Bliss or Miss? | Ai Sushi

Location
London, UK

Food&Drink
Lycée Juice
Ebi Maki (8 pieces)
Gyoza (4 pieces)
Tuna Maki (6 Pieces)
Soft Shell Crab Maki (8 pieces)

Total
£28.20

I always have time for sushi and this impromptu visit to the Ai Sushi in North London gave me a perfect opportunity to sample their versions of Japanese classics.

Ai Sushi is everything a Japanese joint should be, with cushions on the floor, bamboo sprouting out of the ground and copious helpings of soy sauce and green tea.

The menu has everything I would expect from a Japanese menu, a variety of delicious starters, maki, nigiri, sashimi and hot dishes. I however had sushi on the brain.

(Not sure what these items mean? Check out the handy sushi guide at the bottom of the post!)

Those of you reading along to my blogs will know as soon as I see Lycée on the menu I will order it, so of course I selected this delicious juice to accompany my food.

My first order was the ‘Ebi Maki’ - crunchy prawn and avocado wrapped in sesame sprinkled sticky rice. I have to say this was the winning dish of the night for us.

We also sampled some Gyoza, these came bursting with freshly prepared chicken and vegetables and were a nice addition to the sushi, I do however prefer my gyoza more crispy.

We also tried their soft-shell crab Maki, this was also a winner with the delicately sweet crab meat, complimenting the dense mayonnaise and light cucumber.

Just to finish off, we selected to try some Tuna Maki - incredibly simple with maki filled with just a small chunk of tuna meat, it was a good addition to round off the meal to ensure fullness with an inexpensive dish at £3.60 for six pieces.

The food was delicious and the service was excellent, very attentive and friendly - I would say the price point was medium and Ai Sushi definitely get points taken off as they have an illusive ‘all you can eat’ menu which was available, but we were not made aware. I feel this is something we would have certainly opted for, it’s just a shame we missed out on that opportunity.

None the less, tasty sushi, friendly service in a cute, authentic environment. 

I also thought I’d attach my Sushi infographic - for those Sushi beginners out there!

Bliss or Miss? | Dürüm

Location

London, UK

Food&Drink

Cherry Juice

Ispanak Boregi (Pastry Filled with Feta Cheese & Spinach)

Ali Nazik Kebap (Grilled Aubergine, Garlic, Yoghurt, and Lamb Beyti)

Keskul (Almond-based Milk Pudding)

Total

£21.35

Dürüm is not fancy, glitzy or glamorous. There is no ‘tasting menu’, no ‘amuse-bouche’ and no one will take your coat to the cloakroom. What Dürüm delivers is pure gastronomic, authentic ocakbasi bliss, from people who love and care about food for people who love eating it.

For those who are familiar with the term ‘ocakbasi’, it just simply refers to Turkish cuisine cooked on a fired grill and Dürüm deliver it perfectly. 

All dinner guests at Dürüm are laden with their delicious flat bread, which is incredibly moreish especially when accompanied by their homemade garlic mayonnaise and tomato and chill sauces.

Glancing over their menu, it proves hard to select just the right choice with 33 starters and 48 main dishes. Now this seems extensive and a large menu is always a warning sign for me because it rapidly diminishes any chance for freshness, however Dürüm’s palette of ingredients is actually very simple, with aubergine, green pepper, tomato, garlic, yoghurt, rice, chicken and lamb making up a vast majority of the menu. It is the multitude of flavour combinations that Dürüm present before you that makes dining choice tantalisingly impossible!

For starters I opted for their feta and spinach pastries, they were soft, warming delights and generous in their portioning. As you can see from the photos, the food comes with a no-frills attitude or presentation, just freshly prepared, deliciousness.

As usual I find it hard to decide what to choose to eat, and I find this especially difficult at Dürüm to select just the right combination of fresh ingredients for me. I let my love of aubergine guide me to the ‘Ali Nazik Kebap’, a yoghurt laden, meat-rich platter served on a bed of grilled aubergine.

Now, I must warn you to only think of venturing into Dürüm if you are ravenously hungry, because the meals are not dainty and you will not want to waste a morsel of the pure piquancy. 

Upon speaking to a couple of members of the wonderful staff, you not only get a feel for its family-run business environment, but the pure passion and enthusiasm for authentic quality that is a shared mantra throughout. Quality is the raison d’être and they do not appear to cut corners with this, with their meat freshly delivered every morning from local producers and every inch of their menu freshly prepared. The beautifully, vibrant and simple taste is the result and a taste that makes you hooked from the very first visit.

Uncompromising quality comes at a price, but Dürüm does not hurt the pocket, Dürum’s family run environment makes you feel looked after and they are truly generous in their portions and their discounting. Eating in the restaurant automatically earns you at 10% discount and the kind staff even gave me my dessert for free, which i just had to take home after hitting an almighty ‘food-wall’ after the previous two courses. My dessert, an all-time favourite of mine of ‘Keskul’ or a set milk pudding was beautifully smooth and comforting, with a sprinkling of cinnamon lacing the light, almondy milk.

Two people, three courses each and a £40 bill to show for it. Dürüm get it right and provide addictively delicious food, generosity, friendly customer service at an unbeatable price. Without a doubt, I award them a,

MY YELP RATING

Check this review and others like it on Bliss or Miss

Why Your First Love Is Overrated

Now, this is probably one of the soppiest posts I will ever write, so excuse me for that. But this has been on my mind recently.

I have been a long believer that your first love is someone that makes a permanent mark on you, that you will never truly let go of - there are so so many references and hype around your first love - even a Google search of 'first love' reveals over 3 billion results! That's more than 'Jesus' (sorry Jesus)...people live for love, they search for it, they long for it. But this article, like I'm sure many before me discusses why your second love is something to get excited over.

 

Like many girls I've fallen in love properly and it was really overwhelming when I legitimately felt it. I truly believe that when you really fall in love with someone, you will always have love for them, a purchase on them - although you may fall out of love with them, or even eventually despise them.

Having your heart broken by your first love is no laughing matter, it hurts, it actually physically hurts. No really! There are studies that suggest that,

"the brain actually triggers sensations that you also feel in times of "real" physical pain, making heartbreak truly, physically painful to add to the emotional distress it sometimes causes." (Read more)

 But there is hope...here are my top reasons to give your second love a chance and let go of the first.

1. Your second love brings relief
You never know if or when you will fall in love again, but it won't happen until you are happy just being you. Nevertheless, when you fall in love the second time it'll reassure you that the heart can heal and it does happen again and it'll feel amazing. I believe most of the time what people find hardest to come to terms with is not missing the person, but the empty shape that person leaves. They miss the routine, the habit and the lifestyle that was created to accommodate their significant other.

2. You're stronger and wiser
You know that heartbreak is possible, you know what it feels like and that isn't something you will freely rush into again...until someone truly deserves your heart. Now you're less naive, less of a sucker and lucky Lover Number 2 will be someone that goes through a much more gruelling interview process and they will be more right for you.

3. You're a better person
Starting afresh can be a great thing, especially when your first love makes you lose your mind and you become that crazy person. The second time round you can be calm, composed, confident and be a much better definition of 'in love' than before.

4. Were you actually ever in love?
This is probably the most important point for me. When you first fell in love it was a brand new feeling and it was magical, but now after everything that has happened and after lucky numero dos sweeps you off your feet you start to question things a little and re-evaluate. Were you actually ever in love the first time? Were you just being naive? These are actually very comforting (and startling) revelations when you realise all those days, weeks, months, maybe even years of pining over that first love may have been just a silly waste of time.

This is what I personally feel and am experiencing and I hope it helps anyone trying to 'get over' their first love, I really feel for you, I promise it does get better. It just takes quality time to heal and the right person to put it all into perspective. There are so many people on the planet, don't let yourself or anyone else talk you into thinking that you'll never find anyone as good as you have loved before.

But whether you're with your first, second or eleventh love, only you'll know if it's true love. So if it does go pear-shaped again, take a time-out, brush yourself off, remind yourself of how awesome you are, DON'T call them or let them know you miss them, enjoy just being you and fate will do the rest. I Promise.



I would love to hear your thoughts on this and experiences. Email me, comment below or tweet me!
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Bliss or Miss? | Inamo St. James

This is a restaurant I’ve been looking forward to reviewing for a long time and it is after my second visit to Inamo St. James that I write about my visits. 

My first visit to Inamo was for my Father’s Birthday and I was so shocked by the service that I tweeted them. With all due credit to them, they responded and offered me a chance to experience Inamo again with a £100 cover to sweeten the deal. I have to hand it to their managerial staff members here, they sure know how to resolve an issue and really listened to me and that is something I prize so highly.

And so it was time for take 2, we went back to Inamo for another try. I was first attracted to Inamo because of its modern and unique concept. For those of you that aren’t familiar with how they work - at Inamo your menu is projected down onto the table and each user has a cursor that is operated by touching a little pad on the table and with this you can: browse through the menu and see the dish projected in front of you, change the colour of the table, order food, play games, spy on the kitchen and call the waiter. It is definitely a concept that works and I enjoy being able to order food and drink, as and when I please.

Lycée is my favourite fruit and so anything flavoured lycée, I will immediately try, especially when combined with vodka! So I ordered the Lycée Martini, it was nicely balanced and I definitely would order it again.

Moving onto starters, I opted for the continental classic of satay chicken, I have to say that Inamo’s rendition really does hit the mark and I did appreciate their hint of coconut sprinkled onto the sticky chicken

I am definitely a self-confessed sushi-holic and so I opted, not for a main course, but for two further starters of sushi. I ordered the soft shell crab maki which was delicious, I just wish there was more of it! The dense and creamy avocado complimented the sweet and soft crab meat beautifully.

The tuna maki was also very nice with the tuna meat wrapped around the sushi roll I definitely prefer this more meaty rendition than a small chunk in the centre

So the food was good, it was tasty - but what about the service? After all, this is what really sets apart a good experience from a bad, a positive from a negative and ultimately the decider for me, as to whether to return and to recommend.

I have to say that once again the service fell so flat for me and this was something I consulted my party of 5 people about and they all agreed. The serving staff just simply don’t listen to you. I know that the unique concept cuts out half of their customer contact because they don’t actually take the orders, but it feels to me like Inamo have skimped on their customer service training because of it. 

The staff are incredibly forgetful and do not follow through with requests, such as my sister requesting a glass of water and when the staff offered me soy sauce to go with my sushi, I very audibly said, ‘yes please’ and without a word this member of staff turned around and walked away. This confused my party immensely and made for a very frustrating experience once again. This is two of many, many plunders.

The only request that the staff members have been quick to follow up with on both visits was bringing the bill over and I just feel like for a restaurant with everything else in place, why can’t the staff make you feel comfortable, valued and frustration free? Especially at their price point. Their gracious offer of £100 covered half of the bill and I was glad of it because I would not have felt comfortable for paying the normal price for the experience.

So thank you Inamo, for one more chance. The restaurant looks lovely, the food is yummy, but the service just hits way below the mark for me and has made for two visits I will remember for the wrong reasons. 

It is with regret I award this restaurant with so much potential a,

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Bliss or Miss? | The Clam Shell - DEEP FRIED MARS BAR

For those of you who don’t know, my family actually come from Scotland. I love making the journey up to this beautiful country and last week was no exception. 

This edition’s #BlissorMiss is something of a confession. During my stay in lovely, historic Edinburgh - I did the unthinkable and went for it. I had to finally try a DEEP FRIED MARS BAR.

Judge me if you will, I thought it would be overwhelmingly sickly, but I really enjoyed it. It was molten, warm and comforting and the batter just provided a light crisp on the outside to hold this calorific creation together. I wasn’t alone… my sister and boyfriend both did the deed with me and they were all pleasantly surprised.

Where I purchased this most guilty indulgence, was a cute little place right near Edinburgh Castle on the Royal Mile, a shop named, ‘The Clam Shell’: Great, speedy service, very friendly and I believe they will deep fry pretty much anything!

So there you go, it’s out there in the open. I, Laura Reeves like deep fried Mars Bars and I’d commit the sin again! It’s lucky I don’t live in Scotland because I’d be in trouble! Is there anyone else out there who enjoys a battered Mars Bar?…or perhaps you’ve experienced a not-so delectable version? I want to know! Leave a comment or Tweet me @LauraJReeves!
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For me, I am guiltily awarding this a,

SCOTLAND SNAPS!