It's Love I Think - Pop-Up Cafe London review

On a lunchtime errand near London's Liverpool Street station, something unusual caught my eye across the road - a shop front filled with purple teddy bears. I crossed the street to have a closer look and realised it was a cafe - very pink, with cuddly toys and neon signs adorning the walls. Of course I had to go in and have a closer look.

It's Love I Think is both a pop-up cafe and an immersive art takeover by the artist Eve De Haan that claims to be a space for retreat, positivity, wellbeing and nostalgia. Inside you will find inspirational slogans on neon signs, comfy and slightly furry chairs and clear perspex coffee tables stuffed with pink teddy bears. Look up the stairs and you'll spot a cluster of large purple bears; look around and you'll also notice the vintage record player, a bookcase full of wellbeing books, a cutsey milk carton sign and the mystery surprise vending machine. It was only £1 so I popped in a coin and twisted the handle to get a surprise for my seven year old daughter - which turned out to be a fluffy creature of some kind on a key ring and a hairclip in the shape of a bean.

There was a wide selection of hot and cold drinks and some delicious looking bakes; being a hot day - and being in a thoroughly pink cafe - for me it had to be an iced pink chai latte. 

Open until December 2025, It's Love I Think is located at 57 Old Broad Street, and is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 8am to 4pm. Also, 10% of the profits go to Choose Love, a charity supporting women and children in need. So as if you even needed an excuse to grab a coffee and a selfie in this pink paradise, you'll know you are helping do some good at the same time.

Restaurant review: Hixon chophouse Salisbury

My birthday celebration this year included a trip to see Hamilton at the Mayflower in Southampton - excellent seats for a fraction of the West End ticket price, and a fantastic cast, especially Billy Nevers as Aaron Burr.

We stayed in a hotel in Salisbury and had dinner at Hixon, a chophouse which only opened in 2023 but is due to close after two years very soon in June. If you get a chance to visit before it turns into a Mexican restaurant then I strongly recommend it!

The food was excellent though the service was very slow. We both wanted steak so both opted for the fillet (£35) though my husband was disappointed there wasn’t an option for bearnaise sauce - he had the garlic butter and I had mustard cider (an extra £2.50 each).

We had to wait 15 minutes for someone to take our drinks order and eventually when our food came our drinks still hadn’t arrived and we had to ask for them again. I also noticed the server had told the couple dining at the next table what the specials were but didn’t mention any specials to us. We also had to wait a long time for our desserts later. 

I had a French martini cocktail which was very good and for dessert a passionfruit Brule with mango sorbet (£8) which I enjoyed while my husband had a very good sticky toffee pudding (£8.50).

We enjoyed the food and the ambience of the restaurant though did find it a bit expensive even for a good quality steak - this was £35 for a 7oz (200g) fillet; my yardstick for steak is Hawksmoor in London which is expensive as it’s London but also some of the best steak I’ve ever had, and they charge £44 for 275g which is actually (slightly) more per gram, and it definitely wasn’t better steak, and I wouldn’t expect to pay London prices in Salisbury. The service was also remarkably slow; even so I think it’s a real shame Hixon is closing as I would have gone back the next time I wanted to have a celebratory dinner in Salisbury.

Memsahib Gin and Tea Bar Cheltenham

I was trying to work out why I liked the Memsahib Gin andTea Bar in Cheltenham aside from the absolutely delicious cocktails and then I realised - it was the comfy chairs.

These days the last thing I want when I go out for a drink is a busy pub where I’m standing, trying to make myself heard, with nowhere to put my bag. I’d much rather have a seat in a quiet corner and be able to relax and hear my friends speak!

Last year I went to Bath with a few of my friends and took part in a murder mystery event that saw us walking - and at times running - around the town centre trying to solve a virtual crime with Clued Up. It was great fun but pretty tiring as we were on our feet all day. At the end of the day, we drove back to my friend's house in Cheltenham, and walked to the town centre for dinner and drinks. By that point my feet were starting to hurt which is another reason I was glad to sit down!

Memsahib is inspired by the British Raj period in India with tapas food blending British and Indian flavours; it also serves an afternoon Chai tea and crafts its own gin. If I lived closer, I would definitely do one of their masterclasses!

We had some masala chips served with parmesan and lemon salt (£5.50) to nibble alongside our cocktails which were not too spicy and really unusual. But mostly I liked the cocktails - carefully blended flavours, that were out of the ordinary, definitely worth their £10 price tag.

I love Singapore Slings so I had a Cheltenham Sling - vodka, Indian masala rum, orange liqueur, green apple, lime, ginger, angostura bitters, orange bitters and ginger ale. It came on a little tray with a couple of little bottles for me to mix myself. I followed that with a Memsahib Star, made from tropical mango gin, pineapple, lime, vanilla and prosecco - a little similar to a pornstar martini. Both were delicious and I'd definitely recommend making a stop here if you are in the area.

The Tea Terrace - Afternoon Tea in a Princess Carriage

A perfect treat for any little girl - or grown up - who loves princesses and all things pink. We enjoyed afternoon tea at the Tea Terrace in Cobham for our daughter's fourth birthday last year and she was thrilled. Unfortunately that restaurant has now closed but they have another venue in Guildford where you can have the same princess carriage experience - to find out more hop on over to my other blog, Mini Moo Life.

They have an extensive menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner options as well as afternoon tea. The white chocolate and cranberry scones were especially good, and the mini cakes were delicious. The restaurant was very quiet when we were there so we were able to hop over to another table in the corner and sit on throne-type chairs - though my daughter and I definitely preferred sitting in the princess carriage! 

You do have to pay extra to hire the carriage which you get for an hour and a half, and it can add up at £12.95 per person - I think it would be better to have a flat fee per carriage as you aren't exactly going to share it with anyone. There is also a minimum spend of £21 per person if you sit in the carriage so you can't just book it to feel a bit fancy while drinking a coffee! We had planned to go for afternoon tea (which my daughter and I ordered while my husband had a panini from the lunch menu followed by a cake and with a drink as well which came to more than the minimum spend.

While we haven't been to the Tea Terrace's remaining venue in Guildford it looks from the website to be quite similar to the now closed Cobham branch, and most importantly has the princess carriages, but doesn't have Theresa the robot!

Afternoon Tea at Vicinity Tower Bridge

Few things say London more than Tower Bridge and Vicinity, a bar and restaurant in Tower Hotel, offers an afternoon tea that capitalises on that with a Tower Bridge-shaped cake stand. This is a good afternoon tea for tourists in London, as you have a view of Tower Bridge from the window, and can indulge in the quintessential English finger sandwiches and scones and a selection of patisserie and petit fours.

My husband I were given a voucher for afternoon tea here some time ago, then Covid prevented us from using it; the hotel luckily offered to extend the expiry date so we were able to finally make a booking just before Christmas last year. We took a day off work while our daughter was at nursery and made the most of it, following our afternoon tea with the Money Heist Experience!

If you are coming here, whether it’s to see the bridge (which is a tourist attraction you can visit) or to go to the hotel or restaurant, I recommend walking from London Bridge if you can. It’s a lovely walk alongside the river and in winter, there is usually a Christmas market which creates a magical atmosphere – and you get a good view of Tower Bridge as you approach.

The restaurant was fairly quiet when we arrived at lunchtime on a weekday but quickly filled up, with what looked like a few office Christmas lunches as well as tourists. We had excellent service from someone who appeared to be the maitre d’; we were given a table next to the window with a view of the bridge and a menu for the afternoon tea. I always think it’s a shame when the menus are taken away once the food comes and you are trying to remember what each of the petit fours and mini desserts are – though in this case I could be forgiven for not remembering as I realised they didn’t match up with what was on the menu. 

I asked the waiter and the maitre d’ then came over to apologise, blaming supply chain issues – I didn’t mind that the cakes were different at all, I just wanted to know what we had in front of us! He told us what each one was, and they were delicious – as was the cocktail that they gave us as a complementary treat and the extra portion of mille-feuilles as they said they were trying out a new recipe and asked for our opinion!

I would recommend afternoon tea at the Vicinity for the food, cocktails, service and view – and at £24.95 per person it’s not as expensive as some of the more lavish, luxurious London hotels, so it won’t blow the budget either.

Woodcote Green Garden Centre Dobbies - New restaurant review

Many people don’t like change, especially when it’s something they are familiar and comfortable with.

So it’s not surprising that some people were a bit dismayed when the independent Woodcote Garden Centre in Wallington was taken over by the Dobbies chain. At first nothing changed, then I saw people on local Facebook groups complain various things were different and in their opinion not as good, and they had moved the gift section to make way for soft play.

That made me sit up and take notice straight away as a mum of a (then) three year old and living very close to the garden centre. So the first weekend that the soft play was open (last summer - July 2021) I arranged a play date with my daughter’s best friend and we went to check it out. Incidentally, I have reviewed the soft play over on my other blog Mini Moo Life - I thought it was great for younger children.

In terms of the garden centre overall and some of the comments I have seen online, I would have no idea whether the quality or choice of plants was any different as I am the least green fingered person you are ever likely to meet. It did look like something was missing though as there is a huge new area selling hot tubs; I can’t remember what was there before but am sure it wasn’t hot tubs. The outside play area is still there, with a climbing frame, slide and sand pit, and inside everything has moved around but it’s hard to tell what if anything is missing, apart from the Edinburgh Woollen Mill concession which I really liked (which went when EWM went into administration). 

There seems to be a much bigger toy area than previously which is both good and bad - great for gifts (in the past I remember it being mainly wooden toys, puzzles and Schleich animals and now they have everything from Peppa Pig toys to Lego as well) but I can’t see myself taking my daughter past that section without her wanting me to buy something!

The restaurant has also expanded significantly and has taken over a large section that used to house barbecues and garden furniture as well as it’s previous site. It’s also changed in that you no longer pay at the till when you order food and instead it’s table service. The menu didn’t look a million miles away from what the garden centre served previously but there were some additions. I decided to try a macaroni cheese toastie - I love macaroni cheese and have had it as a burger topping a few times but never in a sandwich! It was very rich and filling (definitely a bit of a carb overload) but quite enjoyable as a lunchtime treat.

Since I've been back, I've noticed there is a smaller menu than there used to be under the previous owners, but there are some interesting additions on offer like an afternoon tea (which I haven't tried yet).

We have been back to the garden centre many times since it changed hands, to buy plants, gifts, visit the soft play or go to the cafe, and to attend different events. For me, the fact that it has become part of the Dobbies chain is no bad thing; it has given us new opportunities and continues to offer everything we expect from a garden centre - but I appreciate that not everyone wants a garden centre to be as much a source of entertainment and general shopping as it is about plants!

Passion Fruit Curd Mother's Day Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for Mother’s Day for my mum, my mother-in-law - and me!

I’ve developed quite a taste for passion fruit recently - Passoa passion fruit liqueur is delicious and could definitely be used in baking, but since my four year old daughter was going to have these cupcakes as well I wasn’t going to use alcohol. Instead, I got the passionfruit flavour from a combination of yogurt - papaya, passion fruit and mango flavour, from Morrisons - and passion fruit curd (The Cherry Tree brand, from Ocado).

I wanted a light cupcake using yogurt in the cake mix and these were so light and airy, they probably aren’t robust enough to put a spoonful of curd into the middle but I did anyway (it just makes them a bit messy when you eat them!).

Here is the recipe I used:

125g margarine or butter, softened

150g sugar

2 eggs

150ml yogurt - I used papaya, passion fruit and mango flavour from Morrison's 

225g self-raising flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

For the filling:

Passionfruit curd - I used the Cherry Tree brand from Ocado

For the icing:

500g icing sugar

250g butter, softened

Passionfruit flavouring to taste - for example you could add a spoonful of the passionfruit curd, or passionfruit liqueur if the cakes are for adults.

Preheat oven to 180C. Cream the butter and the sugar then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the yogurt, then fold in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for around 15-20 minutes depending on the size until the tops are golden brown.

Allow to cool, then using a teaspoon make a small well in each cupcake and add a spoonful of passionfruit curd.

To make the buttercream, cream together the butter and icing sugar and add a spoonful of passionfruit curd, or a few drops of passionfruit liqueur if for adults only - you may need to adjust the quantity of icing sugar if the mixture is too runny.

Using a piping bag and a nozzle, pipe swirls onto the top of the cupcakes. 

I decorated these cupcakes in different ways:

SuckUK customisable cookie stamp - this is a wooden stamp that comes with a plastic disc and little letters, that you insert into the disc to make the message of your choice. You can stamp this onto a cookie before it has baked, or stamp onto a circle of fondant icing, as I did here. I've had this piece of equipment for ages but this was the first time I had used it.

It was quite fiddly to get the letters into the right places, and took a bit of trial and error to work out if they were all the right way around; there isn't a huge amount of space for a message but I managed to get 'happy' across the top, 'mothers' day along the bottom and 'day' in the middle. However, there was only one of most letters and not enough to spell out 'happy' for instance as there was only one 'p', so I had to stamp the missing letter separately. It didn't quite look the same and I was surprised given that 'happy birthday' would be, to me, the most obvious message to use on the cookie stamp that there weren't enough letters to make it! Then I piped some small buttercream flowers around the edge.

Wilton Make Any Message Letterpress Set - this was also something I received as a gift several years ago. The letters are bigger than on the SukUK stamp so I just pressed 'mum' into a circle of fondant icing and placed it on top of each cupcake with a little buttercream. Then I piped some buttercream flowers along the top and bottom.

Piped flowers: I used two different colours of buttercream (pink and purple, though the latter looks a bit grey in this photo), and two different nozzles to pipe a swirl and some smaller flowers onto each cupcake and added some edible silver balls on top.

Restaurant Review - The Fox, Coulsdon Common, Caterham

I’ve been looking through old photos on my phone and remembering the fun things I did with my daughter pre-pandemic, and all the places we went. Many of them are things I was intending to post on this blog and never got around to - like this one!

It was back in 2018 when my daughter was barely two months old and my school friends came up to meet her as it was also my birthday. I knew I wasn’t really going to be in a position to host so we went out for a pub lunch. I needed to find somewhere that was child friendly and also vegan friendly. Even in the few years since 2018 vegan food has become much more common on menus but at the time I had to do a bit of research to find somewhere suitable.

I decided upon the Fox in Coulsdon Common, Caterham, a spacious Vintage Inns pub with a nice country feel. It did a delicious Sunday roast, a decent choice of vegan food and some very nice desserts. I have actually been here before and even reviewed it before - I don't normally review the same place twice but to be honest I had forgotten about the first time until I had already written this one!

There was plenty of room for the buggy and for me to be able to feed my daughter while sitting at the table. We haven’t been back since but that’s more due to the pandemic and the fact that we just don’t eat out very often, which is something that I think needs to change!

Butlin's Bognor Regis - Ocean Hotel and Restaurant Reviews, DineAround Explained

Butlin’s today is a far cry from the self catering caravan holidays I remember as a child in the 1980s. Today there are smart hotels, apartments, and a range of on-site restaurants including an American diner and Papa John’s. You’re sure to find something to suit everyone - but if you are considering a stay at Butlin’s how do you decide? Which hotel is best or should you self-cater at Butlin’s, what are the dining options and how does DineAround work?

In September I went to Butlin’s Bognor Regis and have tried to answer all these questions and more in a post on my other blog, MiniMoo Life. If you want to find out more, hop on over there!

The Trading House, London: Restaurant Review

Anyone for a Christmas dinner on a skewer? In the run-up to Christmas I went for a festive lunch at the Trading House, a bar and restaurant near Bank in central London, and this is how my dinner was served!

I always choose turkey when I go out for a Christmas meal but it was described  as a ‘turkey kebab’; I was very curious to see what it would look like, and definitely wasn’t expecting this!

The metal skewer, dangling from a special stand, had pieces of turkey, pigs in blankets and stuffing balls threaded on it, and sat hanging over a small bowl of roast potatoes and vegetables. It came with a small bowl of cranberry glaze and the waiter explained I should pour the glaze into a little dish at the top of the skewer stand and it would drip down over the turkey. It was certainly a talking point - and the food was very good, particularly the roast potatoes which were aided by a small jug of gravy on the side. 

For my dessert I chose gingerbread cake and after the innovative way my main course was served I was wondering how the cake would come - so it was almost disappointing it was simply a square piece of cake with a piece of pear and ice cream on the side! But nonetheless it was delicious and I do recommend the Trading House for both the food and the service.

The building and decor is also a talking point; it's a listed building with ornate columns and detailed carvings on the walls inside as well as an array of mounted stag heads (which I assume are fake...) and a giant taxidermy bird on the corner of the bar. Everywhere you look there is something to raise the eyebrows or nudge your companion and point out - understated it is not. Inspired by the explorers and merchants of the past, the Trading House conjures up a bygone era and at the same time a modern, innovative cocktail bar and restaurant. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Pizza Express Leadenhall Market - A little bit of post-lockdown familiarity

Pizza Express hardly needs a review as I doubt there are many people who haven’t been to one before! And like most chains you would expect consistency from one location to the next.

But it’s been a very long time since I’ve been to a Pizza Express - (not even including lockdown) and the menu did seem to have changed a bit, so I thought it was worth giving a quick update!

The first thing I noticed was that they had calzone on the menu - I love calzone and don’t remember that being something Pizza Express offered in the past. The next thing I noticed was that the classics menu looked a lot smaller than I remembered - now there is more of an even split between different types of pizza, the classics, the romana with a thinner base, calzone (folded pizza) and calabrese (square pizza) and there’s also a much bigger selection of vegan pizzas than I remember. There are the usual al forno dishes and leggera pizza which I always feel like I ought to order as it’s lower carb and you get salad in the middle - but the middle of the pizza that is missing is the best part!

Then I did a bit of a double take at the prices. It’s been quite a while since I went to a Pizza Express and along with regular price inflation we’ve had a combination of factors that have caused restaurants to put prices up, from higher energy prices to perhaps the need to recoup losses from lockdown. Even so I was surprised that most of the pizzas seemed to be around the £15 mark. I remember when Pizza Express did two pizzas for £15 if you had a voucher - but that was about 10 years ago now!

There are some new flavours and toppings on the menu too and I chose the BBQ burnt ends on a romana base. It had slow cooked beef brisket, which was a little fatty in places, with chipotle, barbecue sauce and red onion. I don’t think I’ve ever had a pizza at Pizza Express that wasn’t actually delicious as they seem to get their flavour combinations just right.

I ate with a friend from work at the Leadenhall Market branch in London; it’s a nice location with a small area upstairs and a large area downstairs so even though it gets busy at lunchtime we had no problem getting a table. There is definitely something comforting about the familiarity of Pizza Express and no doubt I will be back.

The Ivy Brasserie Cobham - Review

I’m not going to admit how long it’s been since I last went out for a restaurant meal in the evening with my husband - because it was some time before lockdowns even started. Since having our daughter we’ve hardly ever had anyone babysit so romantic dinners a deux have been off the menu.

We weren’t able to celebrate our wedding anniversary with anything more than a takeaway at home in 2020 but even the year before, our plans fell through as our babysitter was ill so we rescheduled but then my husband was ill and somehow we never got around to finding another date.

So this year with lockdown rules easing and having had our vaccinations I was determined that we were going to do something. As my husband is a fussy eater my first step in choosing a restaurant is to scan the menu for something he would like.

I had recently someone posting images on Facebook of The Ivy Brasserie Cobham and I loved the floral backdrop, which prompted me to look up the restaurant. The Ivy Brasseries are outposts of the famous Ivy restaurant in London which is known for its classic British dishes combined with a contemporary global selection with a particular slant on Asian food. Even then I was actually surprised that somewhere that nice - and that wasn’t a chain restaurant or a pub - had things on the menu like a burger and steak that my husband would actually like!

My eye was also caught by the cocktail list so I booked right away - we had the option of choosing an indoor or an outside table and since my husband had only had one vaccination at that point to my two, he said he preferred to sit outside.

On the day of our booking the weather looked a bit changeable and it had rained in the morning so I called the restaurant to ask if the outdoor tables were under cover and they assured me that they were. However, while our table was at the end of a fixed rectangular canopy that stretched the length of several tables and would have kept the rain off if needed (luckily the weather was fine in the evening!) I did notice that a few tables had what was basically a garden parasol umbrella meaning that at least two if not three people at a table for four would have gotten wet if it rained!

Funnily enough though the restaurant was busy when we arrived but had emptied out well before 8pm.. possibly due to the fact that England was playing in the Euros that night!

The Ivy Brasserie is a beautiful restaurant - there are flowers everywhere and even a wall of flowers outside by the front door (selfie spot alert!). We were shown through the restaurant to a small courtyard garden which would have been prettier had I not been facing a row of patio heaters lined up right behind my husband’s chair. But nonetheless the decor and atmosphere was lovely. 

Service was friendly and on the whole good though I had to ask about my starter after they brought my husband’s and not mine and when I ordered a cocktail from their dessert menu as well as a dessert, I was expecting the drink first and the dessert second, but got it the other way around after having to actually ask a waiter - I think they forgot I’d ordered a drink.

The food was amazing - I don’t know if that’s partly because it as had been literally years since I last ate in a restaurant but I think this was the best meal I’ve had in a long time. We had some sourdough bread (£4.25) and honey glazed almonds (a shocking £3.25 for a tiny handful in a bowl) to start then my husband had the Ivy hamburger (£13.95, cheese is an extra £1.95 - this place isn’t cheap - which he said was very good).

I didn’t want simple traditional food like fish and chips, as while I’m sure the Ivy’s take on this classic dish would be excellent, I can get standard fish and chips anywhere. Instead I chose a Keralan monkfish and prawn curry (£17.95) that came with jasmine rice and sweet potato crisps- with a little trepidation as I wouldn’t normally order a curry in a restaurant unless we were having an Indian takeaway. But it was outstanding - not very spicy (good), with a thin sauce almost like a broth, large chunks of monkfish and juicy prawns and fluffy rice. I wanted to ask for another portion to take home!

The cocktail menu looked very tempting and I had a Passionate Spritz - a combination of aperol, passion fruit vodka and Prosecco. It wasn’t as sweet as I normally like my cocktails - and in fact I’d tried aperol once before and didn’t like it - but it felt like a nice summery drink and I did enjoy it.

I had a Hazelnut Alexander with my dessert - cognac, Frangelico hazelnut liqueur and cream, which was delicious. But probably a bit unnecessary as I’d decided to make the most of being in a restaurant (long overdue!) and also order a dessert.

They had a special dessert in honour of Wimbledon that looked just like a tennis ball which I almost wanted to order just for a photo, but it was filled with strawberries and cream and I’m not keen on strawberries. Instead my husband and I both had a chocolate bombe (£8.95 - since when did desserts start costing so much?). It consisted of vanilla ice cream with a honeycomb centre encased in a chocolate shell, with a little jug of hot caramel sauce that you pour over the chocolate dome to make it melt. I was actually a bit disappointed that the waiter poured the sauce himself as I would have liked to do it! I couldn’t fault the dessert though, it was delicious and the perfect end to a perfect meal - and we got home in time to a happy and contented daughter who had had great fun with her babysitter (and was still awake, but it wasn’t late as we’d had an early sitting at dinner) and in time to catch the end of the football.

A quick FAQ…

What is parking like at the Ivy Brasserie Cobham?

I’d read reviews saying the car park was tiny so expected it to only have a couple of spaces; in fact it was more like 10-12 which admittedly isn’t many - and two spaces were at such angles I wouldn’t have liked to have parked in them. Instead we parked in the public car park on Downside Bridge Road which is a short five minute walk (ten minutes in heels) down the high street to the Ivy restaurant.

Dirty Bones meal kit at home - Plateaway review

We’ve eaten quite a lot of takeaways during the pandemic, but not because we couldn’t get out to our favourite restaurants – since becoming parents over three years ago we have barely been out to eat more than a handful of times! Instead, ordering in food was either something we did at the end of a particularly tiring day of working and entertaining a toddler, or because we felt like we needed a treat of some kind. I was getting a bit fed up of our same old, same old choices, particularly when it came to actually celebrating a special occasion.

For Valentine’s Day we had a lovely delivery from a local restaurant, Spaghetti Tree, but for my birthday recently I wanted to do something else. I have seen a few websites that allow you to order meal kits from restaurants if you live too far away to get a takeaway- you do have to cook it yourself but they provide all the ingredients and instructions. That sounded quite fun so for my birthday I had a look at Plateaway to find something my husband and I would both like - which immediately ruled out quite a lot! I decided to go for burgers out of curiosity - cooking burgers at home is never as good as eating them in restaurants or indeed takeaway/ delivery from the likes of Five Guys. I’ve often wondered even if you get a good quality beef patty surely what makes these meals delicious is the way they are cooked or even the way the burgers are assembled - so this was my opportunity to find out!

I went for the ‘Mac Daddy kit’ from a restaurant called Dirty Bones - they have a site in London’ Shoreditch though I’ve never eaten there before. I selected the option I wanted from Plateaway - kit to serve two for £19 - and entered the delivery date I wanted. I went for the day before my birthday as the meal kits do have to be used within a day or two but as the delivery time is not guaranteed I thought it best to get it the day before- though it came around 11.30am.

Plateaway lists everything you get inside the box on its website so you know before you order exactly what you are getting. In this kit there were burger patties, American cheese slices, brioche buns, a pouch of macaroni cheese and a pouch of pulled pork in barbecue sauce. The latter were both already cooked and prepared and just needed reheating. The kit doesn’t come with fries so you will need to supply cook those yourself.

There was a card inside the pack with detailed instructions, though it was very straightforward and really only involved frying the burgers and heating the Mac and cheese and pulled pork in small pans. The instructions also include how to assemble the burger.

And is ordering a burger from Plateaway worth it? A resounding yes from me. The burger was juicy, the mac and cheese creamy and the pulled pork tangy, all working together to give the taste of something I would happily have ordered in a restaurant.

But is it worth cooking something from Plateaway or a restaurant meal kit yourself? First of all, let’s look at the cost. This was £19 for two people - so £9.50 per burger - plus a £4.95 delivery charge. At Dirty Bones restaurant the Mac Daddy burger is £12 - so you save £2.50 by cooking it yourself or if you count the delivery cost it’s basically the same as eating in the restaurant (though you would have to factor in the cost of getting to the restaurant unless you lived in walking distance, and a tip). It is cheaper than ordering a takeaway - we seem to spend about £40 when we order from Five Guys for instance though that includes fries and drinks. It’s worth knowing that you can also get the cook at home meal kits direct from the Dirty Bones website. They charge £28 instead of £19 for the Mac Daddy kit but that includes delivery and also two portions of fries with their special blend of onion and garlic salt.

Ultimately the draw of getting a restaurant meal kit to cook at home is if you want to eat food from a particular restaurant and live too far to either go there (or are avoiding travel/eating out still due to covid; we were in lockdown when we ordered this but even now haven’t started going into London again) or live too far away to get an actual takeaway delivered. For that reason- and because the food was delicious even though I cooked it myself - I would definitely order again!

Spaghetti Tree Sutton - Restaurant/ Takeaway review

In some ways, this Valentine's Day was much like any other - my husband and I have tended to avoid going out to restaurants on Valentine's Day (in fact, I'm not sure we ever have) - partly in expectation that venues will be turning tables as quickly as possible, partly because prices seem to go up that day, and partly- actually, mainly - because most restaurants offer set menus on February 14 and there's hardly ever anything my husband likes.

Dining out with a fussy eater is tricky and dining in during lockdown isn't much easier! I wasn't planning to bother looking for a nice takeaway option for Valentine's Day, but saw an advert for a local Italian restaurant that sounded nice and decided to have a look.

The Spaghetti Tree in Sutton is not to be confused with the Spaghetti House chain - it's a family-run Italian restaurant that has been going for more than 30 years. According to their website they were offering live entertainment before the pandemic, and have now turned to takeaway and delivery - including a Sunday roast which I'm going to have to try.

The Valentine's Day offer was indeed a set menu, but with quite a few options compared to the three or four you usually find - this one had six starters and six main courses to choose from, one of which was any pizza from their menu. That suited us perfectly!

It wasn't cheap at £40 each but that price included three courses, delivery, a cocktail and chocolate covered strawberries. As my husband is teetotal I got to have his cocktail and I can say that even though I'm not really sure of the ingredients (strawberry, peach and vodka came through) they really were delicious.

I chose the tiger prawns with chorizo bruschetta for my starter, which came with rocket and red onions as well as a balsamic glaze. The bread was a little soggy by the time our food arrived but that did no harm and it was very tasty. My husband had deep fried mozzarella parcels - the portion contained four, which is something we probably would have shared between us had we been eating in the restaurant, and he said that while they were very nice, two was plenty as they were actually quite heavy.

I was very tempted by several of the main courses in the set menu, including the prawn and crab linguine, the tagliatelle with meatballs and the seabass with tiger prawns but I plumped instead for 'pollo Casanova' - chicken breast wrapped in pancetta in a spinach and gorgonzola sauce served with saute potatoes and seasonable vegetables. It was excellent - the chicken (two sizeable pieces) perfectly cooked, the sauce not overpowering and complementing the dish well, and the potatoes and vegetables were exactly how I like them. Again, the portion was so large I couldn't eat it all!

My husband enjoyed his margerita pizza and said the brownie he had for dessert was very good. For my dessert I chose the nutella pizza, which the menu described as topped with strawberries and white chocolate swirls - instead, it came topped with sliced banana! (And I don't like banana, but then again I don't like strawberries either). It was far too large for one person and again if we were in the restaurant would have been a sharing dessert - as it was, I ate one small slice and the rest ended up being wasted!

I was very pleased overall with the menu, from the wide choice to the quality of the food (and the drinks!), and would definitely order from here again.

The Cocktail Man - Cocktail kits at home subscription box review

Many of us are missing going out to bars during lockdown – the atmosphere, the company, but also the cocktails carefully crafted by bartenders. Though I have to admit that I have barely been out to a bar since becoming a parent and even before that it wasn’t a regular occurrence – but I do love a proper cocktail that’s more than just a spirit and a mixer. A few months back I decided to treat myself to something I came across online, which aims to fill this particular gap. The Cocktail Man is professional mixologist James Vyse who quit his job at a top bar in London to create this new subscription service bringing you cocktail making kits at home.

You can choose your favourite cocktail as a one-off treat or a gift for someone else, or you can choose a subscription package where a different cocktail kit each month makes its way through your door. I have had two now, as part of a six-month subscription, and can confirm that the cocktails are delicious. However, the package changed after the first month and I do think these are a little on the expensive side – even though they are still cheaper than paying for cocktails of this quality in a bar!

What do you get in the Cocktail Man box?

Each month, the pack brings you everything you need to make five cocktails. That includes three miniature bottles of spirits, and a bottle of the Cocktail Man’s own recipe ‘sliqueur’ (which I think might be a ‘secret liqueur’ but I couldn't see an explanation for the name) – this is a flavoured liqueur that is basically what makes the cocktail something unique, plus a garnish and a recipe card. The three cocktails I have had so far are:

Raspberry Rose Gin Fizz: miniature bottles of gin, plus raspberry and rose sliqueur, and dried rose buds to garnish

Blueberry and lavender sour: vodka, blueberry and lavender sliqueur, and lavender sprigs to garnish.

Rhubarb and ginger negroni: gin, campari, rhubarb and ginger sliqueur, and dehydrated orange slices to garnish.

The recipe cards also explain what fresh ingredients you need; the first two both needed an egg white which isn’t something I would normally put in a drink, but as long as you shake it up enough, works just fine. The blueberry and lavender sour is served neat, whereas the raspberry rose gin fizz is topped up with tonic water; which wasn’t on the initial list of ingredients on the recipe card so luckily I read the whole thing before I started making it, or I would have gotten to the end and realised I had no tonic water! 

A negroni is usually too bitter for me and the rhubarb sliqueur did sweeten it somewhat, and I liked the hint of orange, but again I would prefer a sweeter cocktail. The garnishes give a nice final touch but what I liked most was that these tasted like proper premium cocktails. I preferred the raspberry rose gin fizz as I like a sweeter cocktail – I’m hoping that next time I get either the champagne cosmopolitan or the mango and passion fruit mojito!

What are the cocktails like?

Delicious – like something you would get in a high end bar. I’m not talking jug of sex on the beach – but the sort of drink I’ve enjoyed at the Dorchester or the Skylon bar in the South Bank Centre. With the garnish as well they look the part (providing you have suitable glassware – by the way, you also need a cocktail shaker). The mixers are minimal so these are strong cocktails too – a little goes a long way.

How is it packaged?

In an attractive blue strong cardboard box, with the bottles neatly arranged so you can see what you’ve got at a glance. There was also a postcard with a message from the Cocktail Man about the inspiration for this particular cocktail and the recipe card. Initially, there were two options however, of a standard and premium subscription; my subscription was upgraded from the former to the latter after some delivery issues. The standard box was similar but packaged in a plain white box, with a removal blue sleeve, and without the postcard. These feel like a luxury treat when they arrive and would make a lovely gift.

What does it cost?

Currently at the time of writing on the Cocktail Man website, an individual kit is between £34.99 and £36.99, a three month subscription is £79.99 (reduced from £98.97), six months £149.99 (reduced from £197.94) and 12 months is £279.99, down from the usual price of £395.88. That sounds expensive, and in fact since I started drafting this blog post the prices have actually gone up - but given each kit makes five cocktails, a one-off at £32.99 (including postage) sets you back £7 per cocktail – you’d pay nearly twice that in some high end bars. On a six month subscription, it’s less than £5 per drink, and for 12 months, that falls to under £4.70. Of course, you also have to take into account the fact that you are making these cocktails yourself at home – and a fair amount of the bar price would go towards covering overheads. I got a special offer via Facebook so look out for voucher codes so I feel like I got a bargain based on the current prices - and am looking forward to my next few boxes of cocktails!