GOOD KAI

Cocktail Bar Xenia Hotel Evoluzione is the restaurant and vision of Hotel Xenia's independent owner  Hassanain Al-Nakeeb  having opened only 18 months ago in a prime spot on Cromwell Rd in London's South Kensington. I am taken immediately by the design of the hotel itself, seriously modern, slick clean and light - I've always thought this part of London is in desperate need of more modern hotels, and here it is. Just the type of place for rugby loving folk wanting great accommodation for the 2015 rugby world cup next year. That though, is another story and tonight I was here for a special meetup with a gathering of London food bloggers - a night of food fun. Cheese Lovers Menu Canelloni with Veal & Porcini mushroon King Prawn Cheese Bread in Fondue The main restaurant area is enclosed in a glass interior flanked by an impressive circular bar which also has seating for eating or drinking. We met here with pre-dinner dinn

I came across some interesting tweets in my timeline about one successful restaurant trying to raise capital for their new venture. They ended up listing on Kick-starter after been turned down by their bank. When I thought more about this, I stumbled upon that age old theory, if you're thinking about opening your own restaurant, chances are that you are going to fail. We've all heard that statement, '90% of all restaurants fail within the first year of business', and we just take for granted that its true, we never think to dig deeper or check the source. Well thanks to an associate professor of Hospitality Management in Ohio, who decided to find out exactly how this information was deduced, it turns out that this is actually a myth and unfortunately it is the banks themselves feeding into this myth. We can now reveal that this statement had actually been used in an ad for American Express and on trying to investigate further, American Express themselves couldn'

Pork Belly, Hide & Seed, Putney I left the comforts of Richmond this week and ventured to another South West riverside neighbourhood, Putney. Word around camp fire is Putney is becoming more gentrified, comparisons with Shoreditch, with cocktail bars and the likes popping up here and there. Having said that, when the cool cats  @Zomato offered me a chance to check it out, I jumped at the chance. So, if you want to yourself a favour, walk down Upper Richmond Road, past the usual 'restaurant row' (where the likes of Greg Wallace's restaurant meet its demise ) until you come to the Lodge Hotel and resident restaurant Hide and Seek.  Hide & Seed at The Lodge Hotel, Putney        The Hotel has a modern boutique feel, and the restaurant .... it's more hushed, well, it's basically set in a library, a cosy library at that, decorated with crystal chandeliers. We were right on time for our booking and were offered our choice of seating. I was tak