Saturday, October 12, 2019

[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

[Review] London Chinatown's talk of town Wong Kei

Wong Kei is a famous restaurant in Chinatown for its rude service.
It is that famous you can google it on Wikipedia.


All that changed after 2001 when the restaurant got refurbished and friendlier waiters were hired but still there are some cocky ones.

To be honest, I am not a fan of Hong Kong style Chinese food but went because I was curious of how the restaurant was after renovation.

Not my cup of tea but it is the usual stuff you get from Hong Kong so if you miss food there, I would highly recommend it.
Saying that, I didn't order the roast duck but saw someone eating it and it looked good so I might try it next time as the famous duck nearby was disappointing.

Here were the dishes my friends had. Basically the Hong Kong fare.
Tried the flat rice noodles and tofu and it is the same but probably cleaner and fresh than the crap in Hong Kong.

Also had the beef brisket noodles which I would say taste better than Hong Kong because the beef is edible and tasty.
The broth is also rich with a hint of caraway seeds unlike the anaemic pale tasteless beef brisket soups in Hong Kong.
I would say the broth here is tasty like the one you get at Wing Kei noodles in Causeway bay while the noodles don't have that annoying lye flavour to it and the texture is much softer.
It is also recommended to ask for the chilli oil which spices things up even though it is tasty without whereas in Hong Kong chilli oil is definitely needed because the noodles and broth are seriously tasteless except for that nasty lye taste.
The only place for good beef brisket noodles in Hong Kong is Kau Kee where they also put caraway in the beef stock but their broth is weak.





I was a bit disappointed with the stir fried beef flat noodles because the strands were all broken which made it hard to pick up with chopsticks let alone a fork.
I found it bland overall.

The tea you get is also good and you can see why it is so aromatic because you get whole tea leaves.
Not top quality but better than average.




WONG KEI:
41-43 Wardour St, London W1D 6PY

Friday, October 11, 2019

[Review] Roosters Spot - Croydon

I think I have been here a few years ago but I was too lazy to write it up so I am posting this visit while I remember.
The fried chicken is mostly good in London if it is done right.


Had the spicy wings and a piece of fried chicken.

The wings were very spicy and moist so it was really good, just a tad spicy but forgivable.

The chicken drumstick was just a little bit dry but I believe if I got it earlier then it wouldn't have been so dry.


Roosters Spot - Croydon
76 High Street, Croydon CR0 1NA

[Review] Hidden Coffee near Camden overground

Discovered Hidden Coffee while I was looking for Camden Road Railway Station.

As I had an hour to go before meeting my friend, I went in for some tea.
There was a good choice of teas and the best thing is that they serve leaf teas and not tea bags.




Wifi was available so it was great spending my time there.

Hidden Coffee:
47-49 Camden Road, London NW1 9SL

Cubé Café near Camden Town

I was in Camden Town a while ago looking for tea and they had just that.
Unfortunately, they ran out of scones so didn't have the cream teas otherwise it would have been perfect.
Overall a nice and quiet place away from the hustle and bustle of Camden town.


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