Venezuelan food at Arepa & Co

Ventured out for some Venezuelan food at Arepa & Co.

There are three branches so went to Bethnal Green as it was more accessible.

Venezuelan food is from latin America so some of the items are similar to Mexican with black beans, avocado etc.

The mains items in Venezuelan food are arepas, cachapa and rice bowls with pulled meat, black beans and grated cheese.

As I have already tried arepas and the bowls are similar to naked burrito bowls I had the cachapa which are traditional sweetcorn pancakes made of fresh corn dough.

It was hard deciding on the cachapa because I was deciding between the three cheese and the pabellon which has beef, black beans, cheese and plantains so in the end got the beef one.

Overall, the sweetcorn pancake was crispy sweet and savoury glazed with sugar cane syrup so probably the cheesy one would be nicer because I prefer savoury as opposed to sweet and savoury.

Hence I can understand why Americans love this so much.

Aside from the food, I felt that service was lacking I waited at the entrance to be seated but no one was aware so after waiting a while, I walked over to the staff and got myself seated.

There was a lunch deal which I was not made aware when I ordered but you just get a drink and the the bill is slightly cheaper and that's it.

Lunch at Citarasa

Just a quick review of Citarasa, this is a pan Asian restaurant that newly opened last October 2024 replacing this hot pot place!

The menu has the usual Asian food from Thai to Singaporean, Malaysian etc.

Tried the buk kut teh soup which was tasteless and lacked herbs nor could you smell any dong kwei or peppery notes to it.

The salted egg yolk minced prawns in beancurd skin was much nicer however the salted egg yolk lacked saltiness.

The texture of the minced prawn were too soft and didn't have that bounce to it.

#ssgsingmalay

Healthy and modern food at Nathalie

Dined at Nathalie near Hanover Square which is a modern and stylish eatery with a shop.
I have been wanting to try this ever since I saw those noodles.
Finally tried it over Christmas which was the perfect time as they had candied sprouts with pecans for Christmas.
Anyhow the star of the show are the noodles which are so satisfying with a kick of chilli, grassy coriander and a kick of lime with the crunch of radish slices.
The pricing is a little confusing, it would be nice if each item was labelled a salad/protein so you can plan ahead when ordering.

Cod Cheek bites at Paradiso

Cod cheeks, any cheeks be it beef cheek or pork cheeks are always top tier as well as filet or loin.
Dined at Paradiso especially for the cod cheek bites.
Unfortunately, they were a bit tasteless.
All you could taste was the bitter oily batter.
The chips were over done in my opinion.
I've had some seriously good cod cheeks before from Quality Chop House.
I know it can't be compared but I would expect the cheek to be tasty.

Volcano ribs at YiQi

YiQi, a relatively new pan Asian restaurant in Chinatown.
I have been meaning to try but held back because it was hard deciding on what to have.
The soup noodles choices were good as it was authentic like the white curry with duck blood probably inspired by the michelin duck bloody curry mee.
I love the broth and all just not keen on Asian noodles. The rest of the stuff I've eaten elsewhere.
Luckily my partner and I were both keen on the Thai Volcano ribs so we had that.
[probably called volcano ribs because of the way the ribs are laid out but looks more like a bonfire.]
The broth was the star, zesty and spicy.
Some glass noodles in it would be nice.
The ribs were a bit disappointing as they could have been better
I have had better ribs where the meat is aromatic and soft.
You can tell from the colour as it was grey.
The good ones are a little darker with a pinkish colour in the centre and pull off easily from the bone.
The ribs here seem like they've been stewed for a while like restaurant leftovers which I've tried from chefs and restaurants in Asia.
Any how the quality here is still better than Asia where they serve broken bones and joints with little meat left on them.
You get a green chilli dip but it's not exactly generous.
The snow bud white tea was interesting because the colour looked more like black tea and the taste was like aged dried orange peel or what they call chan pei.

Cedric Grolet pistachio!!!

Last week I was joking about wanting the pistachio but my partner took it seriously so we had the amazing pistachio for dessert.
I am glad it turned out good.
When you try the first bite you just know it will be finished.
The sweetness didn't kill it.
It was literally like eating a pistachio and visually it looks like a huge pistachio without the shell.
Starting off with the chocolate coating which is the thinnest and most delicate i've experienced, then you have the silkiest lightest whipped cream in the middle followed by intense pistachio paste which has the texture like peanut butter with a slight dryness kick.
Then the super fine crunches which is like eating the crisp pistachio skin.
I thought the thin chocolate coating was crucial, too thick would have made it sweet and it would have been hard to appreciate the light filling and delicate crispy texture of the other parts.
Overall, this was the best and my favourite so far from Cedric Grolet and I believe the hazelnut should be good as well.

I feel that the recent offerings at Cedric Grolet are more to my liking.
Cedric Grolet provides sturdy takeaway cutlery which doesn't snap like plastic ones provided at some restaurant.

Pricey Salmon and poached eggs at Sunflower Kitchen

Sunflower kitchen, Maddox Lane is not the place to go if you have Hyperacusis.

I love trying restaurants especially independent ones.

Sunflower Kitchen is a rare find as it is located in Mayfair which is quite unusual in this day and age but back many years ago there were probably more than one!

Anyway, my first visit, I just had tea which probably annoyed them.

I only had tea that day because it was too noisy so I might as well come on a quieter day for food.

Went back when it was quiet and asked if there was smoked salmon and poached eggs which I saw on the board.

The guy said it was available and asked if I wanted toast but I just wanted eggs and salmon.

When it came, there were grilled tomatoes, sliced avocado, halloumi on it so I figured it was there to increase the food bill so I just played along with it to see if that was the case when I asked for the bill.

For me it's all about the dining experience which I reflect each time so each restaurant experience is memorable like this one out of the 10K+ restaurants I've reviewed collectively on different platforms.

So when the bill came, it was £18.95 which is indeed a bit pricey because for that price you can eat at better restaurants.

Anyway, I said I only asked for salmon and eggs but it came with halloumi, tomato and avocadoes which I did not ask for so he reduced the bill to £15.95 which is a bit more reasonable I guess.

Perhaps they need to charge around £18.95 per head to survive in this day and age.

Another persons bill came to £18.95 but I don't know what they ordered but the food they serve is mainly pastas, lasagne, sandwiches etc which are around £10.95 on the lunch menu.

Ironically, their google description says "Your honest & local independent serving daily fresh panini, pasta, salads & more 🌻"

Erm OK!