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

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

The Exploding Bakery

Sounds messy! But luckily this little exeter bakery was very much in one piece when we visited. We stopped by this bakery upon more recommendations for my regional special piece, sadly it didn't make the final cut but it's defiantly a must if you are in the area.
For a start the coffee was excellent, they usually brew the very trendy (and very tasty) Monmouth coffee but the weekend we visited they were serving a different brand however it was still strong and went well with our baked-on-site cakes! Everything is baked in their open plan kitchen- very similar to Royal William Bakery however its much smaller and more of a take-out service than a sit down and chill out for hours type place. The general vibe i gathered whilst there was that they take a very relaxed approach to the baking biz- from stating on their website that the foccacia is "f***ing good", to the fact we were served by a very nice barista who was happy to make us lovely coffee even though they were minutes from closing!
We enjoyed coffee's and vegan chocolate banana bread which was absolutely divine. I have never tried vegan cake before (shocking considering i eat any cake placed in front of me no matter the ingredients), but it wasn't lacking in flavour in ANY way, it was still moist and gooey like banana bread should be, in fact it was so filling and sweet i had to save half and eat it later in the hotel! Yummers.

Best for: coffee and fresh treats to go
Best day: first thing- its right next to the station, perfect for a coffee commute
Exploding Bakery

Holly x

Bel Green Cafe

For the second instalment from our efforts at eating our way through Devon for my regional special piece we have Bel Green Cafe. The lovely Bel Green is situated on Magdalen Road, a leafy quiet street just on the edge of the main centre of Exeter.
This is not a hungover builders cafe pit stop. Okay, so you can go there hungover, (we might have bin, just a bit, ok, a lot. I blame Rachel) but try not to be as it will spoil the doughy sourdough and the freshest, richest sausages i have had in such a long time. Who knew pork could be described as rich? Well they were! But it is not for the days when you are feeling the after affects of too many tequilas. Definitely more suited for brunch with the family or the boyfriend or for a chilled coffee and a book session alone. The poached eggs were cooked to perfection and so were we after sitting in the baking autumn sunshine that flooded through the big windows into this little cafe. I could have spent all morning there drinking tea. It also serves as a vintage shop filled with kitschy household goodies like rolling pins and aprons which suit the cafe's rustic, slightly new england feel. The breakfast menu alone left us spoiled for choice and i believe they serve pizzas in the evenings too.

Best for: fresh, local hearty brunches in a calm setting with post brekkie browsing
Best day: saturday mornings before a walk into town
Bel Green Cafe Twitter
Bel Green Cafe

Holly x