Daphne

83 Bayham Street
London
NW1 0AG

I managed to get tickets to Esperanza Spalding at Koko for A's birthday this year. Since it was a birthday night out, dinner seemed appropriate beforehand, and after a quick stop at Brewdog, we wandered into Daphne. It was a lovely evening and there was a nice table outside just calling to us, and the charming waiters quickly took our orders. We had some bread, olives and octopus to start - I still love the grilled octopus at La Vina more than anywhere else I've had it in London, but Daphne's version wasn't bad. We then had a mixed seafood grill and lamb kebabs for mains, with a little side salad. Nothing was remarkable, but it was also all properly cooked and just what we wanted for a sunny outdoor meal. The bill arrived with what I would call Turkish delight, but when I exclaimed "Oh, Turkish delight!" the waiter ran off and brought back the box proclaiming it "Greek delight". We ended the meal with a laugh.

Spiritual Caipirinha

4 Ferdinand Street
London
NW1 8ER

C introduced me to this great Brazilian restaurant in Camden, Spiritual Caipirinha. Another Toptable deal - 15 quid for two courses and a caipirinha. I tried a mango caiprinha - it was full of fruity flavor and very strong. Above is my starter - the waiter recommended anything with seafood since apparently it was very fresh that day, so I had a seafood salad to start - a mix of prawns and calamari and roasted peppers came out and was prepared wonderfully - no rubbery seafood here! For mains, C and I both ordered the steak with farofa and fried cassava and beans - a large, juicy strip steak appeared with toasted farofa mixed with pork scratchings (scrumptious) and the beans were flavored with chunks of pork. It was a massive amount of food but so good that I finished most of it. I'd definitely go back - the servers were so friendly and sweet, it made for a really nice evening out.

Caponata

3-7 Delancey Street

London

NW1 7NL

Caponata is a Sicilian restaurant upstairs from The Forge, a live music venue in Camden. We were there for Kai and Kai's Cats, a swing band who were performing as part of the London Jazz Festival (but also have a monthly residency at The Forge and at Ronnie Scott's). Dinner seemed like a good idea before a night of swing dancing, so we tried a couple of cocktails (2 for 1 before 8pm) and had "gnocchi in a black cabbage cream with crispy pancetta bacon" and "gnocchi with a delicate duck and dill sauce". Both were good, though A slightly preferred the one with duck. The portions looked a little small but after eating them we were full so perhaps they were deceptive in appearance. We headed downstairs after dinner for some dance lessons (the Charleston, which is pretty challenging to learn in an hour) and then when the band started up, some phenomenal dancers came out to play - good for watching but rather intimidating to dance next to, when you're still a beginner.