Dishoom London: an homage to the now-fading Irani cafés in Bombay

Lamb Samosas

Dishoom Chicken Tikka and Garlic Naans

Vada Pau

Mango Kulfi on a stick and Pineapple and black pepper crumble

Trenchcoat – H&M Trend. Bag – Kurt Geiger ‘Deuce’. Grey jeans – Urban Outfitters. Shoes – Topshop. Plaid Shirt – Uniqlo Mens. Grey cardigan – Barbour. Watch – Sekonda.

We fit right in, Joanna and I, at Dishoom, inspired by Irani cafes that existed in abundance in Bombay at the turn of the 20th Century, those which welcomed practically everyone regardless of social class or occupation. So we fit right in, because alongside memories of wealthy Bombay businessmen dining next to the struggling rickshaw-puller and the whore, there was us, two girls that knew no more than the ABC’s of Indian cuisine, asking the waiter what samosas look like. To those seasoned Londoners who add to the national statistic of curry being one of Britain’s most popular foods, our choices may seem unusual, but apparently Dishoom prides in being, not an Indian restaurant but, a Bombay Cafe. Everything is designed to share and each person is recommended to order 2 – 3 dishes. The food come in concise portions, each rich in flavour and character, or in other words, DI-SHOOM.* Interiors designed by Russel Sage (who’s also done Zetter Townhouse, The Hospital club…), I’m transported straight into an exotic world that is also oddly nostalgic despite the fact that I’m the dunce that doesn’t know what samosas look like. Don’t let the hype/commercial reputation (their other branch is in Covent Garden theatre district) deter you, especially the Shoreditch branch with the beautiful courtyard already littered with sofas and benches, I’ll be out there with a Bollybellini come July. For now, try the bottomless spiced chai, Behl and the Pineapple and black pepper crumble as dessert.

*Bollywood version of Ka-Pow!

DIY floral laces: Fasten your shoes, Spring is a-coming!

Black heels – Zara. Red heels – Kurt Geiger Magdalena. Fabric & bias binding – Liberty. Photographer: ASSHOLE TRIPOD.

This is an age-old trick in the book but since 1) we’re all in a rut of some sort and 2) it’s clear that Spring is using Apple iOS6 Maps to find Europe and will probably take a cab from Africa around June I thought it might be fun to distract ourselves otherwise. If you’re like me, you’ll remember the joy of yanking out dirty laces from your trainers for a pair of spankin’ clean ones to realize you didn’t actually know how to lace them back in.  Once I got my head around it (at an embarrassing age, I think it was), no strip-looking thing in the house was to survive without having gone through some dirty eyelets on my Adidas originals: broken earphones, retired necklaces, some twines that may or may not have held the mackerel in the kitchen, ethernet cable (back when I knew not the value of being connected to the wall)… let’s just say I’m glad I met my husband in highschool because otherwise I’d now be captain of Weirdo-train until 35.

A few tips:

• For sandals narrower strips (with edges fraying) tend to look better, while for trainers, wider laces give a more ‘plump’ look. If you have another fabric, weave in two, or three different patterend/textured (think lace trimmings and bobble fringes!) laces into the same shoe for even more full-on effect – Try out the lattice or checkerboard weave if you dare!
• Cut longer than the original lace so you’ll have extra length to wrap around the ankles a la Alaïa.

Have fun!

Dress – Zara. Shoes – Kurt Geiger. Belt – Vintage LV. Coat – Zara Thank you Kittykat for helping with the photos!

It happened a few weeks back when I was Whatsapping with my mother (who by the way is getting scarily confident with her phone, she types so fast I’m scared she may actually be 14 years old) (sometimes she talks to me ONLY in emoticons), I was whining about eczema and that I caved into using cortisone cream, which is when she dropped the doozy. Now, I’d been waiting for this day since returning from the honeymoon back in 2011, for the the third burning question in the tigermum series – ‘So what about that grandchild?‘ – to drop. I beat her to the punch by answering the first two (‘You are going to uni, right?‘ and then ‘Why haven’t you found a job already‘) with swift efficiency, so in all honesty I thought she’d badger me to ‘pop one out’, perhaps in a similar fashion to how I got the heck out of Warsaw after highschool graduation (ASAP) went to uni. But who’d have thought she’d wait until now, specifically when I tell her I was going to use something that is essentially harmful for my body in the long-run, and consequently my future child? She cautioned that I am what I eat, and junior too, will be what I eat (cute little Snickers ice cream chicken burrito, for now), and assured me she’d wait with the real nagging until the eczema is dealt with. So when Kenzo asked me to interpret the long-standing fragrance Flower by Kenzo in collaboration with the charity Every Mother Counts, it reminded me of my own mother, who has held a mop in one hand throughout my life – a terrifying symbol of discipline but also what I now realize to be, a saber to wield off harm from her daughter. I love you mummy I stole your blue burberry coat I totally love you!

Will instagram for food, I kid you not

Jenny from the (Swiss) block (of cheese)

(All instagram-style additions in this post shot with the Samsung Galaxy Camera)

Military coat – Zara. Jeans – James Jeans. Shoes – Isabel Marant. Scarf – Highlands tartan scarf. White cashmere turtleneck – Uniqlo. Travel wallet – LV Mon Monogram; Thank you Jen for the shots of moi!

Last weekend my life turned a corner… correction, my crusade for a hyperglossed online representation of my life turned a corner. Berlin had won the Most Photogenic City as part of Samsung’s Life’s a Photo social campaign around the new Samsung Galaxy Camera, and I was part of 45 bloggers that were invited out in celebration. Guys, this camera changes nothing, and absolutely everything – I’m having a whole new instagramming experience with this. See, I’ll still pause a perfectly civil dinner to do Taichi moves over the food with an image-capturing device, but those photos will be crisp and juicy in colour. I’ll still look like a complete douche-baguette fondling my phone at the dinner table but this time I’ll be editing my photos instead of flipping between filters that make the chocolate dessert look like cold poop, or hot poop. I will still get pinched nerves on my shoulder thanks to weight in cameras (nothing replaces the Canon beast), but I’ll have agility with this beauty tucked in my sleeve. And get this, I will still overshare the mundane things of my life, but I may or may not use the 21x zoom to shoot the better looking food across the room because haven’t you heard, bragging about stuff that ain’t yours is the next level, yo. See – nothing, yet EVERYTHING.

On an unrelated note, and I’ve spoken about this before, there it was again – the odd sense of comfort when travelling with a bunch of bloggers where an eyebrow shrug towards a corner means outfit shots, now, and collectively tackling snow in four inch heels until we’re reduced to communicating in 140-character grunts, mostly using words like feet, hurt, hungry, cold, hotel. There were many, many bloggers/photographers/instagrammers (I’ve never seen that many MEN in a press trip) at this event and at the end of the day we were inevitably sat around a round table having to make small talk and seem normal. Of course, being bloggers and inherently introverts – we all kept our head dipped and noses in this amazing new apparatus, affixing clip-art party hats on photos of eachother using the editing software, silently laughing at jokes that was never heard past the salt & pepper shaker point on the table. The waitress thought we were in group-prayer for the entire evening. Best party ever, really.

Also, Most Photogenic City in the world? Discuss.

Uniqlooks January: One item, three looks – Dotted silk blouse

Look 1: Dotted silk blouse – Uniqlo. Shearling leather jacket – Muubaa Phoenix. Khaki pants – Uniqlo. Shoes – Zara. Bag – 3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli. Hat – Gap.

Look 2:   Dotted silk blouse – Uniqlo. Sleeveless trench – YesStyle. Leather shorts – Vintage. Shoes – H&M x MMM. Puffer vest – Uniqlo. Bag – Kurt Geiger.

Look 3:  Dotted silk blouse – Uniqlo. Shearling leather jacket – Muubaa Aurora. Bag – Reiss. Skirt – ASOS. Lace-up booties – Sam Edelman. Headphones – Frends @ Avenue32

Hello, what’s up? My dog ate my keyboard. Once again I got an overwhelmingly positive response for a post and this time I just had to take a step back and bask in that momentary bliss, shedding the occasional hot tear that would fall in the wine glass that I’d drink from while bobbing my head to Alanis Morissette. (Fact: it is actually impossible to bob head to AM) Recycle-chic, you saw it here first. Let’s get back with the program, shall we – and what better way than to let trusty old Uniqlooks to press the resume button! Over to you, dotty blouse. Wish I could fake it and pretend this was shot relatively recently but snow in London – the kind that stays white below the ankles – is so rare that we all know these looks were shot that particular day over a week ago. Not sure which day it was, but I’m pretty sure it’s the one where lots of babies will be born exactly nine months down the line because heck I’ve never seen a city that doesn’t actually clean the snow. Hands up if you live in London and own a snow shovel? Of course, yours truly is out in the streets with the hubby only getting as intimate as getting a snowball in the face. Oh the things I write in this blog to keep it PG-13… (apparently thirteen-year-olds are the key to blogging success, hey)