sight either!  Loved the music in ZenSai and the fact that everyone was really dressed up.

Bored yet folks?  I've a bit of a way to go yet you know.  Am only half way through our Camden reunion evening!  Food next - and on to the Goodfare Restaurant.  I used to spend a lot of time in here, over a cheap plate of something italian & a frothy coffee.  Situated right opposite the old Food Records office - a great viewing post.  We saw Jude Law in there once I'll have you know - all young & pretty, with a tiny baby strapped to him.  Those were the days.  Sigh.

It wouldn't be a Camden night if we didn't go for a quick drink in our oldest haunt, The Good Mixer.  As I mentioned before, this place is just not the same anymore but it had to be done.  I didn't get that feeling of excitement in my stomach that I used to get nor was I surrounded by britpop stars but then I wasn't expecting to be.  There could well have been bright young things in there but all I noticed was the slight smell of vomit and the caged in area outside - no doubt to prevent alsorts of craziness happening on the pavement.  Blah.  Hawley Arms next.  I hadn't actually been here since my dreadlock days and beautiful Chris who lived in a squat on Eversholt Street (whatever happened to him?).  Apparently all the "cool kids" go to the Hawley, along with the likes of Amy Whitehouse and Kelly Osbourne.  To be honest, they'd be lucky if they could even fit into the Hawley - it was rammed to the rafters - and not a dreadlock in sight.  Final stop and not even worth a new paragraph, The Spread Eagle - another old haunt of ours.  I didn't even recognise the place - toilets that worked, food you could actually eat, and sofas. What the?  Put me right off it did!

Oh dear, today's blog seems to be just a selection of pub photos.  How very boring!

Sunday morning in Soho was lovely.  A complete contrast to mad old Camden.  Really peaceful and calm, and much more me than Camden is these days.  I could have spent all day in Bar Italia if time allowed & will definitely be checking out their selection of cakes - all of them, one by one, til I'm sick!  I love everything about Soho - Soho Square, Berwick Street, Frith Street, all of it.  I even love the sleaziness of the adult shops and live sex show venues.  It's what makes Soho and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, that was my weekend, give or take the odd saveloy or cup of coffee.  Not the most exciting blog entry but such is life!

For faraway Mother - I saw Paul Nicholls.  He said he'd call you.

And to my favourite ladies - Dawn, Lee & Ulrika - love you lots xx

The Britpop Years

This coming weekend sees a bit of a reunion for me (although on a very small scale).  I'll be re-tracing my steps in my old stomping ground of Camden, with some good friends who I don't see nearly enough.

I was very lucky to have moved to London in the 90s, just as the britpop scene started to happen.  Having moved from dull as dishwater (at the time) Wiltshire to Tufnell Park (a stone's throw away from Camden), this was probably one of the most exciting times of my life. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, given half the chance.

It was a standing joke back then that we should give our monthly salary cheque to the barman at The Good Mixer as we spent it all in there anyway and it'd save time!  I think I pretty much went out every night of the week for around 4 years.....which is why I have a very good excuse to be a boring old bastard and stay in more often than not.  I seem to remember that Fridays were the big night out though.....meeting up at Camden tube station at 8 (on the dot) and starting off in The Good Mixer.

You really would have had to be part of it to understand what was going on in Camden then.  I am no longer phased by "famous types" as in those days, it was normal to see the likes of Jarvis, Oasis, the Blur boys etc. etc. everywhere you went.  I still have friends I made then, who would be classed as "famous" to some people but to me they're just guys I met up the pub.  So Friday nights.....the britpop & mod scene were very closely connected so everyone was well dressed and oh how we loved it!  After a few cider & blackcurrants and shouts of "Crazy Horses" to the poor guy out of Jesus Jones who used to dj there (and oh yes, he got it every week!), and laughing hysterically at the graffiti in the ladies loos (Ben Shoesmith knits his own underwear!)....we'd move on to The Spread Eagle or Dublin Castle.
Pub closing time (11.00 way back when I think) would take us down to The Monarch or HQs, or The Laurel Tree for the original Blow Up (my all time favourite club EVER)....or if we were drunk and nothing else was on.....goth night at the venue near the market that I've got a mental block on!  If we were feeling particular hardcore (which we mostly were), we'd end up in The Marathon Bar on Chalk Farm Road.....the most bizarre place.....a kebab shop that sold cans of lager til the early hours, to a weird mix of britpop musicians and mentals.

Anyway....I'm rambling....Camden these days is just not the same.....gone is The Laurel Tree, gone is George & Nickys, The Monarch has changed and The Mixer is full of nutjobs....I'm sure it always was but they got sidelined by Menswear.  We will have the best of times catching up and no doubt laughing at the graffiti in the Mixer (again) as if it were still 1995.  We might be 15 years older but we still know all the words to "He's got chops and he's alllllriighht" and god help the guy from Jesus Jones if we recognise him!

Finally.....just because: