This is me sitting outside the stadium waiting to be let in, and realising that I absolutely should’ve upped my outfit game, because everyone was dressed in the most amazing sparkly outfits, and I had gone boring basic

We finally got in, and had some complimentary food and drinks that were included with our VIP package, and then made our way to our seats. The atmosphere was absolutely electric and I was so excited for it to start!

Finally, it was time for the Queen herself to join us. Here are a selection of photos from the best night!

The entire concert from start to finish was obviously PERFECTION, but if I had to pick, my fave songs she performed were:

• I’m That Girl
• Alien Superstar
• Break My Soul
• Formation
• My Power
• Crazy in Love
• America Has A Problem

I decided to stay overnight in Central London, at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone, and indulge in 2 of my favourite things: shopping and eating!

The day started with a taxi ride into Central London, to visit my namesake and one of my favourite brands, YSL, for a little retail therapy. One of my favourite things to do is buy my own birthday presents, and I certainly ticked this off my to do list. My favourite purchase was this amazing takeaway box, which I am fully obsessed with!

After exercising a mammoth amount of restraint, we arrived at the Landmark. The Landmark lobby is a real highlight of the hotel, and is absolutely breathtaking with its palm trees and tons of natural light.

We checked into our room, and it was so nice to have a lovely bottle of champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us!

After a little relaxation time in our room (and indulging in the aforementioned champagne and strawberries), it was time to get ready for drinks and dinner.

Drinks were at The American Bar, one of our favourite haunts. I tried a cocktail that I’ve always wanted to try but not done so because its a whole sorbet treat as well. But as it was my birthday, I decided to indulge

Then onto dinner! We had booked to go to Frog, a Adam Handling restaurant, and I was so excited thanks to the rave reviews I had heard. The restaurant itself was stunning, with some very interesting artwork, and the chefs were out on show, which I always enjoy because you get to see them at work.

Frog did not disappoint. Each dish was not only beautifully presented but there was a good dollop of theatrics and performance involved in every aspect of the tasting menu. And of course, the food was absolutely delicious.

Here are some pictures of some of the dishes we tasted – aren’t they all stunning:

There was also the cutest after dinner Sweets tray that came out, where you could pick anything you liked!

I was SO full after this tasting menu, and actually really couldn’t recommend Frog more – the food, the service, the theatrics + performance, the little touches for my birthday … all 10 out of 10!

Lastly, if you can believe there was more food involved, the next morning we had the most delicious breakfast at the Landmark, sitting underneath the palm trees pretending we were actually abroad!

I had a seriously yummy avocado toast and orange juice:

And thats a wrap on my birthday for 2023. A seriously decadent and indulgent one, and I can’t wait for a new year to begin!

But, I have never ever ever been to The Ritz for an afternoon tea so this year, this was my pick!

Before the actual afternoon tea (which was booked for 5.30pm), we went to Sexyfish for some cocktails, did a little shopping and then went to the Rivoli bar inside the Ritz hotel just to see what the vibe was like!

But that was all just pre-game to the main event: the festive afternoon tea!

Before some pics, I want to say that the tea was very special! The festive ambience was perfect thanks to the extravagant decorations, beautiful pianist and festive choir. The service was also second to none! The food was also delicious ( the Yule log was my fave)!

Here are some pics:

Belmond are known for their hyper luxurious experiences so I was very much looking forward to what promised to be an exceptional few hours!

Our amazing journey began at the station as we made our way to the Belmond entrance. There was a trio of singers outside serenading us with 20’s style songs as we checked in which was incredibly special. Seeing all the staff in special, old-school uniforms also added to the vibe that we were going back in time to a golden age of train travel.

Once on the train, I was blown away with the decor and attention to detail. We had booked in the Cygnet carriage, which is the one carriage on the train that was specially designed by renowned filmmaker Wes Anderson. The carriage was INSANE – the green and pink theme was on point!

The table itself also was beautiful and full of lovely details. Here are some close-up pics:

The train started pulling out of Victoria and we were off into the Kent countryside for a few hours of bliss! I loved that we got a map of exactly where we were going on our seats!

Once we were firmly on our way and we had taken in everything on the interior of the carriage, it was time to focus on the exterior! The countryside that we were gently steaming through was so pretty and quintessentially English. The green countryside complemented the green interior of the carriage perfectly so it was all incredibly aesthetic.

After some sightseeing, the stewards started to bring out the afternoon tea, which was just course after course of beautiful savoury pastries, sandwiches, scones, and sweet cakes and pastries.

AND the obligatory champagne and cocktails, obviously!

At some point during the trip, the singers who serenaded us on the platform came back and performed some songs for our carriage, which was really special.

After too short a time, the food and drinks had all been eaten and drunk, the songs had been sung and the countryside gave way back to London. We arrived back in Victoria very full, happy and with a newfound appreciation for the magic of train travel.

Putting two of my favourite things together sounded like a no brainer, so I enlisted my friend Angelica and off we went to sample the Berkeley’s delights!

The first thing that I want to call out about this afternoon tea is that the table felt very welcoming – they had made us name cards which felt very luxe – I’d never seen that before at an afternoon tea!

We opened the beautiful menu to read what was on offer for the tea. Aside from the usual massive selection of teas and drinks, there were a number of sections of food that we were getting through.

The waiter came by and whilst we were looking at the menu, he showed us an accompanying brochure that was styled in the vein of a fashion magazine that described all of the fashion looks that inspired the afternoon tea. It was amazing to see the looks that we knew the food would resemble, and we got to keep the brochure so that we could compare them when the sweet stuff came.

After our drinks were served, it was time for the savoury treats.

First, two small savoury bites: A beautiful smoked and charred duck breast on brioche bread with a gooseberry chutney. Then, a tomato and asparagus tartare on sourdough. They were both absolutely delicious. Second, a selection of sandwiches – nothing too out of the ordinary, just beautiful classics like smoked salmon, chicken, egg + mayo etc. Each sandwich was served with a different type of bread and I personally loved the onion bread that the salmon was paired with.

The sandwiches were also refillable, which is my favourite afternoon tea feature. I always always go for a couple more knowing full well I still have a lot of eating to go (but I’m never sorry!)

After the savoury stuff, we got to sample the sweet things! This is where the true magic of the fashion theme came to life as we got to compare the delicious confections in front of us with the real-life fashions on the pages.

The sweet treats were absolutely beautiful, and I only wish I had taken more photos. In terms of the taste, there were definitely some that I preferred more than others – I particularly enjoyed the chocolate cylinder layered with Victoria sponge and strawberry jam, with intricately piped lime button cream flowers, that paid homage to Michael Kors’ SS22 handbag. I also LOVED the Lanvin-inspired floral platform chocolate biscuit.

Finally, if that wasn’t enough, we ended off with the most beautiful scones (both fruit and plain) with a selection of jams and clotted cream.

Suffice it to say, I ended this tea absolutely stuffed and we actually had to take a few things home in a doggy bag.

All in all, I definitely recommend this afternoon tea for its great service, and the yummy and generous tea. The fashion theme definitely added a unique twist to it which was a lot of fun, although I will say that some of the fashion interpretations were a bit looser than I thought, and a couple of them could have had a bit more finesse. But those are small quibbles.

Thanks to The Berkeley for a really yummy afternoon!

A cool thing about The Beaumont is that its best suite is actually a living sculpture designed by the incredible Antony Gormley called Room! Here it is from the outside of the hotel:

I love what a statement it makes for the hotel, so we were very excited to stay in it for a night!

Interestingly, the sculpture is *just* the bedroom part of the suite. The rest of the suite is located inside the traditional part of the hotel. Here are some pics of the room itself to start with:

The room itself is very low-lit and sexy, with the only light sources coming from a small window and artfully placed LED strips. The ceiling is the piece de resistance, and is very sculptural (duh!) The bed was HUUUUGE and very comfortable.

The rest of the suite was also large and comfy! There was a hallway, a nicely sized living room, and a large bathroom! Here are some pics:

Last but definitely not least, a cool perk about the Beaumont is that they have a car on hand that will chaffeur you to places within a certain radius of the hotel! We made use of the car a few times to get us to shopping and restaurants!

All in all, staying in the Room suite was definitely a fantastic experience. I really recommend the Beaumont hotel if you’re looking for a central London hotel close to all the shops and the action!

Hakkasan is a Cantonese restaurant famed for its dim sum, beautiful cocktails and chic interior that is SO low-lit inside you may want to bring a torch (just kidding, please don’t bring a torch )

We ordered cocktails to start – I had an absolute delicious lychee martini – and ended up going for the dim sum selection to start.

This dim sum was amazing, and included a beautiful lobster dumpling, scallop and prawn shui mai, wagyu beef with black garlic, and a royal king crab dumpling. So good and perfect as a sharing plate for two.

If you’re extra hungry, there are a myriad of extra small bites you could get to accompany this, including the delectable-sounding lobster lychee, but we didn’t want to spoil our mains so we were relatively restrained!

Speaking of main course, we ordered a selection of things to share, including a truly exceptional dish of grilled chilean sea bass in honey. When I say this was in the top 5 things I’ve ever eaten in my entire life, I’m not joking. It was simply beautiful and we haven’t stopped talking about it since!

We also had the wagyu beef, and some classic sides like egg fried rice and stir-fried baby broccoli – yum!

When it got to dessert, we received a lovely birthday dessert plate for Lu and we ordered one other dish called the Jivara bomb which was a beautiful concoction of hazelnut praline and chocolate.

All in all, if you’re looking for beautiful Cantonese food in London, with exceptional service and you’re happy with it being on the pricier side, look no further than Hakkasan for a fantastic time.

First off, a disclaimer. We visited Fortnum & Mason during the height of Christmas shopping fever, so the entire store was basically completely overrun by Christmas shoppers. It was exceptionally busy, including in the tea salon.

Once we had battled through the throngs and been seated however, our seating area was an oasis of calm. We looked through the menus – I was surprised to find out that the tea salon offers multiple different afternoon tea packages, which is great – and I went for the classic afternoon tea with champagne.

While the service was quite slow (likely due to the aforementioned Christmas rush), it didn’t really matter because we were there to celebrate Katie and enjoy the experience – we weren’t in any particular rush.

When we ordered, our waiter told us that we could have as many sandwiches and scones as we wanted. I really liked that she mentioned that upfront, because when its not clear, it always gets a bit awkward if you want to ask for a sandwich refill.

The food overall was very delicious – all the sandwiches were incredible, and the scones were perfect, and came with a wide range of accompaniments.

I would say for the little cakes that I had expected a bit more precision in their appearance, but that they tasted incredible. My particular favourite was a honey cake with some sot of delicious piped cream on top.

Overall, I would highly recommend a visit to the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, and I certainly would like to go back when its a little less busy to have a second experience!

I went with my work colleagues to Skandihus, a pottery studio located in Hackney, for a couple of hours of beginner pottery fun!

We had a dedicated instructor, and our own space (mask wearing was mandatory), and we each got our own little cubby to make our clay masterpieces!

We each started with a lump of clay, some tools and listened to a demo from our instructor, who ran through what we were going to be attempting: a simple bowl that we could customise however we wanted using the tools we had available.

We got to have two attempts at making a bowl with two separate pieces of clay, so that we could experiment with different techniques.

At the end of the two hours, we got to pick one of the two bowls we had created that was our favourite. This would be the bowl that would be glazed and fired, and that we would get to keep!

Unfortunately, that part of the process doesn’t happen on the day you are there, so our bowls went into a queue. I’m hoping we’ll get them back soon and I can share an update on what my final bowl looked like!

But for now, please enjoy some pictures on our final bowls ready to go into the kiln!

I had heard great things about the afternoon tea there, and so, as a mid-year pick-me-up, we decided to pop in to sample the experience.

Overall, the setting for afternoon tea, Palm Court, hits all the right notes. It is sumptuous, elegant, and refined, with plenty of spacious seating, little stools for your handbags and my favourite, a pianist serenading you in the background.

The afternoon tea had all of the usual components – teas + champagnes, sandwich selection, scones, little sweet bites, as well as a ‘bonus round’ of a frozen ice-cream sandwich. Very yummy all-round but my favourites had to be ice-cream sandwich and the regular sandwiches.

I did appreciate the theme of the sweet bites though – they were all elevated takes of classic British biscuits, very clever!

We ended off the experience with a visit to the bar, which has a really interesting cocktail menu that is sure to have you drinking something you’ve never seen before!