Cheap balls in Hollywood

OK so my BFF in LA, girl about town Danwar showed me this uber fun place to go get a quick bite if your hungry for a meaty ball. Its called Andres. Its like a really old school canteen style place kinda vibe - in fact Dani's Grandpa used to take her there when she was a kid.

Dani loves a big brown ball

Its not the most glamourous place in West Hollwood/ Beverly Hills area lets say but its literally like 50 cents for a meatball (YES its reads 50 cents) and its original fast food at its best. Its definitely an experience anyway. This is a must eat if yer in the area as its so fun and the prices are insane. You can get Garlic Bread for 25 cents too! The catch is the bowl of spaghetti & sauce to go with your 50 cent meatball - thats $8 or $5 depending if you get "big" or "small" plates and lets face it everything in America is bloody big so your fine off with a small plate feeding 2-3 people - well girls anyway can share those portions!

Its basically opposite the Grove in an alley next to Whole Foods. Its not for the fancy faint heated its honest cheapo Italian food best eaten on a Sunday when your on a hang over and need a carb overload (as we did the exact thing before going home to eat more food). Get on Andre's. Its mega.

ANDRES

6332 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90036

http://andresitalian.com/

Korean BBQ in LA - needs to be done

Korean BBQ in LA - needs to be done. Period.

This is the place to go. Castle. Its pretty much basically what it says on the tin.

...if you go to LA. You MUST go here coz it tastes bloody good and its $9 dollars for all you can eat! Korean BBQ isn't really a big thing in London I fear, as they don't really have that many places known to go. The only place I know is an amazing place "Ran" on Great Marlborough Street I used to go after work to. Martin Dodd, my old boss would take Matt the singer from Bullet For My Valentine there as he loved it, so every time they were in town we would always go. But in London Korean BBQ is hard to find and usually really expensive....Where as in LA, Korean BBQ's are everywhere!

Kimchi is so good.

The beansprout side you get is so tasty - its got sesame oil in it which makes it hard to stop eating it!

BJ & Sarah love it too. Cooking up some marinated ginger garlic chicken with some raw pork.... :/ was very good though once all cooked up.

Get on Castle. Its the way forward. Especially on a mild hangover. Its too much if your really hanging though....

Carnival bites - jerk chicken & drinkies

Notting Hill Carnival eats and drinks. My 1st proper time braving the rave= the below pics...

Alice & Andy across from Gaz's enjoying what they thought was jerk chicken, rice & peas - turned out to be chinese bbq chicken & special fried rice with sweet chilli sauce AND WAS £6.50 a box! s.k.a.n.k.e.d.

Outside Ampho's OI YOU sound-system at The Westbourne pub Naomi, Tyler & Chantelle with their DIY rum & energy drink cocktails

James, Sarah & Andy getting the beers & Bulmers in - alright!

Farah & Andy having a late night bite at our friend Nathan's tapas place, PIX on Westbourne Grove - everything is £2.50 a plate and seriously tasty. A very nice place to eat & party indeed!

Chantelle & I having a champagne on Tyler at PIX not a lot going on....

Reading Festival food report

At the weekend me & the lads took a trip to Reading festival for 3 days and we ate a few delights. All junk food but all tasted good at the time....right?! 

Andy Taylor, Dekade loves a bit of pizza - he got a margarita in the guest area for £4 a slice!

Drunk Charls loved her Hog Roast Pork & Stuffing roll (£6!) she got outside in the main arena when we were watching Dizzee Rascal - alright!

If it wasn't for Raw Powers' Gun's N Roses Relentless VIP tent we would have been very thirsty!

The next day we all enjoyed delicious eggs benedict with parma ham at this chi chi French deli in Barnes before we drove back up for more Reading action! We met the chef and he said he made the hollandaise sauce to order and his special ingredient tip which made it so thin and tasty was a little water. Tasted so good!

James Taylor, Dekade had the eggs benedict with parma ham but couldnt resist making it a florentine & getting spinach on the side for an extra quid - alright!

We washed our Reading brunch down with standard Limonata San Pellegrino....basically posh bitter lemon in a can and over priced at £1.50 - alright!

Thanks to Queens Of The Stoneage for my AAA passes at Reading Festival x

OTARIAN restaurant launch party review

This week saw the launch party for new veggie fast food chain OTARIAN... and seeing as it had my name practically in the name O "Tara"rian (kinda) I HAD TO GO! This place is in the heart of Soho on 181-183 Wardour Street - if your in central you have to pop in!
http://www.otarian.com/

1st to arrive we began tucking into the vegetarian fast food feast.....

This was the first thing we tried - it was a tasty pesto dressed tomato, mozzarella & avocado salad - simply yummy!

Field mushroom burgers - these were OK but eating a burger without the meat feels wrong!

cheesy bean wraps that blew our heads off - seriously spicy guys!

The vegetarian tacos were Leon's favorite - they blew his head off and regrettably he went back for seconds - lovely crunchy tacos but the chillies blew your mouth to Brazil!

Elliott & I loving the pasta we craved all night

Penne & super rich tomato sauce (almost kinda sun blushed taste) with cheese - good comfort eat

Ahhh the good old sweet potato fries - these were like southern fried texture but even better coating - we all must have had about 5 servings each of these when they were passed out - greedy - but had to be done!

- who can fault anything with cheese in? - really?! cheesey wrap with dill

Beany cheesy wraps - again spice city but beans are good for you so riding the spice is worth it!

this was a fancy healthy salad - and was far too hard to eat with those forks - could you?!

pilau vegetable rice dish - nice indian home cooked taste

Tom Waits loved drinking the Freedom Organic beeeeeeeer!

creme brulee - it was very creamy & super dreamy

Yogurt & fruit compote looked fab but not my thing

Me, Matty WEST ROCKS & Tom Waits enjoying some chocolate mousse

The whole COOKING ROCKS tasting crew; WEST ROCKS, Recognise Magazine, No Time For Heroes, Elliott's Film production team & Raw Power Management - alright!

Pics by Toby - above with a bow in his hair taken by Cleon

Otarian is also good to the planet - its ethic is to lower carbon emissions and have a more sustainable planet and all in all you will be a better person if you spend ur lunch money here! - plus they spent over £1 million in researching the recipes, so go try it as we did!

http://www.otarian.com/

Last night TOPSHOP MAKE-UP canapes saved my life!

Last night popped into the TOPSHOP MAKE-UP launch party at the super posh HIX on Brewer Street in Soho. The canapes & cocktails were so delicious had to show you them.....


Cleo, Recognise Magazine's hot Editor - sipping her 8th raspberry infused gin, prosecco & mint cocktail on ice

Oak smoked salmon on ryebread with pickles - bit too much olive oil garnish but very tasty!

posh chips & curry sauce were served - everyone loved this except me - bit pikey curry sauce....!

Deliciousy tasty fish goujons, home made tartare sauce and crushed minted peas

Buetternut squash risotto with herbs & mascapone was super yum although didnt look too amazing on the plate!

Below I sipped the refreshing Elderflower cordial on ice - unalcoholic for me!


Thanks to Lizzie & the TOPSHOP MAKE-UP crew for having us - check out their new makiage range its super fit & mega cheap!
http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=33057&storeId=12556&categoryId=208495&langId=-1&top=Y

SNOG with Matt Ash, RAW POWER MANAGEMENT

When faced with a chocolate craving it was either a Wispa chocolate bar (220 caloires) or sharing a SNOG with Matt Ash (known to some friends as Mash) which was only 109 calories!

Bittersweet chocolate frozen yoghurt with chocolate macadamia nut brownie pieces

http://www.ifancyasnog.com/

SNOG is frozen yoghurt with like no fat and hardly any calories!! So snog as much as you like when you like!

Matt Ash manages bands such as Bring Me The Horizon http://www.myspace.com/bmth          & Cancer Bats http://www.myspace.com/cancerbats. Get on the bands he looks after and if you see him about he's always up for a snog!