Stationery review: SUNARRIVE KIDS DOCTOR KIT

For my Secret Santa this year, I was given the stationery kit below:

As I have to sit professional qualifications as part of my job, I found a perfect use for them: to make notes with, and highlighting the stuff I was reading. In fact, the notes I made for this review were done in the midst of revision, so I could report back on any functionality issues with the stationery as I was using it.

I'll start with the good: aesthetically, the stationery was very pleasing. The faces on the vitamin ballpen are adorable and the design of the syringe highlighters is dinky, with the colour of the ink displayed through the clear acrylic. The overall theme of stationery made in the image of doctor's tools was a neat idea, and visually, the designers pulled it off.

Unfortunately, when it came to usability and practicality, the set fell short. The biros didn't write very well, with the quality of the ink often coming out grainy. This was the case on both the syringe and vitamin ball pens, but it was particularly bothersome on the vitamin pens, due to the needle-thin nib.

In fact, there were a melange of issues with the vitamin ball pen. Firstly, their short, stubby design, whilst certainly resembling that of a cartoon pill, did not make for the most comfortable thing to hold when writing. The material it's made of is also incredibly flimsy, and all of the vitamin pens, without exception, cracked during the time I wrote using them.

The products all have poor longevity. Unsurprisingly, since the vitamins are so small, they don't house much ink. The syringe biros and highlighters also ran out disappointingly soon. On the topic of highlighters,  the blue and purple ones were an eyesore, because they were so dark, they basically covered the writing I wanted highlighting, rather than illuminating them.

Thus, whilst I commend the idea, and think it certainly makes for a cute gift idea, the makers really need to reappraise the materials they use in constructing it, because aside from being pretty to look at, they don't cop up to much as actual stationery.

Grade: E

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Restaurant review: DAWAT (Tooting)

I could have South Asian cuisine for dinner most evenings, and Tooting boasts two great Pakistani restaurants, situated across the road from each other, to ensure that you never get tired of going to the same place.

My comments about Lahore Karahi pretty much all apply to Dawat, with regards to affordability, portion sizes and the no-frills dining experience. However, of the two, I think Dawat just edges it, because, from my two visits to Dawat, I felt their ingredients were fresher. See the photo below:

Restaurant review: THE BREAKFAST CLUB (Soho)

The film is iconic, setting the bar for talky-dramedies channelling teenage angst for years to come. So famous is it, that is has been name-dropped or riffed on in several teenage-orientated movies, including Easy A and The DUFF, and most recently, Ready Player One.

The restaurant was established a good 20 years after the film was released, but such is the goodwill and strong reputation it has forged, that The Breakfast Club is as crucial to any London-based foodie’s itinerary as the film is to a movie buff’s viewing list.

I had long been scared off eating here, however, because on any random walk past the restaurant, it had always had a massive queue outside it. Having succumbed to the marvels of Eat Tokyo and On the Bab, my favourite Japanese and Korean restaurants in London, respectively, however, I modified my outlook on queuing.

Both these restaurants don’t take reservations, yet the food has been worth the wait, so with my fingers crossed, I hoped The Breakfast Club was another example of this.

As it so happened, I needn’t have thought about it so much. Whilst the restaurant is hot property during brunch times of 12pm – 3pm, we went a little after this, so we were seated straight away. So if you have an aversion to queuing, worth bearing in mind!

Between us, we had ‘Huevos al Benny’ and Korean fried chicken pancakes. With both priced at £10.50, I considered the portions to be very reasonable: -

Restaurant review: LAHORE KARAHI (Tooting)

A friend recommended Lahore Karahi to me as a tasty, cheap curryhouse, and being an ardent fan of both Pakistani food and bargains, I ventured to South-West London to investigate. I have now been to Lahore Karahi twice, and here are my impressions of the dishes there!

Bar review: THE WINE STORES (King’s Cross)

Such is my addiction to Groupon deals, I felt the need to test out a wine bar I’ve not visited before  using a voucher that apparently promised bottomless Prosecco and a meat (or cheese) platter for 90 minutes.