Maritozzi pistachio cream bun at Gelatorino

Ever since I saw these Devonshire splits with generous cream at Fortitude and various other bakeries, I have been dreaming to get my hands on it but it wasn't easy because you have to get there early or patiently wait as the queues are long.

I stumbled upon these Italian style ones called Maritozzi from Rome which are brioche buns filled cream and dressed.

The place that offered it actually specializes in gelato which I might try later but I was pleased with my discovery and they turned out nicer than this sweet treat I was on my way to.

There was hazelnut or pistachio Maritozzi so I had the pistachio because hazelnut is everywhere.

Overall, I was really impressed and enjoyed it because it was light and fluffy while the cream was silky and not overly sweetened.

The pistachio paste they used was a good one again not too sweet with some dryness which you can tell contains a lot of nuts.

It reminded me of the pistachio paste at dal fiorentino.

#ssglondoneats

Nepalese and Tibetan fare at Kailash Momo

I have been wanting to try Kailash Momo for years.

The reason I was eyeing this place was because I was looking to try thukpa noodles and this was one of the restaurants that had it.

In the end, I went to Urban Yak for my thukpa fix.

As I was in the area, I went to Kailash Momo for lunch which was a really good decision because the menu had a good spread from momo dumplings, thukpa, thenthuk to Tibetan butter tea.

The menu was so comprehensive that it was really difficult to decide what to have so had to make two visits.

Interestingly, some of the noodle dishes are similar to Chinese but cooked in a different way.

Here is what I tried:

Laphing:

These were delicate thick noodles made of mung beans, they were so difficult to eat because they kept slipping and breaking.

The noodles were in this delicious garlicky broth topped with fried chilli so it was quite spicy, apart from that I seriously liked it and found them similar to Sichuan jelly noodles.

Phingsha:

This was soup with mung bean vermicelli, potatoes and vegetables, it was nice but there were more vegetables than noodles.

Authentic ones have dried mushrooms as well but I was not particularly impressed with the vegetables here because they were the obviously the frozen ones.

Thenthuk:

This was pulled noodles so it was like pieces of square noodles in the soup.

Overall, it was nice because the soup was flavourful.

Sel roti (Nepali: सेल रोटी):

These were crispy sweet rice rings served like a thali or set with potato salad, spicy sauce and salad.

The rice ring was a bit disappointing because it was too oily and not chewy or perhaps I was comparing it to a Sichuan sticky crispy rice cake.

However the potato salad was so good because it was savoury and different.

Jhol momo:

The dumplings were a bit boring because I have had better ones before.

Kailash Momo:

Delicious zaatar and cheese manukesh at Zeit & Zaatar

My love for Zaatar began when I was a small child, we had Arabic students in the house who would dip this delicious flat bread in some sort of olive oil and green powdery stuff which now I know as Zaatar, sometimes they would have fried egg with it as well to dip.

Zaatar is an aromatic mix of sesame and herbs but you have to find really good ones to get the perfect balance.

The one at Zeit and Zaatar was divine and took me back to the days eating with the students.

I had the zaatar with akawi cheese which is a must try and I like the saltiness you get from the cheese.

Will return and hopefully get a customized one with sumac, nigella seeds, dill, lemon and feta.

Bangladeshi style doner at Royal PFC, Whitechapel

There are so many different doner kebabs out there.
The most common ones are Greek and Turkish but I am partial to the ones in East London which are the Bangladeshi ones.
They are different in the sense, they are sliced and cooked on the grill with onions, coriander, sometimes tomatoes and hatkora/lemon juice/house chilli sauce which makes the doner meat extremely tasty and moist.
The doner at Royal PFC was an example of a good one and it came with a homemade naan bread as opposed to those ready made pittas.
Will be back in East London to review other doner kebab shops.

Hotel Review: Moxy, London Excel

Young and stylish hotel with lots of photo opportunities.

Dim Sum At Yi Ban

Apart from the floating restaurant and Feng Shang princess, Yi Ban is another venue with nice views depending on where you sit.

As expected it was busy but then there is a carpark which facilitates people with cars.

The dim sum was good as expected but was given some extras like paper and flies.

The soy sauce for the rice rolls was really nice and made the rolls moreish as it was sweet with a good balance of saltiness.

The whelks were nice but I think they taste better plain with salt and vinegar as the curry was too sweet.