La Patisserie Des Reves: Set on Marlybone High Street, the name translates as ‘the pastry shop of dreams’ – and yes indeed it was! This small venue, which opened two weeks go among much excitement on Twitter is the first London branch of a boutique Parisian patisserie chain.
With traditional Parisian delicacies like the Paris-Brest, “originally created in 1891 to mark the famous bicycle race”. It is filled with liquid praline and has a beautifully nutty taste. 
St Honore, named after the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs, which is decorated with glistening choux nuggets and lashings of whipped cream was my favourite! The apple turnover was buttery in pastry, apple filling full of flavour.
Desserts are priced around the £5/6 mark, well worth the treat!
Chocolate House Tour by Unreal Audio City, based around London
I decided to join the acclaimed Chocolate House Tour around St James/Pall Mall on the weekend just passed. It lasted about 1.5 hours, was narrated (and the brainchild of) Dr Matthew Green as we walked around transported by actors in scenes relative to the history of chocolate houses in London. The performances were thoroughly entertaining on the streets of London with passers by and onlookers marvelling at these period costume actors rolling around the streets in action!
We met the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés, the man who pulverised the Aztec Empire and brought chocolate to Europe. Heard his stories of how he found money growing on trees in the form of cacao pods, which the savages liked to brew up with chilli and vanilla and mix with the blood of sacrificial slaves.
Or Henry Jermyn, who hired Christopher Wren to build St James’s church, and went on to develop St James’s Square, which at one point was home to six dukes, seven earls, one prime minister and a mistress. Among the shops and services that popped up to cater to this super elite was a cluster of chocolate houses. We watched him in vigor recalling events as he shouted “boy!” at the top of his lungs, for his servant boy where out of no where a young man bowing and on his knees proceeded to appear to pour him hot chocolate.
We visited the place where once stood White’s Chocolate House, “the most fashionable hell in London” where dukes and highwaymen met to place some of the most absurd and ruinous bets in the history of the world. 
To finish we got to try Cocoa Hernando’s thick, luxuriant, exotically spiced glop called chocolate conquered Baroque Europe and corrupted the most fashionable quarter of London, spawning sexually-charged hotbeds of decadence, depravity and despair that Londoners came to call chocolate houses.
GO! The next one is 15th March here to book
Homemade Treats:
Chocolate Guiness Cake, made using Nigella’s recipe pretty faultless in its delivery, does what it says in the recipe, a dark,moist and rich cake! I squealed when I saw the amount of butter that went into this, definitely a treat! With the sour cream cheese vanilla topping it amplified the indulgence quality of this cake
Mauritian Vanilla Strawberry Crepes
A delicious breakfast or brunch for the weekend, using Mauritian vanilla (or other would do), adding this into Total Greek yoghurt for the creamy texture, mixed with fresh strawberries. The crepes I made on a tawa (flat pan) used to make chappatis and rotis, which worked well, using a ladle for the batter. Thin and crisp on the edges.
Chocolate Fondant: Recipe by Tom Aikens on Great British Chefs site
This naughty dessert is a sure fire way of making something chocolaty and indulgent to satisfy those cravings. I made it without the creme anglaise, it was very sweet but didn’t stop me eating it all, best served with ice cream.
Selina x
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