Balans Soho Society: Pre-Bloggers Fashion Week Giggles & Gossip! | AD

One of the things I love so much about this Blogging community is just that – it is a community! I seem to meet people online almost daily through my blog and pretty much everyone is so positive and supportive of each other’s work – It is a camaraderie that you don’t see very often and I think it is a pretty unique kind of relationship.

These people (majority women, I might add) are intelligent, witty and so positive. They are ready to provide support, ideas, inspiration and help, even though, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose we are all in “competition” – it is truly admirable!  I’ve met some absolutely amazing women through being a blogger – and it is one aspect of being a blogger that I really love and one that I did not expect when I started this site last year.

When I was invited to a Pre-Bloggers Fashion Week Dinner by the wonderful Danielle, who runs The Bloggers Hangout (formerly Bloggers Love), I accepted pretty much immediately. I knew I was going to Bloggers Fashion Week the next day, and going alone, which was what I wanted, so I could focus on meeting people and getting the most out of the event – however I did think it would be nice to have at least one friendly face guaranteed to be there when I arrived on Monday morning, and a dinner the night before sounded like fun.

I had been more than a little nervous beforehand – worrying what to wear, if my makeup was right, does-my-bum-look-big-in-this, what if I said something stupid (which I tend to do if I’m nervous, it’s like someone pours porridge into my brain and I just talk complete stodge!) etc etc. Turning up and having dinner with people I’ve never met – it’s a bit like a blind date! Needless to say, I needn’t have been nervous.
Sitting down and chatting to these intelligent, gorgeous women was just great. We all have this one thing in common – whether as our main job, or as a sideline to what we do for a living, we all have this passion for writing. For getting our voices out there. Getting our opinions heard. These are strong women with brains in their heads, and great shoes to match – my kinda women! (Links to their blogs below!)

The setting for the whole evening was gorgeous – we were at Balans Soho Society on Kensington High Street – beautifully lit and with a really homely atmosphere mixed in with some really creative touches. I still can’t get over the tree that comes up through one of the bigger tables there, as though it has just grown that way, with keys dangling from the branches – really creative and with the gentle lighting it looked absolutely amazing!

We started with cocktails – I mean, it would be rude not to really! We had a fantastic waiter, David J,  who helped us with our indecisiveness and told us what drinks he recommended (after we pleaded with him for his help! I am so so terrible at decisions!) I had a Porn Star Martini, which was not only beautiful but so so yummy! Cocktails are just perfect to start a night of gossip and giggles, don’t you think? 🙂

We had a lot of fun with the menus, not just deciding what to eat from their very very tempting selection, but also posing with the backs of the menus, which, in a very quirky design, have moustaches, elaborate collars and glasses printed on – well, it would be a shame not to find some fun with that, right?!

I ended up choosing between the Red Chicken Curry and the Sesame Tuna – again, suffering with temptation and my severe indecisiveness – I again, asked the help of our fantastic waiter, David J, and finally decided on the Tuna (see above!). All I can say is it was gorgeous – yummy tuna steak, perfectly cooked, jasmine rice and bok choi with a really scrummy sauce – I was a happy girl!

Of course, on a girls night, you just have to have pudding – thats the rule, right? Well. It should be… I’ve decided it’s my rule. 🙂

I picked the banoffee pie, which is one of their best sellers, and I was not disappointed! It was HUGE and looked absolutely stunning! I think that is one thing about dinner with bloggers that I will never get over – when something arrives at the table that just looks amazing, suddenly, half a dozen DSLR cameras and iPhones appear and start taking photos – to outsiders, we look like the most anti-social people ever, but actually, we just want to share this beautiful thing with our blog readers, and Instagram and Twitter followers! It was absolutely delicious – and so so rich – I normally finish every pudding, no matter how big but this one I really struggled to finish – It was so good I felt bad leaving the tiny bit that I really couldn’t finish – I kinda wanted to take it home in a little box (despite it being only about a forkful!) YUM!

All in all, the meal was fantastic, the cocktails were beautiful and the company was amazing – Nothing quite like a girls night with some gorgeous, intelligent and talented women and great food – I could get used to this! 🙂

Thank you to Danielle at The Bloggers Hangout for organising and to Balans Soho Society, and our fab waiter, David J, for having us – we really had a fab night and are already discussing coming back very soon! 🙂