THE HAWKSMOOR, SEVEN DIALS

Rather than buy presents for my friends and family's birthdays, i like to take them to places or go somewhere unusual so that we can share an experience. it was recently my mum's 51st and i wanted to take her somewhere nice in London where the two of us could have a chat and some good food so i decided to take her along to the hawksmoor for lunch.

i ordered the roasted bone marrow with onions and toast to start. it was deliciously indulgent and the sweet onions balanced perfectly with the gelatinous marrow - absolute perfection on a plate!

for the main course, i opted for the 250g rib-eye steak - ordered rare. 

we also ordered an array of sides including sweet potato, triple cooked chips, buttered greens and bearnaise sauce to share.

Finally we ordered a sticky toffee pudding to share for dessert. i can't begin to describe how good it was - or how i full i was - but it was all worth it!

i highly recommend the express lunch menu at the hawksmoor - it is incredible value at only £26 for three courses and the food really is as delicious as it looks! Our total bill came to just under £90 and included three courses, a glass of prosecco each and service charge. if you'd like to try yourself some of this goodness - you can book a table here

thehawksmoor.com/locations/seven-dials

11 Langley Street, London WC2H 9JG

BYRON BURGER

I love burgers, and I LOVE hot sauce. So the chilli burger at Byron really is my idea of food heaven. Luckily, or not so luckily for my waistline, I have a branch literally 5 minutes from my office in Gloucester Road so recently I headed there with my colleagues to indulge in one of my favourite meals! 

The chilli burger contains a 6oz hamburger smothered with green chilli, American cheese, shredded iceberg and chipotle mayonnaise and I always order extra avocado to go inside. As a rule i order my steaks rare and my burgers medium rare. I like my beef  to be still moo-ing when it hits my plate. The burgers at Byron always come perfectly cooked with the right balance of pink and charring to add flavour.

One of the other draws to Byron, aside from the namesake burgers , is the courgette fries. Trust me, once you’ve tried these, you won’t ever order regular fries again! they are basically soft and juicy courgette stripes fried tempura style in a light, crispy batter....all that you need is a nice glass of Fentimans ginger beer to wash it all down! absolute perfection!