Carnival Time

It’s the end of the summer and what better way to celebrate it than by hitting the annual Notting Hill Carnival?

It’s been held on every August Bank Holiday since 1966 and is the biggest carnival in Europe so get your shades, whistles (and umbrellas just in case it rains) at the ready and head on down to Ladbroke Grove.

You can catch the West Indian floats along Great Western Road, Chepstow Road, Westbourne Grove. Check out their samba, soca, calypso and soulful rhythms as well as their colourful costumes and floats. 

After parties to check out include Fake Blood at Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green featuring music by Redlight, Katy B and Bashy. The Count and Sinden also launch their album Mega Mega Mega with the help of Mystery Jets,  Jamie XX and Dread MC.

Snowbombing the garden party is another gig to check out. It starts at 2pm and promises to be awesome with the stellar line up of Shy Fx, Matthew Bushwacka!, Plastician, Jon Carter, Dub Pistols Sound System, Damon Martin, Russ Cuban, Guy Williams, DRW, Nathan Detroit, Bones, Streetlife, DJ Cuddles VS TBX, Marc Roberts…. the list goes on. Tickets cost £12 and are available here.

If you don’t make it to any of the after parties don’t worry as there’ll be plenty of music and stages along the route that you can dance your socks off to.

Just remember to take a small bag as there will be loads of people and never lose sight of your mates in the crowd! But most of all, have fun!

Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green is at 19 Kilburn Lane, nearest tube is Kensal Green on the Bakerloo line. The carnival Garden Party takes place at the Masons Arms at 665 Harrow Road. The nearest tube is also Kensal Green.

American Apparel Sale

The American Apparel brand is bringing its rummage sale to London with prices starting at £1 and 85% off every item. Taking place this Easter weekend, the stock will be replenished every day so that whenever you go to check it out there’ll be thousands of things to choose from.

Also, if you’re worried about getting caught in a rampage of crazy sale hunters then fear not: they’ve rented over 22,000 square feet of space.

The rummage sale is so successful in the US that it has attracted over 50,000 buyers from Miami, Austin and Sand Diego.

It takes place at 81 Brick Lane, London E1 6QN. The nearest tube is Liverpool Street on the Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.

Chocolate Festival

Finally Easter is approaching and there’s once again a brilliant excuse to eat lots and lots of chocolate. Celebrate with me when I say that the chocolate festival lands at the Southbank Centre this weekend!

Imagine rows of truffles, bonbons and bars next to mountains of cakes and pastries all made from chocolate. There’ll be chocolate pancakes, ice cream and milkshakes too.

To add to the excitement, there’ll be chocolate making courses with master chocolatiers and top chefs showing us how to create incredible chocolate and truffles from raw cocoa.

If you’re on a diet and will refuse to pass chocolate by your lips this close to summer, then fear not.  You too can take part in the festival by learning about its health benefits and how to include it in everyday savoury dishes.

It’s an event not to miss if you have a big crush on your chocolate bar.

The Easter Chocolate Festival takes place this weekend in the Southbank Centre square on the river side of the Royal Festival Hall from 11am to 8pm on Friday and Saturday. It closes at 6pm on Sunday. The nearest tube is Waterloo on the Bakerloo, Jubilee and Northern lines.

British Pie Week

Chicken & Apricot pie at Clifton Hotel

Hurrah for British Pie Week! It’s a time when we can eat pies without feeling guilty. A time when we can cherish the wholesome goodness while we gorge on chicken and apricot or mushroom and ham hock pies.

To celebrate this momentous event head to your nearest gastropub to ask if they’re running the pie offer of the week: a pie and pint of your favourite tipple for £10.

Some pubs worth mentioning for their yummy pies are the Defectors Refectory in Sheperds Bush and the Clifton Hotel on Clifton Hill in St John’s Wood.

Located on the green, at Defectors you can expect tasty pies with a difference. They come looking like pastry parcels on a bed of kale with a side of mash. And once you cut through to the hot filling, the goodness comes oozing out- which is perfect for dipping your mash into!

The Clifton Hotel makes traditional pies but each one is so tasty that you’ll somehow manage to eat every morcel. Served with hand cut chips and a freshly dressed salad, you’ll never want to eat anything else ever again!

Celebrate British food at its best from today until Sunday the 7th with the Pie Week.

Mahiki’s Winter Hell

Mahiki has recently opened an outdoor tea room in partnership with Harvey Nichols. While it’s billed as a top floor slice of paradise you’re more likely to find it as relaxing and decadent as a sloshy hell.

Located on the terrace of the Fifth Floor Restaurant, nine tables with tiki chairs stand huddled in the corner. Parasols supposedly shelter you from the rain and heaters keep you warm but it seems strange to open such a summer haven in February.

The Mahiki Winter Menu has a limited selection of hot chocolates to choose from. They’ve teamed up with Cognac Aged Mahiki Rum and have created special warm cocktails. Except they’re less like fancy hot toddies and more like cheap burnt powdered chocolate mixed with what tastes like long-life milk and not much else.

It’s a shame as they come presented in cute little barrel-shaped mugs but even having mahiki’s name on them doesn’t save them. A few plants around the tables and a tiny piece of astroturf add colour to this otherwise dull place which isn’t worth the express lift up.

To make matters worse, the service is slow and the prices are extortionate. Paying almost £10 for a less than boring tiny drink on a corner of a roof shouldn’t tickle your fancy. It would be much better advised to sit in the actual restaurant and enjoy some real tea and cakes leaving the naive tourists out in the rain.

Mahiki’s winter terrace is located on the top floor of Harvey Nichols at 109-125 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RJ. The nearest tube is Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly line.

Bea’s Of Bloomsbury

Here’s an address for your little black book. Bea’s of Bloomsbury is a wonderfully intimate tea room complete with open plan kitchen so that can you practically taste the cakes as you work through the door.

The cakes are all laid on the black stone counter and the choice is incredibly mouth-watering. For about a pound a piece you can try mini Valhrona chocolate brownies, cupcakes of all shapes and sizes as well as yummy Victorian sponges and meringues.

With the huge selection and low prices you’ll be surprised to learn that there are under 10 tables in the tea room. For this reason and to ensure you have the best experience, they recommend that you book. It’s tea by reservation only making it oh so much more exclusive.

If you pay £10 you can get a full English tea with scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam as well as brownies, cupackes, meringues and blondies. This comes with a pot of Jing tea but you can also have one of their famous coffees or intense hot chocolates for even more of a sugar high.

The afternoon tea is available weekdays from 2.30pm and at weekends from noon when you can add a mini baguette to the selection for an extra £3.

Open for lunch too, you can enjoy big salads, soups and large healthy hot mains like a variety of pastas, roast chicken with vegetables, quiches and homemade bread.

Bea’s (0207 242 8330) is located at 44 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NW and the nearest tube is Chancery Lane on the Central line. It’s open from 8am-7pm weekdays, 10am-6pm on Saturdays and 12-6pm on Sundays.

Freedom To Party

Soho is one of those areas every Londoner tries to avoid- it’s full of slow-moving tourists and over-priced bars. However there are some places worth a mention and Freedom is one of those.

Located right in the middle of Soho, on Wardour Street, is the inconspicuous bar and nightclub Freedom. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but once you enter you feel transported to another time.

The scene is set in 19th century France. There’s the cut-glass chandelier and over there are the cute white seats. It’s decadent, stylish and very sexy with its shirtless shot guy wandering about.

Get a table on the top floor to enjoy pre-clubb cocktails like their spiced mojitos and French Kisses then wander down below to the exotic dancefloor. The seating here includes plush purple velvet sofas that loop around on the sides and a fishtank inbedded in a broken glass effect wall.

And the poles in the centre of the club provide endless entertainment as increasingly drunk people try to strut their stuff. But before mayhem is unleashed, the club provides dancing by fun drag queens who perform incredible stunts in the small space.

The music varies from house to trashy pop and the ambiance is laid back. This is also a great place to spot celebrities. Freedom is a gay-friendly club that gets camper as the night goes on- so this is a perfect place to hang out with your gay best friends.

It’s located at 66 Wardour Street, London W1F 0TA and is open until 3am most nights. The nearest tube is Piccadilly Circus on the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines.

Whiskey Mist

Located in Mayfair just off Park Lane, Whiskey Mist is a trendy but sophisticated club. With its black walls, random mooses and lightbox stage it’s a fun place to party. But when it gets crowded, it’s time to head into the adjacent private lounge…

Here you’ll find big U-shaped leather sofas complete with mini lightboxes you can dance on (but beware of these if you’re wearing a short skirt: the light shines up your skirt and could display a little too much to those sitting at the tables!)

Even if you haven’t booked a table, this is the best place to hang out as it’s less crowded but full of bigger groups so tends to be very friendly. It’s also the best place for celeb-spotting!

Vodka cocktails are the must have drinks here although if you like champagne why not buy six bottles?! If so, the DJ will stop the music and suddenly you’ll hear Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and hot men carrying your bottles- led of course by ladies holding sparklers- coming your way. Sounds pretty exciting, right? Well not when it happens every 10 minutes…

Whiskey Mist (020 7208 4067) is located at 35 Hertford Street, London W1J 7SD. The nearest tube is Green Park on the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines. It’s open from Monday to Saturday until 2am.