Cahoots: A quirky hidden cocktail bar in London

Cahoots, cahoots, cahoots! The boy did good, he took me here for my birthday last year (on Halloween) and we had a great time. 

If you're unsure what Cahoots is or have stumbled across here looking for reviews on the place, then you've come to the right place. I shall go into detail about our experience further down. But let me start by saying how fun and cool this place is!
It's a hidden bar inside Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street. A cocktail bar designed around the 40's era. It's really really cool. A hidden gem if you ask me.

Outside there is a sign, 'To the trains' with an arrow pointing, this is where it's located. It's quite easy to miss it, so keep your eye out for the sign.

We went around 4pm on a Friday night and it was pretty quiet surprisingly. Joe didn't book and thankfully there was no queue. Anyway, we were lead in by a quirky chap on the door, who spoke a bit of 'cockney', 'apples and pears',  'trouble and strife' and so on. At first, he caught me off guard and I mumbled to Joe 'where have you taken me'...

The entrance is rather cool, you go down the stairs like you would at a train station, and you lead into a dark bar whilst you wait for someone to take you to your table. The ladies and gents were all dressed in 1940's attire which is a nice touch.

We got to sit inside a train carriage which was pretty awesome. You get two glasses of water and popcorn in a vintage can on arrival. As well as a newspaper menu, which has SO many cocktails to choose from, as well as food options.
It took me quite some time to pick one! But I was happy with my choice. I ordered a gin cocktail (of course), I can't remember the name of it though, so sorry! It came in this quirky mug with dolly mixture sweets on top. Delicious. And, Joe had some sort of martini, nice and manly!

Also, the lady assigned to our table came over and took our order which was nice, rather than typically going up to the bar and ordering. She checked on us every now and again.

One thing I did notice was the service was a little slow towards the end of our stay, maybe they were understaffed or it got a bit busier, but when we asked for the bill, it took fifteen minutes for us to ask again, but she may have forgotten. So instead we ended up walking up to the bar and asking to pay as we had to be somewhere else at 7pm.

Other than that little hiccup, we had a really enjoyable stay here. We will definitely come here again and try some more delicious cocktails. And perhaps we will try the food next time too.
So, if you're near the Oxford Street area and you're a little thirsty after shopping, do give this place a try. You will not be disappointed.

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog. Have a great weekend all!

Favourite Moments of 2016

 
I thought I would do something a little different this time around. I've put together a little montage of some of my favourite moments captured on film this year.

I really enjoyed making this and hope you enjoy seeing it too :). Here's to a wonderful, happy and healthy 2017!

As always you can reach me at @zoeyoliviablog on Instagram and Twitter.

2016... What a year!

2016... What a year! So many amazing highs and challenging devastating lows. But we made it through, despite facing hundreds of hurdles, and seeing and hearing about the terrifying things happening in the world. Too many to mention and wrap my head around, however, I'm going to sit quietly and not dwell on the awful things that have happened this year.

What I do know is that I consider myself very very lucky. And, I have remembered a few things a long the way. It's important to be there for those in need, support people where you can and most importantly be kind to everyone.

Any who, I have split this blog post up into sections of a reflection on life, travel, people and blogging and YouTube. I thought this would be a better way of summarising the year. And, it's always lovely to look back on the positive, and overcoming some difficult times of the year.
I also just want to say a HUGE thank you to other half Joe, my best girl and male friends (they know who they are), my family and those who support me and my blog or YouTube channel. You are the ones that keep me going, so I'm truly truly thankful for everything.

Life: Well let's start with the biggest, most life challenging moment... I got married this year! 6th November, twenty sixteen - this was honestly the best day of my life by far. I still can't quite get my head around being married to my best friend, soul mate (cheese) and partner in crime. And, we got to share the day with those closest to us, what a dream! I will cherish every moment forever and always.

If I scroll back through my Instagram page back to the start of this year, I cannot forget to mention seeing my work on the big screen at 'Proud Cabaret' for my work's belated Christmas do in January. This was a proud moment, tear.

Anyway, the earlier months of twenty sixteen were a bit of blur to be honest with you. There was so much intense wedding planning and I was dealing with so much personally.

Moving swiftly on to Summer, I passed my driving test back in June! I took an intensive short course with a lovely lady called Barbra and I passed first time. I can't quite believe I managed to pass and I don't know why it had taken me twenty six years of my life to defeat one of my fears, but I did, hooray :). When you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything!

I also remember the warmer months being seriously addicted to Pokemon Go and I would walk for miles and miles to hatch my eggs and catch rare Pokemon. I still play occasionally! I also remember becoming massively obsessed with anything Hygge. I wish I was Danish, they lead such cool and calm lives.

I had the most incredible Hen do in London with some of my best friends at the end of September! And, Joe and I also celebrated our sixth year anniversary at Thomas' (Burberry) restaurant at the end of September too, what a perfect day.

I also cannot forget my birthday weekend with Hanna and Fee (two of my closest and dearest friends) walking around Regents Park catching Pokemon, drinking cocktails and having the most incredible food at Dirty Bones.

On my actual birthday, halloween. Joe took me to one of my food wish-list dreamy places, Bob Bob Ricard. We spent a fortune and I'm still yet to review that place on my blog. But it was incredible!
He also took me to a cool cocktail bar, Cahoots, and we also saw Aladdin in theatre.

I cannot forget our dramatic honeymoon at the end of this year too, which I will touch on in my next paragraph!

Travel: I love travelling and next year I plan on doing more and more. Anyway, around the end of February, early March, we travelled to Venice and Burano for Joe's 29th birthday. A beautiful break wandering the streets of Venice, riding on the boats and eating amazing food. I wrote a blog post on our trip here. And created a short vlog here.

In November, after the wedding, we travelled to Bali, Lombok and the Gili islands for our honeymoon. Incredible and beautiful places but we had a challenging time from start to finish shall we say. I will write some future blog posts on our honeymoon experiences, but, I'm still slowly catching up on happenings in October... I promise I will though. I also have video footage that I need to edit and put up on YouTube, bare with, bare with (*hangs head in shame*).

Bali was my favourite of the lot. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the jungle Ubud. And we didn't do anything but relax for three days straight, it was heaven.

Speaking of other travels, we also stayed at a beautiful apartment in Haslemere for Joe's Christmas work do this month. This was a lovely break visiting the Christmas market and relaxing and eating/drinking with Joe's work friends. Merry merry times. Sometimes I forget how beautiful other parts of the UK are, there's so much to experience and explore and it's something I want to do more of in 2017.

People: As mentioned a little earlier, I am super fortunate to have some incredibly lovely and caring human beings in my life. The ones that keep me sane.
But, I just wanted to touch upon something that I have realised this year. Not everyone who you think is your friend is actually a 'friend'. These people love to take advantage of your kindness and it's heartbreaking to realise it.
Just because you are kind and would do anything for anyone, does not mean that it will be reciprocated. You're kind of fooling yourself to think 'people will be as kind as you.'

My heart has been broken by a few people this year, I won't mention any names but I have lost quite a few people close to me, including a family member. I could probably count ten people in total that have severely upset me this year. As well as loosing two people in my life this year was enough to deal with...

Anyway, at the end of the day, life is too short to hold grudges and be bitter. Keep your head high, smile always, and be around those who love, make you laugh and support you. Because at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Blogging and YouTube: This year I have slowed things down quite a bit. It's hard to manage a full time design job, freelance work and my blog at times. But I still love absolutely everything that I do.

I've realised that it's quality over quantity. And, I will always speak from the heart on here, write things that I'm truly passionate about and create fashion and travel video diaries that I love.

The love and support I have received this year has been overwhelming and quite frankly, amazing. So thank you to everyone who has paid an interest in my blog or channel. It's people like you that keep me going. So here's to another year of creating fun content!

If you've read this far, then wow! Thank you so much again and have a wonderful, happy, lovely, exciting 2017. Love, me x

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

October Primark Haul

It's been a little while since I last filmed a Primark haul, but I recently popped in and got a few bits and bobs that I thought I would share with you.

Also, I apologise in advance that the lighting is a bit off. I'm looking rather blue which I can assure you I am not lol.

Any who, I tend to prefer Primark's clothing during Autumn and Winter, so expect more Primark haul's on my channel in the upcoming months.

As always, feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Double Denim

I was obsessed with the 'off the shoulder' trend this Summer, and I'm still loving it. I recently picked up this gorgeous denim off the shoulder frilly top from ASOS (£30) which is perfect for the autumn months as it's a little more warming. I adore the frilly detail - something that I wouldn't usually go for, but I feel that it adds a slight feminine touch.

I paired this lovely little number with my River Island Molly Jeans, my beloved New Look lace sandals and Chloe Handbag inspired ASOS bag.

Top - ASOS | Jeans - River Island | Sandals - New Look | Bag - ASOS

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog or tweet me: @zoeyoliviablog. I'm forever responding and interacting on those platforms :).

Afternoon tea at Sketch London for our 5th anniversary!

Sketch is one of those places I've always dreamed of going to... Anyway, it was mine and Joe's fifth anniversary, and we wanted to go somewhere extra special, so I hinted afternoon tea at Sketch, Mayfair. I'd been hinting to go there for about a year... not even joking!

From the skip hop and jump entrance to the space-egged toilets, everything about this place is cool. Really cool.

Me and Joe indulged in our afternoon tea in the Gallery. And, I have to say the food was outstanding! Every little treat was delicious, especially the warm scones and the pistachio puff ball things. Also, you could chose a variety of tea's or champagne with an additional cost. I went for the whole Rose Buds tea which was lovely.

The interior is also beautiful with pink velvet cushioned seats, copper details and David Shrigley's art across all four walls, you feel a bit like you're in a fancy sweet store.
The gallery also leads on to these crazy toilets, which looked like a cross between something from space and a boiled egg. Me and Joe had too much fun in here!

We both really enjoyed every bit of it, it is definitely one of the best afternoon tea's I've ever had. It's honestly such a bizarre, quirky little place and I highly recommend eating there if you're in the London area. 

| Shirt - H&M | Jeans - TOPSHOP | Heels - TOPSHOP | Bag - Warehouse |

After Sketch, we did a little bit of shopping whilst we were super close to Oxford Circus, and then we headed to some quirky cocktail bars.

The first one we went to was 'The Cocktail Trading Club' which is a little bar hidden away in a basement. They had really amazing interesting cocktails - one of them came in a snow globe and had coconut sprinkles that had the illusion of being snow!

The other bar we went to was called 'The Blind Pig', this has to be my new favourite bar in London. The bar snacks are incredible and the drinks are so unusual! The first cocktail I had was a percy pig infused vodka with a little David Cameron reference. I took a photo of it on my Instagram so head over to there if you're interested.
Joe's cocktail was called the 'Slap and Pickle' which had baby pickles on the side, cute. And, the other cocktail I had was a whiskey mix with popcorn on the side. Absolutely loved it here and would love to go back again sometime soon.

Overall, we had an amazing day out celebrating five years together, Sketch was all I could of dreamt of and more (cheese) and the cocktail bars are new favourites of mine!

 If you're interested in coming along with us on our anniversary, watch my little vlog below. Enjoy :)!