DINNER by Heston Blumenthal, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, London, England

DINNER by Heston Blumenthal

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Hyde Park

66 Knightsbridge, Westminster, London, England

Style, originality and subtlety are Heston Blumenthal’s trademarks. And true to his reputation, DINNER is the embodiment of all three trademarks. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is not hard to find, just outside the southeast corner of Hyde Park, across the street from Harvey Nichols and a dash away from Knightsbridge tube station on the Piccadilly Line. The restaurant, DINNER is inside the hotel, and the front entrance is not marked by a sign displaying its name, instead, there is a rotating pear floating mid-air behind a reception counter. The pear changes colour each day.

Once inside, guests will pass through a beautiful lounge before entering the spacious, simple but smartly contemporary dining room: high ceilings, open concept kitchen and hard wood floors. Heston Blumenthal’s concept was to create an understated dining space that would not draw attention away from the menu. The food is the star of this restaurant.

We started with drinks and in true Heston Blumenthal fashion, the drinks were as tasty as they were lovely. We had the Sunrise, which was pink grapefruit juice with apple and passion fruit and topped with bitter lemon and a drop of grenadine. The drink, served in a tall glass really did look like a seductive summer sunrise. The sweet passion fruit juice balanced out the slightly sour grapefruit juice and tart apple. I liked the Green Goblin better though, probably because I have a great love for lychee and mixed in with my other all-time favourite ingredient maple syrup (which also made me homesick), the Green Goblin was a hard drink to top. The clean and pure sweetness of the lychee juice not only complimented the dishes that we ordered but also acted as the perfect palette cleanser as we tried each different dish.

Before our meal, a sliced rustic loaf of fresh, crusty bread was placed before us on a cutting board with a small, stone slab of salty and slightly sweet, creamy butter. The bread was incredibly soft on the inside, despite its crusty exterior. This bread also fit Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant theme very well, its texture reminiscent of hearty, Old World bread, celebrating the history of British food.

Upon reading the menu, we discovered that the chefs were very careful in listing the year in which each menu item was first created, and when we flipped the menu to the back, a small historical fact about the item could be found. For our starter, we ordered the roast scallops which was labeled as originating from circa 1820.

These were the most tender and flavourful scallops I’ve ever eaten. I’m not exaggerating. They fell apart at the prick of my fork before I could even get one bite in my mouth. I’m not a fan of tomato ketchup but the cool and fresh cucumber ketchup that the scallops were perched on top of was original and delicious. The subtle cucumber flavours did not overpower the scallops, in fact they brought out the sweetness in the delicate seafood flesh.

Next was one of my favourite types and cuts of meat: duck leg. We ordered the Powdered Duck with smoked fennel and a side of potato puree. Since this is a Heston Blumenthal creation, yes, I expected my duck leg to be floating off the plate. It wasn’t but I also wasn’t disappointed by the flavours, texture and presentation either. I was blown away.

Covered in a sticky and sweet glaze, the duck leg was moist, succulent and tender. The licorice flavor in the roasted fennel slice brought out the robust sweetness in the duck meat. The dish is named for the powder that the duck legs are encased in while being marinated.

The dish came with a boat of extra sauce but we didn’t need it, the duck was juicy enough. I also didn’t pour any sauce onto the smooth potato puree.

I wanted to taste the potatoes on their own, and they did in fact taste a little bit different from Canadian potatoes, they weren’t as sweet but they were still creamy and rich and a great side to the duck.

We also ordered the Black Foot Pork Chop. Named for the famous British Black footed pig, the delectable chop is glazed in a golden rich Robert Sauce originating from 1816 from Careme’s residency.

Cooked to a perfect medium rare, the pink and moist pork chop was packed with flavour. The fat to lean meat ratio was just right, and the tangy Robert Sauce glistening on each forkful of pork chop added a deeper layer of nutty sweetness to each bite.

Interestingly enough, dessert in England is always referred to as ‘pudding.’ Even if the dessert course is not a pudding. I suppose there was one point in time during the olden days in England when there really only was pudding for a dessert option. Thankfully it’s not the case now and definitely not at DINNER. We quickly decided to order the Tipsy Cake, which is a signature item on the DINNER menu. Also, the entire time that we were enjoying our meal, four pineapples were roasting on spits behind glass in the open concept kitchen right in our view. It was pretty hard not to order the Tipsy Cake which came with a golden, juicy slice of roasted, caramelized pineapple.

Served in a cute and rustic cast iron mini pot, the Tipsy Cake was drenched in a sweet liqueur. Each light and fluffy section of the cake was a burst of sharp sweetness with a bit of edge from the liqueur. The pineapple was a slice of hot and juicy tropical flavour; its fruity sweetness intensified by the spit roast.

I’m not sure that I have the right palette for this but the Brown Bread Ice Cream was definitely a unique flavour. I can’t say that I enjoyed it. I could really taste the yeast in the dish, which I imagine is intentional as the description in the menu states the ice cream is drizzled in malted yeast syrup. The ice cream whereas very pretty on the plate, is not overly sweet, it was more nutty from the caramel and malted in flavour. I can’t say that I’ll order it again but it certainly looked elegant and magnificent in its wide rim dish.

I must also comment on the amazing service we received at DINNER. The waiters were patient (look how many photos I snapped!), helpful with explaining the menu items and also helpful in pointing us in the right direction to get to our after lunch destination, the Natural History Museum. I had a wonderful time at DINNER and will be returning as many times as possible.

Jamie's Italian, London, England

Jamie’s Italian

12 Upper St. Martin’s Lane

Westminister, London, England

If you’re a Jamie Oliver fan, you’ll know that he is obsessed with Italian food. He even based an entire TV series on his trip to Italy in his clunky, old Volkswagon van to learn how to cook authetic Italian food: Jamie’s Great Italian Escape.

His restaurant, Jamie’s Italian in Covent Gardens off 7 Dials in London embodies the warmth, passion and hominess that comes with Italian cooking. On a rainy London evening, we walked into the crowded lobby decorated simply with a wooden shelf of pasta, egg plants and vegetables. Huge pieces of cured meat hung from the ceiling pan rack in the open concept kitchen. The dining tables were set with silverware wrapped in rustic dish clothes sporting the name of the restaurant.

We ordered the pumpkin and burrata to start. A burrata is a traditional Italian mozzarella and soft, rich cream wrapped in another layer of solid mozzarella, basically, it is cheese wrapped within cheese. What could be bad about that? Well, I was expecting a sack of the cheese, even if it was a tiny sack but when the dish came, we discovered that it only contained one slice of the sack, the soft and rich cheese from the inside oozing off the harder shell. The pumpkin was a great accompliment though, the harder texture contrasting the soft cheese, the hard shell of the pumkin was still on each slice, which I loved. I also noticed that the salad features Jamie Oliver’s favourite vegetable, rocket. He uses rocket in many of his recipes. This may be because rocket grows in London, England. I’ve noticed that rocket appears on many restaurant menus here.

Next we ordered the mushroom fritti: the mushroom came sliced and deep fried. It was heaven. The strong mushroom taste wasn’t lost in the cooking process and the ‘really garlicky mayo,’ as described in the menu really reminded me of the endearing way that Jamie Oliver talks.

I’ve never had rabbit before, but I figured if there was one chef who could cook it right, it would be the adventurous Jamie Oliver. And I wasn’t disappointed. I ordered the Rabbit Ragu Pappardelle which is a slow braised rabbit with a mascarpone and lemon sauce. The rabbit meat was so incredibly tender I regret not trying it earlier in life. There is a slight gamey taste to the rabbit but it’s definitely not as strong as lamb meat. I also love the pappardelle pasta, the ridges on the sides of the pasta really scoops up the sauce and the pasta itself was thick enough to soak up the sauce well too. Basically every bite was a perfect mouthful of tender rabbit and perfectly sauced and al dente pasta.

One of my favourite pasta dishes is carbonara and I wanted to taste Jamie Oliver’s rendition of it: Bucatini Carbonara. The smoked pancetta was delectable: not too salty and still firm and not mushy in the heavy creamy sauce. The sauce was thick and creamy and delicious or as Jamie Oliver would say: beu-a-full! I didn’t like that the spaghetti was hollow in the middle though. I think regular spaghetti would have mopped up the sauce better, and would also be easier to twirl on a fork since regular spaghetti would be more limp than tubular noodles. I did have the noodles slip off my fork a few times.

Another Jamie Oliver trademark item is fries or ‘chips,’ with truffle oil. These fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I love the fact that the fries were served to us in an adorable little bucket. They were almost too cute to eat. But I was too hungry to care. The hot fries really hit the spot on such a cold and rainy London night.

For dessert we ordered an Italian classic: tiramisu. The Jamie Oliver version was pretty tasty. He added some fresh orange zest and uses sponge cake over lady fingers. The cake was drenched in espresso and a beautiful dollop of heavy mascapone cream was on top of the cake. The sweet and tangy orange flavours brought out the nuttiness in the espresso flavour and also gives the dessert a lightness and playfulness that is so indicative of talented and fun-loving Jamie Oliver.

I had a great time at this restaurant, our server was attentive and funny, the location and ambiance is also wonderful. I will come back as much as possible to try everything on the menu.

Souk Medina, 1 Shorts Gardens, Covent Gardens, London, England

Souk Medina Tea Room, Bar and Restaurant

1 Shorts Gardens, Charing Cross, Covent Gardens, London, England

If you like belly dancers and Moroccan food, Souk Medina is the place for you. Just around the corner from Leicester Square, Souk Medina is a cozy restaurant featuring a large dining room and smaller private rooms called Casbah. We opted to sit in one of the private rooms with comfy low seats filled with pillows, low tables and the ceiling dramatically tented with cloth.

We used our Taste Card to order the set menu which turned out to be both plentiful and tasty. As we waited for our appetizers to arrive, a scantily clad belly dancer entered the room. To all the men’s delight, she whipped off her golden cape and started belly dancing as the music thumped louder in the small room. One of the customers even got enthusiastic enough to dance with her. I wonder if his wife minded.

The dolmades arrived perched on the side of a bowl of salad. Dolmades are little rolls of grape leaves filled with rice, lamb, currents and mint. I love the mint in these rolls, giving them a refreshing kick of flavour. The rice in the filling was also cooked perfectly, soft and chewy, binding the rolls together.

Our second appetizer, Merguez with Batata Harra was a little bit on the spicy side. This dish was chunks of lamb sausages with potato and spices. The spices had a deep smokiness to them, and really hits you in the back of the throat rather than lighting your tongue on fire at first contact. I love lamb though so I really couldn’t get enough of these sausages. They were firm and lean but even cloaked in spice, the trademark lamb meat taste came through.

I ate a lot of pita bread with the Merguez, if only to drown out the spicy aftertaste in the back of my throat. The deliciously creamy humous with olive oil was also great to snuff out the spiciness. The humous was thick enough to really stick to the bread. I hate runny humous.

Next, came my favourite dish of the night: lamb with roasted potatoes and prunes. I love that all the entree dishes are served in traditional tagines. The vaulted lids are the coolest things: trapping the heat inside the dish, and also encasing the rich aroma from the spices and sauces. The lamb was exquisitely tender, falling apart so easily that we could only use spoons to scoop helpings from the tagine dish. The prunes added a sweetness to balance the gamey taste from the lamb. And the potatoes added a heartiness to the whole dish.

The chicken tagine was tasty as well, the chicken was cooked with saffron and herbs. The meat was tender and flavourful but the flavours were not nearly as rich and strong as the lamb tagine. Plus by this point, I was pretty stuffed and I was still trying to save room for dessert!

Our side dishes included couscous and chick peas with vegetables. Both went well with the lamb and the chicken. I normally don’t eat couscous since I’m not a fan of its gritty texture but the way it’s cooked in the tagine actually made it tender. Somehow the little grains of couscous seemed more plump and soft. Must be something in this British water! The chick peas were also very plump, soft and tasted wonderful when paired with the heavier flavours from the lamb and the spicy lamb sausage.

Dessert came on a plate dusted with powdered sugar, and it was one of my favourites: baklava. If baklava is the last thing I eat, I can die happy. And the baklava at Souk Medina was definitely up to par. Layers of crisp pastry soaked in honey with crunchy, sweet nuts in each layer, these baklava squares were scrumptious. Each little bite was sweet, sticky and delectable, this was the perfect ending to a very enjoyable meal!

McDonald's, 112-114 Camden High Street, Camden Town, London, England

McDonald’s

112-114 Camden High St., Camden Town, London, England

We couldn’t be away from home for too long without having McDonald’s. Thank goodness for globalization! As a midnight snack, we visited the McDonald’s near Camden Town. I had the biggest craving for a McFlurry, and they make one with a UK candy bar called Wispa. A Wispa is a milk chocolate bar made by Cadbury and the inside is filled with aerated bubbles throughout the malted milk chocolate, sort of like our version of an Aero bar. At least that’s what comes up in Google. I didn’t get to try the McFlurry because believe it or not, McDonald’s in London stops making McFlurrys after 10 pm. Isn’t that crazy? We were in Camden Town, the clubbing district. Does nobody get late night munchies around here?

Anyhow, as I was deciding on option two for my midnight snack, my friend noticed a celebrity in line behind me. I wouldn’t have picked him out from a line up but it was the young, British actor, Will Poulter who played Eustace Scrubb in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I guess the movie biz doesn’t pay that much if he’s dining at McDonald’s with us.

I finally decided on my fail safe Micky D’s choice: McNuggets. They come in boxes of nine here, perfect for sharing since there was three of us. I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped when the server asked me if I wanted Oriental sauce with that though. In Canada, we refer to Asians as Asian-Canadians. The word, ‘Oriental’ is considered a derogatory term. My friend (also Canadian but had lived in London for a few months now) quickly whispered that what the server meant was ‘sweet and sour sauce,’ so I quickly found my voice again to spit out, ‘no thank you!’ We went with the sweet chilli sauce instead which really tasted like sweet and sour anyway.

And get this: they serve onion rings here! Just like A&W back home. McNuggets and onion rings more than makes up for my lack of midnight McFlurry. As for the taste test, how do these deep fried goodies match up with Canadian McDonald’s? Well, the McNuggets were not as moist as Canadian McNuggets. You could tell they used white meat whereas in Canada, McNuggets still hover over that category of ‘mystery meat.’ Also, I still cannot identify why but the batter on these UK McNuggets left a curry aftertaste in our mouths. The texture was still nice and crispy though.

The onion rings were fried perfectly. They used big, round and thick onion rings, and the batter was equally thick, crispy, salty and well seasoned. We should really get onion rings into Canadian McDonald’s, we could call ‘em McRing’s.

The Pasty Shop

Waterloo Railway Station

One of my goals on this trip was to try a real Cornish Pasty. They are traditional meat pies originating from Cornwall in the 17th century. They look like a large pocket – flaky pastry folded over and sealed by a braided edge, the fillings range from meat and potatoes to cheese and vegetables. Tin miners in Cornwall would eat these pasties during the workday since the pasties were portable and easy to eat without utensils.

The Pasty Shop is a chain in London and we saw them in many tube stations. We tried the one at Waterloo station on our way to the London Eye. We waited in line as busy commuters (in business dress and casual wear) rushed to pick up their pasties to take to work or school. There were all different types of pasties in the display case, but I decided to go with the most ‘British’ one in my opinion: the sausage and mash which was meat and potatoes.

We ate the pasty on the spot but could have easily toted it along for our London Eye ride. It was a typical cool and foggy day that day in London so the warm pasty really hit the spot. The outside of the pasty was light and flaky, slightly salty and delicious. The filling was incredibly substantial for the price we paid. This could’ve really been a lunch for one of us. There was a little bit more potato than sausage but the filling was still tasty. The potatoes were mashed with a few rustic chunks throughout, and the sausage was salty and well seasoned, large cubes of it were found throughout the pasty adding to the texture and taste of the package.

Krispy Kreme

Waterloo Railway Station

Heathrow Airport

I’m going to confess that Krispy Kreme is one of my one true loves in life. I don’t think I can live without my Krispy Kreme original glaze doughnut. And this is an old piece of celebrity gossip but I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale gave their wedding guests boxes of original glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts as wedding favours. How awesome is that?

So I was over the moon when I spotted the Krispy Kreme stand at Waterloo station across from the Pasty Shop. We ordered the glazed strawberry-filled and the chocolate glazed. Lo and behold (also thanks to globalization), these doughnuts tasted exactly the same as they did at home. Soft, delicate and light, fluffy insides, covered with heavenly sweet and sticky glaze. The doughnuts were so light and cloud-like that we inhaled them in a minute flat.

We also bought an original glazed to share at Heathrow Airport. Near the end of this trip, I really couldn’t get enough of Krispy Kreme. And yes, the original glaze tasted identical to my beloved Canadian Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnuts.

The Well Bread Bakery, 381-383 North End Road, London, England

The Well Bread Bakery

381-383 North End Road, Fulham

London, England

Smack dab in the middle of North End Road Market in London England is The Well Bread Bakery where we went for coffee and breakfast. Home to a large Middle Eastern community, Fulham is filled with lots of great Middle Eastern restaurants, grocers and bakeries such as The Well Bread Bakery and the Best Mangal II. A great thing about North End Market is that it’s open 6 days a week from Monday to Saturday as opposed to some of the other markets in London that we visited such as Portobello Market (Antiques Market, only open on Saturdays), Brick Lane Markets (street food and stalls only open on Sundays) and Borough Market (only open Thursday to Saturday). North End Market was also the first place where I saw fruits and vegetables sold by the bowlful: 1 pound per bowl or “scoops” as they called it. You probably don’t get to keep the cute little bowl; but I found the concept pretty intriguing. It really stops customers from messing up your stand by rifling through huge bins of fruits and vegetables.

Another first that I found amusing was the egg cart! Eggs are never sold in carts in Canada! The fresh egg cart outside of The Well Bread Bakery sold all types of eggs, large medium and small, brown and white. Only in England can you walk downstairs from your flat to pick up half a dozen eggs from an endearing little run-down cart.

What drew us to The Well Bread Bakery at first were the plates piled high with fragrant fried rice and the dishes of samosas. Having had a lot of exposure to Middle Eastern cuisine back home, I have a great appreciation for the food and culture. And what goes better with morning coffee than some deep fried samosas and piping hot goat cheese pasties? We ordered a selection of samosas and pasties to share. The samosas came with lamb stuffing, chicken and vegetables and the pasties were filled with cheese and spinach.

Naturally, I loved the cheese-filled pastie better than the spinach. The dough in the pastie was soft but firm enough to not get soggy when heated. The cheese filling was both crumbly and creamy in the middle, the spices were light. There was a stronger hint of mint and cumin in the spinach-filled pastie.

The samosas were incredible, especially the lamb-filled one. The lamb meat was succulent and flavourful, even though it was in a ground-up filling. The outside of the samosa was crispy and light, flaky and fresh. The chicken samosa was the spiciest, with a strong curry flavour, heavy on cumin, paprika and turmeric. The spinach filling in the samosa was similar to the filling in the pastie.

The Well Bread Bakery was also filled with a ton of other goodies such as shelves and shelves full of Turkish Delight; Edmund from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe would have been in heaven. More shelves were lined with baklava. The Well Bread Bakery even makes fancy cakes in all different shapes, even designer shoes.

To drink, we ordered a couple of Middle Eastern soft drinks which came in flimsy cans. The tab on our guava juice broke as soon as we tried to open it. They were very nice about exchanging it for us though. The actual guava juice was delicious, light and refreshing. The other drink we chose was called Vimto and it was a carbonated grape juice which I found insanely sweet and extremely bubbly.

Next we ordered a couple of pizzas with half toppings of lamb and cheese. The pies were served to us hot with the cheese still bubbling. The ground lamb, although it doesn’t look that appetizing in the photos was incredibly tasty, nicely seasoned with the natural robust lamb flavours coming through too. The cheese was stretchy and mild, a great compliment to the stronger lamb topping. The pizza crust was very crispy on the bottom, not a hint of sogginess, and the crust along the edges was chewy and crunchy.

I think I chose badly for dessert because what I thought would be a rich and dense sweet pie turned out to be a hard, sticky tart with a very firm, crumbly crust. I chose the apricot tart with a glaze that turned out to have the texture of glue. The crust may have been made from a coarse-ground flour giving it a very tough exterior. The tart filling was tooth-achingly sweet so it wasn’t a great combo with our sweet, fizzy grape drink either.

By this point though, I was quite amused by UK coins, they’re at least 5 times the thickness of Canadian coins. Were these the same heavyset coins used by Ancient kings? Carrying these little anvils in my pocket for 2 weeks definitely stretched out the pockets of my jeans.

I loved the food at The Well Bread Bakery, and will totally revisit when I get the chance.

Italian Pizza Connection 94 Bishop's Bridge Road, Bayswater, London, England

Italian Pizza Connection

94 Bishop’s Bridge Road, Bayswater

London, England

Recommended to us by a friend, Italian Pizza Connection is an authentic Italian pizzeria with ultra friendly staff and gigantic, thin crust pizzas. Since it was very near our hotel in Bayswater, we decided to check it out. It had been a particularly long morning since we had just checked into our hotel (yes, we got lost on the way there), we had nearly nothing for breakfast, I almost missed my morning coffee (I am pretty much a monster without my coffee in the morning), and we were famished by lunch time. A giant pizza sounded perfect.

As soon as we walked in, we got a big waft of baking pizza, rich tomato sauce, smells of freshly baked pizza crust and smokey smells of herbs and spices. We knew we were in the right place!

If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that I am not a fan of green, leafy vegetables. My travel mate is the exact opposite, not only does she love green, leafy vegetables, one of her favourite types is spinach. Spinach has got to top my list of most despised vegetables (except when it’s smothered in cheese in a creamy spinach dip). I hate the way it makes my tongue rough, I don’t like how it gets all limp and oily when cooked, and the taste, I can really do without. So needless to say, we had to get a split topping pizza. And believe me, half a pizza each at Italian Pizza Connection was plenty.

We decided on the two toppings named Tom and Jerry which was mozzarella, frankfurter sausage and french fries, and the Fiorentina which was mozzarella, tomato, spinach, two eggs and Parmesan. Guess which topping I chose.

Now the fun thing about Italian Pizza Connection is that they let you toss your own pizza dough. As much as I don’t like getting my hands dirty, I have to admit that this was pretty fun. And really, the chef behind the counter does all the heavy duty kneading, he just tosses it over the counter to you for a ceremonial catch. I was pretty petrified that I might be hit in the face by it though; thank goodness the chef had a good aim and threw the huge, flat flying saucer of dough right at my hands!

When our pizza finally arrived, both our jaws dropped at the sheer size of the thing. We already knew this place is famous for large pizzas, and it’s even advertised on the menus that the pizzas are 16 inches. It was still shocking to lay eyes on the beast of a pizza though. Good thing we were hungry!

The Tom and Jerry topping was delicious. The frankfurter sausage was salty and scrumptious. The fries look like cubes of pineapple in the picture but they were perfectly cooked home fries, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The best part was the gooey, stretchy mozzarella cheese, not only binding the toppings to the pizza, but also giving the thin crust pizza more heft and weight.

It’s pretty incredible that for such a huge pizza, the thin crust is not soggy at all, it was amazingly crispy throughout even in the middle parts of the pizza where the toppings were the heaviest.

The eggs in the Fiorentina topping looked wonderful when the pizza arrived; they were bubbling hot, and the way the thin egg white membrane jiggled, I could tell there was a soft, slightly squishy, slightly runny yolk underneath. And I was right! I love runny yolks, and I love pizza; this was a combo made in heaven. It almost makes up for the fact that this runny yolk was running all over a spinach topped pizza.

In general, the Fiorentina topping was quite delicious, it was a light and balanced match to the meat and potatoes topping of the Tom and Jerry. And even though the spinach was limp in the topping, it managed to soak up enough tomato sauce to hide most of its spinach-taste.

We did end up eating this entire pizza in one sitting and in less than two hours. We attempted to document our progress too. See below pictures.

I am definitely visiting this place again on my next trip to London!

Palms of Goa, 4 Meard Street, Soho, London, England

Palms of Goa

4 Meard Street, Soho, London, England

You read that right. The best curry in London is in Soho in West London, in a dark alley, tucked away from the action but serving up some of the best curry and naan I’ve ever tasted. I have always thought that the best curry in London, England was to be found on Brick Lane in East London. I spent so many years fixated on that idea, and have read so many articles and blog posts about Brick Lane that I made it a point to trek out to East London on a Sunday to taste the curry there for myself. As you’ve read, we didn’t have such a great experience. Instead,  a week later, we serendipitously stumbled upon a curry restaurant in Soho, near Chinatown, and a few blogs away from the West London clubbing district. Admittedly, we had walked into another nearby restaurant and found that we couldn’t be seated for two hours. So wandering around, aimlessly and hungrily, we found Palms of Goa. Since I STILL had my naan craving and we were looking to redeem our bad curry experience, we went in.

We were seated right away. And we ordered a plate of naan right away too. For an appetizer, we ordered the paneer pakora. Paneer is Indian cottage cheese, its firm texture, similar to that of a firm tofu makes it a great cheese to deep fry. Served to us with a green curry dipping sauce, the 3 pieces of pakora were hot and crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside. The cheese was melted to the degree of becoming a soft, adsorbent sponge to soak up the wonderfully spicy green curry. The pakora dough was grainy and crumbly and also sponged up the curry nicely.

Our naan was served at the same time as our two entrees: barbecued lamb chops and Goan chicken curry (coconut milk based, medium hot curry). I grew up with  many East Indian friends, and they’ve always told me that any meal is not complete unless the naan is outstanding. The naan at Palms of Goa was more than outstanding. Piled on a plate, hot and fragrant, these slices of leavened, deep fried bread were bubbled up to perfection, and their soft, layered insides were just right for mopping up all the delicious chicken curry. We enjoyed our first order so much that we put in a second naan order.

The big bowl of chicken curry was extremely tasty. The coconut milk in the sauce balanced out the spiciness, and added a fresh sweetness to the dish. The chicken inside the curry was cut in large chunks. Despite their hunky cubes, each piece was very tender and soaked through with the curry spices and flavour. Since the curry in this dish was not fiery spicy, I could taste each layer of flavour, as my tongue tingled lightly with each soft hit of spice. The cumin flavours rounded out the sauce in a hearty warmth underlined by the sweet coconut milk.

The barbecued lamb chops were served in a sizzling cast iron pan. The meat was amazingly tender, falling off the bone at the touch of my knife. And I was using a butter knife! The robust lamb meat flavour contrasted with the milder flavours of the chicken meat in our other entree. And both entrees went great with our soft, fluffy naan.

I’m so glad we found this restaurant, and even happier that I satisfied a long awaited naan craving! This just goes to show that there are hidden gems around every corner in London. This city never ceases to surprise me.

Brick Lane, London, England

Brick Lane Markets

London, England

If you’re looking for something to do on a Sunday in London, England, you must visit Brick Lane Markets for good eats, bargains, and believe it or not, even haircuts. You can get almost anything on Brick Lane, and yes, that includes haircuts, massages and even a manicure, right on the street outside of the stalls. It’s a pretty incredible sight to see, a true street market with everything to offer.

Brick Lane has a rich history, named for its cobblestone brick roads, buildings and sidewalks, this East London district is home to a large Indian community. Both Salman Rushdie and Monica Ali have used Brick Lane as a setting for their novels. London graffiti artist and political activist, Banksy has also used the brick walls in and around Brick Lane as canvases for his art. Brick Lane market is spilling of buttons, t-shirts and posters featuring Banksy’s work. Our friend, whom we were staying with has a Banksy poster in his apartment, the famed one with the little girl in a dress letting go of a red heart-shaped balloon. This image will forever remind me of London. I even bought a little wooden block imprinted with the image to display at home.

Now, onto the food. Brick Lane is famous for curry but it’s hard to focus on that when there are so many street food vendors on the lane, inside the market and other surrounding markets. Brick Lane stalls and food stands are only open on Sunday from 8 am to 2 pm. So if you want to visit, get up early, and go hungry.

Our first stop was an Indian Sweets and Fry shop called Ambala. We wanted to pick up something small but hot just to tote around and nibble on while we shopped the stalls. We picked the Lamb Pakora, and it was served to us piping hot in a paper bag, perfect for the cold, grey, drizzling London morning. The savoury pastry was hot and a little spicy, it definitely warmed me up. The outside of the pastry was crispy but the inside was soft and crumbly, the gram flour it was made of crumbles much more easily than wheat flour. The lamb stuffing was pretty substantial, mixed in with curry and onions, this pastry ended up becoming quite a filling snack. The lamb meat, although ground up was still very tender and flavourful (well, during those bites when my tongue didn’t light on fire with the hits of curry).

Our next stop was for sweets.

We stumbled upon the Sweet Tooth Factory inside a small building on Brick Lane referred to as the Food Market Boiler House. It smells phenomenal inside. There is food from all over the world, Thailand, China, Indian, and lucky for us, North American treats like cupcakes and cheesecakes at Sweet Tooth Factory. Their cute cupcakes decorated gorgeously and lined up in rows ready to be purchased and devoured. I picked my all-time favourite, the red velvet. I also chose a vanilla cheesecake.

The red velvet cupcake was brilliantly red, as all sexy red velvets should be. It tasted just as good as it looked, sinfully moist, tooth-achingly sweet and the swirl of cream cheese frosting was the perfect partnership of sweet and hint of saltiness from the cream cheese. I would go back to Brick Lane again, just for this one cupcake.

The vanilla cheesecake was on a graham cracker crust, which is not my preference (I like shortbread crusts), but the cake itself was unique. The texture was rustic but I liked it. The cake was dense and thick, sticking to my fork with every bite. It was not as sweet as the cupcake, and the subtle vanilla flavour really came through at the end of each bite, rising to the tip of my tongue as I swallowed the thick, creamy bites. I like to think of this cheesecake as a rustic, masculine version of a usually wimpy, silky and delicate dessert. This is the street food version of cheesecake, with its courser texture and firmer body, you could eat this with your hands as you shopped Brick Lane and it wouldn’t crumble or melt.

Our last stop was Spitalfields Market, a large open-air building with clothing and art stalls. I was determined to try a meat pie so I walked into Square Pie, a small shop near one of the side entrances of Spitalfields. I chose a chicken curry meat pie. Like the name advertises, all the pies are square shaped, which I found cute and amusing. The chicken curry pie was pretty delicious. The crust was flaky and buttery but still sturdy enough to hold quite a lot of chicken and curry filling. The curry oozed out as we cut the pie open with our forks. The curry was pretty mild, not as strong as the lamb pakora we ate earlier in the day. The chicken was very tender, and tasted surprisingly well-marinated. This was a meat pie, after all. In the olden days, meat pies were filled with meat scraps from the kitchen. I guess that isn’t the case these days.

Brick Lane is a wonderful place to take photos, explore, shop and most of all to eat!

Borough Market 170 Upper Richmond Road West, London, England

Fish! Kitchen

Borough Market

170 Upper Richmond Road West, London, England

For our London fish and chips meal #3, we headed to Borough Market. Nobody loves public markets as much as I do, and London England is full of them–each one more different than the next, and each one full of little nooks and crannies to explore. Borough Market is both a food wholesaler and a retail market located under the railway viaducts in South East London, near the River Thames and walking distance from Tower Bridge (or the famous landmark bridge known to everyone else as London Bridge). Borough Market is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and is a trendy place to buy groceries and also to pick up unique snacks and sweets.

Borough Market has a rich history, the market dates back to the Roman times. Due to its strategic location near the River Thames, Borough Market was a central point for trading. Today, movies that have been filmed at Borough Market include Bridge Jones’ Diary, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

We visited late on a Thursday night and walked through the food stalls where there were stalls filled with rows and rows of Turkish Delight, cheese vendors and fruit sellers. We headed straight to the fish and chips stand: Fish! Kitchen. The smell and sizzling sounds of fried fish coming from this stand were incredible.

This was by far, my favourite fish and chips meal in London. The square of deep fried fish, still sizzling hot as it was served to us in a neat long rectangular carton was resting on a bed of equally hot and thick fries. Here’s what I loved about this fish: the amazing crispy and well-seasoned batter. If you’ve been reading, you’ve discovered that I love the batter on fish and chips, sometimes even more so than the actual fish. I also didn’t even think it was possible to season a batter so that it tasted just as flavourful as the actual fish it was wrapped around. But this batter, a beautiful golden brown on the outside was wonderfully moist on the inside, the underside of the batter actually tasted of a sweet, cooked egg mixture seasoned with salt and light spices. The batter was also insulating the fish so well that this fish was not only moist, but also very juicy as compared to the fish and chips we tried at both the Fish Pond in Portobello Market and at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub.

The fries, also thick cut and short were also moist on the inside but crispy on the outside. Somehow, these fries had a sweet taste to them, there was a very light egg custard-like aftertaste to them, which I loved and found unique. These fries were also not overly salted, which made them a great match to the fish, which was more seasoned than the other fish and chips we’ve tried. Also like the other fish and chips we have tried, the skin was left on the fish. I really like this about fish and chips in England. It really gives the fish more flavour, and insulates the meat, making the fish more moist.

I love the cardboard carton (with holes in the lid to prevent sogginess) the fish and chips were served in, it was the perfect container to tote the food in as we wandered the market and later on walked to Tower Bridge.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub, 145 Fleet Street, London, England

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub

145 Fleet Street, London, England

Recommended to us by a former resident of London, England, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub is a real English pub, dripping in history and chock full of charm. And I really stress “real” English pub, this place is smack dab in the middle of Fleet Street, a bustling political hub and also home of the British Press from the 16th century all the way to the 1980s. Where else have you heard of Fleet Street? It’s also the setting for many famous novels and movies, Sweeney Todd being one of them, and of course Charles Dickens has used Fleet Street as a setting for his books, most famously A Tale of Two Cities.

We visited Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub after a visit to the Tate Modern; it was only a short 20 minute walk from the museum. There’s nothing quite like walking through the streets of London, every corner is steeped in history, the intricate and weathered architecture of each building tells a story, and even the way the roads and sidewalks are mapped out, in winding paths leading from wide roads to tightly packed city blocks. On the way to the pub, we passed the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana married Prince Charles, the large domed rooftop of the Cathedral with the bright street lights bouncing off its surface looked even more magnificent at night than it ever did on television during Princess Diana’s wedding.

Following the trusty moving red dot on our iPhone, we finally found Ye Cheshire Cheese through a narrow, dark alley. We were happy to slip into the warm, homey pub, out of the cold, London night. We were seated right away in a booth with long wooden benches near the fireplace. We were surrounded by other travelers and some local diners, everyone was talking loudly and happily, it was an all around very inviting and jolly atmosphere. The first thing we ordered was an apple cider to share. We thought it was a very British thing to drink. Also, during the length of this trip, we became quite addicted to apple cider.

Even though it was served to us chilled, something about the deep sweetness in the apple cider really hit the spot and sedated my hunger for a little while, and warmed me up from the cold walk. The unique and delicate finish on the cider also whet my appetite for our meal.

We thought it would be appropriate to order the Cheshire cheese board, it came with three cheeses, pickles, bread and a garden salad. This is how I’ve always pictured a light English lunch to look like. The colours were brilliant when the bowl was served. The three little rectangular blocks of cheese were served in a bowl, not an actual board but I guess I was taking the menu a little bit too literally. Perhaps this was the pub’s modern spin on a rustic, traditional dish. There were also some juicy apple slices and sweet fruit preserves served with the vegetables and cheese so there was a very good mix of flavours and texture in this dish. All three cheeses were hard cheeses though, I am partial to soft, creamy, mild cheese but I think the three cheeses in this dish really stood up to the cider and started our meal on a strong, hearty note.

The bright orange cheese is called the Red Leicester. Despite the fact that in appearance, it looks like the firmest of the three cheeses, it was actually the creamiest at the press of a knife. The flavours were rich and deep and were only further enhanced by the sweet and crisp apple slices. Not to mention that the colour was absolutely gorgeous.

The lighter block of white cheese is the traditional Cheshire cheese, the pub’s namesake. An aged, crumbly cheese, the flavours were unsuspectingly sharp, only hitting the back of my tongue and throat as I was swallowing. The texture was the most interesting, a cross between a hard feta and a creamier goat’s milk cheese.

The firmest cheese in the bowl was the other white cheese, which was a type of cheddar. It went well with the fruit preserves. The tart sweetness in the preserves bringing out the strong salty flavours in the cheese.

Our second fish and chips order of the day (our first being at the Fish Pond in Portobello Market), this time it was served with a side of boiled carrots and peas and plenty of tartar sauce. Ye Cheshire Cheese Pub seems to use a lot of individually packaged sauces and bread butters, for me, this kind of takes away from the charm of the pub. The fish was fried to crispy perfection. The portion was a little bit smaller than the Fish Pond’s fried fish but like the Fish Pond, the skin was left on, which I loved. The inside of the fish was moist and flaky, but the batter was not as thickly coated as at the Fish Pond which may be to a regular diner’s liking, but I actually strangely love deep fried batter, so this was disappointing for me. The fries were not as thick and juicy as at the Fish Pond. I suppose I am too in love with Fish and Chips as street food to even attempt to compare it to a pub version of fish and chips. The extra sides of carrots and peas did help me justify this dish as a well balanced meal though and I felt less guilty eating all that fried food in one sitting.

We also didn’t feel as if our traditional English pub meal was complete unless we ordered a real roast, we settled on the Pot Roast Shank of Lamb with mash and onion gravy. I nearly melted when I saw and smelled the thick and juicy roasted lamb shank in a bowl full of steaming hot gravy with that fluffy, generous scoop of mashed potatoes floating alongside it. The lamb meat was so tender that it just fell right off the bone. It was wonderful that this was served with lighter onion gravy as it really balanced out the stronger, gamey lamb meat flavours. The mashed potatoes were rustic style, only lightly mashed so that I could still feel some grainy textures from the potatoes, and the mash was still thick enough to soak up gravy and remain in a solid mass as opposed to melting into mush. Creamy and salty, the potatoes’ more mild flavours made them a great side to the lamb shank.

Another traditional English dish that we picked was the Bangers and Mash. The mashed potatoes were made in the same style as our roast lamb dish, the sausages in this dish were delicious. They were charred just enough so that we could taste their smokiness, the meat was salty and hearty, very well spiced and seasoned. The pork flavour and the spices in the sausages were only further enhanced by the sweet cider that we drank throughout the meal.

No meal would be complete without a proper dessert. We were set on pudding. We tried to order the spotted dick (yes, the name still makes me giggle), but the pub was out of that dessert. The spotted dick, apparently, is a very popular English dessert, a bread pudding spotted with currants. We tried to order it at least three times during our stay in London, and every time, the restaurant was already sold out. So we settled on a chocolate pudding, smothered in custard, which turned out to be an excellent choice. The pudding was dense and rich, the centre of the pudding was so warm, melty, gooey and sticky that if this was the last thing that I ever ate, I think I would be satisfied. I have a deathly sweet tooth. The sticky custard blanketing this pudding also pushed the dessert over the top, I could just eat endless bowlfuls of that custard on its own.

This was an incredible meal at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub. I hope that the next time I stop by the spotted dick pudding will be in full stock.