Calling all meat lovers; Pitt Cue Co.

Finally, on my fourth attempt, I managed to get through the sacred door of Pitt Cue Co., tucked away discreetly behind Carnaby Street, and got to experience the delights within.

Was it worth the persistence? Abso-bloody-lutely.

It opens for evening service at 6pm. Thankfully Poppy was able to get there half an hour early and join the inevitable queue but was pretty near the front so when the doors opened, we were swiftly shown to a table in their basement dining room.

It's absolutely tiny and initially feels pretty claustrophobic but you soon forget that once you’ve seen the menu.

Our cheerful waitress took us through it and without a doubt we were all up for the daily special; 'The Lardo Dog'. Now I appreciate that in the photo it just looks like a glorified hotdog but trust me, it was totally delicious – a meat lover’s dream.

The generous link sausage sat on a bed of scrumptious pulled pork and pickles, topped with tiny pieces of crispy pork crackling and, as the name suggests, a helping of Lardo thrown in for good measure. A heart attack on a plate you might say. All served in a toasted brioche hotdog bun and with spicy slaw on the side.

Doesn't look that big here right, but that beast was about 8 inches of deliciousness!

For £12 you can’t go wrong and we were amazed at how filling it was. That said, Poppy and I managed to squeeze in a Pimms Eton Mess for dessert between us. In fact we wolfed that down so quickly I didn’t even have time to take a photo!

Their turnaround is quick and having ordered our first drink at around 6.15, we'd eaten, paid up and were out of there by 7.30 and it did feel ever so slightly rushed but we went there knowing it was that type of eatery. It was worth every penny and now I understand why the queues get soooo looooooong for this place.

As we headed back upstairs to the small bar & waiting area, there was many a hungry punter looking longingly at the menu and I felt almost smug that at such an early hour, we were bellies full and off to carry on our girlie evening nearby.

Needless to say the queue snaked out of the door and up Newburgh Street. I was going to take a photo of the queue but that would have just been too smug of me so I just took a photo of the exterior instead!

If you’re planning on paying Pitt Cue Co a visit (and I strongly recommend you do), my advice is to go during the week and get there early to save yourself a long wait. I loved the Pitt Cue Co. Trailer I tried out on the Southbank recently but enjoyed the Soho diner even more. Totally delish. If only they had a reservations policy....

Pitt Cue Co.

1 Newburgh Street
W1F 7RB
www.pittcue.co.uk

Sale shopping

Unusually for me, I’d by-passed the sales this season. Mainly because I haven’t had the time to pay them a visit but also having realised how much we need to shell out to get certain work done on the house, I’ve been trying to avoid temptation. Until last evening that is.

With my husband away for the weekend at the Grand Prix (camping, the fool, look outside!) and with my weekend plans starting today leaving me with a rare Friday evening to myself, well naturally, I took myself off to the Oxford Street after work. I couldn’t help it. I blame the weather. Not sure why, but at the moment everything gets blamed on this weather.

First stop French Connection where unfortunately none of the items I’ve had my eye on were in the sale so I promptly left there and headed over the road to Zara. I know. Everything I buy is from Zara, I’m so predictable. One day I’ll be saying the same about Harvey Nics, honest...

So, armed with about a squillion items to take to the changing room, I was extremely reserved and only bought three new items; two in the sale and one from the new collection.

First up the shoes, or boots, or are they shoots? I’m not sure but whatever they’re called, I love them:

Although the heel is mahossive, the in-built platform means they’re not ridiculously steep on my feet and because of how low they are, they’re flattering worn either with your legs out....

...or, obviously, with leggings / jeans...

And get this – they were reduced from £60 to a mere NINETEEN POUNDS. Bargain or what?!

Next up, this very cute flowery shirt.

It’s 100% silk with a pussy bow tie and although mainly bought as an item for my work wardrobe, is equally wearable with denim as it is with black bottoms for work I think?

Reduced from £45 to £25 which again I thought  was a bargain and something I can imagine having in my wardrobe for many a season, winter or ‘summer’ so an investment really.

Finally, I’ve been looking for a denim shirt for a while that is the right shade and with the right amount of stretch in it. This stone washed super pale blue one wasn’t in the sale so at £30 was more than I’d like to have spent but it’s a great fit, just the right shade and also just about an acceptable length to get away with wearing with my leggings.....

Oh and with my new shoes. Would you look at that. (Please excuse the excessive posing, the wine had clearly kicked in by this point! Oh and the mess in my spare room, although that's pretty standard)

By the time I’d left Zara, I didn’t have the energy or inclination to go anywhere else to be honest so it was a pretty paltry attempt at retail therapy but by then, the chilled wine in the fridge was calling me and I had scratched the itch to buy something new with these few simple items so off home I headed for said wine plus the fashion show (for one) that followed.

If you're a fan of Zara and haven't already been, get yourself down to your local shop as the bargains to be had are amazing, I seriously could have bought three times as much stuff.

xxxx

Weekend gluttony

This weekend kicked off with another trip to Morito with Clare, one of my oldest and dearest school friends who also lives near London but who I don’t see nearly enough of. She’d read my write up on Morito (yey, a reader!) and text me to say she was really keen to try it.



Oh dear...

So Friday evening we could be found at the counter munching our way through the menu, getting drunk on cava and fino cocktails and enjoying some very much needed catch up time together. Tummies filled, we moved on to the bar at Cotton’s a few doors down for more cocktails and shots then over to the Exmouth Tavern, a great little boozer at the start of Exmouth Market.

At the point at which I started talking about heading to a club, Clare realised if she didn't make a run for it, she was about to miss her last train and get in to all sorts of trouble (not to mention a hefty cab ride home!) so the damage wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been with us two and we finished up before it got stupidly messy.



No rush to go home, oblivious of the time!

Saturday I awoke to the inevitable hangover and the husband looking less than pleased. So to appease him (and because I knew exactly what my hangover needed), I took him in to town for the day to make the most of the weekend sunshine and feed my hangover.



The view of the Shard from underneath at London Bridge station

One of my favourite places to eat on a Saturday has got to be Borough Market. I know it's touristy and expensive and often packed in there but it's a bit of a foodie institution in London nonetheless and only half an hour on the train to London Bridge for us so easy to get to.

I also love the South Bank as it's a melting pot of street performers, art installations, random street art and pop-ups all along that stretch of the river from London Bridge down to the London Eye, even more so at this time of year with the tourists out in their droves.

Pop-up Propstore outside the National

Enjoying the music and sunshine on the river



 



Part of the 'Play me, I'm Yours' festival, this young lad rocked up with his family, started playing and was absolutely incredible

Due to the aforementioned tourists and sunshine combination, Borough Market but was unsurprisingly heaving. However, there was somewhere further down the river I’d been hearing a lot about on twitter and wanted to try so we skipped lunch at Borough and made our way along the river until we reached the Pitt Cue Co Trailer located underneath the Hungerford Bridge.

Yummmm, what to choose?

See that scowl? Yep, I was starving

Mark’s patience was starting to wear thin by this point as I’d stopped to watch/read/photograph everything along the way and he was starving. So when we got there and I told him about the Pitt Cue 'Trailer Trash' burger I'd been reading about, he instantly perked up!

You see the 'trailer trash' burger is a lightly toasted buttery brioche bun filled with succulent and juicy pulled pork, pickles and…….wait for it………deep fried macaroni cheese. Sounds amazing but oh-so-dirty right?

We ordered two of those and two cocktails; I went for the Trailer Trash to match my burger which was tasty but really strong, like alcoholic cherry Coke, whilst Mark went for the rather rank Big Mac 'n' Rye which came with pickle juice. Euggh. In a drink? Really?

The burgers were delicious. We actually inhaled them, and, if I’m being honest, I could have easily gone a second round...

At £28 for two burgers and two small (albeit potent) cocktails, I thought it was a bit steep and the burger could definitely have had a bit more meat in it for £8 but still, both were delicious and hit the spot.

Food coma soon set in and all there was for it was to pass out in the sun in the jubilee gardens just under the London Eye.

Later on, we made our way slowly back to Borough Market, stopping for more treats on the way.

Fancy a Snog?

We decided against a cocktail in Roast as it was way too busy, but instead grabbed a Sangria and enjoyed the last of the afternoon sun then had a browse around what was left of the stalls.

We  ended up buying dinner at Neals Yard Dairy. They had in stock three out of five of the cheeses that we'd had as our wedding cake so we got a good chunk of each plus a few others to try.

My idea of heaven

Back at home and in our PJ's in front of the TV, dinner consisted of (lots of) cheese, biscuits, homemade chutney (homemade by someone else that is, not me), grapes and wine. Lush! Cue second food coma of the day.

Cheese, round #1

All in all a pretty gluttonous weekend but that is what weekends are for, right?!

xxx

Weekend city-break packing

Ordinarily I don’t find it too difficult to pack for a holiday as I’m usually going somewhere sunny and on the beach. Even the city breaks I go on tend to involve some sort of beach/sunbathing action so packing is fairly simple; lots of bikinis and easy throw-on day dresses then a couple of more glam outfits by night.

 

 

However with Berlin, not only were the weather forecasts all very conflicting so I didn’t know if we’d be making use of some of the riverside beach clubs and sunbathing or going city exploring (pah, who was I kidding!) but also the usual type of thing I’d wear on a night out just didn’t seem very ‘Berlin’. Certainly not the end of Berlin we were going; think East London rather than West End.

 

 

So I ended up panic buying this outfit a few days beforehand which I would never dream of wearing in this country (not such short shorts paired with such high heels at my age!!) but the lovely (20 year old) assistants in Zara convinced me I didn’t look like mutton (yes, I know, they were probably on commission!) and would be perfect for partying in Berlin with my girlfriends.

So, Saturday night’s outfit sorted. Then I took my black jeggings and studded vest top for another night.

And surprise surprise, I didn’t end up wearing any of it! Char and I both ended up raiding Laura’s altogether cooler suitcase that was full to bursting with American Apparel clobber so she very kindly let us have our pick. So the Zara outfit is still with tags on and shall be returned shortly!

 

Some packing essentials included:

 

My fave Melissa Odabash bikini I bought for my honeymoon (which I did get to wear as Saturday was indeed sunny, yey!), false eyelashes of course and this cute 'A' necklace from Dotty P's that I've not taken off since, but will need to do so soon as it's turning green. It was only £4!

Office flip flops and my fave studded pumps from Top Shop:

My trusty cream skinny jeans, a funky little skull sleeveless t-shirt from River Island and this grey jersey boyfriend blazer that goes with pretty much anything:

Some more cheapy cheapy accessories from good old Dotty P’s and my initialled Anya Hindmarch purse which is big enough to hold money, cards, room key and a couple of makeup essentials. One of my wedding presents from the hubbie, this always comes away with me.

Toiletry essentials included dry shampoo (standard!), Rimmel 60 Second varnish in 'Instyle Coral', SPF 30 for my face and some L’Oreal summer skin moisturiser which is a good colour on me but is pretty whiffy!

Finally, my classic Marc Jacobs sunnies plus some fun heart-shaped ones, also from Dotty P (can you tell there's one in Bond Street station that I walk past daily?!)

So with my suitcase packed, all that was left to do was pop to the hairdressers then meet the girls and get on that plane (easier said than done for some......Laura!) A post to follow soon on the weekend. Once I've been through all my photos and found a handful that are postable (is that a word?) that is!

xx

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