Hibiscus

I was treated for dinner at Hibiscus for my birthday. I know booking was not easy due to lack of proper on line facility and unavailability of staff to take phone calls. On the day however, I really enjoyed the food. We had the 7 course tasting menu which was a surprise and indeed a nice one. We were advised very well for the wine and were very happy with the recommendation. Service was polite and non-intrusive. A wonderful birthday experience!

Kandoo restaurant, Edgeware Road, London

The atmosphere of this small Iranian restaurant, Kandoo, looks relatively nice and the service is OK. The food is not good at all. Very bland rice, poor quality meat and chicken. Prices are average but you certainly won't get more than what you have paid for. They do bake bread in house which is nice. Overall not a good experience. Would never visit again.

Mangal Ocakbasi Restaurant (10 Arcola street)

Authentic looking Turkish restaurant. Big barbecue (with an impressive fan on top, so not smelly). Really nice food. Generous portion with a lot of salad. Very good price. Will go again.

Innocence

Went to see the play called Innocence at the Arcola theatre. Written by German artist Dea Loher, the play shows the life story of several unrelated people that somehow connect with each other. Each life is interesting in its own right and the connection with the life of other people makes it quite entertaining.

The cast are altogether very good (some better than the other) and convincing in their roles. They picture human loneliness and insecurity, immigration and cultural differences as part of the play.

Really enjoyed watching it.

Bali vacation

Just about to finish a 10 day vacation in Ubud, Bali. We came here for a warm Christmas as tired with the cold weather in London.

We found Ubud a very nice place. People were friendly and the weather was as warm as we hoped (perhaps even more). There is a lot of beautiful scenery of rice fields and coconut trees. There are really nice jewellery and clothes shops although most are quite expensive. One of the best things are beauty treatments and massages which you can get cheaply. Although I was not a great fan of the traditional Balinese massage which involves pouring substantial amount of oil over your body, I enjoyed the manicure and pedicure and managed to have it twice during my stay (a bit over the top really!).

There are some interesting things to do in Ubud including cycling tour, were the tour organizers conveniently drive you to the top of the mountain and you cycle down and see amazing scenery and cheering Balinese children which is quite nice. We went with Bike-Baik tour and we were very happy with their service. They were friendly, explained some interesting things about the local culture and provided delicious food at the end of the trip.

Despite initial reluctance of my boyfriend, we went white water rafting with Bali Adventure tours on the Ayung river which was a lot of fun! They were very professional and our guide Wayan (this name doesn't help much as half of the population here are called Wayan!) was a really cool guy (full of muscle and obviously knew how to steer a boat).

One thing to note is that alcohol (wine and spirits) are very expensive in Bali and they don't taste so good either. I tried several cocktails and was invariably disappointed. It is a good idea to take a bottle or two of a wine that you like so you can enjoy a nice drink after your shopping or adventure tours in the evening.

The one rather annoying thing was the fact that many people were offering you transport in the street (this happened literally every few minutes). You just need to become cool about it and smile and say no thank you.

Overall, we had a fantastic time in Bali. It is a place definitely worth a visit at least once.