Baker Street Meet, Middlesbrough

Well, you may have heard me twittering on about organising a meet up in Middlesbrough, last Sunday it finally happened! Quite a few people dropped out last minute which was disappointing but I think the small meet worked really well as we all got to chat to each other.

Firstly we met up at The Baker Street Kitchen on Baker Street, had some food and chatted to Tara from The Tara Emporium about her indie nail polish collection and her expanding variety of products including fashion, jewellery and bath products. She provided us all with a nail polish that she created to take home in our goody bags. Also in our goody bags was two products from Oriflame, a set of samples from Oqibo and some pop chips! I also received some tea from Bluebird Tea Co. but it came on the Monday after!

After we had our fill of food, we headed off to Lush where the lovely staff let us make a fresh face mask filled with blueberries and a Think Pink bath bomb then told us about all their new Mother's Day products as well as showing us how the Secret Garden bath bomb appears in water. Sorry for the overload of pictures.

L-R - Tracy, Rachel, Steph, Tara, Jen, Becca and Me!

We all got to take away a little bag of treats from Lush which was lovely and unexpected! I had a great afternoon and it was lovely to meet some local bloggers! I'd like to thank all attendees for coming along, Lush Middlesbrough for having us in store, The Baker Street Kitchen for reserving our tables and also the lovely brands that gave products for the goody bags!

Sherlock and Speedy's - London

Now I don’t know if you know but recently I have become a HUGE Sherlock fan. If you haven’t watched it, you must! Even if you think "oh heard of it but don’t fancy it", trust me you will. For those of you who do watch it and appreciate the brilliance, you will recognise this place that I dragged my mum to whilst we were down in London. After browsing the Sherlockology site I found the location of Sherlock’s famous door and subsequently the little cafe that sits next to it. So that meant we had to visit.

After getting off the tube at Euston it was only a 5 minute walk (less if you get off at Euston Square) to the door and Speedy’s cafe. There were a couple of people around taking photos of the site, so I wasn't the only weirdo there. After a couple of snaps, we realised we hadn't had breakfast so I convinced mum that we should go to Speedy’s for food. Inside they have adorned their walls with photos of the staff with Benedict and Martin as well as photos they have taken of filming.

We both ordered a tea and then I had toast with tomatoes and mushrooms whilst mum had toast and scrambled egg. It wasn't the most impressive breakfast I've ever had but hey I was in Speedy’s cafe!

If you love Sherlock then you have to visit to get your photo taken with Speedy’s cafe and Sherlock’s door, although I must warn you the number has been changed back to the number it should be on the road, not 221B like we all want it to be.

Chilli Cake Deli Review - Baker Street, Middlesbrough

I love eating out, probably just as much as I love cooking. It is so easy, and fun to try out new places and new foods. A few weeks back myself and Jen decided to check out Chilli Cake Deli on Baker Street in Middlesbrough.

Chilli Cake Deli is located at Zero Baker Street and sells a collection of yummy deli treats!

Jen had the grilled halloumi and giant spicy couscous salad whilst I had a sandwich called the truffle man including hot chicken, watercress & mustard mayo drizzled with truffle oil (it does come with Doreen's black pudding but I passed on that).

The place itself is very easy to find, small inside but lovely and cute. There are four stooled seating areas and one sofa area with the deli counter at the back of the room. You can see the kitchen over the deli which is a nice touch.

We ordered our food and sat down and they brought our food and drink to the table. I thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich and I believe Jen really liked her salad too.

I don't really have a bad word to say about this place as they have a quaint location, lovely staff and a great selection of food. If you fancy some lunch in Middlesbrough then I would suggest trying out the Chilli Cake Deli!

Have you been before?

The Baker Street Kitchen, Middlesbrough

Trying out new places to eat is kind of my thing. I don't stick to one favourite, but rather try out lots of new places that people recommend to me. In Middlesbrough there aren't an abundance of cool trendy restaurants to eat at so when The Baker Street Kitchen opened I was really excited to go!

The Baker Street Kitchen is on the corner of Baker Street, an up and coming section of town featuring a unique collection of independent retailers and service providers, facing on to Albert Street in the centre of town. They describe themselves as - "A new cafe/bistro for Middlesbrough in the heart of the independent shopping quarter, with an emphasis on homemade food including cakes, cookies, soups, breakfasts, daily specials, good coffee, and food to go."

My boyfriend and I tried this out on its opening day to see if it would be somewhere to rave about.

The Baker Street Kitchen looks like somewhere you'd find in London. It is so well presented, with chalkboard menus lining the walls, wooden tables and chairs filling the space and a gorgeous counter to order food from. The owners of this bistro have definitely taken their time to think about how they wanted it to look, even using small milk bottles filled with water and rosemary to decorate the tables. Their branding is very clean and edgy, feeling a lot like the London underground with their quirky take on a station stop sign as their logo.

On to the food... I ordered a jacket potato with beans and coleslaw whilst Matt ordered a ham, mushroom and cheese omelette. Both were immaculately presented with my coleslaw coming on its own side plate and us both having a simple side salad to accompany our food. I really enjoyed my jacket potato and Matt thoroughly enjoyed his omelette.

This place is just what Middlesbrough needed; somewhere simple, clean and trendy to enjoy breakfast, lunch or an early tea where you can watch the world pass you by. I am very keen to see what desserts they have next time I go as I did see pancakes listed on the menu.

Have you tried this The Baker Street Kitchen? What did you think?