It was acceptable in the 80's...

Girls Friday night rolled around yet again and keen to lift the spirits following a week filled with desk hours, bosses, early mornings and rainy days we decided that some 80's fun was the answer and so Maggies it was! This establishment on the Fulham Road has been a roaring success since its opening last April attracting a fun and stylish crowd from the neighbouring South West boroughs. The small boutique club's decor is a mishmash of 80's culture drawing on cultural, political and artistic influences, culminating in a serious throwback to the 80's. The fluorescent rubik cube decor is suitably complemented by the freestyling musicians that accompany the funky DJ greeting clubbers to the main room upon arrival. 

The crowd was unfortunately predominately female during our visit, we arrived at 11.30pm and the dancefloor was already heaving with party goers (possible hen groups) throwing some shapes to the favourite 80's classics. Tequila shots and gin and tonics followed until we were itching to hit the dancefloor and blow off a week's worth of steam. Inhibitions suitably dropped, we soon joined the masses of  women dolled up to the nines dancing like no one was watching until our feet practically bled. I will definitely be returning to Maggies- it's fun, cool, smart and makes for a perfect girls night out.

 

Sake No Hana - great food and location, mediocre service

I admit that the whole furore surrounding this place had totally passed me by. To the extent that, when looking to book a cheap Wednesday night dinner with friends, and spotting it on the Tastecard listings, I assumed it must have been a much cheaper affair than it actually was. After all, TasteCard doesn't usually offer you deals on anywhere remotely fancy! I didn't follow through to the restaurant website (poor research I know) and was rather mortified when I turned up, having promised the girls a quick, and cheap, bite to eat, courtesy of my 50% discount.

Nonetheless, the surprise ended up being less embarassing, are more fabulous. Luckily, despite the dinner being scheduled the day before pay day, everyone was so excited by how goddam GORGEOUS this place is, that we barely registered the prices.

Sake No Hana is situated in what looks like a commercial building just off Picadilly, near Green Park. There is an intimate, low-lit cocktail bar on the ground floor (drinks from £9.50... I'm afraid we passed!), and to reach the main restaurant you go up a floor either by lift or escalator. Riding the escalator felt like entering a trendy nightclub, all black lacquered walls and low-lighting. Once you emerge onto the first floor you are greeted by an open sushi-kitchen and a minimalist but luxuriously designed restaurant, with the emphasis on sculptural woods (especially gorgeous was the wooden design suspended from the ceiling), and sleek furniture in varying hues of white.

Unfortunately, it transpired that my 50% off deal did not apply to the sushi and sashimi, which is unfortunate in a Japanese restaurant, but again it was my fault for not doing the research as on post-meal inspection this was clearly advertised on the TasteCard website. Not that it mattered, of the four of us, three ordered Japanese mains.

The food, when it arrived (and it arrived as soon as it was ready - I understand this might be the Japanese way but I do think expensive restaurants should make the effort to make sure food arrives together) was absolutely delicious. I order Tonkatsu Pork on a bed of white cabbage, whilst two of my friends ordered the seared tuna salad. The last clearly couldn't control her sushi cravings for the sake of her wallet and went for a selection of, very expensive but divine-tasting, handrolls, maki and futomaki. The food was also beautifully presented on dark slates - I know this is not the most original, but I do think it looks good. However, the service was less than brilliant. I think we might have ended up with a bit of a rookie, newby waitress but she tried to bring us somebody elses food on three occasions, didn't know which plate was meant to go to each diner, and we did have to request a glass of wine three times over. However, on debating the service charge with the restaurant manager, he was extremely professional about the whole thing, removing the 13% charge (ouch!) without fuss.

All in all, we had a wonderful experience, and the few hiccoughs didn't spoil the evening for us. Although, admittedly the experience probably seemed even better because we were totally unaware of any of the hype surrounding this place, and had been expecting somewhere on a different scale completely. Plus, we were long over-due a catch up!



 

Spicy Chili to nurse a February cold @ Coopers Arms

I had heard about the Coopers Arms from Jess and had also seen its regular tweets online and so when my bessie suggested a cheap and cheerful mid week supper we decided to give it a go. We were both quite broke and I had a streaming cold so their specialty chili con carne seemed like the perfect antidote to a miserable February evening.
The pub itself boasts a prime location just off the Kings Road on Flood Street, but I wouldn't say that it is quite in the same league as some of its swankier sisters such as the Builders Arms or the Phoenix. However, we weren't in the mood for swanky, we were in the mood for relaxed and low key. The service was really excellent and efficient, this might have had something to do with my pre dinner tweets to them, but it worked and we were very well looked after. The pub itself was quiet and not as atmospheric as we would have liked, there were a few men drinking pints and reading the paper.

I have heard that this is not that case at the weekend-I would imagine come Sunday lunch time there is quite a lively scene of Chelsea residents enjoying a roast and a bloody mary.
Once my initial medicine of a very nice white wine from their impressive wine list kicked in and my throat was suitably anesthetized I was thrilled to be served what the doctor really ordered, spicy chili con carne. The portions were generous and the quality of the food was good (you would hope so at £12 a main course) but hey it's Chelsea you can't really expect less. My bessie had the specialty prawn penne which was deliciously garlicky and and I devoured a plate of hot chili con carne. We were a little taken aback by the final bill but nevertheless trotted off merrily full of wine and hot food into the grizzly February night.