Tints of Blue Hotel in Bangkok

One thing I noticed when I was last in Bangkok, was how modern it had become since the last time I was there. Granted, that was 20 years ago. With that there were so many cute boutique hotels to choose from, which is how I ended up finding Tints of Blue Hotel in Bangkok.

The Tints of Blue Hotel is off the main Sukhumvit road where you will find lots of restaurants, shops and even malls. It does take a little bit of effort to find the hotel, but once you get there, it's worth the walk. (Or the yelling at the taxi driver because he can't find it.) And if you feel that the alley is a bit too dark after night falls, the hotel offers free tuktuk rides to the main road and back to the hotel.

Russian Food at Zima

My quest for ethnic food in London recently brought me to Frith Street in Soho for a Russian lunch at Zima; an airy eatery smack in the middle of buzzy Soho. It offers traditional Russian food with a modern twist and of course lots of vodka. I liked its airy feel and casual décor and if you choose a table by the window it’s an amazing place for a spot of people watching.

It took a while for someone to come over to take my order, but in their defence, there were no other customers there and I ninja-ed to my table by the window.

The place wasn’t exactly hopping with other eaters, but having said that, I was there at noonish on a Saturday. People did start popping in by the time I had finished my food.

Nordic Food at Rok Smokehouse & Bar

I hadn't been to Spitalfields Market in a while, but when I went back a few weekends ago, I happened on loads of new food stalls. At least, they were new to me. One of them was a food stall run by Rök Smokehouse & Bar. They've got two proper restaurant locations in London; one in Upper Street and one in Shoreditch. Their menu is influenced by old Nordic cooking techniques and they specialise in cured and brined meat dishes which are all cooked on fire and most of them are accompanied by fermented and pickled side dishes. Heart warming dishes for winter weather like duck pate with knackebrod, pork with carawaykraut and pigeon with Jerusalem artichokes.

Indian Food at Cinnamon Bazaar

The Spanish are not the only ones to do tapas. It so happens that Indian cuisine offers little sharing platters as well, except they're called chaats. This weekend I tried some of these Indian style tapas at Cinnamon Bazaar in Covent Garden.

Learn to Cook and Eat the Caribbean Way

So far I've been eating and blogging about ethnic restaurants here in London, but I hadn't really tried my hand at making it myself. Last weekend though, I was invited to Angella's Kitchen supper club cooking class.

The event was held at Battersea's London Kitchen Project which helps budding chefs getting started in the food industry.