Julia’s Algarve

My family and I have been frequent visitors to the Algarve for the last 20 years. In that time there has been one beachside restaurant and bar we’ve frequently returned to. 

Julia's Algarve

Opened in 1966, Julia’s is extremely popular, particularly with families and celebrities.

Amazing panoramic views and a bustling atmosphere make it the perfect place to watch the world go by.

I’d recommend visiting in the evening where you’ll be treated to the most memorable sunsets as the sun falls below the horizon of the North Atlantic Ocean. Although be sure to take your sunglasses so you’re not blinded as the sun dips. 

If you visit in late-summer you’re likely to see dolphins jumping through the waves while migrating south to Africa.

Situated between Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo on the Garrão beach, you will often hear this location referred to as “Julia’s Beach”.

Mussels provençal

Mussels provençal

Grilled goats cheese with honey, walnuts and balsamic glaze (v)

Grilled goats cheese with honey, walnuts and balsamic glaze (v)

Fresh melon with serrano ham

Fresh melon with serrano ham

Grilled tiger prawns with garlic, olive oil and chilli

Grilled tiger prawns with garlic, olive oil and chilli

Tomato and chilli spaghetti with mozzarella (v)

Tomato and chilli spaghetti with mozzarella (v)

Grilled fillet steak with peppered sauce and sauté potatos

Grilled fillet steak with peppered sauce and sauté potatos

Panacotta with raspberry sauce

Panacotta with raspberry sauce

Hot apple crumble with vanilla ice cream

Hot apple crumble with vanilla ice cream

Food portions are generous and the menu quite varied. A couple more vegetarian options would be good though, happily, the staff were accommodating of me going off-menu.

The beach bar is open daily from 10am and the restaurant from 12pm.

 

Julia’s Algarve

Praia do Garrao Nascente, Almancil 8135

+(351) 289 396 512

Duck & Waffle, London

Aside from going on holiday, there are few reasons that I'd happily get out of bed at silly o'clock. However, when offered a Champagne breakfast in London's highest restaurant, I set my alarm and got an early night in preparation. 

I awoke at 5am. It was still pitch black outside and London's streets were eerily quiet.

We accessed the Duck & Waffle from its private entrance in the Heron Tower in the City of London. Any tiredness quickly evaporated as soon as the glass scenic elevator whizzed us up to the 40th floor. 

Luckily, we managed to secure a table by the window. Window seats are desirable in any restaurant, but here they’re a must. The views are absolutely spectacular, especially at sunrise.

Even with the inky blackness of the night the Gherkin, Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf were all easily identifiable.

Perfectly on cue, just as the sun popped up we were served our Champagne.

We then ordered from arguably one of London's best breakfast menus. I chose ‘Bananas Brulée’ Belgian Waffle (v) - homemade Nutella, vanilla ice cream and peanut crunch.

My sister-in-law ordered the signature dish, ‘Duck & Waffle’ - crispy leg confit, fried duck egg and mustard maple syrup.

The food tasted as good as it looked, absolutely delicious, and the service at the restaurant was excellent. It was, unsurprisingly, the views that stole the show. Sipping Champagne while watching the sun rise and London awake was a truly memorable experience. 

A word of warning, though this is a 24 hour restaurant, don’t be tempted to turn up in your pyjamas.

The dress code is Casual Elegant and guests are warned that they may be denied entry if they do not honour the dress code. Even those who have pulled all-nighters still arrive looking smart.

I can highly recommend a trip to Duck & Waffle, particularly during sunrise or sunset. And make sure that you request a window seat, you won’t regret it!

Duck & Waffle

110 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AY

0203 640 7310

The Handbag Spa, Harrogate

Anyone who knows me well will testify that I’m a handbag addict. I’d always choose bags over clothes, shoes or jewellery.

“The bags under my eyes are Chanel…”

I recently took a tumble in a busy road with my favourite designer handbag on one arm and a laptop under another. Both fell in opposite directions with me landing facedown in between. When people ran to help me I told them to forget about me and help the bag instead!!!

Once I had picked myself up, my concern was not for the cuts on my legs or the laptop (which wasn’t even mine). Instead it was for my once perfect bag which now had scuff marks. My bleeding knees would heal but my grazed handbag would not. 

When I got back to work I told my friend what had happened and she suggested I sent the bag away to a spa. A spa for handbags?! I know I had taken a bad tumble but I’m pretty sure I didn’t whack my head on the way down!

My friend explained that The Handbag Spa had been featured on the tv show, Dragons Den. Founded by mother and daughter team Judy and Freya Bass, it is located in Harrogate and was set up after noticing a gap in the luxury goods market for a quality cleaning and repair service for handbags and purses. 

Judy was already established in the leather industry having worked in it for over 25 years. Freya graduated with a Degree in Fashion. With their combined knowledge of leather and fashion, the idea of repairing and treating luxury designer handbags was born. 

The Spa team can carry out cleaning treatments to leather to remove minor marks or scuffs and can even carry out full restorations, where handbags can be transformed to a completely different colour.

Intrigued, I emailed some photos of the damaged bag and was then advised what repair works were needed along with a quote. It was recommended that the technicians carry out corner and edging repairs and that the leather also be treated to remove some dye from holding the bag against my dark clothes. I also asked that some loose stitching inside be repaired. 

I bid my bag farewell and wrapped it up to be collected by courier from my home. Although it was away for 6 weeks, I was regularly updated throughout the process via email and was even sent photographs of the repairs being carried out. 

Treatments generally take between 2 and 6 weeks depending on the package chosen and, importantly, your bag is fully insured against any loss or damage. 

I’m really pleased with the results, the bag was returned to me looking brand new. I was given a leaflet and some wipes to continue with aftercare to keep it looking pristine for as long as possible.

At around £150.00, it’s not a cheap service but it’s definitely worth the investment.

thehandbagspa.com

Blythswood Square Hotel, Glasgow

“Unexpected adventures make for a better story.”

As I write this post, I should be sat poolside in Portugal, instead I’m sat in a hotel in Scotland! 

In planning our holiday to the Algarve we bought new suitcases, pulled out our holiday clothes, booked airport transfers and hire cars, checked the weather forecast daily and even bought suncream. The one thing we forgot to do was check was our ruddy passports. Cue a frantic 500 mile round trip from Wirral to Glasgow for the only appointment available at any passport office in the country.  

And so we find ourselves in a hotel room in bonnie Scotland waiting for our paperwork to be processed. Our only criteria in selecting the hotel was that it had to be close to the passport office so that we can return first thing to collect our new passport. As luck would have it one of Scotland’s best hotels is within walking distance. 

Blythswood Square is a 5-star spa hotel in a quiet Glaswegian square. It is one of the most elegant and chic hotels in the city and is rumoured to have had several famous guests, including Beyoncé and Brad Pitt.

We were met at the door by Sarah who welcomed us to the hotel. After a long journey she is exactly the type of character you would like to meet; extremely helpful with an obvious enthusiasm for her job.

The interior of the hotel is equally as beautiful as the exterior with stunning marble floors and a couple of eye-catching red velvet sitting booths.

The rooms are surprisingly spacious for a city centre hotel. Light and airy, they’re the perfect place to relax.

All 100 rooms are similarly decorated, with tweed featuring heavily. Harris Tweed, used by Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Céline, was commissioned to design the textiles for the interiors. 

It took 100 weavers six months to complete the job and over 9000 square metres of fabric is used in every room, even in the hotel's private cinema.

Car art is dotted around the hotel, paying respect to the building's previous use.

The Square used to house the Royal Scottish Automobile Club headquarters and was subsequently chosen as one of the official starting points of the Monte Carlo Rally between 1949 and 1973. In homage, the hotel has named one of its bars The Rally Bar.

We booked into The Restaurant for our evening meal, but first took a trip to the private cinema. Popcorn in hand we settled in to the tweed-covered seats and sat back to watch the original Star Wars movie.

The Restaurant is housed in what used to be the Automobile Club's ballroom. We opted to dine from the À la carte menu.

The Rally Bar has an impressive array of drinks to choose from. I picked an old favourite, a Mai Tai.

The second bar, The Salon, is located on the first floor of the hotel and has been rated as one of the best bars in the world. No wonder we found ourselves drawn to this place in our hour of need!

The staircase that leads to the bar has at its centre one of the tallest chandeliers I’ve ever seen. I don’t envy the person tasked with keeping it spotlessly clean!

After a fantastic nights sleep we headed to breakfast. With a few hundred miles of driving ahead of us a hearty Full Scottish Breakfast was in order.

A big thank you to the staff at Blythswood, in particular Emma the front of house manager and to Stuart at The Restaurant. We look forward to visiting again!  

Blythswood Square

11 Blythswood Square, Glasgow, G2 4AD

0141 248 8888

Cornichon at The Gunnery, Tarvin

Cornichon at The Gunnery is a family run bar and restaurant in the village of Tarvin, Cheshire. 

It is set in a grade II listed building which was once home to George Gunnery & Co, a grocery shop and corn merchants dating back to the Victorian times.

The old shop fittings still feature with many original pieces dotted around like weighing scales and vintage storage jars, a lovely reflection of what was once there previously.

The restaurant opened a few months ago having been completely refurbished by the Green family. There are four partners who own the restaurant, Ben Green and his wife Lisa, and Ben’s brother Edward and his wife Georgina. Ben is Chef and Lisa is General Manager. 

You enter Cornichon via the bar area which has the feel of stepping into an old French bistro. Pickled cornichons are stacked on wooden shelving, cornichon being minuscule French cucumbers. 

The decor is beautiful, dark colours have been used which give the rooms a lovely warmth.

Upstairs is a bit more quirky with paintings of actors such as Robin Williams, Tom Selleck and Christopher Walken on the walls as well as mismatched furniture.

You can tell that the owners have really put their hearts and souls into this place, it’s full of character. 

The quirkiest of all has to the the old “post room”, a small bar area just off from the main restaurant, complete with its own antique wooden post sorting cabinet. 

The French bistro theme spills over into the menu with Ben having over ten years experience of creating classic French dishes. The menu changes frequently making the most of what’s in season. 

Huge juicy marinated olives.

Chicken wings with hot sauce, pickled celery and blue cheese dip.

Cauliflower & stilton soup with chargrilled sourdough.

Mac & Cheese - this was actually a side dish that we shared. We all agreed it was the best Mac and cheese we’d ever had so I’d definitely recommend ordering this.

Deep fried Brie with raspberries and peaches - absolutely gorgeous and a perfect starter for summer!

Homemade pasta, grilled courgettes, heritage tomato salsa and basil pangritata (to save you googling like I did, pangritata is just like breadcrumbs)

Steak which came with garlic butter, crispy onion rings and a side of mac and cheese. 

Pan fried sea bass with chorizo, broad beans, spring greens and barley. 

Crème brûlée with homemade shortbread

Chocolate Brownie with miso ice cream and chocolate sauce

Chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice cream and fudge 

White chocolate parfait with toasted marshmallows and berries. 

Cornichon is a real find. We were fortunate when we went on Saturday that it was relatively quiet but it’s only a matter of time before people flock to this little gem. 

Quite often when you find an eatery which has had so much effort and focus on the decor, the food falls short. Not here. Our meals were beautiful, the dishes are unique but comforting and hearty at the same time. The desserts were absolutely delicious and, above all else, guaranteed a return visit.