Plant Based World Expo Europe 2023 at Excel

Even though there are so many food exhibitions that I go to, visiting the Plant Based World Expo Europe was a unique experience.

It was held at Excel which was super convenient.

There were so many exhibitors and great plant products.

To summarize, I tasted many great plant cheeses, there some really good plant ham but not much on plant eggs but to date, there is only good plant egg maker fabulously produced in the UK by Veg Life.

Anyway, here's a round up of my findings that I liked.

For Cheese, the La Fauxmagerie which comes from East London, not only do they taste great but I love the names of the cheese like Brixton blue, Balham Blue, Bricklane Bree etc.

The texture is soft was taste was bang on.

For Italian Cheese, Dream Farm from Italy has these creamy dreamy plant Mozzarella which also come in a brine solution.

The texture is very similar but slightly softer with less resistance and tastes very creamy and just as good.

I was really pleased to see JENS MOLLER products who are makes of Zhrimp and faux caviar.

It so happens I have already tried their faux caviar at IKEA and also the no prawn cocktail sandwiches at ASDA and ALDI.

Marks and Spencers was supposed to have it but they pulled out at the last minute as I remember getting pictures of the labels that were on the shelves.

IKEA SJÖRAPPORT Red and Black Seaweed pearls

https://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.com/2020/12/review-ikea-sjorapport-red-and-black.html

ASDA no prawn cocktail sandwich

https://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.com/2023/01/asda-omv-no-prawn-cocktail.html

Aldi no prawn cocktail sandwich

https://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.com/2023/11/aldi-no-prawn-cocktail-sandwich.html

For Faux squid, Happiee from USA have nailed it.

 

Moving on to ham, the French are seriously good with their cheese and ham as well as plant based ham.

La Vie who do tasty plant bacon have just launched a really seriously amazing plant ham which you wouldn't have guessed is plant based in a sandwich.

Eating it alone wafer thin style was so still.

The mouth feel is hard to suspect only a little dryness and a slight grainy texture like chicken breast so I can foresee this is going to be an hot item.

As well as omni having plant luncheon style meat, unMEAT also do it too.

I spotted this really eye catching Belgium/German/Racing car looking booth by Rightside because of the colours and black and white chequered pattern.

It turns out that they specialize in mayo, vegan honey and plant squeezy cheese and sweeteners.

My taste were blown away by this lobster mayo which smells and tastes exactly like prawn cocktail crisps!

Most people in UK would love this flavour and I can see it being a match made in heaven with the Zhrimp.

Also tried the squeezy cheese which tasted exactly like Lidl's McEnnedy Squeezy Cheese sauce one for American week.

McEnnedy Squeezy Cheese Sauce

https://supersupergirl-food.blogspot.com/2021/07/lidl-mcenedy-squeezy-cheese.html

Their honeys which I still can't get my head round do not come from bee but taste exactly like honey and their maple syrup was really decadent.

I tried their sweetener on tea and only one tiny drop was needed in my large cup of 50ml tea!

Ready go lunches are sorted with herbimore, their sandwiches and mushroom burger was fantastic.

For hot dogs, I was impressed with Van Hees hot dog which are spot on, although the colour is a bit brown.

There were many faux meats from Sons of Butchers, the product names were quirky and fun like mince cheat, trick n wings etc.

Then there were hemp faux meats!!!

With all the plant milks available, milkadamia was really memorable because it was made with macadamias.

The tea and latte drinks were so good especially the tea because the black tea was really aromatic.

To end it all sweetly, there were so many nice soft serves, ice cream bars and even marshmallows.

Dandies marshmallows were banging, flavour and sweetness was just right with so many flavours to choose from like maple syrup, chocolate to vanilla.

Bubble Tea, Malaysian Food and Kebabs at The Holborn Food Hub

Discovered The Holborn Food Hub while I was in the area.
Initially I thought they only served doners because it was what you could see from the outside, it turns out there are two more shops inside.

At the far back, you will find a newly opened Malaysian cafe which used to be in Peckham then in the middle there is an Asian bubble tea stall with desserts.

This was the first stall I tried, I was overwhelmed by the drink choices as it was not just bubble tea!

They had two long drink lists for avocado and pistachio!!

It was really hard deciding between avocado and pistachio but luckily I spotted this avocado and pistachio drink and swapped the caramel pearls for my favourite pandan jelly!!!

The drink was really good so I finished it which was rare.

With pistachio drink, one would expect it to be made with pistachio powder but it contained chunky crushed pistachio nuts and then you got this savoury avocado which was heaven.

Overall, pistachio and avocado were a good pairing because they were both savoury.

My favourite pandan jelly was lush and not too sweet so definitely ordering this drink again.

Also tried the peanut milk because they ran out of the chestnut milk and it was interesting and nothing like peanut butter.

Returned to try the Malaysian cafe for the prawn mee and curry chicken chee cheong fun and both were seriously good.

The prawn mee broth was dark orange with a red oil layer on top, this is always a good sign meaning that it is made with prawn shells and prawn head.

It definitely didn't disappoint as the prawn flavour was really strong and the thin rice vermicelli soaked it nicely.

The chicken was a bit of a let down even though it was tender thigh meat because there was an overnight odour to it or perhaps it had been braised for too long.

The curry chicken chee cheong fun was also tasty especially the curry as it was really strong and tasted like Singaporean Laksa somehow!

For dessert, we had the pandan and grass jelly tofu pudding which was lush and not too sweet.

I would have been happy with just the pandan jelly.

Although, Malaysian food seem to popular there, the Chicken cold cut wrap from Holbunz is just as good.

Bloody delicious cold so it must have been even better from the shop eaten asap.

The chicken was moist and tender like thigh meat and it tasted like the chicken you get from a roast chicken.

The purple onions, pickle and cabbage complemented it nicely along with the light mayo sauce.

The pretty vegan jam jar cake from Cream Dream

Spotted this girly pink cafe while I was in the area so went in to have a look.

It turns out to be a Ukrainian cafe which was certainly unique as there are not enough of them.

The cafe menu was really extensive from teas, lemonade to eclairs.

What I found impressive was that they even had the modern instaworthy drinks like pink dragonfruit matcha, tarragon lemonade to butterfly pea as well sea buckthorn tea.

On Tuesdays, Thurs and Fridays they serve Ukrainian dumplings.

The first visit, there was a friendly girl who was really patient at explaining the food and drink but unfortunately I had errands that day so couldn't dine there.

After researching this place, it turns out that this cafe is opened by a Ukrainian refugee.

Returned to try it out but unfortunately, the girl who I met on the last visit wasn't there.

I didn't particularly enjoy this visit because the bar staff felt I had intruded his chat time with other staff when I ordered.

The thing is, their pastries are not cheap starting from £7 for an eclair to £11 for a cake which makes it comparable to Harrods and other biggies.

The cake I had was £11 so I would expect it to be handled delicately because I was hoping to get a nice photo of it but the ribbon part got deformed but luckily I got a picture of it in the cabinet before it got deformed.

Interestingly, no napkins were provided until asked.

The lights upstairs were rather dark so they had them fully turned on when requested.

Surely, wouldn't they want nice photos of their cafe/food in brighter lighting.

The Cherry Chocolate Cake which was vegan was quite nice, it was filled with fresh cherries, cherry pure, white vanilla cream, chocolate biscuit and all covered in white chocolate.

#ssglondoneats

Taking a break at Cutter and Squidge

Cutter and Squidge is a nice cafe in soho with lots of pretty cake offerings which can be a bit pricey.
Finally tried it one afternoon after running out of things to try.

We had the blueberry biskie which was a cookie with more cookie in the middle.

Overall, we were just taking a break in there so didn't really have any expectations.

Red Velvet cake from Cutter and Squidge online

Egg custard tart from Arome Bakery

Named just like this other Arome bakery in Asia, they serve bakery inspired by Asian flavours which seems to be quite popular.
Somehow, it was hard to make a visit because the flavours are different to my palette and the pastries look too tanned for my liking.
You will see pastries with frankfurter style sausages, a thing in Asia.
Anyway, there was only one item that captivated me and that was the egg custard tart.
Again, its very different to the English custard tart because of the pastry but similar to the Portuguese tart which explains why Asians love it too.
The Arome custard tart was basically the same as the ones in Asia.
The filling is very eggy and the pastry is oily and flaky just like the ones in HK.
Not quite to my liking however, some Chinese ones in London seem to taste better and probably kinder to the stomach as they don't contain lard which causes indigestion and nasty stinking burps for some.

KFC's Christmas Stuffing tower burger!

I love stuffing so tried KFC's new stuffing tower burger which is a brioche bun with an original chicken filet, sage and onion stuffing patty, burger dressing, lettuce and a spicy cranberry sauce.

Overall, it sounds good but I felt some gravy would be nice as well.

Anyway,  I think I must have went the wrong time because the chicken filet looked like it was triple fried, the colour was as dark as the stuffing.

It was dry, hard and inedible, even with my fingers I could not even rip the filet apart so I discarded the chicken and just had it with the sage and onion patty which was herby.

I don't think I've tried the stuffing tower burger at its best so can't review it properly.

#ssgkfc @kfc_uki

@kfc #kfc

Eating at L Terroni & Sons in Farringdon the oldest Italian Deli

Just like caffs, old delicatessens are worth checking out too.
Clerkenwell is a nice haven for all these beauties.
This time we tried Terroni of Clerkenwell an Italian delicatessen.
It had a good range on the menu.
I was impressed with the ravioli choices but it turns out to be pre made which I believe you can buy to enjoy at home.
Overall, it was a good experience and I loved the spiral staircase that leads to the toilet.