New Udonuts and Tan Tan Udon at Marugame

New Udonuts 丸亀うどーなつ at Marugame. 

These are made from Udon dough and sugar coated just like doughnuts £1.50 (3 pieces) only with optional Belgian Chocolate or Matcha Custard dipping sauce for 30p. 

As a donut fan, I had to try them out as well as the matcha custard dipping sauce.

Overall, the mini bites have a chew and the texture is just like Japanese mochi donuts.

As for the taste, they are just like donuts and the matcha custard makes it even more delicious.

The matcha custard was really tasty just like commercial custard with a matcha kick but found it a bit sweet.

Just for fun, I put them on the chopstick like a Japanese dango which is a sweet dessert. 

Marugame should also do a savoury version without the sugar coating which comes with a katsu or wasabi mayo dip.

@marugameuk

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Marugame Cute kids bento or udon for £3.95

Went to marugame to see if there was any new items and they had the new kids bento so I had it before dinner.
They ran out of edamame so they had to extract the beans from the pod 😮
Other options include tofu and chicken tender.

Halloween candle cake at Whipped London

Whipped London are famous for cheesecakes but ended up getting the instaworthy candle cake.

I was captivated by the purple candle cake so decided to check it out on instagram before visiting.

From their insta shorts, it shows a rainbow cake inside with pistachio sauce oozing out when you cut it.

For a price tag of £7.95, if you didn't know about the pistachio sauce, it would probably have satisfied visually but sadly I knew about the sauce.

Anyway, the cake was nice so it partially delivered but I felt that the experience could have been better because the candle is lightable which could have been lit to make it more realistic.

The lady was really busy that day and forgot to serve me the cake until I asked so it probably didn't occur to her that you could light it up as well.
However, I was compensated a pistachio cookie because of the non existent pistachio sauce filling.

Whipped:

29 Bedfordbury, London WC2N 4BJ

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.