The Breakfast Club

Breakfast at 'The Club'

So we may have been a bit slow on the uptake when it came to The Breakfast Club, but we had been meaning to go for ages. In the end we made it happen on Sunday - a full fat fry up followed by a browse around Spitalfields, a sneaky Hummingbird cupcake stop off and then a tube ride down to Oxford Street Topshop.

Luckily, we arrived early(ish) and so missed the half-past-11-last-minute-rush. Although thankfully for these cold little souls, waiters bought out shots of hot coffee at regular intervals...

We did have to queue for a little bit though, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get snap happy with the decor

B (for Breakfast Club if you were wondering)

The Weird and Wonderful?!

Jenna - not part of the decor but beautifully eye-catching all the same!

 We were soon warmed up with teas coffees and made our naughty selections. Senorita Annie opted for the Chorizo fry up, Jenna the All American pancake and syrup special and I went to town with the good old fashioned Full Monty. The table descended into silence...

Bigger sausages than Annie is used to - but they went down a treat!

Nowhere near enough syrup on those pancakes yet Jenna

Embarrassingly I managed to polish of the lot!

To wash it all down

Breakfast was cooked perfectly - juicy sausages, runny eggs, crispy bacon, delicious pancakes and all the trimmings... including a gigantic mushroom!

Feeling extremely full, and very happy with ourselves, we rolled out of our seats and off to Spitalfields.We looked around the market which had stalls filled with perfect Christmas presents and great little stocking fillers. MAC and Barbour were close by too, and so after trying on most of the wax jackets in the store, (and making mental notes of what was going on the Christmas list), we'd worked up a small appetite for something sweet... and very quickly nipped into the Hummingbird Bakery before making our way to Topshop!

Spice Market

Spice Market @ W Hotel, London

Today I have woken up wishing I had asked for a doggy bag of the food we were far too full to finish last night. Instead I'll spend the day picking at Digestives and Kettle Chips.

Some of the reviews I had read about Spice Market didn't fill me with confidence, but perhaps those critics visited on a bad day, or the restaurant has improved as I couldn't fault the service, food or ambiance!

To start the night, I met my dear friend Kate in the W Hotel bar. You get to the bar via the main hotel entrance - perhaps the only hotel where you'll have to line up and be checked off of a guest list before you're let in... I wasn't sure if I was queuing for a hotel or a nightclub!

Kate was waiting for me upstairs in the bar; to my delight with a glass of champagne (apologies for dark photos - I seem to make a habit of going to places with no lights and just an iPhone!!).

Catching up on each others news took over, and I naughtily forgot to take more pictures of the bar, so here are a few from the W Hotel to give you an idea, its very lovely!!

After a couple of drinks, we headed back downstairs to the restaurant - Spice Market. Surprisingly, for a Thursday night it was not overloaded with diners, and we were very happy with our little table right in front of the chefs.

After a two pronged attack at the menu, we made our decisions

To start with, we had the Crispy Pork Belly, Tamarind Nuoc Cham and the Crab Dumplings that came with Sugar Snap Peas and aromatic spices. They didn't disappoint - both were absolutely delicious.

For mains we opted for Steamed Sea Bass with Shiitake Mushrooms, Ginger Spring Onion and Tarragon, Red Curried Duck with Pineapple Sambal, Chicken Pad Thai with Tofu, Peanuts and Bean Sprouts and some sticky jasmine rice. We were in food heaven!

We were so full that we couldn't get through everything, but the spices and flavours were amazing. We had a delicious bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and finished the evening on a sneaky glass of Champagne before making our way home in the bitter cold weather. Winter has definitely arrived!

Burger and Lobster

Lobster or Burger?

Adult-sized bibs, no menus, delicious wine and a choice of only 3 mains... yes, it can only be Burger and Lobster.

Our grown up bibs!

The girls and I ventured into town this weekend (for a browse around Spitalfields market), and ended up heading to Burger and Lobster in Soho for dinner. Having missed the opportunity to blog about this the first time we visited, I wasn't about to let you suffer any longer, and so am here now to share the secret!

Burger and Lobster don't take any bookings, so it's a case of first come first served. When we arrived at around 6pm on Sunday the waiting list was for an hour, so after saddling up at the bar and tucking into a bottle of Sauvignon we were pleasantly surprised to hear our name called after twenty minutes.

 There is no food menu. You have 3 choices - burger, lobster or lobster roll. Annie and I opted for the lobster, grilled with lemon and garlic dressing, and Jenna tucked into the burger.

The mains are all accompanied by a mini bucket of chips and a ceasar salad...

Mains are delicious, and although £20 for a burger isn't exactly cheap, £20 for the amount of lobster you get is great value for money... and the lemon and garlic dressing that accompanies the lobster is beyond amazing!

All three of us managed to polish off all of our mains - well we had been walking around London all day - but I am ashamed to say that we couldn't squeeze in a dessert. At least we've got an excuse to get back there soon!

Wedding Dresses

Shopping for a Little White Number

I have to admit, I've never actually had a 'Muriel's Wedding' episode, where I've gone into a bridal shop (pretending to be engaged) and managed to drink the shop out of Champagne whilst trying on 90% of their stock (with a tear in my eye as I envision myself delicately sobbing into a tissue at speech time)... so when it came to me finding my wedding dress I didn't really have a clue what I was looking for.

At the beginning of my search, I had my heart set on something extravagant, with the thought 'I'm only gonna be doing this shizzle once, so it better be damn big!' The designer that seemed to answer all of my prayers was Ian Stuart, and I believed that these were definite contenders for strutting my stuff on the big day:

Rhapsodia Ian Stuart 2012 Killer Queen Collection

Sapphire Ian Stuart 2012 Killer Queen Collection

Sapphire as above

Andalucia Ian Stuart 2013 Supernova Collection

Atlantis Ian Stuart 2013 Supernova Collection

If any of these amazing dresses take your fancy, you can get some more details on them and others from Mr Stuart's amazing collection here.

However on trying some of these beautiful dresses (and they really are), I found myself leaning more and more towards a more fitted and slender style. Had I been getting married in an amazing country manor house then perhaps one of the above dresses would have fitted the bill, but as the wedding would be in the middle of London, and involved a bit of walking between venues - weather dependent - I was starting to look at dresses that reflected the overall theme of the day. On top of this, I started to think about what was really 'me' and this actually meant something more figure hugging and (being such a short a*se) less drowning.

So back to the shops I went...This time to a lovely boutique bridal shop in London - London Bride Couture. The ladies here are so welcoming and really make you feel at home (I was comfortable enough to try on practically the whole shop.) They've got a great selection of dresses from some great designers, and seem to be able to chop and change bits of any dress to suit your requirements.

Here are a few of the dresses that I tried and loved from London Bride Couture. The first three are by a designer called Intuzuri, and the last - Bali - a more fitted Ian Stuart number:

Two other brands that had me contemplating several wedding dress changes throughout the day were Pronovias and Jenny Packham. Here are a few more dresses to wet your appetite! 

Now only 8 months away from the wedding, I think I have found THE ONE, although I am yet to order it... the deadline is December!

I'll be posting the chosen dress after the big day.... just in case of any prying eyes!