Som Saa Thai Pop-Up, London
Years back when pop-up restaurants literally “popped up”, we awarded our fictitious ‘Elldrew Loves’ restaurant crown to Dishoom, who brought the old Irani cafe style and flavours of Bombay to London with their first restaurant opening in 2010. Dishoom came to Elldrew’s attention with their pop-up at The Dishoom Chowpatty Beach Bar on the Southbank during the summer of 2011. That day was imprinted on us as we sat Thames side eating in silence, eyes nearly popping out of our heads, as we experienced the flavours of India in a way never experienced before. Their creative cooking and mastery of ingredients has not only tantilised our taste buds since but, to this day, has remained our favourite Indian restaurant…what these guys achieve, serving up traditional food in a modern era, is pure artistry. So whilst Dishoom holds onto the crown for Indian cuisine, we feel it’s time to branch out and add another restaurant to the ‘Elldrew Loves’ Club, Som Saa Thai.
Ristorante Ora d’Aria, Florence, Italyu
On a recent trip to Florence we booked our final nights dinner at the 1 Michelin star restaurant, Ora d’Aria. Ora d’Aria (meaning ‘hour of air’) first took its name from when the restaurant opened, at a previous location, opposite a prison. Guests dined whilst the inmates took advantage of their daily exercise hour. New location and new meaning, we are told ’hour of air’ now focuses on their patrons time spent at the restaurant…they want to ensure each guest is exposed to tradition, innovation and elegance created by one of Italy’s leading chefs, Marco Stabile.
What we love about Stabile is that he is from Tuscany, and whilst he has developed his skills in some of Italy’s finest kitchens, he has remained in Tuscany and allowed us, the punters, to experience some of the most amazing Italian cuisine to have passed our lips.
Busaba Eathai
For a London restaurant chain serving modern Thai food, Busaba does it really well. It has been around for over 15 years, with 12 venues, and was conceived by the famous chef Alan Yau.
It’s a perfect spot for lunch or dinner. The salt and pepper calamari is delicious, the Lab (or Larb as we know it) Salad also packed a punch with flavours and chilli – there was some sweating and possibly a runaway tear – but both worked perfectly with the classic satay chicken (actually one of the best peanut sauces around) and smoked chicken vermicelli noodles. We will be back soon!
Spaghetti Ubriachi (drunken spaghetti) with Pancetta and Red Onions
On a recent Tuscan break we discovered on a menu, Spaghetti Ubriachi, literally translated as “drunken spaghetti” but actually being spaghetti cooked in red wine. We came across it in a wonderful family run trattoria high on the hills of Montecatini Alto, where, in broken English, the waiter promised us it was made by mamma in the kitchen in the same way she has been making it for years.
A few nights later we tried it elsewhere, and a few nights after that somewhere else, but none could compare to that original dish which was rich in red wine, perfectly balanced with salt from the pancetta with the sweetness of the caramelised onions. Itching to replicate the dish we scoured the web for the recipe, finding versions of drunken spaghetti and versions of spaghetti with pancetta and red onions, but none that combined the two. Taking the best of all of these we’ve come up with a dish, which we think, is as close as we’re going to get to that Tuscan original:
A Bathroom Fit For a King
Here at Planet Elldrew we are 3, or so, years behind an almost entire renovation of what was then our new house. After purchase we changed everything except the bathroom as its current simple style fitted in with our overall design plans, so it just needed a fresh lick of paint at the time.
For the house’s 3rd birthday, and a little treat to ourselves, we decided to finally freshen up that main bathroom. Bathrooms and kitchens are never easy to get right – we spent so much time creating a stylish kitchen that worked with our limited space that we wanted something contemporary for the bathroom, that maintained the masculine aesthetics we have running throughout the rest of the house…the focal point being to create a room that wouldn’t date too quickly (or that we’d become bored of within a week)!
Vintage Salt, Selfridge’s Rooftop
For those who religiously follow us on Twitter, you will have been bombarded by photos and post updates during our lunch at Vintage Salt; the newest restaurant to take over the rooftop area of Selfridge’s department store in central London.
Designed with a seaside restaurant ‘all things nautical’ theme in mind, and a menu to complement, Elldrew popped in for a late lunch and was totally blown away by the sights and flavours…so much so we’ve paused to give Vintage Salt it’s own blog post.
Emporio Armani Briefcase
We are loving the affordable Emporio Armani PVC briefcase with the Armani logo patterned design, which comes in a range of other bag and travel items. The very stylish ‘grey faded’ design however is only available in this and a trendy backpack…so that’s your business and leisure accessories sorted!
Gucci Diamante Textured-Leather Holdall
There’s nothing like a Gucci holdall to stop Elldrew in their tracks and this beauty most certainly did! Adorned with the house’s iconic Diamante pattern, the large leather holdall is the perfect partner for your next adventure; expertely crafted by the Italian fashion house and already added to the wishlist.
Fully lined twill interior with inner zip compartment and pouch pockets, two top handles, detachable adjustable shoulder strap, luggage tag, metal feet, pale-gold hardward, zip fastening, padlock and keys included [breath] it doesn’t get any sleeker or sexier than this.
UK Breaks Pt.3: The Bull Hotel
PART 3: THE BULL HOTEL, DORSET
Our final visit was all the way down to Dorset where, inspired by the TV series ‘Broadchurch’, we spent a weekend exploring the Jurassic Coast. For this trip we stayed at The Bull Hotel in Bridport – a restored inn and where we substituted spa facilities for walks along the beach and the spectacular Dorset scenery. This road trip tooks up much further afield, but still a comfortable 3.5 hours drive from central London.
UK Breaks Pt.2: Pennyhill Park
PART 2: PENNYHILL PARK HOTEL, SURREY
A couple of months after Cowley we took the opportunity of a bank holiday to visit Pennyhill Park Hotel and Spa in Surrey, about an hour outside of London. Home to the English Rugby training grounds and regularly commended in the ‘Good Spa Guide’, we thought we’d add it to our list of places we’d visited.
planet elldrew 