Healthy Bars Review – Vol.1

I love tasty snacks. To be honest I am obsessed with snacks 🙂 I love cool packaging, good recipes and creative claims. It is super great when people do staff like that and actually create business with the goal to help people to eat and live better. Also, after over 9 years in FMCG marketing I truly appreciate great products. So I can never pass by without tasting (or maybe it is an excuse to try cool things?? hehehe)

Anyway, this is the first post about healthy packaged snacks which I LOVED.

Lets’ start from a few key points. In my opinion, its better to eat raw or just cooked, BUT when you are on the go and simply didn’t have time to prepare your snack than its ok to buy a packaged one 🙂

My criteria for assessing healthy snacks:

1) It must be OMGsoTASTY
2) It should have NO added sugars
3) It should have well balanced ratio: protein/carbs/fat
4) Packaging should be good looking 🙂 (Its always nice to have a nice thing from a nice pack, right? 🙂 )
5) Claims should be interesting and really appealing
6) It should not cost a fortune

The First review is of the FRANK bar.

It is very recently on the market in UK (guys on the website said that they started in 2012).  There are a few flavour available, check out here more info.

1) FRANK bar would score super good on OMGsoTASTY scale, its rich and chocolaty and not to sweet but very nice. And you would not want to have 5 to feel like you have eaten enough, you would be happy with just one, which is cool, and exactly what you want when you are running somewhere!! It tasted a bit like chocolate brownie, soft and chewy and chocolaty. Nice!

2) Ingredients of the Chocolate&Blueberry flavour:
Dried Fruit 49.8% (Dates 36.2%, Plums 13.6%), Fruit Juice Concentrates (Concentrated Apple, Grape and Pear Juices, Rice Starch), Gluten Free Oatmeal 10.9%, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder 9.2%, Chocolate with Coconut Cream 7.4% (Cocoa Mass 47%, Coconut Blossom Sugar, Coconut Cream, Cocoa Butter 4.3%, Ground Vanilla Pods), Pea Protein, Pea fibre, Freeze Dried Natural Blueberry Powder 0.9%, Natural Blueberry flavour.

Well, there are a LOT of ingredients:) In my opinion it is better to try to have no concentrated fruit juices or coconut sugar, but it is maybe something FRANK guys gonna do in the future.

3)Nutrition Value (per 100g…one bar is 35g)
Energy 333kcal
Protein 11g
Carbohydrates 65g (Of Which Sugars) 41g
Fibre 11g
Fat 5g (Of Which Saturates) 3g

Well, this is quite a snack for a quick BOOST of energy (4:1 ration of carbs to protein), and for people who move a lot, as it has a lot of simple carbs in it (65g per 100g, or per one bar 22.7g).  Or maybe a good option after a run? when you just need to fuel up with simple carbs to replenish the energy. Some more interesting facts about running and cacao could be found here 

4) Packaging is super nice. Its colourful and really fun to hold in hand:) It has its kind super feel good factor:)

5) Simple and really engaging claims:
Gluten, Nut and Dairy Free
Source of protein (well…it is a source, but I wouldn’t say it is a lot in there:))
With energysmart – really cool, FRANK has even registered a trademark name for a claim! awesome! Its really hard to do it usually, so well done guys!

6) Frank bars do not cost a fortune:) You can check on their website

And one additional comment, this year on Gluten&Allergy free show in Olympia, London they were very friendly and nice. Which make a huge impact! And its great to see nice people behind nice products!

So if you are after a treat with chocolate and some “OMGsoTASTY” factor get yourself a FRANK bar! (Oh, by the way, try crashing FRANK’s bar on top of your morning cereal or yogurt  – it is super tasty!!)

x

BROMPTON FOOD MARKET (South Kensington, London)

A local store but with a difference:)

If you would like to buy a fresh fish or meat from the butcher and at the same time get your veggies and some good grains AND have a relaxing lunch/coffee break afterwards than THIS is a super place to visit.

Small shop/cafe and super friendly team will seriously make your day!

Brompton Food Market was opened a few month ago, and not many people know about it yet. But I am sure it becomes more popular very soon!

So here it goes:

Meat section – great selection of raw meat (more downstairs) and prepared dishes to cook at home.

Fish section – mmm….I just love how it all looks!!!!

Also a large section of grains and a small selection of gluten free options

And….here is a garden – quite, nice and empty! I can’t believe no one nows about this place yet – so VERY recommended to go there, at least for tea and relaxed chat…We didn’t have a meal here, but had a very tasty sorbet (not made in-house). This pretty young lady, you can see on the picture, had her SNOG frozen yogurt and was very excited to show of just learned magic tricks with ice-cream disappearance:)

Overall, BROMPTON Food market is a great escape in the middle of the busy London! If you are around – try it one day! 🙂

 

 

Lazy weekend place near Portobello road? – Tom’s cafe!

Another great “new” place in Notting Hill…reopened just a few weeks ago and now has super chilled modern trendy feel to it. Great menu, tasty food and nice people. What more would you want on a weekend? Ah yes, a nice hidden garden! so you enjoy the summer weather without the crowds of portobello road. Fantastic!

Tom’s Menu is just simply nice:) And cool thing is that you could choose various sizes for your dish – so you can take a few smaller portions and taste a different dishes, fab! When I say smaller btw I dont mean tuataras-like size, Its like a “double tapa”;)

Food is very delicious, it is probably the first time in a few month when I couldn’t leave anything on the plate. I mean literally the plate looked so clean after I finished that you could barely say someone has eaten from it:)

I have been there with a friend of mine and we have tried a few very nice dishes…Must say that very thorough testing/questioning the staff regarding ingredients/origin  of ingredients didn’t “freak” them out, and we even got quate a lot of answers…cool!

Ta-da-m! here are the dishes which we have tried:

“Ceviche” from Tuna and scallops…well, not really a ceviche:) but! raw Tuna with marinated veggies, but very tasty fish and veggies! Plus in the centre of the plate was a frozen cucumber coolis…it was yummy and look how great  this looks on the plate? Right?

 

Then there was a very tasty looking Roast salmon with a LOT of veggies…

 

and absolutely awesome salad with avocado pure and tomatoes. So simple, but so incredibly tasty!

 

Atmosphere: lazy, cosy, friendly, bright and light – great for breakfast and lunch.
Menu: loads of tasty dishes and amazing, simple but very modern presentation – just right!
People: Great, smily, knowledgeable very nice people serving food
Price: from £7 for sides and higher. And you can choose if you want the whole portion or just half of it. 
Occasion: kids friendly, family friendly

I am definitely coming back – great place!! 🙂

Check out the website: www.newtoms.co.uk

 

Raw cafe

Opened just 6 month ago in a busy and touristy Bayswater area Raw is a peaceful paradise:)

The food menu is quite intriguing and most ingredients are organic. There is also a separate drinks menu, which has smoothies, moktails and juices.

However when it comes to serving its not really super fancy. And taste is ok-ish. I however really liked white miso sauce.

Here are some of the menu items.

Wiled spinach salad: easy to make at home guys!:) Avocado, spinach and white miso as a sauce – taste very nice 🙂

 

Zucchini  “Tagliatelle” again with miso sauce.

And some dessert (cacao+coconut flour+coco butter – baked 20 min in an oven) and veggy cocktail 7,5£ (avocado+almond milk+cucumber+pepper). Gorgeous lady was very excited to see the cake as you can see;)

All in all, the place is ok for a nice tea and a chat, or if you are somewhere around and need to spend a few hours relaxing in a shade of trees (and 5 min stroll to Hyde Park simply seems tooo far away)…

..BUT I would not recommend to come here for food at the moment. 

Atmosphere: relaxed and chilled, very modern style, a lot of space!
Menu: simple and straight forward, no fancy staff
People:service would be like 3 out of 5. Slow and not very attentive people
Price: £5+. A decent lunch will cost you £25 for 1 person
Occasion: well, if you are in the area of bayswater and want to spend some time with friends in a quite modern cafe

 

Florence “delight” : Tripa

Da Nerbone – Italy, Florence

If you ever find yourself around “Mercato Centrale” in Florence – It is an absolute must to visit this awesome cafe! Tripadvisor is raving about it and I am telling you, it is a HUGE flavour surprise (good one, don’t you worry):)

Atmosphere: super crowded – it is in the middle of the town’s food market, remember? 🙂
Menu: super simple
-Tripa – essentially offal…Looked like a stew with hearty broth, tasted so delisious! I wouldn’t even notice I am eating offal. Very good for you – a lot of Vitamin A!
-Marinated Artichokes
– The panino bollito, sliced beef and bread bun. Loads of people ordered it, looked nice, but i don’t eat bread:), so had to stay away from it.
-Pasta – my friend said it was awesome
-Wine, ok-ish for this type of lunch
People: ITALIANS! MEN! 🙂 so obviously very smily and loud and friendly, niceeee!!!
Price: 3-5 euro per dish – isn’t it great?
Occasion: go there for lunch, and just enjoy the friendly buzz

 

 

Bar…where the public toilets were

If you are after a fun evening and after a healthy snack with a bit of a show – this is your place!

Free popcorn on the table, and fun music and dancing.
Some time ago London bar owners realised a great potential for kitsch places – so now you can find bars underground, behind fridge doors…and in the former public toilets. sounds fab, ha?

I really like this oldie place – CellarDoor. It was very (i mean VERY) small and pretty. Super big cocktail list. Got myself “Starbucks must die” served in a pretty coffee mug 🙂 Then Eurovision style dj was playing a fun music and a nice girl was doing a burlesque performance.

Nice start of the evening if you after a long night of dancing!!!

NAMA cafe – Notting Hill, London

NAMA, London

Noma – best ranked restaurant in the world aaaand it is in Denmark:) so when I saw NAMA around Notting Hill I was very curious…is it a new brunch?:) But no, it is not – maybe better:)

NAMA is just a few steps away from portobello road and serves awesome raw,vegan, simply delicious food.

Atmosphere: bright and light – great for breakfast and lunch.
Menu: very tasty long menu of smoothies with all sorts of healthy additions (macca, spirulina, etc), salads (seaweed salad and kale salad are AMAZING), desserts (walnut “pancakes” with “ice cream)
People: Great, smily, knowledgeable very nice people serving food
Price: from £4 for sides and higher. But be prepared that you need to have at least 3 courses to feel lightly satisfied.
Occasion: kids friendly, family friendly

Dock Kitchen

It was superb! The atmosphere, the food, the menue (which is changing every week!) …all is just fantastick. Only one issue…its a bit far away from the center. BUT! Its worth going if you love fresh ingridients and fantastic flavoursome dishes…

The website: http://www.dockkitchen.co.uk/
 

 

THE ARC

Yesterday I was in the nice little restaurant called “The ark”. It is 2 min from the Notting Hill Gate and looks very sweet from the outside.

http://www.ark-restaurant.com/

The menue: 6/10

If you love fish it is your place!:) They had so many fish options! But not much to choose if you are after meat…

The names in the menue: 7/10

Well it sounded nice, but not mouthwatering and “oooh i want it now”

The atmosphere: 8/10

You would never gues that this tiny looking from outside is SO big inside! Probably this reflects the name “the Arc”…:) it is looooong venue with lovely flowers and nice candels on the tables. So if you are up for a romantic evening – this is the place

The service:9/10

Nice nice nice!

The food: 8/10
Very tasty and looks delish! 

Drinks: 9/10

–wine list is VERY nice

They had Montep. de Abruzzo by glass (my fav one, so it can’t be better:) )

-AND they even had a chocolate martine in desserts menue! aaahhh…

Public: well i’d better not mention this…

Strangly it was full of people 50+…so not a very trendy young atmosphere, but well….do you really need it when you are up for a romantic dinner????

 

If you ever around notting hill and would like to have a calm, tasty lunch or dinner it might be a good place to go