Bibimbap is a Korean dish composed of rice, vegetables and/or meat. This can be (but not always) served in a hot stone pot (that resembles a mortar). With some variations the stone pot can be hot enough so that the rice sizzles, sticks and slighty burns at the bottom (the best part hehe). Before you eat, you give it a good mix, making sure to scrape off all those burnt bits, and bon' appetit!
BiBimBap SoHo - well the name says it all. A Korean restaurant in SoHo that serves bibimbap!
BiBimBap SoHo is probably more well known for their interior decor - polaroid pictures of their customers arranged in pretty patterns on their walls - I have to admit - its one of the reasons why I wanted to eat here in the first place!
So one evening me and the boyfriend decided to pop by and try our luck for a seat! We were lucky and got a seat, on a peak time Friday evening, and almost immediately as well! Phew!
We ordered kimchi pancake as a starter, which was yummy. The pancakes came with soya sauce. This dish was nice, but quite standard.
I ordered a chilli chicken bibimbap which was sooo yummy! I'm glad I ordered it, hehe. Perfectly spiceyand enough vegetables and rice.
Chilli chicken bibimbap
The boyfriend ordered the raw fillet beef - which was again very yummy. But I personally think the Chilli chicken was tastier!
Fillet beef bibimbap
Overall this quirky affordable little place has a very nice buskling atmosphere. The waiters are nice and the service is relatively quick. The price isn't too bad ~£6-7 for a bibimbap. The food is nice - but not particularly special.
I went to riverside studios for a quick lunch with a friend one weekday. We got there early but the restaurant filled up quickly and was almost full when we departed. The terrace, which overlooks the Thames, was closed so we sat inside. For drinks, I decided to have Sicilian lemonade and my friend opted for a hot ginger beer.
Despite having tried their ris tto once before, I decided to have it again simply because I loved it so much the first time round! I had the wild mushroom risotto with rocket and parmesan (previously having had a pumpkin variation) and despite the high expectations, it certainly didn't disappoint! Very flavoursome, creamy and rich without being too heavy or stoggy. Yum! My friend went for sea bass with fennel and green beans.
Wild mushroom risotto with rocket and parmesan
Pan fried sea bass fillet on braised fennel and green beans with salsa verde
The Park Room and Library has been recognised as among ‘Britain’s Best Afternoon Tea’ destinations by the prestigious Tea Guild (constitutive awards from 2008-2011). Typically "Anna's tea"costs £34.50 per person. However, as part of a deal from Groupon both me and M had the very good opportunity to have tea for two for £20 - with the only restriction being the tea selection (Twinings only). Anna's afternoon tea takes place in The Park Room of the Park Lane Marriott hotel.
When you first enter the first thing you see is an elegant flower display. My first general impression was that the room was a bit dim ..but yet too bright near the windows. However, the waiters did try to adjust the blinds every so often. We were first greeted by a rather stone faced hostess, polite but not particularly friendly who escorted us to our table.
The Park Room
Although, the hostess a tad cold. Our waiter was lovely. First to arrive was an amuse bouche - a fruit coctail made of dragon fruit, lychee, melon and some other excotic fruits. This was quite sweet but refreshing.
Amuse bouche fruit coctail
Unlimited tea was avaliable but one tea pot of tea for the each of us was quite enough.
Tea: Twinings Pure Ceylon tea
In contrast to the Ritz, there was more choice of spreads. Here we had the choice of honey, in addition to strawberry jam and clotted cream.
The entire set, including the pastries, scones and sandwiches arrived in one go.
The pastries were very pretty, but like the Ritz, didn't taste particularly spectacular. I liked the fact the chocolate eclair had chocolate cream filling rather than the standard cream. The victoria sponge cake was a bit hard. The best thing was the lemon moose thing.
Pastries (clockwise): Chocolate eclair with choclate cream filling; Opera gateau; Raspberry tart; Victoria sponge cake; Vanilla mille-feuille; Raspberry and pistachio slice; lemon moose
The scones reminded me of scones you find in America. The texture was more crunchy/crumbly and a lot more buttery than the soft/stoggy texture of a typical English scone. These were still yummy, but the ones in the Ritz are probably nicer as these were too rich.
Scones: Plain and raisin buttermilk scones
The sandwiches were, overall, delicious! My favourite had to be the prawn/mayo. The chicken came second - moist and flavoursome. The beef sandwich was not so impressive - rather tasteless, probably needs more horseradish for the amount of beef in the sandwich. Too much cucumber in the cucumber sandwich. The egg sandwich was a tad dry, could potentially do with more sauce. The salmon sandwich was standard, but still yummy. We were offered more sandwiches but we declined because were were just frankly stuffed!
Sandwiches (clockwise): Smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill; Coldwater prawns with marie rose sauce; chicken with tarragon; Eggs with mayonaise and cress; Sirloin beef with creamed horseradish; Cucumber with mint butter.
Overall, we both really enjoyed ourselves. The food was probably slightly better compared to the Ritz, but didn't have that fantastic Ritz 'wow' factor - ambiance does play a big part in eating out. Our waitress was lovely, but otherwise the staff are possibly slightly more stuck-up here than in the Ritz.
Noodle Oodle is a Shanghainese restaurant which serves freshly made pulled noodles (on the menu termed "lamein", in cantonese pronounced "lai-mein"). In Queensway they make the meat using Halal meat making it suitable for Muslims.
The first thing that caught our eye about this restaurant was the chef pulling noodles in front of the main window. To us, it was like 'wow' fresh pulled noodles! - something we normally find in Hong Kong but may be not really here in London. Fresh pulled noodles are one of my favourite - if done well. So we decided to come here for lunch after bowling at Queens Ice and Bowl.
The restaurant itself was fairly dim and the decor so so. Who cares, we've come here for the food!
First we ordered some spicey chicken Shanghainese dumplings. They were nice, but wasn't a particular 'wow' factor. To me it wasn't particularly spicy (although on the side was a chilli and garlic sauce which was delicious!). I also thought it would have been nicer if they were more generous on the meat filling. None the less, not bad.
Chicken and Vegetable dumplings in vinegar and chilli oil
We spent ages choosing the lamein - to choose a spicy one or a plain broth one? Ohh the choices! In the end, we decided to choose two spicy lameins.
The sour spicey lamein - was what it said on the tin - sour and spicey. I was quite disappointed. It would have been nice if you could taste a well made meat broth in the background - and they were sooo stingy on the chicken, I could easily mistaken this as a vegetarian lamein! The noodle itself wasn't bad, ok - but you're only half way there if the soup is rubbish.
Sour spicy lamein with shredded chicken and shrimp
Sze chuan dan dan lamein, was a broth of cloudy sesame soup with chilli oil. This wasn't spicy at all. The broth itself was pretty bland. Didn't like this dish. The broth, key to all soup dishes, was lacking flavour like in the sour/spicy lamein.
Sze chuan dan dan lamein
Overall, the service was ok - the food arrived relatively quickly and the staff somewhat attentive. The food was ok - the most disappointing thing was the broth of both soup dishes. The price was ok ~£6 per soup noodle, a bit dearer for the dumplings ~£5.
Food = 5/10
Service = 5/10
Atmosphere = 4/10
Recommend? no
The Banana Tree specialises in food from southeast Asia, namely Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand etc. We decided to give it a go and went for dinner at their Soho branch.
Inside has exposed ceilings, stool type chairs and low hanging lights, reflecting the street-food/market style settings famed in the Indochina region which of course, wouldn't be complete without a container full of chopsticks in the middle. Overall, I liked the authenticity of it and casual atmosphere. We got there pretty early so there weren't many people, but it filled up quickly later.
Being a Friday night, we had to have an obligatory drik *ahem*. I went for the Dirty Thai Guy *double ahem*, one of their signature cocktails, whilst my friend had a Bellini. Both were nice, though the dirty thai guy was very strong !
Drinks: Bellini and Dirty Thai Guy
We decided to share a starter and went for some filo rolls stuffed with pork and deep fried and served with a sweet dip.
Pork filo rolls
Onto the mains, my friend ordered the chicken pho. It was ok, not the best, but definitely not the worst! I went for the mixed Laksa noodle soup. It was really good, nice and creamy from the coconut milk and a good amount of kick. The prawns too were really sweet and tender, not overdone at all. Unfortunately, near finishing, I saw what every diner dreads; a hair (not the same colour as mine). We told the waitress who looked as mortified as we, and she kindly offered another bowl of Laksa! Since it tasted so good (because of the hair or not), we gratefully accepted and ate mainly the meat and veg, but we were too stuffed to finish the noodles, even between us.
Mixed laksa noodle soup
Chicken Pho
The atmosphere was good and service was friendly and attentive. Even when we complimented the complimentary mango flavoured gummy sweets that came with the bill, the waitress returned with more which was really lovely of her. Overall, we had a very good time and would gladly come again despite the hair (it happens!)
Wahaca is founded by Masterchef winner, Thomasina Miers, and serves Mexican street food. My friend was keen to try it for a long time so we finally decided to go for lunch at one of their branches in Westfield. The restaurant itself is nicely decorated, split into two floors with an outdoor terrace. The design is simple with wooden and stone interior, large overhanging lights and a view into the kitchen based at the back of the restaurant. The mexican masks and blackboards displaying different types of tequila was a lovely touch and added to the authenticity of the restaurant.
For drinks, I decided to have the Horchata which is an almond and rice-milk drink topped with cinnamon which was lovely. My friend opted for the Citrus Fizz.
Drinks: Citrus Fizz and Horchata
For our main, my friend ordered the grilled chicken which was served with a side salad and coriander, onion and garlic rice. She also ordered the Chicken Guajillo Toastada which was essentially a chicken salad on some crispy tortillas but very light and refreshing.
Marinated, grilled chicken with green rice and salad
Chicken Guajillo Toastada
For my main, I decided to choose a few street food dishes. One dish I chose was the Queso Fundido which was a fondue of cactus, onions and cheese and served with tortillas. I expected the dish to be in a bubbling pot with crisp tortillas to dip but was surprised when it was served. In fact, we weren't sure what it was and whether the waitress had given us the wrong dish! It was very messy to eat with the soft tortilla so I left that and just ate the cheesy concoction instead. It was really delicious; cheesy with a spicy kick. The cactus has a good texture too. Yum.
Queso Fundido
I also ordered the Huitlacoche Quesadilla which is had a filling of huitlacoche, mushroom, sweetcorn and cheese sandwiched between two toasted tortillas. According to Wikipedia, huitlacoche, or corn smut (what?!), is a fungus which grows on corn. Unfortunately, I couldn't really taste anything other than mushroom and the occasional sweetcorn. Hum.
Huitlacoche Quesadilla
Finally, I got the Pork pibil taco which was tender and well flavoured.
Pork pibil taco
The bill came to £30 for the both of us and we left full and content. The service was speedy and friendly and we were given free chilli seeds to grow at the end of our meal. The fast service, good food and relaxed atmosphere makes Wahaca a good place for a casual lunch.
This year, as part of an annual festive Christmas dinner with friends we decided to go for Made in Camden which serves modern European/mediterranean cuisine. The ambience of the restaurant was pretty nice - warm, modern, candle lit and a buskling atmosphere.
As a group we went for set menu B, £24 per person (including drinks/service approximately £32 per person). The set menu consists of 5 small savoury dishes to share between two, and a dessert each (of which there was a choice of 2).
The fennel/feta/pistachio was tasty and perfectly seasoned. The pistachio was probably the most dominant flavour in this dish.
The broccoli dish looked very simple. But actually the taste and texture of the dish was in fact surprisingly nice. The onions and broccoli were perfectly cooked, not too hard not too soft. The broccoli had a fresh taste to it and the tomato sauce complimented it very well. The onions themselves were perfectly sweet. Overall this dish was definately palatable.
The pan fried seabass was cooked very well. The skin was crisp and well seasoned. The flesh of the fish itself was slightly bland and possibly slightly over-cooked, but the sumac labneh (the cream/youghurt) was divine and complimented the fish well. Alternatively, there is an exceptionally delicous tomato on the side of the dish that also goes brillantly with the fish. The tomato was like eating a fresh sundried tomato - I've never raved enough about a tomato before! it was sooo yummy!
My dad makes an exceptional belly pork, and is now my gold standard. This belly pork was comparable, very nice, not too fatty and the crackling was yummy (crispy and well seasoned). Instead of the usual combination of pork and apples, this dish had a poached pear (quince) instead. The quince itself was ok, I liked the idea. The red cabbage/maple puree was nice and went well with the pork.
Slow-roast pork belly, garlic and maple puree, braised red cabbage, poached quince
The beef skirt (or 'onglet') was exceptional. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked (medium) and the steak itself was tender. The tomato and onion compot was a match made in heaven with the beef steak! The dauphinoise potatoes were delicous!! I'm not entirely sure what the side greens were, but complimented every aspect of this dish. This was probably my favourite dish of the night.
Grilled onglet steak, tomato and onion compote, gorgonzola dauphinoise
The mains/tapas were nice so far. However, the desserts were a bit of a disappointment. The
walnut and pear tiramisu was, in essence, a cup of mascarpone cheese containing walnuts and pears, sprinkled with a bit too much coco powder (enough to make my friends have a coughing fit every time they took a bite). There was no trace of coffee, liquor or sponge. This dessert was okay, but I felt needed more dimension.
Walnut & caramelised pears tiramisu
The hotcakes were nicer than the tiramisu. However, it was slightly floury. The sorbet was ok, nice, although the sweetness of the hotcake was overpowering so you couldn't really taste the coconut flavour of the sorbet or the blackberry sauce.
Dulce de leche hotcake, blackberry sauce, coconut sorbet
Hotcake open
Overall, I would say that I had a very good time here. The food itself was delicious. The only let downs were the desserts and it would have been much more satisfying if they were more generous with the portion sizes of the mains. The waiter was very nice, the food arrived promtly and the price wasn't too bad.
