Best feijoada (Black bean stew)

Who would have guessed that on Oxford Street lies this amazing Authentic Brazilian restaurant.

It was like being transported to Favela from the streets of London escaping the red buses and black taxis.

You are greeted with a colourful model village of Favela and bombarded by Brazilian TV and chatter around you.

The village has attention to details with blue water tanks because they do not have water supplies there.

If you are lucky you will see Coxinha being made.

Anyway although the menu is not in English I ordered the famous signature Feijoada which is Brazil's national dish.

There are so many recipes for this dish but the Brazilian version is mainly black beans, pork ribs, smoked sausage and pork trimmings served with rice, collard greens, orange and farofa which is a crumbly toasted flour.

The Feijoada was served just like that and it was just amazing as the stew was really flavourful and smoky with all that meat and sausage in it.

Feijoada appealed to me because of the ribs but the star of the show were the trotters which were soft and gelatinous balanced by the strong tasting collard greens.

Each mouthful of rice was simply heaven with the beany sauce while the savoury farofa flour accentuates the meat.

Will definitely be back when I am next shopping at Oxford Street.

Feijão do Luis has been around since 1996 and it is not just a restaurant but a place to eat Brazilian food and meet other Brazilian people, who could help newcomers find jobs, houses, and generally provide guidance.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d18219121-Reviews-Feijao_Do_Luis-London_England.html

Comforting roast and breafask at The Lunch Box Cafe

Greasy spoons are my regulars and breakfast is a must however this time I had roast!!!

I have always wanted to visit The Lunch Box Cafe which is located just a stones throw from West Croydon hidden behind North End.

It was a Saturday and I just couldn't wait until Sunday for roast so had roast lamb.

Instead of the veg, I swapped it for bubble the owner was really nice and didn't charge any extra for it.

The roast lamb was so comforting with the gravy, mint sauce, Yorkshire and gravy.

Everything was so good that I polished it all and finished with a lovely cup of tea.

Went again for breakfast and got another surprise.

Egg, Sausage, bacon and black pudding are a must for me so I got the Set 2.

My eyes lit up when I saw three slices of black pudding!

Everything was really good and you do not feel heavy getting half way through because there was no oilyness or unpleasant oily smell.

Went back again for breakfast and this time I just had the black pudding and egg to see how many slices of black pudding you get.

When it came, it was three thick slices so it seems you get three slices by default and it was only 90p for the black pudding.

The best thing is that their black pudding is not soaked in oil so you can really taste how it is meant to taste ie the herbs and metallic blood in it.

Because of their consistenly good food, I went back for their Liver and onions.

It has been a while since I had this neglected this!

To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I had it but from memory it was good.

The lamb liver here was good in the sense that it was not gamey.

Although it didn't taste as good as memory they still did a really good job of it and the bacon complimented it well.

The chips were nicely done especially the uniform colour and the peas were tender.

A good liver and bacon is where there is a marriage of all the ingredients where the gravy should have a rich liver taste as well as the onions since it should be cooked together.

The Lunch Box Cafe

104 Tamworth Rd, Croydon CR0 1XX

Menu:

Free Nugs for Hugs at Neat Burger

Seriously tasty nuggets which are just as good as chicken, it was my first time there so I don't know if it comes with sauce but it would probably taste nice with some mayo.

Without sauce, they were still very good, it has that meaty oomph to it.

For Valentines, Neat Burger are doing Nugs for Hugs so I went along with my invisible friend but sadly they couldn't see my friend without invisible glasses.

Anyway, I got some free nuggets because there are some cuddly staff that you can hug.

A big Thanks to the staff at Old Compton Road.

Video on youtube.

@neat.burger

#neatburger

Cheeky Fish now open in South Croydon

Cheeky Fish is a new fish and chip shop that opened a few months ago by the owners of AYAT Restaurant opposite.

When they first opened, the menu was very different and fancy made for the city.

Like all new restaurants who go through teething stages, they will change the menu accordingly to demand and now it is more down to earth.

I stopped by for the scampi and chips which were reasonably priced.

The scampi tasted a bit like fish fingers but on the sweet side.

Same with the potato variety they use, it was also on the sweet side.

Will try their pies next.

Address:

35 South End

Croydon

Iraqi delights from Kubba

Kubba is one of these places that I should have visited a long time ago because how often do you come accross Iraqi food.

At Kubba, they serve these chaps and Kubba which are basically croquettes filled with meat, vegetarian version available.

The chaps are potato croquettes shaped like a big smartie filled with meat or vegetables and the kubba is a croquette made of rice filled with meat.

All these morsels come with sharp mango sauce and a sweet tasting tamarind and date sauce.

The potato chaps reminded me of Xiamen croquettes made of taro while the kubba reminded me of Chinese dim sum pork croquettes made of glutinous rice pastry.

Anyway, the chaps were really tasty especially the minced meat which was good quality and tasty.

The only thing that let it down was the potato which lacked a potatoey taste.

On the other hand, the kubba was the star of the show, the rice exterior was so good, it reminded me of burnt congee without the burnt taste so I loved it.

When dipped in the refreshing moreish mango sauce, these morsels were divine.

Finished off with the Knafa which was probably the best because the fine strands were so delicate and the cheese on the bottom was so gooey.

If I knew there was rose, I would have requested it without because I can't rose and the fact that they used really good quality rose petals made it worse for me because the aroma and flavour was really coming through.