GREECE

I'm back in Hong Kong now, but still reminiscing about our greek holiday 2 months ago. I've been putting off blogging about it because it was simply too epic!

Santorini
We stayed at Sigalas hotel on Kamari beach - it was at the very end of the beach, away from the restaurants, which was a bit inconvenient to be honest.

The hotel itself was lovely though.

Dinner on a boat; we were near Oia at this point. If you do go on a boat trip, choose the ones that take you out to the more remote beaches, not the more common ones that simply go to the volcanic island and hot springs.

Donkey taxis - one of the best experiences in Santorini? I think so.

Wish I was back in Greece and munching on a souvlaki stick right now! They're a very popular street food.

Seriously, after trying this lamb souvlaki I was obsessed.

It costs around 1.50 euros for a stick, but for 2.50 you get a souvlaki pitta, which they typically chuck some fries in.

Mykonos
Psarou Garden Hotel, so named because they have a garden where they grow all their veg. The staff were amazingly friendly. Especially Yannis!

Wild cherrys with syrup - a sweet welcoming.

The best moussaka we had on the trip was had at the hotel.

This was a lovely store in the town centre that sells various greek desserts. 

Baklava - so sinfully good.

The staff at the hotel recommended Parnormos beach - apparently it's the most beautiful beach in Mykonos. I wouldn't be surprised, as it was much less crowded than Paradise and Super Paradise.

There was only one bar in operation when we went. You didn't have to pay for the deck chairs, which is uncommon in Mykonos. You simply needed to order from the bar. 

Strawberry daiquiri - loved it! What a good start to the day :P

Their food was honestly pretty good. I ordered the club sandwich while someone else went for the burger - a very juicy burger at that.

Athens
Arriving at Athens was a massive culture shock. The grime! The graffiti! The dodgy lighting!

Thankfully, we only spent one night here.

We went on a late night hunt for food and ended up at this German store.

Ah, this will have to do for now.

The last day was spent visiting the acropolis.

Backstreet boys - asian edition?

That's all folks. Counting down the days til Texas! x

Dinner By Heston

A few of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to secure a booking for Dinner a few days before the booked date (I randomly clicked on different times until someone suddenly cancelled). Most of my friends were still busy with their final year projects, but I did manage to find someone to go with in the end. Turns out that while I'm obsessed with eating, he's obsessed with cooking.

I have something to admit though. My sense of smell went downhill these past few months; I thought that it was accumulative damage from being sick all the time. Fortunately, when I went to Greece last week my sense of smell slowly recovered! I honestly thought I'd never get it back. Perhaps it's because I was more active on holiday... who knows.

But anyways! Here is what we had at Dinner By Heston.

Side note: the bread was disappointingly stale. Which is a shame, because bread done right is a triumph in itself (take Ledbury's bacon and onion brioche, for example).

Starters: there was never any doubt that I was going to choose Meat Fruit! Chicken liver parfait in a "skin" of mandarin jelly. After this meal, I caught up on all of the episodes in Heston's Feasts; turns out that he created this dish on the show. I'm just so glad he doesn't use bull's bollocks for the filling anymore. My friend opted for Rice and Flesh; I didn't try it but he gobbled it up in about 30 seconds, so it must've been good.

Mains: my friend tried the Black Foot Pork Chop while I went for the beef. They were offering an alternative cut to the Sirloin of Black Angus on the menu for £5 more; I chose that but I've forgotten exactly what it was!

It's true that the mains are the most underwhelming, but it was still the softest steak I'd ever had. The generous dollop of bone marrow on top reminded me of my meal at the Ledbury.

This was accompanied by mushroom ketchup and triple cooked chips.

Both of us ordered Tipsy Cake and from what I could taste this was scrumptious! The alcohol added a nice kick to the cake but it was still so comforting to eat. I wasn't mightily impressed by the piece of pineapple... but this may be due to my then lack of smell.

We finished off with an earl grey ganache and caraway seed biscuit. I love drinking tea so this turned out to be my favourite part of the meal. And it was free!

x

Graze

I don't know why it took me so long to try Graze out. It's just so convenient, it's like getting a little gift in the mail every few days. After waking up at a totally lazy hour and thinking that I can't be bothered to make lunch, I realise that there's a box waiting for me and I can happily munch on it. Well what can I say? I'm on a diet.

I love that the nutritional info for each box is included in the little booklet.



There is one problem though - I finish them way too quickly! Most boxes are less than 50g.

Using this code: 6WFWVD9F will get you your first box free. And I'll have my next box discounted - win-win : )

x

Posh Picnic @ Green Park

Okay well... this first item is not so posh. 

But I was starving and the hotdog stall was just too conveniently placed at one of the entrances to the park :o)

I got these plastic champagne flutes from sainsbury's. good fun for a picnic! Though the bases kept falling off...

Royal Wedding cupcakes (yes I am a little late) from Hummingbird. Adorable.

I was happy to find that Ladurée macarons are as good as Pierre Hermé - but I think I prefer Pierre Hermé's version of the rose macaron. Mmm. 

x

Brighton Eats

I'm just a little bit obsessed with Reeses.

My friend couldn't stop raving about how good it was. I still prefer Lola's!

Delicious seafood! The friendly waiter made it all the more enjoyable.

Our last meal of the day at The Brasserie Fish was also the most mediocre, which was unfortunate as we had just walked so far to Brighton Marina...

Sure, the restaurant looks elegant enough, but the food was a let down, compared to the cheap and cheerful eats we had had all day. It didn't help that we could hear the chef shouting in the kitchen.

All in all, it was still a fantastic day - we'll be back for sure to stuff our faces!