Café François at Borough Yards.

Café François Borough Market a laid back version of Maison Francois with a restaurant and deli.

The restaurant serves some of the popular items from Maison Francois like the moules flatbread, steak tartare etc but they are some additional new things like the rotisserie chicken, plat du principals and soft shell banh mi.

Expect to find authentic French as well as some English inspired items like the egg cress roll and seafood cocktail roll.

It feels like a top notch pret a manger at the deli but in a good way.

Having loved Maison Francois, I knew I was going to like Cafe Francois.

There was a good spread at the deli from savoury to sweet and everything I had delivered.

Although there were many fancy sandwiches, I opted for the jamon beurre a true French Classic with ham and butter.

The bread had a good chew to it filled with quality tasty salted butter, cornichons with a good punch and quality jamon ham.

The next savoury item was the Salmon Feuilleté.

As well as the beautiful smoked salmon, there was a dreamy veg truffle paste of leeks and leaves.

For dessert I had the pistachio Eclair.

Looking flat it was actually filled with pistachio creme which was light and dreamy. 

The eclair was topped with Caramelized pistachio which were tasty, you could taste the pistachio as well as the caramelized sugar.

The sweetness balance was perfect.

Literally, the best eclair I have had in a while.

I appreciate the way the Éclair base was not sweetened.

Also tried the strawberry eclair which is something I would not normally choose because of artificial strawberry flavouring and again it delivered so money well spent.

Revisited again and was also pleased but I regretted not having the oeuf mimosa when I saw it because it is basically egg and cress reinvented. 

On the recent visit, I had it but the cress has been changed to watercress which is also nice but cress is more comforting.

This is the thing about newly opened restaurants, they are in teething stages hence always changing things so if you see something, don't hesitate to order it.

Overall 10/10 to the Exec Pastry Chef Jeremy Prakhin.

Revisited and dined at the restaurant where I had the sexy frogs legs.

It's not the first time I've eaten frogs legs but first time having them fried as they are usually braised or pan fried.

For those who haven't had them before, they taste the same as chicken wings but softer and more delicate.

Overall, they were nice but the coating was too salty and over powering that I felt like I was just eating fried chicken wings from a chicken shop of good quality.

The ravigote sauce that came with it is a bit like tartare sauce with gherkins.

Again, because the coating is too flavourful there was not much use for the sauce.

Finished with the moules flatbread but I felt that it was not as good as Maison Francois as it was a bit oily and stale.

Lobster experience at Burger and Lobster

Burger and Lobster started off 2011 in London and since then you will find them in other countries.

The menu was simple back then as it was either burger or lobster for £20 which makes it an obvious choice for lobster.

Unfortunately, I didn't try it earlier so tried it recently because of the buy one get one free promotion which wasn't the best deal because they did £10 deals on lobster day but they probably can't afford this promotion this year.

Although he bogof promotion isn't the best deal it still works out the same price as when they started in 2011 because a whole lobster will now set you back at £38 which is the maximum you would pay vs £40 for two.

Since I missed the £10 lobster day, it is now or never so I treated myself to Buy one get one free offer.

Why share or bring friend when you can have it all to yourself.

I went to the Soho branch because I didn't like the Leicester Square branch which was not my scene.

Ordered the whole lobster and the lobster roll to try, ideally it would be a better to just order two whole lobsters for your moneys worth but I had to try the original lobster rolls since there are many clones about.

Before, I mention the lobsters, this has to be my most memorable experience out of the 9000+ restaurants I have reviewed collectively on various platforms.

The waitress literally put my plate of food on top of my phone which I have never experiences before at any other restaurant.

To be fair, the lobsters were good especially the steamed but I was not made aware of the choice of sauces when ordering.

It would be nice if the whole lobsters came with the green tomalley stuff as it is tasty but it was handy the claws have been cut so you don't even need the tool.

Will only return if there is a similar or better offer but I think I should treat myself to this other lobster place at The Ned's for that one off experience.

Authentic and affordable Japanese food at Toconoco

Toconoco, a scenic kid friendly Japanese cafe by the canal serving authentic and affordable food.
Portions are on the small size but guaranteed delicious.
Visited solo twice to try most of the stuff and I can confirm it was good.
They had my favourites like rice balls, soba to ochazuke.
I needn't bother reviewing the taste as you can see it all revolves around rice, seaweed and soba.

It is good how they serve the mozuku seaweed and natto because they give it to you like how you would buy it in the supermarket.

Emilia's Crafted Pasta at St Katherines Dock

How can one not love Pasta!
I was recommended Emilia's Crafted Pasta many years ago but finally made it because of Galeón Andalucía, a replica of the 17th century Spanish galleon is now at St Katherines Dock.

Emilia's Crafted Pasta opened in 2016, the same year as Padella with the concept of serving affordable pasta.

Overall, everything was good and I liked the way they you can change the pasta.

Would love to revisit but all their locations are a bit off the radar!

Prix Fix Menu at Table Du Marche

Dined at Table Du Marche as we were in the area.

It was lunch, so the Prix Fix menu was offered so we ordered:

Gravalax, avocado, pickled fennel, rocket, sour cream.

Steamed mussels with garlic, shallots, parsley, white wine & cream

Pan-fried calfs liver, caramelised onion & red wine jus, chive mashed potato

Portions are big compared to other French restaurants and I found their food to be on the buttery and heavy side especially for the creamy mussel sauce and the mashed potatoes.

Other than that, it was all good except the gravalax contained the grey part from the cut and some of the calf's liver was near the arteries which made it chewy.

Stunning and delicious cakes from Cake Stories

Cake Stories is a really memorable brand because all their baked goodies look fantastic and they really stand out.

I still remember them from last year and this year they have some stunning cakes that really pop out especially the cherry bomb.

It's pumpkin season so time for pumpkin spice.

There so many choices that there is something for everyone.

Obviously, they know the cake trend which offerings like pistachio, cherry bakewell as well as traditional choices like carrot cake.

I was so lucky to get my hands on the pumpkin spice and the cherry bomb which were really comforting especially the pumpkin spice.

The texture and taste of the cake was seriously soft and light.

The stunning cherry bomb has an ingenious cherry base to satisfy your cherry craving as well as the cherry one top.

Most their stores are in Newcastle but you can get them through the letterbox by ordering Letterbox Bakes or Letterbox Brownios.

@cakestoriesbakes