Author: perishakudhail

Wannabe Foodie #3: Brother’s Cafe

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Leather Lane is abundant in  great food finds, so I decided to venture into Brothers Cafe which sits at the beginning of the street. There was no particular reason I was drawn to this place, aside from the fact that it had been recommended to me as a satisfying lunch spot.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with the food. I went for the small lamb wrap (and I’ve gotta say, it was not minuscule in any way) and a halloumi roll (halloumi wrapped in semi sweet pastry and deep fried). This all came to less than a fiver (take cash, unless you plan on spending more than that). Brothers also offers chicken, falafel, halloumi and salads too.

The Lamb Wrap was fab, served in a warm flatbread, the lamb was grilled on a skewer and served fresh after cooking. I had all the salad, hummus and chilli sauce to accompany my salad and I can confirm it was a good choice. Brothers offers a range of salad and you can choose exactly what you want. The halloumi roll on the other hand was good, but it was reheated in the microwave. The pastry was very similar to that of a samosa so goes a tad soggy when re heated in the microwave. I can imagine that straight out of the fryer, this side is an absolute delight!

Lamb and Salad Wrap

The shop front would not lead you to believe that the quality of wrap is as good as it is. It looks very old and the seating area is very basic. At the front of the cafe there is buffet of hot food and then at the front is where you can order your wraps. The service here seems very friendly as is very quick paced during lunch so try and have your payment ready to keep the line moving.

Don’t let the decor fool you, the wraps here are top notch!

Price: £

Check it out:

99 Leather Ln, London EC1N 7TS

When I say Kojo, you say Funds…

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The Golden Boy has given us a Warning that his tour around the UK is going to keep us in Check. He’s Dun Talkin, and ready to entertain the nation.

I had the pleasure of experiencing my first mosh pit in Manny last weekend. The vibe was hosted by Kojo Funds and his guests. Hosted at the o2 Ritz in Manchester, he graced the stage with his Golden Boy Mix tape and I thoroughly enjoyed!

We came into the venue and have to admit we weren’t there at the 7pm doors opening time… Asian Timing. We got there around 8:30pm when support act Alicai Harley was performing. She seemed very fun, kinda reminded me of Stefflon Don, but I don’t know if that was just the hair or not…

Fund’s hype man then took over and did as the title given to him, we got hyped! With tracks played, by Kojo Funds, as well as other tracks within the grime and hip hop genre I can say that this was just what we needed before the gig. As with standard for hype men, we did a right vs left side of the room competition, except this time the winning side had free merch fired into it. I just wasn’t strong enough to make the cut to grab a free t-shirt (sad times).

‘Brown skinned girl, get your silly on’

Then the gig began and out came Funds with a spark in his step as this was only his second performance of the tour. I must say he started strong and it was brilliant, but I noticed a lot of the time he got the audience to sing the song on his behalf. I mean I personally love it when this happens, but after a while it was a tad overkill ygm? As the gig went on, he continued to do this, but then replayed the song and sang all the way through, defo made up for this!

Me ft. Lonely Straw on the floor

I was surprised when he came off the stage and into the crowd (well near the front), and the crowd flippin loved it! I must say as well as the gig itself, the crowd was amazing and really did add to the vibe. I mean my friend and I ended up dancing with random people and eve got our pics taken (bonus – I know, I’m easily pleased).

Overall it was brill to go and see a gig in in a different city, especially a grime one as because I normally just stick to London. Also Manny is my uni city so woop woop!

Wannabe Foodie #2: Hakkasan

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Wowwwiieeeeee. Ya girl went to Hakkasan.

As a group of three, we headed to the Hanway Place branch to get our dim sum on. There seems to be a recurring theme here, but I promise I do eat other foods!

THE TASTE OF HAKKASAN

Hakkasan is a contemporary Chinese restaurant and is not for those who are living the London broke life. However if you go before 18:30 you can enjoy a set menu for £38. So I guess that’s something… As we were going for dinner, we went for the after 18:30 menu that was £65 and we added extras on too. If you’re a total baller and going for A La Carte be prepared, as there are some dishes that you can pay up to 300 quid for.

With two London locations, Hakkasan offers contemporary Chinese cuisine. From delightful duck to stunning sea bass, Hakkasan provides the best Chinese flavors in a refined manner. I had the pleasure of dining in Hakkasan, Hanway PlaceT

Our meal began with a Dim Sum selection and this was delicious. With a prawn and chive filling, scallop and pork and prawn these mouthfuls were delightful. Following this I had a starter of hot and sour soup and chicken and sweetcorn. Hot and Sour was Peng! The chicken and sweetcorn seem pretty standard to me, you could probably pick this up for a fraction of the price in Chinatown and it would be fine.


Hakkasan
DIM SUM SELECTION

For my main, I had Spicy Prawns (with lilly bulb and almond), Peking Duck and Pancake, Sweet and Sour Pork and this was accompanied by rice and noodles. In comparison to the starters that we tried, the mains did disappoint. Although they were still tasty, next time I would happily exchange my main dishes with more dim sum or another starter. The meat was tender, however the noodles tasted like something I could probably remodel at home.

Finally, the dessert offered a different take on Asian desserts. Until my visit to Hakkasan I have never been impressed with Chinese desserts. We ended the meal with the Matcha Apple Custard Bun and the Jivara Bomb (milk chocolate and praline desert). These were a delight, they were not too rich and encompassed eastern flavours with a subtle sweetness. The Matcha bun requires an acquired taste, but I loved it. The pastry was lovely, and if you like green tea this will be a delight.

SERVICE

So the food ranged from delicious to standard, but I must say the service was notably mediocre. Considering the price tag of eating here, you would expect the service to be on point. Because of this we decided to remove the service charge ( which I don’t often do) and this caused all sorts of drama which cemented why we took it off in the first place.

Hakkasan is definitely worth going to and is perfect for a special occasion or date night as the atmosphere welcomes occasion, but better service would have made me more tempted to come back here. There are more places around London where you could have equally tasty dim sum.

TIP: Don’t over order (as there is no option to take away any remaining food). Order as and how you want more food. They bring it out quite quick and it’s better than wasting money.

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Wannabe Foodie #1: London Cookery School

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I love food and I’m sure people with a hearty soul do as well. It brings memories to people and brings them together. I myself try to eat as much food as I can as much and as many different types. I just wish I could cook as good as I eat!

This year, I had the privilege of being taken to learn to make Dim Sum and it was fantastic! I went to the London Cookery School in Holborn in London.

With Dim Sum being one of my ultimate go tos, what better way to indulge in these bite size delights than learning how to make them. With Chef Will at the helm, the class got to work.

Dim Sum translates as small heart, which refers to the bite size nature of these Chinese delights. From light fried pastries to steamed dumplings, dim sum is (as referred to in class) in a way Chinese Tapas. The techniques used to make dim sum have been around forever!

I attended this class on a rainy April morning, and I hadn’t even waltzed in yet and I was already starving! I walked into the class and was greeted with a selection of Chinese teas, including Oolong and Green, alongside a recipe booklet. This was a great way to ease you into the class and get you ready for lunchtime.

Once the class was settled, with their tea, Chef told us about the type of dumplings we were going to be making and the etiquette of dim sum. The dim sum we were making were steamed, but there are of course fried ones too. Chef proceeded to demonstrate each dumpling and then we weighed out our ingredients and got to work.

We were taught how to make three dim sum:

Pork Sui Mai: Open top pork dumplings

Har Gow (prawn dumplings)

Chiu Chow Fun Gwor (Steamed dumplings)

Once we had gone through each recipe, they were steamed and we could dig in! We were given chopsticks, dipping vinegar and soy sauce. As it happens, dim sum are not actually supposed to be eaten with soy sauce as the Chinese believe that each individual ingredient should be tasted for what it is. This style resonates throughout Chinese cooking, particularly with dim sum, the natural flavours of the meats and veg is what shines through! If you notice, it is not the done thing to cover Chinese food in lashings and lashings of sauce.

I’m trying!

Overall I would highly rate this experience, and Chef was fantastic. Not only did he show us step by step demonstration, but he came round and offered solo help to let us know we were doing OK. Chef highlighted the best accompaniments, dim sum eateries and facts about Chinese cooking as we went along.  He was personable and a great teacher!

Check it out:

https://www.londoncookeryschool.co.uk/

How to Academy london: Peter Frankopan in conversation with Akala

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Hosted in London, Professor Peter Frankopan – Global History at Oxford University, was joined by Rapper and Activist Akala to discuss the gaps in global history that we are taught in the UK. Frankopan’s book The Silk Roads highlights the importance of Eastern contributions and how today’s views of those contributions are overlooked.

With Britain often whitewashing their overview of history, European history is held at the forefront of the national curriculum which can uphold certain points in history over others. The Silk Roads outlines the importance of the Eastern network of travel and how this part of the world has contributed massively to global history. From fabrication to incorrect representation, it became apparent to me that so much of history is laced in ignorance and highlighted my own historical ignorance.

Following the summary of the book content and research, Professor Frankopan then conversed with Akala about how this ignorance still very much influences society today. From Brexit to opinions about the third world, our contextualisation of Britian is still headed with a European light. An example of this is the opinion that immigrants (note, that this type of migrant are called Expats when moving from a predominantly white country) are a drain on British resources, however, are unaware that the first generation of immigrants from Jamaica and India (who were British colonies at the time) had to fund themselves, unlike the Irish, to get into the UK. The Indian and Jamaican community were indeed contributing to the empire before their respective independences. A hypocrisy within itself.

This hypocrisy is highlighted in the conversation and outline that Greek and Roman architecture was adopted in the UK in order to uphold European ideals and reflections in history. It brings to light as to what ‘Britishness’ actually is if not a mix of chosen influences. This attitude is still mirrored in the financial world and how, as a society, we view global economy here in Britain. We are so aware that the East offers some of the richest economies in the world, and yet general consensus shows that we perceive them as inferior to the west.

After the concluding discussion, I felt more obliged to question how I had been taught history in school and how this influenced my opinion of Britain with respect to the world. I felt intrigued at how many societal viewpoints are shaped from how we are taught history. Akala outlined that when catering to ethnic monitories, Britain isn’t the most discriminatory in the world, however, there is much room for improvement – particularly in education and not upholding a one- sided curriculum. Outlining that Iran’s ratio of women to men in engineering was larger and that “Indian Aunties in sarees” are involved in the Indian technology space, on par with NASA, I for one now know that history lessons need to change.

Akala


How to Academy: Peter Frankopan in conversation with Akala

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I have to admit, I went to this talk because I low key want Akala to be my husband and wanted chance to see him provoke discussion in real life. Did not disappoint, but the star of the show was Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford . My likkle brain cells were in for a treat.

Following his book The Silk Roads, Professor Frankopan gave an overview of how the history curriculum in the UK has been majorly whitewashed and even fabricated to paint certain European histories in a certain light. How are we missing such contributive parts of history? From my understanding, The Silk Roads are pathways that connect the East to each other and are representative of different routes in history that I know I didn’t have any clue about ( I haven’t read the book…).

Once the hall had been given this summary of Silk Roads, Professor Frankopan then conversed with Akala about how this applies to our society now and how Brexit has influenced the way and context we view things. For example, people are often under the impression that ‘ethnic minorities’ are a drain on resource, but are unaware that immigrants from Jamaica and India (who were British colonies at the time) had to pay for themselves, unlike the Irish and Polis, to get into the UK. This was primary around the idea of what ‘Britishness’ is and what cultures could be moulded around this. This was seen in history with the greeks and romans, they didn’t come to the UK and decide to build pillar and statuesque models statues, this was adopted by us later on. Not gonna lie, this point of view didn’t even cross my mind. 

We are so aware that the East offers some of the most richest economies in the world, and yet we still seem to think that we are globally indestructible.  It’s all a bit of a madness lol. 

I think I definitely came away from this lecture with a a more open minded view on things. Akala made it clear that in terms of the UK catering to multi ethnicities, we’re not bad, I mean we could be better, but we’re not the worst. I feel like I was ignorant to the contributions of other societies than my own because you become very accustomed to your surroundings. It was bought to light that Iran had a larger ratio of women to men in engineering and ‘Indian aunties in saris’ were able to build tech that was on par with NASA. 

Akala and I (Please appreciate the chisel)

I’m not going to pretend like I am now an expert in the current and future mindsets of our country, but I defo felt a bit educated. Made a bit of a change from binging on Netflix.  If you ever get an opportunity to go to talk or workshop that will help broaden your thinking, just do it!


Soap and Glory Sundays: Pt.3

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After a big gap, I am pleased to announce that Soap and Glory Sundays are back! And I’m going to begin by writing about a face soap that I have recently introduced into my regime.

I was eyeing this face wash up for a while, and I have to admit I was skeptical because I associated Soap and Glory with predominantly body care.  As a novice to Soap and Glory face care, I decided to give the face wash a chance.

Soap and Glory Face Soap & Clarity 3-in-1 Daily Vitamin C Facial Wash, claims to gently exfoliate and purify skin, as well as remove make up (not eye make up of course). So I put this blue wonder to the test and was pleasantly surprised!

In true Soap and Glory fashion, the packaging for this product is fantastic! With a see through bottle, you can see the vibrant blue wash encompassing the bright pink exfoliating beads, and I have to admit it made me want to crack open the bottle as soon as I got it. It seemed to me that you got a lot of bang for your buck as the bottle is quite big and a little goes a long way.

After using this product for about 3 weeks now, my skin is looking even more refreshed and is great for daily use. It doesn’t dry out my skin and is great to remove the make up that you might have missed from your cleansing routine. I found, that even with London hard water, this soap lathered up so well and smells amazing! It’s made with a yuzu complex as well as amino acids. Now I haven’t used this long enough to attest to the long term affects of these ingredients, but I can say it removes the make up comparatively  better than other face washes I have tried.

The scent of the face wash continues to uphold the Soap and Glory trademark of gorgeous smells! It’s very fresh and is almost like a subtle hint of their body products. All in all I have been satisfied with this product and is great intro to the face care that Soap and Glory has to offer.

Try it out for yourself:

https://www.soapandglory.com/face-soap-and-claritytm
   Face Wash

Battle of the Body Butters: Pt.1

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As we ascend into spring, the desire to get those limbs out will become ever more inviting and what better way to debut your skin than with a good slathering of body butter.

This will be a monthly series where I delve into serious body butter investigation by testing a new body butter every month and reporting the results to you lovely readers. I am basing my experiences off of one use a day over my whole body (as that is realistic for me). I will mainly be focusing on my knees and elbows, as these are where the desert collects.  At the end of my quest I hope to discover my ultimate body butter!

The criteria for my search will be based on longevity (how long the product lasted me), value for money, post shave results and general skin changes. I will finish up with a summary, where I rate the product based on these criteria.

To kick start my journey, I am opting for an absolute classic in the shape of Palmers Cocoa Butter. I purchased this in a pump bottle in order to ease my body butter experience after showering.  There are many different variations of this butter, but I went for the Vitamin E enriched cocoa butter.

20180319_083934441_iOS
Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E

Palmer’s is renowned for it’s Cocoa Butter collections so I had to try it out! With this particular bottle around four pumps was great for my whole body. I got approximatley two and a half weeks of use out of this product and used it once a day.

For daily use this product was fantastic. It not only left my skin hydrated for the whole day, but it was great for after shaving too! I tended to pump the body butter into my hand and then pat it in to my body before rubbing it in a circular motion. Because I have relatively dry skin, it was absorbed really well.  After the first week of use, my skin was really soft and seemed to naturally diminish blemishes. After the second week of use, my skin still felt hydrated and more even, after the shower.

Post shave, I feel that this product would be great for all skin combos (in different quantities of course). I would consider my skin normal/dry combo and I could use 1.5 pumps for my legs and it did a great job. If you’re a fan of the cocoa butter scent, then the whole range is great for you, but if odourless is your preference then opt for this fragrance free option!

Try it for yourself:

http://www.boots.com/palmers-cocoa-butter-formula-fragrance-free-body-lotion-250ml-10100377

New Try: Nip and Fab Bee Sting Body Souffle

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With an experimental feel in the air, I thought I would give the Nip+Fab Bee Sting Deluxe Body Soufflè a go. So over the last few weeks, I’ve been making this cream a nightly ritual after I shower. Nip+Fab claim thaat this product plumps and reapirs skin with its primary ingredient of bee venom. I naturally was intrigued by this.

As there was a warning on the bottle to not use this, if allergic to bees, admittedly, I was slightly nervous that it may sting a tad. This was definitely not the case. In fact it was quite the opposite.

IMG_1604

With regards to its consistency, it’s a lovely way to easily moisturise your skin without the sticky after layer. I found that even after shaving, it makes for great after care. Because of what this product claimed, I decided to particularly target my thighs and bum, as well as around my hips, however, I did use it over my whole body.

I made this 200ml tube last me just over two weeks (with once a day, everyday use). Of course, this will differ from person to person. At first, I found my skin was immediately softer and stays soft until the next day. It helped me with my dry knees and elbows.  After a week, I found that my targetted areas generally looked smoother, however, I couldn’t really tell a difference with the plump. So when it came it to the end of the tube, I gave my skin a once over a made a judgement of the product.

Overall my skin was a lot smoother and stayed hydrated and bright, but I feel that this is achieved by lots of lotions on the market. With the main feature of this product being the plumping properties, that’s what I decided to look for over the course of my use. For me, this product didn’t really make a difference to the fimness of my skin. This was just for my skin and may be different for others. For me, this was a nice soufflè, but had the consistency of a lotion. As for the results I found that it made my skin look great, but nothing that nothing else on the market couldn’t do.

I personally would reccomend this for the non sticky after layer, but not for anything else.

If you want to try this out for yoursef, check out the link below!

https://www.nipandfab.com/bee-sting-deluxe-body-souffle