A special trip just for shoestring fries

During my food journey and all these restaurant visits, I have not had many shoestring fries in my meals, mainly because not many places offer it.

When I found out that Gourmet Burger Kitchen had them, it was my top priority to go and I only had that to appreciate how delicious they were.

I visited the Waterloo branch where the intangable service could have been better but the shoestring fries were more than brilliant.

The fries were ready and bought over not long after ordering but no sauces were offered nor did they tell me about the sauces so I had to ask for some sauces midway eating the fries.

It was a delight eating these fries because they were fried to perfection, each and every was uniform in width and the colour was perfectly blonde.

The texture was crisp on the outside with a perfectly silky centre.

Overall, I am so glad I had the skinny fries and will definitely come back for them.

Make your own Musubi over lunch at Musubi Hiro

I love Musubi so when I found out about Musubi Hiro it was on my list to try.

There are two different types of Musubis, the Japanese triangle shaped ones and the Hawaiaan ones with spam!

The pairing of spam and rice are so comforting as well as satisfying.

Musubi Hiro is a modern restaurant with a fun twist as they serve this Super mega musubi which is deep fried coated in bread crumbs and the Panupuri pop with an Indian twist filled with minced meat!

For lunch, they are now doing a three course set lunch with free flow drinks!

The best part is having fun making your own musubi for the main course and have it your way and a thirst quenching free flow mocktail.

The omakase starters were basically three different sides: seaweed, pickles and salad.

For the musubi main course, I had the torched eel with teriayki sauce for an extra HKD28 which was really worth it because eels are torched to order so they are nice and hot.

Hence you get to make a musubi filled with lovely and warm eel which is soft, sweet and sticky.

The soft egg yolk was another bonus to go with the meal so overall it was quite filling.

Overall a nice and filling lunch with energetic vibes.

Will be returning for dinner or late afternoon snacks sometime.

MUSUBI HIRO

37 Cochraine Street

中環閣麟街37號地下

Biang Biang Boom at Murger Han

A few years ago there were not many places where you could find Biang Biang noodles but now there are so many restaurants that serve Biang and competition is fierce.

Biang Biang noodles are basically extremely wide strip noodles similar to parpadelle but much wider.

So far I have only tried two places that I can compare with.

As well as biang biang noodles, they also serve roujiama which they call Murgers aka Chinese style burgers with pitta bread.

If you are dyslexic you might see Murders!

Enter Murger Han which fullfills all your wishes with the complete Xian (Shaanxi) fare including Xian breakfasts.

There are currently three branches with its first flagship restaurant which opened in Euston during 2014, followed by Mayfair in 2016 and the latest City location in 2020.

I have been meaning to go so I did my research to see what were the best things to order as well as biang biang noodles.

Sadly, they don't really respond to enquiries on social media yet they are actively on social media inviting influencers etc.

Their website was helpful but hard to navigate and some items were not up to date.

My first attempt to dine there was the Mayfair branch but I didn't like the vibes so I went to the City branch which was more relaxed and welcoming.

The staff there spoke good English and were able to explain the food items.

With the usual 12.5% service charge, Murger Han charges 13% stated on the menu which Thankfully can be offset by sharing photos on instagram.

Without further hesitation, it was the biang biang noodles I was after but there were four options as Murger Han have given it a modern touch.

The regular biang biang noodles usually come with some chilli oil as it was originally part of a poor man's meal in the countryside.

On the menu, you will find that they do offer the most basic spring onion and chilli oil which is vegetarian and they also offer the tomato and egg as a non spicy option.

For those who fancy a bit more, there is the three in one option or the five in one option.

I liked the idea of spring onion and chilli oil as well as tomato and egg which led me to choose the three in one which includes them both plus a meat option.

To be honest, I am not really keen on meat so it would be great if you could choose another veg option or some tofu skewers to make up for it.

In the end I chose lamb as the meat option which was basically the same as English roast lamb which I didn't expect as I thought it would have some cumin being Shaanxi style.

Anyway, when the noodles arrived, it came in a mammoth sized bowl.

I was told to mix everything because the flavours are in the sauce.

You will find that the noodles are topped with the three options: tomato and egg, spring onion and chilli oil, meat option as well as spinach and pak choi.

It was impressive how wide and the length of the biang biang noodles were.

The flavour profile and complexity of these noodles will really blow your mind with its spicy tangy notes.

As for the noodle texture, I would say they were a bit like lasagne with a chew and the quality depends on how well the noodles were pulled.

If they were evenly pulled, you get a nice springy yet al dente chew but if there are bits that have not been pulled enough, you will find it rather chewy.

The beauty is that these noodles really hang and absorb the the flavours because some noodles just don't take on flavour.

Having tried the biang biang noodles, I would love to return for the Murger soup and the terracotta warrior desserts!

Enjoyable toilet moment at The Attendant, Mayfair

There are so many converted toilet bars in London which became a trend in 2018.

The Attendant is my favourite and one that I went to because it is the only one that has kept the existing urinals.

The way the urinals have been converted, they remind me of Ichiran where each diner has their own little space.

You can also sit at the tables if you prefer.

The small kitchen serves a wide range of coffee/teas as well as brunches.

I was hoping to try the vegan Scotch egg but it was discontinued so I had the cheesy polenta waffle.

Tried the waffle on its own and it was actually tasty, the cheese was not strong so it would be great if it had a strong cheddar cheese taste.

Overall, it was tasty but even tastier with the coffee ketchup they gave me which was had tones of marmite, soy sauce followed by a coffee after kick.

Fried noodles with sweet & sour chicken at Tai Won Mein

Rewind about twenty years ago and there were about three or four noodles joints in London like Wagamama and Tai Won Mein etc along with Tai Tip Mein.
Both Tai Won Mein and Tai Tip Mein pride themselves for big portions at affordable prices.
I decided to revisit these restaurants to get an update on quality and how they are these days.
Visited Tai Won Mein which is located at Cutty Sark and there is another branch somewhere in Catford.

Without further ado I got the sweet and sour chicken with fried noodles which are basically curly noodles which are similar to instant noodles which I also had at Tai Tip Mein later for comparison.
In the early days, these curly noodles were not served.
The noodles arrived a few minutes after ordering which was really efficient.
Each and every strand of noodles were well tossed and evenly coloured.

The fried noodles were executed better at Tai Won Mein as they were not so oily or too salty but I didn't like the beanshoots.

As well as the noodles, the sweet and sour chicken was also top notch.

The plain noodles or noodles with black bean would have probably been tastier but I felt that I had to try the most popular dish.

Returned for some plain fried curly noodles with extra curry sauce and it was so worth coming back because the curry sauce is the usual takeaway stuff but their version was extra hot because you could really taste the chilli oil in it!

The noodles and curry sauce was just heaven together.

I also managed to see the stir fried beef ho fun which looks phenomenal, again will return to try that some time.