Charles pan fried chicken at South Bank, London

When I found out Charles pan fried chicken from the States was in London, I had to give it a try.
Featuring fried chicken, mac and cheese, cinnamon citrus yams, collard greens and corn bread and Banana pudding dessert.
It turns out American's call yam as sweet potatoes.
Anyway, the taste profile of everything was interesting and very different to the English especially the banana pudding which tastes like foam bananas.
The yams and corn bread were super sweet.
Every time they drizzle the sauce, you will hear "you got the saucy, saucy, ooohh"

TOKIA SQUARE , Croydon

[visited on weekday around 2pm and a Fri day night]

New Asian food court in Croydon. Expect dim sums, sushi, hotpots, Malaysian, Indian etc. 

Signage on ground floor needs improving as the only working escalator goes down so who would have guessed its on the 1st floor. 

Two of the stalls I was interested in don't speak English. One of them cant use the till charging me night rates at 2pm in the afternoon. 

The sushi buffet was a bit rubbish because it was the same rolls going round and no variety so why would one pay a fixed priced to eat the same 2 - 3 items. 

Bf visited on Friday night. Again several stalls couldn't speak English so one guy was very busy being flagged by other stalls for help. 

Anyway, felt sorry for the Rasa stall because some people have paid their orders online and the kitchen staff had disappeared around 21:30 ish. 

The staff again were incompetent using the system to check or offer refunds.

Mother Hubbard’s Fish and Chips in Croydon

Finally a much needed chippy in Croydon.

Nice chips and friendly service.

The best thing is that they offer puddings with custard which you can't really find in town.

Rustic burgers at Jakes, Seven Kings

I have been wanting to try Jakes for ages. 

Obviously discovered it a few years ago Thanks to the Eliz Line and my supermarket quests but I kept coming the wrong time when they were closed.

Finally, just when I had lunch nearby it happened to be open so I had to try a burger.

The owner is a super foodie like me so definitely can relate and obviously his burgers are amazing coming from someone who doesn't really eat burgers because grilled patties have a funny taste and smell from the grill while some meats stink.

Dined here twice so tried the chicken, beef, lamb burgers and they were all banging.

Clean, juicy patties which he makes in house so there's no chewy bits or bone fragments.

Also tried the fried egg, again cooked on the same grill, the taste was clean.

The shocking thing was the price, a 4oz beef burger will only set you back at £3.40.

The burgers were tasty without sauces and extra garnishing but taken to the next level with the saltiness and fiery kick from English mustard inspired by another customer.

Definitely the best burger and one that I ate with my bare hands.

Only cheated by using a fork to put mustard on the burger and to eat the fried egg.

(I happened to have a fork because I got a few from my bakery crawl earlier that day where one of the bakeries was recommended by the owner.)

The owner is so inspiring and enlightening that it was a pleasure hearing about his dining experiences.

Jakes Hamburgers is definitely worth trying because you can see how long it has been there, I love the neon lights and the old fashioned burger menu.

I'll be back!

Regent Street Sensorium pop up with Bompas & Parr.

Loving all the jiggling jellies.
There are six flavours: rose hibiscus, raspberry cinnamon, melon and milk, pineapple vanilla, apple, peach and black tea.
You can even try eating your jelly on the jiggling simulator.

Tried all six flavours and the apple, pineapple have to by my favourites while the melon was Asian and not nice as expected.

Finally visited Tim Hortons!

I have always wanted to try them but they are out of reach.
Almost tried the one in Bluewater a few years ago but glad we didn't make it.
The branch in Harlow was really nice and the food delivered as well.
Started off with the burgers and chicken tenders.
All of them were really good especially the chicken tenders which lived up to its name, tender and moist.
Most importantly, they use real cheese slices and not processed cheese.
Also tried the new OFG chicken which is sweet and salty.
For the doughnuts, went crazy and got 3 regular doughnuts and the timbits.
The apple fritter is definitely my favourite while the timbits are a good representative of the regular ones.
Would love to see a Tim Hortons in Central London.

100th Bowl of free pasta at 37 Old Compton Street and returning to dine there

Another pasta bar has just opened bang in Soho in March.
They were giving away 100 bowls of pasta each day and today was Conchiglie octopus ragu so I was really lucky to get the 100th bowl.
Overall, it was delicious with lots of big chunky octopus pieces that were tender and tasty while the ragu sauce was moreish however the conchiglie was on the al dente side.

Overall, love their seafood pasta choices like the octopus ragu and black crab tortellini.

Dined there as a customer a month later.

Ordered gnocchi on this visit because their pastas are on the hard side.

I would say close to that of pasta evangelists.

Anyway, loved the tricolour gnocchi with tomato, spinach and the potato.

Bf had the maccheroni which was hard as expected.