Malaysian Street food at The Spice Lab - St. Mark's Church turned food hall

I don't eat much Asian food in UK and if I do it has to be worth me going!

This year has been interesting, all the Asian places I have dined seemed to be owned by Malaysians like Olympic Cafe, Eat Lah and Ong Ong buns!

My visit to Mercato Mayfair was mainly because of the location being a church turned food hall!

At the entrance there is a delicatessen and when you go inside you are greeted with a hall of tables with the eateries on the side.

On the ground floor, there is a pasta bar and pizza and upstairs you have the Asian eateries.

Upstairs, I was struggling to choose between the ramen or the Malaysian joint but in the end I decided to have Malaysian fare mainly because the rice is visually striking and I can compare it to EatLah.

I didn't feel like curry so the lady was really nice to do me some chicken satays with their signature tricolour rice.

The food was served on a plate so I was confident I could get photos of it with the alter on the background and not dropping food on peoples' heads!

The owners were really nice and gave me a roast coconut drink which I had at home.

Overall, the chicken satays were tasty, they were sweet itself and the sweet peanut sauce gives it more depth.

The star of the show which was the rice, was my favourite especially the blue rice coloured by blue butterfly pea flower and the tasty yellow turmeric rice.

Also seen on their instagram, they also have green matcha rice and charcoal rice.

Definitely recommended but I plan to come back on a weekday when it is quieter.

Other photos of the church:

Squirty Egg custard Buns from Bunhouse (8unhouse)

Although Asia started the instaworthy dimsum bun trend, I feel that the quality of Chinese food is actually better in the UK in terms of quality, freshness and presentation.

Anyway, Bunhouse is famous for these squirty egg custard buns and the way the buns are presented.

Bun has been open for a while now and the menu has changed quite a few times.

In a way, I liked their initial bun menu but I can understand it was taken off as the filling are not your conventional bun fillings.

The buns that I liked were the Chicken bun (filled with chicken, pate, miso), Fish bun (filled with cod, prawn, chilli oil and basil), Red Choc Bun (filled with dark chocolate, pig blood and chilli).

The fish was definitely unique because they don't have buns filled with fish in Hong Kong.

Each bun is stamped with its flavour which makes them easy to distinguish as well as giving it a signature look as no other place does that.

Sadly, I also missed their rainbow bun in 2019 which was so pretty.

On my first visit, I had their signature custard bun and the lamb! 

Unfortunately, I got the bad one of the batch that day which didn't squirt and the base of the bun was stodgy as it wasn't steamed long enough.

At the bottom of the bun there was some weird doughy pile in the middle.

I could have told them but I decided not too and revisited another time.

Had it been another person, it could have been their first and last visit.

The second visit was much better, the bun was stamped better and you could see it was pure liquid custard in the middle.

Overall, the bun was tasty and not too sweet.

Also tried the lamb and beef which it is filled with quality chunks of meat inside and not crappy meat like in Hong Kong.

Overall, I would recommend visiting for the custard buns.

Hopefully they will serve the rainbow buns again.

As well as Chinatown, Bunhouse have just opened another branch at Hawley Wharf.

Fish and Chips at Golden Chippy, rated the number 1 best chippy in London on Tripadvisor

As a fish and chips fanatic I had to try the Golden Chippy which is rated number 1 in London on Tripadvisor.
Finally made it by train where it was only a few minutes walk from the station.
The Golden Chippy serves their Fish and Chips with salad which is quite odd and this was another reason which made me visit.
On the menu, there were so many fish offerings like skate.
In the end I got the fish goujons and fish roe.
It was good to see fish roe offered as not many places offer it due to unpopularity.
Compared to other chippies, my food arrived quickly and it was piping hot.
The fish batter was so light yet crispy that it crumbles in your mouth and the fish was so delicate that it was like silk.
Although the fish and chips was better than all the chippies I've tried in London, I felt that the salad actually stole the show.

Looking at the salad, it was finely chopped with olive oil, tomatoes, parsley mixed salad and it was so tasty and moreish because of the tangy dressing.

It also had mint in it which makes you remember their salad.

Coming here twice, the fish and chips were consistently good although on my first visit, there was no tartare sauce and on the second visit, there was tartare sauce on every table.

To summarize, I would definitely recommend it!

Second visit:

Third Visit: