Burmese food at Cafe Mandalay

Cafe Mandalay is possibly the only place in London for Burmese food.
Located in a residential part of London, it is interesting to see them blend in by offering English fare as well like this other caff which serves Chinese and English.
There is a separate menu for Burmese food while the caff menu is on the board.
The Burmese menu was impressively comprehensive with three pages.
I had the tea leaf salad, mohinhga noodles and Burmese tofu and black eye pea cakes.
The tea leaf salad was to my liking, it is normally spicy but I had it without chilli so I was able to appreciate it better.
It had a nice crunch with cabbage, tomatoes, fermented tea leaves, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, fava beans, etc.

You have a nice savoury taste with lots of fish sauce in it.

The mohinhga noodles were fishy with blended mackerel but had no bones which was reassuring.

It was topped with lots of grassy coriander, crispy garlic slices and lentil fritters.

Also tried the Burmese tofu and black eye pea cakes which were both fried.

The tofu was interesting as it was yellow and starchy because it contains lentils in it.

Overall, I am glad I tried this place because Burmese fare is a rare find in the UK.

Xi’an BiangBiang Noodle

I love Xi an cuisine so have been meaning to try Xi'an Biangbiang so I could compare it to other ones I have tried in London.

As well as Central London, there is another branch at Aldgate East but as I was near Covent Gardens and checking out this other eatery nearby, I dined here.

I had the Skin cold noodles in Traditional sauce (liangpi) and Pork and veg Wontons in chicken broth.

The liangpi was nice in all respect if they get the vinegar, chilli ratio correct but I felt that the noodles were just Cantonese flat rice noodles.

Although, they had that chew like Liangpi, the width was not as wide or as thin as the liangpi I have tried at other restaurants.

The wontons were just the usual pork wontons, nothing exciting but the seaweed and shrimp was on the stingy side if you refer to the picture on the menu.

I found the wontons a bit boring so dunked them in the remaining liangpi dressing and vinegar.

According to the staff, Dong hu old vinegar is a nice vinegar from Xi an.

Overall, not bad and the staff were really nice.

Retreating at Joe & The Juice on a rainy day

Retreated to Joe & The Juice because it was raining.
Although, this place is famous for healthy juices, I decided to get the White Temple tea by A.C. PERCH with the blueberry and Raw Blueberry & Raspberry Square.
Starting off with the sweet treat, the raspberry and blueberry square was surprisingly decadent yet not sweet.
It had this truffle like texture and then you have the savoury crushed pistachio nuts on top.
Finished with the Temple Tea which was also to my liking composed of white and green tea with candied fruit and pineapple.
I loved the Jasmine floral notes which were aromatic complimented by the sweetness of the candied fruit. #ssgtea

Custard filled pies at Capilungo

Custard cream filled pasticciotto pies from Puglia have hit London at Capilungo.
Choose from classic custard, Amarena cherry, pistachio and chocolate.

I tried the pistachio pasticciotto but unfortunately it was a bit disappointing that I didn't want to try the other flavours because the sweetness was overwhelming that I could not taste the pistachio.

Strangely the shortcrust pastry tasted of mint!

As well as sweet pies, they have rustico savory pastries which are like puff pastries.

The savoury rustico would probably have done this place justice but it was on the steep side.

#ssglondoneats

 

Masala fish from Roosters Grill, Shepherds Bush

Finally tried some Masala fish in London which was nice but I don't think it is authentic as the ones in Brums because if you google Masala fish, a majority of results are from Birmingham!

Anyway, I was a bit disappointed, it just tasted like the fish coated in egg batter in Hong Kong, with that soft jelly like texture and overly seasoned as it was super salty.

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: