Letters from Marion: Teppanyaki and Ted Baker

It was the BF's birthday weekend, just passed and I had really struggled with what little treat I should get him this year. I would say usually I'm quite good a present buying - but to be honest this time round I had no idea!

In the end inspiration hit me in the form of Teppanyaki and Ted Baker.

The evening started with gifts and, of course a bottle of fizz! I got W a gorgeous wallet from Ted Baker. Ages was spent in the shop, cooing over all the lovely leather and what makes Ted's wallets stand-out is the stunning silky linings - that come in all-sorts of eye-catching prints. After spending longer than was probably necessary choosing between about three (almost identical!) brown leather wallets I opted for the Bontray Metal corner wallet - and it went down a treat!

So after all the excitement off I trotted to get all dolled up.

Going out for a special dinner is a nice excuse to get your glad rags on - without going full-on-glamour! This pretty, little top drapes beautifully over bare shoulders with a lil bit of attention-grabbing detail at the back it adds just a touch of edge to the dainty blue design. Believe it or not, I actually stumbled across this gem in a hidden away shop in a French Hypermarché.

The blazer is Zara number - and I adore it. The black bouclé fabric is decorated with little studs at the sleeves, pockets and collar. I bought this particular one while in Milan for the weekend a while ago. After marvelling at all the uber-expensive caves of dreamlike clothes, I soon discovered that Zara was all my bank balance would stretch to! But even the Zara store, just round the corner from the Duomo di Milano was stunning, with winding gilt staircases and mosaic walls.

Black jeans and black boot-heels completed the look, along with the red detailed clutch. I never used to take a clutch out, normally just slinging my everyday brown bag over my arm, but some are too good to just collect dust at the back of a wardrobe - especially this one - so I've started to use my clutch stash alot more.

We soon made our way to Sapporo Teppanyaki . We were a little early so relaxed at the bar - with some more bubbles, of course - before our table was ready. You sit in a horse-shoe shaped table, along with other diners while the chefs work the hot plates in front of you.

It was a pretty interactive dining experience - with food being expertly thrown into your mouth, I wan't very good at this though, and had to be given up on... ooops! It really is a show - with flames, magic tricks and chefs that obviously love what they're doing.

However, we definitely got a bit too excited by our first Teppanyaki experience and ordered waaaaaay too much food, as miso soup was followed by sushi, which was followed by lobster, steak and all sorts of other tasty morsels. It was all amazing, but I felt like I would need to be rolled home!