How many restaurants have you spent the last few years saying you must visit? How often does a place get mentioned in conversation and you find yourself saying, “I’ve heard it’s great, I’ve been meaning to go!” Well The London Restaurant Festival, now in its fourth year, is here to help you cram all those restaurants you’ve been dying to visit into a one day tour all throughout October. Tapas tours, Chinese tours, Japanese tours, Champagne themed, you name it, they’ve got it covered. The awesome Tiger Beer invited us to Chinatown to check out their tour of 6 restaurants in 6 hours. I’m going to stop here and you’re going to read on because I know you can’t resist the food photography that’s going to follow!

We’re all about discovering and telling the stories of those who have taken a passion and made it a life investment. We’re passionate about London, and welcome the challenge to tell the stories of those making waves within our city. New Amsterdam Vodka proudly laments its versatile ability to transform any social scene and encourages those within it to embrace the new spirit of their town. To coincide with this, we’ve met with a couple of influential young people within London who’ve witnessed or played a part in the transformation of its current social scene and sat down for a conversation with them to find out how they embrace their city, and to tell us a little more about their passions and lifestyles. First up was Raymond and his brand Happy Chap Clothing, this time around is DJ and founder of London nightlife brand ‘NANG’, Ralph Hardy.

Artists have a way of reimagining a place, retelling its story and rewording the preexisting dogma that surrounds it. Romantically, the struggling artist moves to where ever she is drawn, anywhere that will allow her to create and survive. Artists attract other artists and soon their influence begins to reshape the landscape, by being forever associated with “the cool” others are soon drawn in. What started as a change to the symbolic architecture of a place soon begins to impact the physical architecture, somewhere previously ignored now contains the trendiest clubs, restaurants, bars and stores around. Maybe this is a little like what’s happening to Hackney Wick, maybe it’s not?

We can all agree clothing has always been something that has an impact on two key things – how you look, and how you feel. But how often do we think about that second element? The fashion and trend scene in London is fast-paced and can be a chore to keep up with, especially as trends come with that limitation of ‘not everyone can pull it off’. What if a brand can remove that limitation and include anyone who just seeks a particular feeling from what they’re wearing? A level of comfort and happiness. A good friend of Y&Y is creating just that. As part of New Amsterdam Vodka’s #ItsYourTown campaign, we sat down with London local Raymond Mfon to hear about Happy Chap Clothing, his love for the city and how it’s impacted his brand and his lifestyle.

Too busy gallivanting in Europe and Asia, it’s been a while since we took to the streets of London with a commitment to capturing its heart and soul. So it was a welcomed surprise when New Amsterdam Vodka, a new premium vodka imported from the US, threw us back into the familiar streets to capture not one but two transitory London districts for their new campaign. #ItsYourTown is ultimately a celebration of your city, from a brand that’s all about modern city nightlife. Peckham was our first stop, and whether it’s constructed by episodes of Only Fools and Horses, Giggs lyrics or your “trendy” friends anecdotes, everyone has a picture of this South London district. So what is it really like?

Many professional athletes find a name for themselves in their sport from starting at the very bottom. Learning and finessing their sport outside of the professional environment, where anything goes, and there’s no association to tell them what they can and can’t do. In the world of basketball, the very bottom of playing the sport is in streetball - an amateur version of the game that is played out on the city streets by those who have a passion for the game like no other. Streetball tends to be an unorganised, unique take on the sport of basketball, but there are tournaments out there to showcase this amateur side of the game and give players the chance to showcase what they can do. Quai54 is an annual gathering in Paris, France to showcase the Nike x Jordan World Streetball Championships. When Nike invited us out to Paris to check it out, I couldn’t refuse. Unfortunately I’ve lost the majority of my coverage of both Q54 and the Jordan 30 year anniversary celebrations. Memories remain, but apologies for the lack of coverage.

There’s more than one side to every story. If you want the full picture, you need to know more than one side. You need to see more than one side and you need to experience them. Only then can you put the pieces together. Travel is becoming a big passion of ours here at Y&Y, whether we’re exploring Asia, visiting spectacular European cities, or even doing something a bit more spontaneous, we love to document our journeys and tell a story. On The Beach is one of the UK’s leading holiday providers, sending over a million people to sunny locations across Europe every year. One of their most popular destinations is Mallorca. A beautiful island in the Spanish Mediterranean with it all to offer. We were invited to experience Mallorca at a 4* hotel in the party capital of the island. The BH Mallorca was our base in the heart of Magaluf and we set out to discover the full story of this Spanish island.