Piccadilly Circus: Kahve Dünyasi

After a conversation with a colleague at work about coffee and her description of Turkish coffee (very strong with the coffee grounds still in the cup- my kind of coffee), my quest for Turkish coffee in London brought me to  Kahve Dünyasi: a chocolate shop in London that also has a range of delicious cakes.

Score.

Where?

3, 200 Piccadilly, London. Nearest underground station Piccadilly Circus.

What?

A chocolate shop/ café with a Turkish twist, the first thing you notice on walking in is the very, very tempting counter of posh-looking chocolates.

Then there are is the rainbow of macarons:

And then, of course, there is the cake.

Kahve Dünyasi also serves a few light savoury things such as baguette sandwiches, which are great for lunchtime. Or if you really, really want cake and have to drag a friend along with less of a sweet tooth.

During my first visit, since I was after Turkish coffee, this was what I ordered once I had been seated at a table: along with an iced Turkish coffee, since I was curious about what that would be like.

The waitress smiled when I ordered both coffees in one go. "You really like Turkish coffee?"

"It's been one of those days," I joked.

She asked how sweet I wanted my normal (hot) Turkish coffee. I faltered, not really knowing how it was supposed to be drunk- so the waitress said she'd get me one with 'regular sweetness'.

Soon my coffees arrived, along with a chocolate to go with the normal Turkish coffee (to my delight), and a traditional glass of water for cleansing the palate- I found this interesting because this is also an Italian habit.

Take a closer look at the crema on the coffee!

It was like a little shot of heaven. It was strong without being bitter, and just the right sweetness for me. It's served black like an espresso, but with the coffee grounds still at the bottom: so you have to be sip carefully when you approach the bottom of the cup or else you'll get a mouthful of them (I'm glad my colleague had warned me about this beforehand, and the waitress reminded me too). The chocolate was lovely too- mine was marzipan, but I don't think that you get the same chocolate every time, necessarily.

As for the 'iced Turkish coffee', it was quite different- more like a frappé.

It was a pretty hot day that day, so I followed the hot coffee with this beauty. As you can see, it was pretty epic, and laced with chocolate sauce. Yum, yum.

I also noticed a drink called 'salep' on the menu, and vowed to order it on my next visit once I'd done a little research (in other words, once I'd Googled it).

Salep is a hot milk drink traditionally thickened with the root of a particular type of orchid, and is like a thin white custard. Unfortunately the orchid is a little on the endangered side now, so exporting it out of its home country is now illegal- salep anywhere else is now usually a mixture of cornflour and flavouring.

On my next visit, I also ordered a slice of their chocolate caramel cake along with a mug of Salep.

The salep drink came with cinnamon dusted on top, and was served with an adorable chocolate spoon.

As I mentioned before, the salep was like a thin custard, only without the vanilla or eggy flavour. It was very pleasant, although I regretted my choice quite quickly because it was another hot day when I visited, and the thickness of the drink has quite a warming effect. On that note though, it'd be a brilliant drink for chilly winter days.

As for the cake, I want another one. Right now.

Thin layers of fluffy cake, a thick layer of chocolate brownie, a thick layer of creamy caramel mousse and even more caramel on top. This was one decadent cake.

I can't wait to visit Kahve Dünyasi again, and the prices aren't too bad for Central London. They also do some amazing-looking ice cream sundaes, judging by their menu:

Since the cold weather is setting in though, I don't think I'll be as interested. Luckily enough, they have enough cake to see me through the winter, including a hot chocolate one.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party at Sanderson Hotel

An Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party? Yes, please!

 Where?

50 Berner's Street, just off Oxford Street, London. Nearest tube station Tottenham Court Road.

What?

The Sanderson Hotel is a 5* luxury hotel right in the centre of London. The place screamed luxury, and both the decor and staff were dazzling. I could have taken pictures of the interior of the hotel alone, but I wasn't here for the hotel: I was here for their quirky take on the old British classic: afternoon tea.

My friend and I were led out onto a garden quad, where tables were arranged on either side of the garden centrepiece under large canvas canopies to protect us from the glare of the sun. The whole experience from start to finish was magical, from sitting down to the table dressed with riddled napkins, a very old book and crystal vials of teas to choose from, to the magical and perfect food itself, and the 'jelly wonderland' buffet for the final course.

The waitress recommended we tried one of the flavours from the vials, but we were also welcome to choose from a menu of more 'normal' teas, coffees and hot chocolate, and we could have as much tea as we liked. My friend chose mint chocolate tea while I chose rhubarb and custard: we had such large pots that the thought of having any more tea. Also, while the portions looked dainty and manageable, both my friend and I were stuffed by the end.

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves for this review. All I can say is it's an experience well worth giving a go.

'The more the you have of it, the less you see.'

Three different layers of flavours!

Pop! Mango explosion.

And then I ate the cup itself.

From banana-chocolate to lavender-elderflower.

Fitzrovia- Lantana

I like coffee as much as I like tea, and that's quite a lot. I'm certainly no coffee connoisseur, but I can tell the difference between a good cup and a bad cup, and I do enjoy a strong-but-unburned coffee. My favourite has recently been the flat white from Monmouth coffee. After today's jaunt to try something different, I think Lantana's flat white has instantly become a contender for First Place.

Where?

Fitzrovia, London, 13 Charlotte Place (Just off of Goodge Street). Nearest underground station Goodge Street.

What?

An antipodean café-slash-breakfast, brunch and lunch restaurant. There are two ways of going about it: Lantana Out on the left-hand side for takeaway drinks, breakfasty things and cakes, and Lantana In on the right-hand side for sitting-down-and-eating. One day I will try something on Lantana In's delicious-looking menu, but this morning I opted for a Lantana Out and a quiet perch on the bench outside.

So, I know I quite like flat whites because of their strength without the knockout strength of having it black (the way I understand it, a flat white is alike a short, strong latte- I told you I'm not a connoisseur). Lantana's flat white has been long lauded on the interweb, so I knew I had to order it.

Cute foam art!

Well- it was perfect. It was smooth, rich, strong and not at all bitter or burned. Lantana apparently uses Square Mile beans while Monmouth Coffee uses Monmouth beans. Square Mile coffee, Monmouth coffee- I think they're two independent roasters. No idea about coffee bean origin- again, not an expert. I found Lantana's Square Mile a bit tangier than Monmouth's signature roast, but it was a very pleasant tang. I'm not sure I could choose one over the other.

As for breakfast! I *had* to try a friand.

When I visited family in Australia last year, I saw these things in practically every café: and yet I never tried one while I was there. Unforgivable for a dessert nut like me! Thank goodness for Lantana.

A friand is a small cake made with ground almonds, often flavoured with lemon and sometimes with fruit like blueberries. They had several kinds at Lantana, but I chose plain lemon. It was dense, moist, almondy, lemony and mouthwatering.

I also had a small takeaway muesli pot (which I didn't photo because I made a mess when I opened it): at the front counter they had a table with large bowls of homemade bircher muesli, homemade toasted muesli with dates, thick natural yoghurt, poached peaches and pears and berry compote. When the girl at the counter asked me what I wanted in my pot, I tentatively asked if I could have a bit of everything- which thankfully she was happy to do. She also filled the pot very generously, which I was grateful for (even though I made a mess in my eagerness to get into it!) They even made something as seemingly simple as muesli delicious.

I was lucky enough to have today off work, and I visited Lantana at about 10:30am- so it was relatively quiet (although still quite busy in Lantana In- it's a very popular place indeed). Chilling out outside with an amazing coffee, a healthy and wholesome breakfast and a little cakey treat in peace and quiet was nirvana. I know where I'm going again on my next morning off.

For some reason when you Google Lantana's location it often comes up as being on Charlotte Street: but it's in fact on Charlotte's Place, which is a little side street right off of Goodge Street. Just head for Yaki (which I went to later on in the day and reviewed just before this post) from Goodge Street station and turn left into Charlotte Place.

Fitzrovia- Yaki Japanese Bakery

Or 'Yaki' for short.

'Yaki' means 'fried' in Japanese (some say 'grilled', but you don't grill yakisoba or teppanyaki, do you? It depends on if your heat source is coming from above or below I suppose).

Where?

Fitzrovia, London, 53 Goodge Street. Nearest tube station Goodge Street.

What?

A brilliant lunch-y place to go for Japanese food that's not sushi- apart from sushi burgers (the 'bun' is rice). Yo! Sushi would have you believe that they're the first to sell the sushi burger. They are, in fact, not: Yaki is. I can actually confirm this as I noticed Yaki and it's menu months before Yo! Sushi started boasting about it.

Anyway!

I passed by this morning and got talking to a very nice gentleman who was opening up shop- I think he may have even been the owner as he was very knowledgable and keen to tell me a bit about the business. He acknowledged the fact that there are a lot of places to eat sushi in London, and he wanted to offer something different in terms of Japanese food. At Yaki you can buy thing like okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancakes), tako-yaki (balls of a flour-based pancake-like stuff with octopus in the centre) and donburi (one-bowl rice meals). They also have sweets like taiyaki (filled pancake-like things traditionally shaped to look like fishies) and mochi (glutinous rice dumplings). Although it wasn't quite lunchtime and I left the area, I actually came back (from Camden Town no less) at lunch time to give it a go.

I love, love love it. The prices are great too, especially when compared with London's more well-known okonomiyaki place, Abeno and Abeno-too. Sure Abeno-too cook the okonomiyaki teppanyaki-style (in front of you on a hot plate), but £10 for a small pancake made largely out of cabbage, egg and flour is bloody ridiculous. At Yaki, my chicken teriyaki okonomiyaki was just under £3.50. And it was delicious, too: just as good as Abeno-too but without the fancy price.

Fluffy but satisfying, savoury with a decent amount of chicken, finished off with slightly-sweet mayo that offsets the savouryness of it perfectly.

I can't wait for the next opportunity to go there. I'd love to slowly make my way through the menu- and I especially need to try the desserts (you guys know how crazy I am about desserts- and how uncharacteristic of me it was to not have one during this visit!)

The guy-that-may-have-been-the-owner mentioned that they'd like to open up more shops in London, and I really hope they do well. This place most definitely has my stamp of approval.

The Food Market at Brent Cross

I've been coming to Brent Cross shopping centre long before they got rid of their giant fountain and the multicoloured glass dome above it- which is for a very long time indeed. I remember being about four or five years old and sitting by that fountain on one of the chairs that circled it, eating an apricot pastry with my mum and scuffing at the red carpet with my shoes. I also seem to remember it always being dark all the time, but in a stylishly moody way. Anybody out there got any old photos of Brent Cross from the early 1990's, incidentally? There seems to be a drought of them on the interweb.

Anyway, enough of my wistful nostalgia. Brent Cross has come a long way since then in its efforts to stay in favour of the general public's ever-changing whims, and I'd say it's done pretty darn well over the years. Twenty years on and I still find myself there several times a month, at least- I'd say that's a good sign.

The most recent addition to the Brent Cross experience is the Food Market, which runs every Friday and Saturday and launched about a month ago. It's no secret that food has become fashionable, particularly home-made cake and street food, and I've always loved street food, food markets and festivals. Usually I have to travel all the way to Borough Market to get my food market fix, so I was thrilled to hear that one was opening virtually in my own backyard. Even more thrilled to hear that a few of my favourite traders from Borough Market would have stalls too, such as Ion Patisserie and Comptoir Gourmand. No surprises from people who follow my baking blog Tashcakes! that two of my favourite stalls happen to be cake stalls...

You can check out a selection of the traders on The Food Market at Brent Cross website, although it's a bit frustrating that it's not a comprehensive list and, from experience, the list differs between Fridays and Saturdays. I'm hoping that with a little time they'll polish the main website up a little more to include this sort of information. I'll go easy on them though, since they still seem to be adding new traders to sell even more tasty things.

On with the photos!

I got talking to Claire of Claire's Fancy Cakes- a fellow North West Londoner, as it turns out- who had some gorgeous cakes, cupcakes and cake pops on offer. I have the greatest respect for people who go for it and open their own food businesses, and Claire's been selling her goodies for a couple of years now. All the best, Claire!

Noted.

You can see why I love Comptoir Gourmand.

And Ion Patisserie.

I also quite like Karantania Deli, which is normally found in the Southbank Centre's weekly Real Food Market. Check out their 8-layer cake on the top left hand corner of the photo! It's made with poppy seeds, apple, ricotta cheese and walnuts.

These looked deliciously moist. Next time, my pretties...

I thought this was a cute name! They sold falafel things.

Of course there was a lot more delicious savoury food such as curry, Caribbean and much more- but you all know where my loyalties lie in the battle between sweet and savoury. Plus I make it no secret that I'm pretty bad at capturing savoury food on camera- I never do it justice. In any case, it looks like I'll be continuing to visit Brent Cross for another good twenty years at least!