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Saturday, September 28, 2024

Chips and curry sauce at Fish n Flame, Finchley high road

Fish and chips, a rare offering as chippies disappear in the city.
This was in North London.
Anyway, very comforting but something tasted funny, not sure if it was the sauce of chips but it got masked away when you ate it together.





Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Pie Mash and Comic heroes at Piecaramba! Winchester

Pie Mash and Comic heroes.
Spotted this quirky restaurant in Winchester serving pie mash with traditional liquer or gravy so had to visit. 
As well as Winchester, there is another branch in Southampton.
Pies come with a choice of mustard or cheesy mash which is just like Mother Mash. 
You can also get crispy onions just like pieminister when they had the mothership at their restaurant before it closed. 
Overall everything was delicious especially the gravy which had a rich chicken taste. 
The beef in the pie was a little dry and the cheesy mash was a let down because there was no cheese taste at all. 
If you've tried it at Mother Mash you will know how cheesy it should be. 
Somehow, I felt that the kids pies would have been fantastic as well because they fillings like sausage and beans, cheese and tomato, chicken in gravy etc and all their pies are inspired by comic characters.
The pie pastry they use is short crust which you can smell when you go in the restaurant.
Last but not least the builders tea was a really satisfying 500ml cuppa and the tea bag is so strong that it does not get diluted in that big mug!
Traditionally, you eat pie mash with spoon and fork but there were no spoons in the utensil bucket but you can request for spoons which they have.
The decor has to be mentioned as well especially the toilet with a lightsaber toilet roll holder, lightsaber lighting and a darth vadar hand dryer.
@piecarambauk











Sunday, September 22, 2024

Souffle Pancakes at Fuwa Fuwa

Currently there are only three places serving souffle pancakes in London: Coffee Addict, fuwa fuwa and Hefaure.
Souffle pancakes have been trending for quite a long time from Japan, however I have had my fair share of these jiggly soft fluffy egg white pancakes.
The ones in Asia are rather boring paired with butter, fruit and syrups or over the top with gold leaf.
Enter, Coffee Addict and fuwa fuwa which conforms more to the UK palatte with flavours like biscoff, chocolate etc.
Souffle pancakes are egg white based hence they are delicate easily tainted by the slightest oil or unpleasant odours from the grill.
This was another reason why I stopped eating souffle pancakes because you get this unpleasant oil or grilled taste to them.
They are quite time consuming as the whipping takes a while to get it to a meringue like consistency which makes sense that they do them in big batches to save time.
My first experience at fuwa fuwa was really good as the souffle pancakes were clean, jiggly and soft, free from that unpleasant grill taste.
Tried the original which is simple and delicious as you get to appreciate the taste of the souffle pancake.
Looking at souffle pancake, there is possibly some cake mixture in there as it hold wells and there is a sponge like texture that can be seen if you look closely.
Overall, I would recommend trying.
The tea here is quite fancy, served on a pearlescent cloud like saucer.
#ssglondoneats








Possibly the first ube souffle pancake at Coffee Addict, Victoria, London

Souffle pancakes have been trending for quite a long time from Japan, however I have had my fair share of these jiggly soft fluffy egg white pancakes.
The toppings and pairings are rather boring these days with butter, fruit and syrups or over the top with gold leaf.
Enter, Coffee Addict which takes souffle pancakes to the next level with possibly the first ube souffle pancake and savoury options.
Souffle pancakes are egg white based hence they are delicate easily tainted by the slightest oil or unpleasant odours from the grill.
This was another reason why I stopped eating souffle pancakes because you get this unpleasant old oil or grilled taste to them.
On the first visit to Coffee Addict, I was impressed because the pancakes tasted how they should however on the second visit on a busier day, there was an unpleasant oily taste on the pancakes.
Aside from the inconsistency, I appreciate the souffle choice at Coffee Addict since it is not mango, matcha and conforms more to the UK palatte.
Tried three sweet and one savoury pancake.
The ube pancake which is purple was also a bit disappointing because it was on the savoury side.
I was a bit disappointed with the savoury pancake because it was not 100%, the souffle base was sweet and the truffle was a bit like petrol.




Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Sael by Jason Atherton

 Jason Atherton's restaurants are everywhere, not just UK.

I tried a few of his restaurants in ASIA so couldn't wait to try this latest one because it is all things British as they source from the UK which is just what we need.
There are just not enough English restaurants these days so I am glad I have this on my list.
The item that caught my eye was the Marmite custard with optional caviar, that was a must for me because I bloody love Marmite!!!

Jason was there so I found out a little more about the restaurant that I wouldn't of known.
The four illustrations on the wall depict the four seasons, the menu reflects the autumn menu with the autumn illustration printed on the back.
Scanning the menu, I was particularly intrigued by this snail ox cheek lasagne which was an interesting pairing.
It turns out that snails are the love of Jason!
Prices are affordable and food comes fast which is impressive.

Started with the marmite custard tart which was exactly what I dreamed of!
Smooth silky savoury custard tart with a marmite kick!
The taste was bold and wasn't shy so it delivered while the caviar takes it to the next level.

Next was the Koffmann potato, black pudding hash, pickled apple.
This was a delicious medley of crispy style confit potato with black pudding and a refreshing pickled apple sauce.

The ember baked crapaudine beetroot, red pepper with fig leaf oil was a sweet pleaser.
Soft and sticky.

The Wood fire port roasted fig, stracciatella and cobnut hummus is a must as cobnuts are in season.
You will be bowled over by the velvety cobnut hummus which is just like hazelnut in taste which is a marriage made with heaven with the sticky sweet fig and creamy stracciatella.

The Orkney scallop, razor clams and smoked leeks were a delight.
It was a succulent tender sweet scallop on a delicious bed of chopped leeks with a crispy crunch and diced razor scallops.

Finished with the lamb doner which was a surprise.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw this and other items on the menu like the maitake skewers and wagyu char siu skewers.
It turns out that it was a lovely pillowy flatbread topped with silky pulled lamb on a cheese swirl and the whole thing was very flavourful with caraway/fennels seeds.

A meal would not be complete without dessert especially in an English meal.
Sadly, lots of old fashioned English desserts are disappearing these days so you either have to get commercially made supermarket ones or dine at fancy restaurants for it.
Although, it is a price to pay, I feel that it is worth it.
When I am dining at restaurants, I always request for the dessert menu as well which helps me to plan what to eat in order to include dessert.
I had the Strawberry jam Roly Poly at the newly opened Sael which focuses on English produce.
It was so comforting seeing this on the menu which was a dessert as part of school dinners but probably not offered these days at school.
It was served sizzling in smoked butter in a metal pot with Jersey custard poured on top.
Although, it was a modern glammed roly poly, nevertheless it was delicious.
It was like a cinnamon roll with strawberry jam and custard which tasted amazing especially the custard.
So don't forget to leave some room for desserts!!

Will definitely be returning very very soon to try other items especially that cheese under my name before it gets super super busy!
Jason has more restaurants up his sleeve this year so Three Darlings will be my next target.
On a side note, I was quite lucky to have an early dinner just before they dimmed the lights for the food photos.




marmite custard tart
Koffmann potato, black pudding hash, pickled apple
ember baked crapaudine beetroot, red pepper with fig leaf oil
Wood fire port roasted fig, stracciatella and cobnut hummus
Orkney scallop, razor clams and smoked leeks

lamb doner




Sael:
1 St James's Market, London SW1Y 4QQ




Childhood classics at Anya Hindmarch Cafe

Discovered the Anya Hindmarch Cafe when the Ice Cream project was launched.
I have been meaning to dine there because they have all the classic English biscuits and treats like bourbon, digestives, party rings, before dinner mint thins and even Wagon wheels.
The cart wheel aka Wagon wheel is probably the most sophisticated one because it has marshmallow, jam, biscuit components so tried that.
It was literally the best wagon wheel ever because the chocolate was so good and the marshmallow had a lovely chew to it.
The biscuit texture was crumbly and wheaty while the jam had a good kick.
I know you can probably get three packs for one of these but these are seriously amazing.
The only gripe was that they ran out of the cookie/biscuit served with coffee which has a King Charles postage stamp on it that is edible.
On the first day of the Ice Cream project, I wanted to try all flavours which was the new ice cream set where you try all flavours, however they were not ready for it yet so I had to get the ice creams directly from the shop which I don't mind but again they are not equipped for ice cream enthusiasts/foodies who want to buy all flavours as they don't even have trays or bags to facilitate this.
#ssglondoneats












Saturday, September 14, 2024

Visiting Cody Dock and eating at the cafe Milagro by the entrance

Cody Dock, a nice place in East London to get away for a few hours.
Located a few minutes walk from Star Lane DLR.
At the entrance was this lovely cafe serving some unique drinks and they even had Moroccan tagine with couscous.
The coconut, turmeric and ginger infusion was nice while the tangine was a bit too acidic but was something I needed that day.