Plant based pit stop at King's Cross

Plant based foods are getting so popular that there is a Plant Based Pit Stop at Kings Cross St Pancreas.

It features four pop ups under one roof.
Pipoca, Vida bakery, Mother and Palm Greens.

They are all equally as good but I have a sweet tooth for the delicious eggless cupcakes at Vida Bakery and their rainbow cake.

I definitely recommend the red velvet cup cake.

[Restaurant Review] Halloumi Burger at Burger King UK

The Halloumi Burger at Burger King was launched last summer in 2019 for a while to test the market.
It is now back again so I decided to try it.
There are three different versions: Single, Double and Spicy.

Again I went to Stratford's Burger King because it was cheaper.

Halloumi is a Greek Cheese that is white and very different to your regular cheese because the texture is firm with a chew.
Most Halloumi burgers I have tried have grilled Halloumi but the one at Burger King is deep fried.

The Halloumi burger at Burger King looked quite nice with mayonnaise, lettuce, onions and tomatoes.
Taking a bite, the halloumi was quite tough and chewy but tasted good with the creamy mayonnaise and onions so ordering the single halloumi was wise as two would be too much to chew on.

Overall, I liked it more than the Rebel Whopper because it just tasted weird.

[Review] 天之樂素食 Tempeh Burger

Tempeh comes from Indonesia, so you will know what it is if you have tried it.
If you haven't it is basically fermented soy beans that form a soy bean cake in the fermenting process. Tempeh is popular in the West as it is high in protein which makes it a good vegetarian ingredient.
I like it the way the West have taken it to the next level by making modern Tempeh with green peas, quinoa and even peanuts.

As well a Tempeh, Jackfruit is another fruit from the East which is popular in the West.
In the East, Jackfruit is just a fruit, while in the West they use raw jackfruit as a vegetarian ingredient in dishes.
In the UK, we have Tempeh Man which serves Tempeh Curries and you can also buy ready to eat Tempeh at the supermarkets available in original and curry flavoured as well as Tempeh kits to make your own Tempeh at home. The fermentation process is started by culture that contains Rhizopus mold which grows and binds the beans together.
Think of the white mold like the white mold for Brie depending on what culture they use.  The prices of Tempeh in Hong Kong vary from a few dollars at Indonesian shops to a whopping HKD78 for a few tiny pieces which I had at NatrualLead in TST.

Finally, Hong Kong has a specialist Tempeh shop in Central where the owners have lived in the US before which makes sense.
Hence their menu is quite comforting for expats offering pizzas, baked potatoes and the signature burger.
It was really difficult making a choice as I wanted to try everything but clearly the baked potatoes is not a popular choice for locals because they just don't eat starchy things.
As much as I would have wanted to try the burger, I ordered the curry tempeh rice so that I could compare it to the UK but unfortunately I was given the baked one with broccoli and cheese but according to the receipt it was what I ordered but I didn't check at the time because the curry was also hkd48.

Although it wasn't the one I wanted to try but it was still delicious.
The tempeh pieces were sticky and firm yet soft similar to refried beans in a tomato sauce that was really tasty. Beneath it was quinoa rice which is healthy as well so overall I was extremely pleased with my lunch.

I was really lucky, they gave me a bag of original tempeh to try which I happily munched as a snack. The pieces of tempeh were nice and soft.

Also had some for dinner paired with marmite and the two go together so damn well.

Definitely coming back for more!
Will probably try the jacket potato and burger next time.
The menu:

Veganuary 2020

2020 is exciting with Veganuary.

KFC will launch a vegan chicken burger, while Costa will serve a vegan ham and cheese sandwich.
Greggs will be serving a vegan steak bake following the success of the vegan sausage roll so January will be a appetizing month for my curious stomach.

Fast food chains like Burger King have joined in as well Subway!

Burger King uses Vegetarian butcher while the suppliers of Subway uses vegan cheese from Violife and vegan meatsballs from Nestle.

Weatherspoons vegan burger sourced from meatless farms co!!

 TGI Fridays and Wagamama are both offering Watermelon!!

McDonalds was a little disappointing though as the only new item was the vegetable dippers!

[Review] IKEA at Ampere Way

Having tried IKEA in Hong Kong, I was curious what the IKEA in UK offered.

Before I went, I browsed the UK IKEA site to see if there was anything exciting.
I was pleased to see that they had the Miso Beef Rib, Chicken & Mushroom Wellington and the Beef Bourguignon on their website.

Unfortunately, all of that wasn't available so I had to try other dishes which were the Marinated salmon with mustard and dill sauce and salad mix, Quarter Jerk Chicken with Chips and the Vegetable Biryani with Veggieballs.
So the only new stuff I ended trying was the Jerk chicken and the Biryani which is not available in Hong Kong.

The salmon was pretty much the same in the sense it was flavoured with dill served with salad.

The Jerk chicken was surprisingly good as the Jerk sauce was spicy with a nice kick to it.

The Vegetable Biryani was a little too soft and it was not hot enough.

Hopefully if I get to visit IKEA again, there will be a different menu.

The thing I like about the IKEA in UK is the tea selection as they offer PG Tips Earl Grey and Breakfast Tea.

A few years ago they used to serve Twinings until they changed to PG Tips.
If you have an IKEA family card, the teas are free.

Menu from the IKEA website.
Miso Beef Rib -
Miso glazed beef rib served with sticky jasmine rice and seasonal vegetables
Contains: Cereals containing Gluten (Wheat), Sesame, Soya

 -
Chicken and Mushroom Wellington served with seasonal vegetables and a vegetarian gravy
Contains: Cereals containing Gluten (Wheat, Barley), Eggs, Milk, Sulphites

 -
Beef Bourguignon served with crusty artisan bread
Contains: Cereals containing Gluten (Barley), Milk, Sulphites
-
Marinated salmon with mustard and dill sauce and salad mix
-
Quarter Jerk Chicken with Chips -
1/4 Jerk Chicken served with chips, wedge of lime and jerk gravy
-
Vegetable Biriyani with Veggieballs -
Vegetable biryani with chunky cauliflower, red peppers, green beans and cashew nuts served with 10 veggie balls (V)