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)

Michelin Hong Kong 2020 statistical analysis

Since I am updating the Michelin status for a lifestyle guide, here is a summary of 2020.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

In the 2020 Michelin Hong Kong guide, we now have 7 restaurants with Three Stars, 12 restaurants with Two Stars and 51 restaurants with One Star.
Bo Innovation has come down from Three Stars to Two, while Forum has risen from Two Stars to Three.
Arbor has risen from One Star to Two while Yan Toh Hin has dropped a star from Two.
On the One Star Michelin restaurants, it has increased from 43 restaurants last year to 51 restaurants this year, while 65 bib gourmands has been awarded down by 5 compared to last year.

Gaddi's, Fook Lam Moon and Petrus has risen from The Plate to One Star while Liu Yuan Pavillion has risen from Bib Gourmand to 1 Star.
New One Star comers are: aaharn, L'Envol, Louise, Roganic, Run, Ryota and Zest.
Strangely Bombay Dreams has changed from Bib Gourmand 2019 to The Plate 2020.

Loss of Bib Gourmand/Closure of restaurant after obtaining it in 2019:
Yuet Lai Shun, Snow Garden, Fu Shing CWB, Siu Shun Village, Lan Chee Koon and Fu Shing WC

Loss of The Plate/Closure of restaurant after obtaining it in 2019:
Peking Garden Central, CHE Cantonese, Fofo, Hugo's, Tri, Fish School, I love you dessert, Akrame and the list goes on......

Chinese roast at Three Uncles, London Liverpool Street, Brixton Village and Hawley Wharf Camden

Update Mar 2022:

Three uncles are so popular that they have opened a proper restaurant in Brixton Village serving lotus leaf rice with Chinese sausage, steamed meat patties etc!

Visited by CS who said there is a 10% charge on top.

Update Sept 2021:

Three uncles have now opened a second branch at Hawley Wharf, Camden!

As a foodie who has tried lots of Chinese roast in Hong Kong, I thought it would be an interesting experience to try Three Uncles in UK which specializes in quick chop chop just like GOOD BBQ.

I believe there will be more like this coming be it standalone shops or at boxpark type units.
Three Uncles is situated on a small lane in Liverpool street with a few seats that offer quick dining for people who work in the area.

Upon arriving, you will see the roast meats neatly hung on the chopping corner.
The chicken was plump, the ducks were good and visually they looked delicious without stuff dripping off it like the greasy oily roasts you see in Hong Kong.

Saying that, the oily goodness is the good stuff but visually off putting.
The staff were wearing gloves which makes it hygienic.

As for the decor, it was modern tiles with a touch of royal blue, at the counter there is neon logo of the name.

I also like the black framing which gives its some invisible structure that defines space without being intrusive.
Ordering is simple as you just choose your meat combo but it could also be hard if you want a bit of everything.
Dim sum is also available which can be seen in the cabinet.

Ordered the Hainan Chicken and the Lo Mein noodles.
Both came in a white box lined with paper just like the modern roast GOOD BBQ which changed the way of roasts in Hong Kong.
It made Chinese roast more presentable to tourists and corporate catering for offices in the city.
This is what makes it successful because it looks neat and clean without making your fingers greasy.
In terms of food, I was impressed with the Hainan Chicken as the chicken was succulent and tender.

The spring onion sauce that complemented it had a good punch while the chili sauce had a nice spicy kick without being too sweet.

As for the noodles with wontons and roast pork, I thought the roast pork visually looked like roast belly.

On the other hand, the noodles were good but got saltier towards the end.

To summarize, it is good to see Three Uncles take Chinese Roast to the next level and hopefully see more branches before someone follows like CHOP CHOP followed GOODBBQ or you may even see GoodBBQ debuting in London one day.

Three Uncles:
12 Devonshire Row

Three Uncles Camden:

Hawley Wharf

[Review] Festive Fried Chicken at YO! Sushi

YO! Sushi is an English chain of sushi restaurants by Simon Woodroffee.
The first branch appeared in Soho, London in 1997, since then they have restaurants all over the world including UAE and Saudi Arabi.

As well as sushi, they have a good selection of vegetarian dishes.
It was the festive fried chicken that brought me to YO! Sushi again.
According to their instagram post, fried chicken is Japanese Christmas tradition.

JFC Festive Feast box (£8.50) is available now featuring crispy Japanese Fried Chicken, special dipping sauce, YO! Fries, Miso-Butter Sweetcorn & Coleslaw.
As well as chicken, they have the Vegan JFC Festive Feast box (£8.50) which includes Vegan Chick*n Nuggets, special dipping sauce, YO! Fries, Sweetcorn with Miso Butter, & vegan Coleslaw.

Since I was there to try it, why not order both.
The staff were really helpful and did half and half for me so that I could try both the chicken and vegan chicken nuggets.

In terms of chicken, I thought it was a bit dry so the vegan chicken nuggets fared better even though they were a bit bland.

Chicken:

Vegan Chicken nuggets:

The fries were addictive as they were deliciously sprinkled with seaweed flakes.

Last but not least was the coleslaw, I absolutely loved it because it was creamy and not too overwhelming.

Overall I would definitely recommend the fried chicken and I will be back for their vegetarian dishes as it has been quite some time since I last had YO! Sushi.