The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event that's held West London during the Aug Bank Holidays in the UK since 1964. What started as a local festival amongst the West Indian Community in Notting Hill has now ballooned into the Europe's largest Street Festival attracting people from all over the world!
The carnival almost didn't happened this year due to the recent riots but loads of policemen were in place to keep order so all the revellers and performers still had a pretty good time!
It was one of vibrance, colour, loud music, loads of fancy moves and of course it was also filled with the smell of Caribbean food!
So check this Festival out if you ever get the chance and I'm sure you'll be showing off some moves of your own. :)
I recently wrote about Sedap Restaurant in Old Street which used to be called Nyonya in Notting Hill. Am sure the residents living nearby would have been quite sad to lose a nice little restaurant like this but no worries! There's actually another gem of a place in Notting Hill too!! One that was introduced to me by my ex boyfriend (now husband). :) This time, it's a thai restaurant that is unusually housed in a Pub, one that's called Churchill Arms. Yes! in a pub, and a very colourful one in fact! The exterior is so beautifully covered with loads of colourful flowers so no one would ever just walk past this place without noticing it. One would actually think that it's a flower shop instead of a pub!
Once you step inside, there's no surprises here as it looks like pub.
However, as you walk through to the back dining area, you'll feel like you've walked into a greenhouse with all the foliage and framed butterflies everywhere.
Waiting staff are all Thai so that's always a good thing in my opinion. The tables gets filled up pretty fast and in fact, we were told that we had our table for only an hour so they made it seem like we had to rush through our meal. Not too nice a thought. However, food is also served in the main pub area so there's still opportunity to get a seat unless it's absolutely jammed packed.
We started with the piping hot, deliciously crunchy spring rolls followed by a Pad Thai(Stir-fried rice noodles) and Chicken Pad Nam Prik Pao (Chicken fried in a spicy chilly paste).
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| Spring Rolls |
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| Pad Thai |
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| Pad Nam Prik Pao |
The Pad Nam Prik Pao was very nicely spiced with chilli, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste. Though quite fiery, we could still taste the sweetness of the palm sugar in the background with made it a good dish. Prices here are quite reasonable with a main dish prices at around £7.50.
We are thinking of checking out the Notting Hill carnival this weekend so we might just pop by again!
Churchill Arms
119 Kensington Church St
Kensington, W8 7LN
