STEAK NIGHT AT MILLER & CARTER, BEACONSFIELD

I've always been a huge Miller & Carter fan so I was SO excited when I saw that they were opening a new restaurant in my home-town Beaconsfield. They've taken over what used to be the Harvester, giving the whole place a much-needed face-life which Tom and I went to check out a couple of weeks ago. 

If you've never been to Miller & Carter before, it's a Steakhouse restaurant which prides itself on providing the ultimate steak experience. We kicked off our meal with a couple of starters - if you go, you HAVE to order the mini stuffed Yorkshire puddings - they're packed with slow cooked beef barbacoa, cheddar cheese and topped with crispy onion loaf. You also get a little pot of beef dripping sauce on the side which you can drizzle all over - or dunk them into. 

We also shared the Pulled Beef & Onion Rillettes. A bit like a cross-between a pate and a terrine, it's made with slow cooked pulled beef, caramelised onion marmalade and beef dripping sauce and comes served with toasted ciabatta which you can use to scoop it all up onto.

Now for mains, you'd be mad to come here and not order a steak. What I love about Miller & Carter is how much food you get - every steak you order comes as part of a full experience. First you select which steak you want (I went for a 50 day aged rib-eye cooked medium rare)...

Then you pick an lettuce wedge, with a choice of several dressings which acts as a bit of a starter - my favourite is the Stilton and blue cheese sauce.

You also get a slice of the iconic Miller & Carter onion loaf...

as well as your choice of steak sauce, plus seasoned fries and a parsley butter. I always think the steaks here are incredible value, given how much you get included in the price. You often see steaks restaurants charge you one price for the meat and you then have to shell out for additional sides. 

If you do want to add on sides, there's a whole array of options from stuffed bone marrow to mushrooms and Mediterranean vegetables. We went for a portion of the Lobster Mac & Cheese, which was delicious, and added some Sauteed Greens for a bit of healthy balance.

 After all that food, we just about had room for dessert so decided to share a Banoffee pie between us. A perfect balance of soft toffee, with banana slices and loads of delicious cream - one of my absolute favs!

All in all – it's a really great steak restaurant and a fab spot for date night or if you're celebrating a birthday! If you live locally, you can find the Miller & Carter at the address below, otherwise they have restaurants all around the country so just head to the website to find your nearest branch.

Miller & Carter

Holtspur Top Ln, Beaconsfield HP9 1UD

* I was invited to review Miller & Carter

Our food was complimentary but all opinions are honest

MR WHITE'S ENGLISH CHOPHOUSE, WHITECHAPEL

You might have seen that Tom and I stayed at the New Road Hotel recently - a fab new boutique hotel over in Whitechapel. As well as having gorgeous interiors and one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in, the hotel also boasts a celebrity chef endorsed restaurant too - Mr White's English Chophouse from none other than Marco Pierre White.

Being a chophouse the menu is packed with traditional hearty British dishes such as steaks, chops, ribs and pies - plus a killer cocktail list. We kicked off our meal with an Espresso Martini for me and a Mai Tai for Tom whilst we decided on what we wanted.

For starters, I opted for the goats’ cheese and beetroot salad (£8.50) which came topped with a walnut dressing. Super fresh and light with a gorgeous contrast between the creamy cheese and sweet beetroot.

Tom opted for something a little more comforting with the Welsh Rarebit (a bit like a fancy cheese on toast) topped with a perfectly poached hen’s egg.

For mains, we both just HAD to go for a steak. We each ordered the 10oz 35-day aged Rib-eye (£26.95) which was cooked perfectly rare and served with a bearnaise sauce. All washed down with a glass of Malbec - absolute perfection!

All the steaks come served with roasted vine tomatoes and triple cooked chips. We also shared a portion of the Buttered garden peas with fresh mint (£3.50) as well as the French Beans with toasted almonds (£3.50).

To round-off our meal, we shared a portion of the Cambridge Burnt Cream (£5.50). A British version of a creme brulee consisting of a creamy custard base and a lovely sharp, hardened sugar top. One of my absolute favourite puddings.

Mr White’s English Chophouse 

103-107 New Rd, Whitechapel, London E1 1HJ 

*We were guests of the hotel 

Our food was complimentary but opinions are honest

AN OVERNIGHT STAY AT NEW ROAD HOTEL, WHITECHAPEL [INVITE]

Despite the fact we live just a short 20 minute train journey outside London, every now and then it's nice to have a little stay-cation in the city. It means we don't have to cut our evenings short - or worry about train times - or stay within a close proximity of Marylebone station. As we live West, it also means we can find new spots in East London to explore which is exactly what we did a couple of weeks ago at the New Road Hotel.

The Hotel: Situated in a former textile factory, the New Road Hotel is an 79 bedroom boutique hotel just a short walk from Whitechapel Station. Location-wise, it's perfect. Situated right in the midst of trendy Whitechapel (just a short stroll away from the buzzy Brick Lane and Shoreditch areas). Inside the hotel, they've kept the industrial charm of the original building with exposed brick walls, large metal windows, parquet floors and touches of yellows, oranges and blues.

The Room: The rooms are compact, without feeling small, and are kitted out with pretty much all you need for a short stay in the city. There's a spacious wet-room style bathroom, a handy dressing table with hanging rails so you can get ready - plus a Samsung Smart TV. There's no iron or kettles in the rooms - so if you want to use one of those, you'll have to head out to the communal areas - they've really tried to keep just the essnetials within these four walls to encourage guests to mingle. My absolute favourite feature of the room though HAS to be the bed.

It's essentially a huge cube which takes pride of place underneath the huge industrial metal framed windows. It was SO comfy and incredibly roomy meaning I could star-fish in the bed without ever knocking into Tom or us fighting over the duvet! 

The Food: The hotel restaurant is actually a Marco Pierre White Chophouse (seperate review to come) where you can book in for dinner or for breakfast/brunch in the mornings. The menu is pork-free so you can expect beef sausages & turkey bacon on your fry-up and a whole host of veggie friendly dishes too.

If you'd prefer to opt for something continential, you can also tuck into a whole host of cereals courtesy of Cereal Grind - or try an array of different pastries, pop tarts and muffins. 

Who Should Stay Here: If you live out of town, it's ideally located for a weekend away leaving you to explore what I think is one of the most exciting areas of London. You're also just a short ride to City Airport if you're catching a flight and it would also make a great based for those working in the capital on business trips. 

Cost: Rooms start at £99 for a pocket room and rise to £139 if you want a room like ours with the super-sized beds. If you're looking to really go all out - you can also splash out o a loft room with terrace or jacquzi for anywhere between £200 and £360. 

New Road Hotel

103-107 New Road

Whitechapel, E1 1HJ

* I was invited to review New Road Hotel

Our overnight stay was complimentary but opinions are honest 

A MEDITERRANEAN FEAST AT MELABES, HIGH STREET KEN

I've got another West London restaurant review for you guys today and this place is an absolute gem! Not only do they serve up one of my absolute favourite cuisines but the whole menu is super reasonably priced too. It's called Melabes and you can find them on High Street Kensington - just across from the entrance to Holland Park.

In terms of food, they're serving up fresh, Mediterranean inspired dishes with a real emphasis on small plates and sharing dishes. We popped down recently and had the most incredible lunch - I mean just look at that spread!

We kicked things off with a portion of the silky smooth hummus (£6.50) & the homemade falafel balls (£5.50) which are deep fried to perfection. Crunchy on the outside whilst still being wonderfully tender on the inside.

The Za'atar laffa bread (£4.50) is a definite must-order and a real show-stopper. Laffa bread is a traditional middle-eastern flatbread, similar to a pitta, which is made fresh, every day here at Melabes. They offer four different styles here but I'd definitely recommend the Za'atar variety which has the most incredible crunch!

The whole chargrilled aubergine (£7.50) is another must-order dish too. It arrives topped with tahini, tomato salsa and the most incredible sumac fried onions which provide a much-need crunch against the soft aubergine.

We also really loved the schnitzel - stripes of golden, breaded chicken served with a pomegranate molasses for dipping into. Each was cooked to perfect, super crisp on the outside whilst still being lovely and tender within.

Finally we rounded off our feast with a Halva parfait (£8.50) - chocolate cake layered with tahini and salted caramel mousse coated in chocolate ganache and served with labneh cheese. I loved how the bitter labneh balanced out the salty, sweet flavours of the mousse - absolutely perfect washed down with a mug of steaming hot mint tea.

We absolutely loved our visit to Melabes. All the dishes were generously sized, meaning we could order 4-5 to share between us and leave feeling adequately full. I also thought the prices were really reasonable too - especially considering the area.

I would definitely recommend visiting with your good friends for a slow Sunday feast - bag yourself a seat by the window and it's the perfect spot to watch the world go by over some good food and great drinks!

Melabes

221 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 6SG

*I was invited to review Melabes

Our food was complimentary but opinions are honest

THE BEST DESSERTS ON THE SOUTHBANK AT CHOCOFRUIT

Chocofruit is quite possibly my FAVOURITE place on the Southbank at the moment. I mean what's not to love about chocolate covered fruit right?

The concept is super simple. For £4, you choose a fruit skewer - either strawberry, banana or a mix of both and then cover it in toppings.

You can really go to town too. There's mini marshmallows, hazlenuts and little chocolate drops as well as three different types of melted chocolate which are expertly drizzled all over your fruit. The effect is almost hypnotising!

If you fancy giving them a try, you can find them at the food market just behind the South Bank centre!

*Our visit to Chocofruit was complimentary

All opinions are honest

TRYING THE NEW 'NYC DELI' DOWN AT HACHE BURGER

There are two reasons I'm excited to tell you about our visit to Hache Burger. Not only did we discover their delicious limited edition 'NYC Deli' burger (which is incredible by the way) but I also found what I'm now labelling as 'The Best Banofee Pie in London'. Tom and I visited the Holborn branch recently and I've literally been dreaming about the food ever since - I mean, just look at this spread!

If you've never been to Hache Burger before - you're in for a treat. As the name suggests, their expertise is their burgers with a whole range of fab steak and veggie burgers, created using the freshest, high-quality ingredients.

As well as their core favourites, they also have special limited-edition burgers which appear at various points throughout the year. I was invited down recently to try the latest special - the 'NYC Deli' burger, which is Hache's playful take on the New York classic Pastrami on Rye.

But before we get down to that, let me tell you about the starters! There's plenty of options from olives and candied almonds to avocado on toast and halloumi fries. We went for our old favourite though -  a portion of creole Chicken Wings (£6.50) to share which came slathered in hot cayenne pepper sauce and a creamy Roquefort dip to help balance out the heat. 

We also shared a portion of the Arancini (£6). If you've never tried them before - they're essentially deep fried rice balls stuffed with provolone cheese and topped with a tomato sauce & rose harissa. The cheese goes all lovely and gooey when you pull them apart - it's real comfort food that is super more-ish! Now let's get back down to the burger business. 

As I said before, the 'NYC Deli' is a twist on the New York classic, Pastrami on Rye. Here it's serve as a prime steak burger topped with mustard mayo, baby gem lettuce, tomato, gherkins, emmantal cheese and pastrami - how dreamy does that sound?! What I loved most about this burger - aside from the flavour - was the fact that it actually looked like the picture on the flyer.

All the ingredients were super fresh, it was well stacked and the pastrami wasn't too overpowering either. It's quite a handful so you may have to tackle it with a knife and fork but I promise you - it's absolutely delicious!

Just make sure you save some room for dessert! I know it's a pretty bold claim but I honestly do believe that the banoffee pie here is the BEST I've tried in London. The biscuit base is perfectly dense and it's studded with loads of banana and gorgeous caramel. 

Just look at that cream to base ratio! I honestly still dream about this pudding.

If that's not a good enough reason to get yourself down to Hache Burger - I don't know what is! There's branches all across London in Camden, Holborn, Balham, Chelsea, Shoreditch and Clapham - and they take bookings!

Hache Burger

95-97 High Holborn, London WC1V 6LF

*We were invited to review Hache

Our food was complimentary but all opinions are honest

HOW TO STYLE YOUR HAIR WITH THE DYSON AIRWRAP STYLER

You'd have to have been living under a rock to have missed the launch of the new Dyson Airwrap towards the end of last year. It was billed as a revolution in hair-styling, swapping high-heat tongs which damage your hair, to a Coanda-effect powered styler which uses hot air to re-create bouncy, curly locks.

I've always been a very low-maintenance kind of girl. I very rarely do anything to my hair, but I remember watching the launch video on Facebook and thinking 'I HAVE to have one of these!" The only down-side  - it's an expensive piece of kit, retailing at £399.99 which seemed pretty hard to justify.

I was SO lucky to receive one as a Christmas present (from my very lovely family) and I have to say, it has absolutely revolutionised how I style my hair. So much so, I thought I'd show you just how easy it is to use.

I use my Airwrap on both dry and freshly washed hair but always find styling it from wet to be the easiest. The styler comes with three different attachments (depending which kit you bought) including a mini Dyson hair-dryer, two sets of curling barrels and a heated brush. In this quick guide, I'm going to show you how I use the curlers!

Step 1: First up, you'll want to brush through your hair to remove any knots, then I apply some styling mousse. I was recently sent some fab new hair-care products from celebrity hairdresser Leo Bancroft* which I now swear by as part of my hair routine - the volumising mousse really helps to add bounce and to hold the curl once set.

Step 2: Using the hair-dryer attachment, rough-dry your hair on high power until it's about 80% dry before switching to the 40mm barrell attachement.

Step 3: Next, take a small section of hair and dangle it about 10cm away from the end of the barrel. The styler will automatically 'catch' the hair and start wrapping it around the barrel as you move it towards your head. You don't need to worry about twisting or turning barrel, you just move it upward and the styler takes care of the rest!

Step 4: When the hair is completely wrapped around the curler, give it a blast of cold air for around 8-10 seconds to set before switching off and releasing the curl.

Step 5: Repeat this process on both sides of your hair, remembering to use both barrel attachments (one is for the left and one is for the right). It might take a couple of practices to get the knack right - and almost re-train how you curl your hair - but once you master it, it's super easy! There's also handy arrows on the curlers so you can see which direction the air will be moving from.

Step 6: Once all your hair is complete, give it a brush through, depending on how set you want the waves to be, then I give it a good spritz with Leo Bancroft Flexible Hold hairspray to keep your curls intact.

How simple was that?! Honestly, styling my hair now takes all of about 10 minutes. If you're intrerested in the Leo Bancroft products that I used in the post, you can pick them up from Tesco from £3. 

* I was gifted the Leo Bancroft products which I used in this post

All opinions are honest and my own.

EMILIA'S CRAFTED PASTA, ST KATHERINE'S DOCK

A steaming bowl of pasta and a good glass of wine - two of life's greatest pleasures, right? Now imagine that, paired with a gorgeous view out across St.Katherine's Docks, well that's exactly what you get at Emilia's - a gorgoeus little Italian, serving handcrafted pasta by the waterside.

It's a cute and cosy restaurant overlooking the far-side of St Katherine's Dock (almost opposite the Dickens Inn) where they pride themselves on their hand-made pasta which they make fresh every morning.

It's not just any old pasta though - the guys here have spent years, researching and anaylising, the best pasta shapes suited for each kind of sauce. They've pain-stakingly tested, how long each needs till it's cooked to perfect, and created a menu with dozens of unusal pasta shapes paired the perfect sauce to suit. 

In terms of the menu - it's classic Italian of course, with a handful of great dishes on both the anti-pasti and main menu. We shared portions of the delicately sliced bresaola (£8) - a type of cured beef - along with the Heritage Tomato & Burrata Salad (£10).

The beef arrives at the table with a good crack of pepper and toasted ciabatta which you can pile high onto - and the cheese is deliciously creamy, topped with fresh herbs and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

For the main course, it has to be pasta. There's eight different dishes to choose from, each with its unique pasta and sauce pairing. As mentioned, the pasta is hand-made on site, and cooked in salt water in boiling water until it's perfectly al dente - which actually helps to maximise the flavour but also aids with digestion. 

The four hour slow cooked bechamel bolognese is definitely the restaurant's 'hero' dish - served with pappadelle and absolutely covered with grated parmesan (£12.50). It's proper comfort food - like a big hug in a bowl - with the perfect ragu to pasta ratio.  

We also loved the casarecce - a short twisted pasta which I've never tried before - which arrives coated with basil pesto, parmesan and pecorino (£11). It's packed with big, punchy flavours and the  portions are super generous - meaning you definitely won't be leaving hungry! 

We loved our visit to Emilia's - the food and service were incredible and the atmosphere of the restaurant was buzzing making it the perfect spot to enjoy a Saturday afternoon, watching the world go by.  

The restaurant is fairly tight on space, and it gets super busy - especially at weekends, so it's definitely best booking. They do hold back about 25% of the tables for walk-ins on the off-chance you're in the area though so you may get lucky if you don't a wait.  

Exciting they've just opened a second Emilia's down in Aldgate which operates the same policy - I know I'll definitely be heading down there ASAP!

* Our food was complimentary

Our opinions are honest