Three Easy Mocktails from Blake Lively’s Betty Buzz Soft Drinks

Posted on January 17, 2024 by Frostie

One of the best things about being an editor is the opportunity to try lots of exciting things. I love Blake Lively’s films and was excited to try her range of drinks, Betty Buzz.
The range is gorgeous. They look great and taste even better. They are fresh and original. Almost like they have been home made. I will definitely try them again in the future. Here are three mocktail ideas from Betty Buzz.

Betty Buzz is made with fresh ingredients, free from artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colours and flavours, resulting in the perfect mixers for easy at home mocktails.

Betty Buzz Ginger Apple

1/2 bottle Betty Buzz Ginger Beer | 50ml Cloudy Apple Juice | 15ml Lemon Juice | Cinnamon Syrup | Apple Fan

Combine ice, apple juice, lemon juice and cinnamon syrup. Shake well and strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Pour Betty Buzz Ginger Beer over top. Garnish with an apple fan

Betty Buzz Ginger Beer – Clean, fresh ginger taste with the perfect balance of spice and bubbles.
RRP: From £2.50 per 266 ml bottle
Available from: Whole Foods Market

Betty Buzz Sparkling Grapefruit Spicy Sparkling Faux – Loma

1/2 Bottle Betty Buzz Sparkling Grapefruit | 15ml Lime Juice | 3-4 Jalapeño Slice

Salt the rim of the glass (if desired). Fill shaker with ice, jalapeños and lime juice. Close and shake generously to combine. Pour into a lowball glass over ice and top with Betty Buzz Sparkling Grapefruit. Garnish with jalapeño slices

Betty Buzz Sparkling Grapefruit – made with 24% real Pink Grapefruit juice this delivers a tangy, lightly sweet and fresh citrus hit.
RRP: From £1.80 per 150ml can and £2.50 per 266ml bottle and as a multiple pack from Amazon 24 x 150 ml cans from £29.99

Betty Buzz Lemon Lime Flirty Shirley

1/2 Bottle Betty Buzz Sparkling Lemon Lime | Splash of Grenadine | Cherry

Add ice to a highball glass and add a splash of Grenadine. Pour Betty Buzz Sparkling Lemon Lime over top. Stir together gently. Garnish with cherryBetty Buzz Sparkling Lemon Lime – Refreshing with deliciously authentic flavours
RRP: From £1.80 per 150ml can and £2.50 per 266 ml bottle and as a multiple pack from Amazon 24 x 150 ml cans from £29.99

The Drift Restaurant Review

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

The Drift is located in the rather trendy Heron Tower. The place is bustling with city workers and has a great vibe about it. The decor is great and has a cool, quirky and up-market feel.

Heron Tower on Bishopsgate is a rather beautiful building in the heart of the city. The Drift is brimming with quirky collectibles, hidden alcoves, a mixology table and fine dining nooks. Add in Drake & Morgan’s renowned creative cocktails and seasonal food to the mix and this is a great place to have brunch or let your hair down after a long day and enjoy some food and drinks.

We start off with some mocktails, the Zero- Raspberry and Mango Fizz. My colleague has the Juiceology- fresh orange and cranberry. Both the mocktail and juice are delicious, fresh and different.

I have the Chicken Satay with peanut sauce and prawn crackers and my colleague has the Peking Duck Flatbread with hoisin sauce and cucumber ribbons. The chicken is well cooked and succulent, the sauce is good and I like the brown prawn crackers. They add to the dish rather than feeling like a filler. The duck is an amazing, unique dish. All of the ingredients really work together and the sauce is great too.

For our mains I have the Wagyu Beef Burger. It comes with blue cheese, tomato chutney and chipped potatoes. I change the blue cheese for cheddar which the restaurant are nice about. My colleague has the Suffolk Farm Lamb Shank with Sweet Potatoe mash, rosemary jus and harissa. My burger is great and cooked well. They ask you how you like it done, this isn’t McDonalds. The tomato chutney is fresh and tastes homemade, yum. The chips are perfect and the tomato sauce and mayonnaise that comes with also tastes fresh and homemade. This is a running theme of The Drift. Things taste homemade and like they have just been cooked. My colleagues lamb is well cooked. The portion is good and the sauce is a great mix that really works.

For dessert I have the Chocolate brownie with vanilla bean ice cream and my colleague has the Wagon Wheel: toasted meringue, raspberry sorbet and shortbread. My brownie is delicious and warm. Just yummy and the ice cream goes perfectly with it. My colleagues dessert is sublime and original. So much so that I end up eating half of it. Don’t judge, I share my brownie in return.

We liked the food at The Drift. The service is excellent, the food is fresh and tasty and there is a great atmosphere. Highly recommended.

http://www.thedriftbar.co.uk/
10 Bishopsgate
EC2N 4AY
0845 468 0103
info@thedriftbar.co.uk

Gaucho Sloane Restaurant Review

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

The Gaucho has a reputation that precedes it. Quite a few people were jealous that I was reviewing it, more so than any other restaurant I have reviewed. It was all apparent why when we arrived. To begin with, the decor is stunning. The chairs are comfortable: high-backed with a black and white animal print. The entire place is just stylish. The atmosphere is not stuffy and there are a few families here with (well-behaved) toddlers.

Our waiter, Ewan, is incredibly knowledgable. He knows everything about the food and the wine. His recommendations are also excellent.

Our meal is started off with some bread and Chimichurri sauce, a staple in Argentina. It is made from parsley, garlic, fresh pepper, olive oil, red pepper and red wine vinegar. The bread comes in a good variety: there is some corn bread and some cheesy bread to go with the ordinary bread. All tastes great and fresh.

For our starter I have the pan-fried scallops with watercress purée, smoked pancetta and confit red peppers and my colleague has the crab caustic with egg, lime and avocado. The scallops are perfectly cooked and the sauce is wonderful, the smoked pancetta on top really works too. The crab is delicious and unique. It is presented on top of mashed potato. The avocado is perfect and the hint of egg is unusual but works well. It is complex and creative. The potato is smooth and well seasoned. It holds everything together.

For my main I have to have a steak, the Gaucho is famous for them after all. I have the churrasco de lomo: spiral cut, marinated for 48 hours in garlic, parsley and olive oil. It is 400g of pure heaven. Even more impressive because I cannot have it medium rare as I am pregnant but the chef manages to make it taste amazing, even though it has to be well done. This is the best steak I have ever had in my life. High praise indeed as I have eaten a lot of steak. It is just perfect and you can tell that a lot of time and effort went into it. Our waiter, Edwan, brought out the steak in advance to show us. The cows are grass fed and roam around an area of Argentina three times the size of the UK. I have a garlic hollandaise sauce on the side which is simply divine. However, the steak is so marinated and delicious it could be eaten on its own.

My colleague has pork belly with pumpkin purée, glazed button onions and buttered cabbage. He says it is a triumph: perfectly cooked pork with sweet caramelised onions and cabbage. It has a fantastic, sweet, sticky sauce that is not heavy and is divine with the pork.

For our sided we have baked and grilled sweet potato, brushed with butter. It is perfect. We also have some perfectly cooked buttery curly kale.

To drink we have mocktails. I have a virgin mojito that tastes just like the real thing and my colleague has a fruit punch. Both are excellent. I could drink a virgin mojito everyday.

For dessert I have a chocolate and raspberry alfajores: milk chocolate and raspberry parfait cake with italian meringue and crushed raspberries and my colleague has dulce de leche cheesecake, a salted dulce de leche. Both desserts are delicious.

Gaucho also have an extensive and wonderful list of Argentinean wine. Make sure you have some. There is also the Bar Galante next door. It is a beautiful bar, very stylish and perfect for sipping a cocktail or two.

I can highly recommend Gaucho. It is right at the top of my list of the best restaurants in London. Just superb.

Gaucho – Sloane
89 Sloane Avenue
London
SW3 3DX
Phone: 0207.584.9901
Fax: 0207.584.0045

Hakkasan Golden Week Restaurant Review

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Catherine Balavage

Hakkasan is one of the most happening places in London. This was abundantly obvious when we went to review it. It was packed out on a Tuesday night, filled with the great and good of London. When I went to the bathroom, I washed my hands next to three supermodels. The decor is stunning and everything about Hakkasan is glamourous and exciting.

We went to review the Golden Week, which celebrates the annual Chinese holiday Golden Week which is between the 29th September and 12th October. To mark Golden Week, the Michelin-starred restaurants feature limited edition authentic à la carte and set menus. In addition, guests who dine on the specialty menu will receive an exclusive gift in celebration of the holiday.

Golden Week is considered to be China’s biggest annual national holiday, spanning seven days in October where all workers are given three days of paid time off. Consequently it is a popular period of time when the Chinese travel significantly around the world to experience luxury offerings. Traditionally Golden Week takes place between 1st and 7th October, however Hakkasan will be offering the dedicated menus for a longer period of time to accommodate all travellers.

Executive Chef Tong of Hakkasan has created menus to cater specifically to traditional Chinese tastes. The set menu is £88.88 per person – celebrating the traditionally auspicious number 8 – and includes Peking duck with caviar; Dim sum platter; Spicy Szechuan rib-eye beef with enoki mushroom; Hakka stew pork belly; fried rice with diced abalone, and to finish, deep-fried sesame balls with green tea and peach. Golden Week à la carte menu includes equally authentic Chinese fare, such as Double boiled ginseng and Chinese herb soup with sea whelk; Braised claypot-cooked seabass and Fried tofu with spinach and seafood. A box containing hand-made golden Champagne and popping candy macarons are given at the end of the meal for each guest to take home as a gift.

To ensure the experience in the restaurants is enjoyable and efficient, Hakkasan has Mandarin-speaking staff on-site and in reservations, and accepts China Union Pay, the Chinese credit card of choice. Menus and websites will be Mandarin translated and staff will be fully trained in Chinese etiquette.

In addition to London, several Hakkasan restaurants around the world including Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco and Shanghai will also be celebrating Golden Week with exclusive menus in order to provide the experience to Chinese nationals who are travelling elsewhere. Each location’s menu will vary and offer a slightly different twist tailored to each location.

We started off by ordering mocktails. I have a Coco Passion and my colleague has a Kowloon Cooler. Both are delicious. Our starters come and we are very impressed. Presentation is amazing, service is excellent and we are already impressed before even trying anything.

The food is amazing, as you would expect. Peking duck with caviar and a Dim sum platter. It is also unique. The duck is very special, not served like your usual duck, it is very neat and the pancake and duck is all together, sauce on the side with caviar on top. It is amazing. The dum sum platter is truly wonderful. These are the best dim sum we have ever had. Just exceptional.

When our mains arrive it really is something. The table really is not big enough: Huge Shrimp which is perfectly cooked, delicious Pak Choi, perfect Spicy Szechuan rib-eye beef with enoki mushroom; an amazing Roasted crispy chicken with wild mushroom in oyster sauce: Braised whole sea bass in clay pot which is perfectly cooked, the sauce is amazing and the fish is tender; Hakka stew pork belly which is just right; fried rice with diced abalone which is a particular favourite: creamy and in a delicious sauce. It is a feast and a rather superb one. The food is outstanding.

To finish we have deep-fried sesame balls with green tea and peach. These are small and delicious. Perfect to end the meal. The waitress tells me Hakkasan has a lot of regular customers and they really love it when something like Golden Week happens as they get to try something different.

As we are leaving we are handed a beautiful gift bag which has some delicious macaroons inside. We have them the next day as we are so full. Hakkasan is an amazing restaurant, one of the best in London. We will definitely be back.

Hakkasan Mayfair
Address: 17 Bruton St, London W1J 6QB
Phone:020 7907 1888
Hours: Open today · 12:00 pm – 12:30 am

http://hakkasan.com

Funkin Cocktail Mixers Review

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Frostie

We love cocktails at Frost and upon receiving these cocktail mixers, or mocktails if you want to go sans alcohol, we were very happy. Especially as you don’t usually have all of the ingredients in your kitchen when you are in the mood for one. Well, problem solved: you just need one of these.

All Funkin cocktail mixers are 100% natural and contain only sun ripened fruit, so all the goodness and natural flavour is retained, meaning you can enjoy a wonderfully delicious mocktail by just adding sparkling water and ice! They are fruity and fresh.

Choose to bring a taste of vibrant Rio to the cold streets of Blighty with the Funkin Brazilian, a tropical blend of mangoes, passion fruit and oranges with Amazonian Guarana, the ‘super seed’, which contains twice the energy of coffee beans, giving you a delicious natural energy kick: this tastes amazing and really gives you a kick. Great for energy and fun. Excellent taste.

Alternatively, opt for the nation’s most popular fruit to bring the taste of summer flooding back and try Funkin Strawberry Daiquiri. a flavour recently voted one of the UK’s favourite cocktails*. (brilliant and tastes great. Not artificial) And complete your marvellous mocktail collection with the Funkin Mojito, made with the highest quality Persian limes blended with the freshest limes for a sharp, refreshing taste.(tastes like a proper Mojito, we added some rum and the taste was amazing)

The Funkin team travels all over the world sourcing the very best ingredients to ensure you enjoy the best tasting drinks. Each Funkin cocktail mixer has been created in consultation with some of the world’s best bartenders, with no artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or additives.

These mixers are great, they don’t taste artificial and they are fresh and fruity. We were surprised at just how great they tasted. Very impressive for something that comes out of a carton.

The full Funkin range is available nationwide at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Co-op, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Majestic Wine, Harrods, Ocado, Amazon, DrinkShop.com

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Tag Archives: mocktails

Three Easy Mocktails from Blake Lively’s Betty Buzz Soft Drinks

The Drift Restaurant Review

Gaucho Sloane Restaurant Review

Hakkasan Golden Week Restaurant Review

Funkin Cocktail Mixers Review

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