I have been looking for a Korean Restaurant that serves Korean Fried Chicken ever since coming back from New York and I have been sadly disappointed in my search so I was happy to find Dong San. Dong San has Deep Fried Spicy Chicken on their Appetiser menu and this combined with the good reviews for the restaurant as a whole saw me heading there for dinner with Laney tonight.

In actuality I’m coming back to Dong San with Rehana in a week’s time and tonight’s visit was more of an impromptu one to take Laney out for dinner since I missed her celebration at Sketch over the weekend which I missed as I was sick. I was hoping that I would be able to keep my food down tonight!

Upon arrival at Dong San we were directed to one of the tables at the back. This was a good thing as we were seated at a four person table – which meant we could order more food! Ha ha! I’m going to do a more in-depth look at Dong San in a week’s time but suffice to say that Dong San certainly deserves the good reviews it gets. The service is friendly and efficient, the menu is diverse and prices not too exorbitant and the food is delicious. The only disappointment was the Fried Chicken – it didn’t live up to the standards I was expecting! Taken on its own it was probably an alright dish but paled in comparison to its New York cousin.

From one baby visit last night to another today – Pat and I met up with Connie and Michael and their little tike Matthew for brunch. It was actually a goodbye brunch as Connie and Michael are soon heading off back to Australia to set up house 🙁

One of the prime considerations when you’re meeting people for a meal and you have a baby is that you need a place which is baby friendly. Del Aziz in Swiss Cottage is certainly that if the number of babies in the joint was anything to go by! I’ve never actually been to a Del Aziz but I really enjoyed the atmosphere at the Swiss Cottage venue. Large, airy and spacious – and very relaxed. Food isn’t too bad either!

Less than a year ago The Icecreamist had a short stint in Selfridges touting their boutique and edgy ice cream. More recently they have opened up permanent establishments in Covent Garden – and by establishments I mean literally two stores about one street away from each other. This I find a very odd business decision! When we visited The Icecreamist in Maiden Lane today it wasn’t very crowded … in fact we were the only customers … so I do wonder how it will get on.

Admittedly the ice cream combinations they offer are quite unique – but the price point is staggeringly expensive. Perhaps the cool factor will help with business.

Thanks to my bro for these pics

Update: 25 February I just heard that The Icecreamists are currently in the press for selling ice cream made from human breast milk!

If there is one venue where you are guaranteed a great and delicious feed it is at Caro and Nate’s dinner table. Honestly Caro really spoils me with her home cooking – tonight it was a gorgeous oven-baked whole fish followed by a delicious pie.

Both so very good!

Today was a day of feasting which started with a giant meal at Princess Gardens with Nate and Caro. In fact, I was so stuffed and full from my meal that when I left to meet Rehana I actually got confused with the correct tube stop I was meeting her at! Eventually I made my way to the correct one and had to hustle to get to our session in time – the plus to that was that I at least burnt off some of my meal from Princess Gardens. Heh heh.

For my leaving do one of the gift I was given was a Cocktails and Cupcakes course with The Cocoa Box. Rehana was also good enough to buy a voucher for herself so she could keep my company. Surprisingly when we got to the venue many of the people doing the course were couples! I guess heaps of guys buy it for their partner thinking it’s a nice romantic gift.

I wasn’t sure how the course would operate – we only had an hour and a half. Turns out the Cocktails were pre-mixed in jugs (kind of like Sangria) and only one glass was given out at the start, and the Cupcakes came pre-baked. Basically the cupcake making part was us simply decorating the cupcakes – even the sugar craft and cream toppings was pre-made. But this didn’t end up being too bad a thing as it meant we could just get on with making our cupcakes pretty.

The room we were in was severely crowded. I felt they could have offered a few less places or at least tried to book a bigger room so it would be less crowded. The class was also a little disorganised – like not being systematic in ensuring everyone had their drink and not having enough supplies on the table for everyone – guess there is a fine balance.

What they taught us was not too bad though. We learnt some sugar craft skills (like how to make bows and various other shapes) and piping skills (like how to make roses). And of course we also walked away with our six decorated cupcakes. Rehana and I had an enjoyable afternoon and because of the way the course was run spent much of it swapping gossip.

The finished products:

Rehana’s

Mine