tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61067422519598013412024-03-17T20:03:36.519-07:00~ Gin Fizz Girl ~A Food Blog featuring Supper Clubs and Pop-Up Food Events & Restaurants in LondonTulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-77214848861500948562016-02-14T10:39:00.000-08:002016-02-14T11:00:53.106-08:00Darjeeling Express :: Authentic Indian food by Asma Khan at Sun and 13 Cantons in Soho <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The Setting</b>: a classic English pub on the corner of <st1:street>Great
Pulteney Street</st1:street> and <st1:street>Beak Street</st1:street> in <st1:place>Soho</st1:place>. You walk
in, get jostled among the crowd at the bar and make your way to the back of the
crowded room. There is a room at the rear, full of plush leather booths with
emerald tiled walls. The warm lighting and lit candelabras create a cozy, inviting atmosphere. You say you have a reservation, get led to your table and
gaze appreciatively at your menu. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The Location</b>: The Darjeeling Express pop-up restaurant run by
Asma Khan in the Sun and 13 <st1:city>Canton</st1:city>
pub in <st1:place>Soho</st1:place>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Not quite your typical restaurant, not quite a supper-club
– this is a temporary takeover of Sun and 13 <st1:city>Canton</st1:city>
kitchen’s by Asma, serving authentic Mughal cuisine with
Bengali roots. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is definitely not a curry house. Asma's
essentially giving us peak into her kitchen – home-cooked Indian food based on
family recipes. I read a review written
by <a href="http://www.rocketandsquash.com/darjeeling-express-at-sun-13-cantons/" target="_blank">Rocket & Squash</a> that mentioned how chefs at other well-known Indian
restaurants were coming for her food because <a href="http://www.rocketandsquash.com/darjeeling-express-at-sun-13-cantons/" target="_blank">“because it reminded them of <i>mamta</i><span lang="ZH-CN">”</span></a></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Mamta</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> means ‘mother’s love’. It’s true, not just the
food, but the the whole experience is tinged with </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">mamta</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> –</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">right from the moment you sit down, when Asma
comes up and personally explains the menu, answers all your questions, and then check’s in on you to see how you’re enjoying the food.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>The Food</b>: It’s tempting to order the whole menu when you see
the descriptions of each dish and the very wallet friendly price. Starters are
all around the £5 mark and the mains, around £10 to £15, come each with a pot
of rice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We started with some pimped-up Masala Fries spiced with
chilli flakes and served with tangy tamarind sauce. I know it's just chips but
they were so good we ordered another portion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Then we had some Puchkas (wheat and semolina shells filled
with spiced chickpeas, potatoes and tamarind water) and Papri Chat (spiced
potato and chickpeas on crispy papri with sev and tamarind sauce). I loved the
Papri chat – sweet, spicy, tangy, crunchy - all mixed in one delicious bite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For mains, we ordered the Methi Chicken (cooked with fenugreek leaves), the Goat Kosha
Mangsho (Bengali Goat curry) and the Venison Kofta (meatballs in light tomato saunce). I really like
how varied each curry was. They definitely were not all made with the same ubiquitous orange sauce so popular in most curry houses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I loved the Goat Kosha Mangsho – it was more a dry curry
with tender spiced meat and the fragrant Methi Chicken was a winner too. The Venison kofta were lovely
and the sauce had a milder flavour so if you want a less spicy option – then go for Venison
Kofta and the Prawn Malaikari. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Each main came with basmati rice – long beautiful strands of </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">perfectly cooked</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> rice. It’s a bit odd over the top to say but I’ve never had such good
Basmati rice elsewhere. (I love rice, can you tell?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To balance the heat, we ordered the Beetroot Raita (grated
beetroot in yoghurt). This simple dish was one of the highlights – the rose-pink
yoghurt was the perfect cooling accompaniment to the meal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I think perhaps the only weak spot of the meal was the Rogni
Roti. They weren’t particularly memorable. But then again, I’m a rice fiend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Asma recommends for four people to go with about 4 starters
and 3 mains to share which is the right amount of food. All in all, with some
beers, a glass of wine, copious amounts of Masala Chai and two desserts – the bill
was about £25 per person which is a steal. It doesn’t really get much better
than that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So hurry, the Darjeeling Express residency at 13 and Sun
Canton pub ends in March, book your reservation here: <a href="http://www.darjeeling-express.com/">http://www.darjeeling-express.com/</a></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-88525018201404492432015-11-04T14:08:00.004-08:002015-11-05T12:03:01.013-08:00Monograph ::: A Japanese Supperclub that serving Udon Noodles <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Monograph is a
Japanese Supperclub that's has been getting rave reviews ever since it first launched.
The chef behind it is Ugo Lo Presti, a self-taught udon connoisseur – who used
to run a sushi restaurant in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Italy</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">. He moved to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">a year ago and launched Monograph to showcase Japanese cuisine
and in particular Udon noodles. Despite the explosion of ramen joints that have
opened up in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">, there are very few places you can get a
great bowl of udon noodles.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Monograph is one those places. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">The design aesthetic is minimalist, the flavours are clean
and fresh and the focus is on celebrating the ingredients. Every dish we had
was executed flawlessly.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 18px;">Like the thick strands of silky-smooth udon noodles served in a hot dashi broth full of flavour. How can I describe that broth: it was warm, comforting with the slightest hint of sweetness and a touch of acidity from the lemon slice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Two types of fish were served with the udon. The first was a
Saikyo-miso marinated Salmon that was simply amazing. It was creamy and silky
having been cooked after marinating for 24 hours in white miso, mirin and
sugar. The second was a vibrant smoked Mackerel marinated in yuzu and soy
sauce.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"> All the fish he
served were ethically sourced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was impressive how well-balanced the whole dish was and
though I did try, I couldn’t finish all the broth and noodles. You definitely
need to come hungry for this!</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Before the udon was
served, we had started with a light fresh salad of watercress, katsuobushi
(smoked fish flakes), ponzu dressing and the most gorgeous soft tofu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Dessert was a lovely trio of Japanese sweets: a lovely
little chocolate mochi ice-cream; a glutinous rice cake filled with sweet red
bean paste (Aka daifuku), which was a bit odd in texture. And finally an amazing Doayaki – a
Japanese pancake with green tea matcha custard.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">So Monograph runs practically every Friday at 7pm either at
a café in Old Street or in an old cinema house in Dalston and the menu varies
from month to month depending on theseasonality of some ingredients but follows
the same 3 course format of a salad, bowl of udon and dessert. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Best to come with a group of friends or bring a date, its
great value for money since you pay £29 online for tickets and it’s BYOB –
so you bring your wine or beer and there’s fridge to pop your drinks to have it
chilled up. You leave feeling completely full and content, having experienced a
taste of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">Japan</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u1l2j7kIIC8/VjqAKrPg4eI/AAAAAAAACaU/Nx2S1VMe3RU/s1600/Monograph%2BUgo%2Bginfizzgirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u1l2j7kIIC8/VjqAKrPg4eI/AAAAAAAACaU/Nx2S1VMe3RU/s400/Monograph%2BUgo%2Bginfizzgirl.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Monograph team</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">To find out the next supperclub dates, check out the
website: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 18px;"><span style="color: #0000ee; font-family: "calibri";"><i><u><a href="http://www.monographlondon.com/" target="_blank">www.monographlondon.com/</a></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">or follow </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><i>@monographlondon</i> on twitter/instagram</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 13.5pt;">P.S. I was neither asked nor paid to write this review. I
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-79479274095296007812015-07-20T14:31:00.000-07:002015-07-20T14:31:02.103-07:00The Wall SE1 Supper Club: Delicious 8 Course meal of American food with a British Twist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">When I heard <a href="http://culte.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cult Events</a> was back with Chef
Ian Ballantyne at the helm of a new supper club called The Wall SE1, I
instantly bought tickets to check it out. I’ve had Ian’s food at two supper
clubs in the past and I’ve always enjoyed it. The first time I witnessed his
creative skills<a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/melba-supper-club-dinner-four-delicious.html" target="_blank"> in making a simple salad look like a piece of art</a> and the
second time <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/supperclub-by-ian-ballantyne.html" target="_blank">he cooked a dinner in a Hackney café</a> with all the
ingredients sourced locally from within Hackney.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">This time the supper club was held at the Vaults i.e. the Arches underneath Waterloo Station. It’s a vast cavernous space recently taken over by the House of Vans brand and is home to an indoor skate park, an art gallery and a cinema. And now on certain nights during the weekend, will feature The Wall SE1 Supper Club: a fun, casual dining experience focusing on all the things we love about American food with a British twist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">To start, there were some crunchy Chiccarones
(a.k.a. fried pork skins) to nibble on. Next, we were served country Ham
with mayo and fresh baguettes. Initially I was like ‘eh, some ham and
bread’ but the ham was so tasty and the mayo had a special secret
ingredient (ok not really a secret, Ian mentioned it but I don’t
remember if it was pork fat or beef juice or essentially something I would
totally not think of putting in mayonnaise). It was delicious and a great start
to the meal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.3333339691162px;">Then came the Grilled Mackerel with pickled tomatoes and sweet corn custard. The fish was perfectly cooked but to be honest, didn’t really work for me with the tomatoes. To be fair, there were others at my table who liked it but I didn’t like the combination. I feel like mackerel usually works best with strong punchy Asian flavours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">The ‘Bramen Noodles’ were a whimsical take on the ever-trendy Ramen noodles and were served ‘British Style’ in a dainty tea cup. The noodles were topped with slices of veal and a quail’s egg and the most utterly gorgeous meat broth was poured over it. It was the perfect portion size though for a few, the tea cup was a bit awkward to eat out of but I loved the concept! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">Next was the Buttermilk & Brined Fried Chicken – free-range chicken fried till it was a golden crunchy piece of delight. Without any shame I devoured about four pieces.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.3333339691162px;">Then came the palate-cleansing Watermelon slices that had mint and peanuts sprinkled over it and were a much needed respite after I wolfed down that fried chicken. At that point, quite a few of my friends thought the meal was over. They even the watermelon was dessert. Little did they know! We had another main course coming up …one of the highlights of the dinner: Slices of Bavette Steak with curly fried spirals of potatoes and pickled courgettes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.3333339691162px;">The first dessert was a lovely refreshing strawberry milkshake served in cute little medicine bottles. It looked like you were drinking Calamine Lotion or Peptol Bismol but tasted way better! The second was a filo pastry Apple Pie with cherries and clotted cream ice-cream which was big favourite across the table.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.3333339691162px;">Looking back, I think perhaps one less course would have better. The portion sizes were not huge but some people felt a bit overwhelmed with the number of courses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.3333339691162px;">The dinner was held in the Green Room – on the plus side, it’s a private room with small bar lounge which gives it a nice intimate feel but it can get quite warm so ensure coats are off and a fan is positioned near you! There is also a bar where you can buy wine/beer and other drinks from. Tickets were priced at £25. For an 8 course meal, that was a steal. I went with a big group of friends who couldn’t get over what great value that was. And there was no tip included so tip generously in cash at the end if you like it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">The only thing I had a problem with was finding the venue. I went
around the entire station before I figured out where the entrance to the House
of Vans was. So directions must be given with event invite as practically
everyone in my group got lost.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">FYI</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">: The best way to get there from the Waterloo
tube station is go up to the Waterloo railway station. Take EXIT 1. Turn Right
and walk down </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">Station Approach Road</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">. Just before the
bridge is House of Vans. Do NOT go down the stairs to graffiti covered tunnel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">Future Supper Club dates will be posted on Grub Club <a href="http://grubclub.com/the-wall-se1-presents-the-candlestick-maker/cult-events-presents-the-candlestick-maker-the-great-british-american-chow-down" target="_blank">here</a> or you can follow on Twitter @TheWall_SE1 or @Cult_Events </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">If you'd like to just generally check out the food Ian & his team serve or are looking for a place to eat and chill out (or skateboard!) near Waterloo station, check out the <a href="http://thewallse1.com/" target="_blank">The Wall SE1 cafe at House of Vans</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt;">*P.S.
This is not a sponsored post. I was not asked nor paid to write this review.
My friends and I paid for our tickets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-69146514972660946372015-05-14T13:15:00.000-07:002015-05-14T13:15:02.470-07:00Grazing Goat: Charming Gastro Pub close to Marble Arch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">I can’t believe I haven’t gotten around to writing about my favourite
gastro-pub in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">: The Grazing Goat on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">New Quebec Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">. Close to Marble
Arch, this charming restaurant serves faultless food every time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">Let me elaborate on why I love it so…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">1) They have all the classics and they do them well – like beer-battered
fish and chips with mushy peas and tartare sauce, Sunday Roasts with delicious stuffing, </span><st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">Yorkshire</span></st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;"> puddings and all the
trimmings. So it’s perfect when you get out-of town visitors who want a taste
of traditional British food.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">2) They also do some lovely modern British dishes that showcase the
creativity of their chefs. Case in point – the Globe Artichoke tarte tatin with
a tomato, pea and samphire salad that sounded a bit odd to me but was
fabulous. They do some lovely fish dishes – I’m always interested in seeing
what the special market fish of the day is and how they pair the flavours
together. Like the pan-fried hake with roasted beetroot, green beans and a
hazelnut and rosemary dressing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>3) And if you just want a pint of beer and place to chat, their downstairs area is perfect, no reservations - you just wait at the bar till you get a table or if the weather is lovely, grab a table outside and soak up the lovely warm atmosphere of Grazing Goat.</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">4) Upstairs has cosy rustic vibe and good news is, where you can reserve
a table if you don’t feel like waiting around for one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">5) They’re also a hotel! A slightly expensive one but in a great location
in central </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;"> – a nice treat if you
want a charming boutique hotel with amazing restaurant attached to it.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">And that is why I love Grazing Goat - a welcoming casual gastro-pub with
friendly staff and a creative seasonal menu that also showcases classic British
fare. </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;"> at its best!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1563540/restaurant/Marylebone/The-Grazing-Goat-London"><img alt="The Grazing Goat on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1563540/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-81664724545919466562015-05-02T10:28:00.002-07:002015-05-02T10:29:10.313-07:00Four Fun Days in Austin, Texas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We visited </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> over Easter for a
friend’s wedding and I was really excited to visit this Texan city famed for</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> ‘Keeping it Weird’. </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> is known for its
music scene, its quirky laid-back charm and its food! Once we bought our plane
tickets, I proceeded to geek out and read up all the reviews and blog posts I
could find, pestered friends for recommendations and finally made a massive
spreadsheet of every restaurant and bar I could find. I wanted to focus more on
BBQ , Tex-Mex and Street food trailers – food that especially unique to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Texas State Capitol</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ‘Spreadsheet’ wasn’t perfect but it certainly
delivered. Where ever we were, I could always find somewhere good close by to eat
and drink. So while I certainly had some great food experiences in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> that I can blog about
– I have no photographic evidence. I had good intentions and did take some
pictures of the places we went to but then got distracted once the food came!
So be prepared, you’re going to see a lot of random pictures I took of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> with not much food in
sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">(I’ve grouped the places I visited into my
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Category 1: </span></b><st1:state><st1:place><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">TEX</span></b></st1:place></st1:state><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> - MEX</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Torchy’s Tacos<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Our AirBnB rental on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">South 1<sup>st</sup> Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> was just 2 blocks
from the </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family: Calibri;">South</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><st1:placename><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Trailer Park</span></st1:placename></st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> that had a Torchy's Tacos trailer so we ended up going there twice. I really enjoyed their tacos –
simple clean flavours that just come together so beautifully. I had the <b>Mr.
Orange Taco</b> – grilled salmon with corn and black bean relish and topped
with fresh cilantro and avocado salsa on a corn tortilla and the <b>Baja Shrimp
Taco</b> – fried shrimp with cabbage slaw, jalapenos, onions, cilantro and
chipotle sauce – DELISH !<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Be warned, everything is quite fiery though
they did spice it down a bit for me. What I really enjoyed was their <b>Breakfast
Tacos </b>– amazing creations of eggs, potatoes and cheese on a soft corn
tortilla - perfect when you’re hungover! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And special mention to their <b>Fried Avocado
taco</b>! This why I love </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Calibri;">: take the
most lovable health food, fry it and make it even better. It was fantastic and you have try it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The trailer park has outdoor and indoor
seating and a couple of other street food vans. Torchy’s Tacos are super cheap
(about $3 to $5 each) and all you need is two tacos to fill yourself up. I highly recommend checking it out if you’re
in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. They have other vans located around </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The first night we stayed at the Inter-Continental
in Downtown Austin before we checked into the AirBnB. We visited Texas State Capitol building and got a dose of some Lone Star Texan
history and then we headed to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">East 6<sup>th</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> Street</span></span></st1:address></st1:street><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> (hipster central) </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">to check out the bars and live music. We ended up at Chupacabra and had
some tacos which to be honest, were pretty unremarkable (especially compared to
Torchys). So unfortunately I wouldn’t recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/1484392/restaurant/Chupacabra-Austin"><img alt="Chupacabra on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1484392/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Polvos:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One evening, when we were back from the
wedding festivities, everyone was at a loss of where to get dinner. It was
close to </span><st1:time hour="10" minute="0"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">10 o’clock</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and we were a large, hungry and hung-over group and my spreadsheet came to the rescue and I found
Polvos on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">South 1<sup>st</sup> Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> (much to the bemusement
of other people in the group who were puzzled as to why I walking around with a
colourful printed spreadsheet in my purse.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Polvos was also recommended by our Mexican
taxi driver – who said the food was good and that it was the least Tex Mexish
of all the Tex-Mex joints – which was high praise from him given that he said
none of the Mexican food in Austin is authentic or close to real Mexican food.
So we landed on their doorstep and they managed to pull together a table for
us where we ordered pitchers of Margaritas and filled us ourselves with
quesadillas and fajitas and all was good with the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: blue;">Category 2: BRUNCH & COFFE SHOPS</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We headed to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">South Congress
Avenue</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> a.k.a SoCo to check out the shops and have
brunch at South Congress Café. It’s a lovely place to have brunch but
truthfully I wasn’t really wowed by it. I
ordered the Crab Cakes which had mini little spinach quiches on them with
hollandaise sauce and bacon on top and a potato pancake on the side. All well
cooked but there was a bit too much going on. Maybe I should have ordered the
braised short rib hash which had rave reviews. Oh well – overall very friendly
staff and perfectly serviceable brunch spot that is insanely popular. We went
on a weekday so there wasn’t much of a wait but on weekends, you might have to
wait for 1 hour or more! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d444d; font-family: Tahoma;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/142135/restaurant/South-Congress-Cafe-Austin"><img alt="South Congress Café on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/142135/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jo’s<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What did live to the hype was Jo’s. A small
chilled out spot on SoCo where you can grab some coffee and some sandwiches.
They are known for special iced coffee called the<b> Iced Turbo</b> which is amazing
and totally addictive. Perfect place to hang out and watch the world go by.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tom’s Roasting Company<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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So this is actually a store which sells TOMS shoes and sunglasses but they have
a coffee shop in front that makes great coffee. It’s a got a very laid back </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> vibe and a patio to
hang out on while you’re drinking your coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/1967438/restaurant/South-Congress-SoCo/Toms-Roasting-Co-Austin"><img alt="Toms Roasting Co. on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1967438/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Seventh Flag Coffee Company<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This coffee shop is about 1 block from
Torchy’s Tacos on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">South 1<sup>st</sup> Street and </span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;">they are super serious about their coffee. It takes about 10 minutes
for them to make a coffee – honestly you can see them watch the espresso drips
drop by drop in meditative silence. It felt like we were at Apple
headquarters– there were so many solitary souls just drinking their coffee and
typing away at their Apple laptops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: blue;">Category 3: MEAT – BBQ & BURGERS</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Freedmans BBQ:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We lucked out as the bride and groom had
organized a lunch at Freedman’s BBQ. It was AMAZING. Before going I scoped out the menu to see what I should order – I needn’t have worried, as they
had it all organized and there were massive sharing platters so I actually got
to try out everything! Highlights were the <b>sliced beef brisket</b>, the <b>baked
beans</b> that were pimped with chopped pork and brown sugar and the <b>house-made
sausage</b>. I loved EVERYTHING. I always knew I was BBQ girl at heart!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/1720300/restaurant/Freedmens-Bar-Austin"><img alt="Freedmen's Bar on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1720300/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hopdoddy Burger Bar</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We walked past the Hopdoddy burger bar joint
on SoCo quite a few time and there was always a massive queue in front of it. So
one day, when we noticed there was no rush, we decided to check it out. Best idea – the burgers were amazing. They are
very into making sure they have the best ingredients possible and source their
meat from farms with no growth hormones or antibiotics – they even make the
bread for the bun in house and it gets baked right in front of you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s a bit of an odd system of ordering. You
just walk right in and go straight to the queue to pay. While you’re in the
queue to pay, the server comes up to and takes your order and puts it in an Ipad
tablet and then when you go the counter you just pay straight up and then they
give you your table number. It’s slightly confusing at first but quite effective.
I got the <b>Primetime Burger</b>: Texas Akaushi Beef with brie cheese, truffle
aioli, arugula, caramelized onions and steak sauce. The meat was amazing –
tender, juicey and so flavourful – it was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/1551519/restaurant/Hopdoddy-Burger-Bar-Austin"><img alt="Hopdoddy Burger Bar on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1551519/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Gourdough’s<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another street food joint that impressed me
was Gourdough’s on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">South 1<sup>st</sup> street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, just a block away
from Torchy’s Tacos. They make big fat doughnuts with all kinds of crazy
toppings, like the <b>MotherClucker</b> - Fried chicken on a donut anyone? I
wish I was a bit more adventurous but I had a sweet craving and played safe with
the <b>Dirty Berry</b>: Fudge icing with grilled strawberries. Totally
recommend a visit!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/1488402/restaurant/Gourdoughs-Austin"><img alt="Gourdough's on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1488402/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1fS0-mI7mko/VUT8XGH3bAI/AAAAAAAACQw/jAcQgPxoIV0/s1600/ginfizzgirl%2BAmy's%2BIce-cream%2BGinfizzgirl%2BAustin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1fS0-mI7mko/VUT8XGH3bAI/AAAAAAAACQw/jAcQgPxoIV0/s1600/ginfizzgirl%2BAmy's%2BIce-cream%2BGinfizzgirl%2BAustin.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Amy’s Ice-Cream</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Amy’s is a popular local chain that was pretty
decent but nothing compared to <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/best-restaurants-in-minneapolis-my-top.html" target="_blank">Izzy’s in </a></span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/best-restaurants-in-minneapolis-my-top.html" target="_blank">Minneapolis</a></span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;">!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/11/140053/restaurant/Amys-Ice-Cream-Austin"><img alt="Amy's Ice Cream on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/140053/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In four days, I think
we just scratched the surface of what </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Austin</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> has to offer. It’s a
lovely city with great weather, friendly people who love good music and food.
If you’re planning a trip and you’d like to have a look at my crazy
spreadsheet, leave a comment.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-74801394812593370082015-03-23T15:16:00.000-07:002015-03-26T14:45:24.822-07:00Shackfuyu - Intriguing and Unusual Japanese Comfort food in Soho<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are two ways of avoiding the queues at ‘no reservation’ restaurant hot spots in Soho:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The first is all about</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><u style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">timing</u><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Either go before it opens and be</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">one of those</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">people</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> standing outside a closed restaurant at 5:30 pm or</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> go around 9:30 to 10 pm because most people in London like to have dinner around 8 pm (I've become one of them!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second way (and my personal favourite) is to wander around Soho and hit up all the places the people either forgot about or just don’t even know about. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like Polpetto – which you couldn’t even enter when it was crammed into that little area in the French House pub but now that it's moved to a nice roomy location in Berwick street, people seemed to have forgotten about it. Or even </span><a href="http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/ducksoup-tiny-restaurant-in-soho.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Duck Soup</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> – less trendy but still great food. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So while implementing my second method, I came across <b>Shackfuyu</b> – brought to you by the<a href="http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/bone-daddies-sohos-self-professed-rock.html" target="_blank"> Bone Daddies</a> gang (also responsible for <a href="http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/flesh-buns-trendy-and-over-hyped.html" target="_blank">Flesh & Buns</a>). It serves up Japanese fusion food and has a rather interesting menu</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t if it's because it's pretty much brand spanking new (just a couple of weeks old) or because it's on a quieter side of Old Compton street - But it was half empty when we went – which was brilliant. We just walked right in at 7:30 pm on a Saturday evening, got a great table with fantastic service, and got to have some comfort food with most intriguing flavours I’ve had in a while. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The menu looks fantastic though I couldn't</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> understand half of all the various Japanese ingredients in it – our server explained everything to us and pointed me to the dishes that would suit my low-spice request. My stomach has gone on a strike against anything spicy</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">so I was bit limited when trying out the menu. (Warning: most of the stuff is spicy - practically everything has chilli in it</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">).</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Verdict: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved the creamy <b>Mentaiko Mac n Cheese</b> with a dollop of fish roe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The silky <b>Miso Aubergine</b> is a totally must order dish. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perfectly cooked <b>Beef Picanha cooked Kimchee Butter</b> and paired with pickled onions was a winner. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And my favourite was the <b>okonomiyaki a.k.a. fried prawn</b> toast drizzled with sweet mayo and teriyaki sauce and dressed with quivering slivers of seaweed flakes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b>yellow tail sashimi tostada</b> with avocado shiso was less successful and rather insubstantial for me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b>cauliflower in orange miso ponzu</b> were perfectly cooked though I found the orange taste paired with cauliflower a bit odd.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the highlight was the sole dessert on the menu: the most decadent of <b>French Toasts</b> imaginable. A gigantic portion of Brioche bread drenched in butter and syrup <b>served with Green Tea ice cream</b> – you have to get this to share. I tried to finish it on my own and was a bit defeated....but not fully - I totally want to go again just to have it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So go check it out, not many people seem to know about it (well except for the blogging twitter world). Of course, I might be wrong and it will get the 'Soho effect' and became insanely popular and there will be waiting time of 1 hour. Oh well... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1935730/restaurant/Soho/Shackfuyu-London"><img alt="Shackfuyu on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1935730/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurant/shackfuyu?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Shackfuyu"><img alt="Square Meal" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/Views/DynamicImages/BlogBigImage.aspx?restaurant=35c7015de32442f8a324ba314daa6cc2" height="125" width="230" /></a></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-75928289391685297772015-03-11T12:14:00.002-07:002015-03-26T14:44:45.276-07:00Song Que: Vietnamese Restaurant in Hoxton serving Authentic ‘Pho’ - Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve had
Vietnamese food before but I’ve never tried Pho. Pho is a Beef Noodle Soup and now
that I’ve discovered it at Song Que, - a Vietnamese Restaurant in Hoxton on Kingsland road -, I can’t get enough of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">At Song Que, they specialize in it - serving big steaming bowls
of noodles simmering in a fragrant beefy broth flavoured with lemongrass,
ginger and lime and full of aromatic herbs like coriander and basil. They have tons of different variations though I’ve
only tried pho with well done flank steak and slices of rare beef. I haven’t
been brave enough to try it with tripe or tendons!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I've also tried their Summer Rolls (<a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/thai-cooking-class-in-valence-with-aoy.html" target="_blank">which I’ve even learned how to make!</a>). Delicate, fresh rolls plump with prawns and bursting with
fresh mint, basil, carrots and glass noodles – all wrapped in a clingy soft
glutinous rice paper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">A bowl of Pho is super cheap at £9 and you will be stuffed to the brim by the end of it – trust me, it’s gigantic. In fact, ordering a starter means sacrificing some of the soup because it’s impossible to finish it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But be prepared – this is more of ‘dine and dash’ kind of place. You
show up, tell the waiter how many people are in your group and then wait about
10 minutes for a table. You might end up sharing a table with another couple –
who knows but once that Beef Noodle show-stopper of a Soup turns up, you don’t
really care. Song Que is a no-frills no-fuss place with brusque service BUT IT’S
TOTALLY WORTH IT.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/570100/restaurant/London/Song-Que-Bethnal-Green"><img alt="Song Que on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/570100/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurant/song-que?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Song Que"><img alt="Square Meal" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/Views/DynamicImages/BlogBigImage.aspx?restaurant=ed1a20b7ca40432ba9198f11a2272ba2" height="125" width="230" /></a></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-8745113615338185922015-02-28T09:30:00.001-08:002015-03-11T12:29:37.832-07:00Twist: Cozy Local Restaurant in Marylebone serving Tapas with a Twist.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A new restaurant called Twist recently opened on Crawford Street in Marylebone and I decided to try them out for brunch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My order of ‘Twisted Eggs’ - </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">baked eggs in a pan with tomatoes and marjoram leaves - </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">were delicious and made me keen to check them out for dinner. The restaurant has a warm cozy atmosphere and the staff are friendly and attentive. I liked the rustic decor of the place though be warned – there are one or two tables with some uncomfortable chairs!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The next time at a dinner I discovered the menu, despite having a quite few Spanish dishes, is less about serving quintessential Spanish tapas and more about ‘fusion tapas' (in their own words). There’s a mix of Asian and Mediterranean dishes - I guess this allows the chefs more creativity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We started with some classic pardron peppers and some Jamon Iberico. I’m a big fan of croquetas and their delicate crumb fried Cavolo Nero Croquetas with Ramesco sauce were delicious. A must-order dish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We then had Sea bass Ceviche with fennel, radish and black current – a very pretty looking dish with spirals of fennel and radish creating a charming visual but that aside, it was a bit disappointing since the sea bass got lost among all those spirals and the combination didn’t work. I liked Ahi Tuna with a Yuzu dressing but it wasn't especially memorable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m happy to report though the rest of the dishes didn’t disappoint. The marbled skirt steak marinated in smoked garlic and parsley was seriously succulent and juicy (I wish the portion size was bigger) and the Pig’s Cheek with shallots and ham was exactly how you would imagine it to be – slow cooked meat that literally dissolves in your mouth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In an attempt to have a balanced meal we ordered some rather nice roasted vegetables and truffled potatoes. Desserts were also good - we had the the Salted Chocolate tart and the Granny smith Pannacotta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall, a pleasant dinner though given the whole tapas concept you tend to order a lot more dishes since the portions are small and in the end the bill was much higher than I expected (around £50 per person with a bottle of wine). Still I think Twist on Crawford Street is welcome addition to the neighbourhood if you live in Marylebone or near Edgware road. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s got the nice relaxing atmosphere of a neighbourhood local with friendly staff where you can aalways manage to get a table. Since they are new, I hope in the next few months they can fix their weak dishes - I think with their chef’s creativity around flavours, this little local restaurant has a lot of potential.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1918312/restaurant/Marylebone/Twist-at-Crawford-London"><img alt="Twist at Crawford on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1918312/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurant/twist-at-crawford?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Twist at Crawford"><img alt="Square Meal" height="125" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/Views/DynamicImages/BlogBigImage.aspx?restaurant=d289574f99b74eb4b254a04a385a85be" width="230" /></a></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-4864735110429231932015-02-18T11:29:00.000-08:002015-02-18T11:42:09.120-08:00Review of EatFirst – A Meal Delivery service for Lunch at Work<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve been ordering from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il"><a href="https://www.eatfirst.co.uk/" target="_blank">EatFirst</a></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>quite a
lot these past few weeks. They promise to deliver fresh healthy food within 15
minutes. You can choose between 2 options – one vegetarian and the other
non-vegetarian - both costing £7 and pay online or via their app.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So far I’ve enjoyed the food. I like how they have a Protein +
Carb + Vegetable component in every meal and I’ve been happy with the portion
sizes. They also list the ingredients and nutrition facts as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here’s what I’ve ordered:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hoisin Chicken with Mixed Vegetables and Brown Rice</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A great dish that was simple and healthy with broccoli and mange tout.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Teriyaki Glazed Chicken with whole grain Rice, steamed Carrots and Broccoli<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved this dish! The teriyaki chicken was tender and moist and full of flavour and I like the wholesomeness of the carrots, broccoli and brown rice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was disappointing. There wasn’t much quinoa inside and it felt
more like a stew and I was still a bit hungry after.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Quite filling and I enjoyed the eating the paneer but not one of
my personal favourites. I prefer my mum’s cooking with it comes to Indian food :)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-47ktZFn_4eU/VOTl6tWW2wI/AAAAAAAABfk/lsXuvb7hFME/s1600/EatFirst%2BBeef%2Bfillet%2Bgreen%2Bbeans%2Bginfizzgirl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-47ktZFn_4eU/VOTl6tWW2wI/AAAAAAAABfk/lsXuvb7hFME/s1600/EatFirst%2BBeef%2Bfillet%2Bgreen%2Bbeans%2Bginfizzgirl.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beef in Red Wine Sauce with Green Beans</td></tr>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beef Fillet with Sweet Potato Mash and Green Beans</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was good as well and I wanted more of the beef.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grilled Halloumi and Sweet Potato wedges with Puy Lentils</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like the combination of the halloumi with
sweet potato with pine nuts, parsley and cherry tomatoes. Though I think £7
is bit steep for a vegetarian meal and I wish there was more vegetables in the
mix.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-riGlr4f9BMk/VOTlbrA8rYI/AAAAAAAABfY/b5S_G1zRTtA/s1600/Eatfirst%2Bhalloumi%2Band%2Blentil.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-riGlr4f9BMk/VOTlbrA8rYI/AAAAAAAABfY/b5S_G1zRTtA/s1600/Eatfirst%2Bhalloumi%2Band%2Blentil.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halloumi and Sweet Potato with Lentils</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m getting dangerously addicted to the comfort of having my food
delivered straight to my office door. They are usually there within 10 minutes
of ordering! There was one occasion when the order came about 40 minutes late
but I got constant updates from them – it was due to a glitch in their GPS and
really high volumes. They were super nice and refunded my meal AND gave a
voucher for another meal!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To recap:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Pros:</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Convenience – you order online or on the app and they are outside
your office within 10 to 15 minutes. Impressive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Flexibility – you’re not locked into a subscription service and
can just order when you like and pay online.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Healthy wholesome food – I like how each meal is structured into a healthy
Carb + Protein + Vegetable AND it’s tasty – win win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Cons</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cost - Well I’m paying £7 for lunch when in theory, I could be
actually cooking similar meals and saving tons of money. *<b>guilty face</b>*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s also bit of rough deal for vegetarians since it’s the same
price for veg. and non-veg. meals. I think the vegetarian meals should be
cheaper or come with added extra.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m trying now to not make it a habit of ordering from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="il">EatFirst</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>– but when it’s cold out, I like to
hibernate and not step out so I’ve been tempted to order it once or twice a
week. If you’re ok with spending £7 on lunch and like the convenience of
getting a well balanced meal straight to your office – then I totally do
recommend checking it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>P.S. This is not a sponsored post. EatFirst did not ask nor did
they pay me to write the review. I
paid for all my meals except for the one that was refunded due to late
delivery.</i></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-20548301749200630182015-01-12T14:07:00.003-08:002015-01-12T14:09:07.347-08:00Thai Cooking Class in Valence with Aoy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During Christmas, I spent a week in <st1:city>Valence</st1:city>
in the South of France and while I was there, I decided to take a cooking
lesson in Thai food from Aoy. Aoy runs Thai cooking lessons in her home and I
couldn’t resist a chance to learn some tips on how to cook some authentic Thai
food.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aoy knows whole gamut of Thai dishes and I decided to first
learn how to cook the ubiquitous Thai Green Curry. Sure I’ve attempted a green
curry before – buy some pre-made green curry sauce and stir-fry some vegetables
but Aoy’s slow cooked Green Curry with Aubergines and Beef was the real deal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We started by cutting some thin slices of beef. You can use any
kind of lean steak like a rump steak. Then we chopped the Thai Aubergines into
quarters and left them in a bowl of water so that they don’t discolour. The
aubergines that I’m used to are the big fat purple ones but Aoy used Thai
Aubergines – which are much smaller and green in colour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then we heated a little coconut milk and mixed in the green
curry paste (a very useful short-cut and available in any Asian grocery store).
Once the milk started bubbling, we added the beef slices and half a can of
coconut milk and let it slow cook. About 15 minutes later, we added the
aubergine and some crushed Chinese ginger (a.k.a Fingerroot). Very similar to
Galangal, the crushed fingerroot gave the curry that lovely familiar
aromatic smell. Another tip from Aoy is to crush some Thai Basil and add it the
curry – this gives it more of a green colour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We then topped it with remaining Coconut milk from the can,
some sliced Thai Chillies, some more fresh Thai Basil, a little bit of fish
sauce and some sugar to balance the heat of the chillies and viola – it was
done. After 30 minutes of cooking, we had the most sumptuous of curries – an
aromatic Green curry with soft succulent beef and juicy aubergines in a creamy comforting coconut milk full of flavour and gentle heat.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MZ-xrdvJyFY/VLQ-_KZEOsI/AAAAAAAABdY/q8axKnoFJss/s1600/Thai%2Bfresh%2Bspring%2Broll.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MZ-xrdvJyFY/VLQ-_KZEOsI/AAAAAAAABdY/q8axKnoFJss/s1600/Thai%2Bfresh%2Bspring%2Broll.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also learned how to make Fresh Thai spring rolls which are
very similar to Vietnamese Summer rolls. Light, crunchy and bursting with fresh
ingredients – a much healthier option to the typical fried spring rolls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First we prepared all the ingredients that went into the
spring roll. We soaked rice vermicelli glass noodles in cold water for 20
minutes. These were then boiled, drained and flavoured with garlic infused oil.
Carrots, cucumbers and Chinese chives were cut into finger sized pieces. The
carrots were boiled to make them softer. We boiled some pork and then sliced
into smaller pieces. I also learned how to remove the shell from the prawn and
de-vein them. The prawns were quickly cooked in boiling water as well. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cPVBeAEL7xE/VLRDwuOXovI/AAAAAAAABd0/-nq1dnZqwUM/s1600/Summer%2Broll%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cPVBeAEL7xE/VLRDwuOXovI/AAAAAAAABd0/-nq1dnZqwUM/s1600/Summer%2Broll%2B2.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you can see, there was a lot of boiling and hot water and
practically no frying or oil at all – which makes eating these lovely spring
rolls an utterly guilt free experience. The next step was to put all the
ingredients on the rice paper (which you soak in warm water for a few minutes to soften)
and then begin a delicate process of wrapping and rolling all the ingredients –
of which I totally forgot to take any pictures of! I loved learning how to beautifully
wrap all ingredients together in the rice paper and I was so proud of the finished product. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re in Valence and want a break from feasting on
French food and interested in taking some lessons in Thai cooking, send me an
email at </span><a href="mailto:ginfizzgirl@gmail.com" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ginfizzgirl@gmail.com</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and
I’ll put you in touch with Aoy. It’s well worth it!</span><br />
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-83434576289998090092014-12-28T09:25:00.000-08:002015-03-11T12:30:33.785-07:00Bubbledogs: Hot dogs & Champagne in Fitzrovia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With an hour of time to kill one evening, I decided to wander down
<st1:street><st1:address>Goodge
street</st1:address></st1:street>. I found myself in front of Bubbledogs, with miraculously no
queue in front of it. Well it was<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:time hour="18" minute="0"><span class="aqj">6 pm</span></st1:time><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>on a Wednesday but I’ve always refused
to go near Bubbledogs since I can’t rationalize the standard 60 minute wait
just for hot dogs with a glass of bubbles - all of which can be consumed within
15 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I went to the door, I was told there was still 10 to 15
minute wait. I asked if there any way they could squeeze me in given I was
there by myself and the manager was nice enough to find me a spot at the bar.
Sitting at the bar is the best seat in the house in my opinion and perfect if
you’re flying solo. It’s an excellent viewing point to see the rest of the room
and watch the bartenders make fancy cocktails.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bubbledogs reminds me so much of Crif Dogs in <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state>. Crif Dogs is a hot dog bar in <st1:state><st1:place>New York</st1:place></st1:state> known for their infamous crazy hot dogs
and at the back of Crif Dogs, behind an old wooden telephone booth, is the
swanky hidden speakeasy bar PDT.
Similar to Crif Dogs, at the back of Bubbledogs is Kitchen Table which is where
the real kitchen prowess is. Getting a seat at the chef’s table to try James
Knappets & team’s creations is on my wish list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back to the hot dogs, I ordered the Mac Daddy – a beef hot dog
smothered in perfectly cooked creamy cheesy macaroni and topped with
fried crispy onions and bacon bits. It was utterly enjoyable and perfectly priced at £7. Bit
thankful I was alone because I made quite a mess eating it and felt sorry for
anyone who was on a first date here. I can’t imagine attempting to chomp down a
hot dog with toppings while trying to be flirtatiously charming at the same
time!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bubbledogs is totally worth a quick visit if the queues are not crazy
but in my opinion it’s not a destination place since it’s designed for a quick
turnaround. If the queue is ridiculous, skip it and check out the other tons of
amazing restaurants in Fitzrovia (like Picture, <st1:city><st1:place><a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/lima-authentic-peruvian-cuisine-in.html" target="_blank">Lima</a></st1:place></st1:city>, <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/bonnie-gull-charming-british-seafood.html" target="_blank">Bonnie Gull</a>, <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/koba-delicious-korean-bbq-in-fitzrovia.html" target="_blank">Koba</a>..)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh and another bonus of going out by yourself is striking up a
conversation with the person sitting next to you. My neighbour happened to be
Charlie - the manager of Barnyard. Guess which restaurant in Fitzrovia I’m
going to check out next.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1700335/restaurant/Fitzrovia/Bubbledogs-London"><img alt="Bubbledogs on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1700335/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurant/bubbledogs?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Bubbledogs"><img alt="Square Meal" height="125" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/Views/DynamicImages/BlogBigImage.aspx?restaurant=8b0331584507485ead083b1f8ab58c38" width="230" /></a></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-80505248865081445172014-11-06T12:31:00.004-08:002014-11-13T14:07:53.471-08:00Orrery: Serene and Elegant French Restaurant in Marylebone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When my friend mentioned
having lunch at Orrery, a Michelin-star restaurant on <st1:street><st1:address>Marylebone High Street</st1:address></st1:street>; I originally misheard the name and thought he
said we were at going to eat at ‘Ovary’. Seeing my bemused look, my friend then
spelled out the name but I was none the wiser to what Orrery meant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicken Liver Parfait</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Turns out, Orrey is </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a mechanical model of the solar system named
after Charles Boyle, Fourth Earl of Orrery (1676 – 1731). The</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> actual
model on display at the restaurant is on loan from the </span><st1:city style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><st1:place>Greenwich</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> museum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In additional to our visit
being rather edifying, the food was flawless. We opted for their set lunch 3
course menu of £30 which was excellent value for money. We started with a cute little amuse bouche and then had the starters of seafood ravioli in a lobster bisque
and a chicken liver parfait with onion chutney which were just stunningly presented and tasted amazing.
The mains didn’t disappoint either: Salmon with fennel, citrus and a coriander
dressing and Daube de boeuf en croute – a rich beef stew covered in puff pastry.
For dessert, we chose a selection of cheese from the trolley and a Lemon tart
with a raspberry sorbet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z1IRmNtTO80/VD1zX7XC1FI/AAAAAAAABY0/yeEz5mBBFvY/s1600/Salmon%2BOrrery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z1IRmNtTO80/VD1zX7XC1FI/AAAAAAAABY0/yeEz5mBBFvY/s1600/Salmon%2BOrrery.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salmon with Citrus, Fennel and Coriander Dressing</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With dishes cooked to perfection and served with such flair, you can totally see why
they have a Michelin star. The only downside for me was the atmosphere or
rather the lack of it. To be fair, we were there for Sunday lunch which was a
rather quiet time of day. The layout of room is unusual</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> as well. It’s a long
rectangular room with large arched windows on one side looking out onto the </span><st1:place style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><st1:placename>Marylebone</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Church</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype>Gardens</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Perhaps it does liven up in the evenings for
dinner but sedate atmosphere or not, I can’t deny their set menu is an absolute
steal for what they offer and well worth a visit.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheese tray !!!<br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/567888/restaurant/London/Orrery-Marylebone"><img alt="Orrery on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/567888/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13126927/?claim=man6323kyj4">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a></td></tr>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-64071855402104210572014-10-27T13:35:00.000-07:002014-11-13T14:08:33.054-08:00Tommi's Burger Joint: Marylebone's Chilled-out No-fuss Burger Joint<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right after Meat Liquor and Patty & Bun opened up in Marylebone;
another burger joint started making waves on the High Street: Tommi’s Burger
Joint. I still swear allegiance to the <a href="http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/meat-liquor-best-burger-joint-in-london.html?showComment=1413319828383" target="_blank">juicy Dead Hippie Burger at Meat Liquor</a> and I adore the <a href="http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/patty-bun-contender-to-meat-liquor-for.html?showComment=1413319828383" target="_blank">chicken wings at Patty & Bun</a> but there’s something about the Burger Joint that
keeps drawing me back for more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No queues. At all.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QrQ9gt1CLjw/VEFgtCu7JLI/AAAAAAAABas/k88Z57Kovog/s1600/Tommi's%2BBurger%2BJoint%2BGinfizzGirl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QrQ9gt1CLjw/VEFgtCu7JLI/AAAAAAAABas/k88Z57Kovog/s1600/Tommi's%2BBurger%2BJoint%2BGinfizzGirl.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, it doesn’t really make sense to
queue for 30 to 40 minutes to be able to enjoy a decent burger. And that’s
what’s brilliant about Tommi’s. With all the hype and buzz surrounding its more
famous neighbours, Tommi's goes quietly under-the-radar while making
some pretty darn good burgers. No lengthy queues - the most you'd have to wait is about 5 minutes. You can’t say
the same for Patty & Bun – which is packed anytime I walk past it on Christopher’s
Lane and sometimes you’re just not in the mood for Meat Liquor's grungy dive bar
atmosphere. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At Tommi’s Burger Joint, you can stroll in and get a nice succulent cheeseburger with crispy fries and all the pickles and hot sauces and add-on’s you want (they have an immense selection at the counter), find a seat right there and get instant meaty burger gratification. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What's not to like about that? :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1695922/restaurant/Marylebone/Tommis-Burger-Joint-London"><img alt="Tommi's Burger Joint on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1695922/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-71209493767434983652014-10-17T12:06:00.000-07:002014-11-13T14:43:36.412-08:00Opso: Greek flavours with a modern twist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">Opso is my new favourite restaurant. It’s located on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="background: white;">Paddington
Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="background: white;">, just off of Marylebone High
Streets and sits in the space that used to be Ping Pong. I’m quite happy about
the change in occupants. Gone are the dark, tired looking interiors of Ping Pong,
now replaced by the airy light wood interiors of Opso.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And now, anytime I want to go out for a meal, I keep veering
back to Opso. So much so, that I’ve tried pretty much most of their menu which
is full of inventive creations using classic Greek flavours to the best
results.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some of the dishes I've tried:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taramas Cream</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> is a cod roe spread served with rye crackers. These are utterly more-ish and hit the right note of tasting just like how a good fish roe spread should taste (i.e. creamy and lush without being too fishy).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another favourite is the </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grouper</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tartare</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - a
unique fish tartare tangled with fresh fragrant herbs.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b>Fish Burgers</b> are clever innovative sliders of
lightly fried grouper fish encased between two squid ink buns and sweetish
tomato jam and is served with the yummiest of chips and more of the squid ink in the aioli. Sheer
perfection. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b>Metsovone Cheese</b> is a fried oval disc of smoked
cheese that has a lovely crumbly crunchy outer coating which when cut open
reveals gloriously oozing stringy cheese. Paired with a rhubarb jam to add the
right amount of tartness to cut through all that cheese! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b>Pastitsio</b> is their take on a lasagne but much more
lighter and tastier: Greek pasta with slow cooked beef, a sweetish tomato sauce
and béchamel sauce. It isn't the prettiest dish on the plate but if
you’re craving a carb-heavy dish, this totally hits the spot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The <b>Chicken Liver Mousse</b> is served in a little jar
with apricot jam. It’s a nice light way to start the meal and is a good brunch
option.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps the only dish that didn’t knock my socks off was the <b>Chicken
Drumsticks</b> in a lemon and oregano sauce. That being said, my friend did enjoy
this dish of slow cooked chicken.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another good dish is the <b>Cod Tempura </b>with roast beetroots and walnuts, though with a
price tag of £16 for such a small portion, I’m wary of ordering it again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5DCXrGHxYFs/VD2K6CDe5bI/AAAAAAAABaY/W2RqEdF-27I/s1600/Squid%2Btempura.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5DCXrGHxYFs/VD2K6CDe5bI/AAAAAAAABaY/W2RqEdF-27I/s1600/Squid%2Btempura.JPG" height="640" width="478" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That’s the only thing I’d be a bit careful of at Opso –
ordering all these dishes can add up. It’s not clear on the menu what the
portion size is or whether it’s more of starter or main course so you’re not
entirely sure how many dishes to order. It’s a good idea to check with your
server. Though take note, they are quite new and have a couple of inexperienced
servers wandering around.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">To sum up, Opso has a lot of fun and innovative dishes to try
which you can’t really get anywhere else. I totally recommend checking if out
if you’re in Marylebone or close to </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="background: white;">Baker
Street</span></st1:address></st1:street></span><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1867564/restaurant/Marylebone/Opso-London"><img alt="Opso on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1867564/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-56147918151525755892014-10-13T13:39:00.000-07:002014-11-13T14:43:51.235-08:00Best restaurants in Minneapolis: My top picks for 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After every trip to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:city><st1:place>Minneapolis</st1:place></st1:city>, I start liking
this city a bit more and more. Of course it helps that I only visit in the
summer. (I made a mistake of going in the winter of 2007 and there was snow
up to my waist!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D0veStkYnTU/VDwzv-sw9fI/AAAAAAAABX4/I55p8A1QYDI/s1600/Stone%2BArch%2BBridge.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D0veStkYnTU/VDwzv-sw9fI/AAAAAAAABX4/I55p8A1QYDI/s1600/Stone%2BArch%2BBridge.JPG" height="640" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Stone Arch Bridge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love how all the building are built to celebrate their
industrial legacy, loved the sleek Guthrie building dedicated solely to theatre, the </span><st1:place style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><st1:placename>Walker</st1:placename> Art Centre </st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and
the gigantic public library. But my favourite is the</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><st1:place style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><st1:placename><st1:place><st1:placename>Stone</st1:placename></st1:place></st1:placename> <st1:placename>Arch</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>B</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ridge</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> encompassing the vast</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><st1:place style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mississippi river</st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, full of healthy
Minnesotans cycling and running on the paths. In retrospect, I should have been
one of those active people exercising away given the amount we ate out – but
hey I was on vacation and my brother had a whole slew of restaurant recommendations.
What can I say he is my brother after all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b>The Bachelor Farmer</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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One of the best meals I had on my trip. With my cousin and his wife (the lovely
<a href="http://www.noraleah.com/" target="_blank">NoraLeah</a>) and my brother, all recommending it, I knew we had
to check out this Nordic-inspired restaurant. Everything was locally sourced
and they even grow their own herbs and vegetables on a small farm on the roof! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ‘Groaning board’ was a delight – a chacuterie board full of different
kinds of pate’s,‘meat cheese’ (which is all the good bits of a piggy head!) and
various pickled vegetables. I then had this gorgeous slow cooked pork shoulder
with a pork belly confit and greens and my brother had lamb chops which were
served these gorgeously stewed aubergines and okra and hazelnuts. Bizarre combinations that all made sense once they hit your palate. It’s owned by the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:city><st1:place>Dayton</st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>brothers (who sound as if they are the villains of Lucky Luke cartoon) but actually are from<span class="apple-converted-space"> the<i> </i></span>prolific family of the Governor
of Minnesota. All those political connections aside, it’s a fantastic
restaurant with a really cool basement cocktail bar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #674ea7;">Pyscho Suzi<u1:p></u1:p>’s Motor Lounge</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I LOVED Pyscho Suzi’s. A self-proclaimed Tiki bar along the river
that doesn’t take it self too seriously. Brilliant for drinks (think fun Hawian style
Tiki cocktails) and food that’s so good, you don’t care about your waist-line. We
had pizzas groaning with cheese and more-ish Polynesian chicken wings smothered
in a tangy sweetish sauce. I consumed them all with pleasure on the patio
outside overlooking the river. It’s a lovely place to sit by the river with
drinks in hand and while away the afternoon till the sun goes down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heyday</td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Heyday</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their menu is seasonal and constantly changing. I found the dishes
playful and interesting – the chefs love pairing atypical flavours together.
Some of which work brilliantly like the Chicken Liver tart with toasted
shallots, green tomato jam and pickled vegetables. While a few were not really
my cup of tea like the Black cod with a sweet corn, mushrooms and elderberry
capers. Service was great and they were also lovely about catering for my mum’s
allergies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Lobster Mac n Cheese & a Connecticut syle Lobster Roll</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b>Smack Shack</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A food truck turned restaurant success story – I went in looking
forward to trying their lobster roll. Now I’ve only ever had the classic chilled
lobster in warm buttery brioche bun otherwise known as the Maine Lobster roll
but at Lobster shack they also had version called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:city><st1:place>Connecticut-style
– essentially warm lobster tossed in butter, lemon and chives. And the verdict
is I’m a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></st1:place></st1:city><st1:place>New England</st1:place><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>girl all the way. Serving it warm took
some of the flavour out and having stuffed myself with amazing lobster rolls at
Luke’s Lobster in NYC and Burger & Lobster in<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:city><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:city>, I’m definitely a fan of
the chilled lobster roll. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Smack Shack is fun casual place to hit up if you’re in MSP and a
Lobster fan – they have lobster in everything: Lobster Mac n Cheese and even a Lobster
Guacamole! Looking at the other tables, it seems the way to go is to order the
whole lobster with all the trimmings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #674ea7;">Brasa</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A low-key Creole-style rotisserie restaurant serving slow cooked
meats and other comfort food. It’s an old favourite of mine that is going still
as strong as ever. I had the creamy pulled chicken with candied yams.<u1:p></u1:p>
Delicious!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;"><b>Izzy’s Ice Cream</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Best ice cream ever. With everything you order, they give you a
free ‘Izzy’ scoop on top as well! Oh<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>– the only place where a regular sized
ice-cream scoop is called kid size and gigantic mammoth size for adult. I couldn't choose between all the flavours and the regular sized scoop was too formidable so I figured out the brilliant combination of 3 small kids scoops of
different flavours - salted caramel, peppermint bonbon, chocolate chip cookie dough (actually 4 if you count my izzy scoop of maple nut ice cream!). Right next to the
Guthrie and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:place><st1:placename><st1:place><st1:placename>Gold</st1:placename></st1:place></st1:placename> <st1:placename>Medal</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> – A must visit if you’re in the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that’s the round up of my trip to MSP, a city I’m growing very
fond of. Here are <a href="http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/minneapolis-restaurant-review.html" target="_blank">my reviews from last trip in 2012</a>. <st1:city><st1:place>Minneapolis</st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I will be back!<span class="apple-converted-space"> :)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Calhoun</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/29/1609152/restaurant/Twin-Cities/Warehouse-District/The-Bachelor-Farmer-Minneapolis"><img alt="The Bachelor Farmer on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1609152/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/29/333046/restaurant/Twin-Cities/Northeast-Minneapolis/Psycho-Suzis-Motor-Lounge-Minneapolis"><img alt="Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/333046/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/29/331808/restaurant/Twin-Cities/Merriam-Park-Highland-Park/Izzys-Ice-Cream-St-Paul"><img alt="Izzy's Ice Cream on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/331808/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-6735026208778191462014-08-10T07:26:00.001-07:002014-11-13T14:44:09.364-08:00Marbella and Vejer de Frontera :: My One Week Andalucia Road Trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After <st1:city><st1:place>Granada</st1:place></st1:city>, we drove to <st1:city><st1:place>Marbella</st1:place></st1:city>. Our route took us through the Sierra Nevada mountain. Beautiful views though at times I was bit queasy with all the
sharp turns! We soon hit the coast and I was expecting <st1:city><st1:place>Marbella</st1:place></st1:city> to be full of over-the-top full of stag
parties and crazy kids but we stayed in the Casco Antigua - the charming Old Town, which is close to the beach. Despite the fact that it was wet and rainy, I couldn't help but love the picturesque little streets of the Old Town. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We checked into the romantic <a href="http://la-villa-marbella.hotelp.info/"> La Villa </a><st1:city><st1:place><a href="http://la-villa-marbella.hotelp.info/">Marbella hotel</a></st1:place></st1:city> for one night (60 euros a night). Their rooms are more like small apartments and are simply amazing. Each room had a theme: ours was ‘<st1:city><st1:place>Bombay' </st1:place></st1:city>and after two days of continuous driving,
relaxing in our beautifully decorated room was such a treat. The staff are friendly and helpful and parking is close by. Oh and when you check in, they give you list of breakfast options
– tick everything! Breakfast is so good. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wish we had spent a bit more time in <st1:city><st1:place>Marbella</st1:place></st1:city> but we were soon off on our way to
Vejer de la Frontera. And although we had two fabulously sunny days in <st1:city><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city>, the three days after were rather wet
and cold – so when the sun started shining on our way to Vejer we were thrilled
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We drove along the Costa de la Luz, a wonderfully picturesque
drive passing by the tiny fishing villages of Tarifa, Bolonia, Zahara de las
Atunes and Canos de Meca. Unlike Costa de Sol, (the coastline where <st1:city><st1:place>Marbella</st1:place></st1:city> is) which is heavily built up with
resorts and apartments, Costa de la Luz is serene and unspoiled. That’s probably
because the beaches don’t face the tranquil <st1:place>Mediterranean</st1:place> but the windy <st1:place>Atlantic</st1:place> -which makes it great for water sports l<o:p></o:p>ike windsurfing and kite-surfing. We couldn't resist stopping
along the coast to dip our feet in the waters and walk along the sand but we
soon were back on track, making our way to the little hilltop of Vejer de Frontera.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Vejer de Frontera is one the quaintest, prettiest old towns I've seen in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Spain</st1:place></st1:country-region>. With white washed houses, cobbled
streets, Moorish architecture and surrounded by natural parks, it’s a lovely
place to base yourselves to explore the region. The nearest beach El Palmar is
just 10 minutes away and towns of <st1:city><st1:place>Cadiz and Jerez</st1:place></st1:city> are close by as well making it easy to
take day-trips. We spent our time relaxing on the beach, visiting the local El
Palmar and wide stretches of beach near the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Cape</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename>Trafalgar</st1:placename></st1:place>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We stayed at a beautiful boutique guesthouse called <a href="http://www.escondrijo.com/">Escondrijo</a>, run by Netty and Nigel, a couple from the <st1:country-region><st1:place>U.K.</st1:place></st1:country-region> We were in gigantic gorgeous
studio (85 euros a night) which was connected to the main house and even had its own private little
terrace! After a long road trip around Andalucia, our room become a little
haven for us to relax in and enjoy Vejer. I totally recommend
staying at Escondrijo. Their entire house has just been done beautifully and Netty and Nigel are helpful and discrete hosts who are there if you need help or have any
questions but most of the time we felt like we were there by ourselves. Here
is their website for more details: <a href="http://www.escondrijo.com/">http://www.escondrijo.com</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vejer was the favourite part of my entire road trip around
Andalucia. I was actually a bit tearful when we left Vejer. It was such a
little slice of paradise for me. It's also known for its restaurants so we had some really good meals as well. We didn’t get to visit <st1:city><st1:place>Cadiz</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:city><st1:place>Jerez</st1:place></st1:city> but I guess there’s always a next time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And that’s the end of my travels in <st1:place><st1:city>Andalucia</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Spain</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Here are my previous posts on <st1:city><st1:place><a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2014/07/two-days-in-seville-my-one-week.html">Seville</a></st1:place></st1:city>, <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2014/08/granada-and-cordoba-my-one-week.html"><st1:city><st1:place>Cordoba</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:city><st1:place>Granada</st1:place></st1:city></a>!</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-39484684497294857262014-08-04T15:19:00.000-07:002014-11-13T14:44:35.678-08:00Granada and Cordoba :: My One Week Andalucia Road trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Generalife Gardens of Alhambra in Granada</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, we hit the road early in the morning and headed north to
</span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Cordoba, about an hour and half drive. Cordoba is home to </st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">the famous </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Mesquita, the 'Great Mosque'</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> which is stunning. It was originally a
mosque which got converted into a church. Inside the simple spacious interiors is a forest of 856 red and white stone pillars that form striped red and white arches that are unusually striking. I could imagine it being one of
the most tranquil places to worship with its beautiful and intricate prayer wall. There is massive
altar in the centre that was built by a Spanish King to convert it into a church and who, infamously later regretted building it saying it spoiled the beauty of the original building and "destroyed something that was unique to this world".</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The arches in the Mesquita of Cordoba</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We decided not to stay in Cordoba but chose to drive on to Granada about 2 hour drive, where I had booked a night visit to see the famous Alhambra, a palace and fortress that is a World Heritage site. </span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><u>Tip:</u></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> The Alhambra is immensely popular in the summer and I would recommend buying tickets (via Ticketmaster) as soon as possible. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Iznajar</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On the way to the </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Granada</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, we decided to take a small detour to
see Iznajar , a small town set on a cliff and I’m so glad we did as it was such a
charming quaint town with beautiful panoramic view when you go right to the top. It's hardly
mentioned in any guidebooks - you must stop there if you’re driving from </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Cordoba</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> to </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Granada, definitely worth a quick visit</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After stopping at Iznajar, we reached <st1:city><st1:place>Granada</st1:place></st1:city> pretty late and I had picked a hotel
near the Alhambra in the old district of Albayzin. I’m not going to recommend this hotel as it was rather difficult to get to by car and the staff and management
were not the friendliest. The rooms were adequate but it was the most expensive
of all the hotel rooms we paid for during the trip and by far, our least
favourite. I guess we were paying for the location since it was right at the
bottom of the hill the Alhambra is on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the Alhambra from our hotel</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tired and hungry, we picked the first restaurant along the water
outside our hotel which was a bit of mistake. The food wasn't that great and
was quite expensive. In fact, it was far more expensive than <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2014/07/two-days-in-seville-my-one-week.html">the best meal we had in Seville at La Brunilda</a>. I would recommend walking out
Plaza Neuva and finding a local tapas bar. We
later found a place that offered a free tapa with every drink you ordered – and
they were delicious! It was so incredible – I didn't think such places existed.
We actually had to ask them to stop giving us free food because I was stuffed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Alhambra at night</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So as you probably guess, I was not in the best of moods when we arrived at Granada.
We had a long day driving and then had to manoeuvre through the tiny roads in
the old town to get to our hotel. I then was cross we fell for all the tourist traps like pricey
restaurants and hotels and so when we finally started walking up the hill in the dark to see the </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Alhambra</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, I was not a happy camper. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And then I
saw it – in the dark, 'The Red Castle' glows a beautiful golden ochre colour and
it took my breath away. Despite my tiredness and exhaustion, I couldn't deny
how utterly beautiful and ethereal it is. Entering inside and seeing the Alhambra up
close, I was amazed the beauty and creativity of all those intricate carvings and geometric designs on the walls and ceilings. I fell in love with one of the rooms that had an exquisite dome made of 8000 wooden pieces</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> to look like stars in the midnight sky.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So in the end, everyone was right. All the guidebooks, all the reviews, everything I read about it. The Alhambara is simply magical and certainly, one of Spain's historic treasures and architectural gems. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: white;"><u>Tip:</u> </b><span style="background-color: white;">We bought the Alhambra experience ticket which was 15 euros on Ticketmaster. It lets you see the Alhamabra palaces at night and then the next day, you can go in the morning and see the Generalife Gardens which are beautifully maintained. There are two ways to get to the Alhambra – a short 15 minute walk which is bit steep and then a longer walk more leisurely paced at half an hour by the main road.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The interiors of the Alhambra in Granada</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Prayer Wall of the Mesquita in Cordoba</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Coming next: Visiting Marbella and then relaxing at the beautiful Vejer..</span></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-47857710557567036032014-07-24T13:00:00.001-07:002014-11-13T14:45:28.762-08:00Two Days in Seville:: My One Week Andalucia Road trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Doing a road trip around Andalusia has been a dream of mine for a
long time and it finally happened this April! We decided to take a week driving
around Andalusia in a loop – starting at <st1:city><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city>, visiting <st1:city><st1:place>Cordoba</st1:place></st1:city>, <st1:city><st1:place>Granada</st1:place></st1:city> and <st1:city><st1:place>Marbella</st1:place></st1:city> and finally chilling at Vejer.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first day after landing in Seville airport, we took a cab </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(about 20 euros) </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to our hotel </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">IMG Rey Alfonso X in Barrio Santa Cruz, dropped off our bags and then</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> just wandered around </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> soaking in the atmosphere, eating tapas after tapas and of course, relaxing with a siesta! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Walking around </span><st1:city style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> is a pleasure – it’s a city with such
charm and gorgeous Moorish architecture. Since we were there during the Holy
Week, we also got to see some Santa Semana processions led by various
brotherhoods which were fascinating. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the second day we visited the Cathedral
which was stunningly impressive. I believe its one of the biggest Cathedrals in the world. Originally, there was a huge 12th century Mosque which knocked down and a decision was made to build "a church so large, future generations willl think we were mad". My favourite part of it was the Giralda – a
former minaret of the original mosque that remains and was converted to a bell tower. You
can climb all the way to the top and its fairly easy one since there are no
steps but just a sloping pathway winding all the way to the top (so that a
rider on a horse could get to the top!). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was about a half hour wait to buy
tickets (8 euros) and get into the Cathedral. The Alcazar or royal palace for the rulers was next to the
Cathedral but closed during the Holy Week. <b><u>Tip</u><i>:</i></b> I’ve heard it’s faster to buy
tickets there for both and see it first. We also saw the Metropol Parasol – a weird
mushroom structure that I didn’t find very appealing. The structure itself is
impressive but with its sad beige colour looks rather worse for wear. It was fun walking on top of it and since its
cheap entry (3 euros) I didn’t mind but it’s a hardly a must see sight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We stayed at the IMG Rey Alfonso X – which was modern, clean and
in the most brilliant location. Right it in the middle of Barrio Santa Cruz, we
could easily walk everywhere. It perhaps lacked a little in charm but was
extremely functional with big, comfortable rooms and I totally recommend
staying there. There are 3 main central areas in Seville: Barrio Santa Cruz, El Arenal and El Centro so finding a hotel in one of them would be ideal if you want to be in the heart of Seville.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><st1:city><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city> is now of one of my favourite cities.
The city centre has some beautiful architecture with Moorish influences and
there are TONS of amazing places to eat. So many that I compiled a kick-ass spreadsheet
with all the details. What can I say – I had a lot of time to research on my favourite
subject! <i>(Leave a comment below if you’re planning a trip and would like to
see the spreadsheet. I’m happy to share!)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So here were some of the places we checked out:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>La Brunilda</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Best meal of our entire trip. La Burinilda is a modern tapas
restaurant near the bull fighting stadium. It was great value, absolutely no
fuss to get a table and we got to have some brilliant innovative food with new
pairings and flavours. We had an utterly delicious salad, some seared tuna slices
served with flavourful couscous, delicious confit duck with puree and the piece
de resistance - seared foie gras with plums in red wine sauce. And all that
with countless beers and dessert was just 30 euros. Amazing value for money - I
can’t stop singing praises of it.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Located at Calle Galera 5 in the Arenal district. It opens at </span><st1:time hour="13" minute="0" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1p.m.</st1:time><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> for lunch and </span><st1:time hour="8" minute="30" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">8:30</st1:time><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> for dinner and is closed Sunday night
and all day Monday</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>La Bulla</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My second favourite meal in <st1:city><st1:place>Seville</st1:place></st1:city> was at La Bulla. They serve
traditional tapas with a twist. I loved their selection of croquetas that came with
different filling of spinach, seafood and jamon. The salad was amazing as well.
I don’t know how they make a simple salad so tasty yet light and fresh as well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Located on Dos
de Mayo 26 in Arenal near the opera house and bullring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Bar Europa</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bar Europa is listed in quite a few guidebooks and is a gastro bar
that’s been around for a while. The jamon was amazing and I loved the ajo
blanco soup – a cold soup of crushed almonds and garlic though the orange salad
was not that great – much to sweet. When getting ready to pay the bill, we
realized we had totally missed out on ordering the signature dishes at Bar
Europa - gorgeous looking langoustines in tempura and salmon tartare that the
all the other tables had ordered. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So don’t forget to order those if you go! It’s on Siete Revueltas
35 in the Centro district near Plaza del Pan.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FYq9Ej-iuds/U774Ln37bJI/AAAAAAAABSg/UvD5Gcjm-kU/s1600/Casa+Morales+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FYq9Ej-iuds/U774Ln37bJI/AAAAAAAABSg/UvD5Gcjm-kU/s1600/Casa+Morales+(2).JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Casa Morales</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We made a quick stop at Casa Morales, another well-known
traditional tapas bar. It seemed very popular and I enjoyed the Morcilla
(Spanish blood sausage) there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Casa Morales is at Garcia de Vinuesa 11 in the Arenal district.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Las Teresas</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Best dishes were the potato salad and the boquerones – tiny
grilled fish. Though be warned - It was the rather expensive with each dish
coming to £8.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Las Teresas was near our hotel in Barrio Santa Cruz on Santa
Teresa 2.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>Coming up...Day 3 & 4 in Granada and Cordoba</i></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-19111319197428283982014-07-16T08:13:00.002-07:002014-11-13T14:45:51.311-08:00Mandarin Kitchen: Excellent Chinese restaurant in Bayswater with the best Lobster Noodles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’ve never really eaten much seafood at Chinese restaurants – I
always tend to go for the more meaty options. But when we were told that
Mandarin Kitchen in Bayswater serves the best Lobster Noodles in <st1:city><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:city> – I was totally up for checking it
out. The source of this information was our trusty driving instructor Albert Low; who by the way is an excellent instructor. Leave a comment if you’d like his
contact details for driving lessons in <st1:place>Central London</st1:place> or <st1:city><st1:place>Richmond</st1:place></st1:city>. He’s one of the best :) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We went to Mandarin Kitchen on a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aqj"><span style="z-index: -1;"><span data-term="goog_1324517254" style="z-index: 0;" tabindex="0">Thursday</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>evening and it was packed.
Unfortunately we didn’t make a reservation and had to wait for about 20 minutes
for a table, but seeing all the delicious plates of food being carted out of
kitchen and being in no rush, we settled in to wait. And then soon enough, we
had a table – one of the best, right near the window which was prime viewing
position. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We started with some lovely Oolong Chinese tea (Ti Kuan Yum) and
ordered one of their signature dishes – Steamed King Scallops in a garlic soya sauce
that came with tiny crystal noodles. It was delicious and I’ve never seen
scallops so big. A great starter to whet our appetite and then shortly later,
the piece de resistance appeared – a gigantic Lobster with Ginger and Spring
Onions on top of a bed of soft glistening noodles. The waiters break it up for
you and serve it quite efficiently so all you have to do is dig out the soft delicious
lobster flesh. And having soaked up all that lobster juice, the noodles were
incredibly tasty. Such a simple elegant dish – and Manderin Kitchen
deserves all the accolades for it. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was quite full at this point. We each had a scallop and
then shared the lobster noodles between three people and to be honest, I should
have stopped there. But there was still more to come: a tender Beef Fillet in a
sweet plum Mandarin sauce with a pimped out Yeung Chow Egg fried rice that had
shrimp and pork. Stuffed to the brim, I hardly at anything for the next 24
hours after that meal! In hindsight, I would have ordered one less dish since
there were 3 people, 4 dishes was a bit of an over-kill. Oh well, it was
fantastic meal and I totally recommend checking out Mandarin Kitchen and its
utterly delicious Lobster Noodles!</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/566597/restaurant/London/Mandarin-Kitchen-Bayswater"><img alt="Mandarin Kitchen on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/566597/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/view/80855/Mandarin_Kitchen?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Mandarin Kitchen"><img alt="Square Meal" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/80855/get-blog-review/image/medium.png" height="90" width="170" /></a></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-70490792333393020232014-07-10T13:02:00.001-07:002014-12-28T11:43:55.469-08:00Mondsey: A Malaysian Supper Club in Bermondsey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I stumbled upon Mondsey at
the <st1:street><st1:address>Bermondsey
Street</st1:address></st1:street>
festival and had a taste of what this talented duo of Karen and JP could
offer at their food stall and resolved to find them again. I was in luck; they
also held regular supper clubs in Bermondsey showcasing Malaysian
cuisine. So I roped in my Spanish friend to
come with me to one of their Saturday night supper clubs. He'd never been to a
supper club before and was gamely up for a new experience. (He also asked if
there would be single girls there - I may have said yes).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We rushed in a few minutes
late and were welcomed with an utterly refreshing cocktail called Monk’s Ice
Tea made with Plantation Barbados Rum and Air Mata Kucing (a juice
made from Malaysian fruits). I couldn't get enough of it – and sneakily had two
more refills. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn54RhZc8X8/U77tIQqOHUI/AAAAAAAABRw/FU1kpsJ7kKw/s1600/Chicken+Satay+Mondsey+Supperclub+GinFizzGirl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn54RhZc8X8/U77tIQqOHUI/AAAAAAAABRw/FU1kpsJ7kKw/s1600/Chicken+Satay+Mondsey+Supperclub+GinFizzGirl.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We started with the familiar
sounding dish of Chicken Satay with peanut sauce. This was nothing like the smooth sauce that usually feels like its peanut butter from
a jar. This was the real deal – a chunky moreish peanut sauce that’s lavishly
spread on tender skewered chicken.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The next dish of Otak-Otak
was for me the most interesting; a spiced fish mousse wrapped and sealed in a
banana leaf. JP said it’s usually made using mackerel but he used cod which
eliminated the typical fishy smell. This was served with toasted brioche made
by Karen, who is a trained pasty chef. A delicate subtly spiced dish
that introduced new flavours to me and was one of my favourites of the night.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHDvgjDJ7GE/U77tm-201fI/AAAAAAAABSA/tH16ucxgkhQ/s1600/Braised+Pork+and+Morning+Glory+Mondsey+GinFizzGirl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zHDvgjDJ7GE/U77tm-201fI/AAAAAAAABSA/tH16ucxgkhQ/s1600/Braised+Pork+and+Morning+Glory+Mondsey+GinFizzGirl.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Braised Pork and stir-fried Morning Glory</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then came the main
courses: Braised Pork in Soy and Garlic with Quail Eggs (Tau Yew Bak) and
Chicken Redang (Redang Ayam). I loved the pork, slow cooked for 5 hours – it
was decadent delightful dish. All served with white rice and the some gorgeous Stir-fried
Morning Glory with Chilli and Shrimp paste (Kangkun Belacan).</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can imagine that by this
point after 5 courses served family-style with ample portions we were quite
full. And when the dessert of rice pudding appeared, I didn't think I could
finish it. But this was no ordinary stodgy rice pudding. Karen’s culinary finesse
was highlighted as it was the lightest rice puddings I've tasted (I think she
whipped it with cream?!). Made with black glutinous rice and sprinkled with
fresh mango and crunchy biscuit crumbles – it was delicious and one of the
highlights of the night.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmGPmZuAD_s/U77tWvl3drI/AAAAAAAABR4/BaCOI00jhOw/s1600/Black+rice+pudding+Mondsey+GinFizz+Girl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmGPmZuAD_s/U77tWvl3drI/AAAAAAAABR4/BaCOI00jhOw/s1600/Black+rice+pudding+Mondsey+GinFizz+Girl.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Black Rice Pudding with Mango<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">You'd think the meal would
end with this but no, we were treated to some Lime and Kaya (a Malaysian
coconut cream) financiers and Jasmine tea. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This meal really made me appreciate the diversity of Malaysian food and </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Karen
and JP were such generous hosts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For a minimum contribution of £25 each, we got to have an amazing 7
course meal in the company of some lovely people who were seated at the table with
us. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What's more is that they donate all profits to Alzheimer's Research UK Charity! Here is their progress on </span><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Mondsey" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">JustGiving.</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1RBD562yPU/U77uApomlYI/AAAAAAAABSI/QhjBib_TWeI/s1600/Kaya+and+Lime+Financiers+Mondsey+supperclub+Ginfizzgirl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y1RBD562yPU/U77uApomlYI/AAAAAAAABSI/QhjBib_TWeI/s1600/Kaya+and+Lime+Financiers+Mondsey+supperclub+Ginfizzgirl.JPG" height="400" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Kaya and Lime Financiers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I highly recommend Mondsey
Supper clubs if you if you want to treat yourself to some authentic Malaysian cuisine. They’ll be hosting supper clubs for rest of
the summer and their next event is on July 19<sup>th</sup>. They have 8 spaces for every event
so it's perfect if you want to do something interesting as a couple or meet some new
people or go just go with a group of friends who love good food!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can book tickets for
their next events <a href="http://www.edibleexperiences.com/p/2731054/Mondsey/181001/Malaysian-Supper-Club-19-July-2014?ref=tj_tweet" target="_blank">here</a> or <a href="http://grubclub.com/mondsey-malaysian-supper-club/1419" target="_blank">here</a> . You can also follow them on twitter @mondseyeats or on
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Mondsey" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or check out all their gorgeous creations on their website <a href="http://mondsey.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.edibleexperiences.com/p/2731054/Mondsey/151001/Malaysian-Supper-Club-5-July-2014"></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><img alt="Read more about Malaysian Supper Club 5 July 2014 on Edible Experiences" src="http://www.edibleexperiences.com/blog_review/2731054/151001/icon" height="54" width="130" /></span></div>
</div>
Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-69076000767453556392014-06-29T06:14:00.001-07:002014-12-28T11:44:51.490-08:00Hawksmoor Spitalfields: My Guide to choosing a Hawksmoor Steak<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had the best steak of my life at Hawksmoor. It needed no frills,
no sides, and no sauces; it was just beautifully grilled and amazingly
succulent meat. One piece of advice – go with a group of friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You see this isn’t a place for a romantic date for two, this is
the type of place you go with a gluttonous group of friends so that you can
justice to all the meat and sides. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CC1VNVDlDjI/U67i3ruNzsI/AAAAAAAABQY/6gbc85nlcoc/s1600/046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CC1VNVDlDjI/U67i3ruNzsI/AAAAAAAABQY/6gbc85nlcoc/s1600/046.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You need to do this because the best cuts come in gigantic
sizes like 800 to 900 grams. I mean on a good day, I could do maybe 300 gm but
sharing a 900 gm steak between two people is so out of my league. I went with a
friend and we finally settled for the Rib eye and Fillet which totalled 750 gm
and ordered 2 sides – a light healthy salad and some yummy unhealthy triple cooked
chips. But I wished I could have tried more – I wanted the creamed spinach and
the mac n cheese and all that good stuff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That’s when I realized you have to come in a group. It’s way
more cost effective because then you can share the gigantic 900 gm steak
between four people and get to try all the delicious sides on offer.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #351c75;">G</span></i></b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>uide to Hawksmoor Steaks</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I also thought I’d write up a little </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">guide because I found it quite bewildering initially on which steak to choose.</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first four are offered as fixed sizes on the menu so if the
smaller cuts on the specials chalkboard are gone, these are probably the best
bet if it’s just two of you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>1.<span style="color: #351c75;"> Fillet</span></i></b> (300 gm for £34) (about £11.30 per 100 gm) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A popular prime cut that’s considered the most lean and tender
steak of all with little fat which makes it a bit lower on the flavour scale. This comes from the inside the sirloin and
essentially, it’s a muscle that doesn’t do much work hence why it’s so lean and
low fat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>2.<span style="color: #351c75;"> Rib eye</span></i></b><span style="color: #20124d;"> </span>(400g for £30) (about £9 per 100 gm) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another popular cut that comes from the rib section is the Rib
eye. It has a higher fat content and hence more flavour and with a good cut,
you can see the marbling of fat on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>3. <span style="color: #351c75;">Bone in Sirloin</span></i></b><span style="color: #351c75;"> </span>(500 gm for £28) (about £5.60 per 100 gm) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sirloin is a cut that from the hindquarters of a cow. It’s sort of
in-between a fatty rib eye and a lean fillet that comes on the bone. The fatty
bit sits on top of the steak and can be cut off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>4.<span style="color: #351c75;"> D-rump</span></i></b> (350 gm for £20) (about
£5.70 per 100 gm) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is a cheaper cut from the backside of a cow that is a little
bit tougher than other cuts but has huge amounts of flavour. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The next four are on the daily specials board and come in
different sizes which is best for large groups to share.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pzvuJzRR854/U67i2_0k-_I/AAAAAAAABQU/nQeWaN8qiUM/s1600/045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pzvuJzRR854/U67i2_0k-_I/AAAAAAAABQU/nQeWaN8qiUM/s1600/045.JPG" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. <b><i><span style="color: #351c75;">Chateaubriand</span></i></b> (£13 per 100 gm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The most expensive prime cut - very similar to the fillet but much
larger and pricier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>6. <span style="color: #351c75;">Porterhouse</span></i></b> (£9 per 100 gm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A part sirloin, part fillet steak with less bone and more meat
from the lower side of the cow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>7. <span style="color: #351c75;">T-Bone</span></i></b> (£8 per 100 gm) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A T-Bone steak is similar to Porthouse and slightly cheaper. Again,
with a fillet on one side and sirloin on the other, makes the cut both tender
and flavourful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>8. <span style="color: #351c75;">Bone-in prime rib</span></i></b> (£7.50 per 100 gm)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This usually a bigger cut with a bone in it from the rib section and again has a lot of
fat. It’s essentially a rib eye with a bone.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/564715/restaurant/Shoreditch/Hawksmoor-Spitalfields-London"><img alt="Hawksmoor Spitalfields on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/564715/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sources:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.shortlist.com/instant-improver/food/the-ultimate-steak-manual" target="_blank">http://www.shortlist.com/instant-improver/food/the-ultimate-steak-manual</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/19/perfect-steak-sirloin-rump-fillet">http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/19/perfect-steak-sirloin-rump-fillet</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-58589531274578999412014-06-25T13:41:00.001-07:002014-12-28T11:45:18.696-08:00L'Escargot: Elegant French Brasserie in the heart of Soho<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Right in the middle of all the chaos of </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Soho</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, stands L’Escargot - a French restaurant that's been around from the 1920’s. The moment you walk into the old townhouse, you feel
transported straight to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Paris with their</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> bistro style menu full of all the French classics.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I had the Coquilles St. Jacques – three tender wobbly scallops baked with bacon, garlic and majoram and some sides of haricot beans and dauphinoise potatoes. And oh my god, beans have never tasted so good - garlicky and crunchy, I couldn't get enough of them. And those dauphinoise potatoes – divine. Well, truth be told, any food cooked with loads of butter and garlic is going to taste great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We
also had a unique little tart called Pissaladiere with onion and anchovies –
the French version of a pizza. Skipping dessert, we went for a cheese course
full of stinky oozing cheese. Mmmm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sitting side by side in the
corner booth, we were in the perfect position to people watch and have fun amusing ourselves during the meal. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I totally recommend<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="il"><span style="background: #FFFFCC; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri;">L</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">’Escargot if you’re looking a
relaxing leisurely meal at a lovely French brasserie in </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Soho</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.</span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-22445090164521308092014-06-17T11:49:00.000-07:002014-12-28T11:45:41.362-08:00Sixty One: Fine Dining on offer at in Marble Arch<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One evening, I found myself walking up and down </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Upper Berkely street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> near Marble Arch searching for the
elusive new restaurant Sixty-One. </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> streets are known for their random numbering
but despite checking Google maps – I found myself in front of an abandoned
entrance where No.61 should have been. After calling them, it turns out the
restaurant is across the street, way down the road – bizarre.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway, the elusive</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sixty-One is a rather new restaurant – only months old and despite having a pricey looking a la carte menu, they offer 2 courses for £19 and 3 courses for £34 as well. Incredible because for the quality and service provided, it was a great value. We got a lovely bread basket with the most delicious airy butter. The starters were a delight – simple yet gorgeous salad of marinated beetroot, blue cheese and walnuts for me which looked so pretty on the plate and for my dining a companion – ‘Pig on toast’ a porky pate on toast which was again very nice presented.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the mains, I was torn between the roasted Cod and the Duck l’Orange.
I chose the cod in an effort to be healthy and it was perfectly lovely served
in a deep bowl with winter vegetables and tasty lardons but truthfully I
yearned for the duck. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since we did the 2 courses for £19 offer, we didn’t have dessert
but were still offered some lovely little macarons and chocolates at the end of
the meal. I definitely think worth checking out this new restaurant and their prix-fix menu – fancy fine dining at a wallet-friendly price.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1804197/restaurant/Marylebone/Sixty-One-London"><img alt="Sixty One on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1804197/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-7003909826678390132014-05-20T14:13:00.000-07:002015-01-01T04:28:32.565-08:00Antidote: Winebar and Restaurant near Carnaby Street<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Trying to get reservations on a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="aqj">Saturday</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>night
is near impossible in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> if you haven’t booked at least a week
in a advance. Luckily, I found two new restaurants that looked interesting but
couldn’t decide between: Little Social and Antidote. Both had good reviews, the
only major difference being the set up of the menu at Antidote was bit
different. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For dinner, they offered a 4 course set menu at £40, which I felt a
bit wary about yet at the same intrigued by. It </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">changes daily and you only find out about courses once you arrive. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sure I've been to places where the menu is designed to not offer choices like <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2011/10/le-relais-de-venise-lentrecote.html" target="_blank">Entrecote</a> or <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2012/06/burger-lobster.html" target="_blank">Burger &Lobster</a>. With these places, you sort of know what you’re going to get and a burger or steak or
<a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2012/06/burger-lobster.html" target="_blank">lobster roll</a> isn't an intimidating option. But not knowing what four courses are going to be does feel a bit risky.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In any case, fortified by a very nice Pomegranate and Rosemary Gin
Tonic from Tapas Brindisa, I made my way to Antidote on </span><st1:street><st1:address><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Newburgh Street</span></st1:address></st1:street><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. At first glance, the layout appears
confusing with a main door that appears to be the entrance but is actually not
and you have to enter through a side door. Downstairs is a wine bar with small
plates on offer and the upstairs is where you get the set menu. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cornish Pollock with mussels and Sea Vegetables</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was curious to try the bread; there are reports that the bread it’s the best in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Calibri;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. I’m not kidding there are actual critic reviews with that bold proclamation. Antidote’s trump card is that the chef at Hedone (a Michelin star with rave reviews) does a ‘consulting gig’ (not sure what that entails) at Antidote and the sourdough bread comes freshly baked from Hedone. And well, it really is THAT good. We couldn’t stop eating it and I was actually sad when dessert arrived because I knew it was time to stop trying to stuff myself with load of bread slathered with the most delicious butter and move on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anyway on to the food - after an amuse bouche, the first course was scallops served with lettuce and dill. Light
and fresh – it reminded me of the scallop dish I had at <a href="http://www.ginfizzgirl.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/2014/02/pieds-nus-excellent-yet-expensive-pop.html" target="_blank">Pied Nus</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The second course of Cornish Pollock with girolles, beans and
mussels was the stand out dish for us. Flawlessly cooked fish with all the
flavours of the sea from the mussels and samphire – the addition of vinegary
mushroom “ketchup” was a perfect complement to the meal. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The third course was suckling pig with onions, garlic and potato
puree – again lovely flavours. Dessert
was chocolate mousse with a white chocolate sorbet – hard to go wrong there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">All in all, it was a rather delightful meal. The mark-ups on the
wine are pretty high so we ended up spending quite a bit on the wine but the
food was perfection. I can totally see myself coming back and trusting the chef’s
set menu of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1599978/restaurant/Soho/Antidote-Wine-Bar-London"><img alt="Antidote Wine Bar on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1599978/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/view/106530/Antidote?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Antidote"><img alt="Square Meal" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/106530/get-blog-review/image/medium.png" height="90" width="170" /></a></span></div>
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Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106742251959801341.post-31037111754504493452014-05-06T13:47:00.001-07:002015-01-01T04:29:22.597-08:00Flesh & Buns : Over-hyped Japanese food in Covent Garden <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When some of my friends suggested catching up over dinner
– I instantly threw out the suggestion of Flesh & Buns which I’ve wanted to
try out for ages. It sounded fun and I love Japanese food – what’s not to like?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, at first, Flesh & Buns seemed to have all the right
stuff - a menu full of crowd pleasing dishes and quirky cool elements like
bathrooms plastered with manga comics (with some overtly sexualized male fantasy images that I wasn't really a fan of). Yet, to be honest, it just wasn’t that memorable. It’s sort of
like they took all the popular dishes out there – trendy street food like meat and<span class="apple-converted-space"> steamed buns, </span>signature dishes from restaurants like Roka and then tried to recreate them in the most efficient factory-style
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To start with we had ‘Chips and Dips’ of rice crackers, avocado
shiso, tomato jalapeno which was essentially guacamole and salsa. These were moreish and hard not to like (and have
been made popular by the onset of Peruvian restaurants like Ceviche and Coya).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Tuna Tataki was dull despite the bright green jalapeno
ponzu sauce concoction drizzled on top. I think tuna would have been better if
it was served lightly seared and ruby red in the middle instead of pink. The Chicken Yakitori skewers were tasty but small portion-wise. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the mains, we ordered the famous Pork Belly and Flat Iron steak which
were pleasing enough. I preferred the pork belly to the steak. What's annoying is that the meat doesn't come with the buns but
you have to order them separately and again portion-wise not enough so the cost adds up. I ended up just skipping the buns and having mine
wrapped in lettuce. Again – these sort of missed the wow factor that I had with
the <a href="https://ginfizzgirl.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=3ckA1UUBAAA.JvHCZ8V56RX4D-z6sY4sJQ.3Tt_lWywB5cGE4bfCuDtfQ&postId=3103711175450449345&type=POST#!/2013/08/koba-delicious-korean-bbq-in-fitzrovia.html" target="_blank">food in Koba</a> with a similar style of barbecued meat in lettuce wraps. Another odd note was that everyone at my table felt horribly thirsty at the end of the meal. Given the
fact that we had no alcohol – it makes me wonder at how salty the food was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dessert was Kinako donuts which were rather nice with a filling of
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the end, it was perfectly adequate
meal that without drinks was about £33. I guess if you’re in </span><st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Covent Garden</span></st1:place><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> looking for a place to
eat, this would be a decent choice. Yet it’s definitely not a destination type
restaurant or somewhere that worth a half hour wait to queue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unfortunately,
Flesh & Buns was a bit over-hyped for me and I'm not terribly keen on returning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1763926/restaurant/Covent-Garden/Flesh-and-Buns-London"><img alt="Flesh and Buns on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1763926/biglink.gif" style="border: none; height: 146px; width: 200px;" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/view/117855/Flesh_and_Buns?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=Blog&utm_campaign=Link" target="_top" title="Read Square Meal's review of Flesh and Buns"><img alt="Square Meal" src="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/117855/get-blog-review/image/large.png" height="125" width="230" /></a></span></div>
Tulsihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18233561417517403360noreply@blogger.com0