Mykonos, Greece

Mykonos-Views of the Aegean

Summer and again I was back in Mykonos. One of the, dare I say, most cosmopolitan of the Greek islands, is part of the Cyclades in the Aegean. It has blue seas and after-clubs and everything in between. The picturesque town offers everything from morning walks and coffee, retail therapy, art, restaurants, bars, clubs, post-club gyros to high end dining and lunches by the beach with dancing included if you so wish. It is not cheap. But you do get your money’s worth, which, to put into perspective is a lot.

For a food lover like me Mykonos is a little piece of heaven. Scattered around the island are the traditional Greek tavernas, where the fish is displayed, on ice, much in the manner that jewellery is displayed in London boutiques. Just take your pick. Try Nicolas Taverna at Agia Anna, right next to the very trendy Paraga Beach. They varied menu includes fresh fish, traditional meat dishes and pasta. A good place to start your food odyssey if this is your first visit to Greece.

There is such a novelty to the trendy beach bars/restaurants, where not only is the food always good and the service excellent but once you have consumed all that has been brought to the table, the party starts as does the table dancing. Try Sol y Mar at Kalo Livadi. Also a good place for a swim as the bay protects it from the wind. Bear in mind that Mykonos is known for being the most wind swept island in the Aegean. I mean serious wind. Hold on to your hats.

For something a little less musical, but equally nice, have lunch Panormos Beach restaurant. The sun loungers in front also make it a worthwhile visit.

I nearly forgot. If you want to go all out, do not miss lunch at Nammos. There are champagne wars going on, food, dancing and beautiful people. The place to see and be seen. And hey if you have time in between the starters and the wine you can have a swim too.

Wine consumption at Nammos

The choices for dinner are endless. I usually opt to have dinner in Town. For something more relaxing or even romantic try Kalita. For sexier ambience (or just drinks at the bar) go to Interni. For excellent lobster pasta and a dance try Sea Satin Market on a Friday or Saturday night. Go to Caprice for a Margarita and the decor. At €14 I wouldn’t say it is cheap but well worth it.

Oh and don’t miss the sunset at Little Venice. A good place is Semeli Bar. Walk around and don't be afraid to get lost in the tiny street of Town. The more you lose yourself the more you discover of this wonderful place, which takes you in and accepts you like an old friend. I have been back year after year and have had some wonderful times and met some incredible people; you know who you are. You are the ones who made me smile, really smile.

The Hand & Flowers, Marlow

I have concluded that, like a spoilt child, I am a spoilt friend. My friend not only booked lunch, 4 months ago, thought to include me seeing as I like food, and even booked all the tickets with clear instructions as to where to meet and where we were headed. A Saturday day trip which took us to Marlow. Lunch was booked at The Hand & Flowers.

This is a small yet extremely popular establishment. It's no surprise. This delightful little pub has two michelin stars, in fact, it is the only pub with two michelin stars.

Lamb

I am trying to find suitable adjectives to describe the food. The thing is I find this difficult. Other than saying that the menu is a good combination of British and French dishes. The food is good, the service is excellent, and the dishes come out looking beautiful. What more can I say?


What was refreshing was the space we had. There is no compromising on the space to get more tables in. You see these may not be pub prices but you do get what you pay for and there is something to be said about comfort.

That's it for a review.

The novelty here and what made this so special was that it was a day trip. How much fun. It's almost the same excitement I had as an 8 year old, when my parents would take me on a day trip on a Sunday. From making sure I left home on time, finding the right platform at the station and finding my friends, all of us organised with coffees in hand and prepared with the weeks anectodes to entertain us on the hour long train journey there.

We didn't need anectodes on the way back, the alcohol we consumed ensured that we laughed at everything from the the train doors closing to the the train pull into a station (I know!).
So yes, day trips are fun, so much fun in fact that we've arranged some more. And The Hand and Flowers, would I go back? Before we left we made another reservation. In 8 months. Needless to say, my only responsibility is to turn up.

Rating 4/5                                                                          

Expect to pay £80pp for 3 courses, sides and wine - there is a set lunch, £15 for 2 courses £19.50 for 3 courses

The Hand and Flowers, 126 West Street, Marlow SL7 2BP 

Tel: +44 (0)1628 482 277 

Note: You may need to book up to 10 months in advance, check their website for more details

An update

To state the obvious there has been no review in January.

I lost the food buddy (or maybe they just lost themselves!) to whom I promised I would save the first review so I could get their feedback and help. No matter, it's now February and here I am with lots of ideas about where to eat and what to write about.

So, keep visiting, keep reading and most importantly, keep eating!

2012- A year in review

In hindsight, I kept a low profile in 2012, at least on this blog. I can't say the same about other things. Amongst others I finally managed to move to a new home at the end of the summer, my friends and I even squeezed in a barbecue. Despite the lack of reviews I can assure you there was no shortage of restaurant meals.

Just to name-drop but a few:
Burger and Lobster-such fun with all the mess I managed to make with the lobster but at £20 it is one expensive burger they serve there.
Dishoom-the new one in Shoreditch. Like the original one in Covent Garden but bigger and more glamorous with a bigger bar.
Colbert-the new place which took the place of Oriel on Sloane Square. Now, for many reasons, I thought I would hate it. But I didn't. You had to wait for over half an hour to get seated. The crowd is what you can expect from the area, the waitors are French or act French and the food is not on the cheap end- £45 for a main and a glass of wine- although I did have a steak Dianne. But somehow, even if we did have our meal on the bar, surrounded by people battling it out to get drinks, I liked it. In fact I liked it a lot.

Some older and trusted places like Asia de Cuba. Even managed a couple of soft opening weeks, notably STK London. Can't possibly comment, they say it's a unfair to review on soft launches and I think they are right. But I had fun there, the company was good.

It has been noted by someone that this blog has been neglected. I have resolved that the first restaurant review of the year will be in January; which I hope, as promised, will be jointly with someone.

Wishing you all a happy and delicious 2013.

My Favourites of 2011

Looking at the past year- or just under since I started writing, I have been to some lovely places. There are always some restaurants which I have gone back to time and time again. this is my list of my favourite restaurants of 2011. 
Click on each reastaurant name to go directly to the relevant post.

Nopi- for sheer elegance, both in the decor and the food

Pollen Street Social- best upmarket restaurant

Dishoom- the best value and best Indian

Sophie's Steakhouse- not only is the food great, it's great for pre-dinner drinks also and always a fun night

Bread Street Kitchen- for the best design and the best cocktails

Trattoria Del Rosso- In Bologna my favourite of the restaurants I've been to outside of London

Soif, London, Battersea SW11

Food menu. Have you noticed that when you are handed with the menu, looking at the prices, these look increasingly reasonable?

So what's going on I hear you ask? Have our standards changed so that we now think that it costs less? In times of uncertain economic conditions I don't think so. Food in restaurants is now being priced in lower. It is now easy to find a substantial main dish at £15. Of course there are the sides to think about. What about the starters. Starters are easily over £6 up to say £11. But still not too bad you say. I agree, it's not too bad.
Then it's time for the wine. Ah how things have changed. Even at the local gastropub the house wine will be upwards of £18. The next wine will come in priced at over £25. You see where I'm getting to.

Open for less than 3 weeks at the time of writing, my new local, Soif, has to my delight had extremely positive feedback. I turned up last minute. Although there is a bar area where you can also have dinner (and confortable looking sofas at the front if you just want to have wines accompanied by some of the lighter dishes) the waitress very kindly offered us the table of people who didn't turn up in an otherwise fully booked restaurant.

The menu completely lost me. There was no structure in terms of the starters and the mains. It was described as tapas-like menu with dishes from France, Spain and Italy, although to me it all seemed french! We could apparently share or choose two courses each. We assumed that the dishes priced at less than £10 were starters and the rest were mains.

 Rillette

Based on that I made my choice. The rillette to start followed by the braised pig's cheeks. The rillette came and was not only a dish that made you smile as you happily ate more, it was substantial. I assure you, there is enough so that you can enjoy the taste and texture without. The pigs cheeks were, the lovely waitress explained, braised in cider for hours and braised again. I found this dish very rich although I like rich flavours.

Braised pig's cheeks

I was spying at what the tables around me were ordering. Another dish was the hake with lentils. More lentils than hake it occurred to me that with other dishes such as Tete de Veau, the ingredients used, excellent quality no doubt are not the most expensive in the butcher's window. Even at Waitrose lentils cost less than a good chocolate. This makes me think as to the reasonable food prices. Ingredients are used that although inexpensive, bring us new flavours and challenge our taste buds. This for me is what food is all about. With an extensive, biodynamic wine list, expect to find a local crowd of foodies who like their wine.

Expect to pay around £23pp for two courses without alcohol

Soif, 27 Battersea Rise, London SW11 1HG, Tel  020 7223 1112 

Taste of London

Special offers from Cafe Spice

A friend invited a group of us to the Taste of London. For my non-UK based readers this is a food festival held yearly in London at Regent's Park. This is a chance to try food from the most well-known and popular restaurants in London without the price tag.

Save for a short-lived downpour the weather held up for us. We arrived to be asked if we wanted some crowns. They explained to us that for £10 we could buy 20 crowns. Crowns being the accepted currency once inside. Typically they said that a dish cost 8-10 crowns. As my friend pointed out to the gobsmacked crown seller: We May Not Like the Food. We may end up going to McDonald's (as if!). So we set off inside armed with our initial purchase of 20 crowns each.

There were so many restaurants to try and so many bars. It could have been called Drink of London with food on the side, as opposed to the other way round. In spite of the wet weather and the mud we managed to work round and try a fair few of the restaurants.

They all had a menu of 3 courses to choose from and a signature dish. One thing that I found very well thought out, was that all the dishes they offered were very easy to eat on foot. They were specifically designed for the occasion. The service was also very good, what you would expect from this standard of restaurants.

My most memorable dishes were the foie gras starter from Four O Nine in Clapham and the Sea Bass from Le Caprice.



Main course at Le Caprice






The food selection at Four O Nine



Pea and Mint mousse from Petrus, not our favourite





Dessert at the Ritz, presentation was better than the taste





There were also some excellent mojitos to be found here and we consumed a fair amount.



Overall we all agreed that the food wasn't as good as what you would get in the restaurants. Then again, in restaurants of this standard, we pay a great deal of attention to the service, the decor, the ambience. In a way all this together with food presentation in a way makes the actual taste of the food a secondary issue. Take all this away and you are left with food which you consider good but not excellent as is what you would expect from these places. But one must remember, in this case it doesn't come with the surroundings. It's easier to be harsh. Of course again producing food in such volumes is no easy task either.

It was a lovely day out and I would recommend it to any foodie out there, it's a good insight to London's restaurants. I'm not sure however if I would go back next year. I may opt to go to one of the restaurants instead and enjoy the full experience.

You will of course be thinking that after all that we went home. Not us. We continued our food fest with Lebanese on the Edgware Road.

Easter Roadtrip

I organised this trip so long ago that I had forgotten about it, up until the weekend before when it occured to me that I was going to Italy for a friends's wedding. I imagine you asking how could I forget about a trip to Italy (and then Greece to add to the fun). Well I did. Seriously, ask a friend with whom I made plans which I inevitably had to cancel, rather late, when I remembered about my trip.

I flew to Bologna and spent an evening there. The next morning a friend and I made our way to Florence to attend the wedding. The ceremony was held in the beautiful Palazzo Vecchio and the reception was in a castle in Tuscany, a 20 minute drive away. This was the most spectacular of weddings.

In true form of my good friend, the food also exceeded any expectations any of the guests may have had. Beyond all else, this was a truly gastronomic affair offering the best of Tuscany's culinary delights. The antipasti was divine and the main meal was equally as good. Every detail perfect. I have added some of my photographs as words can't do it justice. This was just magical.

  

Imam Bayildi, an inspiration to a recipe..

A friend asked me where it is that my love of food comes from. What do I remember that has made such an impact so that food is so important. I've been thinking about this. Foods that even now, after years, make me go mmm at the thought.

One of my favourite is aubergines, cooked aubergines. I have a distinct memory from my childhood in Cyprus. Sometimes when my mother picked me up from school, she would take me somewhere for take-away. This was no ordinary place. This was home-cooked food to perfection. The Greek lady who cooked and owned the place made this most amazing aubergine dish: Imam Bayildi. A dear friend of mine recently explained what this means. A Turkish dish, the name of which translates to the imam (priest) fainted. I'm not surprised. All these years later, I think about the Greek lady's imam bayildi and I still swoon.

There are many variations, the typical of which the aubergine is cut in half and stuffed with tomatoes and onions and cooked in olive oil and water for around an hour until soft.

My interpretation is different and much simpler but I did recently have a similar version at a restaurant as a starter

Serves 2 as a starter, 1 as a main
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 small tomato
1 small onion
1 aubergine
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
Salt 
Water
Feta

Method
Cut the tomato in about roughly 6 cubes
Cut the onions in quarter
Put the olive oil in a pot and heat. Add the tomato and onion.
Peel the aubergine and slice, about 1 1/2 cm thick, 5cm length

Add the aubergine to the tomato and onion together with salt and add about 100ml water. Bring to the boil and the reduce the heat to simmer. 

Check occasionally and stir. Add more water if necessary. You will see the aubergines soften and disintegrate. This is exactly what you are after. They should be done after about 30 minutes.

Serve warm in a deep plate with feta cubes on top and pitta bread.

Delicious. Every time..

Westfield, London

This evening found me at Westfield, the shopping centre. The obvious question would be what does this have to do with food. To my surprise: everything.

The last time I was there was over two years ago when it first opened. I didn't like it. It was all shops and any attempts to restaurants and coffee shops seemed to me overdone. Also the idea of going somewhere with the sole mission of shopping does not interest me.

I was meeting a friend for dinner. I arrived to find a series of restaurants, the Southern Terrace restaurants. All busy. This seems to be an oasis of restaurants. Some old favourites, think Wagamama, some newer favourites: I was delighted to see Wahaca there. There is also a substantial selection in the main building both in the Balcony and the Loft. We went to Byron's for burgers.

In spite of my initial concerns it would not take much convincing for me to go back. You never know. I might even get caught up in the vibe and do some shopping while I'm there.

Brazilian vs Hollywood

In case your minds are already wandering, I am talking about brownies. To clarify, brazilian were the ones with the brazil nuts. Of course the plain chocolate ones were the hollywood brownies. How funny is that as far as naming goes? I saw these when I was having brunch this morning and I was having a sweet craving after my eggs benedict. It lifted my spirits. I had a hollywood..

Have you seen any food names that made you laugh? Let me know. I'll be looking out for these and keeping you posted!

Lentils, My Way

Lentils are highly nutritious and a good source of iron amongst other things. They are used everywhere from South-East Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and so on. Every culture incorporates them in their cooking in different ways. I have recently discovered that in Italy lentils are considered part of cucina povera, the cooking of the poor. I do think that there is a tendency, like in Italy, to frown upon pulses including lentils as being food for the poor.

You know what? I don't care what people think; if on a menu I will choose lentils over any other dish, whether that be a sirloin steak or oysters-although I would still have the champagne!

There are countless ways to make lentils and they are also a good accompaniment to fish and spicy meat like sausages. I like them as a dish on their own. My recipe is largely inspired by the Cypriot method which follows the Middle Eastern way called mujaddara.

Serves 2-4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

200 grams green lentils
50 grams rice (I use brown rice but it doesn't really matter)
1 medium carrot chopped
1 large onion finely chopped
2-3 tomatoes chopped (you can use chopped canned tomatoes)
2 cloves garlic crushed
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper
Chilli powder

Method

Wash and drain the lentils and the rice. Place in a pan with water and bring to the boil for about 10 minutes. Add the carrots and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the lentils and rice are soft. Check occasionally adding more water if necessary. Note that by the end the water should be absorbed. If not then just drain it.
While you leave the lentils to cook, in a separate pan, add 2-3 spoonfuls of olive oil, heat and add the chopped onions. After 1 minute or so add the crushed garlic. When the onions start browning add the tomatoes and some salt and pepper. If you like you food a bit hotter you can add some chilli powder, as much as you like really. After 2-3 minutes reduce the heat and leave to simmer for a few minutes (about 5).
When the lentils and rice are cooked add the onions and tomatoes and stir. You can add more salt and pepper if needed.
Finally add a splash of balsamic vinegar and stir. It adds flavour and I love the way it sweetens the lentils without being overpowering. Serve with bread.

Cucina povera or not, this for me is a favourite.

Do you have a recipe with lentils? I would love to hear from you.

Seared tuna steaks with a sauce of tomatoes and capers

Now that it's getting warmer, I am finally drawing myself away from the hearty meat dishes with the red wine and re-discovering the lighter fish dishes with the refreshing chilled white wine. Yesterday a friend came round for lunch. I met her at the station and as the sun was out I suggested that we go for a coffee before going to the fishmongers to get the lovely fresh ingredients. To add to the fun and make it a bit more challenging I asked to tell me what she wanted to eat and then I would think of a suitable way to prepare it. She opted for tuna steaks. I decided to have these seared with a sauce of chopped tomatoes and capers. The contrast in flavours from the tomatoes and capers is an excellent compliment to the tuna. This is a very quick and healthy meal. As an added benefit it took less than 15 minutes to prepare and serve.

Ingredients

2 tuna steaks- you know how hungry you are so how big depends on you!
3 medium size tomatoes (get the best ones you can find, it makes a difference)
2-3 teaspoon of capers
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper

Method

For the sauce:
Finely chop the tomatoes and drain any excess juice. Add the capers and stir in. Again drain any excess juice, you don't want this to be soggy. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like it you can add some olive oil. Just don't overdo it.
Tuna:
Drizzle some olive oil in a pan. Place the tuna steaks and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side.

To serve place on a plate and spoon the tomato & capers sauce on the side. You can serve with boiled new potatoes, spinach. I served mine with pak choi with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

TIP: With tuna, I always think you can never really undercook it, but if overcooked the taste will effectively be ruined, so if in doubt go for a rare version

My friends verdict? Yumcha!!!

Halloumi

Cyprus is famous amongst other things for Ayia Napa, or 'Napa' as it is more commonly known. The weather is warm and welcoming and the girls are of course beautiful. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty was born on the shores of Cyprus... It is also where Halloumi, a favourite of cheeses, comes from. I know. At my New Year's party, the cheese board also featured home-made halloumi. It was a hit- the other cheeses were completely ignored. For Cypriots it is a staple in their diet. I know exactly why.

Halloumi has a melting point higher than any other cheese, so it is the only cheese that can be cooked. It can be grilled or fried. Try adding halloumi to your usual morning fry-up, it gives a twist to the traditional english breakfast. You can have it in salads, or serve it alongside watermelon. A favourite lunch of the Cypriots in the scorching heat of the summer.

If you are having a barbeque try skewers with halloumi and cherry tomatoes.
Also pitta pockets: Cut the pitta in quarters and place a slice of halloumi and a slice of tomato in each and place on the barbeque until the pitta begins to brown. Bite into it and you get the crispness of the pitta and then the soft texture of the warm halloumi and the freshness of the tomato. Cheat's tip: you can make this in the toaster.
Grate it and use instead of parmesan with pasta.
One of my favourites: Cut up thin slices and serve on Ryvitas or toast, drizzle with honey.

You can find halloumi in any supermarket, but if you find yourself in Cyprus seek out some traditional home-made halloumi. It has more character. If not, you must have a friend from Cyprus, ask them to get some for you. The favour will be worth it.
If you are from Cyprus, bring some back for your friends. Your popularity will soar!

Carnival, Carnaval, El Carnaval...

According to Christian traditions Carnival is the start of lent, which is the 6 weeks leading to Easter. This weekend was carnival weekend. All the way from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Patras in Greece, carnival parades have taken over.

Having found ourselves in London once again this year, my friends and I decided to partake in celebrations. We agreed to have a lunchtime feast in accordance with the Greek tradition of Green Monday (also known as Clean Monday)  which signifies the start of lent. The feast permits shellfish but no other fish, meat or dairy. We all agreed to make one to two dishes each.

Let me confess something here. Being in London this is of course a day which found us all at the office. I am referring to my colleagues and our lunch break! Just don't tell anyone..I woke up at 6am to prepare my contribution. Humus and squid with tomato sauce-I will only get up this early of food is involved, I assure you! By 10am our containers with our delicacies were neatly lined up. By lunchtime we were ready to eat. We had loaves of wonderful bread, the humus, olives, potatoes, vegetables and then of course the more substantial dishes. Beans, lentils, mushrooms, the squid and okra with tomatoes. I'm sure I have left something out. Anyway, you get the picture.. In case you were wondering, I will post some of the recipes.

Remember my post on teamwork? Well this was an example of some excellent teamwork. The food was fabulous to say the least. It created a common goal. In our case, having been successful in the food preparation, the next step was the consumption. I think we all filled up our plates at least three times!

Carnival was our excuse. It doesn't matter what yours is, find one! Whether it be at the office, a gathering at someones house or a picnic. Choose a theme and ask everyone to bring a dish. For the ones who can't cook, ask them to bring a bottle of wine. That helps as well! I promise you, it's so much fun. And as for teamwork and team building, it works. Time and time again.

Food quotations- Making it personal

I've been thinking about the food quotes on my previous blog (3rd March). I think we all have beliefs and thoughts that we go by. I do! My motto is don't trust anyone who doesn't eat! It makes sense to me. People who don't eat lack energy, quite possibly have low sugar levels which makes them irritable. Beyond that, they probably lack important vitamins and nutrients in their diet due to not consuming enough..

To add it to the list of food quotes:

Never trust anyone who doesn't eat. Elena T

So what does this mean for me? Let me repeat another quote

Never eat more than you can lift. Miss Piggy

I like Miss Piggy. I trust Miss Piggy. Miss Piggy, you are my new best friend!

Food quotations

Inevitably, I now research food related matters in even greater detail. Today, en route home, something caught my eye on a pub window. It was a food quotation. Food seems to consume our minds. If you don't like it, it's how to avoid it. For the those who spend their days calorie counting they obsess about what foods they should and shouldn't have. For the rest of us. it may be a case of loving to cook so we look out for ingredients. We love restaurants so we read every restaurant review we can find. We just eat because we like it.

So I have spent some time finding how food influences different people. Countless quotations to be found. I've put down some of my favourites.

Appetite comes with eating; the more one has, the more one would have. French proverb 

Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food. Hippocrates

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. Virginia Woolf

The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook. Julia Child

Fish, to taste right, must swim three times – in water, in butter and in wine. Polish proverb

There is no love sincerer than the love of food. George Bernard Shaw

Everything you see I owe to spaghetti. Sophia Loren

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good. Alice May Brock

Food is an important part of a balanced diet. Fran Lebowitz

Never eat more than you can lift. Miss Piggy

Do you know any food quotations? Please write your comments.

  

Dinner invites

One thing I find extremely difficult to decline is a invitation to lunch and even more difficult than that an invitation to dinner. It becomes even worst when I know that the person or group of people who will be there not only like their food, but also like their drink. I don't know what it is, but if for whatever reason I can't attend then I get extremely upset. It's like some kind of obsession, or a certain kind of condition. I start feeling stressed and my heart rates is on the increase.

Does anyone know if there is a name for these sort of reactions? Don't get me wrong, if I am invited somewhere that I know the food will be well below standard then I will very easily make my excuses, but if I've been promised some half-decent fare then it's a bit like an allergic reaction. The symptoms are almost immediate.

The only way to calm myself is to immediately try and make alternative arrangements. Something nice to reward myself for seccesfully restraining myself and declining the invitation. Thinking about it I better call my friends and see who I can arrange the next dinner with.. 

I just had to decline one such invitation, the symptoms have started.. I am already on the phone to friends..Please, please tell me I'm not the only one..

Staying local

Don't you sometimes find yourself with no plans for the weekend? You can stay in, catch up with your friends on facebook, read the papers, watch that film you downloaded weeks ago, call your friends. The list goes on and on.

Like all of us I too find myself waking up on a Sunday, no plans, faced with this list. I decide I will go out and read the papers over a cup of coffee and maybe a bite to eat. Thing is I just want to be able to go somewhere within walking distance. No trains, buses, cabs, just walking. I head out, aiming for one of my many, I'm lucky to say, local places. I ask for the papers and settle down. Having, ordered coffee, I browse over the food menu. In spite all of my best intentions and the fact that I am of course dieting, I decide to order something. What harm can it do anyway, seeing as I have no lunch or dinner plans. If I'm feeling extremely guilty from the previous night's food and alcohol intake I just might opt for a fruit salad, otherwise it's something sweet. You know the sort, something with a healthy twist: a ricotta cheesecake.

After I've skimmed through every page of my chosen Sunday paper and have very thoroughly read through the travel section, I ask for the bill. If the sun is out I will keep up the healthy start and take the scenic route, which is also the long(er) way home.
As I get up to leave, my phone alerts me to a message. A friend, who also lives locally, asks if I am free for lunch. Well of course I am free, which is why I am local! A couple of texts later and we are meeting up in 20 minutes at our local pub. Take note: we stay local, which makes it ok!

Three hours later I am finally walking home, having consumed infinitely more calories than originally intended. I take the short route. As for the original morning list I have at least been successful in reading the papers. Till the next 'free' day then..
On this note, one of my favourite locals worth a mention is a Moroccan restaurant/bar called Doukan. They serve the loveliest coffee and in the morning sweets and pastries. The decor is of course Moroccan but not overwhelmingly so. The service is very friendly- just the way a local should be. Even if you are not local but find yourself in the area I do recommend it, the food is also excellent. Coffee and sweet for one will cost around £6.
If you have any favourite locals then please share.

Doukan, 350 Old York Rd, Wandsworth, London SW18 1SS, Tel: 020 8870 8280

Teamwork

For most of us I think we think of a plate of food. How about plates of food?
Think of Spanish tapas, Greek mezze, Lebanese dishes and so on. There’s something
to be said about sharing food.

For example, have you tried team building dinner at a Lebanese restaurant? Firstly, come the menus. The choice of all those small starter dishes and then the more substantial dishes. Even the worst communicating group of people will immediately start the discussion as to what to order? Ice breaker no 1! Then comes the food, usually in random sequence. Again, even if there is no common ground amongst the group, a discussion will inevitably evolve around food. As the dishes are passed round, then start the comparisons and opinions. Sharing of identical food is a shared experience, it creates a bond.

And then comes the wine, even if one is not an avid drinker, when sharing food in this manner, everyone will have at least one! Observe this some time. People seem to let their hair down and conversation starts deviating from food to wine and then on to any other random subject, be it football or comments about the quiet couple at the next table. All this takes teamwork. By the end of the night you will have made some new best friends!

So if you are at a loss as to the next office team building event, I highly recommend this approach. If you are on a budget I can suggest a charming little place: Massis. Massis is a Lebanese restaurant located just off Oxford Street at St Christopher’s place. You can opt to sit inside but even in the winter I would still recommend al fresco dining. The heaters will keep you warm. Massis has great food and all very reasonably priced. You can choose from a selection of cold and warm starters, I recommend you try at least one of the kibbeh or the falafel. There is also a fantastic selection of grilled dishes. If you are uncertain try the mixed grill. In the theme of teamwork you can share this also. Typically with wine, cost for two people is around £50.

Massis: 28 James Street, London, W1U 1EW