Zheng Malaysian restaurant

This was not a planned visit to Zheng as the place we wanted to go was full so went here instead as it was raining.

Looking at the menu, they serve Modern Malaysian and Chinese dishes at a finer level being in Chelsea and for that price tag.

I was not too keen on having Malaysian dishes that day so opted for Mapo tofu with rice and Admiral Zheng's wasabi prawns.

For drinks, we had Jasmine tea and Sirap Limau.

The Sirap Limau tasted like lipsticks and was very syrupy but I expected that hence my choice was Jasmine tea.

The Jasmine tea was actually ok but the first cup poured by the staff just tasted like water because the tea leaves had not steeped properly.

Moving on to the food, the Wasabi prawns delivered as they were delicious, although it was a simple dish, the prawns were big and bouncy with a crispy coating smothered in a sauce which tasted of wasabi with salad cream mixed in.

The Mapo tofu was to my liking because it was chicken and not pork with a Sichuan peppercorn kick that has that tingling sensation in your mouth.

However, the Roti seemed to be the frozen ones that you reheat.

But overall as a foodie, I am glad I tried.

ZHENG, Chelsea

Halal dim sum at Bonda Kitchen (Malaysian Food)

Bonda Kitchen in Paddington specializes in Malaysian food hence its Halal dim sum offerings.
What makes their dim sum good is that it does not contain lard which causes bloating and indigestion in my case.

The dim sum offerings were a little different and unique like the duck shao mai which we ordered.

Also ordered roast duck with rice and some blue coloured Smurf crab and prawn dumplings.

The crab and prawn dumplings were pretty much how I expected them to be, the duck shao mai was a bit different to how I expected it to be.

Shao Mai filling is usually minced meat mixed with some flour but the duck shao mai was literally chunk of pulled duck meat which made it quite meaty and a little dry.

Last but not least was the roast duck which turned out to be sliced pieces of aromatic duck served with rice and not roast duck.

Anyway, the duck was quite dry that I felt that it was either left over duck that was refried or duck fried twice as the meat was literally quite crispy and dark brown.

In a way it reminded me of Indonesian smashed duck.

To summarize, I felt that the dim sums fared better.

A refreshing and appetizing curry Laksa at Normahs

Discovered Normahs, a Malaysian hole in the wall eatery at Queensway Market which is basically like a ghetto with lots of fascinating shops and restaurants in a fancy area.

Peering in the eatery, I saw promising bowls of curry laksa so went there a week later.

The menu was the usual with nasi lemak, curries etc but I felt the star of the show was curry laksa so obviously had that.

The curry Laksa did not disappoint as the soup was thick so the soft egg noodles hung the broth nicely.

It was really moreish because the curry laksa soup was refreshing with a gentle spicy kick that was balanced well by the tamarind.

The taste of this curry laksa was similar to butter chicken curry with a hint of tomato.

Will definitely return more frequently if it wasn't for the location.

There are so many different Laksa variations so you just have to find the one that is to your liking.

Laksa variations: curry laksa, assam laksa, Laksa Sarawak, Ipoh, Siam, Singapore etc.

Malaysian eatery Uncle Lim branches from Whitgift in East Croydon to South Croydon

Uncle Lim, a popular Malaysian eatery in East Croydon located on the upper floor of the Whitgift centre has opened another branch in South Croydon.

Since then, they have closed the shop at Whitgift and now permanently based in South Croydon.

Finally paid it a visit and tried the long awaited Hainan chicken which is only available at the weekends.

The hainan chicken was surprisingly good and very different to the Thai and Singaporean version.

It is quite basic with just chicken, a few slices and cucumber and rice.

I liked it because the soy sauce was thick and salty like marmite without the cloying sweetness of the Singaporean style sauce.

The chicken was tender, soft and fresh so overall it was very impressive.

The prawn mee was a bit disappointing as it lacked the richness of prawn as well as the red oils from the prawn head when you boil the prawns for the prawn broth.

For drinks, tried the AW Root beer which was seriously horrible because it tasted like those weird Chinese oil that people apply when they are dizzy.

Address:

47 S End, Croydon CR0 1BF

Malaysian Street food at The Spice Lab - St. Mark's Church turned food hall

I don't eat much Asian food in UK and if I do it has to be worth me going!

This year has been interesting, all the Asian places I have dined seemed to be owned by Malaysians like Olympic Cafe, Eat Lah and Ong Ong buns!

My visit to Mercato Mayfair was mainly because of the location being a church turned food hall!

At the entrance there is a delicatessen and when you go inside you are greeted with a hall of tables with the eateries on the side.

On the ground floor, there is a pasta bar and pizza and upstairs you have the Asian eateries.

Upstairs, I was struggling to choose between the ramen or the Malaysian joint but in the end I decided to have Malaysian fare mainly because the rice is visually striking and I can compare it to EatLah.

I didn't feel like curry so the lady was really nice to do me some chicken satays with their signature tricolour rice.

The food was served on a plate so I was confident I could get photos of it with the alter on the background and not dropping food on peoples' heads!

The owners were really nice and gave me a roast coconut drink which I had at home.

Overall, the chicken satays were tasty, they were sweet itself and the sweet peanut sauce gives it more depth.

The star of the show which was the rice, was my favourite especially the blue rice coloured by blue butterfly pea flower and the tasty yellow turmeric rice.

Also seen on their instagram, they also have green matcha rice and charcoal rice.

Definitely recommended but I plan to come back on a weekday when it is quieter.

Other photos of the church:

London's first blue rice stall Eat Lah now at Boxpark Croydon, UK

Nasi Kerabu (blue rice) is a popular Malaysian dish in Asia.

It is blue because of the butterfly pea flower which is also used in drinks for instaworthy colour changes when lemon juice or something acidic is added changing the pH.

Now you can get Nasi Kerabu at Eat Lah, Boxpark Croydon in UK which is the first stall to serve blue rice.

They started off as a stall in June 2019 which proved so popular that they have now opened a permanent shop at Boxpark.

The only frustrating thing was that the unit is near the speakers that pump loud music so if you have a vocalcord abduction problem you can virtually give up asking any questions or ordering.

As a foodie, I still had to go to try the Nasi Kerabu to see how it fares with the ones I have tried in Asia.

At Eat Lah, they have vegetarian version with tofu and aubergine or the regular one with chicken satay and turmeric chicken.

I got the ayam percik with extra tofu.

Nasi Kerabu

The combo here is filling and balanced but I think the prawn crackers and toasted coconut was missing according to the recent photos and menu.

Anyway as a rice fan, I dug in the pyramid of blue rice first.

It was soft and fluffy, the star of the show was the ginger puree which is similar to the paste you get for Hainan chicken but here there was interesting salty kick which tastes like salted fish but it was pink.

The salted fish appears to be the budu according to the menu.

I was so glad I added the tofu because they were so generous with it, the tofu was soft and supple in this creamy coconut sauce.

Moving on to the chicken, you could really taste the chargrilled flavours, both the texture of the chicken satay and coconut chicken were quite firm as there was some resistance to the fork.

Overall, worth trying 

Saturday:  Lloyd Park E17 10-4pm

Sunday: Crystal Palace Market SE19 10-4pm

Sunday: Victoria Park E3 10-5pm 

Boxpark Croydon

In love with Malaysian Mimi noodles at [Mimila]

There is an abundance of Singaporean food in HK but not many options for Malaysian food.
Discovered this place as I was in Shatin.
What led me here was the escalator that is a travelator to begin with before it ascends into an escalator.

As I was curious, I took them and it led me right into Mimila as it is the first shop that greets you when you get off the escalator.

I loved the baby blue theme and modern bar table by the kitchen.

Mimila is a Modern Malay noodle joint according to the menu and the desserts were captivating as well as the noodles.

Before indulging on the desserts, I had to get a noodle which is the star of Mimila. There are two types, soup or tossed noodles. For May, they are doing Laksa Chicken Rice which looked tempting on the menu as the rice and laksa are separated so the rice doesn't get soggy

I had the tossed noodles with prawn roe dry mimi noodles.

As well as prawn you can choose Spanish white pork slices or White Pepper Ribs for a more Malaysian twist to it.

I was really pleased because I love thin noodles and they serve prawn roe noodles which give it an even more prawny taste. I forgot to take a picture of the hot soy sauce but a few drops to the noodles made them wonderful as the chili in it gave the noodles a lovely spicy flare.

For drinks, I had the Barley Lemon water which was comforting and not too sweet.

Now to the desserts which were equally as good as the noodles. I absolutely love fragrant pandan chiffon cakes and here they serve it with whipped cream and desiccated coconut which makes it taste even fantastic.

The durian Swiss roll was sold out so had the durian cheesecake which was also good.

Definitely coming back again for the other noodles.

[Mimila]:
Shop 704, 7/F, New Town Plaza Phase 1, 18 Sha Tin Centre Street, Sha Tin
Tel: 24789398