Thai Omelettes at Ziloufs - girlie brunch date :)

I was meeting some friends last Saturday for brunch.
As my friend Laura was bringing her ADORABLE baby Jude with her I was trying to find somewhere that was baby friendly and also where we could hang out for a few hours, have some wine and food and just relax and catch up.

Well, I found the perfect place.....

I had walked past this bar/restaurant called Zilouf's a few times. It's located on Upper Street in Angel.

I noticed they served brunch until 2pm on a Saturday (until 3pm on a Sunday) and had some comfy sofas!
It looked really cosy and homely with lots of vintage lamps and a cool, kitch feel.

Check out the funky furniture and fish tank TV

When we all arrived we were so pleased that the largest sofa was free, we quickly claimed it!
There was plenty of space for the pram too. Result.

Time for some wine!

We all ordered white wine spritzers and browsed the brunch menu.............

Thai omelette ??

Hmmmmmm.

I asked the waitress if it was good and she assured me it was delicious.

3 Thai Omelettes then please :)

They arrived shortly after....

Oh YUMMY!!!!!!

Wait, what's that inside.........?

BIG JUICY SCALLOPS - my favourite 

It was soooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooooood and the sweet chilli sauce was heavenly.
What a fantastic combination and the scallops were perfectly cooked.

Beautiful.

At a bargain price of £8 I was seriously impressed.

It was so filling I couldn't even finish it, and that's very rare!

What a great find!
We sat and chilled there for hours. It was totally packed so we were lucky to have swiped that huge leather couch!

We could have stayed there all day :)

I was so pleased with my new find, I know that sounds a little sad but I get excited about these things!

We have already arranged to go back there next week for more of those incredible omelettes.

I can't wait.

Laura, Frankie, baby Jude and moi :)

http://www.ziloufs.com/

Shark Fishing in South Carolina!

SHARK FISHING

As I had never been fishing before Andy and I decided to do something different and book a fishing  trip!

It's a great way to see the creeks and do some dolphin watching too.

I didn't know what to expect, fishing to me sounded boring, boy was I wrong, it was soooooooooooooo much fun!!

This is Shem Creek.

So many fishing boats. 

We saw some dolphins too! It's so hard to catch them on camera as they jump up out of the water so fast.

It was boiling hot with calm seas.....perfect weather for fishing....

We had a local fisherman pro with us to show us how it's done. He was such a laugh and even had his own show on the discovery channel, so we knew we were in good hands!

With the baits in the water, he placed 4 rods in holders to wait for action.....

We waited for about 5 minuets, chilling out and listing to some tunes, when suddenly something started tugging on the line! Whooooo!

One of the lines stared to shake! Yesssssssssssss we got one!!!!

We started reeling in the shark...........................well, the guys did.

On light tackle, even a small shark can put up a tough fight.

I was pretty terrified as I have a huge fear of sharks.

These were just baby sharks but they are vicious and their eyes look evil!!

Then we caught another one! I wanted to hold one but I was too chicken, they were deceivingly strong and kept wriggling around!

We threw them back in the water after, I did feel a little sorry for them but them apparently it doesn't harm them.

The bait for the BIGGER sharks...................

It was such an awesome experience and I would recommend it to anyone who has never gone fishing before, it's a real rush when you catch something and you can feel it pulling on the line. I can see how it can be addictive and competitive!
Plus it's great for tanning too ;)

Check it out -

http://sharkincharleston.com/

South Carolina, CHARLESTON - Foodie heaven!!

Me and Andy recently got back from Charleston in South Carolina.

Wahhhoooooo what a trip!!!!

I had researched all the different restaurants before I left and read many blogs on the area and checked out where was best to go.

"Don’t-Miss" Charleston Restaurants

The food scene in this iconic city keeps getting better; you could stay for a week and still not discover all the great meals.

This quote from Southern Living magazine couldn't be more true. The restaurants all looked INCREDIBLE!!!! The menu's were of such a high standard, similar to what you would find in a top London restaurant.

The one that kept jumping out at me and also had been voted top Charleston restaurant on Trip Adviser was 'Halls Chophouse'

I booked this for our second  night (first night is a write off due to jet lag)

I was sooooooooooooooooooooooo excited!! 

Firstly here are a few photos of Charleston, it was just beautiful and everyone was so friendly. All the roads were lined with palm trees and the houses were all brightly coloured. We felt like we were walking around a film set, it was picture perfect.

I loved all the brightly coloured houses.

:)

Shem Creek

We stayed at Charleston Place by Orient Express. The location was amazing and the hotel was one of the best iv'e stayed at.....

Gorgeous rooms.

Roof top pool :)

It was our second night in Charleston and we were dressed up, slightly sun burnt and ready for a night of cocktails, wine and goooooooooooooooooood food!!

Halls Chophouse!

WOW!! 

As we came in we were greeted by a live jazz band and a buzzing bar. The host immediately welcomed us in
The atmosphere was great and I love jazz! We were really happy with our choice of restaurants, especially as it was our first proper night.

After 2 glasses of champagne we ordered another bottle ;) and we were shown upstairs to the restaurant....

The restaurant was really cool, classic chop house style, it was absolutely packed!
Our waiter came up and introduced himself.
I had already seen that they did a steak and lobster dish, AMAZING.

• Lobster & Steak … $5710 oz broiled lobster tail with carved, prime hanger steak

All of Hall’s steaks are cut from USDA Prime beef, flown in from Allen Brothers *of Chicago, and wet or dry aged for the ultimate tenderness, juiciness and flavour.

 The waiter told us the specials. One was a bison steak (buffalo) which he recommended, the guy on the table next to us had ordered it and he said it was incredible. We asked him if the kitchen could do the bison steak with the lobster and he said that would be fine.
I stuck with the hanger steak.

We ordered 12 oysters to start and a bottle of red.

HAPPY TIMES!!!!!

The mains.......

We ordered two side orders - spinach and sauteed mushrooms. The spinach came with a parmesan sauce which was DELICIOUS!!!!

The wine was Merry Edwards, Pinot noir from the Russian River Valley. It was the first time I had tried it and I fell in love (we ordered a case as soon as we got back to the UK)

So far it had been the perfect evening!!

After all that champagne and wine we were both getting stuck into our huge meals.... in hope to sober up a little :)

The food was DREAMY, as I am writing this my stomach is craving that juicy steak and AHHH the lobster - a match made in heaven.

The bison steak that Andy had ordered was OUT OF THIS WORLD! It melted in your mouth like butter.
It was hands down the best steak we had ever had.

Slowly making my way through it all.....

YYYYUUUUUUMMMMMM!!!

We were both stuffed, happily stuffed :)
I wish I could go back now and finish it, it felt like crime to leave some of that steak.

I was over the moon with everything!

Everyone at Halls Chophouse really made our evening really special.

We had such a fantastic time there! We met some friends after down stairs in the bar, they bought us another bottle of champagne :)

What an awesome night!!!!

http://hallschophouse.com/