Cocorino

Today I'm here to talk about an ice-cream shop that rules. Even if it's still winter... Who cares? It's ice cream! This is Cocorino.

 

The shop is located on Thayer Street, and it's not just an ice-cream shop. There is also a focacceria next door, but since I haven't been there I can't talk about it... The only thing I know is I've read some reviews online and they aren't all that good so... you should just stick to the ice-cream for now.

I must admit I've never been a huge fan of ice-cream in general; I only like (well, really like) chocolate or hazelnut flavors, and I even find it hard to find a chocolate ice-cream that I really like, but the one I ordered here (chocolate and hazelnut) was fantastic. My friend Sara ordered a mint one, which she also really enjoyed (although she actually wanted a mint and chocolate one, but it's kind of hard finding that around here!).

They also sell cakes and the like, so as you can see there are more options. So if you are in the area and are a bit hungry or just want to get something sweet, this is a place where you could go!

The Diner

In Curtain Road, in the Shoreditch area, is located the Diner, an American restaurant (or, well, diner) specialized in (obviously) burgers, pancakes, and more. In these photos I'll show you the one on Shoreditch, but there are more across the city (Camden, Soho, Islington...). 

Basically, it is a diner located on a very interesting area of London, and the restaurant itself is very cozy, especially if you seat in a booth next to the windows. There are vegetarian options aside from the regular hamburgers, and the price is alright, as you can see:

I also have to admit that I've never had a burger there so I can't really talk about its quality, but I did have some pancakes as per a friend's suggestion and they were very good. If you order the "high stack" you won't need to eat in months, seriously... or I mean, until dinner. Also, the waiters are very nice. My friend ordered some pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup, but since I don't really like those ingredients, I asked for some chocolate and got some Nutella! Amazing.

So yeah, I really recommend this place. And it's much nicer to go have a burger here (on in Byron, a small chain of burger restaurants that have one in Angel, and it is delicious; you can also go to Haché, in Camden - it is also very good) than in McDonald's. I'm tellin' ya.

Candy Cakes

First of all, I'm terribly sorry for the delay but I honestly suck at blogging. I'm not good at keeping up with this... but I'll do my best, so that you can have an extensive guide of London. I hope you had a fabulous, or should I say tremendous, time over Christmas and that January was a good month for you.

Now let's talk about this colorful store. In spite of the color combination including pastel green (let me say I -hate- pastel colors) that somewhat reminds me of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada (not very fond of her either), this place is worth checking out. And since there's more than one in London, you have no excuse.

Candy Cakes opened in 2006 with the intention of making unique and innovative cakes and the already mentioned cupcakes. And maybe they taste like your regular cupcake, but there are so many different colors that it definitely catches your eye. I must admit I still haven't tasted these cupcakes because I've never been really into turquoise cakes, but I did have a Nutella milkshake and it was awesome. Seriously. Usually when you find Nutella ice-creams or milkshakes they just taste like chocolate, but this one was amazing.

The shop you can see in these pictures also has a little terrasse (did I just make up that word?) and is in Monmouth Street, in Covent Garden, near the Leicester Square station.

You can find more information on their website, which I linked above, and as far as the prices are concerned... well, this is London we're talking about.

And in the next entry (which will hopefully be up before 2014) I'll talk about the Natural History Museum and post a thousand pictures, give or take. Peace out.

Tenshi Restaurant

I must say that I love Japanese food. I recently realized, while browsing through my London photos, that most of the restaurants I have talked or will talk about are Japanese. Therefore I hope you enjoy this kind of food as much as I do! I promise I'll talk about other kinds of food sometime soon.

On 61, Upper Street there is a little restaurant barely noticeable between all the food chains surrounding it (such as Caffè Uno, etc.). Well, when I say barely noticeable I may be lying a bit, it's not like you can't see it, but it's not obviously there either. Or, whatever. Here is a picture of Tenshi Restaurant, so you can recognize it if you ever decide to go. Please notice the highly professional framing of the picture.


That CLOSED sign is a total LIE because right when I took this picture, two girls went inside. So don't let them fool you. Anyway. LOVE IT. I've been reading reviews about this restaurant on the web and they all agree on the fact that this is a good restaurant (the food, the service, the place, etc.). Apparently it opened recently, but soon the second floor will be available too (it is currently only open because the toilets are there).

Check out the first floor:


As far as the food is concerned, it is also very good. Or at least it was the two times I went there. But I have to admit that I always order the same thing - chicken teriyaki with rice. But there is a wide selection of dishes on the menu, including, of course, sushi, noodles, and more. Personally I think that one of the best options is ordering, for 8,95 pounds, the "Bento" menu, which comes in a wooden box (a Bento box) with several compartments where the food is served. If you ask the chicken teriyaki one it comes with chicken (obviously), rice, salad, vegetable tempura and a piece of omelette (though the latter may vary). It also includes miso soup. So good!

Café 1001

Dear friends, Yann Tiersen is awesome. I don't listen to him that much, but right now I'm living a highly emotive moment listening to "La valse d'Amélie" (the orchestral version).

But let's focus on Café 1001. This place, located in front of Rough Trade on Dry Walk (near Brick Lane and the Liverpool Street or Shoreditch tube stations), is a must. In order for you to (sort of) see it, here is a photograph that, although blurry, shows how cool this place is:


In these pictures you can see the top floor, or rather, the "mezzanine", but downstairs, as you enter the café (where you can buy the food) there are more tables. And I also believe that upstairs there is another room which is usually closed but that you can rent. I'm not sure, though. Personally the area I like the most is this "mezzanine", because it's very cozy, there's usually a good amount of people, the lighting is very nice, there's a little library, and there are tons of different and comfy sofas. There's also a tiny stage in a corner of the room where bands sometimes play live, but usually there's a DJ.


Another nice thing about this café is that the food is pretty good (I love the chocolate chip muffins), and you can enjoy it all day long until midnight (which is when the café closes). This is something very important to mention since lots of places close very early in this city. The big cafés like Starbucks, Eat or Prêt-à-Manger close around 20h. In fact I recently went to the Post Office to send some letters and it was closed at 18h. Which I think is a total JOKE. Anyway. The food is really good and there are vegan and vegetarian options, and they're all quite affordable. And when the warm weather is back, we'll go to the tables outside to have BAGELS. For example.

Lastly here are two pictures of total strangers that I post hoping they don't sue me. Please don't sue me. As you can see a lot of people bring their laptops, because there's free wifi. I don't see a reason no to go to Café 1001! (No they didn't pay me to talk about it) (Sadly). Peace.

Brick Lane Coffee

Dear Internauts of the new decade: today, June, 5, is a beautiful day and I turn 22. Just thought I'd let you know. And while I listen to Toundra, I introduce you to the Brick Lane Coffee.

Now that summer's on its way (although in London you never now), this café comes in handy as you can either go in to avoid the heat or stay outside to enjoy the sun.

Brick Lane Coffee is a really small café that is, as its name indicates, located on 157, Brick Lane. It seems that it used to go by another name as part of a chain of cafés that closed in 2009, but apart from the name change, the café is still pretty much the same.


On the inside, which, as I mentioned, is not especially big, you will find sofas, chairs and tables that are slightly KITSCH (at least when I went there they were), and there's usually quite a bit of people. The coffee is allegedly good, but I can't prove it since I'm not really into coffee. But I can tell you that the hot chocolate (with or without soy milk) is pretty good (and boiling, so be patient my friends). You can also find different kinds of sweets like muffins, cookies, etc. It may not be different than any other café, but I like that it's small and doesn't belong to a big chain. Also, it's in a really COOL area.


Maybe now that the weather's warmer you won't want a hot beverage, but I'm sure they have ice teas and stuff like that now. So there!

Tokyo Diner

Greetings companions; today, while listening to No Knife's Riot for Romance!, I will talk about Tokyo Diner.


This is one of my favorite restaurants in London. Ironically, it is located in Chinatown... the nearest tube station is Leicester Square, so as you can see it is in the center of the city. A road that is pretty close to the restaurant is Charing Cross, which is full of nice bookstores that I'll talk about in future entries.

Tokyo Diner is a little and cozy restaurant that also happens to be affordable. Besides, they don't ask for a tip, contrarily to most London restaurants. As for the food, I've only tried the chicken teriyaki or kara-age, the aubergines, and the plain rice, but it was excellent, really. I've been with a lot of friends and they all say it's really good (and they've ordered other things, like chicken katsu curry, sushi, etc.). Also, they give you free green tea. Not bad, right?

Here is a picture of a delicious chicken kara-age dish. In the background you can perfectly see (notice the irony, hilarious I know) chicken teriyaki, plain rice, and aubergines:


Awesome. If you don't like japanese food you can always order this dish, but if you do, there are plenty of great options, like sushi, sashimi, donburi, noodles, bento boxes, etc. You can download a pdf version of the menu here.

Santi and his tea.

I hope you get to go to this nice restaurant and you enjoy the food! I always do.

The Hummingbird Bakery

Dear friends!

Today I'm sitting in my room listening to Osker's Idle Will Kill.

The Hummingbird Bakery is a little bakery situated on 133, Portobello Road, near Portobello Market (which is a market I highly recommend, but I'll talk about that another day). It rules. They specialize in cupcakes, although you can always find some pretty good looking cakes and beverages.

 

It is usually packed because since its opening in 2004 it has had plenty of success. In the UK you find muffins everywhere, but it's not that easy to find (good) cupcakes, which is why this small bakery decided to create their personal cupcakes. The place is really cosy, and although I've only tried one of the different varieties of cupcakes they offer, I can honestly say it's really good. I've also talked to some friends who have been there at some point and they all agree that it's worth going. So I guess that's pretty much it! The nearest tube station is Notting Hill Gate, in case you want to go check it out.
Here are a couple of pictures of the shop!