Eating London Part 2

If you could have dinner with a celebrity, who would it be?

Mine would be Gordon Ramsay.

In the states he has the worst reputation and It really makes me sad when I mention him and people are like "Oh that asshole from Hells Kitchen". I don't personally know him but the amount of shows I have seen him on and his books I have read, I have truly grown to respect him so much. He is passionate beyond words. His love for food is so special and he is a perfectionist. Considering how much I love food and eating out at yummy restaurants I feel I have enough in common with him to spend an evening chatting over dinner.....that would probably be cooked by him!!!

Doug has been to all of his London restaurants and a few in other cities in the world. He too has a high love for this guy. We have a bucket list and one of the tasks was to eat the The Restaurant. Ramsays flagship restaurant in London. It has around 45 covers, making it hard to get a reservation unless you plan far in advance. Luckily we knew months before our visit that we would be going to we were sure to book in a long lunch.

My Bearded Man

We went for the 7 courses.

 Starting off with some bubbles

Overwhelmed by the Wine List

Our Amuse Bouche

Foi Gras

Lobster, Salmon and Crab ravioli

Halibut over a Cauliflower couscous

Table selfies

Lamb...Like 4 different pieces hiding under the veg!

(best lamb I have ever had)

Our Cheese man hehe

 some biscuits (crackers)

We had him give us a spontaneous selection. My fav was obviously the Goat cheese.

My mango, passionfruit "soup" that was served in a champagne glass with a glass straw!

This was to clean our palate. Different freeze dried herbs that you crush your self in a frozen pestle and mortar. You then added your cucumber sorbet into it and it gathered all the flavors of the herbs. Very strange but so refreshing and could only be described as a spa in your mouth!

Claire Smith is the head chef and this is her specialty dessert. 

This was their last dessert that they give to everyone. a mini cauldron with pink sorbet balls covered in white chocolate. Along side chocolate squares and turkish delight type squares.

This is where the day gets even better! We bragged to our Maitre D' of our love for Gordon and of the Restaurants we have been to. He saw the twinkle in my eye and asked us if we wanted to come to the kitchen to have a look around. I was like 'YES!'...ok maybe not so excitable, I played it cool hehe.

As we left they kindly gave us a signed Menu by Claire Smith. We left there on a high!

Let me tell you, what an experience it was. It was my second Three Michelin Star restaurant and I loved every second of it. 

We spent the rest of our day walking through touristy London followed by watching the show Book of Mormon. It was a perfect day with my love.

Eating London Part 1

A few weeks ago Doug and I set off back to England. We knew it was time to go back and see the family and friends that we have not seen in the nearly year we have been gone. I asked one thing of Doug for this trip......for us to spend at least two days in Central London. My darling agreed and booked us two nights in a hotel for us to do our own thing and catch up with my fav city.

There were two restaurants we had been dying too visit....Sushi Samba and Gordon Ramsays flagship restaurant on Royal Hospital road. 

Boy oh boy....let me tell you.....what an experience!!!!  You remember Duck and Waffle? one of my earlier blog posts. Well Sushi Samba is right underneath it. Lucky for us Doug met one of its investors here in Miami so he hooked us up with a table with a view! We invited Eddie along for a catch up. That evening we were having a London reunion, but we wanted him all to ourselves for a little while.

On our journey into London Town 

So.......Doug so kindly made a call ahead and asked if they could bring some bacon wrapped dates for me from Duck and Waffle as a surprise!!! He really knows the way to my heart. They are the best thing in the world. Hands down.

 Tuna Tartar

Wagyu Gyoza

When we arrived we went to the bar for a drink before our meal and the bartender told us they didn't have sparkling water. We thought this strange....so Ed ordered a beer. When we sat down we told the waiter and he as well thought that was very strange because they indeed have sparkling water (obviously). So the manager came and brought Dough this amazing rum and apologized for the bar tender. He told him to serve himself a couple  drinks. It was so smooth! Doug was in heaven. (how does he get so lucky?)

not bad eh?

Our steak came on hot stones that kept cooking it!

Sticky Pork Ribs

 Black Cod with big corn

 Spicy Tuna roll and another roll I cannot remember

Everything was phenomenal. The price was right, the vibe was great and the company was exceptional. We had such a great lunch that Ed booked a table for the following day to take his wife. I highly recommend Sushi Samba to anyone that visits London.

PS: The Sushi Samba here in Miami has a reputation for being very average so do not compare these two! they are worlds apart.

Bearded Men

As I just wrote my last post, I had to google some Bearded men and I got a bit inspired as I saw all the images of these good looking men. I am currently listening to Mumford and Sons, to set the beard mood, naturally. So I thought id share some of my finds. Enjoy.

you're welcome

Barley and Swine

So I found another little piece of pork heaven a little closer to home. Downtown Dadeland area is still very up and coming, and with this little southern style craft beer selling gastropub, it is about to get much more popular.

The night before Valentines Day we decided to do our dinner night with my parents instead of trying to find a table on the friday night anywhere decent. So we stumbled upon Barley and Swine. Now, I love anything involving swine hehe. So naturally I knew I would love this place. From when you walk in you can feel the coziness and family owned vibe. To the left there is a whole wall of Craft beers on tap (which seems to be the craze these days). We were pleasantly greeted, and got a table almost immediately. The restaurant is small so I would recommend reservations. The kitchen is almost arms reach from the tables which is quite exciting. I love the hustle and bustle of people cooking. Also there are "sushi bar" style seats running along the whole front of the kitchen for a quicker 'in and out' lunch time experience. All of the staff (men) have full on beards which comforts me. Bearded men just seem to know a lot more about cooking meat than anyone else. Hahaha.

A bit of a random fact, but I noticed the music they play is rather awesome. So take a listen when you are there!

Now to the food!!!

So for drinks, they have wine, beer and champagne...I love that they incorporate bubbly. 

We started off with Croquettes:

Serrano Ham, Manchego cheese, and a guava sauce $9

Good, but I think would be better if they maybe made four smaller balls then two big ones. The flavors were delicious, just the texture is too soft (since its so big) if you like the crunch of the outside of a croquette like I do.

Pork Cheek 'Vaca Frita':

Delicious!!! we could have devoured another one for sure. But one was a good amount for the four of us.

The boys got their beers and exchanged a few comments about them. The beers are served a few degrees warmer than usual because it changes the flavor. Ask your waiter about the science behind it, they are very good at explaining it.

They kindly sent us over their take on brussel sprouts. They were a hit. Topped with an egg and mixed with many other things I can't really tell you because I do not know! However the flavors were fabulous. I personally dislike the actual Brussel Sprout taste so I didnt really eat much but altogether it was great.

Sooooo, I am an American girl (for the most part) and Mac 'n Cheese is one of those staples that never gets old.....These people have a different mac special for every day of the week!!! Today is Wednesday and it happens to be Truffle Mac 'n Cheese, so naturally I will be headed there for lunch to indulge in some heavenly truffley cheesy awesomeness.

just.admire.that

I am still chasing an amazing Braised Short Rib like the one I had in Turks and Caicos. I found a pretty close one at Chef Adrienne's, but at $40 a pop thats not doable on the reg. So I think I found one that will do as the filler. It is one of B&S's small plates. At only $13.....worth every penny. It is small enough to satisfy ones hunger ::especially after stuffing your face with the previous food:: It rests on a bed of mashed potato and topped with gooey gravy. I am not very American when it comes to gravy....so next time I would ask for it without the gravy topping.

 It is soft and melty, like braised anything should be. Really great.

Devoured....

Doug got a man burger....called The Hangover Burger:

HANGOVER - FRIED EGG + PORK BELLY + CHEDDAR + CRAZY CHIP CRUNCH + PRETZEL ROLL $14 He very much enjoyed it.

My dad got a meat dish, that I can't really remember what it was...

I can't speak for this dish, my poor father had eaten two hotdogs prior to going to dinner so he was so stuffed by the time it came out that he can't genuinely make an opinion! Silly man.

My mother opted out of having a main, she just nibbled on our stuff. I would actually recommend sharing everything. There is too much to miss out on if not!

I had to hear what the desserts were. Even though I was beyond stuffed. We went with one serving of the mini churros for the table.

Yummy Yummy Yummy. However churros is not what i would call them. They can only be described as french toast bites? Topped with cinnamon and sugar with a delicious dipping sauce. Awesome sauce.

QUE RICO!

This was really cute because whenever we go out and Doug asks for the bill he says "what's the damage?"

Your bill is brought in a little envelope with the damage on it hehe.

I hope you enjoy this place!!!

As the folks at B&S say, Praise the Lard!

Miami...Behind the Wheel

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now. With the holidays it was at an all time high. So now that it has calmed back to its prior less shittier version I can write about it without rage....


Driving....in Miami

That is the topic of today.

If you are from here then you completely understand where this is going and what it is like to experience it first hand. For you who don't live here, I will try my best to give you an accurate description of being on the roads here.

Driving along, minding your own business, cars lined up in front of you. With no warning you are forced to slam your breaks with hopes the guy behind you is paying attention as well...the kind person in front of you just decided to turn into  the street WITHOUT a hint of warning. Thank God for break lights because if they didn't exist, the amount of accidents that would happen would be way higher. I have come to find that Break lights are the new turn signal. The only thing that could make sense as to why a person would just ignore their turn signal would be: texting! Or in a worse case you are missing your left hand and cannot easily access your signal....in which case I hope you are not texting!!! Some of them even signal the wrong direction haha. How about when they put the turn signal but never turn? Love that one! 

Still on the turning topic....why do people turn at 3 miles per hour? I want to know its purpose. I used to think it was only really old people but it seems to be a super trend around here with most humans. It just aggravates other drivers and could easily make someone rear end you! So just turn in and don't be scared! you can always turn back around -__- or how about you get off your phone maybe and then you can access all of your senses and let your brain focus.

Breathe......

I have always known driving here is pretty crappy. But with how overpopulated we are getting it has gotten so much worse. Which is why people need to pay extra attention now. I am in no way a perfect driver but I try and put my attention to good use when I am on the road. Driving a car is extremely dangerous and cannot be taken lightly. Caution and awareness are your best friends when on the road. Also consideration for others, you are not always the only one in a rush or frustrated with the drivers. Road rage is not the answer. Practice patience and meditation when feeling worked up in your car. Especially those of you with commutes to and from work.

I count myself beyond lucky to get to live so close to work. My mornings are stress free, I don't hate the world when I get there, I don't need to check the traffic updates ever. I wake up happy with plenty of time if I want to eat or just chill. Or I can sleep in if I prefer....ok I will stop...

What I am trying to say is maybe people with full time permanent jobs should look into living close to where they work...It will make their life so much more peaceful and happy. Also it saves a lot of gas! This is easier said than done, but it is possible. You choose your happiness. 


Always remember: IT CAN WAIT