Safa

Safa is an Iranian restaurant next to Edgware Road. With many options and an empty stomach, me and my friend Rita decided on this one. YOLO, right? Yes, my life is that exciting.

I love hummus. I could live on hummus. This one was a bit too oily but the flavour was excellent. Very creamy, which, for me is a plus.

The gentleman serving us first mentioned we had to pay to have bread with hummus but all of a sudden said that pita bread was free. I was confused by this change of mind but did not complain. 

We shared a main, which was more than enough. A big portion of grilled chicken, moist and tasty. I was impressed and happy. Reminded me of the taste of chicken in Portugal, which was a good memory.

Then the bill came. We were asked to pay extra money, and the man said it was service charge. But the thing is, it was more than the service charge rate. We complained and the waiter/manager mentioned something about the free bread, which I did not understand, but disliked anyway. Was he charging more because of FREE pita? Funny. In the end, he did take out the extra cost (well, some of it), and we settled. It was definitely weird and the whole ambience of the restaurant does not make me want to come back at all. Luckily, I had the hummus. So I was happy. Really happy.

Giraffe at Spitalfields

Giraffe is one of the most family friendly restaurants, which makes it weird that I was there in the first place. Well, let me tell you, being extremely hungry on a Sunday late morning is no joke. Burger and fries cravings help to the decision: let's just eat. 

London was extremely sunny and warm, which made the whole experience enjoyable. Spitalfields may not be my favourite market but I do find myself there a lot of times. It's convenient and still, very pretty. 

The surroundings are even more astounding. This one would make a great place to live in!

But now, the food. Giraffe surprised me positively. I try to avoid chain restaurants, but this one was actually good. 

My falafel and halloumi veggie burger did not disappoint, specially because of the roasted pepper in the middle, totally elevated the burger. 

The fries were nice and crunchy and I had fun trying out all of the sauces, like brit ones: HP! Which tastes a lot like barbecue sauce, sorry guys.

My date had a good old meat burger which I didn't try but looked good. The best part was the sweet potato fries (not pictured)! 

Giraffe has a good vibe and I heard no children crying around me, so it was even better. The food is not too original but it gets the job done. For what I was looking for, it delivered. 

Giraffe

Spitalfields Market

London

Casa Morita

I want to try a lot of restaurants in Brixton. It's a shame I have to travel all the way across the city to get there... Moving there might be the only viable option.
I was in the mood for Mexican, and I went to Casa Morita. The decoration is really nice, but the food seemed to me as a bit bland. Like something I could actually easily cook at home.

I actually think it's cool how the cutlery is displayed like this. Gotta start keeping empty cans instead of throwing them away.

The soft tacos filling was the star of the dish, tasty pulled pork, but the sides did not make it justice. Specially the boring lettuce salad, which makes me sad. Is it really Mexican? I believe that the elements could have been brought up a notch, because overall it just seemed like a very plain dish. Or maybe it was just me who should've chosen something different from the menu. I still want to find a good Mexican restaurant in London, I won't give up. I admit I can't remember much about the components of the dish, but the overall feeling that I have is: it wasn't memorable. 

Casa Morita

9 Market Row
London
SW9 8LB

Nordic Bakery, or how London's been teaching me to love coffee.

I went to the Nordic Bakery in hopes of getting one of those delicious flat rye bread sandwiches I've been drooling over after a lot of blog reads. Unfortunately, they seemed too expensive for their almost miniature size. I have a big stomach and a small wallet, both in need to be taken care of... This rice pancake seemed to be the right choice, but the real star of the dish was the egg butter. 

Really creamy, paired well with the pancake, and my only regret was to not have asked the staff to heat it up a bit for me. 

The cappuccino was so good, rich and filling. It's hard to believe that 2 months ago I was not a "coffee person" and now I have all these delicious drinks to try and indulge on. Guess working on the restaurant industry, with lots of free coffee to drink, kind of helped to start liking it more and more.

The star of the day was the cinnamon bun. Everyone, literally everyone raves about it, and one thing is for sure: they were right about the size. It doesn't seem too big at first, but the layers are never-ending. And I love it how it gets moister and moister, with a sticky filling. My stomach wanted me to stop halfway through it, but my tastebuds just kept on going. 

Nordic Bakery could have cheaper sandwiches, but the place is so nice and quiet, no big decoration, just a lovely space to hide out when it's raining and you want a nice coffee and have a sweet tooth.

48 Dorset Street

London W1U 7NE