Retro Japanese ramen bar Yokocho Panton opens at the Japan Centre

After the success of Heddon Yokocho by Japan Centre which opened on 15 October 2020 located just off Regent Street (Mayfair), they have opened another branch Panton Yokocho near Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus on 11/11/2021.
Just like Heddon Yokocho, the Panton branch is also downtown retro-style inspired by Yokocho 'alleyways’ of Japan.

A few months ago I visited Japan Centre and saw illustrations promoting the new opening but didn't realize it was this restaurant and according to the signage, the opening has been delayed from summer to early Winter.

Before, the visit I had a look at their online menu and their Hakkata ramen was screamingly Ippudo style with the red bowl and same elements.

I dined there on Saturday 13/11/2021 when the Piccadilly/ Leicester Square area was bustling literally like Chinese New Year!

At the entrance there was the best ramen display which moves.

I waited at the entrance queue at 18:50pm to be seated and it took quite a while for someone to serve the group in front.
By the time I was served, it was around 7:15.

As it was only me, I was given a choice of window seats or the seats around the pillar so I sat by the pillar.

The restaurant was half full when I was seated and the introductory from the staff explaining the menu was quite detailed and long.

There was 50% off that night so I managed to eat two bowls of ramen, one traditional and the other exclusive to London with a touch of fusion and also offered on the Children's menu.

Overview of the menu:
8 choices of ramen offered of which there are 5 traditional Japanese styles, 1 x house style and 2 Vegan options.
Side dishes including Hirata buns, skewers, tofu etc and a kids menu which includes a drink and optional ice cream.
The drinks menu was quite comprehensive with sake, beer, Japanese teas, plum wines, shochu and even highballs.
The dessert menu was not bad with mochi ice cream, a popular thing here and also cookie dough another popular flavour here.
Also the menu items and terminology was similar to Kanada-Ya with items like Paitan (for chicken) and they both had Piri Piri sauce which is a popular spicy sauce in the UK.

For noodles, they served smooth chijire wave & medium thickness and thin, straight hosomen.

While I was dining there, I heard some customers saying that they knew this branch because of the main shop and that the other branch was reviewed by Jay Rayner of The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/dec/20/jay-rayner-restaurant-review-heddon-yokocho-ramen-london

In terms of ramen quality, the Hakata I had was seriously good and similar to Ippudo but not as salty as Ippudo and the pork slices were top notch because they were fresh, soft and did not have that not fresh smell like most in Hong Kong.
The egg was also good compared to UK Marugame which was too salty.

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen

The Napoli was Vegan and inspired by Italian food with ramen in a tomato based broth topped with grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh basil and vegan cheese.
It was also nice but I would have preferred Hakata thin style noodles because it hangs the broth better and doesn't have a lye taste.

Vegan Napoli

Obviously this was self paid and by cash but it seems the change given was rounded down as I gave them a 20 pound note.

Note I ordered Vegan Napoli but the bill shows Vegan Miso.

McDonald’s Christmas menu 2021 reviewed: Festive pie filled with mincemeat and custard & Festive Crispy Chicken

McDonald’s announced their Christmas menu for 2021.

There is a Festive Crispy Chicken Burger which is a chicken breast fillet with cranberry sauce, sage and onion mayo, bacon, red onion, lettuce, and cheddar cheese.
For beef fans, The Festive Stack burger consists of two beef patties with a red onion relish, white cheese sauce, bacon, crispy onions, red onion, lettuce and cheddar cheese - will also be added to the menu.
Not new but the Camembert Cheese Melt Dippers are back and the Festive Pie filled with mince and custard launched in 2016 is BACK!!

The pie is quite stunning with half custard and half mince which is a rarity in UK but in other parts of the world you will find McDonalds pies with chocolate or even cherry vanilla in Switzerland.

Overall, it makes a change from apple but not my cup of tea because I am just not a mince pie fan.

As for the burgers, there was chicken or beef, however there was nothing festive in the beef except white cheese sauce so I opted for the chicken which had cranberry sauce and sage and onion mayo.

Overall it was nice but could have been nicer if I went to a different branch.

The cranberry sauce was really tart and appetizing and it was so good that I felt that the cheese dippers should come with this sauce.

Mcdonalds nailed the sage and onion mayo much better than Sainsburys because it wasn't sweet so overall it was a good burger but the fact that it was stone cold affected the taste and the cheese didn't melt.

On another day, I went back for the cheese dippers and they were nice as expected but ideally it would have been nice if it came with the same cranberry sauce used in their festive burgers.

Other than that, they were good and better than mozzarella cheese dips.

Festive Crispy Chicken:

Cheese melts dippers:

The Festive Stack burger

Festive Crispy Chicken Burger

Bellavita London Mediterranean Food & Wine Trade Show 2021

As food writer, the Bellavita London Mediterranean Food & Wine Trade Show was such a great event.

There was a good showcase of wines and food.

The most outstanding items at this show was probably the Terremare underwater aged wines.

Who knows, we might even see space aged zero gravity wines in future.

https://terremare.it/

On the topic of wines, I liked Spirito Cocktails because their ready to drink cocktails are in a stylish black paper sleeve like compact discs in a CD box which contains a collection.

They also do a gift set which includes an ice tray for diamond shaped ice cubes, glass tumblers, coasters etc.

https://spiritococktails.com/

As well as fine wines and cocktails, Dolce Vita Coffee has a lot to offer for coffee pods as well as unusual pods like pina colada which is served cold.

Other decadent offerings were salted caramel, pistachio and Macaron etc.

https://dolcevitacoffee.co.uk/

If you are bored of Panettones, the Veneziana which is a traditional cake of Venice will bowl you over. This sweet bread is soft and fluffy topped with icing and nuts.

I tried the pistachio cherry which was so decadent and dreamy.

Moving on the Italian chocolate at its finest is the Stainer Chocolate booth!

Never have I been so impressed with all these choices as well as thick hot chocolate offerings.

They had cannabis, papaya, floral, ginseng and aperitif chocolate with olives, basil and Parmesan.

For hot chocolates they even had bourbon, ginger, cinnamon etc.

https://www.stainerchocolate.it/

You can even get Italian ready meals by Pronti Via which are ready in 2 minutes in the microwave.

They are trying to tap into the UK market just like RANA who have successfully entered a few supermarket shelves.

Sadly, I couldn't try any to see how worthy they were.

https://www.facebook.com/prontivia.official/

As a pate lover, the Iberitos booth was impressive who are also suppliers of Iberico pork fat to Sainsburys.

Their pates are light as whipped mousse which are delicious on anything.

https://www.iberitos.com/

Last but not least are Spanish prickly pear products known for its health benefits available as powder, jam or cider vinegar.

https://tunocanarias.com/

London Business Design Centre: