La Pâtisserie des Rêves comes to London

Remember when I told you about La Pâtisserie des Rêves, almost exactly a year ago? Well here I am again, but this time I come with exciting news for my Londoner readers: the little dream cakes have crossed the Channel! The shop opened a couple weeks ago on Marylebone High Street, so I headed there on its second day to get my hands on some tasty things... 

It was my first time on Marylebone High Street and, oh my, I recommend you all go because it is truly the closest you'll come to being in Paris on this side of the Channel! It was quite incredible, so many shops were French ones, there was even a French pharmacie and a very Marais vibe to it.

The shop was exactly like the Parisian ones, which I loved. It is such an important part of the experience! Buying a cake is so much more intense when it's staring at you from the inside of a glass bubble.

I had been lucky to win a free small cake in a competition organised on the Pâtisserie's Twitter account but bought three other small ones to give the man a taster of real, fabulous, dreamy French pâtisserie. Needless to say, he was impressed.

From bottom left, clockwise: Lemon Tart, Paris-Brest, Saint-Honoré and Grand Cru Vanille.

They were obviously all incredible, but I ended up being particularly impressed by the Grand Cru Vanille (which I had initially completely left out of my selection but the salesperson highly recommended it) which was incredibly flavoursome. I had never tasted such strong vanilla in a cake, but not in an overpowering way, it was just a brilliant ode to vanilla. My other favourite was the Saint-Honoré. I have to admit it's not the easiest cake to eat (especially when you have to cut it in half first) but it was incredible, such a delicious mix of textures and the choux were to die for.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day being tomorrow, I am posting this tonight for all significant others of a sugar-loving foodie: you'll win their hearts (yet again) with these cakes. Promise!

Shoreditch street art

Last week I met up in Shoreditch with my friend Andrew to go check out the London Coffee Festival. We work together as baristas and thought it'd be a good opportunity to drink loads of free coffee (that didn't really work out. Oh well.) While I was waiting for Andrew (who was remarkably late, a real performance!), I walked around the area and got lost giving myself a tour of street art. I thought I'd share some on here to prove that yes, I do still live in London.

And guess what?

It's all kinds of amazing. 

Andrew being all hipster-like, super skool (lolz) skull art, German kola and tote included

Sorry the blog's been a bit slow, exams are nearly over and then I'll hopefully be back to posting more regularly. Still, the April edition of the Culture Feature will be up soon, and some food things if all goes well! Hope you guys are enjoying the beginnings of spring x

The frogsbif's family in London, part two

Continuing with my parent's trip to London! 

I had one special request from my mom: she wanted to have a walk on the bankside, and see "this spot in Love Actually where Mark goes after Juliet comes to see him." So I planned a long walk by the Thames. I can't remember whether we did go up to that spot she wanted to go or not, in the end, but everyone was please with the view! Plus, we went through Shad Thames and stopped by the Design Museum to see the Louboutin exhibiton. It was my second time seeing it and it was still fabulous!

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On continue avec la visite de mes parents à Londres !

J'avais eu une demande spéciale de ma mère : elle voulait aller se promener sur les bords de la Tamise, et voir "cet endroit qu'on voit dans Love Actually quand Mark part de chez lui après que Juliet soit venue lui rendre visite." J'avais donc prévu une longue balade sur les rives. Je ne me rappelle plus si nous sommes arrivés à l'endroit qu'elle voulait voir ou non, au final, mais tout le monde a apprécié la vue ! En plus, nous sommes passés par Shad Thames et on en a profité passer au Design Museum voir l'expo Louboutin. C'était la deuxième fois que je la voyais et c'était toujours fabuleux !

Then, at a loss for things to do, my mother (her again!) suggested we go for a canal boat... ride (?) You might not know that, but London has its share of canals. They run at the North; rides usually start from Little Venice to Camden.

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Ensuite, alors qu'on ne savait plus quoi faire, ma mère (encore elle !) a suggéré qu'on aille faire une balade en péniche. Peut-être que vous ne le savez pas, mais on trouve de nombreux canaux à Londres. Ils sont au Nord du centre ville ; les balades se font généralement entre Little Venice et Camden.

    

That's it for their trip to see me! The rest of the pictures is a bit too silly to post. Hope you enjoyed this little visit with us around London. See you soon x

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Voilà, c'est tout pour ce qui est de leur séjour chez moi ! J'espère que vous avez aimé cette petite visite de Londres avec nous. A bientôt x