Get your meat fix here - Meat Market, Covent Garden - London

By now you should all know how much I love a good burger! It has to be juicy, tasty, good quality and full of lots of cheese and salad! The one place I know I will get a great burger is Meat Liquor or its sister restaurant Meat Mission. So on a recent trip to London, I knew the logical place to visit was Meat Market, situated in Covent Garden.

As with the other restaurants, the design was super cool. I'm not sure how I'd describe what they'd done with this one, maybe retro canteen? It was very bright, colourful and funky! You order at the till and then sit down waiting for your name to be called to collect your grub. As with all of the Meat Liquor restaurants I went for a cheeseburger! What a bore ey, but it's my favourite. Matt changed up his order and went for Phili cheesesteak and we shared a portion of fries. There was the option of refillable drinks which I took full advantage of and also the option to have water if you fancied.

We both really enjoyed our food, scoffing it down as quick as we could. If only I could eat here more often but it would do nothing for my waistline! This is definitely treat meal material. After looking over the menu again after this visit I discovered they did ice cream floats and wish I'd had one! Next time maybe.

Have you been before to one of the Meat Liquor restaurants? What are your thoughts?

Breakfast of Champions - The Breakfast Club, London Bridge

After a late night at the O2 watching WWE, we ventured out late the next morning, after a well-deserved sleep in, to find some food. It was around 12pm when we finally found our venue of choice, The Breakfast Club. I've already visited their restaurant in Soho, so I thought we'd go to the London Bridge one for a change. It was easy enough to find after trekking ages from the wrong tube station, it is like two seconds from the London Bridge station but for some reason, we got off on the one before, and there was plenty of free seats which makes a change from queueing.

I had decided before we arrived that I would be having pancakes. I put all my savoury cravings aside and picked the pancakes with berries whilst Matt went for chorizo hashbrowns with added feta cheese. I also got a mango, orange and strawberry smoothie whilst Matt went for a cup of tea.

My pancakes were amazing! So light and fluffy. With the berries and the vanilla cream, it was so good. The only thing I didn't like was the raspberries as they were very tart, but the blueberries and strawberries went really well with the pancakes. I only managed to eat half of what was on my plate as they were so filling. Matt said that his dish wasn't what he was expecting and on paper, he didn't think it would go but it was delicious. The portion size was huge but he still managed to finish it all off.

The venue had a lot more seats than its sister shop in Soho and as there wasn't anyone waiting to come in it seemed very relaxed. I'd definitely give this Breakfast Club a visit again when I'm in London.

Have you been to any of the Breakfast Club locations? What do you think? Are you a fan or do you think it's overrated?

Let's get Ready to Rumble - WWE O2 London

The day finally arrived. We were going to see the WWE wresting filmed live for Monday Night Raw. We took the train down to London on the morning and got the cable car across to the O2. Before we went to the show we were kindly invited to the pre-show party. I was quite nervous to go along but I really shouldn't have been as it was packed out with people all mingling, taking advantage of the food and drink as well as taking part in the various activities dotted around the room.

I spotted a few famous faces when I got into the crowd including two Harry Potter stars, Rio Ferdinand, Lethal Bizzle and Simon from Blue. We noticed that a few superstars were there to take photos so we joined the queue. Unfortunately one of the most well-known stars, Ryback, had to get ready for the show so we didn't get a picture with him but we managed to get one with Golddust and Renee. There was a red carpet and backdrop to get pictures with, lots of superstars and diva cut-outs around the room and also a photo booth that we took advantage of. Overall it was a great party and I was very glad I got the chance to go along!

From the party, we went straight across to the arena and found our seats just in time for the show to start. It was an amazing atmosphere to be at a live event with almost everyone supporting their favourite superstar or diva by wearing a branded t-shirt, including myself wearing my Brie mode top! There lots of matches on throughout the night which meant we had the chance to see many of the wrestlers we see on TV.

I had a brilliant time. It's great to see the matches from a different angle and understand what happens behind the scenes, what you don't see on TV. The only thing that was missing from my night was meeting Roman Reigns but I suppose I'll get over that..

Up in the sky, above the River Thames

In London, there are many ways you can get around town. By tube, bus, taxi, bike and on foot. Did you know that you can take to the sky? The Emirates Air-Line I mean! On a recent trip to London, we found that our hotel was right next to the cable car link to North Greenwich. As we were already planning on going to the O2 that night for a show we thought this would be the perfect way to get there!

A single fare is £4.50 but as I have an Oyster card both our tickets were discounted to £3.40 each which was a bonus. The ride lasts around 10 minutes but it seems to go much quicker as you try to take in all the sites as it moves along the line. I won't lie, this is quite scary! Being up so high and having the cable car hanging on by so little was unnerving but it gives you an amazing view of the river, surrounding area and the O2.

If you do want to ride on the cable car over to the O2 you'll have to get off at the Royal Victoria tube on the DLR line which is a bit tricky to get to if you are coming from central London. Make sure you leave enough time to get to the tube station but also to get a cable car as you might have to queue for a short while.

It was definitely an experience that I'd recommend and I'd probably do it again!

Have you been on the cable car over the Thames? What did you think?

Meat Mission, Shoreditch - London

When it comes to eating out in London, me and Matt like to do our research. We've already been to Meat Liquor, the sister restaurant of Meat Mission, so we thought it time to try out its Shoreditch counterpart.

 

When you walk into the restaurant it is very similar to a gothic church with a bright stained glass ceiling, church pews and hymn boards. It is much brighter than Meat Liquor which has you to eating in the darkness. The space is large and the staff are very friendly.

We ordered our food, mine was a boring cheeseburger whilst Matt decided on a mushroom Philly cheesesteak which as you can see looked amazing and I am told tasted very good too. I started eating mine and was very confused as to why it seemed spicy and why my lips started to feel on fire. I decided I couldn't eat it and put it down to a fault of my own not asking for something off that I usually get off.

I ate the fries and all was well until I had a look at the menu again and saw there was a green chilli cheeseburger on the menu. I asked the lady if this is what I had been given and she checked with the kitchen and it was! She offered another burger but by then I was full on chips so she just took the burger off the bill.

Its was a shame I didn't get to enjoy my burger as the few bites of meat I had tasted very nice. I know they do amazing burgers here so this experience didn't put me off, it would just make me speak up quicker so I could eat a full burger!

Street Feast London, Dalston Yard - London

I'm sure we can all agree that eating from street food stalls would not be a preference. Greasy burgers, soggy chips and meats that you didn't even know existed are definitely a turn off. However in London there are some classy stalls that sell good quality tasty food which have been brought together in a huge urban market - Street Feast London. I apologise if you feel hungry reading this post. I felt hungry writing it.

Street Feast London was established May 2012 and has now taken up shop in Dalston Yard, around two minutes from Dalston Junction tube station. It is on every Friday and Saturday night until 27 September from 5pm to midnight (it's free before 7pm - £3 after). The vendors range from smoked meat sandwiches to crab rolls, to mac n cheese to Korean burritos. Each stall sells at the most four options of food so there will always be something for everyone.

Matt got a pot of Don Macaroni from Anna Mae's which consisted of their classic macaroni and cheese with bacon, pesto and a basil leaf. After a few laps of the yard, I decided on a brisket bun with honey bbq sauce in a brioche bun from Smoke Stak. It was so nice, if not a tad sickly because of the sauce. The beef, however, was amazingly cooked and so tasty! I can't speak for how Matt's mac n cheese was as I didn't get a taste but it certainly looks yummy.

If you are looking for something a little bit different for tea I'd definitely recommend getting yourself down to Street Feast London, as not only do they do amazing food they have a huge selection of drinks and plenty of seating for you to be able to enjoy the atmosphere all night long.

Shoreditch and Box Park

Shoreditch. Before visiting I'd never really known it existed or what was there. I really did enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the place and the walls that were adorned with colourful fun graffiti.

In Shoreditch there is a extremely cool urban structure called Box Park which holds many pop up shops in reconditioned shipping containers. Its crazy because you can see that they were containers, but now they have been totally refurbished and fitted out to act like shop space. Many businesses have taken space in this 'shopping mall' with the likes of Nike, Puma, Gap and Hype claiming containers. Also there are small restaurants and food sellers, which leads me on nicely to my two reviews...

First up is Milk Tea & Pearl. A Taiwanese bubble tea producer placed on the top level of the Box Park selling a plethora of tempting flavours including coconut, taro milk, passion fruit and jasmine to name a few. I went for Mango as this is my favourite with a mix of the typical tapioca 'bubbles' and passion fruit boba. This tea was so refreshing and the beads were lovely. Although the taipoca were chewy as per usual, the passion fruit ones popped in your mouth to release the juice which was usual but nice. I definitely need to branch out and try a few new flavours!

The first time we walked past Dum Dum Donutterie at around 2pm they were closed as they had sold out but when looking in at their display we saw the wonders they can produce and came back earlier the next day. I picked out the Zebra which is layers of croissant dough and chocolate croissant dough filled with chocolate butter crème and decorated with dark chocolate. These doughnuts are baked not fried which makes them light, rather than full of fat and grease. I did notice this when eating it, although it doesn't really make it healthier as it is covered in sugar and chocolate then filled with chocolate crème. The filling is very scrumptious but I think what makes this different is that it is made with croissant dough which makes a lot more filling and stodgy. Although this was very yummy, I've now tried the 'cronut' fad and I think I prefer my normal doughnuts.