[Restaurant Review] Roast Dinner at Toby Carvery

Roast dinners and English food are getting scarce these days so the ones that still do it can get quite busy.
At Toby Carvery, they serve the carvery every day but Sunday is the best day to go as all five roast meats are available.

As it can be very busy on Sundays, it really depends on luck as well because the Yorkshire Puddings run out fast and the lines for roast are long.

Although the Yorkshire puddings are refilled, they do take time and the second batch that we saw were not as good as the first as they had not risen.

The roast meat is also like that because it gets dry the longer it sits there.

The location also matters because the quality looks different at different Toby Carvery branches.

Went to the South Croydon branch because the roast and sides looked fab.

To be honest, I was lucky everything was spot on when it was my turn so definitely top marks.

On my plate was Gammon, Roast Beef, Roast Roast Lamb and Roast Turkey should have there but as it wasn't so I got some more on a different plate.
Sides on my plate were Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, mac & cheese, Pork Crackling and beef dripping and plain roasties from the carvery deck.

After you get the roast, the final touch is the gravy and condiments where they have Toby's Special gravy and Vegetarian gravy.

Lashing of gravy and mint sauce make it all delicious.

I was definitely satisfied with the roast especially the gammon ham which had a nice salty kick without being too dry and the turkey was soft and moist.
The best thing was the stuffing, mint sauce and gravy which just makes it complete so that's why I'd rather come on Sundays when everything is there!

The Menu:

Will also be coming back for breakfast because they have the all you can eat breakfast!

[Restaurant Review] Flour and Grape Gigli

With so many fresh pasta restaurants about, Flour and Grape was another one that was worth checking out.
It is located near London Bridge on the corner of Bermondsey Road.

When I got there, I was greeted with a chefs making fresh ravioli and other pastas through the window.

I was lucky that I was early because the restaurant was quite full within twenty minutes after I sat down.

Before you order, they serve you sparkling or non water on the house.

The menu:

There were nine pastas to choose so I had to reduce my choice to one.
Clearly it was going to be the Gigli as I have had my fair share of ravioli and parpardelle at other places. To be honest, to compare I should compare like with like but not every pasta place serves the same pasta with the same sauce.
They also had taglierini with truffle but again I have had countless plates of pasta with truffle.

I ordered the Gigli which is pasta that looks like carnation flowers.
Gigli ~ sausage, fennel, chilli ragu, broccoli fiolaro

When it arrived, it did not disappoint.
Every mouthful was tasty especially because of the sausage and fennel.
In a way, it tasted like the Pappardelle with fennel sausages & peppercorn ragu at Padella except the pasta was different.

The gigli here had broccoli as well which complemented it nicely with some vegetables and green for the visuals but perhaps a little over cooked because the green was a bit dark.
Overall, I was impressed with the pasta and don't mind coming back again if there is something different on the menu.

Returned three years later and the prices have obviously gone up.

This time I had the monkfish Linguine with tomato, garlic, chilli and the Pappardelle beef short-rib ragu.

I was not fond of the monkfish Linguine because it was too salty and garlicky.

The Pappardelle beef short rib was really satisfying while the portion was big with generous pulled short rib meat.

I felt that they executed it better than Padella.

[Restaurant review] Young Vegans Pizza Shop

UK is spoilt for choice when it comes to Vegan foods.
On my vegan tasting journey, I have tried vegan fried chicken, pies, countless burgers but not much pizza which called for a journey to Young Vegans Pizza Shop.

This pizza joint is founded by Marco and Carla Casadei where they make their vegan cheese in house.

Anyway, discovered this place after I tried Young Vegans Pie Shop in Camden which is also owned by them.
Prior to the pizza joint they had a stall at Netil Market which was so successful that they started restaurant located in Bethnal Green in Nov 2019.

Finally tried it one evening and I was impressed with the open kitchen where you can see the wood fired oven and chefs making pizza.

On the other side of the restaurant is the takeaway section.

Photos of the restaurant:

As it was early, I was the only diner there so I took my time to decide which pizza to get.
To be honest, it was such a difficult choice but luckily they were able to do half and half in one pizza so that I could try two different pizza toppings.

Two more pizzas were added on the menu so I was glad I didn't try earlier as I had more choices on this visit.

The Menu:

Analyzing the menu they had two different cheeses: mozzarella and ricotta.
For vegan meats there was Seitan pepperoni, Seitan chickun and ham.
Interesting veggies would be the samphire and Brussels sprouts although samphire is a common ingredient in vegetarian places.

My choice of pizza was really hard as I wanted to try different cheeses and different meats so I ended up getting the Devils Coglioni which had Seitan pepperoni and mozzerella and the Corn of the Dead because it was an unusual combo of pickles, sweetcorn and Seitan Chickun with extra ricotta cheese.

The pizza was so legit when it arrived especially the pepperoni and how fresh the basil leaves were as if they were freshly plucked!

Devils Coglioni:
This was topped with Seitan pepperoni, basil, marinara sauce and mozzarella.
The seitan pepperoni pieces were crispy and tasty which satisfies your pepperoni pizza craving.

Corn of the Dead with extra ricotta:
The pepperoni was classic which was why I had to have the corn of the dead because the topping on this were vastly different.
It had roasted sprouts, creamed corn, pickled vegetable, mozzarella, balsamic drizzle and the extra ricotta I requested.
The taste of this one was a total surprise especially the carrots which didn't look pickled but looked fresh carrots because of its vibrant orange.
Overall it was very appetizing with balsamic dressing and creamed corn.
I liked the sprouts too and wished they were pickled because I loved anything that is pickled.

As I was having this whole pizza to myself, I was trying not to stuff myself by eating the middle first which is probably why the boss Marco noticed me eating the pizza in a strange way :)
Anyway, I managed to eat most of it which was good.
To summarize, their pizzas and homemade cheese were fantastic.

Will definitely be coming again and I would also recommend the mac and cheese if you haven't tried the mac at Young Vegans Pie Shop.

Young Vegans Pizza:
393 Cambridge Heath Road,
Bethnal Green.

Further reading:
Young Vegans Pie Shop review
https://supersupergirl-dining.blogspot.com/2019/12/youngveganpieshop.html

[Review] 天之樂素食 Tempeh Burger

Tempeh comes from Indonesia, so you will know what it is if you have tried it.
If you haven't it is basically fermented soy beans that form a soy bean cake in the fermenting process. Tempeh is popular in the West as it is high in protein which makes it a good vegetarian ingredient.
I like it the way the West have taken it to the next level by making modern Tempeh with green peas, quinoa and even peanuts.

As well a Tempeh, Jackfruit is another fruit from the East which is popular in the West.
In the East, Jackfruit is just a fruit, while in the West they use raw jackfruit as a vegetarian ingredient in dishes.
In the UK, we have Tempeh Man which serves Tempeh Curries and you can also buy ready to eat Tempeh at the supermarkets available in original and curry flavoured as well as Tempeh kits to make your own Tempeh at home. The fermentation process is started by culture that contains Rhizopus mold which grows and binds the beans together.
Think of the white mold like the white mold for Brie depending on what culture they use.  The prices of Tempeh in Hong Kong vary from a few dollars at Indonesian shops to a whopping HKD78 for a few tiny pieces which I had at NatrualLead in TST.

Finally, Hong Kong has a specialist Tempeh shop in Central where the owners have lived in the US before which makes sense.
Hence their menu is quite comforting for expats offering pizzas, baked potatoes and the signature burger.
It was really difficult making a choice as I wanted to try everything but clearly the baked potatoes is not a popular choice for locals because they just don't eat starchy things.
As much as I would have wanted to try the burger, I ordered the curry tempeh rice so that I could compare it to the UK but unfortunately I was given the baked one with broccoli and cheese but according to the receipt it was what I ordered but I didn't check at the time because the curry was also hkd48.

Although it wasn't the one I wanted to try but it was still delicious.
The tempeh pieces were sticky and firm yet soft similar to refried beans in a tomato sauce that was really tasty. Beneath it was quinoa rice which is healthy as well so overall I was extremely pleased with my lunch.

I was really lucky, they gave me a bag of original tempeh to try which I happily munched as a snack. The pieces of tempeh were nice and soft.

Also had some for dinner paired with marmite and the two go together so damn well.

Definitely coming back for more!
Will probably try the jacket potato and burger next time.
The menu:

The Crown and Pepper

Definitely going to check this out as they serve Indian and Chinese food.
The best thing is that they have a website as some places don't.
I like the salt and pepper range offered.
http://www.crownandpepper.co.uk/menus/fullmenu.php?venue=2

[Review] Tasty Fried Chicken at McDonalds Hong Kong

I love Fried chicken but it is really difficult to get fried chicken to my liking in Hong Kong. There are countless options for fried chicken with the introduction of Korean Fried chicken a few years ago, but they are not to my liking because they are often coated with weird dressings and the quality of chicken is not good either.
The KFC in Hong Kong uses a different recipe to UK which is too crunchy as well as bad chicken inside.
Jollibee was good but now the coating has also been modified so that it is crunchy.

Anyway, McDonalds is now finally serving fried chicken just like McDonalds in Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore where chicken is wanted by popular demand.
I would love to try the McDonalds in the Philippines because they have chicken gravy just like the KFC in UK.

In Hong Kong, the fried chicken a la carte at McDonalds varies from HKD31-HKD34.5 depending on location.

There are two pieces per portion and the chicken is decent in size compared to the anorexic chicken at KFC!!

Taking a bite, the coating was to my liking, not too crunchy or soft with a good thickness.
The chicken was succulent and moist which was extremely satisfying, however the only complaint was the spices .
I didn't expect it to be spicy.
The chicken thigh oozed out some liquid which is most probably the frozen liquid that melted when it was fried.

Anyway, the chicken thigh turned out to be a surprise because it was convenient to eat in the sense that it only had one bone.
I would definitely eat it again but I am allergic to the spices in the coating so I won't be eating it that frequently.