Top 5:

• Riding House Cafe: Nice vibes and a great place to go as a group. Hire out one of the rooms downstairs and then enjoy a cocktail back up top.
  • Best dish - Steak, and Chips

• Maroush Express: Lebanese food at its best and quickest too. The wraps here are amazing and before you devour them, have some of their hummous and taboulleh.
  • ​Best dish - lamb or chicken shawarma wrap

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• 35 Cavendish: Italian food served with elegance and abundance. Their 100 layer lasagna is amazing and classy
  • Best dish - Quinoa with Prawn Taboulleh - random but great

• Pachamama: Good Peruvian food in London. Classic dishes done well and great cocktails to match. I'm upset I haven't been back.
  • ​Best dish - Fried Aubergine with smoked yoghurt

• Patty & Bun: A Top 10 burger joint in London easily. Their burgers give me fond memories and their chicken wings Top 3 in London. OMG = for sure
  • ​Best dish - I'm going for the chicken wings- fall of the BONE amazing!

I recently went on holiday to Kalkan, Turkey with my family. This trip was planned last year and was with 15 of my family members, from cousins and uncles to aunties and second cousins too.

We had a villa to share, so this meant visits to restaurants were slightly limited, as we had a BBQ and kitchen.
Before we went, I spoke to my colleague who goes quite frequently and he recommended a few places, so I had to try out his suggestions.

Top5 in Kalkan that I visited are:

• Hunkar: Kebab house with all your meaty needs. No alcohol served, but food is the priority and all you need. The Mixed Grill serves up all the classics
  • Best dish – The mixed grill, make sure doner meat is there too
    
    

• Marina Restaurant: Situated at the start of the promenade, this restaurant offers good seafood and meat selection. All food types were of high quality and for a good price
  • Best dish – Grilled sea bass and a good mezze to start 
    
    
• Doy Doy: We visited here on our first night, a great start to the holiday with good food and a nice view of the harbour too
  • Best dish – Seafood platter which is ideal for sharing
    
    
• Gusto: Although a restaurant which does a bit of everything (sometimes not a good thing), the service and dessert were really tasty. Get some baklava to finish for sure
  • Best dish – Baklava to end on a sweet note
    
    
• Kleo Bar: I had to give a special mention to this bar as they looked after us so well during a thunderstorm. After I lost half a beer, they gave me a new one- Superstars

A lovely sunny trip with the town offering delights for all. It was a bit tricky to go to all the places and restaurants with a one-year-old, but I would thoroughly recommend.
Thank you, Kalkan.
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My new neighbourhood and home, Enfield. What do you have for me?
Enfield is my home now and I have seen enough where I think I know which restaurants are good and not. The options are plentiful but only a handful stand out for me; these are:

Add to this, the growing delivery options and McDs on UberEATS too, it means I can be lazy and still get some good food too. Ada Restaurant and Mr. Chippy get the thumbs up from me.
Home is where the heart is and my heart is intrinsically linked to my belly and mouth. So it is important that I have good food locally. AND I DO!

I used to live in Crouch End. Now that I have moved, I do miss it very much.
There is a good selection there and I feel like it was improving too. So, to anyone thinking of living in or near Crouch End, please see my Top 5

Other special mentions go out to:  

1. Blue Legume: great for breakfast too and special nights with Paella. 
2. Chicken Shop with Dirty Burger: there has to be a burger
3. Irvine- purely based on a a colleagues recommendation.

The locals love the food here and i will miss it greatly. Deliveroo, please please please; do expand your boundaries and zones.

West London is lovely (and Pricey). As always it depends where you can afford, recently, Kings Road and Chelsea are being dominated by restaurant chains. Some of these include Busaba Eathai, Wagamama and a few more.
I like these places but luckily have been to a few other places and tasted some great food.
Please see my Top 5 below.

The Painted Heron: A lovely restaurant on Cheyne Walk, where Mick Jagger used to live. Quality Indian Food by Chef Yogesh Datta, with great service and lots of highlights, from the Main course to Dessert.
Worlds End Market: Meat or Fish in high quality in this old pub. A good experience within a good venue. The drinks menu is also up there and you could easily stay after dinner to soak up the atmosphere.
Vicino Restaurant: Homemade Italian style cooking, with a signature dish of Lobster Linguine. Garlic is there in abundance and it is all about simple cooking done well.
Big Easy: The Home of the American BBQ in London and the UK. This site is one of the originals and brings you big platters of seafood or smoked meats. The lunchtime deals are also well worth a try for good value.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay: My first time experiencing a 3 star Michelin restaurant and it was good. I am not sure if it is worth the price, but I didn’t pay. Go for the full service and being treated like a mini-celebrity. The food isn’t too bad either.

Great restaurants which attract a certain clientele. those with money. In most instances, you get what you pay for and with these five that is the case.
Let me know what you think.

Once dubbed as the foodie place in  London by yours truly, Fitzrovia is a happy place for all foodies.
Continuing where Soho finishes, Fitzrovia and especially Charlotte Street provide a variety of restaurants and fast food joints for all lovers of food.
The definition of Fitzrovia is quite loose here, so I have spread out a bit, towards Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street, but sort of within the area.
​Check out the 5 below.

Oh London, thank you so much.These great places can hurt and empty your wallets, but for the most part, you get what you pay for.
Fitzrovia caters to the media with its fancy restaurants and bars. Good quality and a destination in town for all foodies., this really is the place to be.

This Top 5 was a bit difficult for me on my own, so I enlisted the help of a few friends. Thanks Oran.

• Stokey Bears – Of course there are going to be Burgers. Award-winning Burger Bear got his first permanent residence in Stoke Newington. A good burger that unfortunately had to have a finish. I enjoyed every bite.
  • Best Dish – Grizzly Bear burger- they bacon is a treat 
    
    
• Rasa Travacone: A different take on the curry, but very welcome. South Indian flavours which embrace their heritage but also their colonial ties too. Lamb puff pastry, battered prawns and dry meat some great dishes.
  • Best Dish – dry meat 
    
    
• L’antica Pizzeria Da Michele: From the home of Pizza and the originals. L’Antica bring their Simple Pizza from Naples to the delight of Londoners. 
  • Best dish – simple & effective, Margherita
    
    
• Mangal Ocakbasi 1:  one of the first Turkish bbq restaurants in London and remains one of the best. Perfectly spiced and cooked meats served with freshly baked flatbreads, rice, salad and house-made dips. Don’t be put off by the fact the restaurant looks like a ….. (Thanks Oran for the kind words)
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• Yeni Umut 2000:  Great value and great quality, good meat, no doner kebab. The meat was cooked perfectly on top of the charcoal, the charred bits, the smokiness and the crisp bites of tender meat all went down so easily. Succulent, juicy and so delicious, the food tasted really fresh and not oily or fatty at all. 
  • Best Dish – Mixed Grill to share, get the best of all

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The locals love the food and the food is for the locals.
People are more than happy to travel for good food. When the food is quality than this doesn’t become an issue. Also, when you tell people you are going to Stoke Newington, your cool factor immediately goes up.
BOOM

Did I tell you that I love the food in London. This last week alone, London has three restaurants featured in the San Pellegrino World's Best 50 restaurant list; these include The Ledbury, Clove Club and Dinner by Heston. Not Bad.

So now onto focusing on a new area of London: Angel/Islington.
​The area that gives us the third longest escalator in Europe at 60m as well as having more restaurants than days of the year- narrowing this list to five will be difficult.

• Prawn on the Lawn - Fresh seafood in the heart of London. Ceviche, Crab, Mussels and Lobster. Rick Toogood and his wife Katie aim is to bring sustainable fresh seafood to Londoners and definitely succeed. A small restaurant so book early.

• ​Smokehouse - By Neil Rankin and the Noble Inns group gives you smoked meat from their speciality Egg cooker for our delight. From brisket to Pork and Lamb and an amazing shortrib bourguignon; the smokey delights are a must. Oh and they have over 80 beers on their list (20 on tap and 60 bottles). BOOM

• Ottolenghi - I have never had the pleasure of eating in, however the queue inside and out is indication of its quality. Getting there take away boxes full of vibrant salads with amazing flavours and ingredients mean you won't miss out.  This is up there across London for good food.

• Akari - Japanese food in a pub. The venue can be deceiving but take a peek inside and look at the food and you will get quality. Black cod and great sushi, what more do you want. Located on Essex Road, Akari is a popular choice for the locals and i can see why.

• MEATliqourN1 - a burger joint for sure. One of the originals, the MEATliqour crew moved closer to me and are on Upper street, hence the N1. Great burgers, such as the Dead Hippie, a great Chicken burger and even a Halloumi burger go great with their amazing cocktails. WINNING.