Prawn shaomai and Mushroom tofu dim sum at The Truman Market, Brick Lane

Stopped by The Truman Market while I was on my way to this Italian joint.

I was captivated by this dim sum which had rice inside so decided to try it. 

There were other dim sums available so I had the prawn shaomai (which actually looks like more shrimp) from the garnishing but who knows it could be made with prawns.

The shrimps were probably alive during steaming because many have jumped off onto the cloth which is baffling unless the steamer dropped from a height.

Anyway at £2 a piece I was shocked to be given one with a missing shrimp so I asked if I could have a normal one.

To my dismay, the staff just picked one of the fallen ones and plonked it back on!

I felt that there was a language barrier as I failed to get info on what the rice dim sum was until I took a walk around the block and saw the banner above.

I mean seriously, he could have just pointed at that when I asked to save himself explaining.

Now to the taste, the mushroom tofu one was quite was nice and different.

The prawn one was seriously weird, the texture was like foamy marshmallow meringue, not quite sure how they managed that because I've had my fare share of dim sum and the texture is normally bouncy.

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Crescentina and fried tortellin at Indegno

I have been meaning to try Indegno when I saw these cones of fried tortellini and the star of the show fried crescentina sandwiches.
Crescentina is traditional fried bread from Bologna.
Enter Indegno, a chain from Italy with its first London branch at Brick Lane.
There were so many savoury and sweet choices for Cresentina but luckily they have sets which I wasn't aware when ordering.
Anyway, I had the Bolla, The 50 Special and the fried tortellini cone with parmesan cream.

The Bolla and The 50 Special:

The Crescentina fried bread was quite promising because it wasn't oily as anticipated with a firm soft chew texture.

Personally, I liked the Bolla as expected because it was mortadella, crushed pistachios and stracciatella cheese. 

The mortadella is similar to sliced ham which was comforting and complemented nicely with the creamy cheese.

The 50 special with porchetta (pork belly) was on the sweet side because of the caramelized onions but the homemade potato croquette was the star, it was silky and sticky.

To summarize the Bolla is recommended but overall, the presentation was a bit sloppy for both compared to the ones on social media and it looked like it was sliced randomly especially the 50 special because one side you can see the filling from the hole. For the Bolla, the pistachios were not visible as they were inside.

Fried tortellini with parmesan cream:

The fried tortellini was a bit disappointing as well as the parmesan cream.

I opted for the parmesan cream because it was the same one used in the Indegno crescentina.

My issue is that the tortellini tasted like those long life dry ones that you can buy in the supermarket.

They were nice and crispy but the filling was a bit dry.

Although some places par boil them before frying so that they are not so dry.

The parmesan cream didn't quite rescue it because it was thick and heavy which didn't really help.

It's like putting thick cream on dry skin when a thinner lotion would be more easily absorbed.

I felt that tomato salsa or some lighter but punchy sauce would make it tastier.

Who doesn't love Cheese at Pick & Cheese, The Cheese Bar at Seven Dials

Throwback of The Cheese Bar before the review gets mouldy but then it doesn't matter with blue cheese, the mouldier the merrier.   

When Seven Dials opened, the most successful and popular eatery was probably Pick & Cheese which is the world's first cheese conveyor belt.
Since then, it has been going strong.

Finally tried the Pick & Cheese which was a fab and affordable experience for cheese lovers.

Truffled baron bigod: Brie style Baron Bigod and a sandwich layer of black truffle & British cream cheese with crackers

Coolea: Classic gouda style paired with cumin roasted pineapple

Stilton paired with chocolate hazelnut brownie

Port & Stilton Affogato: Stilton & caramelized walnut gelato with a shot of ruby port.

Coolea: Classic gouda style paired with cumin roasted pineapple

I know what cheese I like hence my selection was to my liking except the Gouda because I didn't like the crumbly texture as I'm more of a brie/cheddar/blue cheese person.

Jollibee in the UK

Ever since Jollibee opened in the UK, I have always wanted to try it.

There are two branches in London, Leicester Square and Earls Court.

Finally tried the Earls court branch to compare it the ones in Asia.

Ordering and waiting for food is consistently slow but probably worse at Leicester Square because that is a prime spot.

The spaghetti bolognese sauce was the same being too sweet and you get these Flipino red style sausages which are not quite the same as pork sausage.

The star of the show, fried chicken was a bit too hard and salty for me.

Last but not least the pie, you get the taste of mango and peach but the pie was a bit over done because you can taste that heavy fried taste on the pastry.

Luxury Fruit Bread at Starbucks, Ten Degrees in Croydon

Dined at the Croydon, Ten Degrees Starbucks because I had some time to kill.

Walking in the cafe, it was not very welcoming in the sense of the layout,

The seating was weird, there were two pillars either side of the walls which chairs facing it or a communal table in the middle facing the entrance and drinks collection counter.

There were a few normal seats by the window which are ok and then the toilet was at the far back.

In the end, I had a Luxury fruit bread with some extra whipped cream and tea.

It was two slices of fruit toast studded with with cranberries, raisins and sultanas toasted and it was quite nice as it had a nice chew to it.

Pastries at PAUL

Paul's is everywhere so it wasn't an urgency to try.

One night, someone got the Raspberry croissant which has a sweet Raspberry & Frangipane filling and the Strawberry French tartlet with creamy vanilla custard and topped with fresh strawberries.

Both were how they should be but not spectacular that I would want them again.

Pitta bread and lamb soup at Murger Han

Even though I have not been to Xi An, I love Xi An cuisine based on the Xi An restaurants I have tried.
Xi An cuisine involves on a lot of lamb/mutton, biang biang noodles, round pitta bread filled with lamb etc.

The pitta bread with lamb soup is one such nice soup but nothing as good as the ones made from scratch in Xi An where they use a whole chunk or joint of mutton so the broth will be very different and probably not require msg like this place.

I am not sure how the texture of the pitta bread pieces are but I didn't like it.

Overall, not the real deal but this soup let me imagine how the real deal would be.

The lamb used in this soup are probably those frozen slices used for hot pots and roasts.