Minka Guides

I'm competing in LIPSYNC1000 at The Glory this Wednesday night 🙌 Come along and cheer me on 💋

Quite frankly, I've been in mourning since Honest Burgers got rid of their original veggie burger 😭 The light, crispy onion bhaji-esque fritter with cauliflower, sweet corn and coriander topped with cucumber yogurt was hands down the best vegetarian burger you would find ANYWHERE 🍔 So when they decided to replace it a few months back, I couldn't believe it. Queue endless messages of moaning between me and its fellow fans.
I've given their new Fritter a few tries but it is inc...redibly basic. As unoriginal as any other veggie patty you'll find and nowhere near as tasty. So today I decided to give their new Plant burger a try - a completely vegan dish featuring Beyond Meat patty and vegan smoked Gouda 🧀 It was surprisingly good (and relatively real in terms of fake cheese and beef). Matched with their gluten-free bun and beer, it's a pretty satisfying veggie burger, if you can handle mock meat.
At £13.50, it is exactly twice the price of their original veggie burger 🤑 (how times have changed for this tiny outlet in Brixton Market) but it's still one of the better gluten-free burger restaurants around, let alone gluten-free + vegan. Fingers crossed, one day they'll bring back their original fritter too 🤞
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This exhibition looks beautiful. Worth checking out if you're heading to northern California (Oakland/San Francisco) this summer.

Last mezcal bar recommendation for Cinco de Mayo in London this week is La Bodega Negra - Soho, London 🌵 Yup, that one with the sex shop window 👯‍♀️
Their resident mezcal expert, Maciek, served me up some sensational tacos and a smoky Mezcalita (rimmed with chilli, salt and lime) 🌶️🧂before taking me on a tasting journey of how agave spirits are aged. La Bodega Negra's selection of 15 mezcals includes all three of the hip, small batch brand Ilegal, that showcases this process... perfectly.
The crystal clear Ilegal Joven is unaged, with a zesty citrus taste, while the golden Ilegal Reposado, is aged for four months in charred oak barrels and whose smooth velvety flavour was my favourite. The full, rich Ilegal Añejo, is deep yellow in colour, having been aged for 13 months in either oak or used bourbon casks. The strong, sweet and smoky flavour was surprisingly more reminiscent of scotch or cognac than tequila 🚬
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Another great option for Cinco de Mayo in London this week is Cafe Pacifico 🍹 This legendary Covent Garden restaurant has over 45 different types of mezcal 🌵 If you haven't been in a while, then I definitely recommend giving them another try. Their long-term staff and patrons bought the business a couple of years ago and have injected so much energy and passion into the place again! 🙌🏽
Their in-house mezcal expert and General Manager, Carlos, gave me the most amazing introduc...tion you can imagine. Honestly, if you're totally new to the spirit, book in a tasting session with him and you will become a super fan (of him and the smoky agave nectar) instantly.
Carlos started me off with one of their Mezcaritas (a smoky twist on the classic margarita) and a curious concoction they call a 'Bru-groni'. Consisting of smoked rosemary, Campari and mezcal, this was a deliciously smouldering reinvention of a Negroni.
Then I moved onto the straight stuff, sampling the classic Del Maguey Vida (with its soft cinnamon aftertaste), the fruity/mineral Alipus San Andres, and some Bruxo No. 2 Pechuga, which is distilled through a chicken breast 🐔
I had such a brilliant time at Cafe Pacifico, I can't wait to go back! 💟
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It's Cinco de Mayo this week! 🇲🇽 So I'm sharing some fun research I did recently for a hi.com article - discovering the top 3 mezcal bars in London 🌵 Yes, I went and got myself rather tipsy at some fine establishments across the city, just so I could learn more about the world of sweet agave nectar and the best places to drink it in London 🍹 You are welcome!
First up, Santo Remedio > Cocina Mexicana near Tower Bridge is a vibrant restaurant/bar, famous for its inventive yet a...uthentic dishes, such as guacamole with grasshoppers 🥑🦗 Main man Edson took me through his highlights from their collection of 25 different mezcals, which are available as a sipping selection on the restaurant's menu.
The Corte Vetusto Ensamble had a crisp, citrusy finish, while I found the Papadiablo Especial to be silky and sweet and Leyenda San Luis Potosi had both a peppery and herbal minerality to it. Accompanied by orange wedges dipped in chilli, they are a great introduction to the diverse flavours of mezcal 🍊🌶️
Alternatively, I recommend starting your meal with one of their specialist mezcal cocktails, such as the Piña Al Carbón with chargrilled pineapple 🍍 or the Mezcalita Verde, a gorgeous green concoction with cucumber, parsley and jalapenos 🥒 I finished up with the digestive Dangerous Don, a mezcal distilled with coffee beans that was so smooth and delicious I was instantly a fan 😋
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I'm planning a trip to #Valencia this #summer 🌞 Does anyone have any tips/recommendations?
📷: Unsplash/Franck CHARLES

Whoops! Still want to try the new Caledonian Sleeper though :) #caledoniansleeper #Journeyofanighttime #travel #traintravel

It's 15 years today since I left Sydney to move to London ✌ I still remember Penelope driving me to the airport with Joshua and Benji, sending me off to live in a country I'd never actually visited. Oh the fearlessness of youth 😂
I'd also never even been on an international flight before, taking the most unlikely route. Not via Asia (which I've flown on every trip home since) but via LA and NYC for a week each.
This photo is a snap Belinda took of me perched on a cop car in... Manhattan on this 2004 trip. I still have that Harley Davidson tshirt I "borrowed" from you (and left the country with) Aaron 😘 I wish I still had those black acid wash Levis.
2019 was supposed to be my big year of UK travel... but it turned out to be the year of big life changes instead. So I'm resetting the clock and restarting my UK travel plans in May, which is when I finally arrived here 15 years ago. I'm finally ready for some new adventures 🤗
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Popped into the preview for the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Design Museum today 😍
What a delicious treat it is for any film fan 🎥 I particularly loved the room for The Shining, complete with the actual axe and a beautiful scale model of the maze.
Definitely worth immersing yourself in for an hour or two. Opens tomorrow and is on until mid-September. #thedesignmuseum #discoverkubrick

What an epicly sunny Bank Holiday weekend 🌞
I went on three sunny adventures along the beautiful River Lea to Tottenham Marshes - which meant I ended up in the beer garden of my favourite new local, the Ferry Boat Inn, Tottenham three times as well 😏
This place is so gorgeous - right next to the crystal clear river, with a huge blossom tree and string lights. Such a dreamy place to while away a sunny afternoon. You'd never believe you were in London, let alone in Zone 3 😍

I finally did the BIG move to Tottenham last weekend, so I was super excited yesterday to wake up and go for brunch at my new local, Craving Coffee ☕
I love everything about this place - the big warehouse space, the sense of light, the seating, the coffee, the gluten-free food, the service and all the friendly doggies that visit here (check out their @craving_puppies Instagram account 🐕).
Can't wait to spend many more Saturday mornings here 🌞

I had such a fantastic time at the launch of Lyaness last night, the new cocktail bar housed in the Sea Containers London hotel on the South Bank and formerly home to the award-winning Dandelyan. I'm so very proud of Ryan and my amazing brother Iain for creating yet another amazing concept for a stylish drinking den.
All your favourite features of Dandelyan are still there - the sweeping marble bar, luxe seating spaces and disco-era feature mirror - but now it's all fitted ou...t in a velvety soft blue that envelopes you in a chic cosiness. It's the perfect transition of an already stunning space into a new era.
The cocktails, of course, are what has radically changed. Gone are the botanical concoctions that, alongside the perfectly tuned team who operated the bar night after night, won Dandelyan the 'Best Bar in the World' award. The menu now focusses around seven experimental ingredients - like Infinite Banana, Purple Pineapple and Aromatised Milk Wine - that are meant to surprise and refresh your palate.
The Lyan team were always going to take you somewhere new and these drinks are so beautifully light and delicious, they're exactly what this spring/summer season needs. Make sure you get down there and check out the new bar pronto.
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Popped in to Van Gogh and Britain exhibition preview at the Tate Britain this morning and spent a good 20 minutes sitting in front of Starry Night Over the Rhône 🌟
The exhibition opens on Wednesday and runs through till August 🌻

Popped into The Bach on Broadway Market for brunch recently and was so happy to discover that they do amazing gluten-free French toast - with mascarpone, berries and fried banana 😋
In fact, both their cafes (the other is The Bach Hoxton) have a super gluten-free friendly menu, with more brunch options like pancakes and corn fritters available. Shouldn't be surprising, considering gluten-free chef Nikki Stewart does the menu. She was part of the original team behind Long White Cloud Hoxton, which I used to love 💞
This is actually the third time I've visited their cafes, and while my experience of the service has been really mixed (with one amazing experience, one awful and this time totally fine), their food has been consistently excellent. Definitely worth checking out when you're in the area 👌

Did someone say G&T o'clock? 🥳
Check out the beautiful Mill Bar at The Bombay Sapphire Distillery 😍
Click the link the comments to read my review of this beautiful day trip from London ⬇️

One of the most beautiful features of The Bombay Sapphire Distillery are the twin glasshouses 😍
Designed by Thomas Heatherwick (who is famous for the Olympic Cauldron and the New Routemaster bus among many other things), they each have their own climates - one temperate, the other Mediterranean - in order to grow ten different botanicals used in the gin. They even reuse the waste heat from the adjoining distillery building for their heating.
Click the link in the comments to read more about this great day trip for gin lovers ⬇️

Happy Wednesday lovelies 🌞 Guess who went on a great little day trip to The Bombay Sapphire Distillery recently? 🍸 😝
Click the link in the comments to read all about it ⬇️ #bombaydistillery