During a lovely jaunt up to Sheffield for the weekend with the fella, we sampled many of the impeccably stylish eateries, bars and shops that the city had to offer. My boyfriend went to university in Sheffield and spent three years of his life there so it always holds a sentimental place in his heart and I love to see all the places he used to hang out during the time that I didn’t know him. On the surface it may not seem as though Sheffield would have too much going on but it’s basically booming with heaps of culture, northern pride and a strong community of local businesses. First up on our trip was the trendy and rather beautiful Netheredge area of the city, this is a bit of a hipster haven with it’s independent book shops, wholefoods stores and quirky cafes. It also happens to be the home of my favourite tea shop, Bird House Teas, it went without saying that this was our first point of call. We pretty much raided the shelves and were delighted to see that this young budding company has flourished and is doing really well – they’ve even started stocking tea infused soaps! I bought mine and Danny’s favourite, Lemon Bon Bon alongside Strawberry Laces, Aztec Chai, Coles Corner, Duchess Georgina and Secret Recipe.

We popped into a gorgeously quirky little wholefoods shop that was filled to the brim with the weird and wonderful products that one might usually find in a wholefoods store. I bought myself some Taifun Olive Tofu and was blown away by how tasty and filling it was – I would definitely recommend this to any tofu lover and am eager to try Taifun’s other offerings. I also snapped up some Cacao nibs for more interesting and healthy porridge and baking which I look forward to using.

After all the gawking at shop displays we had worked up quite an appetite so we found ourselves in the cutest little café that ever existed: Thelma’s. Started up by a friend of Danny’s after uni, it was inspiring to see how a young person has managed to forge a successful life around a business. I was eager to see what the fuss was all about so I decided to get some hummus and pitta bread to nibble on followed by a loaded bagel – I was pretty much blown away. As an Arab, I take my hummus pretty seriously, hummus is a big deal to me and when people get it wrong by making it too smooth too sesame-ish or too lemony I get really disappointed. I was delighted to find that this hummus actually bested that of most middle eastern restaurants, the lemon to oil ratio was spot on and it wasn’t too smooth nor too grainy. My bagel was indeed absolutely loaded with avocado, pesto, rocket, artichokes and goats cheese – it was positively delicious. I was pretty impressed to see that the vegetables for my bagel were sourced from the baskets of fresh produce that sit next to counter. They had run out of avocado so the co-owner popped up to the wholefoods store we had just visited to buy one in just for me which made me feel special! It was also a comfort to me that they used real avocado and not mushy weird fake guacamole out of a tube like some places do. Overall Thelma’s was lovely and I would recommend visiting if you’re ever in Sheffield – and make sure you have the hummus.