lifeofyablon.com

by yablon | April 12, 2014

Restaurant review: Barnyard

Barnyard, Charlotte St, W1

Just about everything describing Barnyard, the latest opening in London, W1, appealed. Home-cooking, no booking, small plates (for Smalls), wings-waffles-shakes, a properly rusty interior to photograph and the name Ollie Dabbous. I was sold – and seeing as we’re mid-Easter holiday, I knew just the plus-ones to join me.

Of course the no-booking policy CAN be an issue. Mid shift I hear the queue is up to 3 hours long but the trick is simple. We turned up 10 mins before the lunch shift kicked off and were only joined by a handful of others with the same cunning idea.

This is Ollie Dabbous’ latest, only spitting distance from his initial venture which is probably the hottest restaurant in town. But don’t expect the same precision; this is a fuss-free food zone.

freesia on the front decking… all about those details…

Chef Joseph Woodland, ex of Launceston Place and The Square, offers a menu of small plates (utilitarian enamel ones) grouped together by food type: pig, cow, beef, eggs, vegetables and sides (mostly £5-£8). We had 2 x cauliflower cheese, 2 x chips, 1 x cob (divided into 2) and a roast beef on toast with warm horseradish buttermilk.

our waiter suggested cutting the corn into 2 for the Smalls

chips and cauliflower on utilitarian crockery

my roast beef on toast with warm horseradish buttermilk at Barnyard

my perfectly rare roast beef on toast with warm horseradish buttermilk at Barnyard

All of which arrived within 6 minutes of sitting down (according to Small who had his stop watch on standby).

shakes at Barnyard come with or without something stronger…

The drinks are fun too. Shakes (with or without a slug of something stronger), homemade lemonade and a bottle of Dandelion and Burdock.

Surrounded by those Charlotte St. advertising types, I set about trying to explain the world of commercialism to my fellow reviewers . ‘I know, I know’, Mini chimed. ‘They sell things to us that we don’t really want’.

look at the way Small is holding his knife. I give up!

Sadly none of us had any room for the popcorn ice cream with smoked fudge sauce. However much the menu was selling it to us.

We were done within an hour. Easily. Which is perfect when you’re with work colleagues and Smalls alike.

Barnyard 18 Charlotte Street W1

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Filed under food, kids

by yablon | April 12, 2014

Competition: Kinnari jewel egg for Easter

Very few Easter eggs are too precious to eat. But I have found one which would seriously damage your teeth. This stunning Weave Egg Basket Pendant by Kinnari in sterling silver could be the best Easter gift you have ever been given.

Kinnari egg pendant

Sally Bowers and Katie Ridd are the new jewelpreneurs because their website, Kinnari, allows you to design your own piece of jewellery. First customise your setting before you go on to pick out the stones of your choice to rattle around inside your egg. Katie, who used to work for Theo Fernell and Asprey, is now based in Bankok masterminding the stone sourcing while Sally is in the UK making sure the business runs smoothly.

blue topaz stones

The egg caught my eye, the business is an innovative one and the prize is PERFECT for you, my readers, this Easter!

Delicate in design but worn as a statement piece

To enter this competition you need to find the picture of this egg hidden in a recent blog post. (just like an Easter egg hunt!). Then you need to follow me on Twitter and tweet me the answer. e.g. Hi @yablon the egg is hidden in your post about XXX. (hints: be SNAPPY & the post is less than a month old) The winner (chosen on Easter Monday) will win this pendant (£90) on an 18″ chain and can choose the stones to go inside their egg. Stones include: Amethyst (Purple), Blue Topaz (Light Blue), Chrysoprase (Green), Smokey Quartz (Brown), Rose Quartz (Pale Pink) and White Topaz (White).

Happy Easter to you all xxxx

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Filed under Exclusive to website, prizes, shopping

by yablon | April 10, 2014

Bergland Hotel Sölden

Bergland Hotel

Any hotel with a strapline: Activity, Relaxation, Indulgence is aiming pretty high. I mean, it’s an ambitious mix and could easily sound like marketing drivel. But the interesting thing about Hotel Bergland is that the 60 year-old hotel (we stayed in last week in Sölden) was simply not happy just being a comfortable hotel in the Austrian Alps. No, the 4 star hotel underwent a huge refurb 4 years ago in its effort to incorporate the surrounding landscape and its produce into a plush, modern interior while offering great, traditional hospitality.

So, I’ll start with the activity. Skiing in winter and a ridiculously adventurous schedule (if you so desire) in the summer is not the full scope of it. There’s a beautiful pool, gym and yoga room to boot too.

the fabulous pool in the Sky Spa, Hotel Bergland

a gym with a view

Relaxation. From the well-researched, especially selected Schlafen A La Carte mattress (blows any Four Season equivalent out of the water) to a jacuzzi with a heavenly mountain view to daily sauna infusions and ending with a floating water bed (yes!) for my mud mask body treatment…. Relax we sure did. But with a ski rental in the basement of the hotel, a taxi organized to pick us up from Innsbruck and the lovely smiling girls on reception purchasing our lift pass, I’m not sure a ski holiday has ever been quite so easy… and therefore relaxing.

Schlafen A La Carte mattress

hammock chair in the chill-out gallery

a large jacuzzi

The indulgence on offer is ridiculous but quite wonderful too. Six course meals each night, breakfast buffets and cheese boards you could only dream of accompanied by a ‘modern Tyrol’ bar with practically any beverage you could imagine. But indulgence comes in other forms too – chilling by the fire, enjoying a breathtaking view of the mountains from the spacious balcony or simply reading a book in one of the spa’s chair hammocks.

course after course of exquisite food… every night

special menu/desserts for the Smalls

local produce

the hotel bar

He had cheese every night. why not?

We skied, ate, swam, slept, steamed, sauna’d, laughed and ate some more.

kids’ room

In summary –the Bergland Hotel set themselves up for a big fall down a black run but… instead of wiping out at the first jump, they elegantly slalom around their guests with style, control and a healthy amount of confidence. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this hotel to any family OR couple looking for an exquisite (yet child-friendly) mountain break, whatever the season.

view from our balcony

Life of Yablon was a guest of Hotel Bergland but the views in this post are honest and genuine.

A junior suite in winter off-season (which it was last week) costs 158 Euros per person and prices in summer start from 133 euros per person.

For more information about Sölden – here is my previous post.

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Filed under life, travel

by yablon | April 10, 2014

Skiing in Sölden, Austria

I think one of my previous posts more than confirmed that He and I agree our Smalls need to learn to ski. But – on top of learning – they need to feel the WHOOSH of it all too. And there’s no doubt that uncomfortable ski boots and long lift queues can make for an odd sort of holiday. So, this year, we decided to pick a different ski resort far from the Val D’Isere madding crowd.

night before the first ski - planning...

planning the following day

Our current au pair is an Austrian mountain girl and we were more than happy to take her advice. Sölden, she assured us, would provide ample piste to satisfy both them and us.

Sölden, Austria

What was a pint-sized mountain village is now a mile of (pretty busy) road flanked by buzzing bars, restaurants and a young crowd as much as family posses. Also – most importantly if you are Spring skiers like us – the 35 state-of-the-art lifts and gondolas connect Sölden with one of Austria’s largest glacial areas. Three mountains (all over 3000m) with endless breathtaking views as well as fabulous skiing and boarding.

We splashed out and booked a private instructor for the Smalls (3 hours a day in the morning) and, as a result, over the 6 days saw them go from beginner to intermediate quoting more black runs that I could EVER enjoy!