Well howdy y’all (that’s right I’m in Texas right now!) and I think I have gotten over my jetlag from the trip across the pond but let’s rewind a couple of days to London!

I arrived into London early Tuesday morning to this familiar sight at Heathrow:

This would have been the plane I would have worked on, had I remained living and working in London. I never was trained to work on the big betty. Isn’t she large?

This was after a 12 hour flight through the night from Bangkok to London in 2008 on the smaller 747.

KLM lost my luggage into London! Can you believe that??? I don’t usually fly commercially for work, but this time was a little different and with all the travelling I do, I was amazed that it hasn’t happened more often. But I am definitely a believer in ‘manifestation’ and only the evening before, as I was painstakingly packing for this trip, I said that I wasn’t going to pack that much as I could do with buying some new clothes on this trip, plus for the first time in FOREVER I really didn’t want to go away. Sometimes living out of  a suitcase can get a little tiresome, and I really just wanted to stay at home and not go away for once…maybe a sign that it’s getting close to retiring the wings?

After numerous calls to the airline and their baggage contractor, I determined I may not see my luggage before I left the following day, so I resigned myself to having to go out and buy some basics.

Meeting up with my girls for dinner, was definitely the HIGHLIGHT of the day, and something I really needed after the less than helpful airline staff and my lack of belongings.

So I finally made it the London’s only Raw food restaurant SAF and what a treat to end such a lousy day. All 3 of my friends hadn’t ever actually tried any Raw food  and were a little hesitant (being the end of winter) but they were very excited and allowed me to take the lead with ordering. It was such a great idea to have the 4 of us too as it meant we could order and sample more food!

I arrived to the girls in the bar (Saf’s Wine & Martini Bar is one of the first organic bars in Europe) with Gemma sipping on a Lavender and Ginger Lemonade (fresh lemon, lavender and sweetened with raw cane sugar syrup) which she claimed to be delicious but I never got a try!

We made our way to the table and for a mid week the restaurant was neither empty or heaving, which was great for us!

Peta (we met at make-up school back in the day in Australia) & my old housemate Gemma (check our her gift cards & accessories blog here)

And another pal from school days in Australia, now living in London, Camilla. I went to her wedding in Albania last August. Shhh I’m wearing day old clothes due to NO LUGGAGE thanks KLM

Our starter to share :Tasting Plate Beetroot ravioli, vegetable maki, olives & spiced nuts, tapenade, sun dried tomato cashew cheese with raw flax seed crackers, homemade pickles and samosa. The girls loved the cheese.

Close up of the ravioli

With some extra samosas to try…these were quite similar to the real thing just a little sweeter.

And now for the mains….

Lasagne – Raw Bolognaise, sage pesto, olive relish, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, macadamia ricotta served with side salad

Apologies for some poor photo quality…hard in a darkened (but ambient) restaurant. Our only warm dish – Pumpkin Risotto : Pearl barley, pumpkin cream, cinna- mon, crispy sage, roasted pistachio, hazelnut and balsamic reduction

The wait staff were extremely knowledgeable in the dishes and explained all meals that came out including a new dish that we sampled which has not made the menu yet.

Don’t know what they are going to call it but it resembled pasta carbonara. Was tasty with some kind of dehydrated mushrooms.

Camilla’s and my favourite, the very spicy Pad Thai : Courgette noodles, enoki mushrooms,mung shoots, fresh chilis and chipotle almond sauce.

And of course we couldn’t come all this way and not try out the desserts…

Cheesecake! Ooooh yeah. I loved it. I strangely thought it tasted like the real thing..the others didn’t think so much.

Chocolate Ganache Tart:  pernod ice cream, spiced rum & pear compote, cacao syrup

And unpictured pineapple & lemongrass sorbet (the clear winner) and not so great vanilla ice-cream (according to my critics!)

Such a fun way to catch up with my friends who all commented on how satisfied but not too stuffed feeling they felt and how they would definitely return with friend.

Oh and no girls night out is complete without a glass of vino or two (Unpictured!)

Saf Restaurant London

152-154 Curtain Road – Shoreditch London EC2A 3AT – +44.20.76130007
Coffee/Tea/Cakes starting at 10:00am – Lunch 12:00pm-3:30pm – Dinner: 6:00pm-10:30pm – Bar food & drinks: 12:00pm – till late
Now Open Sundays for London’s #1 Veg. Roast (Evening Standard) Served 12:00pm-4:00pm

Hey while you are there why don’t you check out  Emily’s blog here and the interview I did with her this week. It was a load of fun, thanks Emily

Gotta run but I definitely have some more news to catch you up on later