Restaurant review: Mien Tay, Shoreditch, east London

I'm sure I've mentioned it before but Vietnamese is one of my favourite cuisines. Kingsland Road in Shoreditch is known as "Vietnamese Mile" and boasts numerous restaurants but like many places where there's a concentration of specialist restaurants, it can be hard to pick a good one. From the outside Mein Tay may not catch your attention but cast aside appearances as this will be the one you want to eat at. In my humble opinion, it's the best one on the street.

I'm not overly adventurous as I know what I like. Why fix what isn't broken? But I highly recommend the gorgeously crispy spring rolls with an addictive dipping sauce, the creamy Vietnamese clay pot chicken curry, the rare beef brisket pho and the fresh chargrilled mince pork and spring roll rice vermicelli noodles (my favourite!).

BYOB is available Sunday to Thursday with a corkage charge of £2.50 per person. But it is fully licensed if you want to purchase your drink there.

Mien Tay is amazing value for money, the food is always consistent and the location is great if you fancy heading out for a drink afterwards.  It's very rare that I visit a restaurant in London more than twice but I have been back here time and time again. Let me know if you pay it a visit! 

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How to get European flights for £20 with Ryanair

People always remark how I manage to travel so many times a year so I'm about to reveal my secret. £20 Ryanair flights. Yes £20. Amazing right? Simply click on Farefinder, select your local airport and the maximum price of £20. Once you've clicked search, then the magic begins.

Book last minute
I've found the flights tend to come on sale the same month or the month before. If you're lucky, you might get them two months before like we did for Ireland. So book a period of time off work and sit and wait. I recommend to keep checking daily until something tickles your fancy. Book fast as they soon sell out!

Be flexible
I know it's good to make the most out of your annual leave by booking weekend and bank holidays. But this isn't where you're going to find cheap flights as it's when EVERYONE wants to go on holiday. So be prepared to go midweek. I tend to find Wednesdays to Saturdays work really well for finding flights.

Be willing to go anywhere
The key to this whole shebang is not to be fussy. There tends to be lots of German cities and French cities listed. Some you haven't really heard of but this is all part of the fun of discovering somewhere knew. Recently I've found a couple of cities in Denmark and you can usually find places in Ireland to venture too.

This isn't a sponsored post at all, I'm just obsessed with finding £20 flights and thought you should be all in on the secret too!

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Exploring London: Anna on the Thames, Doubletree Hilton, Docklands

Sometimes London grinds you down. It's all-comsuming, frantic and tiring. But when I get to the river, there's something about being on the water that makes all those feelings disappear and I feel so incredibly lucky to spend most of my time in one of the world's beautiful cities. So as you can imagine, I was pretty happy to receive an invite in my inbox to spend the evening at the new Anna on The Thames terrace at the Doubletree Hilton.

A little bit of Barcelona has sprung up on the riverbank for the summer months. You're greeted with grey sofas, slick black tables and a sprinkling of plump Anna cushions - making it the perfect place to sit back and relax.

Staying put until September, the terrace showcases the best of what Cordoriu Cava has to offer. Choose from various different cavas ranging from sweet Anna Dulce to an Anna Blanc de Blanc. If you're feeling extra fancy opt for a sangria cocktail which I can confirm tastes absolutely delicious. Top marks!

Once you get a bit peckish it's time to try out the tasty tapas menu. We sampled a feast of meatballs smothered in a sweet tomato sauce, a classic potato bravas, bite sized pieces of squid, manchego cheese and jamon mini sandwich (my favourite!) and crispy croquettes. What could be better than some nibbles and a glass of fizz eh?

Thanks for such a lovely evening Doubletree Hilton!

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