Author: Lorna Wilson

Cuisson presents POPdown

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Where 15 Charles Street, London SW1Y The Experience Located just north of St James of Park, is the latest concept on the London pop up scene. Cuisson, the Michelin star caterers have made their mark on the concept with the interactive POPdown, where they have created beautiful food, an interactive fun experience at affordable prices. The menu at POPdown will comprise of four extraordinary courses along with a signature Cuisson cocktail. Designed by the Cuisson team, who collectively trained in some of the world’s top restaurants (The Fat Duck, Galvin at windows, Le Gavroche, The Square, Maze and Adam Simmons), the POPdown menu fuses classic French cooking with modernist techniques and it far from disappoints . Cuisson’s aim is to inject an element of playfulness into technical gourmet food which creates small delicious bites. On arrival the atmosphere is rustic, with wooden tables sitting eight people and tumblers on the table for wine. We were greeted with a small carefully selected wine list and selected the 2014 Pena Blanco, which was delightful throughout the evening …

Lorna Loves Lobster Kitchen

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Where Lobster Kitchen What Situated a 5 minute walk from Tottenham Court Road, Lobster Kitchen is in a perfect location to attract London regulars from the trendy Soho business area nearby and stumbling tourists laden down with shopping bags from Oxford Street. The Experience The Lobster Kitchen could aptly be named shack; it is authentic with décor being shipped from New England, a slate wall from Canada and a further wall commissioned by London artist Tilo Kaiser, utilising old Canadian newspapers. Everything is quaint, kitsch and works incredibly well. After an initial discussion over dinner in 2013, co-owners Abigail Tan and Valeria Cinaglia opened the doors to LK on the 22nd of October 2014 and have had a great start to the business establishing itself in its first few months trading. As a lover of seafood, I was delighted to be invited to the press opening. Upon arrival we were greeted with a prosecco and elderflower cocktail, quickly followed by a crisp, cold glass of Palmer & Co Blanc De Blancs, which Hannah and I …

HotBox, Spitalfields

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Where HotBox London, Spitalfields What A regular in the pop up scene, HotBox has held residencies at Street Feast in Dalston, Hawker House and Battersea Power Station; however, on the 4th of December it opened it’s doors to its first permanent site at 46-48 Commercial St. The Experience After a hard day’s work on Thursday, Hannah and I could have been likened to William Wallace in Braveheart. Having made our bid for freedom, the night didn’t exactly get off to a good start; as we crossed the road outside Liverpool street, I was hit by a bike. As I scrambled to get my phone, some hunk from Dirty Martini scooped me up and bandaged up my leg. I didn’t think it was the time and place to offer him my number, but I’m thinking a thank you card might be appropriate. It didn’t take long to get patched up and we soon arrived at Hotbox, an effortlessly cool new meaty restaurant with red lights, straight lines and dark furniture. The staff were lovely and greeted us …

The Four Thieves, Battersea

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Where The Four Thieves, Battersea What The Four Thieves, part of The Laines Pub Company, has just opened on Lavender Hill in Battersea. With its own on site brewery and distillery making craft beer and Four Thieves gin this new site will have the perfect tipples to match head chef Hayden Smith’s menu. The Experience Upon entering the restaurant I have to say that my first reaction was surprise, closely followed by delight! The eclectic mix of décor; dim, warm lights and the quietly busy atmosphere made for the perfect location for a few after work drinks and dinner. We were shown to our table, beautifully set with a personalized white painted ‘reserved’ sign, and were soon handed a drinks menu with a choice of 80 different gins. The restaurant houses its very own drinks distillery and is soon to open its own mini brewery. They take massive pride in their choices of tipple, and we couldn’t wait to try. To start, we tried a festive saffron and orange gin cocktail and a clean, sweet …

The Winter Cabin at York and Albany

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Where The  Winter Cabin, York and Albany What Situated in the Courtyard of Gordon Ramsey’s York and Albany is the winter cabin, an alpine ski lodge experience serving festive cocktails and canapés. The picture of winter chic, located on a quiet corner of Regents Park, you would never guess this hidden gem was mere minutes from the mania of Camden tube. The Experience We took the Northern line from Bank to Camden, sweaty as always, I thought to myself. If this was a first date, I’m pretty sure I have been closer to most people on this tube than dates I have been on of late. I went with Hannah, a colleague who had started in my team the week before. She is amusing, likes food and at the end of a long working day is still good company, needless to say a great partner for dining. We arrived and were politely shown through to the courtyard. The York and Albany is lovely, like a drawing room; it is cosy and welcoming without an air …