Restaurant review: Bao, Fitzrovia, central London

Last week Elodie came over to London for a little holiday before her Korean trip so we decided that needed celebrating. Where else could be better than Bao? We opted for the Fitzrovia branch as you could book. It's never about queuing to eat when you've got nearly a whole year of gossip to catch up on!

Specialising in sharing plates, Bao is famous for its steamed buns and serving Taiwanese-style dishes. The menu offers five different types of Bao to choose from. I tried the black cod and confit pork. Both were delicious but the black cod was on a whole other level. I can't quite put into words just how amazing it was and I can't wait to visit again to have it! I then opted to try the beef cheek and tendon nuggets. Served in a portion of two, they were incredibly moreish. The others tried the chilli langoustines with a fried bao, aubergine with minced tofu and mapo sauce and bone marrow rice served with pickles and egg yolk. Having tried a mouthful of each, I can confirm that that the bone marrow rice is a must order if you visit.

I waited a while to try Bao and it was worth the wait. It's not cheap by any means and you do have to order quite a few dishes to feel full. This can work out to be to be expensive. They recommend three dishes each but I found this wasn't really enough. I'd recommend about four dishes each and a side with one of the bigger dishes to share. Although not everyone will be as greedy as me! Service was a little slow but the wait staff were pretty friendly so it balances out. Bao is a great place to go if you don't mind splashing out - the food is certainly delicious!

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What I've been cooking #4: John Whaite Bakes at Home

Another cookbook review. And another baking book. Last time I vowed to use a savoury cookbook but once again got sucked in by the gorgeous cakes in John Waites Bakes at Home. John Whaite won GBBO in 2012 and this is his second cookbook. I follow his Twitter and Instagram so when I spotted this book in a charity shop I picked it up for a couple of quid. It's full of both savoury and sweet bakes and I'd say it was a book for the slightly more adventurous. I'd been stuck in a bit of a rut with only baking simple things like carrot cake, banana loaf and lemon drizzle. All delicious but nothing ground-breaking. I fancied pushing myself a bit and this book was just the ticket.

Mojito cake
I baked this for my mum's birthday and slightly changed the recipe to include both lemons and limes because that was what I had to use it. It tasted exactly like a mojito and was absolutely delicious. At first I was a bit annoyed at the presentation as it didn't quite come out how I wanted it to. But the more I look at at, I actually feel quite proud. It was out of comfort zone and I'd pushed my baking skills quite hard for this cake. I made the lime curd from scratch and made the infused mint & rum filling. I vowed to really try new things this year in baking and feel like this was me keeping my promise. I'd definitely make this again.

Rhubarb, white chocolate and thyme traybake
Rhubarb was a fruit I'd never tried before and traybakes are my jam so this was always going to be made. It was very simple and took hardly any time at all. I loved the contrast of the gooey white chocolate with the tart rhubarb flavour. It went down an absolute treat at work with everyone declaring it was the best bake I'd make yet! Definitely a recipe that I'd rustle up again. It was fun to be a bit more adventurous with ingredients.

Giant jam tart
It always makes me nervous when I attempt a recipe and it doesn't have a picture. I've eaten enough jam tarts in my life to know what one looks like but still no pictures fills me with dread. This was extremely simple and used ready-made pastry - a god-send! It was my first time making jam, I was supposed to use both raspberries and blueberries but alas, my raspberries were rotten. A day before the best before date! I stupidly didn't reduce the sugar so the jam was extremely sweet. Note for the future!

Chocolate and pistachio torte
This was my first time attempting a torte. I'm not a huge chocolate fan but my boyfriend is so I always end up backing a type of chocolate dessert at home. This was a bit more of a faff than I originally thought it would be. But it was simple enough. I'm not sure my version really tastes like a torte but my friend commented that it tasted a bit like a brownie. Which I'll take! After all, who doesn't love a giant brownie? My chocolate drizzling leaves a lot to be desired but that helps to add to the rustic, homemade feel right?

Loaded Mac and cheese
Mac and Cheese is one of my last day on earth meals. If I knew I only had one day left then I would scoff this until I felt sick. So far Jamie Oliver's version is my favourite but I'm always keen to try new  versions of the dish. After skimming through the ingredients list I knew I had to make this. It looked like pure indulgence and perfect for a Sunday dinner. I was right! Three types of cheese made this absolutely heavenly and I adored the added veg of asparagus, mushrooms and spring onions. I think John may have push Mr Oliver from the top spot!

If you want to see more of my cookbook reviews, just click the tab on the right hand side of this blog.

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Getting into bed with Leesa

There's an in-joke in my family which is if I can't be found then it's usually because I'm laying in bed. At any hour during the day. It's true. I absolutely love my bed, my bedroom is my favourite place in the house. I think because I live such a busy life that I associate my bed as my safe haven. A place where I'm away from the hustle and bustle of every day life and alone in my thoughts. This only child really enjoys her own company at times! So when Leesa got in touch with me to see if I wanted to try out one of their mattresses I obviously couldn't type yes fast enough! A foam mattress is the dream.

Vacuum packed, the mattress arrived in a cardboard box about three feet tall. It got delivered to our local corner shop, we got a 'sorry we missed you' card through the letterbox and went to collect it. It was really handy to be sent a tracking number so we knew where the mattress was at all times. I couldn't believe a double mattress could fit into something so small! Once its unrolled out of the box, it magically lays on your bed and inflates before your eyes. I loved the cool, Scandi vibe of the grey and white stripes. Usually mattresses look quite ugly but this doesn't even really need bedsheets. It's certainly very easy on the eye! I really do appreciate a company who try to do some good in the world. One mattress is donated for every ten sold. How cool is that? Over 30,000 mattresses have been donated so far. They also plant a tree for each order and donate employees' time to volunteer in the local community.

Designed with three layers of foam, the combination of all three aim to cool, body contour and offer pressure-releving core support. I have terrible posture and it's something I need to work on. So as a result sometimes I suffer from quite a bad back. After trying the mattress out for the past month, I've really noticed a difference in my quality of sleep. I'm waking up each morning feeling really refreshed after having a great nights sleep. It's amazing how much a broken night of sleep can affect your day.

Offering free delivery, each customer gets a 100 day risk-free trial so if it isn't right you can send it back free of charge.

If you fancy treating yourself to a mattress then I have a special £100 off code. Just enter ASTORYOFAGIRL at the checkout  and voila. You won't regret it - trust me!

This post was created in collaboration with Leesa, who provided a Leesa mattress for review, but all views and opinions expressed are my own.

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