La Boqueria & Lab G

Today me and my mum went for tapas at La Boqueria for lunch, as a foodie Mother's Day treat! Located on Acre Lane in Brixton, it was just a quick cycle ride for us to get there. It's named after the famous market in Barcelona, and features a section on the menu called "de mercado", which lists the more unusual dishes.

We started off with some "pan con tomate" (bread rubbed with olive oil and garlic, then topped with tomato), which brought us back to idyllic holidays in Spain, where we had it for breakfast every day! These were very light and refreshing.

I really liked one of the day's specials, king prawns sautéed al pil-pil (in a garlic-y sauce), with fresh spinach, which were full of flavour.

I liked these aubergine cannelloni too, which were filled with mushrooms, topped with goats cheese, and then drizzled with balsamic, which brought through a delicious sweet taste.

Another great special was this roast cod, which had a lovely flakey texture, and was served with sweet roast peppers.

We also had some great cheese croquetas, made with manchego and goats cheese, which had a beautiful creamy texture and flavour, with a crispy 'shell'.

A tapas meal wouldn't be complete without calamares. These were quite good and fairly crispy, but not the best I've had - perhaps better eaten by the sea!

For dessert, we shared a tasty "Crema Catalana" - with a crispy caramelised top hiding creamy custard.

After discussing the possibility of flamenco dancing on the perfectly suitable wooden floor with our charming waiter, we headed off the finish the outing with an ice cream at Lab G in Brixton Village. I had the salted caramel and pineapple flavours - the salted caramel is definitely a winner!

Sticks'N'Sushi

I had a delicious lunch today at Sticks'N'Sushi. It's a Danish group of restaurants, which has 9 locations in Copenhagen, and recently opened its first London restaurant in Wimbledon.

The atmosphere was very warm, with all the chefs cheering "Welcome" in Japanese as new customers entered. I liked the décor, with beautiful Japanese lights which resembled colourful 'Jenga' blocks, and long wooden tables with big wheels which reflected the previous use of the building as a horse-carriage factory!

We started off with a great fresh and clean-tasting Japanese seaweed salad, and a yummy marinaded squid salad with kikurage mushrooms.

Then we had some amazing sushi. My absolute favourite nigiri sushi has got to be these sweet ebi (prawns), which were so lovely and fresh.

Also great were these Hamachi bites, which were adorned with green wasabi tobiko (flying fish roe), giving a nice contrasting texture to the soft fish. The tomato added a good sweet taste to the hamachi.

There was a great range of textures in these maki as well. They were very suitably called "Yummi Kaburimaki" and consisted of crunchy prawn tempura inside-out rolls, topped with a creamy mixture of hamachi fish, Japanese mayo and a sprinkling of chives.

Of course we couldn't leave without trying the "Sticks" - and these miso-marinaded white fish "yakitori" were a perfect example. The salty miso was delicious and went perfectly with the grilled fish.

I really enjoyed my dessert - yuzu and lemon sponge, with vanilla ice cream, macha (Japanese green tea) foam and freeze-dried strawberries. I liked the juxtaposition of Japanese and English fruits (and especially the more interesting textures with a powder and the freeze-dried), and the ice cream was fantastic.

The presentation in all of the dishes was immaculate and inventive, and really showed the creativity of the chefs in the kitchen.

I definitely hope to return soon, and would thoroughly recommend a visit whether you're an avid lover of sushi, like me, or just want to try it out!