Chez Elles, Shoreditch

On a recent wander down Brick Lane in search of lunch, we found a cute French restaurant called Chez Elles, ran by three gorgeous girls.

The place has a feel of a neighbourhood bistro, instead of being on the busy, bustling Brick Lane.

We started with gorgeous garlic snails.

And a ham hock terrine.

Moules et frites!

Bavetter steak.

Along with the best chocolate moulleux I've ever had. So gooey and rich. Just delicious. Along with a scoop of homemade pistachio ice cream.

Not entirely groundbreaking, but for that cake alone I will be back.

The Lockhart, This Time For Brunch.

And I thought it couldn't get much better than dinner at The Lockhart. I was so so wrong. Lockhart is fast becoming one of my favourite places to eat in London.

Warning. This post is delicious. And full of one of the best brunches I've ever had in London.

However, best to start with the bad so it's out of the way. A coffee is £4. I nearly choked. But that is London. Moving on.

Starting with the best fried chicken in London on a pecan waffle with maple syrup. There are not enough words for how good this was. It blew my mind.

Equally as interesting and delicious, though not as sweet, was smoked pork hash with a fried egg. I can't tell you what else the pork was mixed with, some kind of creamy sauce, but all I know is that it was delicious.

To finish, we went for 1235 doughnuts, made by head chef Brad McDonald himself, sold in Columbia Road market. These were a little disappointing, mostly due to the fact I've had St. John's Bakery doughnut - maybe the best in the world - and more recently Justin Gellately's - of Bread Ahead Bakery in Borough Market - Salted Honeycomb and hazelnut praline doughnuts, which are very very good indeed. 

Here the salted caramel doughnut filling didn't taste of much at all, and neither did the pastry itself. However the chocolate filling was very good. They are by no means perfect, which Brad McDonald has acknowledged by saying he wants to tweak them to find the perfect doughnut.

Still, by no means a bad doughnut. I'm just being very picky!

If you haven't been to The Lockhart yet then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!?!

GO GO GO GO NOW!!!!

York Day 4: York Cocoa House

York Cocoa House looks like it has been in York for years and years. In reality, it only opened last year. As you can probably tell from the name it serves a lot of chocolatey treats, in the form of their signature hot chocolate, milkshakes, brownies and cakes and even some savoury dishes with chocolate. It also sells it's own homemade chocolates and truffles and also does some chocolate making classes, which I would love to try at some point. Great idea for a day out.

The shop and cafe is styled like it's from the Victorian era. The lovely, friendly staff wear little aprons and tunics and the menus are big wooden boards.

If you're after something more substantial, they serve a very interesting lunch menu, all including some kind of chocolate, with treats such as goat's cheese and red onion pizza - with a chocolate ganache, or smoked salmon, with white chocolate and wasabi cream.

I have tried many a brownie here. They do all sorts, with chocolate chunks, with maltesers, caramel and orange among many more. They do lots of cakes, including an incredible stout and chocolate cake! Now, I'm not fan of beer, but this rich, gooey, fudgey cake with a hint of something that came from the beer left me gasping for more! They are all homemade and in never ending supply, as they are constantly coming out of the kitchen with more. The hot chocolate is rich and full of chocolate flavour, made with real chocolate pieces, however not too thick like many hot chocolates can be.

I visited recently and went for something I've never tried before, a white chocolate and lemon  tart. As you can see from the picture below, it was very soft, moist and had a wonderful punch of lemon flavour. It was more of a lemon tart, with a very subtle flavour of white chocolate running through. Their coffees come with some kind of chocolate as standard, usually a homemade chocolate button, but this time they gave me a whole homemade truffle! 
Although hot chocolate is their signature drink, they do not forget about their coffee; they serve a lovely, strong coffee.

After only being in York for a few months this has already become my go-to cafe in York. It never runs out of brownies and cakes at the end of the day if you are wanting a late coffee, unlike some other cafes in York. Being a chocolate lover, the cakes never fail to disappoint, which is the main reason I keep returning, it is chocolate heaven.

York Day 2: Mannion & Co Cafe

For breakfast the next day I headed to Mannion, a cafe I had heard of and walked past quite a few times staring lovingly at their cakes and pastries, but never managed to make it in. They are right next to York Cocoa House and their brownies usually get me before I even have a chance to check out Mannion. The times I have tried to get cake here they were all gone by the time I got there! The sign of a good cake I feel.

A deli counter at the front lures you in with gorgeous home made bread tumbling out of baskets and an array of cakes, pastries and enormous meringues and also cured meats and cheeses of nearly every kind you could ever wish for.

Extremely friendly staff greeted me and saw to it that I was well looked after. I ordered a much needed coffee that came in lovely china. I'm sure I've seen this in John Lewis. Or a market stall in Germany. #ChinaFiend. It also came with a lovely little cardamom biscotti! One of the nicest things I've ever been given free with coffee.

I ordered the perfect hangover cure: Yorkshire rarebit - oh hell yes with bacon - on sourdough.

The bacon is hiding under all the melting cheese.

They were not stingy with their portions, this managed to fill me up for the entire day. A tomato chutney on the side was tangy and strong, a great accompaniment to the smoothness of cheese and bacon. I just wish I had a bit more of it than what was in the tiny pot!!

I still remember this amazing plate of food. So simple, yet honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten and all for the incredibly low price of £7! I felt so gluttonous but it was homely and delicious. The cafe itself had a great buzzing, bustling atmosphere with the exposed kitchen (I love seeing chefs work) and cosy interiors.

As I left I finally ordered my cake to go, a very hard task seeing as I wanted a piece of EVERYTHING on display. I went for 3 - yes 3 though I did share them!! - and they did not disappoint. I wish I had been in there many more times now! The brownie was exquisite. It was so fudgey and moist and I was so shocked and delighted to find they had raisins inside!! My absolute favourite. I bake my own brownies with raisins and have never come across a brownie from a cafe with them. People are too afraid I think that punters won't like them. Cafe's of Britain, it's ok. I'll eat them all instead if I have to. It's the right thing to do.
The flapjack was unlike any flapjack I have ever tasted before! The texture was more dense and cakey than a standard oaty one. Which was fantastic! Different levels of flavour was created with the different dried fruits and whole nuts inside. And it was all topped off with a slice of rhubarb that had been caramelised, or something similar. I'm not usually a fan of rhubarb but this was so sweet with a punch of sour coming later.
The blackberry and almond tart was yummy too. My least fave of all 3, or maybe I should say that for me it was not as incredible as the other two because that makes it sound like I didn't like it. However, I did feel the pastry was a little dry, but then tarts aren't usually my thing. The filling was delicious though.

I enjoyed all this so much, I brought my friend and her sister along the next day for a spot of cream tea. Needless to say the scones, jam and cream were all amazing and the tea I chose was very interesting, one of a number of interesting speciality loose leaf teas they do.

On my last day, I headed there to grab one of their sandwiches I had noticed on their blackboard from previous visits. I got the fennel salami and tallegio cheese on fig and walnut bread. I'm not sure if the bread came as standard, or I was given fig and walnut because they didn't have any other kind left, but I was very impressed. Needless to say, I think you can guess it was incredibly delicious. It was also HUGE, I might add. To take-away, this came to a whopping £3.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S THE PRICE OF AN M&S SANDWICH!! Now don't get me wrong, I do love my M&S sandwiches, but for the same price I can get a homemade sandwich, with much more interesting and high quality fillings, that is double the size and all on artisan bread! It is unthinkable I that I have wasted all my time lusting after M&S goods when I should have been here all along.

I am honestly so disappointed that I didn't discover this place sooner, it had been right under my nose for so long. Had I stepped into this cafe sooner I'd probably have many more great memories in York and would have eaten a lot more great food!!

The London Particular, New Cross

The London Particular has earnt a place on the Good Coffee app, so I knew this was going to be good.

My sister and I headed there for my breakfast, her brunch. This small, unassuming little place was full of charm and quirk with a giant wooden table at the back for spaces for a few people to sit all around and a large window behind letting light flood in. The place welcomes you with a counter at the front with a few take away goodies, like cookies, cakes and savoury mini pizzas and frittatas. A tiny kitchen sits behind the counter setting the scene: we serve good, homemade food here!

The coffee was delicious and really beautiful!! An exclusive blend by Higgins, it wasn't too strong but hit the right spot. 

Particular is open for breakfast and lunch weekdays and then also dinner at weekends. They serve the usual granola, their version of a full English, different kinds of sandwiches and salads. We couldn't decide whether to go sweet or savoury, so we went both. We ordered a homemade berry brioche with homemade strawberry jam. It was utterly delicious. Warm and soft and full of sweet flavour and they presented it in the best way I think I've ever seen food being presented - on an old, patterned tile! Definitely stealing this idea for future dinner parties and food photos.

She looks far better in the mornings than I do!! 

I then ordered the big one. A boiled egg with homemade baked beans, spinach, grilled tomato and grilled Spanish sausages on sourdough. It was lovely, the sausages were so tasty (I love that they grilled them) and ohmygod I need the recipe for those baked beans! I'm never going to be able to eat tinned ever again. They were packed full of slightly spicy tomato flavour, with some small chunks of tomato throughout. My only little tiny gripe would be that my egg could have been runnier. But I do like my eggs about 3 seconds away from being raw. Besides that, the dish definitely hit the Sunday morning spot.

My sister had roast garlic mushrooms with spinach and goat's cheese on sourdough. I didn't get to taste it, but she made all the right noises and it looked and smelled amazing.

A cute little hangout, with a relaxed and homely atmosphere, definitely make your way down if you're in the area! I wish it was closer to central London, but now I know it's within walking distance of where my sister lives, I shall be heading here much more often!

Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside....

On a recent sunny weekend, my sister and I took the opportunity to spend the day in Brighton!!

Deck chairs ahoy.

Brighton's train station

First thing's first we headed straight for a cafe. And you thought I was going to say the beach. Oh no, we have our priorities straight. We's already done research into the independent coffee shop scene in Brighton and luckily there were plenty of places to choose from!!

We headed to Marwoods, seduced by their promises of "Kick-arse coffee and life-changing cake". An eccentric-looking place with an eclectic decor of crazy posters, mismatch furniture (including old Mac computer for stools and old doors as tables) and slightly creepy dolls....

But pretty great, right?!

Coffee was pretty kick-arse. They live up to that one. The selection of cakes and pastries was impressive, they all looked incredible.

We had a peach, halloumi and balsamic salad for some healthy to balance the cake. Very refreshing for a Summer's day. One I shall be recreating!

Cake chosen, for me a HUGE brownie with white chocolate chunks and a white chocolate, lime and courgette - yes courgette - cake.

My brownie was life-changing, I won't lie. I did have a little epiphany. It was a little underbaked I reckon, (not a bad thing at all! Just how I love them and how I bake them myself) because it was unbelievably moist and gooey. I don't think I've ever had a gooey-er brownie and I've had a lot of brownies. It was incredible. Unless of course they just have the recipe for the most gooey brownie ever, in which case I need that recipe. The white chocolate chunks were harder, so lended to a delicious change in texture.

The cake was tasty, but a little on the heavy side as it was quite dense in texture and therefore very filling. Also I couldn't taste much of the courgette, which is a shame as I was excited to see how that would work. Slice was huge though too, which also could have helped to filling us up so much of course!!

With happy tummies we headed to the beach!!

Brighton is so cool. It has so many cute vintage and independent shops. When I decorate my house I am buying everything from the shops in Brighton. So many cute things for decorating and for crafts.

I CAN SEE THE SEA!!!

It reminds me a bit of York, with all the cute shops and indies, a little of a small town or village, with its small winding streets and tiny houses and a little of East London, with all its cool.

Plus...it has the sea. So perfect.

It was so relaxing to breathe sea air and just sunbathe.

There are so many cute things to be seen walking along the sea front.

The famous bandstand with couples dancing:

Own made cakes, anyone?

The expensive part, Brighton's bit of Notting Hill.

Sadly, after exploring the shops, it was time to head back to the looming clouds in London, as could be seen from the train.