Appetite Junction – Manchester

I initially wanted to visit Appetite junction when the branch first opened in Ramadan. Instead I ended up at Bukhara which was a blessing in disguise. When I eventually did visit Appetite Junction a few weeks ago we had soo many issues, granted the manager did resolve a few. Nonetheless I really wouldn’t recommend a visit.

We ordered the Chicken Manchurian, described as round marinated chicken balls with a coated batter on the menu. What we actually got was dry strips of chicken doused in soya sauce with no actual marinade on the chicken. It was more like chicken tikka botis, it definitely wasn’t Chicken Manchurian. We managed to get it sent back – we didn’t bother with a replacement dish.

The lamb chops were also very dry and chewy with little marinade. After realising how bad our starters were we decided to stick with one main and cancelled the other. Our mixed stir fry was another disaster but not as bad as the starters. The rice was brittle with no flavour but the noodles, chicken and meat pieces were fine.

On to the positives, the drinks were cool to watch. The list of positives ends right there. The mango drink I had was simply Rubicon Mango with dry ice, I wouldn’t describe it as a mocktail and don’t think I should have been charged for one.

We did raise our issues throughout the evening and the staff did apologise and try to rectify our complaints. I don’t really enjoy writing negative reviews however I really wouldn’t want anyone to waste their time or money at this place.

Best wishes,

Hafsah

P.s Bukhara is amazing! Definitely worth a visit.

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Cat Cafe Manchester +vlog

If you know me personally you’ll know my happiness lies within two factors; food and cats so you can only imagine how happy I was to know we were visiting the Cat Cafe in Manchester.

Upon entering the cafe we were met with the receptionist that guided us through the rules of our visit. No flash photography, no running after or picking up the cats, do not wake the cats up or feed them anything. Shoes were to be taken off or covered with liners. Pretty understandable as essentially this was the cats home that we were coming into.

The cafe was immaculately clean, I genuinely didn’t expect it to be considering it was home to at least 7 cats. I expected cat fur everywhere, scratches around the furniture and strong cat food odour but instead it was pristine.

The offer we chose allowed us an hour at the cafe with unlimited drinks and a choice of patisserie for £21 for two. We decided on two English breakfast teas, a lemon drizzle cake and a scone with clotted cream and jam. The food was great and I’m pretty sure the cakes were homemade. I would’ve however preferred my scone warm but instead it was stone cold.

For anyone intending on visiting the cafe it’s important that you realise cats sleep A LOT and these cats are no different. As we’re not allowed to wake up or approach the cats the hour that you pay for is majority spent on waiting for the cats to come near you. The cats are used to customers coming and going so they are completely oblivious to new visitors.

We were lucky enough to visit during feeding time which woke all the cats up. We just about managed to get around 15minutes of play time with the cats before they all disappeared off to sleep again. Before my visit I watched and read a few vlog/blogs stating they were really disappointed with their visit to the Cat Cafe. The cats slept in high places so they were away from the customers and didn’t come down throughout the hour. Cats have a mind of their own, some days they will want to be left alone and other days they won’t. Its definitely something to keep in mind when booking.

However I would definitely recommend this to all feline lovers. The cats are well behaved and well looked after, the staff are attentive and the cafe itself is immaculate. It’s definitely an experience thats worth the price even if the cats do completely ignore you!

Best wishes, Hafsah x

P.s My first time creating a vlog, let me know your thoughts 🐾

“Time spent with cats is never wasted” – Sigmund Freud

Dermalogica Clear Start!

I was incredibly pleased to have received a complimentary Clear Start package from Dermalogica last month. Within my Clear Start Package I received a Breakout Clearing Fizz Mask and a Breakout Clearing Booster. To provide an honest review I tested the products out on my younger brother as he struggles with teenage acne. His blemishes runs along the forehead and along the contours of his temples.

We began with a clean base, rinsing his face with clean tepid water. We applied the fizz mask all over the face, concentrating more on the affected areas. Once we applied the mask it immediately started to tingle – he could actually hear the fizz! The mask looks similar to a foam consistency which is quite entertaining to look at lol. After washing the mask off his skin looked revived. The most noticeable difference was how matte his skin looked. The excess oil around his blemishes were gone and his pores had reduced in size.

After the mask we used the Clearing Booster. This is more of a oil consistency and a little bit goes a long way. We applied this directly across the acne area. This reduced the size of the blemishes rapidly. Once the product had settled into the skin the blemishes looked less red and inflamed.

Overall we’re very happy with the products and will continue to use the products daily. I would definitely recommend anyone struggling with acne or a textured skin base to try out the Dermalogica Clear Start range. Dermalogica stack a very large variety of products all combatting different issues, it’s definitely worth checking out, plus all their products are vegan and cruelty free!

If you’ve tried the range, let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Best wishes,

Hafsah

A Relationship of Convenience.

Have you ever read something that fits how you feel so well.

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Some men can be so toxic to your health. They don’t want to love you properly, but they don’t want to let you go either. The more you give the less they appreciate, and the minute you’ve had enough and decide to walk away is when they are ready to love you and treat you right. So you give them a chance in the hopes they’ve changed only to realise it was all fake. You find the strength to walk away once more and here he comes again proclaiming his love for you and you give in, AGAIN.

A man showing anger and persistence to get you back once you try to break it of isn’t proof of love; its a knee jerk reaction. A man kissing your ass or making flaccid attempts to be nicer for two weeks isn’t proof that he’s trying, its proof that he knows you well enough to know how to defuse you long enough to hook you once again. Take away a toy, a little boy cries. Take away a relationship of convenience, a man cries. Just because he cries doesn’t mean you give him what he wants.

Stop listening to what your man keeps promising and start watching what his actions actually keep telling you. A lot of you women don’t know what its like to be loved by a real man. You know lust, you know joy, you know passion and you know the fear of abandonment. Stop chasing your idea of what love should be and recognise what love IS.

Love isn’t promising to act right after he gets caught fucking up time and time again. Love is him acting right from the start because he doesn’t want to fuck up. Love isn’t telling your grown man he needs to change so he can keep you; love is a grown man changing on his own because he cant imagine life without you.

#truth

✌️

(Disclaimer: these aren’t my words. A friend forwarded it to me so I can’t credit the original writer either.)

Mini review on Angelica – Leeds

Angelica – Leeds

Angelica is a plush roof top terrace bar that over looks Leeds city centre – perfect for the long summer days we’ve had recently.

On our visit back in April we enjoyed two refreshing mocktails and devoured a plate of beetroot and goats cheese salad. To accompany we got sweet potato fries. There wasn’t a single thing we didn’t like about the food and drinks in front of us. The salad was yum – the beetroot and goats cheese were slightly chilled and went along really well with the tangy purple dressing it was drizzled in. The sweet potato fries were crispy, slightly on the thin side but were still tasty. The view was great and the drinks were perfect.

Portion sizes are quite small for the price you’re paying. It’s more of a light snack or something to nibble on with your pre-drinks before you actually go for your meal. If you take into account the relaxing atmosphere, the very friendly quick service, the amazing views and the great tasting food I do think its worth it! Even if you do just go there once, it’s definitely an experience.

Best wishes Hafsah x

Mini Review of If Coffee – Leeds

If Coffee – Leeds

If Coffee is based a few minutes away from the Corn Exchange. Me and my Foodbae dropped by this week and shared a lovely light lunch.

We got the American pancakes – with a lot of toppings to choose from it took us a while to choose. We eventually chose salted caramel and bananas. The salted caramel was very salty but I actually liked it. The pancakes itself were amazing! Really thick but light, and for £7 we thought it was a reasonable portion size.

Looks can be deceiving as from the outside the coffee bar looks really small but it’s actually really big. They’ve also got a seating area upstairs as well as outside.

If Coffee offer a wide selection of cakes and patisseries, however unfortunately for us when we came just before 3pm there wasn’t much left. Definitely means another trip back!

Best wishes, Hafsah x

Mamas Shack – Manchester

Mamas Shack – Manchester

Mamas Shack serves halal Caribbean food at the heart of the curry mile on Wilmslow Road. I was kindly invited to visit Mamas Shack and on my visit was very welcomed by all the staff. The team are originally from London and already have a well loved restaurant there. They claim to deliver soulful and authentic food at a reasonable price to Manchester.

For starters we shared a portion of Jerked Wings. The jerk flavoured wings were nice and were definitely a good portion size as each wing was quite large. The wings rested on a tasty sauce which added to the already flavoursome wings. I’m usually not a big fan chicken wings as chicken can sometimes be quite dry however these weren’t like that at all.

£4.95*

I was craving a burger and after seeing Mamas Shacks IG feed I wanted to try out their Jerk burger. The Jerk burger is a chargrilled beef patty, with an Adoba seasoned hash brown served with Mango Chutney. Adoba is a Caribbean season which has a mix of paprika, chilli flakes, oregano, garlic powder and onion powder. The burgers all come with mayo and American cheese and are sandwiched in a sweet brioche bun. The chef informed us the beef patty was completely fresh and homemade, he had got the meat himself from the butchers on that same morning. The patty didn’t have an ounce of fat on it and the burger didn’t have a greasy aftertaste that readymade patty’s do. It was a proper burger.

£9.00

To accompany my burger I got sweet potato chips. They were seasoned, crisp and thickly cut; just like our starter these were also a reasonable portion size. They were different to usual sweet potato chips and I believe were also homemade.

£3.00

For desserts we had Churros, the chef explained that their churros are completely different to others as theirs had a Caribbean twist. The churros at Mamas Shack was served with a creamy soft ice cream. It had a very similar texture to kulfi and went really well with churros. The churros itself were soft and sugary, and very lightly season with paprika which must’ve been the Caribbean twist. They were really light and tasty and went down perfectly after all the strong flavours we had had.

*

Their menu is filled with authentic Caribbean food such as Curry Goat, Chicken and Chickpea Stew with Jallof Rice and sides such as Calamari and Plantain. There’s definitely a lot to choose from especially if you already have a love for Caribbean cuisine.

Mamas Shack are definitely introducing something new to the market. If you’re willing to try new things I would definitely recommend this place. Everything was fresh, homemade and beautiful presented, it’s evident a lot of time and care has gone into making sure the food tastes and looks perfect.

Best wishes, Hafsah x

Disclaimer: everything marked with an * were very kindly given to us complimentary. Portion sizes may slightly differ as we were offered these to try. All my reviews are completely unbiased and are solely my opinion.