pix

When C and I decided to go for a girly mid-week dinner date, I suggested that we try Pix in Notting Hill (there are also other branches in Central and North London), because it seemed like a good choice for a dinner on the lighter side. I was trying to not overdo it before an inevitable amount of food and drink would be consumed in France over the weekend, and C wasn't after a heavy meal either.
I seem to be featuring C a lot on the blog lately! It's true though, we do spend quite a lot of time together, between our girls-only times and the get-togethers with the boys. I'm just lucky she puts up with my snap happy self! 
Anyway, onto the food. Pix offers an interesting experience, where you help yourself to canapé-style dishes that are on small or large sticks, the smaller being £1.95 and large ones £2.95. They count up your sticks at the end, so if you go very hungry and forget to keep track, it could add up to quite a large bill.

Aside from the original concept, the food was good - I could tell that the ingredients were high quality, and they had a fairly large variety of dishes to choose from. They also come out with new, freshly prepared ones so every time you go to the buffet, there's something different to try. We didn't have dessert that day, but some of them looked nice too, especially the churros!
As I said, I don't think it's an ideal place to go if you're after a filling and hearty meal - it would take a lot of sticks for J (C's fiancé) and E to get full! - but for a casual dinner or lunch with a girlfriend, it's a fun little place. It was quite busy for a wednesday night as well, so clearly it's a popular one for locals and after work drinks and nibbles.
We spotted that they have a £29.95 all you can eat deal on Sundays, eat & drink as much as you want for an hour and a half per table - that's actually not a bad deal if you go super hungry and super thirsty! 
Have you tried any original dining places like these lately?

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holland park & kyoto garden

After all that good food, we decided to go for walk and vaguely aim for Holland Park, a short walk away from Notting Hill station. I had never been but remembered that I had read it was a pretty park, so I thought it was worth a look.

What we actually found was way beyond our expectations - it's like an English garden (or gardens, as it was sectioned off into several different ones) straight out of a storybook. It's groomed but not too groomed, colourful but with plenty of green.

But in the middle of this English beauty, we found a little garden from my neck of the woods - the Kyoto Garden! A little Japanese-inspired gem with a pond full of fish, a mini waterfall, little wooden water pumps and smooth stepping stones.

And there was the most stunning peacock, just chilling out on the grass, posing for all of us taking photos. He is clearly used to being hounded by the paps.

We just had the nicest time walking through this park, and even though we were there on a sunny Sunday so there were lots of people around, it still felt strangely peaceful and gave me such a sense of contentment.

London is full of treasures.

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polpo

Polpo is one of those restaurants that I'd heard about and walked past numerous times, but never quite made it to. It was partly because it always looked packed (I'm talking about the one in Soho), and also because these kinds of Tapas-style places tend to end up being quite pricey if you're in hangry mode.

When I read on the grapevine that they were opening a branch in Notting Hill, and that their soft launch weekend meant 50% off food, I rang them up for a lunch reservation quicker than you can say meatballs.

When we arrived, we were taken to a table at the back, where it was cosy but quite dark. I mumbled something to E about it looking like nighttime, which he read (correctly) as "i can't take good foodie photos in this light!!", so he asked for us to sit by the window (it was also a very sunny day so I wanted to enjoy it) and they obliged very nicely. So, brownie point to them.

The place has a very relaxed, rustic feel, with the menu written on the paper place mats.

We went to town with the food - in order of appearance: crostini with salami butter & broad beans, Arancini (fried risotto balls), classic meatballs, fritto misto (fried mixed seafood), rocket and courgette parmesan salad, prawn & artichoke linguine, taleggio and speck pizzette.

Everything was fantastic. Not too fancy but not too basic, and the portions were surprisingly generous. There was a bit of a gap in the service, but obviously this is why they were discounting the bills for the opening weekend, while they iron out the glitches. We didn't mind as we chatted away - and we definitely didn't mind when we were given another one of those delicious pizzas free of charge (because a waiter made a mistake but wanted us to cover for him and pretend it was our first one! he was lovely)!

Even though we were both pretty full, we couldn't say no to their Nutella pizzette. I mean, we're not crazy.

It was as good as it looks.

We both agreed that we would definitely be happy to go back to Polpo, even without the 50% off. The bill came to 35 pounds including service and a 250ml carafe of wine, so normally it wouldn't be the most budget friendly place, but for a special occasion we would jump on it.

Now added on my to try ASAP list - Spuntino and Mishkin's, both by the team behind Polpo. Sometimes the hype is worth listening to!

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mazi

As much as we love the men in our lives, my girlfriends and I really enjoy spending time just us ladies. There's nothing quite like having a good chat with food and wine with our favourite women!

One of my friends suggested that we try a Greek restaurant in Notting Hill, Mazi, and it was a great pick.

Tucked away on a small street off the main road, it's cosy and characterful without being cluttered, which I liked. I was too busy chatting away to snap a photo of the interior, but you can see some on their site.

First, we were presented with shots of something that we suspected was alcoholic but was only a tiny bit so - a pineapple/passionfruit juice concoction with something akin to grappa, if my memory serves me correctly.

As for the food, it's a menu of smaller dishes that you share with the table, so we chose 3 of their jars - taramasalata, squid ink with fried calamari and aubergine cooked in some kind of delicious way I can't quite remember, alongside some delicious bread and olives -

- and also chose two of their "main" dishes, cold souvlaki wrapped in rice paper and octopus risotto, both of which were very good.

We didn't try any of their dessert (opting to finish the evening in a nearby pub with some more vino, cheekily), but it was a lovely meal. I wouldn't hesitate to go there again, and it's somewhere that you would benefit from going with a larger group so you could try lots of different things.

I feel like girls' nights really do make me feel re-energised and puts a bounce in my step - especially since I went 3 years without being able to do this with my closest friends while I was abroad, so I appreciate it all the more.

We are always looking for fun things to do together, so if you have any suggestions of places/activities/attractions, please share!