What better way to start the New Year than being unlike the rest of London. I still haven’t watched the New Year fireworks yet, but I will get round to it someday. My commitments are abit like my blog, 3 months of hiatus then BANG you see a post. Magical.

Anyway what better way to spend New Years Day than to check in at The Athenaeum Hotel and eating a long awaited delicious meal! The Athenaeum was booked via Lastminute.com top secret hotels, which isn’t very secretive. A quick googling and viola you get an answer. If you want to know what the description for The Athenaeum is then it’s below:

“This hotel has a central location. Situated in the West End, great for a weekend break. First class facilities and service. Five star guest room facilities.”

Luckily we got upgraded, which reminded me of my Seville trip back in September, to a Park View Room! Considering how expensive London lands are these days, having a view over Green Park, well I pretty much felt like a trillion dollars. Not a million, because that’s just meagre sum these days, but a trillion.

Everything is 5* quality, minus the shower which had shower curtains and the most temperamental water I’ve ever come across. Nice to have seconds of cold water when in a hot country, but in UK nah uh. Wrong. Minibar was complimentary apart from the alcohol beverages and service is excellent. Recommended.

New Years Day, New Years Day is just so hard to find a good restaurant that is open! My 2^nd attempt to visit Goodman but it was closed. In these hard first world problem times, what did a girl do? I just had to make do with St. Johns! Tough life. In fact it was a brilliant excuse to get partner in crime to go because he had been refusing this suggestion few times before. Oh New Years Day, you are the best.

As we walk along the calm streets of Green Park towards Leicester Square for our 7:30pm appointment with St Johns, we noticed how busy Chinatown restaurants were! Little Korea had a massive queue for dinner and so did the others, bet the Chinese were happy that night ;P.

Seated we pondered over the menu and settled upon these dishes:
Starters: Squid, White Beans and Artichoke
Mains: Aylesbury Duck Leg and Braised Red Cabbage/Braised Ox Cheek, Celeriac and pickled Walnut.
Dessert: Their famous Madeleines, half a dozen.

I sat there in silence sharing our starter and I wondered why it reminded me of the octopus salad in Sicily we always had. Partner in crime looks just as confused as I am. Then he leans across the table and says:
“This looks like an octopus leg”
I look at him with wide eyes and an ‘o’ expression.
“Is it? Did we order octopus or squid?”
Partner in crime looks certain.
“Definitely squid.”
I carry on eating, see a squid body, 2 seconds pass.
“Well, looks like we’ve got the best of both worlds. Squid and Octopus!”
It’s delicious, but I have confirmed that I am not a fan of artichokes.

The mains swiftly follow after a 10 minute interval and I’m diving into my duck leg without waiting. I love duck. Especially the ones cooked in its own fat and has a crispy skin with delicate, soft meat on the inside. The braised red cabbage is much needed and complements the rich and fat duck. Excellent dish and the best duck leg I’ve had so far.

Partner in crimes’ braised ox cheek is beyond our expectations and turns out to be quite big. It sits upon a smooth, velvety celeriac mash with some pickled walnuts on the side. The ox cheek has a small layer of fat and the meat gently breaks away from a cut of the knife. Scoop it up with some mash; it was excellent English comfort food.

By this time we are both quite full but I press on and urge partner in crime to order half a dozen of madeleines. It’s fine I say to no-one in particular because half a dozen is only 4. We can easily finish that. To my amazement, and his amusement, 6 freshly baked delicate madeleines are placed on our table. It’s obvious maths is not my strongest point. He looks across and smiles.
“Your so ditsy-ly cute.” (Proceed to gag at our couple-ness)

We ate the soft, pillowy texture madeleines and then I burst out laughing in tears because partner in crime makes a joke. He and I can’t stop, well more me just holding my stomach trying really hard not to laugh. I keep pointing at the madeleines and only say that word in English, everything else in Cantonese. The table next to us thinks we are bonkers and mad. Laughing about madeleines, who are these aliens?

I tell you, it was a funny joke, you had to be there. I am certainly not mad. 

St. Johns has been on my list every since 2009. Visiting it for the first dinner in 2012 lets me know that this year is going to be bloody great, if not awesome! I part with 30 pounds for the dinner. Just for food, no drinks. Feeling ecstatically happy about 2012, I left for a nights rest back at The Athenaeum.

Do reserve before you go and the daily menu can be seen online. It’s so worth it. Understated delicious-ness. Can you just go?

St John Hotel
1 Leicester St
London
WC2H 7BL



P.s recipe to follow soon

HAPPY CHRISTMAS ALL!

Just made the most christmassy and decadent yule log ever…………tastes well pretty must like christmas…..recipe to follow after the weekend of indulging in far too much good food.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE ALL!!

Sicily, Malta and then Seville? Why you jetsetter!

Well, what can I say hey? Travelling around during the summer holidays is definitely how I want to live life. Of course, now that I did go on 2 holidays the chance of me zooming off elsewhere in the near future is quite slim. Shame my parents aren’t computer savvy, otherwise I’m hoping they read this and let their daughter ‘expand her knowledge of the outside world.’

Sicily had excellent food, but at certain places your awareness was much higher because you know, Sicily…mafia. Not that they would hurt a tourist like me. I mean all they could get out of me would probably be “take everything but the camera!” but they would have nothing to take from me anyway. Malta was excellent for relaxation, you felt safe even walking around at 1am in the morning but it lacked the foodie part for me. Seville, ah Seville, has made it onto my favourite list because it has all the elements I love for a holiday; food, weather, safe, night time roaming and lots to do. I finished Malta in two days but I haven’t finished Seville in 4 days.

Seville was great, awesome and any adjective that vaguely translates as excellent. Only 2 hours away from London and we landed in a country full of sunshine, romance, food and music. We watched flamenco at the casa de la memoria after a local tip off but do be aware that you need to book the tickets beforehand! Do not, as we did, just turn up expecting tickets because we just got lucky as two people decided to pull out at the last minute! BOOK BEFOREHAND. It was a brilliant show where the lady danced with passion and the man danced with fire, as cheesy as it sounds, it did make my spin tingle.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to watch bullfighting as we had just missed a previous week session and they were not yet in bull season. It’s a shame really because I can imagine how extravagant the whole scenario would be and how amazing it would be to sit there as an audience. Just imagine sitting in one of Spain’s finest bull rings…..imagine. But we did walk round to many other sites such as the Arabian-like, romantic royal palace Alcazar, the magnificent Giralda (Catedral tower), marvelous park and finding our way through the labyrinth roads.

We wandered from day to night with a short afternoon siesta break in between, sitting at cool tapas bars, eating desserts or simply dining outside with water mist constantly sprinkling on you. There were places we would specifically go to but there were many places that we would wander into amidst our walks which we very occasionally got lost on. Seville is small, but for us it was still a challenge to read the map!

We had seafood paella, kindly booked for us by our receptionist, which had to be pre-booked as they needed to allocate an hour to cook this dish apparently. They probably had a bad day because everything else about the restaurant was good but the paella was far too salty we nearly dehydrated during our meal. Thankfully the paella wasn’t too expensive. I don’t know why I didn’t inquire about the price when the receptionist was booking it for us, I obviously though I had masses of cash to spend.

An excellent place to escape from the sun and heat, whilst devouring desserts was at Horno De San Buenaventura, this is where C ordered a coffee and I went and ordered two cakes, two chocolate cakes to be exact. Robles Laredo on the other hand didn’t really do it for me, there was an attempt to do all this fancy dancy desserts that just didn’t have the wow factor. Plus it was quite expensive. Even though I say it is rubbish, we couldn’t help ourselves and went back there to do alfresco drinking whilst people watching.

Other places that I liked were Bar Europa, El Rinconcillo and this other restaurant who had a super friendly awesome Sevillian waiter. He gave us a fan each and taught us some Spanish! Levies café is brilliant as well especially after flamenco watching as the café is nearby, it opens till late and is always buzzing with customer. Even if you don’t want to eat, just go for the atmosphere at night time. Similarly with Estrella, go for the atmosphere and chill at night time when the heat has cooled down, order a jug of sangria and just drink and chat.

Seville is a brilliant place and I’ve planned to go there again sometime in the near future as I haven’t explored all parts of the small but romantic city. Paris is so over-rated with romance, head out further and go to Seville. Sun, food, sightseeing and friendly people what more could you ask for?

p.s if you are going to bring a credit card, know the pin for it otherwise it’s pretty much useless right?

Some restaurant details that I remember:

Las Piletas

Marques de Paradas 28.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

Bar Las Teresas

Sanat Teresa 2

El Rinconcillo

Gerona 40

Estrella

Estrella 3

Europa

Siete Revueltas 35

Robles Laredo

Sierpes 90

Horno De San Buenaventura

Carlos Canal 28 and also at Avenida da la Constitucion 16

And look at Seville Tapas for up to date restaurants!

In Palermo we stayed at the wonderful Butera28  for 7 days, it was the perfect apartment for us and Nicoletta (the owner) was helpful, efficient and kind. She would answer any queries instantly and provide us with whatever that was needed straight away! Like the time we couldn’t work out which was the washing detergent at 10pm, she had that sorted for us the next morning!

The apartment was clean, had wifi and location was excellent! The minor points which would have made it better would be more plugs, but then that is because we had lots of technology on us, otherwise it would have been sufficient. If I was to go back to Palermo, and I totally would I would stay here again. Except this time I would try out the apartments in the upper floors just to try it out.

Also Nicoletta provided us with maps and the most important thing : places to eat.

Loved it here!

Once we moved on to Ragusa, we stayed at Locanda di Merianda and the owners name was Concetta. This was the cheapest accommodation we have ever stayed at and the price included breakfast too! Homemade breakfast made by the owner herself that is. Brilliant value for money! It was very clean and the room we got had lots of natural lighting. The only concern for people that are taller/bigger would be the shower as it was quite small and felt slightly claustrophobic, also there is no wi-fi but Concetta had internet at her home which was handy. The air conditioning was slightly dodgy and we tried but failed to get it to run 24/7 so it was a very temperamental one! Short stays would be fine, but for longer stays the heat in the summer would probably kill you slightly.

The location was excellent for Ragusa, though next time I would like to stay in Ragusa Ibla itself as that part of Ragusa was beautiful and enchanting.

Crossing over the sea we arrived in Valletta, Malta. Here we stayed at Lucia Nova. When we first arrived and saw the house, we were happy that it was in the centre of Valletta and had a pretty Maltese style balcony! The interior was very artsy chic glam, had all the mod cons and the bathroom which was a wet room seemed cool too.

However once we laid our luggage down and inspected the apartment, because I do this to every place I stay in. We were, well disappointed. The curtains in the balcony were quite dusty, the floors of the whole apartment were dusty……the apartment didn’t feel fresh or clean. It was lacking a washing machine for a mod con apartment, so would only be suitable for very short breaks, we were told that there was a launderette in Silema…….but one is hardly going to bring over washing to the other side of Malta and then bring it back again, on a holiday. So for long breaks I would suggest staying somewhere else.

Another thing to note is that there is no air conditioning, but there is a fan on every level. We didn’t mind this, but the fan they provided was screeching at every second and you had to adjust it every now and then to stop the screech. A fan built on the ceiling would have been better too as it would allow the cool air to circulate more evenly and better. For people who literally can’t stand heat and need air con to survive look elsewhere.

On the plus side, the wifi was the best at all the places we stayed in, they had an excellent tv with movies/songs all installed onto it and the location was excellent. The shower was great but the only thing keeping you and the bedroom separate was a transparent glass door, so it would only be suitable for couples…..that are comfortable with each other.

This apartment wasn’t right with us; it was the most expensive one out of all them because on the internet it looked so good and we wanted a good end to the holiday. We were a bit disappointed with the actual product. The main thing was the cleanliness, dusty floors and stains on the side tables are not a good look. Otherwise minor issues were if it had a better toilet (because the flushing was just plain slow and weird) and smelt fresher then it would have been slightly better. Otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it.

Overall I preferred Sicily to Malta. Although Malta was busier at night time but we felt that there were more things to do and see in Sicily. I personally wouldn’t go back to Malta as there wasn’t much to do for us and although many do say it is laid back but so was Sicily. We definitely felt safer in Malta than we did in Sicily though!

Food wise, Sicily is far better than Malta. Even simple foods such as bread was delicious in Sicily, Malta on the other hand, only Il Horza really stood out for us. Malta is a lovely country, the blue lagoon and Hypoguem is really worth the visit and I can see why it appeals to some, it’s practically England on a smaller scale with lots of sun and sea, plus nearly everyone understands/speaks English.

We just preferred Sicily and below are a few of our favourites in Palermo.

NOTE: Many patisseries and bakeries around Palermo are excellent too and they make great breakfast or random time snacks!

Da Solvo (Padro Aldo) (Went a few times and loved it!)
Piazza Kalsa

Zia Pina (the bread here was awesome!)
Via Argenteria,67,

Spinnato
091-329220 Via Principe di Belmonte, 107/115

Pasticceria Mazzara
Via Generale Vincenzo Magliocco, 19

Pasticceria Costa
82 Via Catania

Piccolo Napoli (Loved this place!)
Piazetta Mulino a Vento

Though I must say most of the restaurant food standards in Sicily are good! Service might be a bit so-so from time to time and just utterly bad sometimes. And everywhere has pistachio flavour everything…..*loves*

P.s next few posts will be on Seville!

We set off extremely early for the Hypogeum and as cameras were not permitted, no photos were taken. However, I think it is a utterly amazing place I honestly didn’t think it would be this amazing. I just booked it because it was a site that was on the must see list for Malta somewhere online. But honestly, book your tickets well in advanced as this place, along with the Blue Lagoon, is not the place to be missed.

We had a small break back at one of the cafes in Valletta before heading for lunch at Da Pippo, again, was a slight disappointment. Due to the rave online and all, I was excited for this lunch but I still think the best restaurant we ate at was at Il Horza. We had the aubergine pasta which was quite salty and steak that was very mediocre (Nothing like the Hawksmoor steaks).

And goodbye to Malta as we leave off back to London.

We booked a cruise to go to the Blue Lagoon for the day and it was lovely! Although it worked out to be more expensive than taking the bus there ourselves but it was worth it. There is something wonderful about being out at sea on a boat in the sun. Just something wonderful about it.

I took one photo of the  Blue Lagoon because my hands were full of sun block oil and didn’t want to subject my camera to nasty oily hands. No way. Anyway blue lagoon isn’t a sandy beach, it’s a rocky beach but the water is very clear and with a simple snorkeling gear you can see lots of fishes swimming around!

When in Malta, Blue Lagoon is a must!

Today we had dinner at Papannis, where I had the Maltese Rabbit, it was rabbit fried in garlic and white wine. Reminded me of an oriental dish I had somewhere……..which may have been why I liked this dish. Partner in crime had chicken papannis. The sides that accompany this were steam vegetables and those potatoes, that were very salty again. And I craved an apple pie so ordered that.

The only odd thing about this restaurant was the waiter, specifically, told us that service charge was not included in the bill………first time I have come across that.

I was very excited about going here because they said that on Sunday there was a food market and it was smaller than what I had imagined it to be. Though I was thinking of Borough Market size………

Anyway on Sunday this market consisted of both food, usual day products and tourist things. What makes this place charming is the yellow, blue and red boats they have in the sea, so brightly colored and tiny it borders on cute. Some of the ships have this little eye painted on them:

I had already made a booking for Tartarum Fish Restaurant weeks before we were due to leave for our holiday and luckily we did! Because by lunch time the restaurant was beginning to fill up and those without reservations had to sit at the bar area until a table was free!

We were seated next to the window which was perfect for people watching during lunch! For starters I ordered a pumpkin and coconut milk soup with pine nuts and a paresan crostini on top, partner in crime ordered a traditional Maltese fish soup ‘Aljotta’. In the end I ended up eating the fish soup as I enjoyed it a bit more than the pumpkin soup, it was light, fresh and flavorsome. I was a little bit apprehensive at first about ordering a fish soup because fish can be, well, bland.

Next we had the seafood platter and we didn’t particularly enjoy it, there was too much herbs covering the seafood taste. It ruined it. With fresh seafood I honestly think that simple is the best.

Our fish dish was much better, simply steamed with garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. The accompaniments were a portion of very salty but utterly addictive potatoes and salad with a lemony balsamic vinegar dressing. I really did like the potatoes a lot. Crunchy, felt like I was eating chips but slightly healthier as they were potato chunks. Yum.

Desserts consisted of ….I’ve forgotten what we ordered….but it was nice. We watched something being burned in the background as we were eating our desserts…..see that black smoke in the background? Mad burning.

Today we hopped on the Malta sightseeing buses and took the Blue Tour to see the northern side of Malta. I personally think if you have limited time and want to see Malta on a express way then do take the sightseeing buses because they come every 30 minutes and it travels around all the tourist sites!

The buses do not have air conditioning and are open top, so………if it’s prime summer time (i.e July) maybe it’s best to have a UV umbrella to keep you from burning. And water, LOTS of water is needed.

Anyway our first stop was Mdina, we walked around and stopped off  at the Fontanella Tea Garden for a break, this was recommended in the tour book  we had and from reviewers online. Conclusion from me? Well, it was disappointing. It was pretty expensive for the cakes they served and the milkshakes we ordered tasted artificial.

Mosta was our next stop to see the church but once we got there it was close. *shock horror* we just stood there for ages trying to find the opening time, which we couldn’t find and had to ask the corner shop when it was open. 3pm she says, in 2 hours time. Awesome this gives us time to just eat at a random café on the street, and to not end up in tourist trap again we opted for a café that looked pretty run down but was filled with locals. Not a bad choice since food tasted better. Though there is still this thought in my head, maybe we shouldn’t have done Sicily and then Malta because food doesn’t seem to be as good…….

Not many pictures were taken this day because half the time we were sitting on the open top bus bouncing weirdly along the roads. We had a bad driver. Saw Golden Bay, Bugibba, St.Julian;s and the trip ended up in Silema. It made me quite glad that I was living in Valletta because I didn’t particularly like the other areas as much.

From Silema we took a ferry back to Valletta and again the view of Valletta from the ferry is grand. I love this view. Initially we wanted to go to Rubino for dinner, but because of the festival they were closing at 9pm……so we headed to Café Jubilee, which is a quaint little café with decoration that reminded me of The Twits book.

And we ended the night off by walking around Valletta. Beautiful place.