[Review] Second visit to Padella

Pastas restaurants are trending especially when they specialize in freshly made pasta of all shapes and sizes cooked in different ways.

There are many notable pastas restaurants out there like Bancone but Padella is different as it is affordable.

It is located next to Borough Market in the heart of a food market!

Padella is so successful that they have just opened another branch at Shoreditch on Phipp Street.
In the meantime, get there early as there are always queues of people!

The menu is simple and concise.

My choices were easy,  as I have already tried the Gnocchi and tagliarini with anchovy butter, the Parpadelle and Stracci were my picks!

There was salt and pepper available but the pasta was tasty so it was not needed.
Water was also provided.

Stracci with Sweet onion, thyme and gorgonzola fonduta:

Started with the Stracci which unfortunately wasn't very hot but as I was really hungry I demolished it quickly.
The onions and thyme flavoured it nicely.

Luckily, I gave this another try and it was amazing because you can really taste the gorgonzola blue cheese and get that mouthfeel from the stracci which was a bit elastic.

Pappardelle with fennel sausages & peppercorn ragu:

The pappardelle with fennel sausages was also good because the herb and sausage meat tasted like the sausage meat you get at pizza hut.
On another visit, I had the Fettucine with chicken livers, marsala and sage.

I would completely blown away by how delicious this was. It reminded me of chicken liver pate which is smooth and velvety.

It was similar to that but with a creamy consistency with fettucine tossed in.

Overall, I would really recommend this pasta.

On another visit, I finally tried the dorset crab pasta and was impressed because there is literally no shell fragments in it as well as being delicious.

The visit for Cavatelli with cavolo nero & new season 2023 olive oil was not cold.

The texture of the Cavatelli was too firm and chewy for my liking.
Food is always slow and cold when they seat you downstairs so next time I will only dine there if I am seated on the ground floor.

Desserts at Padella.

Will definitely visit the new branch of Padella and see how it fares!

Gnocchi and Tagliarini at Padella (First visit)

Michelin Status as of 2020: Bib Gourmand

[Review] Chicken Nuggets at KFC Hong Kong

Went to KFC again because they had chicken nuggets.

As well as chicken nuggets, they had crisps and these Portuguese tarts filled with mochi and red beans.

For mains, had my usual favourite which was rice with luncheon meat, fried chicken and mushroom gravy.

Unfortunately, the rice was rather mushy this time, a cross between congee and soggy rice while the luncheon meat was dry on one side.

Next were the chicken nuggets which come with wasabi salad sauce.
The chicken nuggets tasted really familiar like those frozen microwavable ones.

I would much prefer BBQ sauce to go with the nuggets but then this is Hong Kong where they prefer wasabi.

Ended up getting the crisps as well as it was reasonably priced at HKD10 for 2.

They were quite spicy with a sweet aftertaste and reminded me of the Indian Lay's Masala Magic with the spiciness reduced.

[Review] Coughlans new Curry Chicken bake and Vegan series

A while ago I tried the Vegan Steak Bake at Coughlans in December.

Now they have just launched the new VEGAN CURRY CHICKEN BAKE before anyone else has!
Mark my words!!
To be honest, the vegan range has something for everyone like cheese and onion, sausage rolls, steak bakes and now the chicken bake!

Each bake at Coughlans is slightly different in appearance so you can visually tell them apart.

Vegan Chicken Curry Bake:

Taking a bite, the pastry is light and flaky just like any other normal pastry.
It was piping hot flowing out with a fragrant curry aroma.
As for the filling, it was quite spicy with a comforting curry taste so I would say the curry bake is a success and definitely recommended.

Here is the rest of the vegan range that I tried.

Vegan Cheese and onion:
This was filled with tasty gooey cheese complimented by the delicious onions.
Basically it tastes just as good as your usual cheese and onion pastry so it is very comforting and unsuspectingly vegan!!!

Sausage rolls:
If you are a sausage fan, you are spoilt for choice, not one but three choices: vegan sausage, vegan sausage and wild mushrooms and the vegan sausage and leek.
It is difficult to say which one is better but probably the mushroom as it has a stronger taste whereas the leek is like your usual sausage roll with leek which is a bit like spring onions but slightly different.

Mushroom Sausage roll:

Sausage and leek roll:

Last but not least is the vegan steak bake which I tried a while ago.

The price of this vegan steak bake is £2.95 which is slightly more than Greggs at £1.55 according to online media photos.

Anyway, when you bite into the vegan steak bake, the pastry is just as good as any pastry in the sense that it is crisp and flaky.
It took me a while to get to the centre of the bake but I was greeted with a lovely gravy loaded with mushrooms and vegan steak.
The vegan steak pieces was tasty and the texture was like firm bouncy tofu that is just the right bite without being too rubbery so overall I really enjoyed this vegan steak bake.

They also have other captivating treats like Butterscotch yum yum and the iced apple lattice.

As well as sweet treats, they have vegan cakes shown on the leaflet!

Coughlans Bakery:
http://www.coughlansbakery.co.uk/our-shops/