An Art Deco Delight

I really love the idea of pop-up restaurants. The chance to visit someone's home and have them cook for you is exciting and definitely satisfies the nosey-parker in me. Although I'd only been to one pop-up afternoon tea before I have been keeping my eyes open for any others that looked appealing. Then, out of the blue, I got an email from my lovely friend B who told me about an Art Deco inspired tea party that her and her partner S were going to. Frankly, the words Art Deco and tea put together in a sentence are enough to make me go just about anywhere but when she told me it was in Peckham - just up the road from me - I was beyond excited.

Tea on the Go

For many of us, Christmas means a lot of time spent driving between relatives delivering Christmas cheer and indulging in one-too-many mince pies. One of the worst things about being on the road is drinking horrid machine coffee from a paper cup; I mean, I don't even consider drinking takeaway tea in those circumstances as, although I love a good cuppa, I'd rather avoid tea altogether than drink an underwhelming cup. I guess I'm just not one of those "can't live without tea types"; I find it relatively easy to give it a miss if there's only a disappointing bog-standard tea on offer.

Review: Napoljonska, Mitte

Do you sometimes get stuck in a rut afternoon tea-wise? No? Well maybe it's just me. Really good tea and cake experiences are just not that thick on the ground, so when I have the chance to indulge I find it very difficult to pass up on one of my old favourites where I know I'm going to get exactly what I want. But sometimes you have to branch out and try something new.

Review: Jade Vital, Kreuzberg

The promise of a nice cup of tea is enough to encourage me to do pretty much anything. So when a friend told me about a place near her Berlin flat that served up a massage accompanied by a cup of tea I was intrigued. I am not the world's greatest massage fan but the thought of being pummelled whilst trying to sip a scorching brew sounded exciting if not a little dangerous. I decided I'd give it a try.

Review: Soho's Secret Tearoom

Do you ever find yourself in that situation where you discover something and wonder how you hadn't known about it before? That's what happened to me a couple of weeks ago when my friend M had a stopover in town on her way from Tokyo to Düsseldorf. I was wracking my brains trying to think of somewhere to take her when I decided to do a bit of Googling for inspiration. Narrowing my parameters to Soho, Covent Garden and Piccadilly (nobody wants to spend a stopover trekking around town) I saw a couple of references to Soho's Secret Tea Room. At first I ignored them not realising this was the actual name of the place and then I did a little bit more digging. Here, apparently, was an old-fashioned tearoom in a hidden room above one of Soho's most traditional pubs. Why had I not heard of it before? How long had it been there? Was it any good?

A Perfect Sunday

There are few things I like better on a sunny day than poking around gardens that aren't usually open to the public: whether it's a workplace garden or an someone's own little oasis, I love seeing places that are usually reserved for private down-time. Actually I like nosing around pretty much anywhere but that's by the by. So I was pretty excited when I read about Anderl Kammermeier on one of the Berlin blogs I follow. He's an artist who opens the garden of his studio once a month in the summer. Not only does he welcome the public to peek into his private world, but he provides a space for a series of performances and a cafe in which to purchase cake. Clearly, I needed no more encouragement.

Espresso Coffee Cupcakes

Do you ever get bored of chocolate? No, neither do I. When I'm in the mood for a spot of cupcake-making I generally find myself drawn to either a chocolate cupcake or chocolate buttercream. But last week I fancied something a bit different: I had a craving for coffee cake.