● Laura Thornberry ● Lifestyle Blogger ● London Based ●

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"From a Gourmet Chicken takeaway restaurant in 1994 to the Gourmet Express charcoal grill in 2000. Husband and wife team Ali and Amira invite you to their latest food adventure in South Wimbledon."

Last week, I dined out at the extraordinary AYA Lebanese restaurant in South Wimbledon. I had been to this restaurant before once, but this time I wanted to share my experience, my thoughts and photos. I am yet to do restaurant reviews, but they are definitely something that I would love to start doing more as I am always reading reviews to find places to go and new cuisines to try. For me, Lebanese food is one of the freshest, most flavoursome and most delicious cuisines on the planet and AYA definitely ticks all of those.

The restaurant have a BYOB system in place that allows you to bring your own alcohol into the restaurant, so you can bring your favourite drinks that will complement your meal. Otherwise they have a selection of soft drinks and fruit juices available if you prefer.

My recent trip to AYA was on a Friday night with my Dad and 2 of my brothers. From the minute you walked into the restaurant, you are greeted by such warm and welcoming staff. Small things like this make a restaurant experience 10 times better and really gets the evening off to a good start.

Within a couple of minutes of being shown to your table and seated, one of the lovely waiters brings over some delicious and fresh warm Lebanese bread, alongside a duo of delicious dips. The dips consist of a delicious garlic sauce and a spicy tomato based sauce. Both of which are so delicious and addictive. We managed to munch our way through numerous servings of these, as the staff regularly top these up for you when they see them empty. Isn't this great?!!

After we had some time to look through the extensive menu, we all decided on a few starter dishes to begin the meal. AYA has a good range of starter dishes ranging from cold starters or warm starters which gives you the chance to sample many difference dishes and flavours. Between us, we opted to choose four starters to get our taste buds tingling.

Starter number one was the Soujouk. This is a warm dish of spicy pan fried sausages stuffed with lamb, garlic and chilli, served with some tomatoes and a wedge of fresh lemon. The sausages have such a spicy, warming taste, you can really taste the fresh garlic coming through.

Starter number two was the Calamari. Pan fried squid with garlic, chilli, peppers, coriander and lemon. The Calamari is hands down one of my favourite starters I've tried from AYA. The squid is cooked to perfection. No rubbery, chewy texture. It simply melts in the mouth. The accompanying flavours really enhance this dish and bring it to life.

Something new to try on this visit to AYA was the Lamb Sambousek. These are deep fried pastries filled with minced lamb, spices and onion. These were incredible, especially dipped into that delicious garlic sauce! The pastry was so crispy and golden, and the filling was so juicy and soft. It was a match made in heaven. I would definitely have these again!

Finally we opted for the Kraidis. Another of my favourites from AYA. These are pan fried prawns with garlic, chilli, pepper, coriander and lemon - the perfect flavour combination. The prawns were so fresh and meaty and juicy. I could eat a whole plate of these pretty easily!

After the starters had been devoured, we were given some more bread and dips to nibble on whilst we waited for the main courses to be brought out. Three of us opted for the AYA Mix Grill and my brother picked out the Kharouf Mehsheh.

The Kharouf Mehsheh is one of AYA's speciality dishes. You receive a deliciously juicy and soft lamb shank served with carrots and minced lamb rice. The lamb shank is to die for. So tender and juicy, it literally falls off the bone. On a bed of fragrant spiced rice, the flavours just merge effortless together to give you a real taste of Lebanon.

The AYA Mix Grill is not for the faint hearted. You are served up skewers of lamb and chicken shish, minced lamb kebab and slices of lamb and chicken shawarma. It's every meat lovers dream. Cooked to perfection, the meats are so juicy and tender, they just melt in the mouth.

We then chose to order some traditional Baklava. A sweet dessert pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and honey. These were absolutely beautiful. So light yet sweet and crunchy. The perfect way to end out meal!

If you're looking for a new Lebanese restaurant to try in London, you need to visit AYA. AYA offers sophisticated dining with a trendy atmosphere, warming hospitality and a delicious, creative menu. There is a great choice of fantastic dishes, each one fresh and tasty. The hardest part will be going through the amazing menu and deciding what to order next!

Have you tried Lebanese cuisine before? What are your favourite Lebanese restaurants?

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One of my goals I've set myself for 2019 is to become more of a money saver. I want to try and hold back on my spending and see in what ways I am able to save more money each month. Previously, I have just set aside a certain amount of money each month that goes straight into my savings account and watched that account grow and grow. But recently I've thought to myself that I can attempt to save even more and I've thought of a few ways to do this that will help increase my money saving this year.

1. 52-Week Money Challenge

As well as saving regular amounts of money each month from my paycheck, something new I've found this year has been the 52 week money challenge. By far one of the simplest savings technique that I have looked into. You simply follow the plan each week, watch your savings grow and before you know it, you'll have a good amount of money stored away. The challenge is pretty straight forward. The first week you add £1 into your savings, the next week £2, the week after that £3 and so on…. By the 52nd week you will have put away a whopping £1,378. I know it doesn't seem like much but you're few pounds every week really do add up.

2. Withdrawing Money

With the invention of contactless payments through your bank card or mobile phone, it's become so much easier to spend money without even thinking about it. When you're using this payment method numerous times a day, £10 here, £5 there, it can really add up and make a huge dent in your funds without you even realising. Something that can help you stop the splurging is to withdraw a certain amount of money, whether that be daily or weekly limit. This way you know exactly how much money you have and how much you have left to spend. I'm using this method to help me budget better, make better choices and to value the amount of money I have so much more.

3. Cheaper Alternatives

This way of money saving can be used for a variety of things. There are always cheaper alternatives available if you look for them. I'll be using this saving hack in terms of groceries and cosmetics. The idea of buying supermarket/drugstore own branded products can produce significant savings, and 9 times out of 10, the product is pretty similar to the more expensive, well known brands. So if you can knock a few pence off your shopping bill each week/month, it will all add up.

4. Make Coffee At Home

I'm sure we've all been there. Woke up late, got ready in a hurry and rushed out to your local coffee shop before work to get your caffeine fix. I know I'm guilty of this. My local Starbucks is right by the bus stop I use to get to work, and the smell of coffee in the morning is sometimes far too tempting when you're still half asleep. But £3-£4 for just a coffee seems a little steep, especially when you can buy a large jar of coffee for the same price.

5. Save Loose Change
This is a money saving hack that I have recently been doing and it's definitely a way to save a small amount of money. I've rummaged around my old handbags/purses and to my joy I've found myself quite a handful of coins that I now keep in my current backpack. Whenever I'm out and about, having this loose change is great as if you end up going shopping, you can do part payments where you use cash and card. Therefore even if you can take off a few pence or pounds from the balance of your shopping, you still will save yourself some money in the long run.

6. Write a list before you go shopping – and stick to it.
One of the easiest ways to save money is to only shop when you have a list. You will typically end up making impulse buys and unplanned purchases if you don't have a strict list to shop for. Impulse purchases are all things that cost money, so using a list will also help you avoid buying food you might waste and end up throwing away.

How are you saving money this year?

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