Clerkenwell Grind: one for the hit list

I was invited to try CG a few days after Christmas. Given the timing and its location in the city, the atmosphere was pretty dead that evening – but the excellent food more than made up for it. I had a gorgeous fig starter, followed by a perfectly grilled sea bass with kale on the side. And if I wasn’t on my low-cal diet at the time, I would’ve wrapped up dinner with the lemon cheesecake because there are few things better in life than LEMON CHEESECAKE.

So if you work in the Clerkenwell / Barbican / Old Street areas, Clerkenwell Grind should definitely be on the hit list, if only to let me know what you think of it. I reckon you’ll be impressed. In the meantime, check out pics from my visit below:

Find out more about the Grind restaurants.

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On a recent invite, I went for the baked crab thermidor – a comforting cheesy starter that’s so good it also comes as a main. The catch of the day was a shrimp dish, which was a little bit on the modest side, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. I’d also recommend the fries: a friend recently told me you can tell how good a restaurant is by the quality of their fries, so in this case, they definitely come out on top. Best thing is you can expect to spend no more than £40 for three courses and a cocktail. Not bad, eh?

File under: After work drinks, dinner with work buddies, places for seafood lovers and date nights.

Check out pics from my visit below – and for more info about Crab Tavern, visit ww.crabtavern.co.uk. 

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Plane vs Eurostar

Everyone knows that travelling by Eurostar is dope – and if you book it well in advance, you can get to the Paris for less than £100 quid. My lastminute.comness meant I spent a eye-watering amount that went over the £150 mark, but I don’t regret it; the ease of just pulling in to Gare du Nord from Kings Cross St Pancras always trump travelling on a plane in my opinion, even if flights nowadays are a bit cheaper.

City guide vs apps

I bought the Time Out Shortlist Paris 9th edition guide a day before I travelled, just to be on the safe side: it’s got a quality map in the back and I found it pretty useful during the weekend, especially in learning about the different  areas in the city. But I couldn’t live without Google Maps – and thanks to GPS, I could frequently conserve my data while getting an accurate location. The Uber app was also fantastic for booking quick and cheap taxis and the free Duolingo app helped me with brushing up on my (very) basic french.

Hotel vs airBnB

The last time I visited Paris was in 2013 for the half-marathon and I stayed in the uber-hip Mama Shelter in  the 20^th district in central Paris (nearest metro: Alexandre Dumas). It’s got a great vibe, dope food, but it’s off the beaten track and hardly the bargain I was looking for this time round. So I tried airBnB for the first time which is so easy to use.  After a friend recommended I search for spots in Le Marais or Saint-Germain-des-Prés,  I ended up booking a clean and quaint apartment from a guy named Ahmed which only cost £116 for two nights and was in a fantastic location. Sharing with a friend meant I only spent £58!

Public vs two-legged transport

I ended up being one of those tourists wasting everyone else’s time when I tried to buy a Metro ticket from the machines at Gare du Nord. Eventually I figured out the system of a single €1.70 ticket per journey  (so cheap!), but I only every used six for the entire weekend so avoided buying the booklet of ten. The rest of the time we walked to take it as much of the city as possible – thank you Google Maps! We also used the Vélib’ bike hire scheme which was cheap but a lot trickier than it should have been; the first hire machine we found was out of order, the second had plenty of defective bikes and once we hired, we struggled to find a place to dock them once we reached our destination in Bastille! Also, cyclists ride on the right in Paris, so there were a few hairy moments when it came to crossing junctions…traffic light crossings became our fast friends, I tell ya!

Tomorrow’s post: What we got up to… The Louvre, Centre Georges Pompidou and Musée d’Orsay

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The tagliata arrives with cherry tomatoes, parmesan and a balsamic reduction, and my choice of shepherd’s potatoes (the alternative is roasted) which has a mouthwatering aroma of garlic. Everything is devoured within minutes. It’s not the biggest portion in the world, but it’s a pretty memorable entrée, leaving us with even higher hopes for the restaurant’s signature tiramisu. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t disappoint, with a delicate coffee flavour matched perfectly with the cream.

La Tagliata is a great place to visit if you’re after effortlessly fine food for a date or dinner with friends – the wines are great, the service is top and three courses will only set you back £30 – win, win, win we say!

For more details about La Tagliata, visit www.la-tagliata.com

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a solid week trying out everything from smoothies to cauliflower mash and I’ve got to say, it’s a pretty fabulous book, featuring a broad range of creative and tasty recipes. It’s also a good look for those trying to kick the refined sugar habit – like me! – or lower their carb intake. My favourite recipe so far is for the muffin frittatas. It’s easy to make, looks and tastes gorgeous and costs hardly anything to whip up – plus, if you’re inviting friends around for brunch, this would go down a treat (although I’m planning on giving it a Jamaican twist by serving it with ackee and salfish next time I give it a whirl). Check out the recipe on the Daily Mail website, and for more details about the book visit www.hemsleyandhemsley.com.    

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For less than a tenner, you can get stuck into soft poached eggs with grilled mushrooms, hot-smoked salmon, crispy chicken or slow-braised lamb (which was our lunch choice of the day and tasted incredible!) – and with all ingredients being seasonal and organic, you know you’re only eating the good stuff.   Plus, we discovered service is super-quick too, with customers waiting less than five minutes to get their order.

The truck currently offers a lunch service in Broadgate circle (11:30-2:30pm) Monday to Friday, but will be soon be serving burgers and cocktails in Shoreditch for lunches and dinner.  For more info, visit www.streetkitchen.co.uk

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For those not already in the know, Hidden City is a text-message-based game that allows players to explore the quirkier parts of their local surroundings. Each hunt has a number of clues, which send you on a trail through various locations as you text in the right answers. You can take part with friends or group off into multiple teams, depending on how competitive you all are. There’s also the added joy of being timed throughout, which somehow immediately propels you into a sense of urgency.

At first, the texts fly back and forth between our mysterious phone friend and ourselves. Soon, the gap between texts is more extensive, as we huff and puff our way over Waterloo Bridge, make a few incorrect detours up some stairs and through some gardens, before ending up near Nelson’s Column. A sidestep into St Martins-in-the-Fields results in an unexpected string quartet concert, which provides a lovely musical accompaniment to the rising stress levels of not being able to solve the next damn clue…

If you get stuck you can ask for help, but be warned: each ‘hint’ adds 20 minutes to your overall time. However, after traipsing through three floors of an art gallery and still not finding our requisite answer, we were happy to begin ruining our score.

Our result? Officially, we scored 2 hours 26 minutes, but due to excessive use of the ‘hint’ service, this became a demoralising 4 hours 26 minutes. Ouch.

Hunts range from cryptic clues in Covent Garden to spotting street art in Shoreditch, and there’s even a West End warm-up to a group night out. The ‘hunt’ can last anywhere from 2-4 hours and costs £16 per team. Local London knowledge isn’t necessary, but taking an A-Z is a good idea. See www.inthehiddencity.com for more info. (Words: Flora Baker) 

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The area in London I call home is…East London

I’ve got to have a meal at… home mostly but I do like Nandos! haha..

I tend to get my threads from…Paul Smith, Fred Perry and then from anywhere that has threads that catch my eye.

To enjoy London’s nightlife, you should…be careful in Soho. Go steady in Camden. Mind your feet down Brick Lane and watch your wallet in west london.

If I was mayor, I would…wear a good suit and listen to commuters. I would also pay more attention to the underprivileged youth.

My favourite spot to check out art is… all around me. Art is everywhere in London, from the walls in a gallery to the brick walls on a city street.

I’d kindly tell a tourist to…not be too offended by bust commuters! haha

The things I miss when I leave London are…my friends and my bed.

My soundtrack to London would include:

Bitches Brew by Miles Davies – I’ve listened to it loads in London. It literally sounds like a medley of feeling and thoughts.

Son Of A Gun by The La’s – the lyrics actually tell the story of one pinnacle point in my life. Amazing yet simple description of the fighting soul.

Liam Bailey will be performing at the Wireless Festival, Hyde Park on July 3rd.  Click here to visit his website or follow him on Twitter: @liambailey

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Sometimes I’ll just be walking down the street and I’m mad. Like Grrrrrrr. Like, “come within an inch of me and I’MMA GO TO JAIL TODAY!” while Ludacris’s Move Bitch is resonating loudly in my head. You know that feeling? Mmmmm hmmmm. Well, that’s what I call Londonitis – a condition which means you express an extreme dislike to the capital of England because it’s getting on your last nerve. There are international versions too – Newyawkitis, Losangelitis – in big cities mainly (and I wish I was not making this up, because you know it makes sense). So this is why I’m off to Surrey for a much-overdue, three day weekend because:

1) The London Underground. Listen – you need to be trained to use it properly, and there are many that don’t know how to. If you don’t, God be with you, because a couple of us with that Londonitis will finish you off pronto, like those Darkseekers in I Am Legend (coming out of crevices and everything). So you’ve got to always stand on the right of the escalator, do not crowd the bottleneck of the platform (there is always space to the left or right – just MOVE ALONG), and when you get on the train, please don’t crowd the entrance where there’s clear space down the aisles. Why would you do this? You LIKE someone’s armpit in your face? Well good for you – we all have our vices. But I’m tired of dealing with rule breakers every blessed day, seven days a week, 365. I’m out!

2) The High Streets. Similarly, this is to do with overcrowding, and that occasional sense of claustrophobia I get when there are way too many people up in this place. And the problem is, there are some shoppers that walk around with no sense of purpose – just milling around and taking everything in, smiling like it’s completely okay to be pedestrian in a busy area as opposed to ushering you and your fam in a corner, working out your destination and doing your best to get there as swiftly as possible. This is not a science, just courtesy. It’s a shame many forget this is LDN, and we’ll come with that POW! if you do not get to stepping! (I’m talking a good old fashioned shoulder slam – not gun/knife violence folks, Lethal Bizzle’s just kidding – side glance).

3) The contradiction of Hyde Park (and many of the others). I love Hyde Park, I really do – it’s actually one of my favourites because I live in West. But apparently it’s unhealthy to jog there because of the surrounding traffic – so those poor trees cannot knock suck up that amount of CO2 to help us, and I might one day be jogging with a water bottle in one hand and an inhaler in the other. Terrible. 1-0 to the Countryside.

4) The noise. I’ve sort of grown accustomed to the sounds of traffic lulling me to sleep when it’s time to go to bed. But every now and then there’s that ONE dude. Drunk. Loud. 3am. Talking about “SANDRA BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH SHURRRRRUP! I LOVE YOU!” Who is this dude? And where is the police? He aint romantic, talking about shut-up, I love you! I can’t STAND him! (hate’s too strong of a word, but believe me when I say the sentiment is close).

5) It’s really quite lovely. That’s the British countryside, not the delirium of London. And seeing that Surrey’s only an hour away, that’s a mere hop, skip and a jump to fresh air, good food, lovely fields and a good night’s sleep. And no mobile phone! (Yep!) You’ll see the pictures next Wednesday and see exactly what I mean.

PS: I do love London :-) (but you know there’s a thin line, c’mon now!)

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