Browsing Tag

Chilli Pickle

Top 10 Cosmo’s of 2018…so far

Anyone who knows me knows that the Cosmopolitan is unashamedly my favourite cocktail. As we’re coming to the halfway point of the year, I’ve rounded up the best Cosmo’s from 2018 – so far. Conveniently, it makes a nice neat list of 10 – though these are in no particular order, they’re all great 🙂

Forever linked with the 90’s and Sex and the City, the Cosmo dates back much further, with its roots in a 1930’s confection featuring gin, instead of vodka. There are mentions of it in the 1970’s in America, before it was popularised by SJP and the gang. The International Bartenders Association quotes the recipe as:

4 cl Citron Vodka
1.5 cl Cointreau
3 cl Cranberry juice
1.5 cl Fresh lime juice

Shake all ingredients in cocktail shaker filled with ice. Strain into a large cocktail glass, garnish with lime slice…and voila. They also very sensibly catagorise it as an ‘All Day Cocktail‘. I’m not arguing with that!

Hakkasan, London W1

The Cosmopolitan at Hakkasan was stop-you-in-your-tracks-knock-your-socks-off-good. More than good, it was the best Cosmo I’ve had in years. A stand-out cocktail and a lovely bar to drink it at. Followed by some Michelin Starred Chinese nibbles.

Trocadero Playa, Marbella

Cocktail on the beach at sunset, perfect. Nicely balanced and a good size. Usual routine is to drop the bags off and head out for one of these on arrival.

Artesian Bar, the Langham Hotel, London W1

Well earned cocktail after a busy days shopping in London. Lovely unusual glasses. Quite red in colour but perfectly balanced.

Purobeach, Marbella

Beach club perfection – and huge too! Perfect to sip while listening to some Balearic beats and chilling out. Look at that for a holiday cocktail 🙂

Chilli Pickle, Brighton

Ordered off-menu and this wonderful restaurant made me my favourite cocktail. Lovely as a pre-curser to an Indian feast.

Charlotte St Hotel, London W1

One of London’s classic hotel bars, as expected they do an excellent Cosmo (and a great Old Fashioned too).

Mayfair Hotel, London W1

Again, excellent hotel cocktail bar – great place for meeting friends. In fact, I was having so much fun that I forgot to take a picture, so here’s one I obviously took from their website!

Nobu, London W1

These slip down incredibly well with a selection of Japanese food. Had a few more in the bar downstairs after too.

Malmaison, LondonEC1

Much better in the upstairs bar than the downstairs one, but still a good shout for a cocktail in EC1.

Iberica, London EC1

Cocktails and tapas…yum.

Any must-drink Cosmo recommendations for me?

14th May 2018

Live

Lunch, nails and shoes

A Saturday at home and without any arrangements – what a joy! We popped into Brighton to have lunch with the kids, though only one kid actually turned up. I suspect the other one couldn’t quite make it out of bed in time 🙂

We had lunch at the ever wonderful Chilli Pickle and I had to rush off to get my nails done at The Lanes. They’ve had a revamp in there and it’s looking ultra stylish.

Such a pleasure to get my nails done there after the quick ‘in and out’ nail bars in London. They’re fine when you’re in a lunchtime rush, but you can’t beat proper service, proper quality products and a nice cup of tea and a chat when you’re having a a pamper. I even tweeted ahead and a selection of new colours were waiting for me to choose from. I went for a Spring frost pink called ‘Woman in the Mirror’ and teamed it with a cool grey. The name of the pink made me laugh, considering that’s exactly the shot I accidently captured above 🙂

On the way back, wandering past the shops to meet the boys, I popped into Irregular Choice and couldn’t resist adding these wonderful yellow shoes and bag to my collection. I can’t believe I’ve bought shoes in such a bright colour. They are properly cute.

Here they are in a much better, properly lit (much less green!) shot from the Irregular Choice website.

We also picked up Madge’s Easter present from Gresham Blake, a polka dot shirt with a twist.

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20th March 2016

Eat

Lunch at the Chilli Pickle

After a long week, including an unexpected stay in London on Thursday night, it was nice to get back to The Shires to start the long-weekend on Friday. I even managed to side step the pub and get on a train slightly early – I must be getting old. Or sensible.

I was up and out and in the hairdressers by 8.30 on Saturday morning, which was pretty cool as I was all done and able to go and do the rest of the boring stuff early. Quick trip down the high street then back home to get ready for lunch at one of my favourite restaurants, The Chilli Pickle, in Brighton.

We’ve been going to The Chilli Pickle for ages, even before it moved to the large premises under the MyHotel about three years ago, when it was a tiny little restaurant in The Lanes. In that time it’s managed to do the seemingly impossible, which is to get better as it has got bigger, with a ever-changing fab menu and consistently excellent service. It’s never lost that friendly family feel and we’re always assured a warm welcome, and even have a ‘usual’ spot, up on the banana bar

The restaurant décor is wonderful, with bright colours and indian artefacts, but done in a very boutique way. It plays warmly to the space and feels modern and light. The menu is inspired by different regions of India and there is always so much to choose from that it’s hard to decide. The Tandoori chicken and chips is a favourite, and unlike any other tandoori chicken and chips you might ever have had, but I was feeling a little more adventurous.

I ordered a cheeky lunchtime martini (well, late lunch) and we had Momo’s and Pani Puri to share, followed by King Thali’s for main course. The food at the Chilli Pickle is very different to any other Indian restaurant I’ve been to in the UK. Really delicate flavour pairings, with unusual dips and pickles to accompany every dish. I’ve not yet had anything I haven’t liked and usually have to resist ordering too much – though if you do, you can take it home with you afterwards.

If you like lots of little morsels of different tastes The King Thali is perfect. I had the Murgh Pulungari – chicken simmered in coconut, tamarind, squash, turmeric, curry leaf, mustard seeds and black pepper. It was awesome. The Thali comes with rice, bread, poppadum, dal, dhokla and a sweet rice pudding, as well as the wonderful pickles. And I’ve never managed to defeat a whole one yet!

A bottle of Prosecco washed the food down nicely and we happily wandered off home in search of an afternoon snooze 🙂

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25th May 2015