Author: Sarah Kemp

Best brunch in London? Pancakes at The Delaunay

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My first business breakfast was at The Wolseley. I couldn’t quite believe my luck when I walked through the door and was seated at my table. The menu was presented to me and I was overwhelmed – all of my favourite breakfast dishes listed on one piece of card. I wanted them all. I found it hard to make conversation with my guest before I chose; she must have thought I was a bit strange. I finally made my mind up and ordered the eggs benedict, a dish that firmly etched itself in my memory and one that many establishments fail to live up to. So when I heard that the guys behind this magnificent and extremely glamorous restaurant situated in an old car showroom by Green Park on Piccadilly were opening a brand new restaurant in Aldwych, anticipation was high. The Delaunay is everything you would expect of the new restaurant. It has the same old school glamour, the same dark furnishings, deep green leather banquetes and the most fantastic old weathered clock that …

Morgan M Barbican

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Last Thursday I had one of those days. You know, the kind where everything that possibly can seems to go wrong. Last time this happened, I was late for work, spilled a juice that I had just spent 10 minutes making all over the floor and when I bent down to wipe it up, the button popped off my dress. My camera slipped out of my gym locker on Thursday morning and smashed on the floor. Attempting to hold onto my flimsy towel, I clamoured over various trainers and gym bags to collect the pieces from opposite sides of the room while toned ladies with towels on their heads stared. Luckily I was going past the Camera Exhange on my way to a meeting and picked up a new lens. But not only did I fix my broken lens later in the day, the new one wasn’t working properly when I went to my dinner that evening. Which brings me onto dinner. I was at Morgan M Barbican with a few fellow bloggers to experience …

WIN herbs and spices from Gourmet Garden

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Moving into my first rented flat with a friend in my second year of university was incredibly exciting. No more student halls, no more shared kitchens, no more noise keeping me up all night, no more mess (well, almost). I can positively say that I was a bad cook at this time in my life. My specialties, as most students can claim, were spaghetti bolognese and a steak sandwich. Or the odd jacket potato with cottage cheese, baked beans and salad. Oh dear. Luckily my friend was a good cook and every so often she would make the most amazing Thai chicken curry. I would beg her to make it for us and most of the time she caved in. I remember she used to use squeezy tubes of garlic, lemongrass and ginger. It was so easy and utterly delicious. It wasn’t until recently that I was reintroduced to those very handy squeezy tubes. Gourmet Garden produces a wide range of herbs and spices that are simply washed, chopped and put into tubes. The amount …

Burns Night at Vinopolis

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Phil, please stop, you’re too funny – whoever the heck Phil is. You see, I know Phil because his name was written on his placemat at the Burns Night celebrations at Vinopolis last week. But the thing is, Phil scuppered me somewhat by not turning up. I was sat on a round table of 10 with my guest to my left, but on my right was a big gaping space where Phil and his friend were meant to sit. Naughty Phil. But enough of him, let’s talk about the people that did turn up and more importantly the food and drink we consumed on the evening. A champagne reception was followed by a cocktail of Chivas 12 year old with apple juice and monin cinnamon. We were ushered into the joining room to enjoy a short bagpipe parade before being seated at our table for the evening in the vast function room set in the arches of an old Victorian railway viaduct. Sound impressive? It was. We snaked past the tables full of suited and …

Endellion, Watergate Bay

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“Turn next left and you have reached your destination.” Thank god, I was getting ready to rip the sat nav off the dashboard. The soft and huskey tones of the woman giving us directions was starting to grate on me. If only I could have changed the voice to, say, David Hasslehoff or David Attenborough, everything would have been ok. But no, we were stuck with the extremely irritating generic option. Don’t get me wrong, I think sat nav is incredible in the way that it (mostly) gets you from A to B with minimal effort, but after a few hours, I was glad to turn it off. Our destination, by the way, was the picturesque Watergate Bay in Newquay, Cornwall. I say picturesque but I didn’t actually know this until the following morning when I woke up. For when we arrived, it was dark, cold, windy and exceptionally rainy. We were due to eat out in Newquay that evening but as soon as we stepped inside Endellion, one of the luxurious eco pads nestled …