Confessions of a Chocoholic afternoon tea at the Podium, Hilton Park Lane

Just when you thought you couldn't beat a champagne afternoon tea, they go and make one for chocoholics, aka, me. The Podium is tucked away in the left corner of the Hilton on Park Lane, and is great for a stop after shopping in Harvey Nicks, or a stroll around Hyde Park. The decor isn't amazing, and the restaurant does need a spruce-up, but the pianist twinkling the ivories in the corner makes for a mellow vibe, and after a glass of cham you won't notice the peeling wallpaper, honest.

The tea menu is extensive, but you can of course have coffee. Sandwiches come as standard with prawns, smoked salmon, egg & cress, cream cream and the obligatory ham. Staff are very obliging and ask which ones you would like, so feel free to be fussy. Sandwiches are served first on their own, after which you are presented with a rather substantial-looking platter of cakes and scones, which come with their own pots of chocolate, jam and clotted cream. Choc-chip scones are a nice addition to the usual fruity and plain versions, and they come served warm so eat 'em fast.

If you have room for more (you're a better man than me) you have a selection of treats in store as you work your way up the tower. Never fear, this is one afternoon tea venue where you're actively encouraged to take home the goodies, in a Bea's of Bloomsbury-style cardboard carrier to show everyone you've been for a really lavish cake-fest.
The middle-layer includes a rather luminous looking battenberg, red velvet and vanilla cupcakes and a linzertorte. Phew, keep going.

If you make it to the top of the tower you slay the dragon. reach a plate made of chocolate which is completely edible and must be some sort of Krypton Factor/Man V Food mash-up test of foodie willpower. Atop the choccie plate is a pistachio macaroon (mmm), a raspberry cheesecake (double mmm), a weird choux bun replete with icing butterfly (no idea) and a space-candy, fizzing sherbet situation in a shot glass with a popping candy ice cream cone sticking out of it. Downright odd. Here's another shot of that so you can appreciate just how out of the box it is:

All in all, a pretty spectacular afternoon tea, and well worth the price, given it includes champagne. You'll need that walk/run around the park afterwards-just don't forget to collect the doggy bag on your way home again.

Shrimpy's

Shrimpy's retro wall, replete with glimpse of palm tree

Shrimpy's is a serious amount of delicious fun. It's kind of my new local, having literally "popped up" in what used to be a petrol station in a pretty obscure location at the back of King's Cross station. We used to run past it en route to Regent's Park, and it was such a bleak location, the last place you would expect to find a foodie haven. The re-vamp of the King's Cross area has been planned for a long time, and the area is fast gaining it's foodie credentials, with Eat St (now Kerb) providing excellent street food to hungry King's Place staff and customers, and Caravan catering to a weekend brunch crowd. Shrimpy's is the icing on an increasingly-delicious cake, taking up around half the space of what is now The Filling Station, where you can get pizza and drinks and sit overlooking Regent's Canal.

Seabass ceviche with plantains

With a curved, corrugated-cardboard style exterior, I wasn't expecting Shrimpy's to look as inviting as it did. Dimly lit, with an abundance of pineapple-shaped paraphernalia adorning the sills and counter, retro phrases and images have been painted onto the walls. The cocktails are retro-glam too, with a spicy margarita and a "blue-rinse" (a tequila and blue bols mix) amongst others. The food is south american-style. The seabass cevice starter we chose had a lovely tiger's milk marinade, tangy and delicious, but featured a lot of corn which seemed to be doing the rounds as it was on the table when we arrived. The seabass slivers were tasty, but there weren't enough of them in the dish, which had a lot of soft plantain chunks, sweet and tasty, to balance out the lime.

The piece-de-resistance on the menu is clearly the soft-shell crab burger, although lobster did feature and looked pretty good too. The crab burger was crispy and light, with good skinny chips accompanying it, but it wasn't amazing. My monkfish with quinoa, almonds and courgettes, however, was scrummy, and seemingly the healthiest options available. It didn't look that big at first glance, but monkfish is so meaty and filling that I was struggling by the end.

Soft shell crab burger

Since we shared a starter we had room for some dessert and were really hankering after the grilled black figs with almonds, honey and mascarpone, but they had run out. We went instead for what I'd describe as a pineapple eaton mess, or as they call it "meringue, hibiscus syrup, chantilly, pinapple". I'm not a fan of creamy desserts but this was gorgeous, and I'd have stolen it if it hadn't been my OH's birthday dinner! A crisp pineapple slice stood proudly in the top of crunchy meringue, whilst chunks of tangy pineapple cut through the cream. The hibiscus syrup was delicious, and the whole dish reminded me of my childhood, when Tony the ice cream man would serve me plastic cones full of soft serve ice cream with raspberry ripple sauce all over it. I only with Shrimpy's has been so generous with the sauce-I'd bottle it and sell it it was so good.

I'd read reviews that Shrimpy's was "sceney" so I was feeling a bit trepidatious when we first arrived, but the waiting staff were very friendly and relaxed, making us feel at home. I was really impressed just before we left when I overheared the maitre d' helping some walk-in customers, one of whom was in a wheelchair. She was quick to set up a table for them with easier access, and really went out of her way to help. I'll definitely go back to Shrimpy's - perhaps when I've saved up a little as it is fairly pricey - but for a treat it's a lovely place, with great decor, tasty food and super-friendly staff.

New product review: Gnaw chocolate

I love finding new products, especially when those products include chocolate! Even better, Gnaw had me at "peanut butter" which is my absolute favourite thing, even more so than choccy itself. About 7 years ago when I took my first trip to the States, my friend and colleague who I was travelling with ribbed me mercilessly about my peanut butter fetish- I had to go to Macy's and buy an entire luggage set to get all the stuff I'd bought back home. Anyway, back to Gnaw. It's made in Norfolk (or Gnaw-folk) and it's handcrafted and yummy and cool and (wait for it) ethical. Yes. Everything I could ever want my chocolate to be.
So, they support red squirrels, which is pretty cool. And their bars are slim, tasty and filled with treats. Rocky Road is stuffed full of mini marshmallows and fudgy bits, the PB bar has tonnes of tiny bits of peanut in. There's real-life marzipan in the milk and dark bars. They even do sugar-free for the diabetics and dieters (that's me too, but I have to say the PB bar lasted all of 5 minutes and I still have most of the SF bar left in a draw...) I suppose I'm a bit of a traditionalist really when it comes to unadulterated cocoa-based pleasure, so I steered away from the bars studded with red jelly hearts. I'll leave those for you. Gnaw is currently available in a few select shops and from some independent online retailers. I suggest you get in quick, these guys are going to be big. And when they make their bars bigger to match demand, the peanut butter ones are ALL MINE. muhahahaha.