Egg hopper at King's Cross Hopper

Hoppers is a Sri Lankan restaurant famous for serving hoppers, the star of the show has to be the egg hopper which must be ordered.

I have been meaning to dine at Hoppers but they only open in the evenings but now as there are more branches, they open during the lunch as well as weekends.

I paid a visit to the King's Cross branch on a busy Saturday where I was seated outside.

In a way it was good because it was quieter outside.

Ordered the Egg Hopper but when it arrived, the hopper was not centred on the plate.

This was a minor issue because I re-positioned it so that it would look good for photos.

What bothered me was the egg yolk because it was over done.

Asked for another one and the yolk was too my liking with some raw egg white swishing about.

In the UK, eggs are perfectly fine raw because of the Lion Stamp so I was ok with that.

The hopper was as good as expected, you can imagine it like a bowl shaped pancake with an egg at the bottom.

Menu:

Marugame Udon 丸亀製麺 opens in North Greenwich at The O2

Marugame Udon 丸亀製麺 also known as Marugame Seimen, a famous restaurant in Asia opened their second branch in London, North Greenwich!

There were long queues on the opening day.

On the day of opening there was a Marugame Matsuri (Mastsuri 祭り= Festival in Japanese) which involved Taiko drumming, Shodo by Koshu (Japanese Calligraphy) and Shamisen.

At the restaurant you choose an udon which is made to order and then you can also choose optional tempura from the tempura bar.

The udon is freshly made just like pasta.

Udon bowls start at £3.45 which will get you the kaamage.

For the desserts, they have unlimited vegan matcha £2.95 and doriyakis.

After you have paid, you can customize your udon with toppings at the toppings station and eat.

Address:

Unit 2.03, The Avenue, Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX

Project Plant: Farm-to-Table Pizza Experience by Samsung

Project Plant, the UK’s first urban farm-to-table pizzeria was held at The Film Shed.

I booked a ticket to go because I liked the idea that you could pick your own toppings for your own pizza.

The restaurant behind the pizzas are purezza which is a vegan restaurant I tried a while ago so I was familiar with their tasty pizzas. 
The Tickets include access to the urban farm, a pizza by Purezza, and a drink of your choice.

The Film shed was conveniently located on a high street in Dalston so it was easy to get there.

When you arrive at The Film Shed, you go downstairs and there are the geometric domes which are illuminated inside.

The first dome is red with tomato plants that are hydroponically grown controlled by Samsung SmartThings connected platform which changes the colour of the lights in the tomato dome.

This is the first stop where you pick your tomatoes.

The second dome was my favourite as it was blue where mushrooms were grown in low light and misty damp conditions.

There was white, grey and yellow oyster mushrooms.

To harvest, you just snip them with scissors.

The third and final dome was white where the basil and rocket were grown.

The plants were vertically farmed because it saves space as well as being effective when it is watered as the nutrients not used at the top will be recycled as it goes down due to gravity.

After getting my ingredients, I handed them over to the team at Purezza and got my freshly made pizza with those toppings.

The mushrooms were definitely the star of the show as they were earthy and tasty and then you have the signature vegan mozzarella which is made of Rice by Mozzerella.

Overall, I would say it was the best experience picking your own ingredients as well as being able to eat a tasty pizza at the end.

Event Info:
Date: 15th–17th October, 2021
Opening hours: 12pm–9pm (last session at 8:30pm)
Location: The Film Shed

Photo from Purezza Samsung

Goodsway, Kingscross

A new venue for food that has a lovely New Orleans style outlook.

 

UK and HK plannergrams

As a foodie, you always get to try food in advance.

In Hong Kong, the media usually gets to try pre launches a month or a few weeks before which means the dishes are planned a few months ago.

In UK, things get more exciting, products are planned at least half a year ahead, in May there are already posts of upcoming Christmas treats which have been leaked on social media.

By August, you will be able to actually buy these Christmas treats.

Similarly Valentine's treats are planned in December, Easter products planned in January.

Supermarkets, predict their sales and consumer needs according to the weather to control their stock.

According to newsletters and online coverage, I am so impressed how UK has rolled up with so many new foods and products during Covid uninterrupted with prices kept low but then UK is a developed country not like some places. 

I think it would be super fun if I ever get to work in the UK food industry as everything is a season ahead.

Fish Bites at Chipsmiths

I have been meaning to try out this chippy called Chipsmiths because of the name.
Finally tried them but I found the chips a bit greasy but I am glad I visited.