Apologies for the lack of posting again! I’ve been off sick with norovirus last week – hugging the toilet bowl is never a good look for anyone. Neither is coming out in cold sweat at all times due to my inability to contain food inside rather than outside of my body..Thankfully I was well by the weekend, which means the trip to London was back on again – yay!!

The journey there was challenging to say the least. Somehow, the GARMIN sat nav refuses to get on the M25 (ring highway around London) and we had to go through London – again. Driving through London is like driving on the monopoly board….Whitechapel, Broad Street…hehe. We ended up at Canary Wharf not too late though at 8.40pm. Of course it was then out again immediately for dinner…and I have been dreaming of steaming bowls of vietnamese noodles for way too long to be healthy

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Pho – aromatic beef marrow soup with rice sticks and fresh herbs and spices plus a squeeze of lemon and splash of fish sauce. It was not the best ever, but very lovely; definately the best I’ve had in the UK so far including my home made one. Oh, and other than the strange fact that they do not serve it with sriracha sauce. I was apalled…I always have sriracha sauce with my pho; from San Francisco to Paris and Melbourne! Aaah!

This was what KJ had – looks like chirashi sushi. It gets mixed in with nuoc cham, a sauce made of fish sauce, sugar, lime and chillies

We also ordered the cha gio – fried vietnamese spring rolls. Delicious, I can vouch for its authenticity with its bean threads and sliced wood fungus dipped in fish sauce/sugar/chilli dip. I thought I took a picture of it, but apparently not! Again, the best I’ve had yet in the UK – and this says something for its quality.

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Saturday morning bright and early (well, about 10.30am) we headed on to Notting Hill for the weekend Portobello Market. I’ve never been to the market itself (only to notting hill for the Notting Hill Festival) and neither has KJ even though she’s been a council tax payer to the City of London for over a year.

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As we did not had anything to eat before that, we barged through the market straight to the land of pastel pink and chocolate brown; Hummingbird Bakery….heehee. It was a different experience to my previous trip – the Notting Hill branch was super cramped, way too many tourists and the staff (other than the lovely guy manning the tills) were abrupt and not very polite – my cupcake came upside down in a paperbag and bacon’s was so squashed. Bad cupcake worker!

Cupcakes on parade in all their glory…..but if you’re thinking of getting their cookbook, it’s available here for half price.

Lovely candied colored cuppas

Jam-packed queues out the store!
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Luckily, as I was inside pushing my way through the queues, bacon manage to finagled us a table outside; seeing how cramped the store was, there were only TWO tiny tables outside for customers to eat at..grr. So most people just purchased the cupcakes and had them outside, standing next to us. I much prefer the South Kensington branch where there are a few more tables available and the shop is not as teeny and cramped. Not been to the SoHo branch

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I went for the Saturday special; chocolate & beetroot cupcake. You can actually TASTE the beetroot, which was suprising as I did not actually expect to taste it. It was super moist due to the inclusion of beetroot, and lovely dark color; almost like a dark maroon red velvet cupcake. Very delish. There is very little sugar in the cupcake, which balances very well with the sweet cream cheese frosting. Delicious.

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Kayjean had the savoury muffins with spinach & cheese. Very nice. I made the ham & cheese muffins before and it tastes fairly similar to this…will try this next.

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Bacon had the brownie-cheesecake fusion…I’ve been wanting to make this for the longest time, but bacon had always been very resistant to the idea, thinking that it’ll taste rubbish. So he ordered it to prove a point and to reassure him that he don’t like it. Verdict: I think it’s not too bad, cheesecakey, brownie like, cakey…..whilst bacon confirmed that it’s not something he would be making anytime soon himself. Hmm. Damnit.

Scoffing Eating done, we continued down Portobello St, stopping at antique stalls and such…when it started pouring it down. It was so heavy we had to take shelter and kinda waited it out. It let down slightly after about 15 minutes, but not enough. So we started making our way back to the tube station, having only done about 1/3 of the market. Very soon it was shelter seeking time again (I say its the rain, but I think we wanted to munch again) , and we dipped into Arancina, an italian cafe serving up lovely pizzas from a VW Bug. Aint it cute??

Inside it was jampacked again; but this time with italian tourists. The staff are again very bizzare…kept insisting that there would be no seating available upstairs (when bacon had actually already got us a table) and sold us our food to take away. Well, fool them as it costs about 10% more to eat in than takeaway.

We got a slice of thin crust mushroom & ham pizza…very nice and yummy

And a risotto mozzarella croquette called Suppli…lovely risotto rice (I usually hate risottos) and a huge chunk of mozzarella inside, all packaged up in a yummy fried package. You can see the mozzarella melting into the rice above… Delicious

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By the time we’ve shopped our way through the market (Kayjean bought a lovely pair of patent purple wellies for £5) it was already nearly 3pm. Next stop was Harrods – my wedding & engagement rings needed a deep cleanse and I had to get to Tiffany’s to send them off for servicing. As usual, jampacked with tourists…I am probably one myself, but I am getting dead sick of tourists in London…walking really slowly in tube stations, stopping at inappropriate places to stare at the tube map, pushing their way through and then stopping in front of the ticket machines…..*dizzy*.

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As we were heading out from Harrods, I literally bumped into Laduree next to Krispy Kreme at the Food Hall. I had been in two minds about the most famous macaroon maker in the world and had initially decided against it; but seeing that we literally bumped into it, we had to try a little takeway bag of macaroons…

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At £5.80 for 5 (this was the cheapest), this was definately not a cheap treat, seeing that they are minute (large macaroons are £3 each). We had two rose flavoured, one salted caramel, one orange blossoms and one lemon. The salted caramel was the best of the lot, with a lovely toffee like flavour and chewy caramely texture. Was it nice? Hmm..as macaroons goes, pretty much. Is it worth a special trip? Don’t think so. Is it worth £5.80 for five mouthfuls of puffy confectionary? If you are *really* into macaroons…I did not regret trying it, but it’s probably not something that I would go out of my way for.

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It was about 4pm at this point, and I still had to head towards Piccadilly Square! Seeing that bento-making is my new obsession this year, I had to stock up on Japanese foodstuff and bento gear! Me & KJ ( I convinced her that making cute lunches is a good thing) walked away with a small stash of bento making gear and also foodstuff…I got some fish eggs (god I love them) which will be making an appearance in my lunch soon and also an onigri box. They do quite alot of food at the Japan Centre shop, but we didn’t have any. However, it all looks very lovely and I would defiantely recommend anyone interested in Japanese culture and food to check the place out for sushis, donburis, bento boxes and sashimis….

After stocking up, it was time to head towards my central London Malaysian restaurant for some good old fashioned nasi lemak. I’ve written about this place a few times previously, and it produces fairly consistent food. However, this time around KJ’s fried pan mee wasn’t very nice – not too sure whether it’s a compliment or an insult, but mine was nicer! Bacon’s maggi mee goreng was ok, whilst my nasi lemak was the usual standards of lovely creamy rice offset by the side sambal and creamy curry chicken

We were so full from dinner that it was then a slow trudge home…on an early saturday night. Our feet were killing us, and it was definately time for home…where we proceeded to make a carrot cake and some makis even though we were stuffed to the gills .

Fast forward to sunday, we headed towards Greenwich to do a spot of tourism at the Royal Observatory. However, we stopped at a large chinese cash & carry….and never made it to the Royal Observatory. I stocked up on more stuff….but the cash & carry wasn’t the main attraction. Next door was a small teeny unassuming shopfront (called Man & Man consulting) where A4 sheets advertised it as selling tofu. And let me tell you – it was the BEST tofu fah (a tofu dessert, with a texture like creme brulee) I’ve had in a very very long time. The fried tofu was also very delicious, and so is the soymilk. Oh god…this is what you call authentic home made soy….completely different from those you get at your local supermarket or even chinese grocery stall with preservatives, flavourings, colorings and whatnots. Am so glad I stocked up on my tofu needs…it’ll last for a week or two.

By the time we were done at See Woo & tofu shopping, it was 1pm and I was starving. So it was goodbye Royal Observatory and hello food. Bacon wanted dim sum, so KJ brought us to her local dim sum place in Millwall…we’ve been forewarned its cheap, but slightly unreliable; the food is sometimes yuck and sometimes nice. I was starving and didn’t want to go somewhere pricey where I had to watch what I ordered, so off to Lotus we went.

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First impressions: very nice! Advertised as a ‘floating’ (don’t think it goes anywhere really) restaurant; it commands the impressive background of the Canary Wharf high-powered banking houses (squint and you can see Barclays, HSBC & citibank)…the lovely sunshine definately helps. Dim sum wise, it was definately haphazard quality…everything was nice and lovely until we got to the last dish of chicken & salted fish pot rice…which came in a bowl and looks suspuiciously like sliced chicken served over steamed rice rather than a potted meal cooked together.

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Lovely dimsum…LOVED the fried har kao, light and fluffy batter

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The abysmal chicken & salted fish pot rice – where the best thing about it is the salted fish.

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Addresses & contacts

Cafe East
100 Redriff Road, London,
London SE16 7LH
t: 020 8691 7777
w: www.cafeeastpho.com

Hummingbird Bakery
133 Portobello Road,
Notting Hill, London
W11 2DY
t: 020 7229 6446
w: www.hummingbirdbakery.co.uk

Arancina
19 Pembridge Road,
Notting Hill, London

Laduree (Harrods)
Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road,
Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7XL
t: 0203 155 0111
w: www.laduree.fr

Japan Centre
212-213 Piccadilly
London, W1J 9HX
w: www.japancenter.com

C&R Cafe
3-4 Rupert Court,
London, W1D 6DY
t: 020 7434 1128

See Woo Cash & Carry (Tofu shop is just before the cash & carry)
Furlong House, Horn Lane
Greenwich, SE10 0RT

Lotus
38 Limeharbour, Inner Millwall Dock
Isle of Dogs, E14 9RH
t: 020 7 515 6445

Remember this post where I ate at Jamie Oliver’s Italian in Oxford? Well, thought it was time to visit another one (on expenses again) whilst I was away on one of my tours down to Brighton. The last time I was there I had chinese buffet – which was the simplest thing really as we were really tired and just wanted something in our tummies and be on our way.

On a blustery Monday night, things were fairly quiet; none of the crazy queues that we saw in Oxford branch. Which was really suprising, as we were told they were only able to fit us in at 6.30pm (we were aiming for 7pm you see). So some of us got seated at 6.30 whilst waiting for me to arrive at 7. We did not even ordered till 7.30pm, so what was the harm in seating us at 7pm instead? Especially in an empty restaurant! That was kind of offputting and annoying. I do hate places where they just want to tweak your timings slightly – just because they can.

Interior-wise it was lovely – nicer than then one in Oxford. Translucent pink chandeliers set off the dark woodsy interior – and coming down the stairs you were treated to a live televised view of the kitchen which was projected on the wall facing the stairs. Olive oils and wines line the wall, making for a very impressive rendition of a modern italian eatery. I was with loads of people from work,thus the lack of pictures in case they think me freaky! I did not order any starters, although I was very, very tempted. Sat at the girls end of the table, they were just all on a perpetual diet. However, I was pleased that I waited for my main course instead of having a starter – it would have completely ruined it!

They call this Fish in a Bag. Yes, I did order it just because it was called fish in a bag. Slightly dissapointing that it did not come in an actual bag (I was expecting zip lock bag and all) – instead it was a seafood parcel, wrapped in waxed paper and tinfoil. Inside were some clams, mussels, a side of seabass and some sliced baby potatoes, all topped by fennel, capers and a lemon slice and then baked. The juices were absolutely lovely..very light with a touch of white wine and the lemon to bring out the zing in it. None of the mains comes with any sides, so I had a side of rocket and radicchio salad with parmesan cheese. The portion was HUGE – it was more of a main meal than a side salad, but not a problem there as I absolutely love rocket. The simple balsamic dressing was very very lovely – again, light, tasty and easy on the palate. If there was one complaint it would be that there were too much grated parmesan on the salad (my fault for not asking it on the side) – it kinda took the shine away from the light dressing.It might just be me, as I am currently trying to watch my cheese intake carefully.

I polished it off very satisfactorily. A braver person would go for some of the funky chips – there were that good that one of us had it as a starter as well as a side . It took me ages to decide if I wanted a dessert. None of the girls would have any….we were talking about weightwatchers points throughout dinner, which was slightly offputting….and there was me, stuffing my face. So whilst they chose coffees, I chose a variation of coffee – tiramisu . I had this last time, and it was so good I had to have it again! I was definately thinking of bacon when I ordered it – he absolutely loved it when we had it in the Oxford branch.

I love how it is so well-soaked with delish espresso, with a generous grating of orange zest. Sigh….heavenly.The side of mascarpone was a little too much for me, so I left it whilst I polished off about 80% of the tiramisu. I already feel bad enough stuffing my face without the female species eyeing me speculatively whilst I polish off a gazillion pointed dessert! Strangely enough someone else pinched the mascarpone and just ate it as-is. Hmm.

All in all, very satisfactory. I didn’t go for the pasta this time around, but those that had absolutely loved it. Would I have the same items again? Sure. Jamie did not dissapoint again. And AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO LEEDS BRANCH OPENING IN APRIL!!!

Jamie Oliver’s Italian
Brighton Branch (with branches all over the southern part of the country )
11 Black Lion Street,
Brighton BN1 1ND
01273 915 480

Sorry for the dissapearing act – I’ve been completely tired out from travelling for work and also changing my work times – I now start work at 7.15 would you believe it?? I can hardly believe it myself. I want to leave the office before twilight, and this allows me to leave at 4…I usually get home by 5ish, do my stupid excercises on the wii and my day really finishes by 6. Not to mention lately I have gone back on my lunch-making craze, so am spending an hour at night making lunch for the next day. That is if I’m not off travelling the country from top to bottom…which seriously takes it out of me. Sigh. What exciting life I lead.

I promise more blogs this week – I know, I know…I can see cobwebs growing at the corners of the blog. In the meantime, more pictures from Amsterdam to keep you entertained

Windmill taken from my moving bus

We can’t forget that my favourite beer was born in Amsterdam

Heehee….oh-so-cheesy….

I love love love their mini cars – it’s so small and slow it even uses the zebra crossing..lols. They also park themselves at the bicycle racks.

Flemish chips rock my world. Eaten with sausfrites; i.e. spiced mayo. It’s been nearly 10 years since I had this when I lived in Bruxelles. Ah, having Godiva for breakfast, belgium fries for lunch and belgium waffles for tea. Loved it.

I do love the double-cooked fries/chips. And the mayo is so sinful it ought to be outlawed.

Hmm. I thought it was made out of chocolate. I went to the Sex Museum. How cultural (it charged the cheapest entrance fee..hehe). Thought it would be something different…the last time bacon went to Amsterdam with his ‘other’ half, they apparently spent all the time away from Heineken, Coffeeshops, and FEBO bars…concentrating their time at the proper cultural museums i.e. Anne Frank.

Also from the sex museum. I thought it was very adorably cute.

A hot-dog…hehe…geddit? Made out of chocolate. Adorable.

Running out of names to call cheeses. Heh.

We got really distracted by the FEBO bars whilst we were in Amsterdam, stopping every so often for a little snack. This has contributed to us only eating in two proper restaurants the whole time we were there – and in one of them it was way too dark to even see what we were eating (Vietnamese Restaurant (yes, that’s the name) in the Chinatown area); but the pho was fabulous and comparable to the super delish versions served up in Orange County.

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Ok, lets get down to business. Amsterdam is (in)famous for its crazy FEBO joints – basically hole-in-the-wall operations. Part local takeaway part 7-11 convenience store, these stalls are famous for serving up krokets (or croquettes) that the Dutch seems to be so crazy about. I have heard it described as breaded deep-fried gravy filled with bits of food. In a way I guess it’s abit like a pasty here in the UK. The Dutch sometimes turn their krokets into sandwiches as well, turning it into Broodje Kroket. Frikandel are the krokets that contain meat…there are an amazing range of mind-boggling things that could be turned into a kroket. The kroket is so popular that I remember having a McKroket in McDonalds during one of my three-hourly visit to Schipol airport. It was more like a Broodje Kroket as it was sandwiched between buns…made up on unidentifiable meat/veg/starch. The only thing identifiable is breadcrumbs that coat the kroket. Most of the time anyway.

Back to the FEBOs. FEBOs are more like the Greggs or Ainsley’s in the UK, hawking hand held snack items. I guessed that FEBO was a brand; there were other joints practising the same concept without the FEBO signage and branding. Somewhat like the karipap vendor in Malaysia, grilled sausages in Bangkok and sate in Indonesia. Lovely. However, food items in a FEBO bar are all in a vending machine – you pop in your coins and you get to open one of them small window (it’s heated inside) and withdraw your food which is served on a mini paper plate. Food from a wall, literally. Stab at it with one of the tiny chip forks or just hold it with the mini plate whilst you eat.

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I thought it was really cool! You could just drop a coin in for one kroket as a snack, or have a few as a more filling meal, standing up at the corner with other dodgy characters. As you can see below, the variety is mind-boggling, with choices from sate to plain cheese, cheese with vegetable, veal, mix of pork&beef, cheese with chicken, just chicken fillet….there were also burgers available from the walls but I didn’t try any of it.

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Look at all those mini windows!!! At EU1.40, it’s a cheap snack if there’s a rumble in your tummy. So irresistable…I love opening those mini windows..

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This was the ‘nasi kroket’. Amsterdam is filled with Indonesian influences as Indonesia used to be part of the Dutch Empire. Fried rice in a deep fried parcel – who would’ve thought! It was possibly my favourite kroket

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Speaking of which, they also had ‘bami kroket’ – bami being the indonesian word for noodles. Fab. Again, weird, but nice!

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This was the cheesy curry chicken kroket. Weird huh…

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There was even more than one type of burgers. It’s ‘ de lekkerste’ (the tastiest) according to them! And no, have no clue what grillsauce is…I am assuming its like sausfrite…i.e. mayo with spices.

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I definately recommend all visitors to pop into one of the FEBO bars at least once during their trip – have a kroket, smile at the other patrons and then get on with your journey. Or visit after a trip to De Tweede Kamer – it will squash any of the munchies that you are bound to have, not to mention hilarious to try to insert the correct amout of coins into the slot. To be honest, they are not that tasty, – but it’s definately the experience of eating from the wall – well, unless you really like croquettes, then you would be in heaven

FEBO
Across Amsterdam – Spui, Dam Sq, opposite Central Station ect..

One of the unavoidable ’sights’ of Amsterdam has most definately got to be the red light district. You can’t avoid it – and neither should you. It’s beautiful in twilight…the surrounding canals reflecting the neon lights of varying shades of crimson and not-so-crimson lights of sex shops, hotels and dwellings…just have a look:

I’ve not taken any pictures of the girls as the pimps minders don’t take too kindly to it (neither will the girls)….suffice to say, there are always bad apples amongst the good. Some of the girls baring their wares just made me wonder at the varying levels of depravity fetishes in the world. There were, of course, those pretty lingerie model quality Eastern European looking girls. In glow in the dark undies, some shaking their bon-bons some shaking their buns. And then there are those that look fairly past their sell-by date and frankly, quite creepy. Then there are those who had one too many croquette (the dutch looooovess their croquettes), looking more like stuffed sausages in a S&M outfit than attractive…..about what this season’s thigh high boots are making my legs look like. None of them were doing boring hobbies like knitting or reading though – guess that ruins the illusion.

Their rooms are another matter. It looks like something off Prison Break. Gone are the illusions, a bare tiled room decorated with a single bed, a basic sink and a toilet bowl. Oh, some of the rooms had sunken baths…probably more expensive.

I’m not too sure if it’s because of the credit crunch, but there are loads of rooms for rent. Yes, the sort of red-lit rooms. It’s strange – the credit crunch would’ve essentially pushed more girls into the world’s oldest profession, but on the other hand, the punters would be cutting down on their ‘treats’, therefore more fishes in a smaller pool thus ‘vacancies’.

I do wonder though if they have some sort of union – I believe that the price of the room comes with the protection of a minder, probably some big hunk working in the peep show shop next door.