Recently I was invited down to Halo burger to sample their new Summer BBQ special.
The Smoky Carolina BBQ burger contains the sticky sweet BBQ sauce, smoked gouda style cheese, crispy Brixton ale battered onion strips and mayo.
If you're a fan of BBQ sauce like I am then you're going to love this this burger. The onion ring strips are incredibly delicious in the burger and I love how they have an extra zing to them from the beer batter. I would totally buy these if they were available as a side. The vegan gouda cheese on the burger melts well, is stringy and tastes like the real thing. The best bit of this all of course is the beyond meat patty. These patties are so convincing, they taste like the real deal and a lot of my meat eating friends cannot tell the difference.
Once again, Halo burger have not disappointed with this offer and I can see myself struggling to choose between this and their original Halo Burger for the rest of the summer.
To go along with burgers we also got the Don't Have a Cow Fries. These are essentially the UK's answer to a vegan version of the Animal style fries that are served in In-n-out in America.
Halo's pink salt fries are topped with burger sauce, and layered with melted American style vegan cheese and onions. Again, the vegan cheese used here doesn't have a fake taste to it at all . This side is a staple for me every time I visit.
Overall, I definitely recommend trying out this burger the next time anyone visits. I'm going to be so gutted once they take it off the menu and really hope they consider making it a permanent addition to their menu.
Hi all, Many of you know how much I love going to Latvia. In fact, in the last sort of 12 months I've been a number of times. So I thought it would be fun to share some of my favourite places in Latvia with a blog of my recommendations. For those of you who want to take it a step further from just reading this blog, I also have a handy map which you can filter by categories. Additionally, if you want I have also got some travel vlogs of two of the times I've been to Latvia: Summer/ Winter
EAT
Centrāltirgus gastro Riga
The first on my list is a relatively new institution in Riga, as the name suggests this food hall is located in one of the halls of Riga Central Market. The prices are cheap and there is definitely going to be something for everyone. There are oysters, pizzas, burgers, sushi and so much more. You'd honestly be spoiled for choice. Here's my mate Rachel enjoying a hotdog and beer from one of the stalls in the food court. I had a vegetarian burger from one of the burger stalls and it was honestly SO delicious.
LIDO
Lido might be one of my all time favourite places in the entire world. You can get a whole vegetarian meal for under 9 Euros with a drink if you wished. This place is a pay for what you choose buffet. So you only pay for what you put on your plate and the items here are all fairly priced.
My absolute favourites to get are the pink salad, the vegetable bake and the spinach and cheese pancakes. If you go to lido and not have the spinach and cheese pancakes you are seriously missing out! Another new favourite of mine is there is a big wok full of French fries that are slightly mashed and they're super delicious as well.
They do everything from salads, to meats, bean stew, and a whole load of deserts and beers. So if you're looking for a cheap way to try the local cuisine then this is definitely a great starting point.
Double Coffee Old Town
Double coffee is where you want to go if you want a wide selection of brunch items at convenience. It's also somewhere you'd go after you've been out until 7 am in the morning and have a screaming hangover owed to the multiple shots of Stoli that you've done in either FIRST, COYOTE FLY or JUST bar.
Fry ups, calamari rings, omelettes and pancakes are just a few of the things on their extensive menu. The service is pretty quick as well and it's well located in Old Town where a lot of the tourist attractions are located.
Street Fries Kitchen
Street Fries Kitchen is a cafe/ brunch place on the edge of old town and central Riga that I have been meaning to go to on most of my trips. In March, I finally was able to make my way down to their cafe. The great thing about Riga is that there is so much variety to the menus in every establishment. Once again, no one struggled to choose what they wanted. The prices are mostly under 10 euros and the servings are big enough to keep you full for a long time. I definitely recommend this as the staff are friendly, the service is fast and the food is great. I recommend the burgers, the omelette and salmon and cheesy fries.
Aqua Luna
Aqua Luna is my favourite restaurant in Riga. It's right by the Daugava river and has a 'Mayfair' atmosphere to it. Their restaurant prides itself in fine dining, although you will not be paying Mayfair prices here, this is an upscale establishment and the food is a bit more pricier than elsewhere in Riga.
Aqua Luna even have a whole vegan menu, oyster and prawn selection and a vast selection of cocktails for you to choose from. My picks at Aqua Luna are usually the ravioli from the vegan menu and a Singapore sling.
In the summer, you should sit outside where there is the most beautiful terrace that overlooks the river. Here you can sit and enjoy your drinks and meal whilst watching the sunset. A trip to Riga for me, is not complete without a visit to this spot.
Imagehouse Cafe
Imagehouse is an instagrammers dream. The interiors are incredibly slick, well put together and minimal. This three in one venue is a furniture/ interior design store, a clothing store and cafe all in one.
The lattes are served in the most adorable glass cups, and there are a selection of dairy free milks that you can choose from. Every time I head to their cafe, I get the latte with oat milk and have yet to be disappointed.
With your latte, I recommend you get one of their fine desserts. Every time I have been there have been a fine selection of them at the counter. I recommend going early on in the day as after lunchtime the counter looks a bit depleted which just shows how much people love their cakes.
My all time favourite is the above pistachio cake that I get every single time I visit.
Herbarjis
Herbarjis is an urban jungle hidden on the roof of Gallerijas Centrs in the city centre of Riga. The cafe/ bar/ restaurant is essentially a giant greenhouse and it is a lovely spot for a drink or Brunch. When I went in the summer, they were doing an all you can eat breakfast buffet with an array of fish, meat and veggie options. I am not sure if they still do this as my last visit was a lot later in the day that when I went in the summer. Even if they do not do this anymore, it is still worth the visit even just for a drink.
Rivera
Riveria is another upscale establishment in central Riga that specialises in Mediterranean food.
Again you will be paying a bit more for your food here but the quality of the food is impeccable. They even give you complimentary bread and a small fish appetiser to start you off.
My recommendations for this restaurant is the fruits del la mer which contains an array of seasonal vegetables, sweet potato mash, white wine, tomato and olive sauce. For the seafood, this contains, sea scallops, sea bass fillet, tuna, squids, octopus and tiger prawns. At 26.45 Euros this is absolutely great value for your money.
Are you heading to Riga or have been? Let me know what you think. What are your favourites?
Hi all, last week I got invited down to Jolt to take some photos and do a review. If you haven't heard of them already, Jolt are a coffee brand from Saudi Arabia that have now opened up in London.
On the counters for those who don't fancy picking up a coffee, there are a wide array of juices and smoothies by Press that you can pick up instead. For those of you who avidly follow their instagram, you know that you're here for their famous marbled flavoured coffees.
The food was wide ranging as well with a variety of sandwiches, wraps and salads to choose from at their counter.
For those of you with a sweet tooth, there were also an array of cakes and pastries for you to choose from.
When it came to ordering, I settled for the Salted Caramel Latte with Oat milk and Nicola ordered the pistachio latte for herself. Both arrived with ample ice, and the gorgeous marble effect that their iced lattes are known for.
The salted caramel latte I had was incredible, it was just the right amount of creaminess and it was not overly sweet. Nicola really enjoyed her pistachio latte and said it wasn't like any latte that she had before. Before hearing of Jolt, I had no idea what a pistachio latte was and didn't even realise that it existed. The most 'exotic' latte flavouring I had of heard of was just rose. Both of these lattes, are definitely game changers.
If you're up for getting some cake, I recommend trying out their milk cakes which are all the rage at the moment.. They have two in store, one being the saffron milk cake and the other being the pistachio milk cake. Both sit in sweet and flavoured syrup and are topped with some garnish.
Nicola and I agreed that the Saffron cake was pleasant but unusual as we both had never had saffron before. It was therefore a new taste and to be honest I can't quite place what it reminds me of. The only thing I can note is that the after taste of this cake. The closest thing I can compare it to I suppose would be honeycomb as the after taste tastes a bit like it.
The pistachio cake tasted as I expected it to be, without being chalky which is a taste that nutty cakes often suffer from. Out of the two, my preference definitely was for the pistachio cake which I would definitely have again.
Nicola also picked out the pistachio pastry which was wow, really really good. The pastry wasn't too flaky so it didn't crumble apart and the pistachio paste in the middle of it was delicious. As it wasn't a pistachio filled pastry, you could tear little segments of the pastry and dip it into the pastry.
Lastly, whilst this was mostly for the #gram and I almost never eat dairy unless I have to I decided tried a bit of this and it was actually really good. The bread was well toasted and the cheese was well melted. Apparently there are five cheeses in this one: Manchego, Monterey Jack, Gruyère, Cheddar and a bit of Brie. Whilst this was delicious, I could not envision myself (even my cheese loving former self) to be able to finish the whole thing as this is incredibly rich and filling!
Overall, we had a splendid time at Jolt and throughly recommend it to everyone. Be sure though to get yourself a pistachio cake and latte as no visit is complete without either!
Last Wednesday, a friend of mine and myself went down to the Notting Hill branch of Juicebaby. Juicebaby currently also have another branch on the King’s Road in Chelsea.
I discovered the cafe after having seen it on one of my favorite instagramer’s stories. Just as I saw it I knew that I had to have an açai bowl as soon as possible.
Upon arrival at the cafe, we were greeted by Nadin who was very cheerful and friendly. She took us through the different products available at the cafe. There were different bottled juices, various plant milks in one fridge in the next there was an array of food. The food ranged from raw desserts to healthy soba noodles to taco bowls to sandwiches and soups.
The options do not stop there, there are also a wide selection of freshly prepared items such as açai bowls and a wide array of smoothies. Lining the walls of the cafe are packets of granola that you can also buy to have at home.
Obviously, I was overwhelmed with choice as there was so much to choose from. Eventually I decided that since it was the photos of their açai bowls that drew me to their cafe in the first place, I needed to order that. Nicola on the other hand ordered a pink daddy smoothie. We couldn’t resist ordering some of their raw desserts as well.
We ordered a vegan snickers bar, raw brownie and hazelnut tiramisu to share.
When our food arrived the lovely ladies had arranged them on a plate decorated with both goji berries and blueberries. They even brought over an iced matcha latte made with coconut milk which I had not originally ordered! The latte was nice malty exactly how I like it and reminded me of the green tea kit Kats that you can get back home in the Philippines.
Nicola let me have a sip of her Pink Daddy smoothie which was really delicious. I was surprised as the the smoothie contained strawberries, bananas and dates and pink salt and I usually do not enjoy anything that contains dates too much. But this particular smoothie tasted summery and fruity without a hint of the earthy flavours of dates.
The açai bowl came out being bigger than I had expected and I genuinely had little idea of how I was going to eat it all by myself. So I decided to share this with my friend. The açai bowl contained, kiwis, coconut, chocolate granola, raspberries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas and peanut butter. This was absolutely delicious, creamy and refreshing. I know however in the future that this is incredibly filling and when I order it in the future I will be sure not to order anything else. I love how this was sweet and reminded me of a sundae although I didn’t feel gross after eating it like I do when I used to eat ice cream.
The snickers bar tasted exactly like I remember snickers tasting like and I definitely would be buying this again. The raw brownie which one of their best selling items blew me away with how good it was. At first I was not sure whether I liked this as the first bite is quite bitter. However, after a few more bites you can taste how sweet this is and honestly this brownie is incredible. I’ve never been skeptical of raw desserts but this brownie has definitely changed my mind. The hazelnut tiramisu was incredibly creamy and tasted like what I remember tiramisu tasting like. This is the only dish that we could not finish, not because we didn’t like it but rather because it waste last thing we tried and we couldn’t fit any more into our stomachs as we were so full. I definitely recommend this though.
Overall, I throughly enjoyed my visit to Juicebaby. I definitely will be back probably at the Chelsea branch as it is nearer to my work and flat. I’m already planning to head back sometime next week to get an açai bowl and hopefully get to also try some of their juices. I throughly recommend giving them a visit and I’m so thrilled to have discovered them.