Aubaine, Dover Street

A blue macaron to celebrate the, hashtag, RoyalBabyBoy!

Wearing: Tee – T by Alexander Wang. Tartan trousers – Zara. Slingback heels – Lucy Choi. Bag – JinYoo103684. Watch – Sekonda. Gold bangles – ASOS. Thank you Kit for helping with the outfit shots!

This is where I take all my meetings to, and possibly also the reason I make meetings for. Client meetings, PR meetings, blind dates, sword duels, eBay item handovers… husband looks up from the sofa and asks ‘what are we having for dinner?‘, I’m glad you asked dear, shall we convene at Aubaine to discuss whether the chicken needs to be defrosted or will it be the Indian takeaway again?-meeting. Back when I was on student budget I used to visit Selfridge’s to fondle Louboutins and contemplate not eating for a month but then I’d catch a whiff of the croissants from Aubaine and I’d go pffft and splurge on a creamy latté instead. It would be a decision that allowed for a merry month of eating pot noodles and being a happy student. I believe it was actually around the time I could afford my first Louboutins a year or two back when they opened another branch on Dover Street, I braved the lunch menu and fell straight in love. If you treat yourself to breakfast, you must try the duck eggs omelette with Ugie smoked salmon and horseradish crème fraîche; for lunch, the Lobster spaghetti. I’ve never been for dinner but I imagine it won’t be long till the hubby and I have a meeting there about who will do the laundry and I can sneakily convince him to stay and eat.

This is not a sponsored post, I just like sharing nice places with you.

Jumpsuit – Topshop. Heels – Zara. Rose-gold star necklace – MyFlashTrash. Sunglasses & Bag – c/o Couronne. Watch – Sekonda. Gold bangles – ASOS. Friendship Bracelet – DIY (similar here). Belt – Marni (via the Outnet); Ring – Michelle Oh; Thank you Charlie for helping with the photos.

Let this be my humble attempt at inquiring what ze heck is up with this weather by going into the boiler room with a wrench. Apparently, according to practice, the most appropriate attire to such assignment is either a boiler suit or a beer company t-shirt + paint-stained khakis combo, and since I’m off beer for, like, THE REST OF MY LIFE after spilling it all over my laptop the other day, I’m going with the jumpsuit option. It’s surprisingly comfortable! But I won’t speak for the poor man who missed his chance to overtake me in a narrow street and could not help but to witness the series of wedgie un-doing.  As for the weather, I’m really not too sure what’s wrong – my theory is that the thermostat plastic melted onto a permanent state of 32°C (90°F). The manuals were clear though, on claiming I am just one ungrateful bastard for complaining about this beautiful summer weather. I do apologize. Alas, I did do some good banging around with the wrench (The stud-embossed Couronne bag does a fantastic tool-bag make) and now there’s a thunderstorm outside, which means I may have either fixed it or broken it further. We shall see.

Brunch spot: Ozone

Green Sweater – COS. Jeans – James Jeans. Bag – Kurt Geiger. Leather knot bracelet – COS. Gold coral ring – Michelle Oh. Watch – Sekonda. Slingback heels – Zara. Tartan shirt – Motel Rocks. Bar necklace – Kirsten Goss Urban Edge.

While the first half of my twenties can be illustrated with cheap pleather shoes of varying glue smells and £4 Covent Garden jacket potatoes, the second half is decidedly turning out to be a compulsive, obsessive hunt for the best weekend brunch spots in town – as if life depended on pancakes. That and deleting emails like it’s a sport. Life does depend on pancakes, what am I talking about. There’s also the worshiping of coffee – as if I know what ‘good’ coffee is meant to taste like. Apparently the more it tastes like Chinese herbal medicine the better, where you cringe at the sip but nod ferociously like you know what it means… although, in my book, vending machine coffee is pretty agreeable too so I guess anything with caffeine is a winner. Ozone in Shoreditch has been our latest sweetheart spot for weekends, dedicated mainly to roasting and brewing sustainable, artisan coffee but also does a mean eggs benedict. Plus, the open kitchen also means brunch usually becomes more of a bLunch after a few ‘can I have whatever he’s making’. Despite the name that sounds like a 90’s underground club, and the exterior that doesn’t promise much of an interior, it’s definitely one of those Londoner’s secrets that hide in plain sight.

Dishoom London: an homage to the now-fading Irani cafés in Bombay

Lamb Samosas

Dishoom Chicken Tikka and Garlic Naans

Vada Pau

Mango Kulfi on a stick and Pineapple and black pepper crumble

Trenchcoat – H&M Trend. Bag – Kurt Geiger ‘Deuce’. Grey jeans – Urban Outfitters. Shoes – Topshop. Plaid Shirt – Uniqlo Mens. Grey cardigan – Barbour. Watch – Sekonda.

We fit right in, Joanna and I, at Dishoom, inspired by Irani cafes that existed in abundance in Bombay at the turn of the 20th Century, those which welcomed practically everyone regardless of social class or occupation. So we fit right in, because alongside memories of wealthy Bombay businessmen dining next to the struggling rickshaw-puller and the whore, there was us, two girls that knew no more than the ABC’s of Indian cuisine, asking the waiter what samosas look like. To those seasoned Londoners who add to the national statistic of curry being one of Britain’s most popular foods, our choices may seem unusual, but apparently Dishoom prides in being, not an Indian restaurant but, a Bombay Cafe. Everything is designed to share and each person is recommended to order 2 – 3 dishes. The food come in concise portions, each rich in flavour and character, or in other words, DI-SHOOM.* Interiors designed by Russel Sage (who’s also done Zetter Townhouse, The Hospital club…), I’m transported straight into an exotic world that is also oddly nostalgic despite the fact that I’m the dunce that doesn’t know what samosas look like. Don’t let the hype/commercial reputation (their other branch is in Covent Garden theatre district) deter you, especially the Shoreditch branch with the beautiful courtyard already littered with sofas and benches, I’ll be out there with a Bollybellini come July. For now, try the bottomless spiced chai, Behl and the Pineapple and black pepper crumble as dessert.

*Bollywood version of Ka-Pow!

Leather knot bracelet – COS. Watch – Sekonda. Wallet – Stella McCartney Falabella wristlet (c/o Harrod’s)

Studded boots – Chloé Susan (c/o Net-A-Porter). Shoes – ASOS

Coat – Mango. Jeans – James Jeans. Cashmere sweater- Uniqlo. Shoes – ASOS. Bag – Kurt Geiger Rhubarb rock. Snood – DIY Knitted. Silver necklace – Gift from mummy (Korea)

Sometimes I forget that my ‘normal’ friends have no idea I’ve been blogging for the past four years, and by blogging I mean scrambling around in a hamster-wheel charging for the vague unknown, and generally being occupied full-ish time doing so. I didn’t plan on letting this define my life, and if I still have a say, I’d like it not to, but I’m slowly starting to realise that I’ve subscribed to a very particular brand of lifestyle brought on by this business of web logging. It all became clear, really, when Carrie and I went to Paris for a night (yes, girl-on-girl details if you come back after midnight, you know it) for a small project with YSL Beauté, and all throughout I had this odd sense of comfort. The type of comfort that comes with the fact that I can hand her my camera and then pose as if the camera isn’t there, or the fact that we’ve mentally agreed on meeting at my room in twenty minutes, fully dressed and ready for some outfit shots. She will know exactly why we’re going out on a five-mile walk in 4-inch heels with a pair of foldable flats in our bags, and why I insist on hovering over our rapidly-cooling crêpes that we waited half a frozen hour to get our hands on for the sake of a photo (which, as you can see, didn’t even make the cut). Is this all getting a bit weird? Are we perhaps editing ‘the moment’ and never enjoying it as is? With that said, I had a swell time with Carrie and the YSL Beauté team, and Paris is even more stunning in the autumn.