A Little Bit of Paris Zest

Paris is just as amazing as everyone says. After returning from a mini break in the city of Love, I can confidently make the claim that Paris is the most magical city in the world. Don't get me wrong, London is my new home and I have embraced it as the new city of my heart. But Paris oozes class and elegance. It is the hub of all that is fashion, art and food. There is no point in denying it. Paris is simply put, the one and only capital of cool. And the more I return, the more I play around with the idea that I might eventually move there to live. I'm consistently charmed by Paris. Overwhelmed by all of its quirks, weirdnesses and character flaws. And because Paris is so full of flaws, I love it. Because Paris is so full of flaws, and I accept myself as a flawed French American girl, I can't help but daydream about a future life within its beautiful city walls. This is why, after much thought and consideration, I have decided to put a list together that would summarize, in a typically London Zest Top 10 fashion, my favourite zesty activities and spots in the future city of my heart, Paris.

1. For an all around fantastic shopping experience: Le Bon Marche has everything to offer, from cosmetics and menswear, to high end designers and a fantastic selection of ladies pret a porter. Vanessa Bruno, APC, Maje, Sandro and Tsumori Chisato, the racks of this 19th century monument offer an exciting array of contemporary fashion.

Le Bon Marche, Rue de Sevres, 6eme Arrondissement

 

2. For some fancy food shopping: if you're a bourgeois lady heading to the shops to prepare for a dinner party in your Haussman style palace apartment, then you'll probably love to come to La Grande Epicerie inside Le Bon Marche, for your foie gras and epicerie items. It truly is Alibaba's cave when it comes to the delicacies a gourmet supermarket can offer.

La Grande Epicerie, Rue de Sevres, 6eme Arrondissement

3. For some uber-cool neighborhood boutique shopping: visit le Marais, 3e arrondissement. As usual it started all with the gays. It turns out, it is now the hippest shopping neighborhood in Paris. You'll find the upmarket labels like Isabel Marant (my fave!) and you'll also spot some reasonably priced quirky shoe boutiques like Mellow Yellow.

Isabel Marant, Rue Debelleyme, 3eme Arrondissement

4. For the best rose and people watching: La Palette is the epitome of Parisien bobo (bourgeois boheme) style, elegance and nostalgia, where The APC-clad youngsters and hipsters circle and dot this perfectly sectioned terrasse of the super hip 6eme arrondissement.

 La Palette, Rue de Seine, 6eme Arrondissment

5. For a scrumpscious "burgers and hipsters" combo: also located in Le Marais 3eme arrondissement, Cafe Charlot houses the best burgers in town if you're feeling like being kooky in the homeland of Coq au Vin and Poulet Frites. Order it with a side of freaking good looking people, dressed to impress the crowds of this delightful little cafe.

 Cafe Charlot, Rue de Bretagne, 3eme Arrondissment

6. For the best new hip restaurant to be and be seen: Le Derriere has "Cool New Hot Spot" written all over it. Industrially chic and fantastifally fashionable, this place loosely translated into "The Bottom (or behind)" is not only a fun people-watching venue but it also guarantees an ecclectic variety of fusion French dishes mixed with traditional fare. Un vrai delice is all I can say. Also, while you're there, don't forget to check outt he room behind the closet upstairs. Secrets are coveted in this mysterious little fumoir area.

Le Derriere, Rue des Gravilliers,  3eme Arrondissement

7. For some Paris by night: Le Curio Parlor is reminiscent of New York's Lower East Side Freeman's restaurant and bar. Taxidermy is not the only strange element you'll find in the curious parlour-type venue. Aside from stuffed foxes and pheasants hanging from the walls, you'll relish on some eccentric cocktails recipes and eye-poppingly gorgeous locals.

Curio Parlor, Rue des Bernardins, 5eme Arrondissment

8. For the best cheap eats: Situated smack in the middle of the Jewish quarter of Le Marais, L'As du Falafel has been a go-to favourite cheap-eats location of mine for years and I always recommend it to Paris visitors, looking for a bit of exotic food in their Parisien diet. This is by far the best falafel I've ever tasted. Try the Shwarma as well. While your breath will suffer for hours on end, the moment you bite into this little package of paradise, your mind will draw a blank as to where you even live.

L'As du Falafel, Rue des Rosiers, 3eme Arrondissement

9. For some tea and macaroons Parisien style: La Duree in Saint Germain des Pres, has been on my Top 10 list for a while. I'm a caramel macaroon fan and La Duree is the only answer to my sweet afternoon cravings.

La Duree, Rue Jacob, 6eme Arrondissement

10. For an afternoon nap in the sun: La Places des Vosges is in my mind, the most beautifully quaint slice of Parisien paradise. Lay yourself down with a novel in hand and doze off into a deep sleep under the warm Spring sun.

Place des Vosges, 3eme Arrondissement

Bye Bye 2009- A Retrospective of My Fave London Discoveries

Happy New Year, zesties! This year is going to be a good one. I am so excited to get into gear and accelerate into this new year, better yet, into this new decade, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, where I have yet to discover many many new places, gems and secret spots. My New Years resolution: continue on my quest for London Zest. But first, let me recollect on my favourite London discoveries of 2009.

1. My fave neighborhood: Though I live and breathe the Notting Hill life, Farringdon was by far my best 2009 discovery. Quirky, industrial and cool, it offers some of the hippest London restaurants, cafes and boutiques. St John's for a good old British dinner, Modern Pantry for a funky North London breakfast and Quality Chop House for the most bizarre and out of the ordinary steak dinner.

The Modern Pantry, Farringdon

2. My fave brunch: Bistroteque in Bethnal Green/Shoreditch is always my back-up brunch alternative when I am looking for a little jiggy jiggy. The food is delicious, the scrambled eggs and mushrooms are mouthwatering and the avocado on toast has won me over big time, while the musical background provided by the extravagant and bizarro restaurant pianist have made me a usual at this hot Shoreditch spot.

Bistrotreque, Shoreditch

3. My fave shop: Aime on Ledbury Road is the hub of all the designers that are cool (and somewhat affordable) in my book: Isabel Marant, APC, Vanessa Bruno etc. It's a mystery the shop is always nearly empty, when it's just off of Notting Hill's hip and posh-laden Westbourne Grove.

Aime, Ledbury Road, Notting Hill

4. My fave shoe brand discovery: Bloch Ballet flats are the most comfortable, adorable and affordable ballet flat on the planet, available at Bloch in Covent Garden, Liberty's and Selfridges.

5. My fave jewelry store: Kabiri in Marylebone. I have not yet found an equally diverse jewelry store in London. This eclectic shop offers some of the most original, creative and wearable pieces.

Kabiri, Marylebone High Street

6. 2009: the year of the bicycle: Wandering down the streets of Islington, I discovered London's, better yet, Britain's, most beautiful bicycle shop, Bobbin Bicycles. In this gem of a jewelry box, I found my Christmas present, the vintage, the gorgeous, the one and only Gazelle bicycle.

 

7. London, the land of tea parties: Sketch Tea Parlour and Liberty's Tea Room have given me a new appreciation for Britain's staple beverage and favourite afternoon activity.

Sketch Tea Parlour

8. My fave open market: Borough, of course. No further explanation required.

9. My one and only lunch destination: Leon's on Carnaby, Canvey and Regent Street, organic fast food joint, has me addicted to their Superfood Salad, Beef Chili and Carrot Juice.

10. My fave Notting Hill discovery: All Saints Road, with the yummy and neighborhood find, Italian Ripe Tomato restaurant, and the sweet and lovely The Jacksons, the gem find of the year, with the coolest boots.

A Little Bit of New York Zest

New York has been pretty awesome, what with the Christmas season being in full motion and all. And I've also just really enjoyed walking around Central Park, the Upper West Side and Chelsea, eating at my fave restaurants, shopping at my fave shops, breathing in the Christmas cheer, going to my fave museums, and just taking in all the cool things I used to love about New York. This is my top 10 list of everything from food, shops, walks and cultural bits that make New York, for me, a special and unique place in the world.

1. Best skyline view/ sunset walk: The most beautiful walk and view in New York takes place on the Brooklyn Bridge. I used to recommend this walk to all my friends/family that would come visit. The coolest thing to do is to take the subway to the other side of the bridge and walk (or bike!) back towards the city, at sundown when the skyline is a multitude of colorful patterns, lines and curves. That view, in my opinion, is the best view of the New York skyline.

2. Best neighborhood for an afternoon walk/shop/coffee stop: the Lower East has, over time, climbed its way to my favourite places to shop, walk around and grab a late afternoon coffee or early evening drink. Rivington, Ludlow, Essex and Norfolk are among the many funky shop-filled streets of the neighborhood.

3. Best dress shop: Honey in the Rough: my lovely and bubbly friend Ashley Hanosh's quirky and secret dress and accessories shop on Rivington Street offers the most fantastic and unique pieces for ladies with style and sass. Stop by for a lovely shopping experience and you will not leave empty handed. And that's a good thing.

4. Best banana pudding/cupcake: The Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery on Rivington Street will leave you salivating for more. The sweet smell of icing and banana cream will knock you over with excitement. I've never tasted such heavenly banana pudding or red velvet cupcakes- and I'm no fan of bananas nor have never been one to go on and on about red velvet cake, mostly cuz I never got where that funky color came from.

 

5. Best 2 Italian restaurants: Bar Pitti on Sixth avenue and Houston (Soho) followed by Malatesta Trattoria (West Village) both offer some simple and inexpensive Italian dishes and pastas. Bar Pitti has the people watching, while Malatesta just has a kick ass tiramisu. Your choice.

Bar Pitti, Soho/West Village

 

 Malatesta Trattoria, West Village

6. Best brunch: Bubby's in Tribeca. Best green eggs and ham and eggs benedict south of Houston. This legendary joint has much more to offer than a mile long queue and Harvey Keitel sitting in the back room chatting up the waitresses and sipping on his beer. It's a lively place, really, with some good ol' Southern American food, but some normal American food as well. 

7. Best burger: Shake Shack at Madison Square Park and the Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien Hotel. New York's 2 unmissable burger places, both located in the lower to midtown areas.

Shake Shack, Madison Square Park

8. Best cocktails: Little Branch on 7th avenue and Leroy Street, serves the most funky drinks ( a la Milk & Honey) from the vamped up Pimm's Cup (go Britannia!) to the classic but sexy Mojito, Trinadadian style: The Queens' Park Sizzle.

9. Best manicure/pedicure: and this is for us Londoners who can't get enough of the Vietnamese style mani/pedi, just cuz it's quick and dirty, cheap and chic. Iris Nail on Broadway between 10th and 11th, does the job just fine. You get a little MTV reality junk, with a side order of NYU students' gossip. Love it.


10. One more for the road- Best Borough Market New York equivalent: Chelsea Market (on 9th avenue between 15th and 16th) is the luxury version of a department store food court, offering a wide variety of different food joints, Lobster shacks, delis and grocery stores and also housing the famous Nicole Farhi store and restaurant, known to all us Londoners as 202. 

That's it for now, zesties. Heading to Paris tonight for some New Years celebrations. I hope the Christmas festivities were warm and fuzzy for all of you. Enjoy the New York Zest. In the meantime, LondonZest will be on hold til further notice:)

I've got the Salmon Skin Under My Skin

Inaho, Bayswater/Notting Hill's ultimate secret Japanese restaurant, has officially made it to my Top 10 favourite eating places, people. And if Kate Moss is a fan, well so am I. This is why she and I alike, have a thing for this quirky minuscule Klein-blue-walled Japanese eatery.

1. The food is excellent. The rolls are not too perfectly rolled that you pay too much attention to the look of them and less attention to their taste. The fish is fresh and tender. The soups, tempuras and meat dishes are all butter in your mouth. I can't stress it enough. The sushi is some of the best in London.

2. The place is so tiny that it only fits about 5 tables. I like a small cozy place. It makes me feel like I've been nominated to eat there. Sometimes, if I'm in a particularly happy mood, I feel like I could be leaving with an Oscar.

3. The "open" tag on the glass door hardly ever appears. "Closed" is a word I have become more familiar with, when walking past this curious looking blue hut everyday. Actually catching it during an "Open" moment can feel even more gratifying.

4. I've mentioned the quality of the food. Let me re-emphasize how good it is. The salmon skin roll is crunchy, fluffy and just scrumptious. Fluffy. And Crunchy. And scrumptious. Already said that. Yummy.

4. There is one waitress for "all" the tables. She runs around like a little goose with her head cut off trying her best to keep everyone in the mini restaurant as happy and excited as she is. She looks like a Japanese manga cartoon character. Am I stereotyping? She's awesome.

5. Again, it's all too freaking good.

6. The room steams up from the steamers and the cooking in the kitchen. The eating area looks like the set of an old Japanese 1950s movie inside. Weird kitsch objects hanging form the ceiling, Japanese and non-Japanese. Some funky drawings also hang from an eye-squinting Japanese farming landscape wallpaper. It's all very "In the mood for love" really.

7. The poeple-watching is priceless. Neighborhooders with an edge. People like Kate moss. People who come solo. People like you and me.

8. Can't give any more reasons to go. It's too pretty for words. Too good for a long-winded description. Just go. Book a table and go. Well make sure they're open, book a table and go.

Inaho, Hereford Road, Bayswater/Notting Hill

Viva Mexican Market Eating- A Night at Wahaca

Mexican food is sort of a delicacy here in London. You don't have an awful lot of it, Mexican restaurants are always tucked away in a dark and not very appealing alley somewhere by a random tube stop like Aldgate, and when you do come across it, it's pretty much a miss, hardly ever a hit. I know most of you US readers eat Mexican food at least once a week, seeing as Mexican food has pretty much become a staple American dish,  and the "grab n' go" Mexican food on your way home from work is rarely a disappointment...but for us, here in the beautiful Albion, a simple and tasty taquito is hard to come by. Decent guacamole is even harder to find, and don't even get me started on a decent pitcher of margarita.

 Wahaca, Covent Garden

That's why Wahaca, the Mexican eatery in Covent Garden (also to be found in White City and in Canary Wharf!) is a gem not to be missed. If you're feeling festive, happy and a bit oh lay lay, this is the place for you. Last week was about my fifth time at Wahaca, and let me tell you zesties, this places never disappoints. The snack and market style venue is a relaxed and excellent way to chill out after work with a large group of friends or even with that one very special friend of yours. 

The portions are generous (and so is the wait, but to me, a good sized queue pretty much guarantees an enjoyable evening), the margaritas and the delicious tequila cocktails have a unbeatable kick, and there for your pleasure while you wait to be seated, and the guacamole is like...avocado butter melting in your mouth, but with a pinch of sour lime and a smidgen of spicy red onions. Just for the guac, I swear by Wahaca.The place is vibrant with noise, sunny with South American accents floating in the air and the staff is always friendly. It made it to my Top 10, so it should make it to yours. 

Oh and haha, the churros with its choco dip...that's all I gotta say.

3 Things You Must Try This Holiday Season At Borough Market

There's something quite special and unique about Borough Market. First of all, there's breathing in all the wonderful scents of cheeses, baked breads and freshly roasted coffee and getting your nostrils all confused and perked up. Snacking and picking off sample trays from a random food stand when you're not even hungry. Standing in a mile-long queue for a sandwich containing some mysterious bird meat with lukewarm gravy and chunks of black pepper inside of it. Yeah, there's something quite special about Borough Market. No kidding though. I really love it. It's got some crazy quirks, and that's why it's in my good books.

Let me tell you this, though. Borough Market at Christmas time, is even special-er. Here are 3 things that make Borough Market a must-go-to destination during the Holiday season. So bundle up, time to go on an exotic Holiday field trip!  

Holiday treat # 1: The Thai Green and Red Curries. There's nothing like a little spice to make your Christmas extra exotic. Biiiig buckets o' curry, yummy yummy yummy!

Borough Market Green Curry

Borough Market Red Curry

Holiday treat # 2: The Ostrich Sandwich. The queue takes forever, but this is a delicacy you'll want to try at least once in your lifetime. So be patient, wait for your turn.

Borough Market Ostrich Sandwich

Holiday treat # 3: The mulled wine at BM is sweet and vicious. Again, this heavenly beverage is just the right amount of spices, cinnamon and alcohol. You'll sing hallelujas and hail marys all the way back home. Enjoy it with a brownie from the stand next door. If you're feeling particularly kooky, you might want to go for the good ol' dunk & eat combo. Brownie and warm wine! Yummmmmmy!

A Neighborhood of Hidden Yummy Treasures

My Notting Hill and West London friends are gonna kill me once they find out what I'm about to say... but I've gotta lay it out there...I've gotta just come out and say it. I've been falling in love with a different neighborhood than my own lately. It's been a serious crush, really. I'm talking about the cool, short-of-being-as-hip-as-Shoreditch, but raising-the-bar-in- comparison-to-Islington (sorry Islingtonites), awesome indutrial neighborhood of Farringdon. I know I know, most of you are thinking...who is this girl? Is she like...like some sort of alien who's just landed on planet earth or something? Farringdon has been around for the cool kids long before she (I) landed here! Yes, I know, I'm a little late in the game and I guess I kind of am some sort of alien. But hey, at least, I'm psyched.

Farringdon

I'm really psyched about Farringdon, my latest zesty discovery. And that's not only because it houses one of the most delirious and decadent places in all of London called Volupte Lounge (find more info in previous entry), but also because it is the home of 3 of London's most sought out yet underrated restaurants. And as you've probably figured it out by now, I'm pretty obsessed with restaurants... being a closet fat kid and all...

St Johns, Farringdon

The first one of these joints being (its sister restaurant is located in Spittalfields): St Johns . St Johns, on St Johns Street, is a truly cooky place. To prove to you just how cooky it is, I've decided to paste the description they've put up on their site just for giggles: St John Restaurant is a restaurant in London that is a London Restaurant. Saint John Restaurant also has another Restaurant called St John Bread and Wine, you could also call it Saint John Bread and Wine. These are both located in London, i.e. London in the United Kingdom, UK, England, Britain. St John Restaurant and St John Bread and Wine offer good food as they are a restaurant in London. St John Restaurant is located in Smithfield in London, this is next to farringdon, but Londoners call it Smithfield, because it is really Smithfield, not Farringdon. St John Bread and Wine is located in Spitalfields, thats strange - Smithfield and Spitalfields - they both are in London and have restaurants near there and the end in field! 

Anyways it goes on...I could continue, but you'd probably start browsing elsewhere...if you haven't done so already.

The Modern Pantry, London

The second one being: The Modern Pantry. This adorable restaurant will give your mumbling tummy goosebumps you won't even forget. Check them out online and book a table immediately for Saturday or Sunday brunch, dinner with the girls or a romantic date out on the town with the BF. Man, I'm salivating just writing about it. If you're not quite there yet, read this description the guys at Modern Pantry used to excite your palate! Modern comes from the Latin term modernus; pertaining to, or characteristic of the current period. It conjures up the excitement of something new, fresh and original. Pantry comes from the Latin word panis, meaning bread. A pantry is a cupboard or room which house the necessity of life...Together, these two words embody The Modern Pantry's philosophy: the desire to please and excite the palate by fusing everyday cooking with modern ingredients.

Lovely....

The Quality Chop House, Farringdon

The third and last but not least one being: The Quality Chop House: The steak tartare at this quirky restaurant is glorious and so are the other meats, veggies and British pies. And, the decor appears to be straight out of a movie set from a 19th century butcher shop....eery! For a little taste of their motto: The Quality Chop House is one of the rare survivor's of late nineteenth century working-class chop houses. London's literati and epicureans would meet and enjoy a plate of meat, bread and half a pint of ale for the modest sum of six pence. 

So go enjoy Farrgindon's delicious treasures! Then come back here and tell me how much you enjoyed them!