The Big Christmas Show guide 2022

Autumn is always the best time of the year with Christmas gifts rolling out.

Earlier in the blazing hot summer, I had the pleasure of trying Christmas foods for the supermarkets.

Now, it is time for Christmas gift ideas.

I am glad, the trend in the 1990s is making a come back this year as I managed to get my hands on Nandos colour changing clothing.

At the fair, it was good to see the good old Tamagotchi!!
There was so much to see and play.

I was greeted with Tamagotchis and mochi moons at the entrance while there was ebay.

Ebay so such a brilliant platform for buying and selling.

As a foodie, some of my favourite tea brands were there like Whittard to Bird and Blend.

There were so much indulgent drinks, Whittard had this hot chocolate advent calendar while Bird and Blend stole the show for Christmas teas.

Bird and Blend Christmas range:

Lyre's offers unsuspectingly non alcholic spirts and gins.

The best grazing cheese platter were provided by Berry and Brie and the vegan one tasted amazing even though I am not vegan.

On the sweet side, Piglets pantry does these wonderful cakes as well as afternoon tea boxes.

Little Moons:

It was great to see choc on choc there, a brand that you always see in the shops especially the chocolate range which you can buy on their website.

As a biscuit lover, I would definitely recommend a trip down memory lane with the mini chocolate biscuit box of wafers, custard, jammy dodger, party ring and bourbon as well as the liquid filled camembert.

If you still cannot decide, the hampers have you sorted with lots of goodies.

Treatbox offers personalized build your own gift boxes with a great range from inspirational quotes, stationery, lifestyle products, jewellery, edible treats, beauty products and exclusive products designed by Treatbox.

On the toys side, I loved the mini dyson hairdryer which actually works with real air blowing out as well a fur fluffs to lovely dolls by DesignaFriend that are attention to details.

For group games, Big potato games offer many games that involve everyone.

Rainbow dim sum at Plum Valley

[Self Paid]

Sometimes you eat with your eyes hence the reason I visited Plum Valley.

Plum Valley is one of the restaurants in the game with colourful dim sums.

You can order the dim sums a la carte or get the rainbow platter to sample all of them which is what I did.

Visually, they were all pretty especially when they were all presented together in a steamer.

They were not bad but not really memorable in taste that I would want to revisit.

I found them rather bland.

Mala Hot pot ramen from Bone Daddies by Two Hot Asians

Recently found out about this ramen collab by Bone Daddies x Two Hot Asian's featuring this Mala Soup with tempura prawns, fish balls, soy egg, ginger, spring onion, coriander, and black hakata noodles.

Previously Two Hot Asian's did a collab with Super Ya Ramen but it was a set with a bowl of ramen and two sides so I skipped it.

The new collab named Mala Soup at Bone Daddies was really captivating with black hakata noodles.

Described as a ramen with mega flavour with Szechuan notes, a rich tomato base and a good kick of chilli heat.

I paid a visit to the Victoria branch of Bone Daddies for the Mala Hot Pot Ramen.

At each table, there are jars of hair bands which is really thoughful so that you can tie your hand back.

When the ramen was brought over, the bowls are really hot to keep the ramen hot so you have to becareful not to touch it.

Overall, it was not a bad ramen, I loved the colour of the black Hakata noodles but they were a little too soft for my liking.

The broth itself was very spicy which I was prepared for because on my previous visit, the dan dan broth was also very spicy, however I couldn't quite taste the tomato except for a sweet aftertaste.

The fishballs were just the usual Asian fish balls but shaped differently and they were consistently sweet like the Asian ones.

To my surprise, the tempura prawn turned out to be the star of show with an intense prawn flavour which came through even with the coating and spicy soup that it was in.

Overall, I am glad I tried this but overall I found the noodles too soft and the aftertaste too sweet.

Earlier this year, I also dined at the SOHO branch of Bone daddies for the tantanmen which was way too spicy for my tastebuds.

Sylvia's Artisan Bubble Milk Tea Ice Cream joint in Romford

Came accross this newly opened Bubble Milk Tea Ice Cream joint in my regular Romford visits.

I love their tea and ice cream offerings especially the ice cream where you can buy scoops or tubs.

Their signature is the tea floats but I only was in the mood for ice cream that day.

The price was really affordable at £1 for scoop so I ended up getting three scoops.

Flavours available were: Pistachio, Halo-halo, Avocado, buko pandan, mango, lychee, ube, coco loco, matcha, ube cheesy, jackfruit and mock pina colada.

I got the avocado, buko pandan and the ube cheesy.

All of them were so heavenly but would have loved the pandan flavour to be stronger.

Next time I'm in town, will definitely stop buy for a scoop of ice cream.

Sylvia's Artisan Bubble Milk Tea Ice Cream

96 South St, Romford, RM1 1RX.

Discovering the real taste of Brazil at the Casa Brasil festival

After the success of Casa Brasil festival in New York, they are now in London at Covent Gardens where they aim to show Londoners the best of Brazil.

At the festival, you get to experience Brazilian cusine, fruits and know more about their lifestyle.

I was so lucky to attend the Brazilian beef demonstation as well as sample the famous Acai sorbet and learn more about Cassava which appears in many of their dishes.

At the beef demonstation, we got to sample dishes.

My favourite cut was surprisingly the cupim which is used in many Brazilian dishes because of its fat meat ratio where the meat is lovely and delicate.

Once it is cooked, the fat melts away leaving silky strands of meat.

Now a camel has two big humps, imagine how good that would be!

If you google it, camel hump turns out to be the ultimate delicacy.

They also had a good showcase of fruits however it would be even better if they included more exotic items like caju and caja.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Casa Brasil festival and hope to see them again next year.

Tindle burger at Clean Kitchen for National burger day

For National burger day, how could you not eat a burger so my burger fix went to Clean Kitchen.

They were dishing out free burgers that day which features the Tindle burger.

I had the Chick'n Mayo which has the Tindle Chick'n Fillet, Vegan Mayo, Lettuce in a Brioche Bun.

To be honest, it was simply the best pairing because the creamy mayo and chick'n is just a match made in heaven, you don't need anything fancy.

Video:

Swapping a soft drink for Corona cero at The Nature Exchange

I love trying new drinks so I was all for trying the zero alcohol Corona, the catch is that you have to trade in a soft drink.

Corona has it all sorted with a free vending machine so I swapped a soda for the Corona cero.

I loved the nature spot and environment where you can enjoy the drink.

Overall, I found it tasted just like beer without the alcoholic kick and you still get that bitter kick.