Macaroons at the Market

SO me and Rachel have been uber lazy with this AGAIN. Many aplogies to anyone who bothers reading us waffling on about er, waffles! As usual, since my last post, i have probably eaten 1000000 cakes and stuffed my face at a million brunch places, sadly i have not been able to blog about them straight away as i've had to save them for my next regional special feature for Grazia Magazine! Basically at Grazia magazine we ask the locals of a certain area to recommend thier fave places to eat, drink, shop etc on twitter and facebook, myself, or whoever is writing the feature, collates the recommendations and goes off to visit them and take photos, sample the places, write up the review etc. Its then featured in a roundup of the top 10 places of that area. So far i've worked on the Newcastle and Exeter ones and jumped at the chance to do the London one, especially the North London one! I could never live anywhere else in London but the north. Tis where my london roots lie! Obviously i could rant on and on about how much character and gems it has compared to the rest of London although i shall save that for another time...

Anyway. Now the issue of Grazia is out in the shops i can post up my pictures from a few of the places i visited that are related to this blog! First up is a small but tasty stall in Harringay market called Makaroon. Serving up classic macaroons with a modern twist with flavours such as peppermint, banoffee and chocolate orange. Its run by duo ellie and chris and i hunted them down in Harringay market one freeeezing sunday afternoon to take some photos and sample the treats! They're sooo soo moreish. We bought a box of 5 and scoffed it in 5 seconds. No. Lie.
Im so glad i featured this stall in the feature, one of the things i love most about doing the regional specials is really finding the gems or small businesses of an area and giving them exposure through the magazine, or just seeking these places out in general and been able to photograph them!
I try to avoid chains as much as i can in the regional specials and really feel i found a proper little gem here!
You have 4 days left to buy this issue of Grazia where you can see Makaroon featured and read about the rest of my roundup of North Londons best gems voted for by the locals! (30 words max pretty much per place. Torrrture for a waffler like me. And sadly only a vague review of each place) theres also an interview in the right hand side column with fashion blogger Lily Pebbles from What I Heart Today .
Oh and it won best overall market stall in London as voted for by thier fans and followers on the online poll on Grazia daily! Need i say more!

Forget Laduree and go local!!

Holly x

Makaroon's twitter
Harringay Market

My Kind of Coffee in Crouch End

So merry christmas and a happy new year! Myself and Rachel have been very lazy with this blog over christmas, its not because we haven't been baking and brunching our faces off festive style, which of course we have, but it is always a busy time! Over christmas i made mince pies but sadly didn't have time for much else! However a week before Christmas (and before tree buying and present wrapping panic set in) me and Chris visited this little place in crouch end for a late sunday brunch.

I suppose i didn't rush to review this place on here because in all honesty it wasn't something to go shouting off the rooftops of north london about, but after a few weeks of constant turkey, ham, carbs, alcohol, choccies and more carbs this calm and simple place with its light eggs benedict is actually sounding quite refreshing right about now!
Me and Chris both had the same- just simple eggs benedict with ham, it came with a simple side salad and the hollandaise was nice but not the most amazing i've had.
We washed it down with good quality coffee served in small glasses (coffee always tastes better like this, non? its like the age old coke and ketchup in glass or plastic argument) i personally prefer a latte in small glass rather than a mug, especially when its good strong coffee and the milk is done just right. Again the coffee wasn't anything to shout about, although looking back i recall buying another to take away with me whilst we walked round the shops. So i guess at the time it was pretty good!
I feel slightly bad saying this as they state on their twitter that coffee is the main game for this local roasters.

The interior was pretty cool- comfy union jack chairs, simple white walls, cakes and an interesting range of flavoured teas and bags of coffee displayed in the window. Not sure why the sign outside is a very-easy-to-walk-past brown colour but theres not an inch of bunting, cupcakes or cath kitdson in sight so if those types of places give you a headache escape here.
Oh and no one ran over my foot with a pram. Get in.

Best for: brunch if your go to crouch end fave is full, good quality coffee
Best day: afternoons when its less busy

My Kind of Coffee


Holly x

The Power of Cake

A long week at the office has now found a cure; L’eto Caffé just around the corner from my work in Mayfair, London. It’s Friday, and motivation is somewhat lagging- we felt like we deserved a reward. Now whilst I’m not adverse to daytime cocktails, I can imagine my bosses wouldn’t be too pleased with a slightly tipsy office. There was only one thing for it- CAKE.

Recommended to me by Dan Hawkes who works in my office, I found this tiny little café but 2 minutes walk from the office. Light and clean, with huge windows displaying all the treats, it invites you to look; and once you’ve looked, its game over. Rows and rows of beautifully decorated cakes, slabs of chocolate brownies and light fluffy meringues just beckon you to come inside. In the other window, the lunch on offer for the day is set out clean, fresh and dazzling in true Mediterranean fashion. Although this blog isn’t about lunch, and I didn’t get to try the savoury food, it is definitely something on my ‘to do’ list.

Back to the cakes; we peruse the selection for a while, unable to decide and wishing we could buy them all. In the end the 3 of us chose: a chocolate torte topped with chocolate ganache and a fresh raspberry, a tropical layered carrot cake with fresh mango drizzled with mango syrup and the most stunning blackcurrant and dark chocolate delice. Each cake was different, and we shared them so we got to try some of each. The delice was super refreshing and tangy, with the slick of dark chocolate on top adding a lovely richness and the pistachios crumble adding just the right amount of crunch. The carrot cake was gloriously spicy and sticky, freshened and sweetened by the textures of mango. However it was concluded that the winner of day was the chocolate torte; rich, melt in mouth, heavenly- the kind of moment that only a really amazing chocolate cake can offer. Whilst it was super rich, we did not have any problems finishing it.

So our Friday was instantly brightened. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to discussing baking and desserts in the office, swapping recipes and advice whilst putting a huge smile on everyone’s faces. Alex was even inspired to make her boyfriend a chocolate torte that evening, which meant the joy of these cakes was extended beyond those who ate it.

And so I give you; the power of cake!

Rachel x

Le'eto Caffe