Pie Mash at Maureen's

I love pie mash so I feel compelled to try every place that serves it because it seems to be going out of fashion especially jellied eels as well.

So far I have tried a few but not in East London where it all began.

Ironically when I was in East London in my earlier years I didn't try it back then when it was popular.

Anyway, in the heart of Chrisp Street, you will find two pie mash shop, one called Maureen's and the other called East Enders, both have been here for quite some time!

As soon as I stepped inside Maureen's I felt at home because the fixtures and setting was like your usual basic cafe!

On the first visit, I tried the pie mash and on the second visit I had salt beef with gravy and just a pie with liquor.

To summarize, the pie mash is probably the best I have ever had because Maureen's liquor is full of flavour especially the parsley, you can taste the grassiness as well as this interesting seaweed taste to it even though it does not have seaweed.

The pie itself was perfectly baked with rich minced beef filling inside with gravy.

Adding chilli vinegar to it made it even moresh.

The hot salt beef was a bit too salty but not bad and reminds me of this place in Kent that also serves both pie mash and beef bagels.

I also got myself some chilli vinegar for 1.50.

It was nice but somehow the chilli kick wasn't as strong as the restaurant version.

Returned for some stew eels which were really nice but they were a bit fishy and the fine bones were difficult to handle.

Revisited again and had a mini pie mash and jellied eels.

Again, it was consistently good.

The mash is tasty which I forgot to mention before and the jellied eels can't go wrong for me except for the bones which take time to remove.

Overall, a must visit if you are in the area.

Rating: 4/5

Pease pudding at Ivy's Traditional & British Cafe Poplar

Pease Pudding is getting scarce these days and many of you are wondering what is pease pudding.

Pease pudding is vegan and made of split yellow peas which is eaten up North with ham which makes sense because it tastes a bit like mushy peas.

In East London, we have pease pudding with saveloy but these days you would be even lucky to find a place that serves it.

Ivy's at Chrisp Street market in Poplar is the only place that serves this delicacy as well as saveloy made to their recipe.

They are only open from Wednesday to Saturday so you can only catch them then and early in the day before they close around 3pm.

Finally made it nice and early when they were still open and ordered pease pudding with saveloy.

They also had faggots but I didn't fancy them because what they are made of.

As expected the pease pudding was delicious as expected and it was silky and light similar to baby food.

It was so different to having it from a can as reviewed earlier.

The saveloy was a bit too garlicky for my liking and I ordered it because it was one of their signature items.

A week later I went back for the sausage roll and it was so worth coming back for it.

You get three sausages and it just tasted amazing.

Ivy's Traditional & British Cafe

Unit 1

Chrisp Street Market

Poplar

Ivy's Traditional & British Cafe

Wendy's burgers opens in Stratford, London 27th August

The last time I had Wendy's was in London near the Trocadero and then they left the UK in the 2000s.
Wendy's has made a return and there is a branch coming to Stratford in London!
Why didn't they open there when I was around??

Ironically, there is also a Wendy's in Stratford Connecticut.

Other locations to come are Romford, Croydon, Brighton and Oxford.

On the opening day they were giving out free frosties which were amazing and heavenly just like Dairy Queen in the States.

Went back again and tried the cheese burger deluxe and chocolate frosty.

The reason I just had the cheese burger deluxe was to try the burger in its most simplest form to see if the beef patty was good.

It was to my liking and the sauce and cheese all went well together.

As for the chocolate frosty, I felt that the vanilla one was better as the chocolate was too distracting.

Wendys:

Stratford Shopping Centre

54a Broadway, London E15 1NG

Masala Zone now offers Chindian Dishes

Chindian food, is basically Chinese food with an Indian twist!
I have not tried Masala Zone but the fried rice and chowmeins served at Indian restaurants are usually good.
The Chindian dishes here are Chindian Pepper Chicken Chowmein, Chindian Chilli Chicken, Chindian Pepper Veg Chowmein & Chindian Chilli Paneer.

640 East, Canary Wharf

640East is a bar constructed from recycled shipping containers.

The sitting area is bright and colourful great for casual catchups.

Modern Kati Rolls by Bengal Brothers debut in Wanchai!

As a foodie, I am always trying new as well as local things of different cuisines.
Kati Rolls are one of those street food items from Kolkata where you have roasted kebab meat wrapped in a paratha bread in the form of a roll.

The ones I have tried are the Frankie Rolls from Kailash Parbat also known as Kathi rolls but now everyone uses the name Kati rolls.

In the UK, there are many places for Kati rolls but not so in Hong Kong which is why I am so glad Bengal Brothers has debuted in Wanchai.

As well as rolls, they also have these first-class bowls, again what every one is doing these days with a fragrant rice/whole grain rice base topped with the same ingredients as the rolls so you can either choose the bowls or wraps.

The modern twist here is that they use fine ingredients like braised short rib beef, pulled pork and quality lamb which people can relate to.

All the rolls are freshly made in house with flakey parathas drizzled with tangy chutney and crunchy fresh salad.

To start, how could I not try the [BB classic roll] which is filled with freshly beaten egg and chicken tikka, mint & cashew chutney, house pickles.

It was really tasty as all the goodies was wrapped in this flaky paratha and the pickles and sauces were moreish with the chicken.

Also had the [Sweet potato chaat] which was drizzled with pomegranate, yoghurt & chutney.

It was a lovely healthy twist with sweet potatoes and refreshing bursts from the pomegranite and honey.

Last but not least was the Fresh mango Lassi.

Overall, I really enjoyed it as this place specializes in Kati Roll with so many choices.

The design of the this joint is hip and young which is perfect for grab and go especially being right in the office area.

Food ergonomics were well thought out too with a good wrap design which makes the rolls easy to eat.

There is a bar table to dine there so you can sit there while you wait or even dine there.

The self ordering kiosk is self explanatory and you can even order online through their website.

Bengal Brothers:

G/F Man Hee Mansion, 6 Johnston Road,

Wan Chai, Hong Kong