A vegetarian dinner with a view at OXO Tower Restaurant

Oh, London. You beautiful, exciting, welcoming, fearless, fun, brilliant, nutty and wonderful city.

I have loved London ever since I first visited as a young girl, and I am so proud to call the capital my home. The longer I live here, the more I love it.

And I recently had one of those evenings where the sheer beauty of the city blew me away once more.

If you look closely at the above photo, you'll see where I was fortunate enough to spend an evening: the OXO Tower Restaurant on the South Bank.

See it?

Up on the eighth floor you'll find the restaurant, and if it's a warm enough evening, you should sit outside and admire the insanely beautiful view.

Meet my date for the night, the lovely Ciara.

It was a balmy early summer's evening and the setting couldn't have been more perfect. Being Friday night, it was definitely time for cocktails (lol as if I need the excuse of Friday).

Don't they look pretty!? Mine was the Due South - vodka, elderflower liqueur with lemon, raspberry ripple and champagne. Divine.

I know it's very remiss of me but I'm afraid I can't remember the name of Ciara's cocktail. I can remember, however, that it was super delicious. We both enjoyed each other's drinks as much as our own that we had to have the other one later on.

The reason I was there was to sample the restaurant's new vegetarian menu. Whilst not strictly veggie, I do eat vegetarian about 80% of the time. I'm not actively trying to, I'm just not that fussed about meat. I love veggie food! So I was excited.

After a spot of bread each - oh my days, the rosemary potato bread was BEYOND - we tucked into our starters.

I went for the smoked burrata with grilled apricots and fresh almonds. Sweet Lord, it was tasty. The burrata was smokey and creamy and the apricots were perfectly grilled. It was a delicious summery plate.

Ciara had the sweet potato pancake with Cornish Brie, courgette flower and kumquat marmalade. To be honest it wasn't really a pancake but rather a disc of sweet potato, but to quote Ciara, it was: "So delicious I forgot what the ingredients were. A plate of deliciousness."

So there you have it.

With a glass of light white wine and the view to admire, it was heaven.

For my main, I chose the cheese crumble.

According to the menu, it was: "Walnut, tofu and Spenwood cheese crumble, pickled red cabbage, radish and spring onion salad." Now those are all foods I like.

Most peculiarly, however, the crumble turned out to be seemingly 80% mushroom. And I don't like mushrooms. Why did they not mention mushroom on the menu? I don't know. It was disappointing.

Speaking of mushrooms, Ciara went for the mushroom lasagne.

It was a huge portion, and even as a big meat-eater, Ciara loved it. It wasn't too saucy and the mushrooms were nicely sautéed.

Fortunately for me, we'd ordered a couple of sides.

Tenderstem broccoli with flaked almonds and delicious skin-on chips. Perfection.

As we ate, the sun starting making its way to bed and the view just kept getting better and better.

And the staff came round with blankets too to save us from getting chilly. Top-notch service.

Even though we were quite full, both Ciara and I definitely wanted pudding.

Behold, the OXO chocolate plate. It was pretty dreamy: a milk chocolate tart, white chocolate semifreddo, orange chocolate mousse and sour cherry chocolate fondant. It was, quite simply, excellent.

I would know because even though it was meant to be Ciara's pudding I definitely ate at least half.

I also ate my own pudding:

Rhubarb, custard and gin sorbet. It wasn't quite what I was expecting - the custard element was like a panna cotta in texture - but sweet baby Jesus it was heavenly. The slightly sharp rhubarb with the sweet vanilla custard was perfection.

We watched London light up and sat talking till late.

It had been one of the best dining experiences I'd had in a while, despite mushroom-gate.

Ciara and I were guests at the OXO Tower Restaurant but all opinions are our own.

When I had a professional massage at home with Urban Massage

One of the best things about living in London - or any big city - is being able to get pretty much anything delivered to your door.

That said, this isn't actually something I do loads. Well, except for with food. Even though a few months ago at the end of a house party at 4am all we wanted was a delivery of chips and literally nowhere would oblige us and I'm not still pissed off about it AT ALL promise.

Anyway.

Last bank holiday Monday I had my first experience of having a professional treatment at home. You've seen the adverts on the tube - there are various companies selling everything from manicures to massages, but the premise is that the experts come to you.

But let me rewind a smidge.

On bank holiday Sunday, we were doing Girls' Night Out (AKA GNO) and I was thoroughly prepared to be a shell of my former self come Monday morning.

Have you ever been out out on a bank holiday Sunday? I find it's extra fun as it's such a novelty. But I digress.

Amazingly, I woke up on Monday morning feeling, well, absolutely fine. It's almost like I'm growing up or something. But I'd decided to book a visit from Urban Massage thinking it would be the perfect relaxing experience if I was feeling a bit delicate.

I was fine, but it was still gloriously relaxing.

A post shared by Urban Massage (@urban_massage) on Apr 24, 2017 at 4:46am PDT

Now I've never had a massage anywhere other than a spa before. You know how it is: relaxing Balinese-style music, stylish minimalist decor, a general zen-like vibe. It's perfect.

But I was sceptical as to whether the same sense of relaxation could be created in my open-plan kitchen/living/dining room, complete with bottle of orange squash, a frying pan on the drying rack and a giant metallic turquoise hula hoop hanging on the wall (don't ask).

Being in London and all, it was the only space in the flat big enough for a massage table. It was a good thing my flatmates were away for the weekend otherwise I'd have had to be like 'Um guys don't come into the living room for an hour because I am going to be naked cool thanks.'

Fortunately, Urban Massage therapists bring everything - all you have to provide is a couple of towels.

Right on time, my masseuse arrives. I feel a bit strange greeting her in loungewear that is barely better than PJs, but I figured it would be silly to change considering all I'm going to do is take my clothes off.

And yes, if you think about it, the concept is totally weird: you let a stranger into your house, remove all your clothes, then lie on a table while they rub oil on to your naked body. Best not to think about it like that.

I welcome my masseuse in and apologise profusely for all the stairs and the lingering curry smell (I'd spent the afternoon making one). I find myself wanting to apologise for the general state of my flat too but I imagine she's seen worse. In fact, I imagine the most interesting part of the job must be seeing so many different homes.

A post shared by Urban Massage (@urban_massage) on Feb 6, 2017 at 3:24am PST

After the massage table is set up, I'm asked to perform a few simple movements so we can work out where my body is stiff and what I'd like her to work on.

I then choose one of three different oils (I went for lavender).

Next, she leaves the room and I get naked in my living room and just pray the neighbours over the road don't look out of their windows.

She comes back into the room and asks if I have any music. "Oh shit," I think to myself. I have no music. We cannot do this in silence, surely. Fortunately, she has music and simply plays it from her phone.

And then the massage commences. It was hard, but good - I hate a massage that feels about the same as someone lightly wafting a feather over your body.

Apparently I have a really tight neck, which I did not know.

At one point she asks me if I do sport. "I dabble," I say. She says she can tell I exercise. And I am well chuffed (even though she may say that to every client).

At the start of the massage I notice the birds singing outside. Halfway through, I hear the heavens open and as it chucks it down outside, it feels all the more relaxing to be inside having a massage. Through my own stupidity, my phone also buzzes a couple of times so do be sure to put yours on 'do not disturb' mode, pals.

And all too soon, it's over. I re-dress. My delightfully polite masseuse insists on washing up her water glass. She folds up the table and off she goes! And I am left feeling delightfully zen.

My body feels a bit like it's had a workout, but in the best way.

Whilst not as relaxing as being in an actual spa - I did find it harder to switch off - it somehow did feel extra luxurious having a spa treatment come directly to my door. When you think about it that way, it's pretty awesome.

My massage was compliments of Urban Massage but my blog post is completely honest, promise.

A 70s night of pizza and cocktails at Bobby Fitzpatrick, West Hampstead

You know that episode of Black Mirror where they keep going back in history to different periods of time? It felt a bit like that when I walked into Bobby Fitzpatrick and as if I'd strolled straight into the 70s. That or my grandma's house.

Bobby Fitzpatrick is a brand new retro restaurant in West Hampstead, specialising in cocktails and pizza, which are two things I happen to love.

I'll be honest, I'd had no reason to go to West Hampstead in the whole year since moving to London, but there's more going on up there than I'd expected.

It was a drizzly Tuesday evening at the end of January that I walked into Bobby Fitz for dinner with my friend Ellie, and - considering the restaurant had only been open a little over a week - was surprised to find it rammed. By the time we left, every table was taken and people were being turned away.

It didn't take me long to work out why though. Bobby Fitzpatrick is GREAT!

There's a bit of a fusion going on - it's like 70s America meets the Caribbean, but somehow it totally works.

The decor is incredible and I was so impressed with the lengths they've gone to to kit the place out authentically - you feel like you've walked into a 70s home complete with a kitchen area at which you can sit.

There's a downstairs too and each area of the restaurant has a slightly different feel. Even the loos are 70s... It's so much fun!

Ellie and I sat ourselves down and - considering we had some good news on Ellie's part to celebrate - went straight to the cocktail menu. It's pretty extensive and the drinks are really creative too.

We both went for the Cynthia's Ruin to start with, which was gin, white wine, raspberries, passion fruit, lime and apple.

It was absolutely delectable. Very sweet, yes, but that's how I like my drinks. I loved the real raspberries and the tropical flavours - it was extremely quaffable and went down a treat. I then spent the rest of the evening with a cocktail umbrella in my hair and didn't remember until I got home, lol.

The vibe was lovely and relaxed, the staff were super friendly and fun, and the clientele were trendy, cool and young. We enjoyed the soundtrack too - even though Ellie and I didn't know all the songs, they were all perfect for the setting.

I absolutely loved the menu - it's a mix of classic, simple American-style dishes and some with little twists.

Guys, you can order chicken nuggets, and potato skins, and nachos and I just wanted it ALL! Having been craving pizza for days though, I knew what I was going to get.

Before our pizza, Ellie and I decided to share some cheesy dough balls. For obvious reasons.

I was expecting them to be like Pizza Express dough balls, but they were not. I think they were deep-fried as they were super crisp outside and doughy inside. Served warm, with a delicious garlicky dip, it was the perfect way to whet our appetites.

We decided another couple of cocktails were in order:

Mine was tequila-based (dangerous for a Tuesday, I know, but yolo), and my reaction after one sip was: "Ooh you can taste the tequila!" Ellie's was rum-based and garnered a similar response.

It kind of blows my mind that the cocktails are all around £7.50 too. Maybe for non-Londoners that sounds pricey but to me that is inSANEly cheap! Amazing.

I was most tempted by the chicken tikka pizza but after learning it was going to be a tad on the spicy side I decided to play it safe with a pepperoni.

COME. TO. MAMA!

Guys, I'm not even joking when I say this pizza was one of the all time top five pizzas of my life ever.

Bobby Fitzpatrick's pizzas don't have thin bases like traditional Italian ones but I for one LOVED the thicker, fluffy dough.

Mine was sheer perfection - the crust wasn't too well done, there was plenty of cheese and it was generously topped.

Ellie and I also made the ingenious decision to save the rest of our cheesy garlicky dip for our crusts and I highly recommend you do the same.

Being the weirdo that she is (sorry, I'm in the anti pineapple on pizza camp), Ellie went for the equally classic ham and pineapple.

She assured me it was delicious (weirdo).

Gaaaad I wanna eat this pizza again! We both agreed that we were well and truly full 3/4 of our pizzas down, but we didn't leave a crumb.

One digestive pause later, Ellie and I decided we had room for a little pudding - as I always say, a meal is not complete unless it ends on something sweet.

Figuring it would be the most easily-sharable, we went for the doughnuts and dips.

Warm, sugary, crisp, fluffy doughnuts, served with three dips: chocolate mousse, raspberry jam and custard.

The chocolate mousse was yummy but I couldn't help but think more of a chocolate sauce would've been better. The custard was cool but there was a definite hint of lemon by which I wasn't convinced. The jam, however, you'll be pleased to hear I cannot fault and absolutely loved.

My one other qualm is that by this point I'd have loved a tea but unfortunately there aren't any on offer... Yet. Our lovely waitress informed me they may be adding tea soon. Here's hoping.

Chums, I bloody loved basically everything about Bobby Fitzpatrick. Everything is so reasonably priced (£8 for a pizza? In London!?) and super delicious, but what really stood out for me was just how fun and different the restaurant is.

How soon can I go back?

Ellie and I were guests at Bobby Fitzpatrick but I genuinely am this enthusiastic about it, promise.

Christmas at Kew Gardens

Despite having never been there myself, I knew from hear-say (and Instagram) that Kew Gardens is hella beautiful.

I'd been keen to go for yonks but somehow had never made it - it's quite a way out of central London so a bit of a faff - so when I was invited to the launch of Christmas at Kew I was so damn excited.

If Kew Gardens wasn't beautiful enough, it was then going to be Christmassy?! Mad keen.

And I knew exactly who else would share my excitement: my flatmate Maddy, who is just as much of a Christmas nut as me.

We were greeted upon arrival by a choir singing Christmas carols which immediately made us squeal.

And the hype was only to increase by the consumption of mulled wine, mince pies and gingerbread men.

Sugar-loaded and clutching hot cups of wine, we were ready to start the trail.

For Christmas, Kew Gardens has created a magical mile-long trail full of festive fun, and Maddy and I had an absolute ball wandering round.

The hour-long trail flew by - we stopped to marvel at incredibly beautiful and creative light installations, each one different from the last.

The trees were beautifully lit-up as they were, but we LOVED all the Christmas-inspired creations too.

Look at these!

There were fire rings of all the numbers from A Partridge in a Pear Tree (these are obviously the two turtle doves).

As we wandered round, humming along to the various Christmas tunes and carols that seemed to come from nowhere, we were also pleased to find stalls selling mulled beverages and wintry snacks like roasted chestnuts en route.

A word of advice, however: the little stalls only take cash. So take cash.

There were a couple of parts we were less keen on: there was the random elf lady at a slightly tacky jukebox-style stall, blasting out cheesy festive tunes. Somehow it seemed to bring the class-level down a notch.

Towards the end of the trail there's also a little area with children's entertainers - Maddy and I were pretty excited at the prospect of seeing Father Christmas but were dismayed to find the elf ladies totally ignored us. I get that they're mainly catering for children but still. Rude.

Aside from that, the trail was fab. Each part was so different that you never got bored.

The end was particularly fabulous too - the trail finishes with a spectacular light show, projected on to water and the greenhouse, set to Christmas songs. We loved it so much we watched twice.

Maddy and I finished the trail feeling wonderfully tingly, imbued with festive magic (and a couple of mulled wines).

I couldn't recommend Christmas at Kew more, but I would recommend checking the weather forecast, as walking round in the rain would not be fun and let's be real this is London.

But go! Go celebrate the most wonderful time of the year! Go forth and be merry and bright.

The best bits from my trip to Madrid, part 2

So, lovely people, shall we pick up where we left off on our virtual weekend in the beautiful city of Madrid? I think we shall.

The Palace

The Royal Palace of Madrid is an incredibly grand building, although it's only used for state ceremonies nowadays. If you're v keen and don't mind queueing (in high season anyway), you can pay to go inside, but having done that when I visited Madrid the first time, five years ago (with the parents, who obvs paid), Holl and I were quite content to just marvel at the building from the outside.

We couldn't help but imagine arriving in at the palace in years gone by and stepping out of a horse-drawn carriage in a fabulous dress to dance the night away at a ball. I reckon that would've been pretty fantastic.

Malasaña

Malasaña is, as far as I'm aware, the hip zone of Madrid. Did I really just use the word 'hip'? I'm fairly certain no one hip would ever use the word 'hip'. Oh well.

It's incredibly colourful, which I loved, and full of quirky cafes-cum-bars and little independent shops.

Cupcakeries, vintage shops and cocktail bars all make for an area beloved of Madrid's cool young people. Malasaña came particularly to life at night (as one might expect in Spain) and the vibe was abso buzzing. I loved it.

Retiro Park

Absolutely huge and incredibly beautiful, I could not recommend exploring Retiro Park more. Considering its size, however, I suggest you do as we did and hire bikes - it's just 2€ for an hour and there's a docking station right by one of the main entrances, conveniently.

Be warned though: we had numerous issues actually getting the bikes out - you need your passport number for some reason - but once we had them it was great. Particularly fun was that the bikes are electric, which you can turn on and off. 

Most of the time we cycled as normal, but when the terrain got even slightly uphill, on went the electric and smoothly we cruised. It was most leisurely and extremely enjoyable - who wants to physically exert themselves on holiday? Not this gal.

The bikes allowed us to cover so much more ground than we'd have been able to on foot. Witness the pretty crystal palace, complete with turtles.

Probably the most famous part of the park, however, is the lake. I'd been out boating on my first visit to Madrid but I was still mad keen to go again, as it's so pretty.

It's also super cheap in comparison to doing the same in London so yay Madrid!

Yeah, it turns out rowing is not my forte - I'm not cut out for physical labour tbh - so luckily Holly was happy to take the lead.

We sipped sangria and soaked up the sun. It was dreamy.

And that, amigos, is the end of my Madrid highlights. It's such a fantastic city though and I'm rather jealous of my sister (and brother for that matter) having lived there for nine months. I mean to be fair my year abroad was also awesome, but still.

What are your thoughts on Madrid? Let me know!