The wicked witch of west london

Don't you love it when things just work out? Me and my mum like to go on a girls trip atleast once a year and this year, we figured we were overdue a trip to London and to see a west end show. But after booking it for a Friday-Sunday, I realised that travelling down after work would significantly eat into our weekend. Luck would have it that Ollie was staying in London that week for work anyway, so I invited myself to stay with him on the Thursday night, figuring I could happily entertain myself for an evening while he was out with colleagues. But luck struck again! My friend from work, Harry, just so happens to live in London so not only did I get an extra night away, but I also went for a spontaneous extra night out.

The exciting thing about travelling for work (or atleast by extension, through your boyfriend) is staying in a swanky hotel you haven't had to pay for! And The Biltmore was extra swanky. I think the bathroom was probably bigger than ours at home. It was also perfectly located for heading out in Soho that night. Although I hadn't left myself much time to get ready (see also: admire the hotel room), so I basically had a 10 minute turnaround and then was straight out.

I had done all the planning in advance for mine and mum's weekend, so I left the Thursday night agenda in Harry's Londoner hands and we went to some really cool places! After grabbing a drink in a pub, we went for food at El Pastor, which I was super happy with given that Mexican is one of my favourite cuisines. We just shared a bit of everything including the selection of sauces (disappointingly not as hot as expected), the pastor tacos (pork), the octopus tacos (might've been my fave dish) and the crab tostadas. Plus the tortilla chips were unlimited so we just kept them coming with the 'lageritas'; a concoction of frozen margarita and lager. Sounds weird but they were really good! It was a weird drinks kind of night evidently because look at the garnishes in those cocktails! They were in a place called Cahoots, which was themed on an old fashioned underground train and was super cool. Plus the cocktails were good (sans tomato and dill).

My Friday was better than most normal work-from-home days - look at that room service breakfast we started the day with! By the time I stopped for lunch, Mum had just arrived in London and having been wanting to go to the Sophie Tea art gallery for a while, I figured it would work out perfectly to go there together on my lunch. The best laid plans, as they say - it was closed! But we still had a nice little wander around the shops before it was time for me to head back to finish my afternoon of work.

Then it was time for our girls weekend to officially commence! We were heading out for a nice dinner on Friday, but not before stopping off for a drink at this pub that I've wanted to go to for a while. The Churchill Arms is absolutely dripping with plants and flowers and is so pretty! Outfit wise, I went with a pop of colour in these flared purple trousers. I love the shape of this pleated top too, and finished the look with black strappy sandals and Lanvin-dupe boxy black bag.

The restaurant was another place I've been excited to try (can you sense a pattern forming here?). Well, technically it's the restaurant group that I've been wanting to go to (Big Mama Group); I would've been happy with any of them but when I saw that their newest offering, Jacuzzi, had a table on our date, I decided to go for that one. It certainly didn't disappoint! The restaurant was so beautiful and the food was incredible; I had the lobster risotto followed by the profiterole with pistachio gelato and it was all amazing. Although the lobster comes in tact (as you can see) and they don't give you any additional instruments to smash into it. So doing it with a knife and fork without flinging lobster across the restaurant was fun and games!

We started our Saturday strong, with a walk through Little Venice (highly disappointing - you can't stick a boat in any old ugly canal and call it 'Venice') and then a perfectly pretty brunch. The weather wasn't overly warm so I went with dark skinny jeans, white lace top, pink suede jacket and then statement blue and cream printed bag which I feel gives me designer vibes.

Because we were at a matinee west end show, we didn't have loads of time to do anything else in the morning. So rather than trying to rush around and cram in another activity, we just had a stroll around and a nice catch up before getting pizza at Franco Marca. Another incredible meal!

Then it was show time and we were off to Wicked! We've been to a number of musicals, together and separately, and we were both keen to see one that was new for both of us. Wicked ended up being an amazing choice; the costumes and set design for Oz were just incredible! The songs were all fab too and I always love a prequel or something that happens in the same 'universe' as a known favourite. Seeing how it tied in and explained parts of the Wizard of Oz was fun. Naturally, we were both singing defying gravity for the rest of the day (if you know you know).

We hadn't planned anywhere for that night in advance as we didn't know what we'd fancy doing but after a quick scroll on OpenTable (and by quick, I mean extremely long and mentally exhausting), we found a place called Twist in Marylebone. It was a super cute candle-lit place and had a great sharing menu. Tapas with a twist (funnily enough) sort of vibe. The food was incredible - the hispy cabbage was the real star of the show but I also think a place that can cook pork well (and by well, I mean treating it like a red meat instead of a chicken substitute) is a sign of a great restaurant.

Despite spending the whole weekend doing seemingly nothing other than eating, on Sunday morning we headed off to squeeze in one last brunch before it was time to catch our train home. The granary square brasserie was really pretty and the food was amazing. I had lobster for the second time of the weekend, this time in the form of benedict, with a side of truffle fries for a good measure. And a mimosa of course, because all good plans either begin or end with a cocktail. And it was certainly a good weekend; an absolutely fabulous one. Every mother and daughter should head for a girly weekend every so often - it's good for the soul. The question is, where will our next one be mother dearest?