Tipped

It's all about Cissi!

May 08, 2008

My hairdresser, Cissi, recently moved from Hawkeye Hair to Salon 28 so naturally I followed her. So this review is more about Cissi than the actual salon but I will say the salon is simple with about 6 chairs, all leased from various stylists who do your wash as well as cut/colour; 2 wash sinks; a small counter with some hair products for sale; and a nail table in the basement. Nothing fancy; they’re all about hair.

Back to Cissi. As long as we both live in London, I will NEVER go to anyone else. I’m always cautious about saying never (“never say never.” Whatever!) but I’m serious here. When you find someone good you hold onto them. Haircuts and colour can (egotistically) make or break a person. I had my hair turned pink one time and was devastated for weeks, not to mention how damaged my hair was trying to fix it. So it’s safe to say Cissi is the one for me, or at least my hair. She’s awesome. She is honest and won’t compromise her integrity or your looks on a cut/colour that she feels won’t look good. She empathizes with you, seemingly to know what you want. And she cuts my fringe in between cuts for free! On top of that, she’s adorable, friendly and someone you look forward to catching up with. We’ve become friends which is a great thing. A lot of my friends go to her now.

Now I've tried Afghan food

May 08, 2008

The Afghan Kitchen was recommended to us about 2 years ago from a tailor in Marylebone. She was Afghanistan and said if we wanted good Afghan food, to go here. Since that time, we have moved to Islington so it made sense for us to finally try it. My husband actually took me there for Valentine’s Day before we went to see a play. My all means it wasn’t romantic and it’s small place (or at least the ground floor is) with one large table that is shared with other patrons. It felt more like a takeaway place than a restaurant as you can see the daily dishes at the counter even though a waitress takes your order.

The food it simple yet tasty, very similar to Indian curries but creamier, using yogurt. We shared the chicken with yogurt and spinach as well as the roasted pumpkin with yogurt and then the chickpea-type Dahl which was so good – chunky chickpeas instead of just a puree. Both were really good although the meat dishes had much more flavour (and eat a lot of vegetarian cuisine).

Definitely another option for our takeaway meals.

The ultimate food & wine experience

May 07, 2008

I’ve been deciding whether or not to write a review on The Greenhouse b/c it’s been a while since I’ve been although I have been twice which is a lot for this high, high, high end Michelin-star restaurant. Thank goodness for expense budgets and clients who enjoy a food experience as much as I do.

You enter an oasis of clean lines, green grass and teak wood off a tiny mews in Mayfair. Very contemporary entry. The experience just continues, with polite greeters taking your jacket and either offering you a drink in the sitting area/bar or taking you to your table.

The wine list is one of the most impressive I’ve seen in London and in fact, they’ve won the Wine Spectator Grand Award the past 3 years, which goes without saying. That’s the highest mark for a restaurant. The Sommeliers do their part extremely well, as you would expect with that kind of wine selection. They know exactly what to serve you depending on your taste, price range and meal.

The French inspired meal itself takes your palate to new places. It was the first time I tried sweetbreads and I actually liked them! All the dishes are masterminded to perfection and linger on your palate with enthusiasm. So they use some foam, which is over-rated, but it works. Everything from seared scallops with some kind of puree to fois gras to seared tuna for starters (among others that I can’t recall). For mains, they serve the typical meats and fish but all accompanied with seasonal veg/fruit. But if you’re going to do this do it right and opt for the Tasting Menu for £75 pp. You will not be disappointed and it forces you to step outside your comfort zone a bit.

I don’t recall the desserts but I do the cheese. You can’t go wrong by ordering a British cheese plate.

My mouth is watering now...

We had to roll ourselves out...

May 02, 2008

You know the place is good when it’s packed full of Iranians. I think we were the only one’s not although our friend who took us there is Iranian.

You enter and there’s a guy making fresh Nan in the front window. There are two large rooms full of tables and the walls are peachy/pink with Iranian artwork on the walls. Our friend did her best to speak Farsi to our waiter so she could practice and it seemed like it took forever for her to order and the waiter would sometimes answer back in English. Bless her, she did her best. She ordered a mixed meze platter which consisted of an egg salad sandwich-type dish which was delicious; roasted aubergine; roasted tomatoes; yogurt; and a yogurt with cucumber. And all made for wonderful dippings with the bottoms basket of warm, fresh Nan. Then we had another starter which consisted of burnt rice with lamb and kidney bean stew over it. Very unusual and good, although some of the rice pieces were a bit chewy for me.

We had the mixed grill or lamb and chicken. You mix the meat with the rice and roasted tomato for each bit to get all the flavours. We also had more lamb stew, one was with a toasted walnut and pomegrante puree, which was my favourite; the other was with aubergine and beans, also really good.

The only 2 downsides to the places are they don’t serve booze or have a liquor license to allow you to bring your own and the place it so smoky from the grilled meats. You leave and smell like you’ve worked as a short order book flipping burgers all night. But, its worth it and the food is interesting and different. And you can't beat the prices. We had way too much food and took some home with us, and it was only £16 per person. That included dessert and tea.

Love/Hate relationship

April 23, 2008

Is it just me or does everyone feel like they’ve been taken for a ride with their drycleaners?

American Dry Cleaning Co gets kudos for how friendly they are; the guys really go out of their way wrt customer service which I truly appreciate. I think they get you on the dry cleaning costs though. I wouldn’t say they are a lot more than others but it always feels like it. Men’s shirts are cheap but then anything else seems expensive. A sweater is £6-8 and then they always try to trick you into paying an additional £2 for special care – cashmere or shirts that need to be done by hand – which I find appalling. That should be included in the basic price.

They also encourage you to sign up for a yearly loyalty card which gives you 20% off most things. I can’t remember the cost of the loyalty card - £25 maybe? Anyway, if you use them a lot as we seem to, it helps out a bit.

The guy who mends/sews things is great. He is a master and you can never even tell he’s sewn something up. But again, it come with a price. I had a tiny moth hole in one of my sweater sleeves and he charged £6.95 to mend it. It looks amazing but it probably took him 5 minutes.

I guess everyone needs to make a living somehow.

Old school Brassiere

April 18, 2008

You may see famous people here and you’ll certainly dine amongst stuffy, upper class English; women dressed to a T and men in suits. But it’s still a great dining experience. The food is classic and simple such as Caesar salad or duck liver pate or beef Carpaccio to start; and their famous fish & chips or fillet steak or sea bream as a main. Nothing fancy, just good wholesome food and reasonable prices (£5-7 for starters, £14-18 for mains). They have a good selection of wines and their desserts are really yummy (assuming you have room as the portions are healthy).

The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and not pushy and they buzz around you like lightening trying to accommodate the masses.

It’s definitely a place worth visiting as it’s good food, good service and a great place to people watch.

Fun, Latin/tiki bar

April 15, 2008

Barrio North is loud, fun and happy. It’s been nice having a good bar in Islington amongst all the great pubs. Sometimes you just don’t feel like going to a pub – or I don’t. I really enjoy foofy cocktails and Barrio North really knows how to make them. Their drinks menu is huge and the bartenders pride themselves on being cocktail-maker extraordinaires. Their margaritas are my favourite and I even love their tequila sampler. Beware though. They go down too easy. Their nibblers are really good too. Great guacamole.

The music has been hit or miss. On a Saturday night it wasn’t my style – more Top 40/Pop – but other nights it’s been Latin or House and they usually have a DJ. It just depends on the night. The place gets packed out on the weekends so go early unless you want to queue for the one out/one in policy.

Rickety old theatre with modern bar

April 13, 2008

I’m a big fan of plays and the one’s that I usually like the best are at fringe theatres around town. The Royal Court is one of them. The plays I’ve seen there are always very powerful and ironically, the past two I’ve seen there, have had mainly black casts. The actors have been amazing and the performances make you ponder and question what you think is the underlying meaning of the performance.

The theatre itself is set over 3 levels, but still pretty small. We sat in the balcony and for £10/seat, had a perfect view. The basement has a modern bar with tables but I prefer the balcony bar which is much smaller and usually just people sitting in the balcony go there.

A quickie for computer monkeys

April 11, 2008

Relax is great place to pop into if you’re feeling tension in your shoulders or a tight back or whatever ailment caused by slumping over a computer all day. And most of us media types in that area do have back and shoulder pain.

You can get 10 to 30 minute chair massages or book (in advance) a full massage which takes place upstairs in rooms and are more relaxing. But many of us don’t have the time or the money for the full boat, so a little rejuvenation is a nice thing. It’s around £1 per minute and the massage therapists I’ve had are really good – they really dig deep into the tissue – but you have to ask them to.

Relax also sells aromatherapy products, wonderful smelling candles, birthday cards and beautiful flower bouquets.

Tagine galore!

April 10, 2008

Maghreb is a find for those of you longing for good Moroccan food, like we always are since our visit to Marrakech a couple years ago. If you thought chicken or lamb tagines were all they made plus couscous, you are in for a treat at Maghreb. They have about 8 different tagines. My husband has the rabbit with pears and raisins which was very light but good; not what you’d expect as it didn’t have all the colourful flavours. I had the lentil and pumpkin tagine and it was full of spices and really tasty. They also had lamb with prunes and sesame seeds (ironically we made the same at home a week earlier and both agreed it was amazing but we were pruned out when we went here) which we plan to try next time. I had the Harira soup starter which is a typical Moroccan soup with chickpeas, tomatoes, ginger and saffron, again full of flavour. My husband had the duck pastilla as a starter which is roasted duck with cinnamon, almonds, onions and saffron in a filo pastry, combining the sweet with the savoury. It was really good too.

The prices are fair - £3-7 for a starter and £8-13 for a main. The service was attentive but not over the top. It was a Saturday night and they weren’t that busy. The decor is bright and colourful as you’d expect for a Moroccan restaurant, although the overhead lights could have been dimmed a bit more to set the mood.

We’ll definitely be back – I plan to try every kind of tagine.