[Review] DOC Coffee - Eastbourne

This is another hip coffee joint that opened earlier this year in 2019.

It is run by a Doctor and an IT professional who decided to join forces and open a coffee shop.
The shop owners are really nice and friendly.
Went there with friends one weekend.

There was good range of coffee and there were fancy lattes like Turmeric, Beetroot, Chai and Matcha.

For vegans, they had some vegan cakes and toasts.

As I have already tried the fancy lattes elsewhere, I went for the cheese scone with tea.

The tea was loose leaf tea timed with a timer.

The scone was warm and delicious.

Overall a great place for coffee anytime.

DOC Coffee:
10 Grove Rd, Eastbourne BN21 4TJ

[Review] Flat Iron

Flat Iron is a popular affordable steak house which opened on Beak Street in London since 2012.
Since then, it has become a success and there are now nine branches.

I began dining there a few years ago.
Beak Street was the first place I tried it and I was hooked.
Flat Iron is definitely the place to go hence I always recommend people there.

Recently went to the Tooley Street branch and the quality had gone down a little bit.

The steak I had was full of membrane but they happily changed it for me so the replaced steak was all good.

 After replacement:

The only complaint would be the serving boards they used because there was some off putting smell on them.

The metal cups and plates had paint coming off it which meant rust was in contact with food.

Apart from that I will go back but to a different branch next time.


Youtube:

[Review] Eastbourne's First Cat Cafe

I was so excited when I heard about the first ever cat cafe that was going to open in Eastbourne.

Eastbourne has always been the Victorian seaside town for holiday makers and nothing much has changed until the recent years.
If it had been twenty years ago, the idea would have been strange as every household would have a cat or dog.
Even when I told my friends I was going to a cat cafe in Eastbourne, they were quite amused but I love cats.

In Hong Kong I have been to numerous cat cafes, rabbit cafes and even reptile cafes but the one in Eastbourne was definitely more exciting being in my home town serving tea and English cakes etc.
In Greece, cats roam freely while in Japan, there is a cat island!!

Entry fee is only 5GBP at the moment.
There are other cat cafes in UK but as a Eastbourner I felt that I had to visit this first.
There is also one in Shoreditch called Lady Dinxx which charges 1xGBP entry fee.
Some might query about the entry fee which is quite reasonable because some Cat Cafes in Hong Kong charge a minimum spend per person but the food they serve is terrible while the place is not comfy with tables close to each other or tatami sitting style where you have to take your shoes off.

I was really lucky to be in town and having not made an appointment, I tried my luck as a walk in customer early in the morning while it was still quiet.
When you enter, there is a double door so that the cats don't get out by accident.

Once you are inside, there are lots of comfy sofas.

At the far end there is a food menu and a cake cupboard and at the entrance there are some nostalgic sweets.

As soon as I sat down I was surrounded by cute kitties.

Looking at the menu, there was a good variety of hot drinks, cakes, sandwiches etc.
Having just had breakfast, I just got the tea.

It was really good that the menu was reasonably priced.

They place a wooden spatula on the table after you have ordered.

Overall, I had a lovely time being there with cats and meeting cat lovers so I am definitely coming back.

If you're lucky, you might get a cat falling asleep on your lap.

The Mad Catter Cafe:
7 Station Parade, Eastbourne BN21 1BE

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Wc60mXhTI

[Review] Croydon Miso Noodle Bar

There are four branches of Miso Noodle Bar in UK..
As I was in Croydon, I decided to try Miso Noodle Bar which serves noodles in various styles
The menu had a lot of variety so it was really hard to choose.
Both the Wok Fried Noodles and Sauce based noodles were captivating.

In the end got the number 41. [CHICKEN IN CHILLI AND ORIENTAL BLACK BEAN SAUCE
- Soba noodles, stir fried chicken breast, red and green peppers, garlic and fresh chilli]

When it came, I was surprised how big the portion was.

The noodles had a lovely aromatic black bean smell so it was appetizing.

As expected, the noodles were tossed in lots of sauce topped with generous pieces of tender chicken breast meat.

However, the soba noodles looked a little different to the usual Japanese soba but it was all good.

Will be back to try the other noodles.

Croydon Miso Noodle Bar:

Suffolk House, Unit 11-12, George St, Croydon CR0 1PE

[Review] Berto Pasta

Went here with a friend who wanted to try Berto Pasta which is a new restaurant that opened in the third quarter of 2019.
It was a nice restaurant with an open kitchen, table seating and bar seats around the kitchen so you can watch the chefs cook.

We got a nice table on the side as we got there pretty early before it got busy.

Interestingly, as a fairly new restaurant, the cup was cracked.

As for the glass, there was a small piece of dried red pepper or chili stuck to it.

Looking at the menu, it was impressive as there was a good range, everything was very different so there was a good variety yet difficult to choose in a good way.

On the corner of the menu, I liked the way they illustrated the different types of pastas.

Although the dishes were different, I thought that dishes had to be chosen with thought as some of the ingredients were repeated in the appetizer and mains like the sardines and buffalo ricotta so if you had ordered the appetizer then you might not want to order the mains that contain that.

The sequence of the pasta dishes were important if you are sharing.
It was good that we had the stronger tasting pasta dish last as it really stole the show.

For appetizers, we ordered Fritti Sardines, Buffalo Ricotta with chestnut honey and mint and for the mains it was the Tagliatelle with rabbit white ragu, capers & black paesane olives.
Now this is where the appetizers affected the choice of our other mains, having ordered the sardines meant that if I ordered the strozzapreti as a main then the sardines would be repeated.
My friend really wanted the ravioli but it had buffalo ricotta which we ordered for appetizers.
In the end we settled for the gnocchi which worked out well for both of us as we love gnocchi.

Starters were fab, the sardines were fried to perfection with a light coating and the ricotta was creamy and velvety.

Next was the rabbit ragu tagliatelle which was delicious because each strand was al-dente and you can taste that it is freshly made pasta as they claim.

Finished with the gnocchi with nduja and melted stracciatella.
This totally stole the show and it was fortunate that we ordered this last as it had the strongest flavour in the sense that it was spicy with a salty kick from my favourite Italian nduja salami.
The creamy stracciatella helped to mellow the saltiness and spiciness of the nduja.
As well as the flavour, the texture of the gnocchi was so damn good, it was soft and pillowly with a slight starchiness from the potatoes.

Overall, we had a great dinner and if I am in the area again, I would probably try the Strozzapreti or Ravioli as they are freshly made!
On another topic, if you are in Hong Kong I would recommend PICI which is also freshly made pasta.

Berto Pasta:
155 Holloway Rd, London N7 8LX

[Review] Yummy Noodle Bar

Born and bred in Eastbourne, this was my regular noodle joint for Pad Thai when I was a kid.
Being away from town, I have been itching to go back.

Since my last visit, it is no longer a small noodle bar but a big noodle restaurant with another branch somewhere in town.

Without further ado, the pad thai is a must and I also ordered the Mixed Vegetable chow mein as I have never tried their chow mein.

For the pad thai, there are two versions, a vegetarian one and a non veg one which contains fish sauce.
The vegetable pad thai tasted just as good as before but slightly different to the prawn pad thai as it was my first time having the vegetarian one.

As for the mixed vegetable chow mein, the taste was fantastic.
Each strand was uniformly flavoured and covered in sauce complimented by the crunchy vegetables.

Will definitely be back for other noodles and the price tag is definitely affordable.
Tap water is available and self service.

The Menu:

Yummy Noodle Bar:
Enterprise Shopping Centre
Eastbourne BN21 1BD

https://www.thingstodopost.org/most-popular-asian-food-in-pevensey-united-kingdom-407336