Calorie burning without the boredom

As everyone knows Jess and I are the first girls to put up our hands to try the latest fitness fad and love the variety that SW6 has to offer. Whilst Jess is a Bikram girl through and through I tend to mix up a combination of running (yawn) pilates and spinning. What I really crave though, is an exercise class that I look forward to going to and don't spend the day at my desk dreading. Heaving myself around the park for an hour in the dark following nine hours at my desk takes serious amounts of willpower and motivational encouragement from colleagues. 

However, I think I may have just found an alternative. Last week I visited Slice Studios. This pay as you go fitness studio is a novel offering in social fitness and dance classes, with an innovative selection including vitality-infused Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, 80s Aerobics, Holistic Fusion, Total Body Workout, Core Circuits, Workshops, Dance and Barre Workout classes.

The Slice payment structure works like an Oyster card, allowing fulhamites to suit their lifestyle/ schedule with pay-as-you-go classes with no commitments. The delightful Colby Hanks, a lifelong dancer and choreographer, was inspired to set up a place which drew its members in without being bullied into signing ridiculous binding contracts to then stand and queue for 10 minutes to use a clapped out old treadmill. 

It's ideal for those who, like me, flit between wanting a calorie busting circuit session to a relaxing yoga class and like to mix up workouts to avoid boredom. They are hosting a Launch Party this Thursday so locals can tour the studios and try every class they offer. There will be taster classes, goody bags and the chance to win a FREE six month unlimited membership - not bad!

**For our readers who can't make Thursday but like the sound of Slice, book in for a first free session by quoting 'SouthWestSix' when booking and see what you think!**

SLICE URBAN LIFESTYLE STUDIOS
11 Heathmans Road
London SW6 4TJ
PH: 020 7186 6007
Email: hello@slicefitness.co.uk

Veggie Vegan-izing

One of my favourite Saturday morning rituals is to make the walk from the Sands End to the North End Road, and spend a few hours picking up my groceries from the fabulous local market they have there. This is no posh farmers market (although there is a fabulous cheese stall, a place with oils and olives, the odd food cart and an excellent fish stall) - we're talking good, honest and super-cheap bowls of veg, real local traders and no frills. The queues are long but I like this way of shopping because it's an experience, you feel like you're helping the community and the slow pace and social atmosphere beats a trip to Sainsbury's hands down.

But I digress.... the point is, whilst I'm off feeling a bit eco, a bit community-spirited, super-duper healthy (I am, after all, lugging cart loads of vegetables about in resusable canvas bags - indulge me), I always feel a renewed impetus to try and act a bit more healthily in general. Then last week, I made a truly serendipitous discovery. Having ventured a few blocks further down the road, avidly plotting my new Gwyneth Paltrow-like existence, I came across 222 Veggie Vegan. I've never really considered going vegan, but those who know me well will remember various short-lived health fads: an obsession with quinoa, smoothies containing algae, a period through which I drank quite absurd amounts of green tea.

222 is absolutely nothing fancy at all - and I don't mean that in a pejorative sense. The space is small, the decor very plain, the food served from a small and crowded metal buffet bar (although, I understand that in the evening the candles come out and you can go a-la-carte). However, with an all-you-can-eat vegan lunch buffet at £7.50, you can't exactly expect white table cloths and atmospheric plant-life. And my goodness, this food was not the vegetable mush and abundance of tofu you might expect (and fear) of vegan cuisine, this is the sort of food you guzzle more and more of. I filled my boots three times over, and best of all, it was totally guilt free. Vegan food is super healthy, right? Not a hair on an animal's head harmed in the making of this lunchtime feast. We had carrot tart, we had aubergine and faux-mozarella bake, we had an awesome chickpea salad: all the while imagining ourselves taking on increasingly glowing hues and fizzing with vitamins - a bit like Super Mario when he eats his magic mushrooms.

A vegan menu might not be for everyone, but this little place offers cracking value, and the food may just surprise you. You often pay through the nose for health-food, but this joint offers delicious, low-key, wonderfully nutritious and guilt-free grub at incredible prices. Next time you feel like giving your insides a little TLC, I highly recommend you check it out.

222 Veggie Vegan
222 North End Road
London
W14 9NU

Manuka Kitchen - Fulham's new must visit

Interesting restaurants around Fulham Broadway are few and far between. Independent businesses sadly have a history of struggling and shutting down in favour for more corporate chains with bigger budgets. There are a few little diamonds in the rough but none that I predict will command as much attention as Manuka Kitchen.

Already given the seal of approval from The Independent, this brassiere style restaurant is tucked away behind the hubbub of the main Broadway and is a welcome haven from the miserable weather outside. Higgledy Piggledy reclaimed furniture gives a cool design-feel whilst an open kitchen creates a buzzy and laid back atmosphere.

The menu is really interesting and is evidently the work of a chef who is passionate about food. The investor team, Joseph Antippa and Tyler Martin have poured blood, sweat and tears into the project, with no help from any external investors, just their ambition to create a quality neighbourhood brassiere. Martin, the chef, is originally from New Zealand's North Island and Antippa, front of house, is of Lebanon decent, Beirut no less. Together they bring years of experience, expertise and genuine charm to this corner of SW6.

                           

Small plates of deliciously crisp squid, fluffy saffron arancini and mouth-watering goats curd crustini were soon devoured and we made our way through a delicious bottle of Italian red wine. To follow we tried the market fish with tender stem broccoli and samphire aioli and the potato gnocchi with braised fennel and chilli slow roasted tomato. The food was fresh, organic and packed with moreish flavours, in a very different league to some of its neighbouring competitors. 

We were bowled over by the quality of our food and even more impressed by the extremely reasonable prices, making it an affordable regular local. Their weekend brunch is already packed out and it’s a matter of weeks before it’s the place to be on a Friday night (there is a bar downstairs), we loved it, I just hope it sticks around!

510 Fulham Road

SW6 5NJ

Tel: 020 7736 7588

www.manukakitchen.com