The weekends are for letting your hair down, releasing those stresses from commuting on the underground and work deadlines that can leave me feeling pretty frazzled by Friday afternoon.
After celebratory Friday drinks and a decent lay in on a Saturday morning, I usually try to cram in as much fun as physically possible. Last weekend I found a new exhilarating way to let off some steam with play Holi.
In the last year there has been quite a lot of hype in London surrounding the Indian Holi Festival. The celebration in India is a free for all of people chasing each other with coloured dry powder. The festival celebrates spring and love through releasing bursts of colour.
When I came across an opportunity to play Holi in the city I knew I had to get involved. Playing with bright punchy colours and making a mess what is there not to love?
I invited my little sis to come along, the perfect chance to chase her around, smear her in paint and ultimately let loose.
Before leaving the house we felt rather hyper and took a few pre-paint selfies before heading into the sunny spring weather.
We arrived at Cinnamon Kitchen ready to paint the city red, green, pink, purple and any other colour we could get our mitts on.
The bar had a really cool vibe with an industrial style interior and detailed modern elements. I admired the quirky bar; the base is plastered in concrete with laser cut metal sheeting hanging above. Ceramic grey hexagon tiles lay on the floor with irregular accents of blue tiles thrown into the mix.
Laser cut lace detail pendants hung in clusters on the ceiling and created amazing shadows as the light seeped through.
We made ourselves comfy on the brown leather upholstered booth seats, surrounded with bright cushions as we enjoyed our special Holi festival cocktails.
The first cocktail was called Bahaan Lasso, a mix of Vodka, cointreau, fresh lime and watermelon juice. It went down a treat and we were eagerly ready to try some other cocktails.
Our next taster was a cranberry mojito and a Caribbean twist; filled with rum, vodka, raspberry, pineapple and a spiced clove. It had quite a punch!
Before the cocktails made us too giddy we nibbled on canapés to build up our strength before the paint pod. The first was Kacchoiri green pea fritter with smoked tomato chutney that tasted delicious. Followed by Mathri, a spiced lamb mince on a savoury wheat crisp bread. The last bite was Gujjia, a carrot parcel oozing with a saffron custard centre. The canapés were so tasty I am definitely returning to try out the full menu at some point soon.
After our yummy treats, we headed outside and climbed into our protective plastic onesies.
Why so serious? Looks like the nerves were setting in. I promised to play nice.
My excitement was hard to hide, picking the brightest colours I got ready to create some colourful puffs of powder.
Three, two, one and here we go…
Check out the after selfies, aren’t those colours just b-e-a-utiful?
I can honestly say you’d struggle to find anything more amusing than running around in a plastic onesie plastering beautiful bright powder all over each other. To add to the mayhem, running up to complete strangers and rubbing powder all over their faces felt very mischievous. It was a hilarious experience and felt very liberating letting my guard down and acting like a total baboon in public.
It was such a fun way to spend an afternoon and cost (hold your breathe) only £15 for two cocktails, canapés and access to the paint-throwing pod. Bargain. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for any similar events.
If you fancy trying the cocktails, checking out the slick interior or the great food, check out Cinnamon Kitchen.
We left feeling like giddy school girls, singing as we headed off and decided not to wipe our paint splattered faces until we got home. There were a few stares on the underground, but who says paint powdered faces won’t become the next trend?
