YBR bakery, Thornton Health

Discovered this bakery as I was in Thornton Heath which is near the station.

I was drawn by the shop fonts which looked different.
It was eggless cakes inside and the star cookies looked quirky.
The eclairs were considerable but you could see it was not fresh cream as it was quite stiff.
Anyway, the rock cake caught my eye.
Nothing was priced so had to take her word for it as she gave me that look.
Anyway, the rock cake with cherries turned out really delicious.
It was crisp on the outside but slightly soft in the middle like a cake.
The taste was so comforting with cinnamon spices and finely chopped glacier cherries.
The texture is like the crumbly edges of a cake freshly from the oven with softness.

Lebanese Lamb ajeen manakish at Beirut Bakery & Pizzeria

Dined here by impulse because I was walking to New Cross Gate and spotted this place.

From the outside, it looks like an Italian pizza shop from the canopy which has the Italian flag colours but the name says Beirut Bakery hence how I got captivated.
Beirut Bakery & Pizzeria offers pizzas to Lebanese fare so it is a no brainer to order Lebanese food hence I had the Lamb ajeen Manakish which looks a bit like lahmacun.
The base was thin, light and crispy while the lamb was silky with a hint of tomato. Adding lemon made it even more appetizing.
I am not sure how its done but texture of the minced lamb is interesting as it feels like silk more than meat to the extent it feels raw but it isn't.
It was a bit light so probably worth ordering something else.

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.