Wednesday 26 July 2017

The Ivy - Chelsea Garden, London









 Famously known for filling the bellies of some very well known names, it has been on my list to visit for many years, so I finally booked a visit to The Ivy, Chelsea Garden!
Upon arrival we were greeted by a lovely lady who showed us to our table, I personally love the idea of being greeted at the door and shown to your designated table, its touches like this that make you feel as if they go the extra mile for your visit. 

Myself and Sarah both perused the menus, some beautiful treats were laid out before our eyes and I truly found it hard to choose what to go for, ever the cake connoisseur, I of course settled on the 'Ivy, Afternoon Tea".
Priced at £19.75, I thought this was absolutely incredible, especially for the area in which the restaurant is situated, and in comparison to other places I have eaten at, however it is only served between 3-5pm so do bear that in mind if you are planning a trip there and have a time frame! 

Served upon perfectly quaint silverware, the afternoon tea offers some delectable little savouries, namely the truffled chicken brioche, which was absolutely incredible and I could have devoured many of these, the smoked salmon, cream and chive on rye bread was also heavenly, however a very strong flavour so 100% pack some breath mints in your handbag that day ;) 
Onto the sweet treats, the warm fruited scones were literally pure heaven, they came with fresh strawberries, cornish clotted cream and strawberry preserve, you could tell they were freshly baked with each person ordering, as they were still warm when I finally got around to eating them.
Among the scones we were served a fresh raspberry cheesecake, a chocolate and salted caramel mousse, also heavenly and incredibly lightweight (these would be dangerous if placed in my fridge as you almost feel as if you are eating delicate chocolate air.. calorific, delicate chocolate air mind).
Lastly, a creme brûlée doughnut, again very lightweight and easy on the lips! 

Served with a selection of teas, infusions and coffees you are spoilt for choice, however a downfall is that you only had one choice of hot drink with the food, a shame as I felt like I could've sampled many different flavours and admittedly I have never come across this within other restaurants serving afternoon tea, namely the Sanderson, here you can choose from an array of teas and are unlimited to your hearts tea drinking content.
That being said, The Ivy Afternoon Blend was absolutely delicious, I would've just preferred slightly a little more.

Upon writing this review I felt impelled to explain something, the food at The Ivy is absolutely beautiful, you cannot possibly fault it, and if I was writing a review solely on the food I would rate it highly.
However, my recollection of the visit was left with a sour taste, the restaurant service is incredibly slow and poor, I felt as if the tables were overbooked and the staff over worked. 
It seemingly has a very relaxed vibe as you walk through the doors and this is very quickly diminished by the wait time to finally be served from your tables, don't get me wrong the staff weren't in anyway rude, just inattentive.

For the food alone, this place is definitely worth a try, just bare in mind if you are there for a relaxed casual dining setting then this will be perfect for you as the ambience is very relaxed, however if you are there for a lunch meeting, or to simply dine and leave then you may be there for a little longer than you bargained for!
I would definitely reconsider visiting again, however this time I think I would order a meal from the dining selection of the menu as I did find myself eyeing up many of the other tables around me, the steaks looked absolutely divine so I may give it one more shot in the future, however for now I would be happy to try out somewhere slightly different in London for more afternoon tea style lunches, than The Ivy. 

Frankie xo



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Saturday 1 July 2017

Let's Go Through My Wedding Pinterest Boards!


                                  
      

                              

Going through my Pinterest wedding boards has been something i've been wanting to do for a while now,  and seeing as it is under a year until our big day, I thought now would be the best time to start sharing some wedding content with you over on here on this little corner of the big www.

To say I'm obsessed with wedding decor would be a huge understatement, blush tones are for sure creeping their way into the mix of beautiful clean crisp whites and greenery of foliage!
Im also loving adding subtle gold tones, especially in dining accessories, I just feel like it adds a really expensive element to the decor without being over the top or too tacky (I hope)!



              

        

Pinning wedding dresses with literally the first thing I did as soon as we got engaged, it's funny, if you go through the board from the beginning of our engagement and scroll to the top you can see the transitions of dress styles that I thought I would've gone for and pretty much everything I pinned is completely different to the style of dress i've actually ended up with! 

I absolutely adore the top dress in this post, the most beautiful Sarah Seven 2 Piece, the embellished crop top with the soft A-line bridal skirt is just the absolute dream, but unfortunately my world consists of far too many slices of cake and Starbucks frappe's so crop was definitely not the way forward in this girls world, therefore I started to broaden my outlook on styles and absolutely obsessed over more floaty feminine styles, tulle and lace are just perfect wedding dreaminess and this is something I will forever miss trying on.. gone are the days of swishing around bridal boutiques swooning over dresses, however I am very excited for the day I get to wear my chosen dress, can you tell? 


      

      


Flowers are a hard one, theres just so many styles to choose from & you have to then co-ordinate that with your wedding decor, dress, bridesmaid dress etc etc the list is literally endless and getting it right is what I've been trying to perfect over the last few months & I'm feeling like I'm potentially failing on this one right now, I really love the idea of tying the blush tones into the boquets using soft roses, peonies, carnations & mixing them with white tones and keeping everything minimal and delicate!

Another idea I've toyed around with is all white flowers which I just think looks so crisp and fresh, with just a little greenery on show from the stems, however I think its about time I bit the bullet and made an appointment with a florist to discuss my options rather than swooning over pinterest photos all day. 

        
... And finally, Bridesmaid dresses, how beautiful are the sequin gold dresses, I would absolutely love to have gone with something like this, but I feel like they don't sit right with the look of our day, however,  I still love them & looking through Pinterest my eye literally constantly gravitates to blush tones.
I love the look of blush with the soft white bridal tones and feel like everything will tie so perfectly together with this shade, however it is a pretty popular colouring right now and I'm always someone who likes to stray from the norm so this whole palette could change drastically overnight ahh! 

I really hope you enjoyed having a little look through my Wedding Day Pinterest boards, it feels so nice to share with you all some of the details of what our day might look like & if anyone else is currently planning their big day, leave me a comment so we can chat everything weddings as I feel like Sam may get sick of me before the day arrives haha! 

There is also a video version of this blog post up on my YouTube channel if you would like to see some more content like this..


Frankie x 






       



       


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