For The Love of Life!

I meant to write this blog post a while ago but life got in the way...  It's a review of a FANTASTIC pop-up restaurant I went to in Clapham at the end of last month.  Keep your eye on the FTLOL website to see if/when they do another pop-up because it is well worth going.

For the Love of Life at Tony's has got to be one of the best meals out that I have had in a long time - and I go to a lot of restaurants!

They had made Tony's (a fantastic greasy spoon in it's own right) into a quirky and cosy little restaurant with fresh flowers, candles and mismatched cutlery and crockery on each table.

The staff were friendly and helpful, not to mention skilful in navigating their way around the tiny cafe! It was BYOB and they kept all the white wines in massive bucket on the counter but never needed to be reminded which bottle belonged to which table... 

The food was absolutely delicious. I started with asparagus with a deep fried soft boiled egg which was cooked to perfection (never a certainty with asparagus). There were lots of murmurs of "how do they do that?" relating to the fact that the egg was perfectly soft boiled on the inside and perfectly deep fried on the outside - too much for our booze addled brains to make sense of!

Next up was a delicious (and not too rich/filling) parpadelle with basil but the star of the show had to be the desert... 

My table all opted for the doughnut station. A sort of DIY doughnut extravaganza with giant syringes of melted chocolate, crème Anglaise and strawberry jam. Not only did the doughnuts melt in the mouth but the whole humour of the doughnut station captured the relaxed and unpretentious attitude of FTLOL at Tony's. The food, the service, the atmosphere were all fantastic but there was none of the gastro-snobbery you sometimes find at pop-ups. 

Their aim was clearly to make sure that we (the punters) had a fantastic evening. Mission accomplished!

If FTLOL decide to do another pop-up restaurant then the team at the GDG would suggest you book it ASAP. The delicious food and the great atmosphere are perfect for a date, and ladies, the brownie points you'd get for agreeing to take your date to a greasy spoon will go a long way!

The Bad Date Blog

Some more words of wisdom from our unlucky in love Bad Date Blogger, who made the fatal mistake of mixing burning hot oil with a third date...

So you’ve hopefully read my last blog and arrived at your date safely and in one piece but what now? The age-old question of what to do on a first date is a good one and should be thought through carefully… very carefully! Many a potential relationship has stalled due to over-ambitious or over-complicated dates so just watch it when coming up with a plan.

BAD DATE BLOG PART 2 - ACTIVITY AND ENTERTAINMENT

A fine example of this is my infamous Pancake Day date that seemed like such a good idea on paper and just went from bad to worse. It was a third date I think and the man in question wanted to cook me dinner. Excellent, I thought, there’s nothing more attractive than a bloke who can cook. I then realised that he’d suggested Shrove Tuesday so I said ‘Great, you cook dinner, I’ll do pancakes for dessert!’

It started rather well; I arrived at his flat and was pleasantly surprised to see it was a relatively girl-friendly zone. You never know what to expect when venturing into the man’s domain for the first time but his place was really nice, no beer can sculptures in the corner or Hollyoaks calendars on the walls – phew!

Wine was swiftly provided (the easiest way to make me feel at home) and he set to work in the kitchen. It all smelt delicious until a plate of suspiciously pink chicken was presented on the table in front of me. Right – what to do? Should I tuck in and hope for the best, or point it out and probably offend the chef? Is food poisoning ever sexy…? Too late to decide; he quickly spotted the problem and whisked my plate away, suggesting we move straight onto pancakes.

A lucky escape and it meant moving straight onto the fun part of the date – I mean how could anyone not love a bit of batter action? So the eggs were in the bowl, the oil was heating in the pan and a flipping challenge was quickly thrown out there by my date. Not being one to back down I limbered up and went for the full 360 degree flip. It might have been a slightly over-zealous attempt as I shot red-hot oil straight into my date’s eye who started screaming and holding his face in agony! ‘I’m blind! I’m blind!’

He quickly calmed down, as it must have occurred to him that his girlish screams were probably not attracting the lady, and suddenly manned up. But the damage had been done and any chance for romance got smaller and smaller as his eye got redder and redder!

It seemed a tactical retreat was the only answer so I made my excuses and left him to his eye bath. Funnily enough there wasn’t a fourth date – apparently some men just don’t like it when their dates maim them - what is the world coming to?

Written by our lovely, anonymous, bad date blogger!

Dating in the dark….

This month, the lovely Sarah Finley (of The Loves and Life of a London Girl fame) is back to tell us about the perils of a blind date - literally!

Blind dates are one thing... You know the sort – when a friend tells you they have the perfect match for you and visa versa. Then you turn up and realise you would have preferred to have spent the evening with a lion at feeding time. So actual blind dating could be quite hazardous. Step up Dans Le Noir – a restaurant in London were you’re actually sat, eating your meal, in complete darkness.

Sounds scary, huh? Well it’s not as bad as it sounds actually. I had the pleasure of visiting it last year with friends and loved the experience. After being led into a darkened room by blind waiters you’re left to enjoy a surprise menu, and hopefully not get the contents of your plate all down your front.

But going on a date in a darkened restaurant, now that’s another thing. So when a potential first date suggested it I wondered what sort of loon I’d been set up with. I didn’t even reply to him, let alone date him. Fast forward six months and into a particularly bad dating drought and I thought, ‘why not?’ – What’s the worst that could happen?

Well a lot of things actually – a slight pause in conversation could feel like an eternity of awkwardness, a mistaken red wine spill could end in a disastrous date outfit and don’t get me started on mistaken identity – what if you end up speaking to the wrong date all night?

Thankfully I didn’t encounter any of these – phew! But walking into a darkened room with a virtual stranger did seem slightly odd. Fumbling around in the dark is usually at least third date territory - so being plunged into darkness and left to almost fend for your self from date numero uno is, I suppose, a little mad!

But there are some upsides of dating in the dark. Because when your date can’t actually see you it gives you the perfect opportunity to throw that first date dinner etiquette out of the window. Instead of sitting there politely cutting your meal likes it’s a delicate flower you can tuck your napkin in your t-shirt and dig in with your hands - without your date thinking you’re a complete slob. And that’s exactly what I did – well nobody’s exactly going to know, are they?

Thankfully the experience didn’t scar me for life or give me a fear of the dark. But just like the cinema, maybe Dans le Noir isn’t quite first date material. A first date is all about sussing them out – reading their body language, using eye contact and flirting, and you can’t really do that when you’re in the dark – can you?

So by all means date in the dark and enjoy dinner in the dark – but maybe enjoy your first date, with who ever it is, somewhere where you can actually see them.

By Sarah Finley

Read more of Sarah’s dating tales at http://thelovesandlifeofalondongirl.blogspot.com/