Heston Blumenthal's restaurant-Dinner: Knightsbridge 3-4th April

Wow, wow, wow... What a trip that was! For my 21st birthday my best friend, Jayne (yes she's mentioned a fair few times haha!) took me to London for the night shopping and exploring Oxford Street but the best part of the present was when she told me we were going to Heston Blumenthal's restaurant in Knightsbridge; Dinner ... Finally my first Michelin star restaurant and who's better than Heston's?! Who I've loved and admired for years.

It was unfortunate the night before the trip I became really ill and had the horrible flu, but nothing was going to stop me going on this trip away, so I packed loads of medicines and off we went to Birmingham international train station ready for our train journey to the capital!

London when we arrived was, as ever extremely busy but we firstly got the tube from Euston to Shepard's Bush where our hotel was. Was a freezing cold day and I stupidly forgot my coat (of all days & I had a terrible cold!)

Miller & Carter, Hockley Heath, 13/02/2013

Haven't been to Miller & Carter in ages. But it's always a favourite of mine so me and my best friend, Jayne decided to go for our girlie early valentines meal haha! The food was always consistently good before so hopefully it was the same this visit! It was quite busy there, as always. I've never been when its quiet, whatever time of the day! Our table was quite near a door so was a bit chilly but that wasn't their fault. We ordered our drinks quickly whilst we looked at the menu. I went for my usual!

The Crabmill, Preston Bagot 31/01/2013

Me and a friend went to The Crabmill for dinner one night as we both always enjoy the food but have always been at lunch time. The decor and atmosphere inside is brilliant, really warm and inviting. It wasn't very busy inside but it was a cold winters Thursday evening. We were given a nice little table for two. The service is always brilliant, table service as well which is always a bonus. The menu is so good, so many choices and it is always so hard to know what to order! We decided to share a starter as we were pretty hungry but not starving.

El Greco, Stratford. 25/01/2013

I haven't done a blog in a while as I was travelling around America and Christmas & New Year have been so busy. But I'm back! Last month my friend told me about a restaurant in Stratford as she heard it was very good and there are very few Greek restaurants in the local area!

El Greco was right in the middle of Stratford so is the perfect setting for locals and tourists. It's very bright inside with lovely decor. It isn't massive but is a good size. The waiter who served me and my two friends was extremely friendly and helpful. We ordered some drinks as we looked through the menu which had a really good choice with many different options. For starters they do these mezze plates where you can choose up to 13 different mini starters. For three it's only £9.95 which is extremely good value. We decided to do this as we were all very hungry.

Matricardis, Henley in Arden, 4/02/2013

I went for lunch to Matricardis to meet with two friends. It's in Henley so is very local to me which is really good and I've eaten here a number of times and every time it's excellent. It's an Italian restaurant but the menu has a slight different twist on normal Italian which is lovely. It's a really nice restaurant inside, you can either sit in the bar area or he restaurant at the back. We decided to sit in the bar area as it had a good atmosphere which always helps. The menu is massive with SO much choice, it's so difficult to decide what to have every time I go in. They have a normal menu, lunch menu and a specials menu and every single one of them sounds delicious.

The White Swan, Henley-in-Arden 28/12/2012

Me and mum decided to go for some lunch but couldn't decide where to go for ages. We eventually decided to try The White Swan in Henley as we live literally next door to it and mum hadn't ever tried it. The decor inside is gorgeous, really bright but lovely. The service is reasonable as well, you have to order your drinks and food at the bar which is a slight let down for me but it's very common so I can let it go. The lunch menu hasn't got a lot of choice but has enough for a lunch time with a wide range of different lunches from hot meals to the tapas boards.