Pulled Lamb Shepherds pie at The Horniman At Hays

Just before Christmas I spotted this captivating Shepherd's pie which got my attention because there was a lamb shank bone in the middle so I made a mental note to try.

According to the menu, it is a HAND-PULLED LAMB SHANK SHEPHERD'S PIE with a rich minted gravy topped with herb mash.

Finally tried it on Boxing at The Horniman At Hays where we got a nice and quiet corner.

When, it came, the I had to "erect" the bone to make it look like the product shot as it was lying flat when it came.

The pulled lamb which was soft and tender took the Shepherds pie to the next level but needed a bit more flavour.

The rich minted gravy didn't quite taste minty nor was it rich.

Overall, I really enjoyed it, but some vinegary mint sauce was badly needed so I put loads of vinegar which made it really tasty.

Calarmari:

Calamari can be a hit or miss!

Luckily the calamari was still soft with a chew while the coating was crispy and not too salty despite looking a bit dark in colour.

It tasted nice with the lemon but the sauce was a bit too sweet.

Pictures at The Horniman At Hays

Pistachio and hazelnut filled brionut brioche buns at Comptoir bakery

Comptoir Gourmand is a small, family run company based in Bermondsey, I made a mental note to visit after walking past this cafe in 2020.

Although, I am not a fan of brioche, I went for the brionuts which came in two flavours hazelnut and pistachio filled with creme.

Both were well filled and there was so much filling that you have to be really careful when you are eating it.

To summarize, the hazelnut tasted better but visually the pistachio was a winner, again both were encased in this consistent soft brioche bun.

The butter in the brioche bun was not too overwhelming but the filling can get a bit sickly.

Pistachio brionut"

Hazelnut brionut noisette:

Other offerings at Comptoir Bakery:

Malaysian eatery Uncle Lim branches from Whitgift in East Croydon to South Croydon

Uncle Lim, a popular Malaysian eatery in East Croydon located on the upper floor of the Whitgift centre has opened another branch in South Croydon.

Since then, they have closed the shop at Whitgift and now permanently based in South Croydon.

Finally paid it a visit and tried the long awaited Hainan chicken which is only available at the weekends.

The hainan chicken was surprisingly good and very different to the Thai and Singaporean version.

It is quite basic with just chicken, a few slices and cucumber and rice.

I liked it because the soy sauce was thick and salty like marmite without the cloying sweetness of the Singaporean style sauce.

The chicken was tender, soft and fresh so overall it was very impressive.

The prawn mee was a bit disappointing as it lacked the richness of prawn as well as the red oils from the prawn head when you boil the prawns for the prawn broth.

For drinks, tried the AW Root beer which was seriously horrible because it tasted like those weird Chinese oil that people apply when they are dizzy.

Address:

47 S End, Croydon CR0 1BF

Eggless rainbow cake from Cake Forest in South Croydon

I have always wanted to get an eggless cake from Cake Forest since they open at South end but the choices they had before were a bit boring and the competition is fierce as there are an abundance of eggless cakes around.
Finally bought a cake for fun on Christmas day as it was a rainbow one.

Overall, it was a delight to eat as it was dreamy and pretty.

There are so many eggless cake options around so there is no excuse that they are not soft and fluffy which was delivered.

The only thing I did not like was the sweeteners or the sweetness which was too sweet for my liking as well as the waxy cream.

All the different layers tasted the same.

Other than that, it was really good.

103 South End, Croydon CR0 1BG

All day breakfast langos from Langos Royale

I've tried a few Langos stalls, so I thought I'd try this one for comparison.
In terms of price, it has to be the cheapest at 3.99 possibly because it was not in London.
Anyway, the toppings were slightly different and there were some modern choices like all day breakfast and sweet options.
I tried the classic which I thought was the tastiest.
The all day breakfast had egg which is a bit like a thin omelette and the colour of the egg looked strange as it was brownish.
Topped with bacon and spring onions.
Overall, the langos was nice but I felt that the langos was on the thin side like a thin crust pizza compared to the other stalls I have tried.
The guy at the stall spoke really good English and was quite handsome.

Miso Brrroth soup from Island Poke

Finally tried this Miso brrroth which is basically a brown rice base topped with protein.
I had the tofu because the chicken looked dry.
The tofu wasn't much better as it was rubbery and hard while the brown rice was too healthy for my liking as it was coarse and chalky.
Overall, the miso broth was ok but not really my cup of tea.
I think a noodle base would work better.

IKEA Turkey with sage and onion Christmas Dinner

Like I always say, good food is partly luck and the right timing and clearly I went the wrong time.

In mid November I was on IKEA's website and discovered the Christmas Dinner which was apparently already available if it said "available until 23rd of December" however when I went to the restaurant it was not available yet.

It was quite disappointing because if its not ready yet then the website should at least give a date.

I visited two big stores and they didn't have it.

The Christmas dinner was finally available on my recent visit so I tried the Turkey Paupiette and Kale Roulade which is vegan.

There is supposed to be black forest roulade on offer according to their website but they didn't have it.

It was definitely a bargain for that price but almost everything was a bit dry and burnt especially the Kale roulade where you can whack it with a spoon and get noises.

Similarly with the turkey, it was dehydrated that you can see where the turkey has dried off and gone a dark pink. Only the stuffing in the middle was normal and tasty.

The bit I enjoyed most was the edible purple cabbage and gravy.

I also got the pigs and blankets which were just dry and chewy as well.

After I finished my meal, I saw a fresh batch of Kale Roulade come out how they were supposed to, you could even see the pieces of orange sweet potato contrasting the green kale!

It shows IKEA can serve it how it should be, but it was just my luck that I wasn't able to enjoy it!