Yum-Sa All Thai'd Up

Putney is a place in South West London I haven’t visited in a while. Last month, I was happy to find an invite for a hot new Thai restaurant in Putney in my inbox. With the promise of drinks and nibbles and a chance to discover this new restaurant before the general public... of course I was down for that!

I was greeted by the happy faces from the reception staff and quickly offered a glass of prosecco; having been caught up in heavy traffic - and a downpour of rain - this was absolutely what I needed and it went down rather quickly (another one please).

Waiting staff patrolled the floor, handing out Thai nibbles and, if you had some questions for the chef, there he was cooking up a storm in the open kitchen, happy to answer anything thrown at him.

The food was a mixture of classic Thai cuisine, meat, fish and vegetarian options, all in perfectly bite size portions and a fusion of new fancy ingredients. My favourite Thai bites were crab dum yum (delicious firm crabmeat, served in a squid ink dumpling and topped with bright orange fish roe) and the chicken yum mai (steamed parcels of chicken, glass noodles, pumpkin and wood ear mushrooms).

Roger Narula, the owner of Yum-Sa, proudly opened the restaurant after a long time dream of bringing Thai culture, art and passion to London. With a vast background in the food and drinks industry over in the east, it’s no surprise he’s done well.

With a room full of bloggers, journos and foodies from the area, the flash of cameras and questions were flowing. We were treated to chants from Buddhist Monks, a welcome speech from the new Mayor of Wandsworth (Cllr McDonnell) and the team at Yum-Sa, which came to a touching end with a speech from Mr Narula’s son.

Yum-Sa is a great addition to Putney and with the beautifully decorated restaurant, cosy seating for small and large parties and even a meditation room to relax, I know you’re going to love it.

Yum-Sa is now open and offering a wonderful array of Thai art, culture and of course amazing Thai food, drinks and a glorious cocktail list to pair with each dish. Yum-Sa is located, very conveniently, opposite Putney East Station on Upper Richmond Road.

Yum-Sa food menus start from £6-£9 for starters and £12-£25 for mains, desserts are from £4.95-£6.95, it’s perfect for dates, parties and special occasions.

I’ll be heading back to Yum-Sa very soon, so hopefully see you there!

Find out more about Yum-Sa on their website, follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

phone: 02033719111
email: info@yum-sa.com

opening times
sunday – thursday 12 pm – 11pm
friday and saturday 12pm – 11:30pm

Unit 1, 3 Plaza Gardens,

88 Upper Richmond Road,

Putney

SW15 2DT

Lot's of love LPD xxx

12 Amazing Things To Do In Tooting Market

There's Lots to do and see in Tooting Market, so to make your journey through a little easier, here's my amazing top tips!

Tooting Market, now not such a hidden gem, but perfectly, constantly buzzing day and night.

As 6am dawns, Tooting Market starts to come alive.The traders arrive and set up their stalls:well, the day traders at least. Tables are wheeled out, along with trolleys full of wonderful, seasonal fruit and veg fresh from The New Covent Garden Market. Displays are set to entice the early morning shoppers.

The mix of old school and trendy new market stalls is the best thing about Tooting Market. It brings back a lovely sense of nostalgia for me as I remember the first job I had selling jewellery and women’s accessories on Allenton Market, in Derby.

All markets have a certain smell and sound.With food from different cultures, and shouts from market traders selling their wares, market culture may have transformed, but some things will never change!

Tooting Market is undergoing more changes: a brand new three storey development is set to open soon (hopefully in January 2018) and bring even more, intriguing hip businesses to our much loved market line-up - Tootingites cannot wait!

To make your next trip to Tooting Market an easy one, I’ve listed my top 12 amazing things to discover, eat, drink and buy!

Hungry...?

Start your morning with a tasty brunch at Brickwood Cafe. Tucked away in the corner, you’ll find cosy tables and benches to share where you can brunch away to your heart’s content and sip on Antipodean style coffee – a long black for me, please!

With lunchtime upon us, it’s time to get your chops around a Shawarma from Meze In The Market. Chicken or Falafel, a large for only £4.50 and big enough to keep you full, way past 5pm.

As the day traders pack away, tables and chairs topped with flowers and candles start to appear. Why not hang out at the coolest burger joint in town – Boom Bap Burger. Famous for flippin’ meats and dropping cool, hip-hop beats, with craft beers to wash down ‘The Notorious P.I.G’ it’s no wonder it’s a favourite of mine.

Are you Feeling Thirsty?

Looking for more of a chilled night, catching up with mates? Then maybe a glass of wine might help. Unwined has been serving up delicious and interesting wines, from all over the world to the thirsty wine lovers of Tooting. 

    They even stock the wonderful Chateau Tooting, a wine produced using locally grown grapes. After a recent feature on ITV News, Chateau Tooting has now sold out and wont be available until mid 2018. Find out more about the wine and The Urban Wine Company here.

With regular wine tastings and a pop-up kitchen changing monthly, Unwined is a very pleasant way to spend an evening.

       If you know Tooting well, then you’ve probably already been to The Secret Bar. The tiny Portuguese style pub serves up a great pint of Sagres and the local favourite, Super Bock, in the proper handled Super Bock pint glasses. The Secret Bar  is open ‘til late on weekends, with a secret exit onto the street, which means you can keep on drinking long after the market is closed. 

  If you’re taking it easy on the booze, attempting Sober November or quite simply not a drinker, then you have to give Get Juiced a go. Fresh juices, smoothies and healthy snacks to keep you happy, now located in the centre of the market and easy to find with a brightly painted juice bar and perfectly placed tropical fruit, to brighten up your day.

You Must... 

If you’re a true music lover, maybe from a slightly older generation, then you’ll totally be into Dr Vinyl. Flick through the neatly categorised records, organised into easily to find genres and all at reasonable prices. If you’re building on your collection then pay the Dr a visit.

As a self-confessed geek, I often find myself delving into the shelves at the Wandle Tree and Nana Neko. Bring out your inner child with comics galore, toys, action figures and computer games and consoles from the 1980s. 

If you love a good rummage, or you’re a fan of knick-knacks and vintage goodies, then delve into the world of pre-loved treasures at The Cabin and My Old Girl and Me. I also can't help but have a nose around Love Art and recently opened Melina's gift shop, perfect for cute Christmas presents.

On Your Shopping List...

Living in London has made me rather tight, well perhaps just skint:I love to budget and when it comes to food for the week, I absolutely love to find a bargain. The fruit and veg stalls at Tooting Market have an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, a bowl of potatoes for £1, seasonal fruit straight from New Covent Garden Market…you’re really not stuck for choice. 

The old boys at Stannards Butchers also have it covered –well, when it comes to meat. Get your Sunday Roast menu on the cheap, with great bargains on chickens, chops and joints.

Tooting Market hosts a mixed variety of market traders; it’s open 7 days a week and always supports local independent businesses. So, if you only do one thing this week...eat, drink and shop local, keep Tooting thriving and keep your Tooting Market alive.

Find out more about Tooting Market and whats's coming next on their website, follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Gooce Singles Super Club

Excitement was in the air last Saturday 11^th November 2017, I’d been invited to the first Gooce Singles Supper Club.


At around 7:45pm, me and my friend Angie arrived at a beautiful terraced house in Tooting and greeted at the door by two lovely ladies called Gabi and Luce (Gooce). They took my coat and ushered me through to the front room, which was already buzzing with ladies and gents eagerly chatting and finding out more about their fellow dinner dates for the evening. It seemed that the night was already in full swing, we were handed a rose water fizz cocktail, along with some canapes and tasty nibbles - finally... my nerves began to ease.

 Whilst trying to remember everyone’s name, I moved on to my second fizz cocktail and grabbed the chance to chat to Gabi and Luce about why they decided to open their home to a bunch of single strangers. They told me that after years of cooking and putting on dinner parties for friends and family, along with their love of cooking, why not give a supper club a go and hopefully set up a few dates, with some tasty plates along the way.

We were soon invited through to the dining room, where a beautifully prepared table sat ready for guests, each spot marked with a place name made from super cute scrabble letters. The napkins all had an individual napkin ring, an array of plates, glasses and candles made the table look ready for a fancy feast - amazing attention to detail.

 To start, we were served a goat’s cheese and walnut salad on a bed of rocket leaves, along with delicious home-cooked bread, fresh and still warm from the oven. I particularly enjoyed the goats cheese in this dish, it was so soft, a melt in your mouth kind of tendency and left me wanting more!

Next came a large serving dish of prawns, two on a skewer; these were passed around, along with padron peppers, vegetable paella and many different leafy salads. The prawns... oh the prawns, all cooked to perfection, I had to go back for thirds and I think I had six altogether.

For dessert, a fluffy Greek yogurt ice cream with roasted figs and a crunchy almond praline. This was perfectly sweet, sugary and went together so nicely.

 After a perfectly balanced meal, with attention to pleasing everyone’s taste buds and dietary requirements, a plate of homemade red and fluffy Turkish delight made its way to the table. Gabi and Luce explained to us all that rose water is often used in Indian Desserts, and they wanted to include the local culture in their first Tooting supper club – what a lovely touch.

With the wine still flowing and guests still chatting away, I do believe that the first Gooce Supper Club was a total success.

Unfortunately, on this occasion, I didn’t meet the man of my dreams, but I did make many new friends and I would definitely do it again. The setting was beautiful; the food simply delicious and meeting Gabi and Luce was amazing too – such wonderful inspiring ladies.

Gabi and Luce are now planning more events in Tooting and hope to put on many more singles supper clubs at their gorgeous house, and I wish them every success.

If you’re looking for a wonderful but different way to meet new people and find a possible date, then book your ticket for the next Gooce Singles Supper Club here.

Find out more about Gooce Supper Clubs on their website and follow them on Instagram.

Sugar Push Vintage Dance

Have you always wanted to learn to dance? Well what are you waiting for – Learn to swing dance this winter with Sugar Push Vintage Swing Dance classes.

Get your dancing shoes ready and join the crew at Sugar Push Vintage Dance. With weekly dance classes for beginners and for the more advanced, classes take place in the secret gymnasium room, upstairs at The Antelope in Tooting every Wednesday evening.

If you’ve never swing danced before, then don’t be shy, beginners classes start from 7pm, come alone or bring a partner, either way you’ll always have someone to dance with. The Sugar Push girls (Romayne Etwaroo and Holly France) have many years of swing dancing under their belts, giving people opportunities to improve their Lindy Hop, two steps and even stop those two left feet.

Did you know that the swing Dance era originated in the 1920’s and 30’s over in America, when big bands took over as the pop culture. Swing dance is a broad term to describe a variety of partner dances.

Why not impress your work colleagues at this year’s Christmas party or surprise your loved one, with some super cool swinging moves on the dance floor – you know they’d totally love that!

Find out more about Sugar Push Vintage Dance on Facebook, Instagram and on their website and get ready to book your next swing dance class in South London.

Sugar Push Vintage Dance

Every Wednesday from 7pm

The Antelope

Mitcham Road

SW17 9NG

South and Social - Beer Social

Be More Social!

Living in London really takes its toll, trying to meet up with friends, meeting new people and trying to organise your social calendar, can be really overrun by so many things.

If you’re finding this a problem like me, but love social events, looking for a good night and want to meet like-minded people in your area, then I've some exciting news for you!

South and Social (Rachel Benedict and Jennifer Allen) a new events company, (yes you guessed it... based in South London) are now organising Social events in your neighbourhood to bring people together in a fun, relaxed and easy environment.

In September 2017, they organised a gin-tasting event at The Antelope in Tooting Broadway. The first ‘Gin Social’ was held in the secret shed in The Antelope’s garden and gin lovers were treated to finding out more about Portobello Road Gin and of course drinking plenty of the stuff too.

The next South and Social event will take place at By The Horns Brewery in Summerstown/Tooting on Wednesday November 22^nd 2017, with a beer tasting, a brewery tour and a chance to meet the brewers.

Tickets are now on sale for £15 each and you can get yours here via this link, we’ve heard they’re going fast, so be sure to get yours quick - I've got mine!

Beer lovers rejoice - this one’s for you!

I can’t wait for this one, so see you there on the 22^nd for a beer or three.

Why not enter the social world of South and Social and find out more about them and what they do on their Facebook Page and why not give them a follow on Twitter and Instagram.

Gooce Singles Supper Club

Setting Up Dates With Plates

Are you looking for that special someone? Have you found dating has become more difficult? Are you done with dating apps, fed up with setting up yet another profile and writing a silly bio? 

Are you now ready to meet like-minded people with a passion for food and drink?  - Then I have just the answer!

Gooce, a new singles supper club, (setting up dates with plates) is a new way of bringing people together over drinks and delicious home cooked food, all in the comfort of a beautiful terrace house in Tooting.

Gabi and Luce, two long time friends and housemates, have been dishing up in their dining room for years. After both experiencing the mind numbing game of dating in London, they have now come up with a new concept to help bring 8-10 eligible singles together, all of a similar age, all in one evening and all under one roof.

This genius new singles supper club will take place on Saturday November 11^th at their lovely home on in Tooting. The evening will start from 7:30pm, you will eat from a seasonal set menu and guests are welcome to come alone or with a single friend. You will need to book in advance for this event and tickets are selling fast, so get yours now via this link.

I can’t wait to see what’s next from Gabi and Lucy, find out more about them and what they do on their website and why not give them a follow on Instagram.

Gooce Singles Supper Club

Saturday November 11^th

7:30pm
Tooting SW17 8DA