Shaking all over SW6

From my extensive observations, I have concluded this: West Londoners love to dance. It is, after all, one of the key things that keeps the likes of Embargo 59, Raffles and Mare Moto heaving on several nights of the week. I have a secondary observation too: most West Londoners are pretty good at keeping in shape. I frequently experience sharp bouts of tube and pub body-envy, punctuated with stabs of regret at all those evenings when I have skipped the gym in favour of TV, chocolate, or aforementioned pub visit. So, by my not-so-considerable powers of logic, I have concluded this. I reckon there are a few West Londoners out there who would love Zumba.
















































This Monday I got my booty shaking (with varying degrees of success) with ZumbaFunk London, at Eddie Catz, Putney. Zumba derives from Colombian words for "move fast and have fun" and is a really enjoyable and energetic way to burn off some calories, jump about to some really upbeat Latin Pop (Shakira is a firm favourite - I had Waka Waka in my head for days afterwards!) and bust some serious moves. The classes are led by the irrepressible Rebecca Rogoff, possibly the owner of the widest smile in West London. She was great at getting everybody into the spirit, ensuring we all had fun and crucially encouraging us to keep going and enjoy ourselves even when we knew we looked more Comedy Central than J.Lo. I found some of the routines quite hard to master at first, as you move about pretty quickly. However, there is plenty of repetition and Rebecca was great about verbalising what you needed to be doing so by the end of each track I reckon I'd got the hang of it.


There was a real sense of community in the class. The sessions at Eddie Catz had only been going on about 6 weeks but Rebecca knew all her regulars' names and hobbies. Every detail had been considered: there are jugs and glasses of water for those of us too disorganised to pack a gym bag correctly (I'll put my hand up to that) and at the end of the class we were all treated to a moist scented towel to refresh ourselves after a sweaty workout. Little things like that make all the difference and I was pretty impressed.

If you're interested in giving Zumba a go, Rebecca holds classes at Eddie Catz (68-70 Putney High St) on Monday evenings at 7pm, or for parents and babies at 9.45am on Thursdays. Drop in classes are £7or you can buy a block of 6 classes to obtain a discount.
Contact Rebecca at @ZumbaFunkLondon or visit their Facebook page here.

Flex 'em young

As regular readers of our blog and Twitter will know, we've become veritable yogis recently (well, wannabe ones) and I've been particularly taken by Hot Bikram Yoga. With a bit of tenacity and lots of sweat I've really noticed an improvement in my flexibility and I've come to almost enjoy it. I certainly look forward to it.

I always struggled with my flexibility, even when I was little, and so I notice with interest that my local SW6 bikram studio, Hot Bikram Yoga, are offering yoga classes for kids. Bikram yoga teacher Naomi Clark explains on the HotBikramYoga blog, that Bikram Choudray took himself (the founder of Bikram yoga) started yoga at the age of 3 and how her yoga classes in local schools have been a remarkable success, with kids learning to concentrate more deeply and to blow of steam in a fun, expressive yet non-competitive way.

Naomi has been teaching Bikram Yoga for 10 years and kids yoga for 5, and next week she'll be teaching her first few yoga classes at the Fulham Hot Bikram Yoga studio.

Date: Thursday 16th February

Place: Hot Bikram Yoga, Parsons Green: 25 Heathman's Road, London SW6 4TJ

Time: 2.15-2:45pm for 4-8 year olds
         3-3:30pm for 8-10 year olds

Parents will be asked to wait in the reception area and have a cup of tea whilst your kids enjoy the class. Please bring a bottle of water for your child.

Classes cost £7.50 and you booking details are here.

Pizza worth crossing the river for

Ok so Melanzana is not technically in SW6, but is a hop, skip and a jump over the bridge by Battersea Square, or a bus ride if you’re feeling less energetic. My mother lives in Battersea and occasionally I have to pacify her by coming ‘south of the river’ (eek!). Melanzana is in the 'posh' part of Battersea, for those who are not familiar, anywhere between the park and river is fabulous, Battersea Park Road and south...less so. 

                                        

This Trattoria opened relatively recently and has since become a firm local Italian favourite with its neighbours. The decor is rustic chic, tables are packed closely together and the atmosphere is informal and buzzy. It is the perfect place to escape to on a cold winter’s evening and share a bottle of Italian red wine by candlelight. The delicatessen is groaning with cheeses, hams, oils and all things Italian and delicious. If that’s not enough to get you in the mood the olives are to die for, they were so fat and juicy I could have eaten 100. 

                                       

We decided on the prawn and calamari special and grilled vegetables to start. The calamari was really excellent- perfectly succulent, crisp and by no means oily or chewy. The vegetables were grilled in what tasted like delicious truffle oil and were really flavoursome. 

                                       

My mother, somewhat of a truffle fiend opted for the truffle and ricotta ravioli in truffle sauce for her main course. She said it was a little too salty but the ravioli was perfectly cooked. Deciding to ditch the January diet I went for the Capricciosa pizza which was huge and absolutely mouth-wateringly fantastic. 

                                       

Melanzana is truly authentic- the staff are Italian, the wines are Italian and the service is Italian! It’s reasonably priced compared to similar restaurants in Chelsea and the pizza alone is well worth coming South of the river for.