Date Night Recommendations

What are you doing this weekend? Whether you’re celebrating Val’s day with your partner, the girls or some much needed alone time, here’s a list of places to check out. I love going out and discovering London so if you need some help, here are some of the places I have been and enjoyed, the service and food were top-notch. These places cover a range of budgets, from easy & causal to let’s slay I’m a bad B

Enjoy! ( I’ve linked the reviews I have on my blog) Also check out the Lifestyle Menu for more restaurant reviews. I’m working on my ultimate 100 places to eat( its been years in the making)

Steakhouses/American

Bueno Aires Steakhouse

Steak and Lobster ( best fries and salad I have ever had)

Steak & Co ( if you’re ready to ‘cook’ your own steak, this is it)

STK

Maxwell’s ( Try the freakshakes)

Jackson and Rye

M Grill ( hands down the best service I have had in a restaurant)

Maxwell’s freakshakes

 

Seafood/Sushi

Fat Crab ( crab heaven!)

Sticks & Sushi ( Sushi and more sushi! and sticks for those that don’t like sushi)

Sake no Hana

 

Chinese/Thai

Ken Lo’s Memories of China

Thai Square

Rosa’s Thai café

Com Viet ( best food on a budget)

Chino Latino

Giggling Squid

Giggling Squid

 

Mediterranean/Italian/European

Bob Bob Ricard ( famous press for champagne button)

Haz Restaurant

Oxo Brassiere

 

Desserts

Snowflake

 

Bars

Manhiki

Cahoots

 

Jazz / Live Music

Ronnie Scott’s Soho

Jazz Café Camden

Pizza Express Jazz Club

Red Rooster ( THIS place is LIT)

 

Outdoor/Street Food

Street Feast venues- Giant Robot, Hawker House, Model Market

CAU Steakhouse Review

Cuisine – Steaks

Food- 4/5      Service – 4/5       Ambience- 5/5       Value- 4/5

I have been checking out my local dining scene lately, so to start 2018 off, it was only proper I visited a steakhouse for dinner to start my year right. CAU Steakhouse is fairly local- a short 30 mins drive to Wimbledon.

CAU Steakhouse is an Argentine steak & grill restaurant with 3 locations in London( Wimbledon, Kingston and Blackheath). I have actually never heard of this place till I was looking for places to go and this popped up. It had really good reviews plus the menu was diverse enough, ok so they have churros and Dulce de leche milkshakes but this won’t skew my review in any way or form.

The Wimbledon branch is based in Wimbledon village, right on the high street and quite easy to spot. Décor is modern with a romantic ambience. It wasn’t busy so we had our choice of seats and we were seated quickly. I was super ready for a full 3-course meal so for starters we had the spicy beef and chorizo & cream cheese empanadas. I liked the later more than the spicy beef. Something about the seasoning of the beef I didn’t like.

For mains, of course, I had to go with steak, I had the medallions medium well with chimichurri sauce and fries. My restaurant buddy had the bacon & cheese burger with sweet potato fries. I think my steak was nice although I wish it had a little bit more seasoning just a pinch more. my steak also came more medium than medium well- I didn’t mind this but I don’t know if the medium well temp is not popular as there have been a few times where my medium well steak came more medium instead and this has happened in quite a few places (I may just go back to having my steak well done tbh). The chips were nice and crispy and the burger was good too.

Remember when I said they had churros, so for dessert, it was an obvious choice. Now I can’t remember if I had churros when I was living in Spain but these ones were slightly salty just a little bit but with the accompanying Dulce de leche sauce it was really nice.

Verdict

Nice décor, good variety on the menu with budget-friendly prices. I did enjoy my food and experience there although I didn’t appreciate the slight wait at the end for the bill but overall it was a fab experience.

Other Steakhouse reviews

Miller & Carter

Gaucho

I will have more restaurant reviews this year so stay tuned! I am also working on a food guide, you wouldn’t want to miss that!

Outfit details

Jacket- Newlook

Skirt- Primark

Bodysuit- Boohoo

Boots- Ego Shoes

 

Miller and Carter Steakhouse Review

Cuisine- Steakhouse

Overall- 4/5    Food- 5/5   Service-4/5     Ambience-5/5   Value-5/5

I have driven past this restaurant a few times so I finally decided to have dinner there earlier this month. It comes across to me like a harvester ( if you are from the UK you know what I’m talking about. If not, it’s sort of a ‘mid-range gastropub’) so I thought they were reaching with their smart casual dress code. So I was like ok let me up my standards of critique then (lol) because I really wasn’t expecting much. There are two branches in South London: Bromley & Mitcham and we went to the Bromley branch. It’s a really big restaurant and actually nicely decorated inside too: slightly romantic but very nice ambience. Anyway, we were seated right away, but it took a min to get our drinks order as it was slightly busy. From the mocktail menu, we had Mango Melba & Elderflower Sherbet- which were amazing! For starters, we got the Sticky Duck Wings with Hoisin sauce and a dressed slaw. I had duck but never duck wings. It came with 4 large portions and they were amazing -cooked well without being dry. It wasn’t soaked in the sauce but enough to coat it. Even that dressed slaw was good.

For mains, I got the Rump steak medium well with béarnaise sauce and fries. I also ordered a side of half lobster. A side of wedge lettuce comes with steaks and I chose the garlic parmesan dressing. I didn’t eat it much because its literally a wedge of lettuce with dressing- not exactly pleasing to the eye. My steak arrived more medium than medium well so I sent it back to the kitchen. When I informed the waitress she quickly apologised and explained it was put through the till as medium. Anyway, when it came back I thought it could have used a few more mins to brown but I ate it as I was hungry lol. It was so good! Seasoned, tender & good! The fries were a smaller portion but they were crispy and hot. The lobster was good too. He had the half rack BBQ ribs with fries & coleslaw. He was very happy with everything.

For dessert, we got the sticky toffee pudding. It seemed really popular in the reviews I read so I thought to try it out for myself. This is when I died and went to food heaven lol but God sent me back because it wasn’t time for me to be home. LOL. First off that vanilla ice cream hmm then the salted butterscotch sauce PLUS the pudding itself. It’s safe to say 5 mins later it was gone and we were wishing to order seconds.

Verdict- we were informed when we arrived that a few items weren’t on the menu as they were changing menus. Luckily what I wanted was there- steaks lol but he wanted to try the beef brisket topped burger but that wasn’t available.  I think the wedge lettuce should be changed to a house salad- the dressing was nice and would be more appreciated on a house salad. The service was good although a few times during the meal, it was difficult to find our waitress when we wanted her for something. Probably due to how big the place is. So I must apologise to Miller & Carter, I stand extremely corrected! The food is superb and the prices very reasonable. I think if I was ever craving steak which I do from time to time (a lot of the time) I would go here instead of heading to central, it’s very close to home. I actually don’t mind the dress code, another reason to dress up!

Part 2- Miller & Carter– Mitcham

So on a random Tuesday night, I decided to give my bro Peter the honour of having dinner with me lol. After failing to find his Lebanese restaurant (which he swears exists but I don’t believe it did lol) guess which place I recommended? Miller & Carter lol smh. This time we headed to the Mitcham branch. Which is just as big but I feel nicer inside compared to the Bromley branch. Again we were seated straight away. I recommended the duck starters to him and we went with that only this time it was Chicken & Duck wings (remember they changed the menu) and it was amazing! Those wings tho jheez and the buttermilk ranch dressing paired well with them. For drinks, I had the elderflower sherbet this time and it was so refreshing!

I didn’t choose steak this time around ( I was saving my myself for a special steak place later that week), so I got the half rack ribs with lobster & prawn tempura and Peter got the beef & barbacoa burger. I don’t really know what to say; the food was amazing! End of story lol. Peter was so blown away by the food too lol. His burger was literally a beef patty, topped with a rump steak and barbacoa. Best meal he ever had according to him. He even loved the tempura side I got- and he isn’t too fond of seafood. That lobster tempura was amazing but the presentation needs a little makeover.

 

Obviously, the main reason for coming back was really to have the sticky toffee pudding again lol. However, we were running really short on time: he had to be somewhere else. No problem, been Ghanaian, I am well versed in the takeaway arena so we had it to go lol. It didn’t come with the ice cream but they gave us lots of strawberries and custard.

In short please visit Miller & Carter! Both restaurants gave excellent service (more the Mitcham brand) and the food oh the food is so good! It really got a girl asking about private dining options as I have a girls Christmas dinner to organise hmm. I would return and this is coming from someone who doesn’t like going to the same place twice.

Another place done!

Want more food places to try? Read my review of Rum Kitchen and Honest Burgers

Did you come for beauty? Check out these posts Beauty Advent Calenders, Palmer’s Olive Oil Shampoo