Tempura Brussel Sprouts & Gingerbread softserve (vegan) at Marugame

Time flies and it is almost Christmas!

Since the opening of the Liverpool Street branch of Marugame, they already have a second branch at the O2 as well as an upcoming branch just round the corner of Oxford Street near Liberty.

For Christmas, Marugame have launched two new festive items: the tempura Brussels Sprouts and the vegan gingerbread softserve.

You either love or hate sprouts, I'm ok with them so I made a special visit to try the tempura sprouts.

Without further ado, I tried the tempura sprouts.

I wasn't sure how they would turn out because normally you have to blanch them for a while or else the texture would be really hard.

Interestingly the tempura sprouts were not that hard in terms of texture but soft with a firmness and they did not have any bitterness so they were quite nice on their own or with some mayonnaise.

I was iffy about getting the gingerbread softserve because the matcha one I had on the last visit wasn't to my liking so I asked if I could get a sample before paying for it and I was given the biggest sample you could ever imagine!

So to conclude with my super taste buds, the gingerbread softserve was quite nice which I will leave for the next visit. 

While I was dining there, I suddenly noticed some similarities between Japanese Tempura and English chippies.

In English chippies, things are battered and fried which is the same as tempura and with chippies they have chip scraps which is similar to tempura scraps!

Then at the chippies we have pickled eggs and gherkins and the Japanese have pickled ginger!

The scraps are a good way of telling if their frying oil is clean because you can tell from the taste.

The best Traditionally inauthentic ramen at Supa Ya Ramen

I discovered this TRADITIONALLY INAUTHENTIC ramen through a newspaper article which aroused my interest to go because of their crazy creations (Shown further down report).

Somehow, I fell in love with their interesting pairings, the logo too because it is inspired by English Pot noodles and the name is also like Batchelors super noodles hence Supa Ya Ramen.

Even though it is not traditional, the ramen pictures look crazily good.

Supa Ya started off serving ramen in his home and finally opened in Sept 2021.

It is located in Dalston (East London) on the high street with not much about.

After seeing that article, I was really excited so tried it on Wednesday.

Got there at 8pm and couldn't believe my eyes when it was fully seated with a queue outside.

The wait was going to be about 30-45 minutes.

The interesting thing, is that they kept the front doors locks, only opening the door to let people in and out.

What surprised me even more was the cramped seating, I saw 3 tables of 2 and there was 9 people in total because it was two people against the wall facing one person.

It was so cramped that the staff did not have much room to stand.

I finally got seated at 8:35 and ordered ASAP as I knew what I want.

Visited the loo and saw jars and jars of their homemade pickles and Laogan ma chilli oil which I believe was used for the spicy beef noodle.

On the table, there were wooden chopsticks, metal fork, spoon and a CHINESE CERAMIC SPOON!!!

Anyway, I ordered the Salt & Beef pickles which was chicken soup, house soy, smoked bacon oil, chilli paste, salt beef, supa ya pickles, green onions and fudgy egg.

The noodles arrived at 20:51.

They looked consistently same as the photos.

Tried the broth first which was really strong and spicy. it tasted familiar just like these Sichuan beef noodles I had at Wanchai Deng G also served with an egg.

I really really liked because of the chilli and then you have the pickles, the salt beef slices were soft and tasty.

The egg was nicely done with a soft starchy yolk inside.

Overall, the ramen was really good and tasty in all dimensions and to my surprise, their ramen is made in house like fresh pasta!

For dessert I had instant noodle ice cream which savoury and sweet with crispy noodles.

queue

the 40 minute queue

Menu creations:

CHEESEBURGER RAMEN, Breakfast Bacon, sausage and cabbage Tantamen, bacon oil ramen, Bacon n Eggs ( a bit like hk chan daan noodle), English Cumberland sausage Dan Dan noodles, Prawn head, miso and iberico pork fat soup etc.

RAMEN night at topcuvee

Shop: Supa Ya Ramen  Date visited: 24/11/2021 8pm

Mussel Dolma and Istanbul Street food specialists at The Midyeci

I stumbled upon The Midyeci which turned out to be a Turkish gem when I was going to the ramen shop.

It got my attention because they were selling mussels and it wasn't French moule frites.

When I went inside, I was greeted with a cabinet of mussels but I couldn't quite make out what cuisine it was as everything was new to me.

After asking the lady, she said it was Turkish so I was really delighted because it was so different to your usual doner, kofte and pide etc.

Looking at the menu, the dolma midyeci is obviously the signature and they had so much to choose from like mackerel sandwich/wrap, grilled mussel burger/wrap, fried seafood (calamari, prawns and mussels) which are all Istanbul street foods.

You can really trust this place serves authentic Turkish foods by the Turkish diners in there.

I was offered a Midye dolma [stuffed mussel] to try and it just tasted amazing with a few drops of fresh lemon.

How did they even stuff them because you open them like regular mussels and they are already stuffed with rice while the mussel scallop is still attached to the shell!!

After asking them, it turns out that they buy them when they are alive, then they painstakingly open them one by one and stuff them with half cooked rice and steam them.

In the end, I got the grilled mussels burger which is a mussel patty with lettuce and pickles and cheese.

I mean how often do you see a mussel burger on the menu, the closest thing I have tried is an oyster burger.

While I was waiting, my attention was on the pink jar of water filled evidently with pickles and not fruit/veg like your regular detox water.

As a foodie, I asked for some and I was blown away how good it was because it was so moreish with a garlicky taste without being too salty or sharp!

I could literally down a whole pint because it is that good!

Moving on to the mussel burger, it was served with some pickles which were a delight because their pickles are amazing.

The mussel burger patty was brilliant, it had lots of chopped mussels in it which you could taste as they have a spring texture.

Although it was a little salty I really liked it and there were some crispy bits in the patty which I couldn't work out what it was.

Revisited again for Midye dolma and had the set this time where I got a side portion of fried mussels.

The fried mussels were amazing and you can really taste how fresh they are.

Also tried the calamari which was disappointing because it was minced calamari reformed into rings.

The midye dolma was definitely worth coming back for because you have this really moreish spicy rice inside the mussels.

Overall, I would really recommend this place for the Midye dolma, mussel burger and pickled juice.

They also have Salgam (fermented carrot and turnip) which I will definitely try next time.

The Midyeci

505 Kingsland Rd, London E8 4AU

https://midyeci.co.uk/pages/restaurant-menu