Stage call in 5mins...

Backstage eats...

Going to the theatre at the National Theatre has always been tough (for me) in that there's never quite a good place to eat. Yes there's a few chains dotted around but they're either a bit 'meh' or they're packed and it's a long wait to get a mediocre meal.

As such, it was with great excitement when we drove past The Green Room one weekend and I knew we had a theatre trip coming up.

The Green Room is a laid back diner/cafe/restaurant within a newly and purpose built building. It's casual and airy and even has an outside space for those summer days. (they will come back!)

The menu provides a variety of options so you won't be left staring at the menu thinking what on earth am I going to eat. The other half went for the pork belly (with the important crackling) whereas I went for the grilled chicken. Both came out quite quickly (thankfully as we had 45mins before the show started!) and were quite tasty! I wouldn't say it's a meal that will blow your socks off but it was tasty enough and it came quickly. The chicken was probably on the smaller end of portion sizes but the pork belly seemed to satisfy the other half.

Would we go back? For the pricing (mains mostly over £10) maybe we'd walk leisurely rather than run back but it is an option for those times you just don't want to do Wagamama or Giraffe. Again.



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The Green Room can be found behind the National Theatre:
101 Upper Ground,

London SE1 9PP

T: 0207 452 3630
E: thegreenroom@nationaltheatre.org.uk

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sat: 11am – 11pm
Sun: 11am – 7.00pm

Ride around with... Jordan Bourke

A Korean residency...

Carousel has been an interesting new addition to the London foodie scene and I'd been waiting for the right opportunity to pay them a visit. What is essentially a 3 floor building with flexible spaces (for galleries/exhibits, gigs, private parties etc), Carousel dedicates 1 floor to a restaurant. What's particularly interesting about this restaurant is that it has an ever changing line up of amazing up and coming (or already arrived) chefs from around the world.

A lover of Korean food (who doesn't?!), I was quick to book in when Jordan Bourke's residency came up. 

On a Saturday evening, we made our way to Marylebone and were so eager to eat we ended up arriving 45mins early. Queue a wait with hot beverage at the local Pret.

Arriving on time, (they do one sitting an evening - doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start) the second time around, we were met by a friendly staff member who showed us our space (there are 2 long shared tables). We then headed to the bar where they not only serve a fine selection of wines and beers but also a selection of specials associated with the theme of the evening.

I opted for the So-Goddam-Juicy which was exactly as the name describes and absolutely delicious. I'd have had a few more if I could handle my drink...

Excitedly we sat down at our seats and awkwardly eyed (while avoiding their gaze) our dinner neighbours. (We eventually ended up talking to our neighbours on one side and they were lovely! Their giving us one of their beef tartare had nothing to do with it) Then the food started to come... and come... and come.

At the end of it all we were full and we enjoyed ourselves but we didn't feel it was anymore special than a local (read: cheaper) Korean restaurant. At £35 a head for food alone it's not a cheap night out and perhaps we expected something a little more exciting. Saying that, we've not been turned off by the experience and looking forward to the next tempting chef! It's worth mentioning the service was top notch so that's another plus!

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Carousel can be found at:

71 Blandford Street,
Marylebone, London,
W1U 8AB
T: 020 7487 5564
E: info@carousel-london.com

Checkout what chefs are visiting next, here.

Nothin beats Ma's home cooking...

Good enough to cluck about...

When I heard about a place opening up that specialised in serving chicken 3 ways I knew I had to take the other half. He has a slightly unnerving relationship with chicken and since I've been with him I've done everything I can to introduce him to the world outside of Nandos.

So off we went to Ma' Plucker where their Ma is a plucky and sassy 50's style hen. Does it seem odd she's serving chicken? No... it's too tasty to worry about...

The simple is menu but in now way lacking.

There's 3 simple steps:

1. Choose your base 
2. Choose your sauce
3. Choose your style of chicken

Then you of course have to add sides and if you're not driving a jug of frozen margaritas!

Let's be honest, you don't go to Ma' Plucker to have a salad base so the real options are a bun or waffles. I always go for waffles. There's no question about it really... is there?!

As sauce, I've had the chicken skin gravy and the maple chilli glaze. For me, gravy wins. This fact is proven by that photo of me drinking it from the gravy boat as I could not bare to think of leaving it behind... it wasn't even my leftovers. Why would I have leftovers?!

As for the style of chicken? How do you say no to crispy coated buttermilk dipped? It's crispy... it's tasty and I want it to never end...

What about the sides? My go to is the crack and cheese which is essentially a mac and cheese arancini. Deep fried crumbed mac and cheese ball. Enough said... I've tried the mash and also the french fries and both were good too.

Service? It's friendly and helpful but it's early days so they could probably do a little bit more of polishing. Especially when a table has been waiting for near an hour for some waffles...

Would we go back? I've been twice thus far so I guess it's a yes. The pricing is reasonable, the food tasty so why not? Now give me that buttermilk chicken!

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Ma' Plucker can be found at:

5 Beak Street
London W1F 9SS
P: 0207 096 2046
E: reservations@maplucker.com

Opening Hours:

Sun - Tues: 12noon - 11pm
Wed - Sat: 12 noon - 12 midnight

To go or not to go...

Cumberbatch kills it...

Last year the internet nearly died due to the overwhelming response to Hamlet tickets going on sale.The fool that I am arrived 6 mins late and was promptly placed at the end of the digital queue. Behind person 17857. Then and there I gave up all hope of seeing Cumberbatch play Hamlet and went on with my life.

The second blow? I didn't win in the ballots either. The ordeal was quickly becoming as tragic as the play itself. THEN I received an email to say I could still try get returned tickets. That's it, I was determined to nab a couple. After a few (lots and lots) clicks of the refresh button and trying a few (lots and lots) different options of dates, I managed to nab 2 tickets at the £30 mark. If you have a few more spare pennies then it might be easier but I didn't really feel like paying £90+ a pop.

Months later, it was THE day. We would finally get to see Cumberbatch as Hamlet. So off we headed to the Barbican and up and up the stairs to the nosebleed section. To be fair the seats weren't that high and we were able to see the whole stage. Except for those bits obstructed by lights and the safety bar. As long as you're ok sitting slightly crooked then it's a good result for £30.

It's hard to do something unique with a play that's been done to death (ha! see what I did there?) but I would say this was! Without giving too much away, the sets and props were majestic and amazing. Effects and music were spot on and of course.... the acting. The acting was amazing. Having heard some reviews that Cumberbatch wasn't quite hitting the mark or the rest of the cast being a bit meh, I was pleasantly surprised! At half time I was left in awe and by the end, drained. It's full on though there's a few moments when you think 'C'mon... get on with it!'. 

Overall, money well spent! If only it wasn't so hard to get a ticket...

Love letters...

Lettering for the modern day...

Calligraphy has always been a rather daunting skill to learn and with all the scary contraptions needed to do it I've steered clear of learning... That is until I saw a 'Modern Calligraphy' class being taught through Quill London. Though still daunting, it had an element of 'freeness' that I felt more comfortable with. (you'd think I was talking about something way more serious wouldn't you?!)

So last week, I headed to West Elm at Tottenham Court Road (they do them at different venues) and prepared myself for the 2.5 hours class ahead.

Seated on actual furniture and displays in the shop, we sat at the individually laid out spots with our starter packs. For £44 per class, you are provided with a nib and holder, a pot of ink, numerous types of paper and of course the 2.5 hours tutelage of the designated teacher for the session.

Our teacher for the evening was Megan Riera who was just awesome. Self taught and having quit her day job to follow her interest, it was evident how passionate Megan was for her new found craft. The fact that she had taken up the craft in the past few years made her even more impressive and the whole process less daunting.

The class was broken up into 3 sessions - lines & shapes, letters & numbers and words/phrases. Megan demonstrated what we needed to do before each session then just let us have a go. She wandered around the space checking in on us but in such a friendly manner that it never felt like a teacher watching over our shoulders. She was on hand to answer questions or offer suggestion of bettering our pen hold or ink usage. Being a lefty adds extra challenges to the whole process but hey... nothing good is easy!

By the end of the workshop I had in no way felt like I had mastered the craft but certainly motivated and impassioned to keep going at home. Apparently 20mins a day should do it... Once I get that down pat... I'm definitely looking into the next level workshops - composition or coloured inks... or maybe both!

Now... to find that spare 20mins a day...

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Interested in taking a workshop?

Checkout them out here and be sure to get in quick as they do fill up! You'll see that most classes are already 'sold out' so you may need to put yourself on the waitlist.

An unfruitful afternoon tea...

In need of more bloom...

The other half's family were recently in town all the way from the other side of the world and there was no other 'English thing' I was determined to show them but and English afternoon tea. I didn't want it to be boring, crazy expensive or yuck so after much research I made a booking for Bea's of Bloomsbury in St. Paul's.

Bea's has been on my list of afternoon teas to try for some time as a friend and I were once denied the opportunity by a matter of 15mins. 15mins we had spent lining up in the bakery! Let's not go into that...

So one lovely Saturday afternoon recently we made our way to St Paul's in hopes of wowing the team with the quirky and delicious looking tiers Bea offered.

So what of the food?

So this is where the disappointment began... The sandwiches came on a chopping board which I can understand as there were 15 to bring out. The tier however left me a little sad as part of the reason for going was for the famous 'upside down legs in the air' tier photographed on the website. HOWEVER, I'm not all about the looks so I let it slide...

So tier by tier...

The sandwiches were delicious and plentiful but far from delicate. I'll be honest, I ate them all but the heaviness of them didn't leave much wrong for much else.

The bottom tier: scones

One scone and one mini jam jar per person which was fine. There was however 1 small pot of clotted cream to share amongst 3. Sure we could have asked for more but this is afternoon tea and they are suppose to be experts! You know you need more than that! The scones themselves were also rather disappointing being rather crumbly and chalky on the outside and quite dry on the inside. We mentioned this to the restaurant but unfortunately nothing was done about it.

The middle tier: cupcakes

These were nice and moist but nothing too special. The special flavours (strawberry on chocolate, nutella on vanilla and peanut butter on chocolate) were simply in the icing and we didn't even get to choose what we wanted!

The top tier: brownies, marshmallows and meringues

There were 3 flavours of brownies (double choc, blondie and plain choc) which were all nice but nothing show stopping. The marshmallows were lovely and soft and the meringue a typical meringue.

The St Paul's location isn't the best suited for Bea's as it's within the new and modern One New Change. Though it had some sweet teapots as light shades the overall venue lacked the charm and cosiness of the Bloomsbury location.

The service? The lady we had was quite funny and nice but we were all left a little disappointed with our incorrectly distributed tea. On a Saturday afternoon they had run out of their usual fun coloured teapots so we were all given matching silver ones. Our waitress made an effort and show of sniffing each one and handing them out only for 3 out of 5 of us to get the wrong ones and needing to reshuffle. She tried and she was funny so I guess we'll let this one go... It's just disappointing they didn't have enough clean teapots for their busiest time!

Would we go back? No... we were all left a little disappointed and me most of all at not being able to show our lovely tourists a great experience. At £24.50 per person it certainly left an even more bitter taste... Perhaps they were having a bad day but for that price I won't be taking the risk again...

Sad afternoon tea. :(

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Bea's of Bloomsbury can be found at:

Bloomsbury

Farringdon (take away only)

and

St Paul's

Checkout the individual links for more details for each location.

Moving into the modern world...

Hi, My name is Jesz and I'm an Instagrammer.

So after years of resistance, I've fallen to peer pressure and tried to join the cool kids.

I'm an Instagrammer. It's 4 days in and I'm already hooked. What have I become?

New button on the right there... but if it doesn't work, try the button here:

Otherwise, look me up!

HERE I AM!

Whether good or not, you'll get to see what I'm eating and doing sooner!

Like my dinner on Sunday evening...

Or when I see pretty flowers...

... and pretty sunsets...

You catch my drift... more updates and photos sooner! The reviews will still come of course but it's just another way to get more to you and faster!

See you out there!