Thai Restaurant, Oxford

Thaikhun

A new Thai restaurant has opened up in Oxford called Thaikhun and as I have this never ending crave for Thai food, I literally couldn't wait to go visit. My love for Thai food began when I was introduced to it in Thailand on my gap year and ever since, I've been waiting for a place that serves some classic dishes. So its about time a good restaurant opened up! 

And no surprises that I was there in the first few weeks of it opening...

The interior was absolutely amazing with the ceiling and walls being filled with typical items you would see in Thailand and it really felt like I was back there again. The staff greeted us with a bow, friendly Thai hello 'Sawadee Ka' and seated us to our very authentic table. 

The whole environment felt very much thought of, including the menu that was full of bright colours and mouth-watering food. The best thing was that the food was even more delicious and picture-worthy when it arrived to the table. We ordered just a wide range so we got to taste a bit of everything!

It is so great to see such a great Thai restaurant open in Oxford as it really is one of my favourite cuisines. I couldn't pick a favourite dish, but I always find that pad thai is an all time classic. I cannot wait to go more often with Sam, family and friends and taste more of what is on offer. 

Do you know of any local Thai restaurant near you that are worth visiting?

I'd love to hear all about them! So comment below :)

Love Anna x

American Candies

Treat Box

I came home this evening after a long day at work and was pleasantly surprised to find a big parcel addressed to me. I was pretty sure that I hadn't ordered anything so I was rather confused as to what was inside! 
Past the many layers of packaging there was a metal box with authentic and vintage coke bottles detailed on the front and inside....

...were SWEETS!

The tin box was full of American candies all rammed in tetris style. Some of them are ones I've never seen before so I had a little squeal to myself about the excitement of trying them all out. 

Inside were 19 different treats: Baby Ruth chocolate bar, Oreo Brownie (WHAT!), Swedish Fish, Jolly Rancher Hard Candy, Tootsie Roll, Kool-Aid, Reese's Big Cup, Grapehead Candy, M&M's peanut butter, Air Head, Turtles, Nerds, Skittles Dessert Flavour (WOW!), Luffy Tuffy, more Nerds, Cuppa Cuppa; Strawberry & Cream and Mango Yoghurt flavour and Hubba Bubba Dr Pepper Flavour. 

I've already started tasting some of them and can't wait to get through them all! So thank you Joey for sending me such a lovely surprise :D

I'd love to hear which sweets or treats are your favourite! From UK, America...or anywhere.
Comment down below :)

Love Anna x

My Birthday

Gees, Oxford

This year, for my birthday I hadn't planned to do much, I just wanted to spent some time with my family and boyfriend and have some fun. So the day before we went to a trampoline park in Milton Keynes, which was so much fun! Then on the following day, my sister booked for us to go to Gees in Summerton, Oxford. Gees is a restaurant that use to be a garden shop so with a glass conservatory, it really is such a pretty place to look into. Every time I've passed it, I've wanted to go there and finally I got the chance! And I got to say...it definitely didn't fall short of my expectations. 

When we arrived, we seated to our table that was just in the middle with the conservatory to our left on the kitchen on our right, which was nice as we got to see a bit of everything. The menu was already laid out and I noticed that it was printed for Sunday 8th February so I had to make sure I kept a copy for memory sake. 

To get us started we ordered a couple of drinks and I decided to go for an elderflower presse, thinking that it was the ordinary glass bottled ones. But I was glad when they were brought to our table and they were presented all lovely in glasses. 

We don't usually eat starters but we decided to try some out, so we ordered a couple to get us going but not too much so we could still enjoy our main meals. We tried out the squid, mussels and aubergine falafel. I'm a big fan of falafel so I really wanted to try it out and I enjoyed it just as much as original falafel. It had a hint of aubergine but enough to make the taste really nice.

Then our mains came and we got quite a variety of different dishes. This meant more sharing which is great for me and my greedy appetite!
I ordered the pollock with saffron mash and there was also grilled tuna steak, rabbit (which I was really against!) and a roast! They all looked great and more importantly tasted absolutely amazing. A successful meal as everyone managed to polish off their plates, which is another sign of how delicious it was!

Afterwards, they brought out my cute birthday cake that my mum personally made and sang happy birthday. The cake was such a perfect size, it was easy to take and we managed to finish it all between us too!
I've always loved my mum's cakes because she's made these for us our whole lives.

I honestly had such a lovely birthday this year and I am so happy that I got to spend it with my family and my boyfriend. I was so spoilt in terms of what I got to do, my birthday wishes and my birthday gifts so I'm very grateful for it all and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! Thank you all to those who wished me happy birthday, to all those that I got to see and to all those who were crazy enough to buy me the best presents ever, you made it a memorable day for me <3

Love Anna x

maze, London

Tasting Lunch at Maze, London

Over the summer it was my boyfriend and I's 3rd year anniversary but due to busy schedules we never got to celebrate properly. So as a belated celebration (on the 3 and a half years day) he planned to take me to a 5 course tasting lunch at maze in London.

It was raining on the day but this didn't dampen our excitement. After nearly walking straight past the michelin star restaurant by Gordan Ramsay, we managed to our way  inside and it really was a different world! We were seated to our reserved white sofa corner table and served champagne whilst we browsed the tasting menu. As it was a 5 course tasting menu, we only have to make a choice out of 2 of the plates and this made it easy for us because I picked one and my boyfriend ordered the other. This meant that we got to taste every single dish on the set menu.

Each time the food arrived, I took so many pictures so that I could share them all on my blog and I can't wait for you all to drool over your keyboards as you scroll through!

Whilst we waited for our many courses to come, we were given miniature puff pastry cheese biscuits and a very unique breadstick dish, which had prawn crackers, sesame and herb biscuits, squid ink biscuits, a chocolate biscuit and white bean paste seasoned with paprike. It really just looked incredible!

Not long after, our English Breakfast starter arrived and this had to be by far the best breakfast I've ever had! It looks so amazing as it arrived to our table and after taking loads of pictures, we took a taste and it definitely surprised us both. The dippy-styled egg had beans, mushrooms, tomato and egg all stuffed into the eggshell and then was topped off with a crispy pancetta. It was hard to believe considering the size of the egg.

Following that we received our first course: I had a cured salmon with pickled onion beneath and tempura crisp and mango and wasabi balls decorated on top. Sam had octopus with tomatoes, rocket and drops of squid ink, lime and gel. As you can probably understand from the pictures, our jaws literally dropped when they arrived at the table. The presentation was so on-point and the textures of the food were the best combinations. 

Next on the menu was lobster, tiger prawn and salmon dumplings and sea bream with enoki mushroom, ginger and dashi. These dishes had an asian style to them and looked so elegant as they arrived. 

The last savoury course was pork belly and tiger prawn in a miso broth and duck breast served with romanesco and wild mushroom. My duck was such a beautiful contrast on the plate and was cooked so perfectly that the meat was tender. Sam's pork belly had a perfect crispy top over the tender meat and the broth complimented it so well. 

By this point, we were really getting quite full but desserts were next and I knew my second stomach had already kicked in. We were firstly given crumble sundaes and they were served in cute shot glasses. Then our white chocolate cheesecakes with sliced pineapple and szechuan powder arrived and it was a lot different to what I imagined. The different shapes made it look so much more interesting.

As I was so immersed in taking photographs of my dessert, we were surprised when our waiter presented us with a celebration plate to commemorate our anniversary. It was such a lovely touch from them and really made our time very special. 

We devoured our desserts and shared our mini cake as we slowly slipped into food comas. But even after that, that wasn't the end of our amazing tasting meal. We were given cute madeleines with cream and as first I didn't know whether I could eat mine, but after one bite it all disappeared before I knew it.  

The whole menu at maze was truly incredibly in terms of plating, taste and textures. I could try and begin to describe the tastes of each dish but I seriously think that its something that needs to be experienced personally! I couldn't even pick a favourite because it would be a list of them all.
We had such a wonderful time and it really was an unforgettable visit. The price of the set menu was steep but it was so worth it as a one off treat! Also going to a michelin star restaurant is unquestionably something to tick off my currently non-existent bucket list so I'm so happy we went. 

To top it all off, we also taken around the kitchen, where we got to see some of the behind-the-scenes and I got to speak to one of the chefs. 

The tasting set menu lunch was such a fun and delicious experience and I loved every moment spent there. It's a place that needs to be tried out so if you are looking for that occasion to indulge then this is the place.

If anyone has been to a Gordan Ramsay or michelin star restaurant, please do link me! I'd love to check out photos and read your reviews. 

Love, Anna x