Post Love from the North Honey Toast Meet

You may be looking at this post a little confused now. Why is there a post-Love from the North meet being published now, when we haven’t had anything about Love from the North? The answer is very simple – I don’t have my full outfit shot back yet. The one I had taken by the official photographer was so good that I didn’t even bother taking anything on my phone, so until the photos appear, we’ll keep going with the schedule as usual.

The day after LftN, on Sunday, a few of us gathered in Manchester’s branch of Dazzling Café, a popular café from Hong Kong specialising in honey toast. While this wasn’t the official LftN Sunday activity, it was a perfect time for a meet and visit as many of us were already in Manchester and the café was exactly opposite the art gallery, where the official Sunday activities were taking place.

| King Eleven Miss Tea's Delicate Life JSK | Axes Femme
blouse | Innocent World Wendy OTKs | Cutie Creator
headbow | offbrand boots | Milkribbon Butterkeks brooch |
Wonderbox Designs rosette | Love from the North pin |
Twinkle Kitty boutique rings |

No filter and no makeup, all post Love from the North.
That's not too shabby looking! 

I had opted for something comfortable and on the Sweeter side. The fit of this King Elevent JSK is so flattering, although it probably would’ve been better with a bit less poof (I couldn’t be bothered to adjust my hoop to make it smaller). I would’ve preferred to wear other shoes, but as I tried to pack light these had to do – which given that later my feet were absolutely killing me, it’s probably best that I went with those flat boots rather than the heels I wanted to grab.

Dazzling Café is pretty hard to miss. You don’t need to turn anywhere, it’s right on the main road and you can see inside through the large glass windows. Their menu includes non-sweet food, namely pasta, pizza and fries, but also things like karaage chicken, and a selection of fancy hot and cold drinks. And if honey toast isn’t your cup of tea, you could have a waffle instead.

I'm dazzling every day, honey!

The meet itself was as relaxed as it gets, probably the most relaxed one I’ve been to in a long time. Many people were still feeling the tiredness of the afterparty the night before, so casual style and OPs prevailed as the set choice of attire. People were also gradually trickling in, partly intentionally and partly due to Piccadilly station being closed because of a protest.

Even the lady in the cameo is dazzling! 

I had ordered a Margharita pizza and a strawberry lover honey toast for later. The pizza was nice, but instead of bread the base seemed a lot closer to tortilla wraps – still nice, but a bit less filling, so not for the very hungry. And after someone else had received theirs, I regretted not getting the Bolognese cheesy fries, they looked amazing, even if that was some pretty dirty food!

Surprisingly nice, very fresh!

The honey toast however… As I’ve never had one before, I ordered one just for myself – mistake number one as those are really massive! It’s essentially a small loaf of bread and then all the extras. The mistake number two was getting the strawberry lover one. Granted, as I’m currently on a Dechox, whereby I’ve quit all forms of chocolate for March to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (you can still support me in that endeavour anddonate, the BHF does some vital work to prevent and treat heart diseases, which are increasingly becoming more and more common), that was pretty much the only option I could’ve had, but it was still a poor choice. The strawberry lover honey toast was insanely sweet – it was the sweetest thing I have ever put in my mouth, a proper, proper sugar overload. And I stupidly poured the extra honey on top of all that too! I did put up a fight, but ultimately, the honey toast won. Next time, if I can overcome that trauma, I’ll go for a less sweet option instead and will share that with at least one more person!

It's a monster in size and a kawaii monster in sugar content!

In the meantime we just chatted, gushed over how great LftN was and played some games. I ended up playing a game called Elevenses which is pretty much made for Lolitas as it’s about setting up your afternoon tea more successfully than your opponents. The game has already gained several other nicknames, including Blood on  China, Dagger in a Cupcake, Blood on the Teapot and Shady Lady; as far as alternative names are concerned, this game just keeps on giving. It’s really fun, so if you haven’t tried it, I’d recommend it. I’m contemplating getting it myself, since it’s very easy to learn and start playing and the game only includes the cards, sugar cube tokens and instructions, so it’s also cheap to get.

Game aesthetic. I might buy this game one day.

Ladies being shady putting together their afternoon tea.
Photo by Shasha.

After I had regained some strength after the sugar coma of a honey toast, I had a brief trip around the shops, namely Debenhams and Lush (Debenhams in Manchester is the nearest one to me that physically stocks Kat von D cosmetics, hence the visit). I had some Lush vouchers to use from my birthday, though only ended up spending half of them. By that point my feet had slowly started hurting and I still had to go back to our hostel to collect my luggage and then make it to the train station. I won’t document my drama with getting home, that’s still a painful experience, but eventually I made it home and in one piece. But out of 3 meets in Manchester that I attended, I had some serious transport disruptions for two, so I’m starting to be even more hesitant in making the trip just in case, but I’ll do my best not to let superstitious thoughts dominate.

Have you ever had honey toast? What’s the most sickly sweet thing you’ve ever eaten? And what sort of outfit would you wear for a meet after an afterparty out in a club, where you needed to be comfortable and practical, but still wanted to be cute?