The Hong Kong Limehouse vs East London Limehouse

Limehouse is an area in East London, part of the borough of Tower Hamlets, towns nearby the Limehouse are Isle of Dogs, Wapping, Shadwell, Stepney, Rotherhithe, Bethnal Green and Ratcliff.

In the old days there were large Chinese communities at Limehouse and Shadwell, established by the crews of merchantmen in the opium and tea trades, particularly chinese workers sold to work overseas. After the Second World War many of the Chinese community relocated to Soho.

For the old generation of Chinese in UK, Limehouse and Popular was a community for workers there with former Chinatown nearby in the Pennyfields. The second/third generations of BBC’s probably have less recollection of that or have been told stories by their grandparents of tales of dish washing and other duties in Chinese restaurants.

Limehouse was a maritime area in the old days with functioning docks, however the modern Limehouse has evolved with the Docklands railway serving it at Limehouse DLR station.

The Limehouse in HK could possibly be opened by a 2nd or 3rd generation BBC who knows the best of both worlds, but that is my guess.

Anyway, I have been longing to try out this restaurant since it opened, but it was closed when I wanted to try, and the phone is hard to get through.

The Limehouse in HK is situated in a secluded side street in Wan Chai, slightly uphill, with wooden windows and doors. When you dine there in the daytime, the gentle sun rays shine through the windows into the restaurant. Perhaps in period before the not so hot summer, it would be great to sit outside and eat, and if there were lush grass areas around it would be wonderful and golden retrievers running loose.

 

 

Well anyway for lunch, there was a simple lunch, which includes soup and mains, I chose the soup and bangers and mash.

When the pea soup was served, it had freshly chopped mint on the top, and fine bubbles on top.
The top layer is fine green foam, and the watery soup beneath it, is a darker green.
The greenness of it was like fresh chlorophyll, the consistency of the soup was very watery, yet it contained pieces of pea in it.
Although it was watery, the taste was intense, and the fresh mint complimented the soup very well.
I think this is the best pea soup I have had so far.

 

For the bangers and mash, it was three sausages on top of mash, a side of peas, and sauce.
The sauce was slightly disappointing because it wasn’t the usual gravy, it was made of mustard, mayonnaise and tasted creamy.

 

The Trifle which I wanted to try wasn’t available that day, but it looks delicious from earlier OR pictures.
In the end, I ordered the Lemon tart, which I haven’t had in a while, the lemon curd was nice and tangy and the whole tart was very buttery, the only thing that ruined it was the black crust on the edge.

 

Overall the meal was good, and it was relaxing dining there with the sun shining through, the sausages could have tasted better, and gravy would have been preferred.
Recently, I found the pork sausages I have been missing at Queen Victoria, the ones served for school dinner that everyone hates in the UK!!

The Ginger spices over the apple

Before this place opened, the shop was already attractive and stuck out from the street.
It had a nice ocean blue background with a simple white logo which represents a slice of cake, the top of the cake logo is actually a "G" for Ginger bakery.

 

 

Anyway after it opened I bought a few cakes to try on my first visit, I was not given a 10% discount card for my next visit, however on my second visit, I was given one, but that time I had already tried everything.
The staff were OK, but perhaps slightly too pushy, as soon as you enter they expect you to be buying and know what you want.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Lime chiffon tart:
On the label it said Lime chiffon tart, but it actually looked like a lemon tart and the colour was like lemon.
The taste was more lemon than lime.
It was not sour either.
The texture of the filling was mousse like, with the fine mousse bubbles popping in your mouth.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Apple crumble:
It would have been great if it came with a scoop of ice-cream or perhaps some whipped cream or hot custard.
Anyway, the apple crumble was quite hard, and the crumble came off the apple.
The apple was slices of apple and not the soft cooked apple I was hoping for.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Poppy seed muffin

California berries series Mini berry tart @ Maxim's Bakery

Maxim's has introduced a summer berries series which uses berries as a theme for their products.
The berries used in this series are: blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and blackberry which sourced from Driscoll.

I was attracted by their California berries series which has four items:

- 8" berries tart with Frangipane
- Summer angel [angel chiffon cake topped with berries]
- Berry mousse dessert
- mini berry tart

I wanted to try the 8" tart but as it was too big I bought the mini version.
The difference is that the mini version does not have Frangipane and blackberries.

Anyway, the tart was light, and the berries were not sweetened which was refreshing, but it was not too sour because there was a thin layer of clear sweet jelly masking the fruit together, and the cream and tart was sweet enough.
A light and refreshing tart that reminded me of strawberries n cream @ wimbledon.

Since, the smaller version was nice, I intend to try the bigger version and the berry mousse dessert.
The Summer angel is basically the angel chiffon cake topped with berries, but the chiffon cake did not taste that nice, so I will not try this cake.

California berries series: 8" berries tart with Frangipane @ Maxim's bakery

Maxim's have introduced a summer berries series, which uses berries as a theme for their products.
The berries used in this series are: blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and blackberry which sourced from Driscoll.

I was attracted by their California berries series which has four items:

- 8" berries tart with Frangipane
- Summer angel [angel chiffon cake topped with berries]
- Berry mousse dessert
- mini berries tart

After trying the mini berries tart, I wanted to try the bigger version so I finally found a store that had it.
When I paid, I was asked if I had a certain credit card because there was a 10% discount, so I ended up paying $142.2.
The tart had already been pre-packed in their fridge, so all they did was bring it out of the fridge and showed me the tart inside.
The box for the cake was HUGE!!! It could fit about three of those tarts stacked horizontally!!!

When I took it home, I realised the tart was firmly attached to the base, it didnt seem to shift when the box swung!
It was good because it kept the tart intact, but it was a nightmare to serve.

I realised it was so hard to cut, and nearer the centre there was hard chocolate between the tart and the paper plate.
So I ended up breaking the slice nearer the centre and when I was lifting it because it was stuck to the bottom.

thick base

Anyway, there was only four blackberries on this tart.

From the pictures you can see how thick the tart base is, it is about the same thickness as the cream.

I believe that they made the tart base thicker in order to use less fruit and Frangipane.
I felt that if the crust was not so thick and instead if they had used a thin layer of sponge or cake on top of a thinner made crust, it would make the texture much better and easier to cut, and of course, not firmly attaching the base with chocolate.

The Fragipane was nice and creamy, sweet enough to compensate for the thick crust.
Overall, I would say the berries tart is better just as Spicygal said.
The berries tart was very refreshing after it had been chilled properly in the fridge.