TRADERS VIC'S, MAYFAIR

Last Wednesday was hot. Seriously hot. Way too hot in London to enjoy, for me anyway. Someone posted something on my Facebook called "gingers advised to not even bother today" which pretty much summed it up for me. Work was fine as we have great air con in the building but it was my evening plans that concerned me.... Emily, of the wonderful blog Curious London, had invited me to meet her at Trader Vic's in Mayfair for a preview of their Independence Day dinner (which has now been and gone, but featured some dishes from their normal menu, so you can still order them now). The tube journey into London wasn't as bad as expected, luckily, and I wandered down Park Lane to the Hilton hotel, where Trader Vic's is. Walking into the venue I was so relieved to feel the chill of more air con - I hadn't been before, and was worried we'd be sweltering on a terrace or in a garden, but we were kept perfectly cool in the Tahitian restaurant, that's been in the same location since 1963!

Trader Vic's serves real fusion food - a real mix of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Japanese and Asian cuisine, though we were there to try their special American Independence Day menu. The restaurant is quite large, but atmospherically dark, and covered in ornaments and decorations from around the world, including massive shells that act as lightshades, fishing nets, wooden carvings, maps and boats. On arrival we were greeted with a Trader Vic's Mai Tai, which was invented by Trader Vic himself over half a century ago. Slightly sharp, and so refreshing, I tried not to drink it in one gulp, as I was so desperate to consume liquid when I arrived! There are 17 Trader Vic's around the world, and it's said to be the only place you can get Trader's original recipe drink. Highly recommended, especially on a hot, muggy night.

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OLYMPIC CINEMA & DINING, BARNES

I'm not a massive cinema-goer. I absolutely love watching movies, but there's something about going to the cinema that I find a bit restrictive - you can't stop and pause the film, the seats can be uncomfy and you can end up sitting in front of someone who kicks your chair for 2 straight hours, and I often feel the price you pay is unjustified for the experience you get. That was until we went to the Olympic Cinema in Barnes. There were many things that appealed to me about the Olympic, from their on site restaurant's menu, to the fact I could book a sofa seat for 2 of us for the same price as 2 standard seat tickets, so we booked to see A Most Violent Year on Friday evening. To start with tickets are £15 which seems to be cheaper than other local cinemas - we went to Westfield to see Birdman recently (which I really didn't enjoy/get) and that was £44 for 2 of us. The £30 we paid for 2 at the Olympic got a us a double seat/sofa so we didn't have to wrestle an arm rest between us, and each chair comes with its own table for your drinks. As the film wasn't showing until 9pm we booked for dinner first at The Dining Room, which is in the same building as the cinema.

The Dining Room at Olympic Studios is bigger than I'd imagined, with about 50 covers, on a mix of individual and longer sharing tables, and is headed up by a chef who's previously worked at Noma and Racine. We had our own table, and decided to go all out, as we were both pretty hungry and had time to kill. Sadly the first thing to pass my lips was the least favourite part of my evening. The Dining Room have an interesting cocktail list, and I chose one that I can't remember the name of... maybe the Basiltini (I'm pretty sure that wasn't what it was called but was something similar) and was made using basil and way too much ginger for my liking. It was also very sweet, and I prefer my cocktails sharper, but I drank it anyway while we ordered our food. We chose the steak tartare and calamari for starters to share. Both were delicious, though we'd forgotten to check if the tartare was already seasoned, which it was, with tabasco, so none of that for the boy! Which was fine by me as I got to eat all of it! It was perfectly seasoned to my liking and the steak wasn't cut too fine - I really don't enjoy the minced version of steak tartare. The calamari were really good too with a crunchy but light batter and soft squid inside, served with very moreish homemade mayo.

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