Sunday 27 February 2011

What do you get when you take a Hotel Lounge and add a fire place, 2 men in fuschia underpants, 3 blondes and a bottle of pink champagne?

... Brunch in Shoreditch Darling

It's been a while since I have woken up before going to bed on a Sunday, fully clothed (or totally naked depending on the context) and staggered straight to the nearest Greasy Spoon, pausing only to wash my mouth out with a swill of vodka.

Today, thankfully was no such day, having risen in a very civilised manner in the leafy suburbs of North West London.

For two of East London's more flamboyant residents however, it appeared to be exactly that sort of Sunday. A very tight pair of raspberry cord trousers, jiggling next to a very ripped pair of jeans (revealing a peak of very tight pink unders) caught our attention as we settled into leather sofas right next to the fire in the Hoxton Hotel.

We were momentarily distracted by the menu until with a shriek Ripped Jeans stripped off his skin tight black shirt, declaring it 'Filthy' before whipping it around his head ala Brokeback Mountain and hurling it into the fire next to us. Thankfully it wasn't a Primada special and didn't explode into a burst of acryllic pyrotechnics, instead favouring an elegant Poof and Fizzle. Oh and a waft of Eau de Tom Ford.

And so we met the neighbours...

Somewhere in between Eggs Benedict and Earl Grey Tea, Ripped Jean's side kick slid over and perched one of his raspberry coloured butt cheeks on the arm of our couch, waving a bottle of pink champers in our direction. It turns out Raspberry Butt Cheek (RBC) hails from Sicily with dubious business ventures in Brazil and Colombia. Who knew food import and export could be so lucrative?

At some point, in a pause between his elegant lobbing of our sugar cubes at Ripped Jeans, RBC managed to completely floor our hereto impeccable Gaydar, by desperately trying to lure Melissa to a hotel room for a shower. Thankfully the appearance of the very anxious and unimpressed looking Manager distracted him long enough for us to escape.

Truthfully in this instance, I can't tell you a tremendous amount about the food as the company was far too entertaining, but then again who needs food when in the immortal words of RBC ... 'ave you hever 'ad Tequila for breakfast?'

Clearly the man was onto something - we haven't had so much fun at breakfast in ages...

....you should try it sometime.

The Hoxton Grill @ The Hoxton Hotel
81 Great Eastern Street
London EC2A 3HU
Website
How to Get There
Some retrospective useful info...
Full breakfast menu until 12pm, Bruch til 4pm

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Talho Capixaba Delicatessen, Rio De Janeiro

Guest Writer: Marta dos Santos (Tata, Queen or Smithy)
 
So Marta. One amazing, beautiful, strong Brasilian lady who abolsutely knows how to keep me, a big crew and the occaisional  Famous Face inline. Marta was one of my travelling family for the past few years and when she is not touring with a band, she lives in glorious Rio. Finally she has been home long enough to write something for me and kick off the South of the Border section...
 
Talho Capixaba Delicatessen
 
Av. Ataulfo De Paiva
1022 - Leblon
Rio De Janeiro
+55 21 2512-8760    
 
 
This one is one of my favorites.

 
Low key, but very cool and a bit pricy. But for sure, worth every penny!
 
Holds 50 pax, spread along on the outside tables, 4 high chairs by the balcony where you can see you order being prepared and on the tables at the back on a quiet comfortable room.

Talho Capixaba, used to be a butcher house with special cuts of meat, until they decided to diversify and also offer all sorts of bread baked in the house, cold cuts, juices, sweets and other goodies.
 
 
My option of breakfast is a grilled cheese sandwich with sliced turkey breast, on whole wheat bread. To drink along, melon and mint leafs juice.
 
The round thing looking like a flat cup cake is a Brazilian favorite, cheese empada. A must!