Last week I was invited down to Chung Ying, a traditional Cantonese restaurant in Birmingham City Centre, to test out their brand new brunch menu. I'd not been before, and come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever had brunch before either, so I invited a friend and we both jumped at the chance! I'm a big fan of oriental food, but I'd mostly eaten at chain restaurants or nipped up the road for a takeaway, I've never tasted the real deal before.
Location
Chung Ying is located in the heart of Birmingham's China Town directly opposite The Arcadian, and a short distance from The Hippodrome. It can be reached in less than 5 minutes from both the Bullring shopping centre and Grand Central train station.
Service
When we arrived at Chung Ying we were immediately seated at our reserved table even though we were quite early. We were promptly given our menus and ordered our drinks, which arrived back at our table very quickly.
Our waiter also assisted us with our order, and explained how the brunch menu works. You can order whatever you like but there is a deal on which we were trying to stick to. He also showed us how to actually order from the menu; like some similar restaurants the food items have numbers next to them and to select the item you would like you simply write the amount you want next to the corresponding number on the paper slip you are given.
Our waiters seemed to change quite regularly throughout our meal, each one stopping occasionally to ask if everything was okay and to top up our tea. At one point it was clear I was having trouble with my chop sticks (honestly what am I like) and so one of the waiters brought over a super easy to use wrapped up pair. I didn't even have to ask but it made eating a lot easier!
Although the restaurant was very quiet when we first arrived, it soon got incredibly busy coming up to lunchtime, but regardless of the sudden surge in customers the staff were still very attentive and helpful. I honestly couldn't fault the service we were given during our meals.
Food & Drink
So onto the food. There are 5 sections to the brunch menu, which are; Dim Sums, Congee, Claypot Rice, Noodle Soups, and Seasonal Vegetables. On the brunch offer (which we were trying to stick to) you can pick one Dim Sum item and one item from any other section.
Victoria and I both opted for spare ribs in plum sauce for our first item, she then decided to go all out and try something completely new by ordering chicken feet and spare ribs as her rice dish. I on the other hand played it safe and ordered century egg & pork which comes in a rice porridge with a side of noodles - my favourite. For our drinks we both opted for a pot of classic green tea. It was served in traditional handleless tea cups, topped up frequently, and complemented our meals perfectly.
Once our food arrived the portions were much larger than we expected, although we were told by our waiter there would be a lot of food. It's always a nice surprise to be given a good sized meal, especially in a City Centre restaurant. Once our table was filled with an array of colourful food we got stuck in.
Vic was lapping up the brunch like there was no tomorrow, the chicken feet and spare ribs that she ordered at a bit of a risk turned out to be really tasty. I quickly wolfed down the noodles which are always my favourite, and even nicked quite a bit of Victoria's rice which was also delicious. I didn't find all of the meat to be quite to my taste on this occasion, it was very different to what I'm used to and I'm not a huge meat eater at the best of times anyway.
Price
I can only comment on the brunch menu as I didn't get chance to have a look at the main menu on this occasion but I found the brunch prices to be quite reasonable. Our brunch deal, which included one Dim Sum item and one other item was £9 which considering the size of the dishes, and the fact that it's a City Centre restaurant is pretty good. The dishes are £6 individually which again, I don't think is too bad.
My Verdict
Overall I thought the whole meal was a really fun authentic experience. It's very rare than I come out of my comfort zone and try new things, so although not everything was my cup of tea, it was nice to give something different a go for once. If you are new to traditional cantonese food then this is an exciting experience. If you are used to it however, you can expect to enjoy a selection of rich, tasty, flavourful food with excellent service.
Have you been to Chung Ying Cantonese in Birmingham City Centre?
Thanks for reading!
x
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* Our meal was complimentary however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Dads are so so hard to buy for! It's literally a fact! Okay it's not but really, what do you buy your Dad? They never want new clothes, you've already bought them socks for Christmas (and every birthday since you were born) and they're not into perfume like Mom is...
Well I've got a rough idea of what I'm going to get my dad this year so I thought I could help the rest of you out by putting together a gift guide of pretty reasonable items! Every item featured in this guide can be bought for £25 or under, so there's something for everyones budget.
Items featured:
- 50 places to camp before you die book £15.99 - http://shopstyle.it/l/LSKb
- Bird and Wild Coffee £4.99* - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bird-Wild-Fa...
- Lapasa Polo Shirt £11.90* - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...
- Asos Watch £25 - http://shopstyle.it/l/LSJ1
- Lapasa Boxers £19.99* - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079P1MRF7
- Star Wars Mug £8.99 - http://shopstyle.it/l/LSKf
Items marked with an * have been gifted to me.
I really hope this has given some of you a few present ideas for this Fathers Day! If you're still stuck Asos has a small selection of cards and gifts just for dads, and if worst comes to worst, I'm sure he could do with another pair of socks? Right?!
What are you getting your Dad this Fathers Day?
Thanks for reading!
x
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Holidays are coming! The Summer kind! I've already posted a huge list of all the summer clothes I wish I could run out and buy, but today I'm talking specifically about swimwear. When its time to start shopping for my summer hols nothing stresses me out more than swimwear. Being a bigger girl I find it really hard to buy cute pieces that also work well for my body shape.
Well I've taken the stress out for all you curvy ladies by putting together a list of my favourite swimwear. I've popped in a selection of 'sculpting' swimwear for if you're not feeling that confident, some teeny weeny bikinis for if you feel banging regardless of your wobbly bits, and a bit of everything else in between. Basically I've included pretty much every type of swimming costume because size doesn't matter and you can wear whatever you feel great in this summer!
Whilst putting this list together I noticed that the 'plus size' swimwear seemed to be very boring and more often than not plain black. Obviously us bigger girls don't want to draw attention to ourselves by wearing the cute things the 'normal girls' do. Well fuck 'em, when you buy your new swimwear this year buy the most gorgeous & the most colourful items you can and wear them with pride!
Do you have a favourite piece?
Thanks for reading!
x
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I follow some amazing bloggers who manage to create hugely different makeup looks every single day of the week. I don't know how they have the time/ patience to perfect it every single day but they do, and it looks like they have so much fun playing around with it all too. I wanted a piece of that. I wanted to experiment with colours and feel like a completely different girl every day. I missed using makeup to express myself.
I've always been a big fan of art and to me makeup is an art. I'm not particularly good at it applying it, and I've only ever worn fake eyelashes once in my life but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that you have fun with what you are doing. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed messing around with new colours and techniques. I'd forgotten that makeup was a way to show my personality. I'd been using makeup to make myself feel pretty and whilst thats not necessarily a bad thing, I started to rely on my mascara's and foundation's a bit too much.
Even as a teenager I didn't have bad skin. I never felt the need to smother my face in foundation before I left the house, I never really bothered with eyeshadow or liner, and I definitely didn't know what contouring was. I wore makeup as and when I wanted to. But lately I've felt that I kind of need all of that to feel beautiful. I needed to cover my skin and coat my lids in glitter or else I was ugly. I'd not really felt like that before and I think its quite a dangerous mindset to get used to. I needed to remember what makeup was about for me.
- Get The Look -
I wanted to be inspired again, I wanted to take myself back to the time when makeup was just for fun and not a necessity. Luckily it wasn't very long before I found my inspiration. Once I'd started looking it was everywhere, from Instagram, to magazines, and huge billboards around my city, there were ideas in every place I looked. One of the major places I gathered my motivation from was my friend Amanda, her Instagram is constantly brimming with unreal new makeup looks. I'd be confronted by an amazing new 'face of the day' look almost every time I scrolled through my feed and to be honest thats when I really started to feel boring. She was doing some incredible things with colours I'd never dare to use and styles that were far from typical, but she looked amazing and she was clearly having a good time.
After a few weeks of watching everyone else try out wild new makeup looks I decided enough was enough. I challenged myself to start using colour. I needed to play around with some new eyeshadows that weren't my usual light sparkly shades. I needed to try something new and so eventually this look was born. Its not a hundred miles away from my every day makeup, the style is basically the same but the colours I have chosen for this look are something I would usually run from! They are so bright and dramatic, and together they even clash a little bit. They are everything that scares me about pretty makeup. But it's not meant to be pretty or flattering, it's meant to be a bit of fun! Its not the best makeup look I've ever created and if I'm honest I was too scared to wear it out of the house because the colours really are just so bright, but its the start of my new outlook on makeup.
I had a lot of fun playing around with this look and I'm determined to try new things more often. Makeup isn't just about looking pretty, at least it shouldn't be, and I need to remember that.
Thanks for reading!
x
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I travel a lot. I try to go somewhere new every few months, but lets be honest, travel can be expensive. To keep costs down I travel with only hand luggage wherever possible which means I have to be tight with the liquids I bring. I'd like to think I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to packing now so here are my absolute beauty essentials that will easily fit into your carry on!
Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo - This is one of my all time favourite shampoos to use and it can be bought in a tiny 50ml bottle which makes it perfect for travel. As I use this shampoo on the regular anyway I just refill the small bottle whenever it runs out!
Aussie 3 minute miracle Reconstructor Deep Conditioner - Again this is my everyday conditioner back at home so its great that it can be purchased in such a small size. This deep conditioner keeps my hair looking silky smooth and healthy especially after a long day of exploring. Like the shampoo I also just refill the small containers when it runs out.
Sephora Soothing Cleansing Milk - This little beauty cleanses like a dream! I bought it maybe 2 years ago and I'm pretty sure the original product is long gone now (as I just refill it obviously) but honestly it removes every little spec of makeup on your face. It can be quite hard to get hold of in the UK but there are Sephora's dotted all over Europe so it shouldn't be too hard to track down on your next trip!
Simple Hydrating Moisturiser - Again this is my everyday moisturiser when I'm at home so I just had to pick up a small sized version for my travels. I'm sure I've reviewed this product 1000 times on the blog but I'll give you another little run down. This moisturiser is very gentle, its extremely hydrating, it sinks into the skin very quickly, and its also usually around the £2 mark for a full sized product, bargain!
Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel - Another Simple product but I've found them to be the best budget skincare out there! This fascial wash is also very gentle and although it isn't exfoliating I still feel that my skin is getting a really good cleanse.
Makeup Revolution Makeup Eraser - I reviewed this product a few months back on my Youtube channel and ever since its been my 'go to'. Although I do use a small amount of cleanser with this flannel now I can't imagine the amount of baby wipes its saved me using. Not only has this beauty saved me a small amount of money but it cuts down the amount of wipes I'd otherwise throw away.
Mini Nail Brush - Bit of a random one I know but I hate not being able to really scrub my hands when I travel. I don't think I've ever stayed in a hotel where a nail brush is provided so I always take my own. I just use a teeny tiny brush that I think might have even come out of a Christmas cracker one year but it does the job and keeps my hands feeling extra clean! I can be a bit obsessive when it comes to washing my hands so this just give me peace of mind.
Boots Cucumber Eye Gel - This is one of the products that I don't really need but always take along anyway because it's so small. Its a soothing eye gel which I love applying after a long day in a new place. It can also double up as a bit of a moisturiser if I run out of my usual and I've found that it also works as a great aftersun lotion if you've got a bit of sunburn!
So thats it! This is everything I will take in my toiletry bag along with the obvious toothpaste, toothbrush, ect. Do you have any beauty travel essentials? Let me know in the comments!
Aussie 3 minute miracle Reconstructor Deep Conditioner - Again this is my everyday conditioner back at home so its great that it can be purchased in such a small size. This deep conditioner keeps my hair looking silky smooth and healthy especially after a long day of exploring. Like the shampoo I also just refill the small containers when it runs out.
Sephora Soothing Cleansing Milk - This little beauty cleanses like a dream! I bought it maybe 2 years ago and I'm pretty sure the original product is long gone now (as I just refill it obviously) but honestly it removes every little spec of makeup on your face. It can be quite hard to get hold of in the UK but there are Sephora's dotted all over Europe so it shouldn't be too hard to track down on your next trip!
Simple Hydrating Moisturiser - Again this is my everyday moisturiser when I'm at home so I just had to pick up a small sized version for my travels. I'm sure I've reviewed this product 1000 times on the blog but I'll give you another little run down. This moisturiser is very gentle, its extremely hydrating, it sinks into the skin very quickly, and its also usually around the £2 mark for a full sized product, bargain!
Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel - Another Simple product but I've found them to be the best budget skincare out there! This fascial wash is also very gentle and although it isn't exfoliating I still feel that my skin is getting a really good cleanse.
Makeup Revolution Makeup Eraser - I reviewed this product a few months back on my Youtube channel and ever since its been my 'go to'. Although I do use a small amount of cleanser with this flannel now I can't imagine the amount of baby wipes its saved me using. Not only has this beauty saved me a small amount of money but it cuts down the amount of wipes I'd otherwise throw away.
Mini Nail Brush - Bit of a random one I know but I hate not being able to really scrub my hands when I travel. I don't think I've ever stayed in a hotel where a nail brush is provided so I always take my own. I just use a teeny tiny brush that I think might have even come out of a Christmas cracker one year but it does the job and keeps my hands feeling extra clean! I can be a bit obsessive when it comes to washing my hands so this just give me peace of mind.
Boots Cucumber Eye Gel - This is one of the products that I don't really need but always take along anyway because it's so small. Its a soothing eye gel which I love applying after a long day in a new place. It can also double up as a bit of a moisturiser if I run out of my usual and I've found that it also works as a great aftersun lotion if you've got a bit of sunburn!
So thats it! This is everything I will take in my toiletry bag along with the obvious toothpaste, toothbrush, ect. Do you have any beauty travel essentials? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
x
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When was the last time you made yourself something really nice to eat? Not for your partner or the kids, for just you. Can't remember? Neither could I. Now I cook a lot. Most nights a make some yummy meals for Sean and myself, but I don't if I'm just feeding me. If Sean's out I'll make a sandwich or some Supernoodles, who wants to go through all the effort of creating a fantastic meal just for themselves, am I right? But I've thought about that a lot lately and I don't think its a good way of thinking.
It makes me really happy to cook for Sean. I want him to eat well and I want him to enjoy his food. Maybe its a female thing? A motherly instinct? I can't be sure but one thing I do know is that I don't take that same care for myself when I'm eating alone. Its silly when I think about it because if I was single I couldn't live on a diet of crisp sandwiches and sausage rolls (although wouldn't that be fab). So why don't I treat myself to good food?
Well I want that to stop. I'm on a mission to take care of myself this year, in all sorts or ways. I want to eat healthier, do more exercise and keep working on my metal health. I'm in a good place right now but its very easy for all that to slip away. So how am I going to practise this self care? There are so many ways of showing yourself love, from physically pampering yourself to recognising and dismissing bad thoughts when they appear. One of the ways I'm going to start working on self love is by making myself, and just myself nice food. The meals don't always have to be healthy, the afternoon tea I made myself was far from it but my god it felt good to indulge. It felt good to make something delicious, something a bit special, something I've always viewed as a treat, just for me.
I love a good afternoon tea, like I said they are special, but I think special meals should be a more regular thing. I want to make myself feel special, I want to make myself feel loved. I can't just rely on those around me to show me love, I need to show myself some love. I want to love my body, my mind, I want to be a good person, and I want to be successful. I think all that needs to start by doing simple, kind things for myself.
"There's nothing a good cuppa can't fix"
They say a cup of tea can make everything better and whilst I know deep down thats not true, I can't help but feel there's something behind the saying. Sipping away on a cup of tea allows you a few minutes to just stop, relax, and enjoy. It wont change anything but the act of creating your perfect cuppa and taking some time to unwind is one very small thing you can do to show yourself some kindness.
A few months back I was kindly sent some tea to try by Adagio Tea*, a small artisan tea company. I was delighted to accept the bundle as I knew it meant I would have to make more time to sit, and drink, and chill whilst trying out the various flavours. Adagio Tea stock a rang of teas from Green to Oolnong to Matcha and more, they even sell decaffeinated teas for anyone wanting to lower their caffeine intake but not give up their daily tea fix. I've still not even put a dent in my box of goodies but the teas I have tried so far have been delicious. My favourite has to be the Earl Grey Lavender, but there's no surprise there.
Its taken me a long time to realise it, but it really is the little things in life that make us happy. Even the smallest of things like having 5 minutes to enjoy a tasty cuppa or creating a lovely meal for yourself are easy ways to practise self love and thats something I want to focus on a lot in the coming months.
If you love tea like I do, head over to my Instagram now for a chance to win an IngenuiTEA Infuser, Glass Mug, and a range of sampler sets!
Thanks for reading!
x
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