We Remember The Time

There was a time when I though your name had to be Michael to be a world wide superstar. Think early nineties and recall Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. A few days ago, one of those giants fell. If I didn't know better, I'd think that Michael Jackson was British from the way that the news of his death was received here. People were dubious that he (or any person) could pull off 50 concerts at the 02, now we won't even see 1. 

On Friday 26th of June, fans gathered at Trafalgar Square to pay tribute to the King of Pop. Some mourned his passing, most celebrated his life, though all were there to Remember The Time..

Jamie's Italian & Oki-Nami at Brighton

Continuing on from my last post..

After icecream on the beach, Dylan, Adam and I met up with Michelle and friends at Jamie's Italian restaurant in Brighton. To our surprise, Jamie turns out to be Jamie Oliver! We only had coffee at his new restaurant as it was around 3pm, but plates of food around us definitely looked worth coming back for. So after a stroll around Brighton shops and a cpl of pints we headed back to Jamie's only to find a long queue out the door (we didn't book earlier as they don't take bookings). It would be a 1.5hr wait for a table! Stuff that! It was already past 8pm and we had to drive back to home afterwards too.

So we back-tracked to a Jap place we past earlier called Oki-Nami. To be honest, we chose it because it had cool lighting and a nice ambience. The food, most fortunately, turned out to be just the kind of thing we liked too - Japanese tapas, if you will.. 

Didn't think to take photos while we were there but here's some from their website:

Glowing pastel neon lights that drew us in.. (note the awesome way the lamp shades light up)

Now try to imagine this at night.. 

Food was well presented as you'd expect from a Japanese restaurant. 

What you wouldn't expect, and what we didn't know at the time, is that this place is co-owned by DJ Norman Cook - aka Fatboy Slim! Not that that made the food taste any better. I reviewed Oki-Nami here in case you're interested in what we ate.

All in all, a pleasant end to a pleasant day.

ps, the drive home only took around an hour.

Jamie's Italian

11 Black Lion Street

Brighton

BN1 1ND

012 7391 5480

Oki-Nami

6 New Road 

Brighton

BN1 1UF

012 7377 3777

Brighton Up Your Day!

Has been awhile between posts, not because life has been boring but because we've had a number of OS visitors! Hopefully I will get around to doing a catch up post about that soon. 

Today however, I wanted to share some photos of our outing on Saturday - Brighton - my first trip to the beach in England. A trip to Brighton on the train takes around an hour. We opted to drive even though we knew that it would mostly likely take even longer, which it did. Almost 2 hours on the way there! Traffic was crawling south out of London and Dylan suspects that Tom Tom didn't take this into account when routing the fastest way to the freeway. Despite this, I'm glad we drove rather than train'ed as it's much more scenic and entertaining.

So this is Brighton beach:

Brighton Pier (there's a theme park at the end of it!)

The walk along the beach is filled with things to see/do/eat

Like fish and chips! I'm not a die hard fan of this dish, but if fish'n'chips always tasted this good then maybe I would be..

HAD to have one of these after..

Chillin' on the beach (with my icecream)

Baked Euphoria

I must say real estate agents have it very easy back in Sydney compared to the London variety. Today we met with 3 different agents at their respective offices only then to be chauffeured to properties they shortlisted based on our criteria. None of this business where you rush to each "open house" only to get there 5 mins before the inspection closes only to have the agent tell you you're too late!

All in all it was a very long and tiring day. We did find the perfect apartment.. but in the wrong location. It wouldn't have taken much for it to have been the right location, perhaps a nice cafe near by.. a park or a quaint little pub.. a patisserie.. tree lined street with Victorian terraces.. am I asking for too much, people?!!??!

*sigh*

Despair not though, for valuable ground was made on the afternoon tea front today!

The interior of the Euphorium Bakery - I think this picture is the best description I could give.

Broccoli, blue cheese, mushroom & mascarpone brioche - £2.40/£2.90 (take away/dine in).

I thought it was more tart-like rather than brioche though, but whatever. Tres good in every way except perhaps calories.

Carrot Cake - £1.80/£2.30. Not that terribly exciting to look at (but when is it?) though very pleasing to the taste buds. Not too sweet, moist yet fluffy.

 

Mocha - £1.90/£2.40. It's not often that I find a Mocha I really like, but today was one of those rare occasions. Lovely dense froth followed by (dare I say) perfect proportions of chocolate and coffee in a smooth, velvetly consistency. 

Euphorium Bakery

202 Upper Street

Islington, London

N1 1RQ

020 7704 6905