Brunch at NOPI

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Susan

It’s official: London has discovered brunch. Even two years ago, you couldn’t find brunch anywhere except hotels, and said “brunch” consisted only of fry-ups (coyly masquerading as “English breakfast”), granola bowls, and the occasional forlorn Eggs Benedict. All that has changed, and as an American (i.e., brunch addict) I’m ecstatic about it. So when friend C turned up on an early Sunday morning flight from San Francisco, brunch was the Thing To Be Had. And, judging from the buzz, NOPI was the place to have it. Continue reading →

Mark’s bar at Hix

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Susan

There are few things better than going to a really good bar where you know the bartender. That cozy feeling of communion as the drinks crafted ESPECIALLY FOR YOU are placed before you is an experience on a par, I’d say, with going on a really sexy first date. (The two, of course, are not mutually exclusive.) One thing that gives this most singular of pleasures a run for its money is going to a good bar where you don’t know the bartender but ARE TREATED AS IF YOU DO. Continue reading →

Mooli’s!

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Susan

Although roti is one of my favourite things to eat in the whole world (it’s definitely in the top five and may be in the top three), somehow I didn’t know about Mooli’s until friend J showed me the menu online.

“This is right up my alley,” I thought. A streamlined concept – street food, specifically roti wraps – served six ways, with six proteins, open for lunch. Period. Two days later I was standing before the counter, clutching my fists, wracked with indecision. BEEF, PORK, CHICKPEA OR GOAT? Continue reading →

Yalla Yalla – Let’s Go!

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Susan

I have a new favourite cheap eats destination. (By “new” I mean “new to me.” Yalla Yalla has been open in Soho since 2008 and in Mayfair since 2010. I could weep at all the meals I could have eaten, but did not eat, at Yalla Yalla.)

Yalla Yalla could so easily have been precious. It is in Soho. It is trendy. It bills itself as serving “Beirut Street Food” (showing that it has me, and a whole lot of other people, dialed down). It could serve microscopic portions and charge an outrageous amount for alcohol. But Yalla Yalla is not precious, except perhaps literally, like my precious bottle of barrel aged single batch bourbon Continue reading →