Breakfast is the new dinner party. People can get the tube home after and they certainly won’t have to navigate a tricky night bus route. So what’s the big idea, nobody wants to get up early at the weekend do they? Well, perhaps.  A promise of champagne and eggs might do the trick, but what else is good and easy to make for breakfast? We’ve been finding out.

American Style Pancakes
Serves 4

I made these the other day and was blown away by how easy they were to make. Folding in the egg whites adds air to the mixture and the pancakes become more like a cake than your average crepe.

Before you start – think of 1oz as one tablespoon.

YOU NEED
6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1oz caster sugar
2 free-range eggs, separated
250ml milk
1oz butter
mix the flour, baking powder and sugar in a big bowl with the egg yolks and the milk, whisk until smooth. Find another bowl and whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, fold these gently into the batter. Now the fun part , place a ladleful of the batter in a hot oiled frying pan and watch them cook. Serve with maple syrup, cream, fresh fruit, yogurt, honey…well…most stuff works.

Feeling ambitious, flip the pancakes as opposed to turning them with a spatula!

Chorizo Scrambled Eggs
Serves 4

This is my favourite breakfast and there is no better place to eat it than at Banner’s in Crouch End. If you can’t get a table, make it at home!

YOU NEED
8 Eggs
1 chorizo chopped into small pieces.
Butter, a disturbing amount.
Salt and Pepper
so simple really, whisk up the eggs, salt and pepper. Put about a third of a pack of butter in your frying pan and let it melt, add the chorizo so that the flavour starts to spread through the butter. Now add the eggs and start stirring, making sure they don’t stick to the side of the pan, you gotta scramble them, that’s why they are called scrambled eggs.

Please don’t overcook your eggs, there’s nothing worse than a dry crumple of pale eggs on a plate. Serve on thick slices of granary toast.

SOME EASY CLASSICS
Beans on Toast
Baked Beans, butter, toast. Bang!

Croissants
I used to dislike croissants and butter. There must have been something seriously wrong. Try and stop me now with a freshly baked croissant smothered in Jam and creamy butter!

Grapefruit
Sliced in half and cut along the segments, sprinkle on some sugar, serve in a high glass and you might as well be back in the 50s.

TO DRINK
Smoothies
Base your smoothie around the banana. Then add whatever you fancy: berries, peach, pineapple, mango and a dash of juice to make it mix. Easy really, we don’t need to tell you how.

Espresso
Do it right in a classic Espresso maker and you might as well be in Italia.
Champagne
Breakfast just ain’t breakfast without champagne.

I recently discovered 'The Tracks of my Tears' an old Smokey Robinson album in my dad's CD collection. Intrigued I borrowed it and stuck it on. I was  dropped into a world of classic motown. The Album spans tracks that Smokey wrote for the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells and the Temptations. Literally perfect music for a sunny Sunday morning.

Tucked away inside the Radisson Edwardian lies the Leicester Square Bar & Restaurant where it is all about seafood. Don't worry that it's inside the hotel because like we said it's all about the seafood. There were people having a drink on the sofas and the atmosphere was warm within this modern cosy restaurant...still keeping its classy. It was relatively quiet for a Wednesday night, but we reckoned that had something to do with being in Leicester Square on Orange Wednesday; however it meant excellent service from friendly, knowledgeable staff.

 

We shared six Galway bay rock oysters and scallops to start; they were fresh and clean and gave me an appetite for more. Our main course arrived in good time, we tried the plaice which was delicate in flavour and exceptional quality, my companion had the smoked haddock with spinach, mash and a poached egg, a much stronger, bolder dish, but just as tasty; she finished it all! We washed our fish down with a bottle of Pinot Grigio and somehow found it in ourselves to share the delicious chocolate tart and ice cream!

Overall The Leicester Square restaurant was right up our street, the food was top notch and it’s a great pit stop after a long day shopping or before the theatre.

 

As a Sicilian leaving in London I give the Leicester Square Restaurant an impressive 5 out of 6.

 

By Roberta Robino

New Year's Eve in London is never really much fun. Over priced clubbing, that frantic search at midnight for a circle of mates or that not so elusive kiss that everyone in the room is after. If you can't find a decent house party I suggest that you host your own. Get some friends round, download some Madonna, purchase Singstar and cook up some special treats. Better still get your buddies to help out. Don't overcomplicate matters, keep it simple, here's the ultimate New Year's Eve tear and share party.

For HORS D'ŒUVRES (yes that is how you spell it)
Mouclade-d'aunis
Serves 4  
INGREDIENTS  

6kg bouchot mussels
500 ml dry white wine
500 g mirepoix (chopped onions, carrots and celery to you and me)
50 g butter
1 teaspoon curry powder
100 ml double cream
1 Breton onion
15g salt
100 ml olive oil
 
METHOD:  

•    Scrub the mussels in several rinses of water and remove the beards.
•    Heat the olive oil and cook the mirepoix without colouring.
•    Add the mussels and white wine and cover.  Stir occasionally.
•    As soon as the mussels start to open, drain them from the pan but save the cooking liquor.
•    In another pan, heat the butter and sweat the finely chopped onion until tender.  Add the curry powder and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring all the time.
•    Add 600 ml of the cooking liquor and simmer for ten minutes.
•    Remove the mussels from their shells.
•    Add the cream to the sauce and reduce heat slightly.
•    Season to taste.
•    Add the mussels to the sauce and serve in a volauvent shell sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Some easy fun bits.

Pigs in Blankets.

Slice some sausages down the middle and fill with some mustard, wrap them in streaky bacon and cook.

Cheese and Pineapple

Cube some cheddar and some pineapple and place on toothpicks. Don't worry if they are all left at the end, they are there for novelty value!

To Drink

Pour the Créme de Cassis into 8 Champagne flutes. Slowly pour a bottle of chilled Champagne between each glass and, just before serving, drop a few raspberries into each drink.

Main course.

Sod it, make some burgers, but do it with a bit of flair, buffalo mozzarella, crispy pancetta, gherkins, the works.

Method.

Get some decent mince and put it in a bowl with salt, pepper, crushed chilli and some olive oil. Bash it together, squeeze it, punch it and mix for a few minutes before shaping into perfect burgers. Put them in the fridge.

When it comes to the cooking, remember Keep it Simple, stick them in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve on a big tray with some crispy salad and all the garnishes. Best placed inside a Ciabatta with all the trimmings…the mozzarella, the gherkins and the crispy pancetta. You can serve this with home made sweet potatoes chips. Thinly slice the sweets and put them on a baking tray with salt, chilli and sunflower oil. Cook in the oven for 45 minutes until they are crunchy on the outside and soft in the centre… like armadillos.

Dessert

Banoffee Pie

Whatever you do don't eat too much of this, it's cool if you make mini ones for each guest.

Makes about 10 mini pies.

You Need

1 pack Digestive Biscuits
250g Butter
2 tins Condensed Milk
many Bananas
1 pint Double Cream
Chocolate for grating

Method.

Melt the butter over a low heat, meanwhile smash the Biscuits up until they are serious crumbs – combine the two together and stir until everything is stuck together. Line a tray with greaseproof paper and get a circular mould, put the mix inside this and put it in the fridge. Now for the magic, submerge the condensed milk in a pan and boil for about two hours keeping the water topped up – When these are done, allow to cool. Open the tins up to reveal the ultimate toffee and spread this generously over your set biscuit bases. Put back in the fridge. Just before serving whip up the cream and chop the bananas up before building a tower of banoffee. Grate some chocolate over the top and eat.

 

Picture the scene, think back a few years to the times of big suits, briefcases and men on giant mobile phones, I'm talking mid 80's. Think Kurt Russell, tearing through China Town in a big fuck off truck. Benihana's is straight out of here, paper lanterns and faux mountians in the background set the tone.

You are seated around a big hot plate where the chef is supposed to cook up a storm. In fact we were on the verge of splashing out £26 per head when we noticed the waitress was hiding the 7 courses for £18 deal. Yes, 7 courses. You get two types of meat or fish + all the other business.

Anyways everyone picks their thing and we are treated to the first course of onion stock (how very japanese) Miso Soup was an extra quid. No time is wasted and some iceberg lettuce coated in a gloopy ginger substance is placed in front of us, followed by 3 pieces of sushi.

Then the show begins - Andrew our chef was quite a character, he brought the preverbial 'dinner and a show' into one. Great, "Ladies first, Ladies first" he exclaimed as he threw a few bits of courgette, one mushroom and some onion on our plate. He was full of tricks, throwing the pots behind his back, catching things in his head. "what's that?" I asked expecting him to respond with tepanyaki or crushed ginger and garlic, "Salt & Pepper" and then to my amazement he chucked on some butter! "Butter-fly" he exclaimed. Enough to have any dead Japanese chef turning in their grave.

Then came the sixth course, the meat, on the hot plate, with oil, salt and pepper plus a bit of butter for good measure.  Tasted ok, but it was not what I would call inspiring. I think the 7th course was beansprouts, he cooked them after we had our meat and well, it was a little cheeky.

I felt empty as I walked out, I love to cook and I love to eat. If neither of the above apply to you then I suggest you visit Benihana just after you've been to The London Dungeon.

Overall 4/10