London Foodie!

You have probably guessed it by now but I confess I am a total foodie! Im not one of those girls who are shy to eat those sinful sweets or deep fried carbs once in a while! It's all about moderation and pacing myself. 

Gatsby style afternoon tea at the Balcon

Tea for two!

The iconic balcony

This was a tea set for two. The portions were quite big and although some of the

desserts were a little to sweet for my taste, it is still worth a try if you have the time

since toptable.co.uk does really good deals for this place.

Mini scones with jam and clotted cream. Selection of finger sandwiches 

and four different patisseries... the table next to us had macaroons too!

The scones were probably my favourite.

A quiet weekday afternoon... we came a little later so most people would have 

finished afternoon tea by then. 

Andaz 1901 at Liverpool street. Weekdays have really reasonable set menus 

and the atmosphere was great. After dinner we enjoyed a few cocktails as well.

Enjoying a few cocktails after dinner...perfect!

A happy girl at Duck and Waffle, Liverpool Street. 

The best view possible! The iconic Gherkin was in full view!

Their iconic fried pig's ears...

Duck & Waffle obviously. I was actually quite disappointed at their iconic dish. Their food is quite rustic and some of the flavours go really well together, but the prices are high,

 so you are more than likely paying for the view instead! 

Some wicked wall art at the waiting area.

Bordeaux at Night...Full moon at the Night Beach

When you can't fall asleep in the fiery heat during nighttime, Bordeaux offers a few options. Although most bars close around 1am... there are some nightclubs that opens to morning during weekends. Although we weren't up for too much of a wild night out (since we had class early in the morning), we had a lovely girl's night out to the roof top bar at the Grand Hotel, chilling and chatting. Night Beach is a relaxing and chic roof top bar that offers some amazing cocktails. I know I know, we are in Bordeaux so why would we drink cocktails? To be honest, after a whole day testing out bottles and bottles of red wines everyday, i was glad to take a break and indulge in some easy and girly drinking...

Another recommendation is Aux Quatre Coins du Vin (The Four Corners of Wine), located in the heart of Bordeaux. It is sort of a buffet wine bar, where you can help yourself to 32 different types of international wines. You top up a smart card then just swipe away to try all different types of wines. The crowd is trendy and the staff are more than happy to give you recommendations. 

Hehe Wine Goggles

Reservation pour trois svp...

My friends and I are complete foodies and we have been anticipating to try the Michelin star restaurant by head chef Pascal Nibaudeau ever since we booked our holiday. Table was booked... and we ate very light and bland during the day to saviour our tastebuds!  The restaurant was situated on the 1st floor of the Grand Hotel so we enjoyed a few aperitifs before we sat down on our table. Although the setting was formal, the staff were so friendly and even gave us a little souvenir at the end to make our dinner that little more special.

Entrees.. lobster macaron(absolutely amazing), savoury chocolate bite,

Tempura herbs, breadsticks with a mustard mayonnaise dip. 

Amuse Bouche...lobster and butter sauce

Sea bass and Aquitaine caviar with oysters and a sour cream sauce. 

Wild Turbot roasted on the bone and oyster béarnaise and two different
sauces, red wine and Choron sauce.

Palette cleanser: Melon puree with mint ice cream. 

Dessert- Lemon and Raspberry Vacherin... to be honest i didn't really

know what i was ordering at apart from the fact i knew it was going to be lemon and raspberries haha...when it turned out so pretty, i was really happy. 

Wine Tasting Beginners Class

Our mornings were filled by a 3 hour wine tasting class for complete beginners. Class began 10.30 in the morning, and were held at BordoVino's city apartment. The whole experience was very laid back and bespoke. The staff were really friendly, the location was just like your friend's apartment, so the relaxed atmosphere made it very easy to take in all the information. Our handsome tutor Ceprian was very friendly and charming, which might have been the reason why my concentration was so good during those early mornings. He taught us in English and we were put at ease right away as he made sure he started slow and answered our every question. After class we were served lunch in their resident kitchen. The simple yet delicious food was prepared by a local cafe that was run by elderly women...so sweet! 

What we learnt:

- Wines from the four main regions of France...differentiating their different characteristics

- Wine and a brief history (used to be made by monks)

- Wine production from vines to bottle shapes

- Weather and it's effects... was it a good year? Bordeaux had been running behind with the rain and cold weather, but finally the heatwave has done wonders        for their wines! 

- How to smell, look, taste wine...

- Speciality wines.... little about port, dessert wines,champagnes etc

- Bordeaux wines... different regions on the Left Bank and Right Bank etc

- Wine pairings with food... we were highly recommended to try their local Arcachon oysters

• Wine blends and mixing...we got a chance to mix our own wines... mine was around 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet Sauvignon
• And probably most important... what the locals do, nightlife and general cool hangouts recommended by the lovely Ceprian... 

Chateaux of Dreams...

After class in the morning (wine appreciation for absolute Beginners), we were whisked away by our lovely wine tour guide Cyprian to a couple of wineries in the St. Emilion region on the Right Bank. Only a short 30 minute car ride, we were taken to the gardens of Eden! Although they were no Premier Cru Chateaux, it was still the best experience and we were blessed to have been taken around by such lovely people who were passionate about their wines. In the first wine tasting session, we had a challenge for our sense of smell. We were given unmarked bottles of different flavours and we had to detect each smell by memory. It was certainly a very difficult task, with flavours like smoke and Euclayptus being the hardest and most horrid to smell! We were taken through the journey of hand picking the grapes to finally boxing and then distributing to wine brokers and merchants. The whole experience was just so wonderful.