A refreshing and appetizing curry Laksa at Normahs

Discovered Normahs, a Malaysian hole in the wall eatery at Queensway Market which is basically like a ghetto with lots of fascinating shops and restaurants in a fancy area.

Peering in the eatery, I saw promising bowls of curry laksa so went there a week later.

The menu was the usual with nasi lemak, curries etc but I felt the star of the show was curry laksa so obviously had that.

The curry Laksa did not disappoint as the soup was thick so the soft egg noodles hung the broth nicely.

It was really moreish because the curry laksa soup was refreshing with a gentle spicy kick that was balanced well by the tamarind.

The taste of this curry laksa was similar to butter chicken curry with a hint of tomato.

Will definitely return more frequently if it wasn't for the location.

There are so many different Laksa variations so you just have to find the one that is to your liking.

Laksa variations: curry laksa, assam laksa, Laksa Sarawak, Ipoh, Siam, Singapore etc.

Trying Mauritius style food at Tooting market

Spotted this Mauritius restaurant on my Tooting visit as I left so made a trip back to try it.
The food on offer was interesting because they had soup noodles as well as dim sum which is also in soup so tried them both.
Both turned out very Chinese in style so nothing to be excited unless that's your cup of tea.
The dim sum soup was interesting as it was literally fish balls and shao mai in soup, however if you google the boulette chouchou dim sum soup it should have chayote vegetable.
When, dim sum soup came, there was no shao mai as shown so I was told they were sold out but they managed to get me some.

Also I ordered the soup noodles with prawn, lamb and egg but there were not prawns which was probably a blessing in disguise because it was just those chilled peeled prawns from the supermarket.

Other, than that, the noodles were quite nice but I think I would have liked thinner egg noodles.

Anyway, I will definitely be back to try more Mauritian dishes!

World’s first pickle-based pop-up Pickled themed afternoon tea

A few weeks ago I went to an Afternoon Tea Pickle Pop Up where it was the world’s first pickle-based pop-up in London to celebrate the brined cucumber.

So basically everything in the afternoon tea had pickle in it.

Priced at £80 per person, it was quite expensive but I was glad every item was unique, different and unusual.

The most memorable item was the chocolate fountain where you dip the pickle in.

I seriously thought it would taste weird but the pickle was one of those sweet ones that were not sour so the sweetness and the dark chocolate actually tasted nice together.

Overall, nothing was overly shocking so the afternoon tea was rather enjoyable.

The only thing that could have been improved was the colour of the afternoon tea stand as it did not contrast the food as it was green, I felt that I had to plate the items on a white plate to get a better picture.

I couldn't understand by they didn't serve the sweet and savoury together in a two tiered stand instead of serving them separately.

Also, when I left, no one reminded me there was a jar of pickles to take home.

Afternoon tea menu:

Sweet:
Pickle-shaped Dill and Lemon Macaron
Gherkin Shaped Pineapple and Dill Pickle Mini Cake
Pickled Jelly Trifle
Dill Pickle Cupcake Bite
White Chocolate and Dill Pickle Mini Donut
Dark Chocolate Dipped Dill Pickle

Savoury:
Dill Pickle and Goats Cheese Finger Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon and Dill Pickle Cream Cheese
Bloody Mary Parmesan Palmiers
Pickled Deviled Eggs
Scones:
Buttermilk Scones with Pickled Strawberry Conserve & Clotted Cream
Mocktails:
Pickled Ginger Beer
Pineapple Pickled Tonic
Cocktails:
Bloody Mary Lite
Rhubarb Dill Cucumber Gin Fizz
Champagne and Prosecco available at an additional cost
Pickle Afternoon Tea dates:

Address: 5 Kirby Street
London, EC1N 8TS
The Pickle Afternoon Tea starts at - £80 per person
The ticket price includes an afternoon tea menu, a welcome drink and a jar of pickles to take away with you.
“The last pickle in the jar is the most pickle.”

Afternoon tea for two at M&S Cafe for a tenner

Tried the new ingenious afternoon tea at M&S Cafe for a tenner.
I'm so glad M&S are finally on the bandwagon when other places and cafes are already serving similar things.
To be honest, most of the items can be bought at M&S but I love the way you can order it as a tea set now because its something that would be a popular demand as nothing beats M&S quality and it would be good to see Greggs to a similar thing too.
I think I was the first to order it as it took them a while to figure out the items.
The macarons were missing but later brought to me.
The sandwich selection was either egg or seafood but for the egg you just get egg whereas the seafood is an assortment of sandwiches.
Overall, I really liked the afternoon tea and the macarons and mini cupcake takes it to another level.

Guyanese Sweet and savoury treats

There are so many pineapple treats from different parts of the world like Guyana and Taiwan.
I found the Taiwanese pineapple cake and Guyanese pinetart quite similar.
The pinetart is a must try because it was so delicious and not too sweet.
I love the folded pastry which was filled with pineapple jam that was not too sweet.
It would also taste great with some clotted cream or ice cream.
This was my first and best ever pine tart.
Will be returning to try the red salara coconut roll, cheese roll and patties.
It is interesting that they also do Guyanese black pudding.

A week later, I returned to try other goodies like the cheese roll, patty, coconut cake, sponge cake the salara which were all impressive.

The patty is similar to the Cornish Pasty with a shortcrust pastry filled with quality minced beef and peas so it was tasty.

The cheese roll again was similar but it was spicy.

Chilli and basil gelato from La Gelatiera

Spotted this unusual basil and chilli gelato at La Gelatiera so gave it a try.
It was rather spicy but lovely.
Would love to see a basil and tomato ice cream flavour.

Pie, Licker and Jellied eels from Harringtons

There are many good places to eat in Tooting but it's just off the radar.
Finally made a trip because of Harringtons pie mash which became a priority over Vermicelli.
I'm so glad I tried it and it was certainly memorable especially the menu as liquor is spelt LICKER.
The jellied eels were delicious and they were able to give me extra jelly on a half portion.
The liquor was also comforting as you could taste eel in it as well.

Overall, it was nice but the beef in the pie was a bit chewy for my liking.
All this came to 5.90 as I was charged half a portion for jellied eels :)
@harringtonspieandmash #ssgpml

Harringtons: Selkirk Road

Tooting Broadway