[Review] Taco Bell - Croydon

Taco Bell is as fast food chain from USA.
There was a branch in Croydon so tried it as I have always wanted to try it.

The menu is divided into a few sections: tacos, burritos, meatless, shareables, cravers and desserts etc.

I tried two meatless burritos, a side of rice and cinnamon twists.
Annoyingly, the two meatless burritos and cinnamon twists were not on the website nor on the self ordering kiosk which is why I didn't try it earlier as I just looked at the self ordering kiosks and looked no further to the counter.

Here is the a la carte menu which is more comprehensive.

Double cheesy black beans burrito:
The black bean burrito made my day as the cheese was not too overwhelming while the black beans were firm and not too starchy complimented by the rice.

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7-Layer Burrito:
The vegetarian 7-layer burrito was a disappointment.
Having 7 ingredients: refried beans, seasoned rice, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, diced tomatoes and sour cream.
Firstly it was cold and secondly I couldn't taste all these ingredients especially the guacamole or refried beans.

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Seasoned rice:
The seasoned rice was just the rice in the burritos which you can order as a side.

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Cinnamon Twists:
The cinnamon twists were different and tasted like sweet snacks sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon.
Overall quite nice as they were not too sweet or oily.

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There are hot sauces available at the condiments area as well as mayonnaise.

Will definitely return for the beef melt griller.


Taco Bell UK:
https://locations.tacobell.co.uk/index.html

Hong Kong Starbucks NEW Phantom Frappuccino

For Halloween, Hong Kong has launched the NEW Phantom Frappuccino .
It is also available in hot as the Phantom Latte.

The black Phantom Frappuccino contains Starbucks signature espresso with fragrant black sesame sauce, red bean sauce and milk, topped with fluffy whipped cream.
Enjoy it iced with a layer of chewy red beans. It’s a treat more than trick!

There is also Pumpkin Spice Latte which is not new but contains signature espresso with flavor notes of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Enjoy it topped with whipped cream and real pumpkin pie spices.

[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] China Garden

My experience at China Garden two years ago was not good but the experience this time was good.
As this restaurant has been serving food for the past 30 years, it is possible I may have been as a kid.
Anyway, the reason I didn't like it two years ago was that the dimsum was so oily and the quality was like the bad stuff in Hong Kong.

So on this visit, I didn't have any expectations but in general, the Chinese food in UK is much better than Hong Kong.

Moving on to the dimsum, the taro puffs, rice rolls, Singapore rice noodles and egg tarts were impressive.

To begin, the taro puffs were fried to perfection and gave a clean bite.

It was made nicely with distinct taro coating with juicy mince meat in gravy inside the taro puff.

The cup cake wrapper holding the taro puff did not have a drop of oil hence which was a good sign.

Next were the rice rolls, again perfect uniformly opaque sheets with prawn underneath drenched in delicious sweet soy sauce.

The Singapore rice noodles were delicious even though it was lacking colour and it was not too spicy crammed with fresh ingredients like pieces of charsiu etc

Finished with the Eggtarts which had a uniform pastry that was firm yet flakey.
The filling in the middle was delicious.

The only complaint was one of the waitresses that made me feel like Hong Kong, every time she collected the plates she would push me and the person sitting next to me aside.

Anyway, I will probably be back if the gang are back.

China Garden
88-91 Preston St, Brighton

[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