Konditor & Cook

I wasn't intending on eating out when the beautiful Konditor & Cook on the corner of Baldwin Gardens and Gray's Inn Road drew my attention. I had walked for over an hour in the rain and decided to go in for a cup of warm beverage. Though the space was small, the decoration was welcoming, especially given the Halloween decorated desserts and festive pumpkins. I ended up ordering lunch. I had the option of ordering warm and cold lunch. I went with the warm lunch: tomato and fennel soup and baked lentil and eggplant. The food was comforting and impressively delicious! The taste was out of this world and I couldn't get enough of my meal.

Disappointingly however, I learnt that Konditor & Cook does not have customer toilets. I have never been to a cafe/restaurant that does not have toilet access. This was shocking to me. So I made sure to grab a feedback form from my table and let the owner know what a shame it is that such a fantastic cafe doesn't give toilet access to its customers. It makes me think that I'm not welcomed to sit there and enjoy my meals. If the cafe does not want people to sit down then they should just make it take-out only.

I recently went to Borough Market and checked out another branch of Konidtor & Cook. It was quite small and did not have a seating place other than a small round table with two seats outside of the door. It looked like it mostly served desserts than main dishes. I was happy to see cute festive decorated desserts. I did not grab anything and did not have a chance to ask if the branch provided access to customer toilets.

Overall, I think the food at Konditor & Cook is fantastic and I highly recommend it. I am concerned about the lack of access to bathrooms. I find it unsanitary, disrespectful and unwelcoming. I have not had a chance to submit my feedback to the owner but look forward to hearing from him about this. I shall update you once that happens. For the moment, I am divided about whether I recommend the cafe as a whole or not.

Konitor & Cook has 6 branches in London. Check out their website for details: konitorandcook.com

To health & happiness :)

Louis Coffee & Tea Room

As per a friend's recommendation I went to Louis Coffee & Tea Room, a Hungarian Patisserie at Hampstead today. Hampstead seems like a very trendy and vibrant area. I really enjoyed it. Louis is just a 30 second walk away from the Hampstead tube station and is located right across from a large Tesco.

Louis is small and cozy. The furniture and decor are vintage looking and comforting. I sat down on a small table and asked for Earl Grey. The other tea choices were English Breakfast, Camomile and Peppermint. I then went over to the front and picked out an Apple Slice to have with my tea.

The presentation was fantastic and my items came in beautiful floral chinaware. Nothing special about the tea, but the Apple Slice was delicious. It was clearly made fresh. It wasn't too sweet and the apple was cooked just well enough. I loved the sugar on the top.

This was a buzzing place. Lots of people came in to pick up desserts. Most of those sitting down were seniors. It looked like they had been coming there for a long time. That's always a good sign. However, since the space is so small at times it was quite noisy. You can clearly hear conversations and they even get mixed up. So I'd say Louis isn't a good place if you're planning on sitting down and read. It's hard to focus. Nevertheless, it seems to be a nice place to enjoy a cup of tea with one or two friends.

Louis is not stroller friendly. You won't be able to take your stroller with you to your table. You are welcomed to park it next door (still part of the Louis building, where bathrooms are). I can understand that this is perhaps due to the fact that the space is small and a stroller would easy block passage. The mother who came in while I was sitting down thought it was a "ridiculous" policy and left. The staff did apologise but did not attempt to explain why strollers aren't allowed.

As mentioned earlier, the bathrooms are located next door. You need to go through a door and up the stairs. The flush did not work. The soap container was empty and the hand dryer did not work. No towels were available. Bad bathroom experience.

The service was OK. The staff did not seem particularly inviting. They seemed bored to be honest. That said they did their job and were respectful.

Note that Louis is cash only, so make sure you take some cash with you. I did not realise this but the staff kindly let me run to the tube station and get some cash.

Overall, I do recommend Louis. It's a lovely place for a cup of tea and dessert. The desserts look delicious! I will not however go back if I'm by myself. Other cafes in Hampstead looked quite nice and I'd be interested to try those, especially if I need to use the wi-fi.

Louis Coffee & Tea Room
32 Heath Street
London
NW3 6TE

Health & Happiness :)

Chichin Labs

I went to Camden Market today for the first time. It's huge, beautiful and exciting! I'll definitely need to go back on a weekend or weekends to explore the area further. What took me there was the Thanksgiving Biscuits & Cranberry Sauce ice cream at Chinchin Labs where the ice creams are made using nitrogen, cool, hu? Don't just order your ice cream and sit down. Make sure you watch the process of ice cream making as well. 

So let's talk Thanksgiving Biscuits & Cranberry Sauce, the website description is:

Completely Smooth ice cream that tastes of American Biscuits, we then ripple in fresh & Zesty Cranberry sauce to give you that Happy holiday taste

That's pretty much accurate to the dot. I don't need to say more. You'll have a choice of several toppings, pretzel, grilled white chocolate, raspberry sauce, etc. I went with raspberry sauce. It was a good choice, clearly it was made fresh.

I highly recommend Chinchin Labs. The staff was welcoming and informative. The gentleman who made my ice cream kindly explained the process to me. Make sure you check out Thanksgiving Biscuits & Cranberry Sauce before it's too late.

49-50 Camden Lock Place

London

NW1 8AF

http://www.chichinlabs.com/

Check out the process:

The decor reminds me of my Chemistry lab days, in a good way!

And finally here is a photo of a canal at Camden market. 

As always, to health and happiness, folks! 

Hot Chocolate Festival & The Fleet River Bakery

Fleet River Bakery

Lincoln's Inn Fields
London
WC2A 3JF

http://fleetriverbakery.com/

I only discovered Fleet River Bakery yesterday and I've already been there 3 times. They're having their Hot Chocolate Festival this November. Make sure you check it out before it is over. I had the hazelnut hot chocolate yesterday and it blew me away. Today, I enjoyed the rose hot chocolate and turned my friends who were skeptical about it into believers. I shall try the hot chocolates each day to discover my favourite flavour. Looking forward to caramel tomorrow.

Rose Hot Chocolate

Below is the schedule for the rest of the month:

The cafe also serves delicious food and desserts. A friend had frittata and potato salad and couldn't get enough of it. Another friend had spicy tomato soup with sourdough bread and loved it! Yesterday, I had the vegan chocolate cake and though it was sweeter than I expected I really enjoyed it with my Hazelnut Hot Chocolate, which by the way had a lot hazelnuts in it, fantastic!

Frittata & Potato Salad

Spicy Tomato Soup & Sourdough Bread 

Granola Bar

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Here are more photos from the cafe. The ambiance and decor and beautiful and comforting. Staff are cool and welcoming and there is free wifi. What else can you ask for?

Enjoy! And as always, to health and happiness!

Infra at the Royal Opera House is a must!

I went to my first ballet in London last night at the Royal Opera House. The ROH is a beautiful venue. I took some photos and here are a few of them:

I watched three performances, Viscera, Infra and Fool's Paradise performed by the Royal Ballet. It was a fantastic experience. I mostly enjoyed the second performance, choreographed by Wayne McGregor and music by Max Richter. The show was set against a backdrop of animation art by Julian Opie.

Here is the trailer:

 

It was incredible and absolutely breathtaking! I was attached to the stage the whole time waiting for the next brilliant movement each moment. The show was also emotional and moving for me. At one point I found tears in my eyes. I'm not exactly show where they came from to tell you the truth. After the show, my friends each had different interpretation of the underlying story. I guess each person will take something different from the performance. However, we all felt deeply mesmerised by the beauty of the performance. If you are in London, I highly recommend the show at ROH. Check it out before it ends on Nov 14th. You can find cheap tickets. I got mine for 5 quid. Give it a shot. I guarantee you will enjoy it.

And if you can't go, check out the 2009 performance on youtube here:


Prepare to be amazed and moved by this brilliant performance! Enjoy!

Health & Happienss