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Nobu

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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

The end of May

The weather is still a bit chilly and rainy – we haven’t had a proper sunny warm day yet. Not a full-on t-shirt day anyway, though the sun is starting to poke through here and there. It’s been a pretty busy week in work and out of it, and I seem to have done a lot more than I was planning to this time last week.

We hIMG_4604ad an unexpected visit to Nobu in Old Park Lane with our friends Ben and Emily. They were in London and texted to see if we were around, on the off-chance on Wednesday.

The cocktails and food were amazing, as usual for Nobu. We normally go to the one in Berkeley Square but they were full so we went to the Old Park Lane restaurant. I think I prefer it actually, with its views over Hyde Park. For a Wednesday night it was really busy, but because we were early we still managed to order the Bento boxes. Apparently they usually stop at 6.45pm but they made an exception, which was ace as they are the best thing on the menu – though I’m probably biased because I like having lots of different things to taste and try, without the effort of working out what to order.

We ordered two of the deluxe and two of the regular boxes, with a side order of the signature black cod. The black cod and the rock shrimp tempura were gorgeous, as were the Cosmopolitans. The puddings were also amazing, though without a doubt a step too far! I ordered the Fuji Apple Crumble to share, which was seared fuji apple with sesame oil, miso salt, toffee, peanut ice cream and coconut crumble and we couldn’t finish it, even though it was delish.

I was stuffed when we left, and practically waddled to the cab rank. Definitely a nice way to spend a Wednesday evening!

I also got to do a flying visit to Reigate on the way back from a meeting this week and have a quick cup of coffee with my friend Katie, and I’ve carried on listing more unwanted clutter on ebay, including fat jeans – as an incentive not to put weight on again, and some old books and Apple accessories. Still have loads more to list, and loads to sell at a car boot, but I learned from last time that if you have everything finish on ebay at the same time and it all sells then you have a mountain of packing and posting to do.

Yesterday was my Mum’s Birthday so I was up and out early to buy a cake and flowers – her real present is when we go to Urban Retreat next Sunday – so I just got her a little gift to open. It was only when I got the candles out that I realised I was missing a ‘D’. Luckily it didn’t matter, and the raspberry and coconut cake was yummy.

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31st May 2015
Live

A week is a long time…

It was a great week off work, though hanging out with nothing in particular to do took quite a bit of getting used to. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it was OK to Just Do Nothing.

In between long bouts of Doing Nothing I fitted in a visit to the garden centre, got my nails done, visited a local Vinyard, lunched at Nobu, did a trip to Harrods, a visit to the parents, celebrated my birthday, structured a new website and finished off the week of with a long lunch at our favourite restaurant, followed by cocktails and fun.

So really, we did quite A Lot while doing lots of Doing Nothing, when you look at it like that.

16th September 2014