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Where we were staying in New Jersey, there were blocks and blocks of bog standard strip malls, like anywhere across North America. I have an affinity for these strip malls, they tend to contain nail salons, the usual big names like Walmart and Target to smaller establishments like Trader’s Joe (I love Trader’s Joe!) and other independent stores and restaurants; from clothing stores to a pizzaria and locksmiths. You just never know what will you find next. It is most definately preferable to the high streets in so many towns across the UK which are usually full of just big name shops.

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I would love to say that I found Jimmy Buff’s in one of my drive-throughs; but the fact was I first found out about Jimmy Buff’s on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives – my latest favourite TV show. The host, Guy Fieri, goes around the US visiting great independent diners and ‘dives’ – this range from large pancake diners to chinese restaurants to a food truck.

However the beauty of strip malls was that I did not even need to hunt it down; we spotted it as we were driving out of the car park from clothes shopping and I had to stop. It was about 11am in the morning, but we had not have any breakfast, so we ordered the trio of pushcart hotdogs. I would’ve loved to get a selection of their giant hotdogs, but I thought that it would be too heavy for us as we were planning for lunch as well.

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The seating area

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The simple counter

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Our hotdogs were cooked fresh – deep fried, not flat top cooked, boiled or grilled.

The chilli dog. Very delicious indeed – this is probably the best chilli dog I tasted up until then. The skinny hot dog is deep fried, which preserves the juiciness contained within the dog casing. The chilli was bolognase-like…but it went very well with the dog.

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The cheese dog. Yeah, we could’ve probably gone for chilli cheese, but the generous amount of all the toppings would probably not be able to contain more than one topping. As it were, the bun was falling apart before we finish eating it.

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The beauty of Jimmy Buff’s? Bacon recognised the person that cooked our hotdogs from tv – it was the owner’s son . A family business through and through; and not just for TV. How great is that?

Jimmy Buff’s
CASTLE RIDGE PLAZA
354 Rt 10 west bound & River Rd.
Tel: (877) 9HOTDOG

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Hello it’s me! I’ve been away for quite some time – spent about two weeks travelling in New York, New Jersey, D.C and Philly. It was seriously the most ‘adventurous’ trip – I made it to Newark but my suitcase didn’t until a few days ago. Bacon being the nice person he is said that he was glad it was me and not him. Yup. Then on the day we were supposed to be coming back, our flight got cancelled due to airport closure in Paris. Then a whole load of that white stuff dumped it down in the Northeast, and JFK closed for business, which meant we were effectively stuck. It wasn’t until three days later that we eventually manage to get on the plane….whew!

Upon returning home I was struck by the ugh flu bug that have been doing its rounds…bleark. It was so bad I took three days off work – the longest sickie I’ve had in ages. Anyway – thought it was time I continue my Awesome America series or I may start forgetting…so let’s see….maybe we can start with the war of the Korean Fried Chicken.

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I love fried chicken of all types, and have been hearing about this marvel that is Korean-styled fried chicken. Apparently the fried chicken is dipped into some sort of cramazing sauce – sweet & spicy. Hmm. Sounds yum. Obviously with the UK being a general all-round desert for Korean food, it’s not available here. I had noticed a few restaurants specialising in Korean Fried Chicken during my previous trip to the Big Apple – so I couldn’t wait to go back and actually try some.

I did some research prior, and it seems that the most popular chain is Bon Chon. Established in Korea, it is expanding speedily in the US at the moment. The inside of Bon Chon looked more like a sports bar than a chicken restaurant – hm. Not quite sure I like that; I have an idea in my head of what a chicken restaurant should look like, but thats just me.

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We ordered the spicy chicken drums – when I ordered drums I thought it was the drummet of the chicken wing, not the actual drumSTICKS. That really sucks, because bacon hates drumsticks! Anyway, we ordered 10 wings, which apparently translated into 5 drumsticks. It would really had helped if the waitress had explained this before – all she asked me was drum or wing.

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The skin – as you can see, is super duper paper thin crispy and separated from the meat.

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This was served with a side of pickled mooli, which was supposed to temper the heat slightly. However, we found that the marinade, although we asked for the hot version, was very, VERY mild. I can taste the sweet soy and ginger flavour, but the spiciness was very tame. Hm. Not entirely convinced. Amazing skin, so-so marinade and flavour. It could probably do with a dip as well?

We were there mid-afternoon, and the place was pretty quiet. The wait staff kept coming over to ask if we were ok and if we wanted anything else…like every FIVE minutes. That gets very annoying and grating after the second time. Ugh. It was not cheap, but affordable.

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Earlier that day (yeah, we hit two Korean Fried Chicken place in ONE day!) we were also at Kyo Chon, another Korean Fried Chicken place in NYC. This at one end of K-town, just around the corner from the largest Macy’s ever. This place resembles a McDonalds rather than a sports bar – complete with paper boxes to eat out from and a separate counter to pay and collect.

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When we ordered, the cashier actually told us that the hot was going to be VERY hot. We obviously paid that no heed and told her that it was ok. Boy oh boy….

We ordered 10 of the signature (non-grilled) wings. In HOT.

As with most Korean Fried Chicken, this wa cooked fresh, and we were given a buzzer to alert us when it is cooked. I sent bacon to get us a selection of sauces. It wasn’t too bad a wait, but then again it was 11am, no lunch crowd in sight yet.

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The last time I saw wings as beautiful as this was when I visited the home (literally) of the buffalo wings. These were absolutely great to look at – lovely crisp crust, completely covered by sauce. And when I bit into it, I nearly died. Boy was it spicy OR WHAT?! In three bites, we were flushed red, fanning our tongues…the whole nine yards. The piping hot fresh-out-of-hot-oil did not help in tempering the heat. However, I soon found out that dipping it in one of the sauce (my favourite is the honey dijon) helped tremendously. The slight sweetness of the sauce complemented really well with the spicy chicken – not to mention that the creamy texture did justice to the crunchy chicken skin. To die for.

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It was all very delicious – I give it my two thumbs up! Compared to Bon Chon, Kyo Chon was more like what I expected it to be, buffalo wings on steriods. Super spicy, super tasty, and super yummy. I love buffalo wings, and these babies feel/taste like the buffalo wings that I know, just edgier. Things might have gone better at bon chon if I ate there before trying Kyo Chon. Don’t get me wrong, Bon Chon was delicious, with that amazingly crispy skin; but Kyo Chon blew my mind. Top fried chicken. I get what the hype is now. I totally get it.

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Kyo Chon
319 5th Avenue (at 32nd Street)
New York City, NY 100
Tel: 1-212-725-9292

Bon Chon Chicken
314 5th Ave 2nd Floor, (between 31st St & 32nd St),
New York City, NY 100

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Psst. Are you still reading? Seeing that we’re on a fried chicken post…some bonus material for you then.

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The American KFC! Some people may not like it; but it’s still miles and miles better than the English KFC. It has hot & spicy, it is CRISPY (unlike the mostly soggy KFC in the UK), serves mashed potatoes and whip up a pretty good coleslaw. And serves Southern biscuits. Delicious; but nothing compared to the other KFC .

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Complete with brightly coloured bags resembling children’s luggage , I was swept off to a couple of days in London last week for a secret recognition event organized at work. It was touching to be picked as one of the ‘recognized’ members of staff after a short six-month at this company…and it’s always nice getting time off from work!

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The Houses of Parliament & Big Ben looks fab at night
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We went up on the London Eye with a champagne reception – and it was beautiful in the night. I’ve been up the London eye a few times already but never at night, and certainly never with a full champagne reception. The only issue I had with that was that we were made to wait 15 minutes in -ve weather conditions – completely decked out in evening finery = not very warm! The food was ok, but the champagne was most definately a nice touch and the view was amazing thanks to the clear skies.

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When dinner came around, I thought there would be no suprises anymore..expecting a regular three-course dinner with maybe a band or something. Boy, was I going to be shocked. We pulled up (in a old Routemaster no less) to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere – and even from the name, I knew it was going to be an adventure. Dans le Noir? looked like a posh bar from the outside completele with a dimly lit reception area. However, there is where all the similarities to a bar end. There was a bank of lockers on the left as we stepped in, where we were instructed to lock our coats, watches, phones, cameras – everything basically including lipstick.

Guessed what it was yet?

Yup – we’re dining in the dark! Dans le Noir? is a culinary experience – diners eat in pitch black darkness served by blind servers. Three courses complete with wine and drinks, this was the most surreal experience ever. Some people in the party were creeped out by the idea and chose to sit out on this experience…you can dine upstairs in the lit bar if you should choose to, but that really defies the purpose doesn’t it?

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Obviously I was not able to snap and pictures in the dark (I couldn’t even see my hand right in front of my face. Starters we had a lovely rocket salad with a balsamic dressing and two cheese tartlets which were only ok (feels store bought). Some of us thought we only had one cheese tartelets – either dropped by our visually imparied servers or pushed out of the plate by the visually impaired diners – more likely the latter.

For mains, we had a choice of meat, fish or vegetarian – and that was all the information we got. I had the fish, which was frankly dissapointing. I recognized the texture of shark (one of my favourite fish but also one that I try not to eat at all – love sharks!), totally did not get the red mullet and the scallop was a massive dissapointment. Scallops are one of my all time favourite shellfish, however, mine was so badly cooked it felt like chewing through a piece of fat. It did not taste of the sea at all, and the texture seemed like a piece of boiled fat. Totally put me off scallops. Desserts was some honey-ginger poached pear and melon (we found out after) ; but the soggy texture completely put me off and I just could not eat it.

What I did not expect was that when you are unable to see, you tend to use your fingers a lot more than utensils. I ended up eating all three courses with my fingers – yup, even salad. We had to pour our own wine and water, and to ensure that it does not spill over, stick a finger in the glass. Was my senses sharpened? Not really – I could not smell any better; but the whole night seemed to be extremely loud to me with babbling people everywhere. I found myself squinting alot, even though I can’t actually see anything – we all did, and I eventually just closed my eyes to relax. I found myself questioning the textures that I feel on my tounge, on my fingers, the lack of flavours, a general non-enjoyment of the meal. Food is served tepid, probably expecting you to eat wiht your fingers – and that did not help with the lack of flavour in the food.

It was interesting and definately pushed the boundaries, but it is not something that I would be looking to do again anytime soon. I would recommend everyone to try this experience once in the life.

If you’re thinking of going – make sure everyone in your party WASHES THEIR HANDS FIRST!! They are open daily for lunch (booked parties of 16 and above only) and does two seatings per night. You will be seated in a communal table next to other parties, giving a different meaning to ‘can you pass the bread please’. And by the way, bread is passed on without butter, butter knife or plate – just in a communal basket. Jay Rayner has a good review here.

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Dans le Noir?
30-31 Clerkenwell Green
Clerkenwell, City of London EC1R 0DU,
United Kingdom

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Continuing our adventures in London, we were at Koya for dinner after our meal at Gary Rhodes. Koya is well-known for its handmade udon noodles – a rarity in the UK. This little cafe-like establishment even made London’s top 100 restaurants! There is nothing 5 star about the deco or the service – the proof of the pudding is all in the handmade noodle.

As we were a party of 8, they had thought it appropriate to squeeze us into a table for 6. With a little organisation we could’ve been seated more comfortably – bacon was squeezed in a corner and could not move a muscle all throughout the meal. I had to balance my handbag between me & bacon, as there was just NO SPACE LEFT. There was a queue forming outside, but on the inside the service was most definately subpar. We waited ages for the sake to arrive, after all other drinks had already arrived. Orders were taken as soon as we’re ready, so I guess that’s not that bad.

The starters are pretty inventive -

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Fish & chips/ battered cod served with thinly sliced deepfried renkon/lotus root £ 7.50.

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Smoked duck breast – think this was ellefie’s – And yeah, they did not even bother wiping the mustard smear off the plate.

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Vinegered mackerel – which was what I had. Deelish, but why soooooo tiny for £5.50?!?

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My lonely tempura prawn udon

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ellefie‘s vegetarian tempura cold udon with hot broth – looks better, at least there is more than ONE item!

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Bacon’s gyu udon – thinly sliced beef with ginger & spring onion broth. I think his is the best amongst the lot – yummy, even though it is pretty simple. The flavours of beef, spring onions & ginger was lovely.

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Kelvin’s chicken udon.

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KJ’s kinoko (mushrooms) udon with walnut miso – the walnut miso is pretty special taste-wise.

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The quality of the noodles were indeed superb, but that was all there is – the dashi in mine was pretty watered down and tasteless. Tempura batter was ok – but I found myself having to fish out the batter bits as I was otherwise only eating noodles in a weak broth. Portions are minute, my starter looks like a hors d’ouveres and my main dish looks like a starter. It’s pretty expensive for what it is – if my noodles came with 3 prawns (or even TWO!) , I wouldn’t mind paying £9 for it. But for it to just come with one measly tempura prawn – that just broke my heart. The service is ok if it was a cafe – but most definately not worth the service charge they levied on our bill as they masquerade as a 5-starred establishment.

Would I go again? Hm. Probably not by choice. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the fresh noodles. I would still encourage you to go and try the noodles, just once if nothing else to see that udon noodles are not the usual stringy noodles that is served in noodle bars. But Koya had left me very disillusioned about their grasp of basic Japanese flavour combinations of mirin, soy sauce, sugar & dashi. There are ingenious spark here and there (i.e. walnut miso & renkon chips) but maybe I was just too upset with my lonely tempura prawn…drowning in a bowl of underflavoured dashi. Maybe I have been spoilt as I had tasted one of the best during my visit to David Chang’s momofuku, but I would say that Koya is miles better than other noodle joints that I have been to in the UK – just, not the very best there is. Koya have been the toast of London town since opening their doors earlier in the year, and I will probably be public enemy no. 1 (Just look at the queue outside on the first picture!!!) ; but seriously, I just didn’t feel that (other than their smooth and lovely udon) there was much there.

Koya
49 Frith Street
Soho, London W1D 4SQ

As part of the London Loves Food campaign, we were at Rhodes W1 (by Gary Rhodes) a few weekends ago. Gary Rhodes had always been bacon’s favourite ‘celebrity chef’ and he is well known for producing British staples. Bacon had never eaten at any of his restaurants before, but have a large-ish collection of his cookbooks. So I thought it would be a great time for us to pay them a visit at their Michelin-starred establishment in London.
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Located near the Marble Arch, Rhodes W1 is pretty easy to get to by tube; just be on the lookout for the Guoman Hotel as the restaurant is inside. Dark and moody sets the tone for lunch – it seemed more like a hip bar rather than a restaurant. Service was quick, efficient and pretty good. We both ended up ordering from the set menu (2 course for £15), but the main menu looks good as well with steaks, lamb ect.

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For starters, I had the salmon with an apple and celeriac remoulade. The salmon seems to have been cooked sous vide and then gently steamed, making it delectably melt in the mouth and delicately flavoured. There is nothing worse than overcooked salmon. The apple remoulade compliments the salmon very well indeed, with tiny tart lemon pieces bringing it all to life. It whet my appetite for the main course instead of making me overly full like some starters can do to you.

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Bacon had his favourite classic caesar salad. The sauce was on the mark, the super crispy bacon added complimentary texture and the anchovy filet completes it. Just one teeny weensy problem – they’ve used little gem lettuce instead of the classic romaine. Not a massive problem, but for a restaurant this level it was pretty strange – did they think we did not know what caesar salad was made of?

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My main was the mushroom risotto with parmesan crisp. I had never, ever ordered risotto in my life before. It always looked overly rich, undercooked and resembles a big giant pile of mush. I am a big fan of rice, but risotto I could never stomach. However, for some odd reason I decided to go with risotto that day, and it did not dissapoint. It was extremely well flavoured with the woody taste of the chestnut & oyster mushrooms, just the right amount of creaminess, and perfectly cooked risotto rice. The extra sauteed mushrooms and the perfectly round parmesan crisp just gave it extra oomph – I loved this dish.

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Bacon had the sea bream. Another new, I had never known bacon to order fish before. The vierge oil was light and complements the filet of sea bream extremely well with the fennel, spring onions, tomatoes and olives. The skin was deliciously crispy – so good that bacon actually ate it. He hates fish skin with a vengence, one of the reasons he dislikes fish. But this one, he mopped it all up. We paid an extra £3.50 for a side of boiled potatoes. Very nice, but not too sure if its worth the £3.50 they charged us for 4 baby potatoes.

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I declined dessert, but bacon went for the whole orange cake. We were fully expecting a whole mini-cake (possibly a cupcake?) so was sorely dissapointed when out came two slices of a loaf cake. Hm. It tastes very moist, spongy and orangey, but a whole cake it most definately isnt. Not exactly a decadent dessert that we were expecting, but ‘nice’ nonetheless. It is not a bad cake for a bake sale, but not what we expected in an establishment like this.

All in all, we enjoyed it there, and would return. The glitches were minor, which made it even more annoying. If they had used romaine, included potatoes with the fish and served up a whole mini cake instead of two slices of a loaf, the experience would have been perfect. We are looking forward to going for the Sunday Lunch at the bistro, £20 for 3 courses is a bargin price to pay.

As part of the London Loves Food campaign, we were at Rhodes W1 (by Gary Rhodes) a few weekends ago. Gary Rhodes had always been bacon’s favourite ‘celebrity chef’ and he is well known for producing British staples. Bacon had never eaten at any of his restaurants before, but have a large-ish collection of his cookbooks. So I thought it would be a great time for us to pay them a visit at their Michelin-starred establishment in London.
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Located near the Marble Arch, Rhodes W1 is pretty easy to get to by tube; just be on the lookout for the Guoman Hotel as the restaurant is inside. Dark and moody sets the tone for lunch – it seemed more like a hip bar rather than a restaurant. Service was quick, efficient and pretty good. We both ended up ordering from the set menu (2 course for £15), but the main menu looks good as well with steaks, lamb ect.

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For starters, I had the salmon with an apple and celeriac remoulade. The salmon seems to have been cooked sous vide and then gently steamed, making it delectably melt in the mouth and delicately flavoured. There is nothing worse than overcooked salmon. The apple remoulade compliments the salmon very well indeed, with tiny tart lemon pieces bringing it all to life. It whet my appetite for the main course instead of making me overly full like some starters can do to you.

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Bacon had his favourite classic caesar salad. The sauce was on the mark, the super crispy bacon added complimentary texture and the anchovy filet completes it. Just one teeny weensy problem – they’ve used little gem lettuce instead of the classic romaine. Not a massive problem, but for a restaurant this level it was pretty strange – did they think we did not know what caesar salad was made of?

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My main was the mushroom risotto with parmesan crisp. I had never, ever ordered risotto in my life before. It always looked overly rich, undercooked and resembles a big giant pile of mush. I am a big fan of rice, but risotto I could never stomach. However, for some odd reason I decided to go with risotto that day, and it did not dissapoint. It was extremely well flavoured with the woody taste of the chestnut & oyster mushrooms, just the right amount of creaminess, and perfectly cooked risotto rice. The extra sauteed mushrooms and the perfectly round parmesan crisp just gave it extra oomph – I loved this dish.

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Bacon had the sea bream. Another new, I had never known bacon to order fish before. The vierge oil was light and complements the filet of sea bream extremely well with the fennel, spring onions, tomatoes and olives. The skin was deliciously crispy – so good that bacon actually ate it. He hates fish skin with a vengence, one of the reasons he dislikes fish. But this one, he mopped it all up. We paid an extra £3.50 for a side of boiled potatoes. Very nice, but not too sure if its worth the £3.50 they charged us for 4 baby potatoes.

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I declined dessert, but bacon went for the whole orange cake. We were fully expecting a whole mini-cake (possibly a cupcake?) so was sorely dissapointed when out came two slices of a loaf cake. Hm. It tastes very moist, spongy and orangey, but a whole cake it most definately isnt. Not exactly a decadent dessert that we were expecting, but ‘nice’ nonetheless. It is not a bad cake for a bake sale, but not what we expected in an establishment like this.

All in all, we enjoyed it there, and would return. The glitches were minor, which made it even more annoying. If they had used romaine, included potatoes with the fish and served up a whole mini cake instead of two slices of a loaf, the experience would have been perfect. We are looking forward to going for the Sunday Lunch at the bistro, £20 for 3 courses is a bargin price to pay.

Rhodes W1
Great Cumberland Place,
London W1H 7DL
020 7616 5930