London: Taking a walk through Asia (Part I)

Pinterest is annoyingly addictive. That's all.

I hope you enjoyed my last update on the state of London franchised food. Once I finished writing that piece, I had this sudden urge for a black bottom cupcake. Ahh. Today's update is almost as if you're taking a stroll through Asia. Well, almost. The great thing about Asian cuisine as a whole is that it is so incredibly diverse. Not only are the cuisines so different between Asian countries, the cuisines can be quite different depending on the region of a country. We're going to take a walk through Vietnam, Japan, Thailand and China. I thought I'd be able to talk about it all in one update, but I seem not to know how to shut up. Therefore, taking a walk through Asia will be exercised in two parts. First, Vietnam and Thailand, then China and Japan thereafter. Most likely the third London update that I promised will be spread out onto more updates like this one too. Enjoy :-)

Welcome to Vietnam:

This might seem strange, but my love affair for Vietnamese food actually started from two really good experiences in Thailand. It seemed quite odd at the time that the best food I had during my ten day road trip around North East Thailand was from two Vietnamese restaurants, but seeing as Thai food was a constant diet for me at home, it was probably more of a relief than anything to eat Vietnamese food. During my stay in London, I had an awesome Vietnamese flatmate who had a passion for cooking that seemed quite similar to my own. She would often cook Vietnamese dishes, yet also had the guts to experiment often. It was always enjoyable seeing what she would do from one day to the next and further enthused my interest in her country's cuisine.

Cay Tre

42-43 Dean Street, Soho, W1D 4PZ (Closest tube station: Leicester Square)

I have read numerous times that Hoxton was the best area to find Vietnamese food in London, as Hoxton's full of Vietnamese restaurants. However it didn't stop me from trying out the food in Soho. One of my first stops was here at Cay Tre, where the decor had been more stylish than I anticipated. In fact, it didn't seem like I had entered into a Vietnamese restaurant at all.

I ordered one of my favourite dishes, 'bun thit nuong' (£8.50), a bowl of cold vermicelli noodles with grilled pork, fresh herbs and vegetables, and nuoc cham  (a pretty common condiment/dipping sauce in Vietnam). It also came with a hanoi meatball (which I don't think they include anymore) and cha gio – that's pork spring rolls to you. Vietnamese spring rolls are the best kind of spring rolls out there (well second to my mother's. Sorry mother). I love this dish because it's refreshing and light –well minus the cha gio – but ironically, I can never finish this because every restaurant that has served me this dish seem to always provide me with an overly generous serving of noodles. I also tried the Vietnamese Iced Coffee (£3) which was so cold and satisfying that I wanted more! I had no qualms about service either. 

Viet (now VietPho) Noodle Bar

34 Greek Street,  Soho, W1D 5DJ (Closest tube station: Leicester Square)

Viet is pretty small and unpretentious, and looks more like a café than a restaurant once you enter inside. As much as Cay Tre was a decent experience with good food and good service, I much preferred Viet as their bun thit nuong (£8) was the best I had in London. I pretty much ate 95% of the dish, which is the closest that I have ever come to finishing it! Now that they've changed the name a bit, I'm not sure if they've changed owners or not, so I don't know whether Viet still makes quality food or not. My food arrived pretty quickly seeing as I made my pitstop outside peak lunch hours at 3pm, but the service itself was nothing special. The only strange thing I remember about this place was the fact that they had quite a few Thai dishes on the menu. Why would you order pad thai when you have the intention of going out to a Vietnamese restaurant?

Welcome to Thailand:

I must admit that outside of my mother's cooking, I do not eat much Thai food. If I do, it always feels like my mum is standing behind me (when she's not), nagging me about how it's not really Thai food. Sadly, most of the time she's correct. She's installed this seed of doubt into my brain about the authenticity of Thai food unfortunately. I'm hopeless at cooking Thai food because my mum refuses to give me approximate measurements for her dishes. Seriously, telling me 'this much' and 'that much' and to do trial and error doesn't help me much. So when I moved to London, I underestimated how much I'd miss my mother's cooking.  So whenever I was in the mood for Thai, I had to venture out to the streets of London to satisfy my hunger. 

Busaba Eathai

35 Panton Street, London SE1Y 4EA (Closest tube station: Piccadilly Circus)

This should have really been in the last update, since Busabi Eathai has expanded throughout London, but it never really crossed my mind. Before I left for London, I asked my brothers who had both studied in London some time ago, for some recommendations on where to eat. It had been some time since their last visits to the UK, but one of my brothers recommended Busaba to me. I remember my friend Z and I had the intention to go to Wahaca, but it was so packed and could not handle the 45 minute wait for a table, and went ahead with Plan B instead. Busaba was very busy as well upon our arrival and we were lucky to get seats, where the seating is based on communal tables.  For drinks, I wasn't really in a wine mood so I proceeded with a glass of coconut water with raspberries (£3.30). Probably shouldn't have ordered it but it was interesting. The best coconut water really comes from the young coconut directly as opposed to buying a commercially packaged one. Those are nasty.

To start our meal, we went ahead with the thai calamari with ginger and peppercorn (£6.50), which was flavourable but a bit chewier than I expected it to be. Following the calamari we shared the mussaman duck curry (£10.50), the stir-fry ginger beef (£9.10), and a side of coconut rice (£3.10).

I still don't understand why rice is so blimmin' expensive in London. You can easily get rice for $1-2 per person in Auckland, and Auckland's not exactly the cheapest city out there. Rice anger aside, if you're looking for traditional Thai food that your Thai mother similarly likes to make, Busaba is not exactly what you're looking for. I think this is what people call modern Thai? I'm not exactly opposed to it, in fact I did enjoy my meal. But both Z and I were wanting something more authentic, so it was a slight problem for us at the time. The flavours were perfectly fine (though the mussaman seemed darker than what I'm normally used to) so I can understand why Busaba Eathai has been wildly popular in London for many years.

Charuwan

110 Junction Rd, Archway N19 5LB (Closest tube station: Archway)

If you're looking for authentic thai food, I wholeheartedly recommend this place. This restaurant was pretty much out of the way for both Z and I, but the trip was worth it. I remember reading a review of this restaurant on a blog called London Foodie one day (probably procrastinating from my university readings), and I was amazed by how authentic the dishes looked from the blogger's photos. Sometimes you can just tell from the look of a dish. I showed the photos to Z and she readily agreed to come with me.

As soon as we were given the menu, we were given a basket of prawn crackers to nibble on. I guess it's the Asian equivalent to giving out a bread basket, huh? Anyway, for a starter we shared the garlic and pepper spare ribs (£4.95) which literally melted off the bone and were tender. While I've recently come to the conclusion that I'm not much of a ribs fan – more bone than meat bothers me – these were pretty good.

For the mains, we decided to share two dishes alongside a small bowl of steamed rice (£2.55). I decided to order the larb gai (£5.95), which is essentially a minced chicken salad. 'Larb' is a very common Thai dish and is most often made with chicken (gai), pork, or beef. This tasted very similar to my mother's and the flavours were bright and balanced and not watered-down so to speak, which is a definite compliment. It was almost like I was at home.

Z was in the mood for curry and decided to order the jungle curry (£6.95). I must admit that before this visit, I had never tried this type of curry before... mainly because I'm not the biggest fan of curry in general with the exception of mussaman and yellow curry. Anyway, jungle curry is a bit different from the normal red or green curries in Thailand as it is made without coconut milk. We both noticed that it had four chillis on the menu, indicating that it would be super hot. Both of us had doubts that it would be super hot and we thought maybe it was just hot for the average diner. Boy were we wrong. Our tongues were burning and I swear Z was acting a little bit crazy since she kept taking sips of the curry liquid/broth/whateveryouwannacallit. I remember telling my mother about this on skype and she looked at me like I was stupid. "Jungle curry is hot, you moron!!" Ok, she didn't exactly say it like that, but if my mother considers it hot then really there's no hope for me. 

While we were eating our meals, both of us knew that this was a strange situation. Authentic Thai food actually existed outside of my household/Thailand! Proper Thai food that actually tasted good! Service charge was not included, so all in all it was about £10 per person which made the experience even better. The service was also very good - all the waiters were rather attentive and filled our water glasses when needed. The only disappointing factor is/was the location of the restaurant as it was simply just too far for us to regularly visit. I had planned on taking my fiancé there once but unfortunately never had the time to leisurely make our way there.

I wish I had photos of my excursions to Sri Thong and Mudmee, with both of these restaurants in walking distance to Liverpool Street Station. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos so I don't really remember much. My fiancé wanted to me to talk about the tod mun pla (a thai fish cake blended with red curry paste and beans) that we ordered as a starter at Mudmee, which he deemed disgusting. "No texture at all! Greasy!" he said. Well yes it was rather greasy and that was pretty unfortunate, but the taste was nothing new to me. Tod mun is a bit spongy in texture, different from the breadcrumbed fish cake that everyone is more acquainted with, so usually for a bit of crunch you can add some peanuts to the sauce. Those were omitted so I kind of understood where his complaints were coming from, however maybe the taste of tod mun is an acquired one since I enjoyed it! Or maybe he just doesn't know what he's talking about! 

Coming up soon: Taking a walk through Asia, Part II! China and Japan. 

London: Welcome to franchised food!

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed my last update. After reading my Afternoon Tea update, my fiancé seems convinced that I have an addiction to cream since clotted cream was mentioned in every tea room I visited! Those three times were the only times I've ever had clotted cream. I swear! Cream from now on is my nemesis, okay? :) I gotta slim down to fit a nice wedding dress anyway!

I have three more updates left that will be on London. It's kind of a mish-mash of a lot of the places I visited during my twelve month stay there. From organising my three posts it seems like I ate out A LOT, but I did actually cook quite a bit! How else was I supposed to impress my fiancé? Heehee.  The first update will be focused on many of the UK-based franchised restaurants that you'll find, especially in London. The second update will look at an array of Asian restaurants in London and the third update is kind of other restaurants that didn't really fit in the first or second update. 

The Hummingbird Bakery

Okay it's not exactly a restaurant, but I feel like if you're gonna talk about London, you might as mention the Hummingbird Bakery. I shamefully tried quite a few cupcake stores while I was in London – sorry stomach – and Hummingbird easily beats the rest of them. I remember seeing a Hummingbird Bakery cookbook at my brother and sister-in-law's house and started to connect the dots one night during dinner when my flatmate, A, started talking about their cupcakes. My friend, Z, proceeded to invite me to go with her and her friend to the famous Portobello Markets and I just knew I had to make a trip since their flagship store is located around the market area. I ordered four cupcakes quite hastily (I recall Z telling me to "calm down" when it seemed like I was ordering the whole collection of cupcakes). For my stomach's sake, I shared all four amongst my two traveling companions and two of my flatmates during dinner. How little did I know that it was not going to my first and only visit. I don't even know how many times I visited either....yikes... There was also one store two minutes away from where I was flatting for three months. Those three months were tough. 

I've never had a bad cupcake from any of their stores simply because their cupcakes are moist and not dry, which is a common mistake for many cupcake places in London. If I'm going to recommend one, it would be the black bottom cupcake. It is sinfully good. Their carrot cupcake is very very decent too. Red velvet is also pretty good, but in general I find red velvet overrated as a cake flavour. Eh. The only one from the classic cupcake range that I never tried was the vanilla. But they also frequently change their limited cupcake range - every month they have a different theme with seven flavours attributed to a different day of the week. Yummy. Their other baked goods such as their whoopie pies and brownies are decent too. I remember sharing a frosted brownie with Z on the corner of Wardour Street (classy, right?) which was utterly sinful and yet so good. Never decided to order it again once I found out the recipe. The sugar content scared me and I like to try and remain awfully ignorant about things like this or else dramatic decisions like this happens...

Pizza Express

Sometimes it takes time to figure out whether you like something or not, and now I've come to the conclusion that I'm not exactly in love with pizza. Or maybe pizza franchises. Yeah, that must be it since I love making my own pizza (Jamie Oliver's dough recipe is gold by the way). Pizza Express is a huge franchise in the UK. Seriously, it's as if they're located on every corner. Anyway, four trips to Pizza Express and I don't get it. Sure their pizza is better than Pizza Hut, Dominos, or Papa Johns, but do I really want to spend £10-12 on a pizza? It's like the time I ordered the venison pizza at BCC in Auckland for $10 even though its normal price on any other day was about $30. I did try one of their pizzas that has a hole in the middle and is instead filled with salad, but the salad was barely dressed that it felt like I was eating grass. I think I just did one of those moves that you're not supposed to make - i.e. ordering salad at a fast food restaurant or ordering meat at a seafood specialty restaurant...

Café Rouge

My university campus was in such close proximity to many restaurants and cafés that you had the luxury to pick and choose. You didn't have to walk that far to get to Café Rougé and my friend F and I would choose this place as a default when we didn't want to go to X, Y or Z and wanted something quick. F's signature order was the croque monsieur, whereas I tried different things ranging from  mushrooms in a garlic and cream sauce with puff pastry to sausages and herb mash, depending on my mood. Never had a bad experience and service (in Kingsway) was always quick and efficient.

Las Iguanas

Las Iguanas is a Latin American franchise which I went to twice, once at Westfield Stratford for lunch and the other at Spitalfields for dinner. Based on both experiences, food is good but not great. Nothing special really. Their lunch deals are great value for money - I remember ordering the big burrito which was less than £7 and could barely finish it all. Though I didn't like the fact that they put the salsa, sour cream and guacamole on the top of the burrito. For dinner I decided to order the fish that was crumbed and marinated in coconut and chili, served with a side of sweet potato fries. I surprisingly enjoyed the dish, and so did my fiancé, M, who liked it a bit more than what he ordered. I don't actually remember what he ordered which probably means it wasn't exactly memorable.

My Old Dutch

Let me tell you right now that I'm a sucker for pancake or crepe places. So I'm probably a bit biased. Every time I travel to Melbourne, a visit to Pancake Parlour is always needed. This place is no exception. Especially on Mondays when selected pancakes are £5 only. F told me about this place thanks to a friend that took her there, where a pancake is the size of a face x2 (seriously). I don't think I've ever quite finished one. If you make it past three-quarters, you are a warrior. The first time I ate there I tried the apple and cinnamon pancake with icecream as pictured (£7.50). I wish the apples had been cooked a bit more, but it didn't bother me too much. My go-to savoury pancake was the smoked salmon filling with mushrooms in a creamy dill sauce (£9.95). No complaints. A few other things I've tried have been the poffertjes (£4.95) which were simple yet delicious, nachos without beef mince (£4.95) which were nothing grand, and the 'my old dutch' belgian chocolate shake (£3.95) which was pretty good despite my teeth hurting from how COLD it was (caps lock is the only way to accurate way to reflect how cold it really was).

Côte

Unfortunately the last time I went to Côte, I went with three of my friends from my course and one happened to get food poisoning the same night she went back home. Whoops. F and I visited Côte a few times and sadly the last time I visited was the only time where I didn't enjoy it that much. We would usually order the two course lunch menu, which costs £11.70 at the Covent Garden location. It really depends on your location as some Côte restaurants charge less than £10 for the two course lunch special. Previous visits including courses of beef bourguignon and warm apple tart which were both really good, but then visits with courses like the steak frites (where my steak was so thin that it was supposed to be served pink instead of being served well done) and the creme caramel were disappointing.

Byron's Hamburgers

If I had to pick between a burger and a pizza, I would always pick a burger. I have no idea why I like them so much....I just do. I have so many different memories from Byron's seeing as I ate there quite a few times. I remember one time during study leave, I ate on my own for lunch and brought my version of The Little Prince to read while I waited for my burger (a gift thanks to M who was shocked that I had never read it before). One of the waiters came by my table and told me it was one of his favourite books and was similarly astonished that I had never read it before. Is the NZ education system failing here or what? (I'm joking. Kinda). Another memory I have was coming to Byron's with half of the people from my courseand being responsible for the bill by making sure everyone paid what they were supposed to (a responsibility that I never want again by the way).

Their burgers always come with a side of a sad pickle. I'm just glad they don't actually put it in the burger. I tend to usually get the classic (£6.75) or the cheese (£7.75), but the Byron is not too bad either (£9.25) despite its price. Their sides (such as the skin on chips, french fries, courgette fries, onion rings from £2.95-£3.25) can be really inconsistent as sometimes they can be a bit too greasy.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK)

Even though I like Byron's and think their service is much better, I actually prefer GBK a bit more. I don't know if it's because of their kiwi roots, but I do appreciate their variety of different burgers from their classic beef (£6.70) to the wild boar (£9.95). Plus their chunky fries (£3.25) are consistently not greasy, which is a plus. GBK introduced the kiwi burger (£8.95) to my fiancé, which he really enjoyed but is one burger I definitely won't touch! No way am I touching a burger with beetroot and pineapple. If you're a missing a bit of Kiwiana in your London life, they amazingly have cans of L&P available. I don't think I've really convinced anyone about its taste though (which is true since it doesn't really taste like much).

The Real Greek

I've only been here once on a whim with my fiancé, for reasons I can't explain. I don't really remember why we ended up here except that we decided to share a bunch of meze dishes. We ordered the tiropitakia (filo pastry parcels with a creamy leek, spinach and feta filling, £4.75), the grilled halloumi (£4.75), grilled calamari (£6.50) and the baba ganoush (£4.25). Baba ganoush confirmed that maybe I don't dislike eggplant/aubergine after all, and furthermore, this is where I was formally introduced to halloumi. While there was nothing spectacular about them grilling pieces of cheese on the grill, for about a month, my fiancé and I ended up having a habit of grilling lots of halloumi with my George Foreman grill. While the meze dishes were nothing spectacular, I think the baba ganoush and the filo parcels were unanimously the favourite dishes ordered.

Hope you enjoyed reading today's blog! Let's face it, we're slowly being hit in the face with franchise after franchise no matter where you live. So hopefully this update gives you a little bit of insight as to what franchised food is like in London. 

Next blog: Asian food in London

London: Afternoon tea!

Maybe it's just me, but there's something endearing about eating all things miniature. Yet I'm always surprised by how full I get whenever I go out with my friends for afternoon tea. How can a couple of tiny things full up my stomach ever so suddenly? The thing is that finding a reasonably affordable tea room (with decent food!) can be challenging at times. Does anyone really want to pay £20-40 per person for a couple of scones, sandwiches, and some sweets?

I had originally planned to do the ultimate afternoon tea experience for my birthday, then realising that Heston would be even better, so I only had it a couple of times before leaving London. I did have it once in New York and absolutely loved it (obviously that will be discussed in further detail later).

Time for Tea

110 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JN (Closest tube: Shoreditch High St)

The first outing I had was with an ex-flatmate of mine, who had suggested an outing for tea for a catch up! She had told me that she walked past this place a few times and it had always been closed, which she later realised that maybe it was closed on the weekdays and open only on the weekends. It actually took us a bit of time trying to find the tea room since we walked past it maybe once or twice (even with the use of the GPS on my phone, which makes me sound like a bit of a ditz...). The decor of this tea room is almost like wandering through a time warp to the 1940's. It's small, cosy and pretty eccentric in a pretty awesome way. My photos don't really do it justice, but if you google the place you'll know what I'm talking about.

We ordered the full set of tea for two with the option of loose-leaf tea or a glass of refreshing, homemade lemonade, but they were nice enough to give us both (which are both excellent, by the way). The sandwiches were simply filled with just cucumber, the scones were accompanied with clotted cream and jam, and the baked goods consisted of victoria sponges and lemon syrup cakes. Cucumber sandwiches are quintessentially English and I previously never saw the appeal of eating such a sandwich since cucumbers are relatively flavourless. But taking the whole meal into account, it's quite appropriate to have something light before stuffing your mouth with scones and cakes.

The scones are the highlight of the entire tea set. The combination of clotted cream and jam accompanying a light fluffy scone wins every times. I enjoyed the actual sponge part from the victoria sponge, but the cream filling inside was so overwhelmingly sweet that I had to get rid of the cream and jam filling and filled it with the clotted cream and jam that accompanied the scones. I'm not a huge fan of lemon in desserts (with the exception of a cold lemon souffle that I ate in the Midlands for Christmas) but the lemon cakes were surprisingly decent, though a tad bit heavy. 

For £8 per person, it is well worth the price. With the exception of the cream filling of the sponge, Time for Tea provide pretty decent food and drinks. The atmosphere is great and the people that work there are accommodating and friendly.

Tea and Tattle

41 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PE  (Closest tube stations: Holborn or Tottenham Court Road)

Tea and Tattle came about as I had a Tastecard 30 day trial (thanks to my friend who told me about it) and this was the only tea room that was offered. Inspired by my trip to Time for Tea, I made a booking for my friend and I as she had never experienced afternoon tea before. Hidden away in the basement of a small bookshop opposite the British Museum, the best way to describe Tea and Tattle is that it is tiny and quaint. If it wasn't for Tastecard, I probably would have never known it was there. Four tea-for-two set menus are available on the menu, and we went with the traditional tea set that came with two teas, two sandwiches, two scones, and two cakes (£29.50). We were asked if we would like a complimentary glass of lemonade as well, which we didn't hesitate to accept. 

The great thing about Tea and Tattle is that you're able to select what tea you want, what sandwiches you want with whatever type of bread you'd like, what jam you'd like for your scone, and what cake you want. For someone indecisive like me, it's kind of the best nightmare you could hope for. Instead of the traditional afternoon tea platter, everything was provided as if they were separate courses, i.e. sandwiches first, then the scones, and the cakes at the end.

For the sandwiches, I chose the parma ham, rocket and red onion marmalade option (£4.40, if you order sandwiches only). Not only fantastic, but rather filling. I wasn't imagining them to be of such size, because they're a bit larger than the sandwiches I've had previously at other tea rooms. Not that I minded though. There was only one person working on the day and the sandwiches were made to order, so it took a bit of time. But all good things come to those who wait, right? They have a pretty nice variety of sandwich fillings, so it would even be hard for the pickiest of people to be dissatisfied.

Following the sandwiches, there were the scones which were accompanied with clotted cream and a jam/marmalade of your choice (£3 on its own). The scones were fine. I chose the Raspberry & Vanilla jam which was utterly delicious and made a good scone great. While some people might prefer it, a little wee thing that annoyed me was that they sliced the scones in half and put the cream and jam on before serving them to us. I would have liked to do that myself, just so I could control the amount of cream and jam there was on the scone. I guess it saves them from cleaning silly fiddly dishes. With that being said, the scone was great. The jam in particular was the highlight.

By the time we ate our scones, we were stuffed. But I wanted my cake (£3 on its own). Or at least a spoonful of it. I made sure that my friend got her cake as well. She barely ate her own slice because she was so full, but like I've said in previous updates, I've always got some kind of room for cake (okay I was really really full and probably didn't even have room, but I was clearly in denial). I asked for the victoria sponge, just to see whether I was actually going to finally enjoy one. I wanted boring chocolate actually, which I regret not ordering. Sigh. Anyway. I guess after three attempts of victoria sponge, as a whole I just don't like it that much. The 'sponge' component is fine, but the filling is just way too sweet for me. Too much sugar in the cream. I originally didn't think it was supposed to be that sweet, but I guess I was wrong. My friend's coffee and walnut cake looked and tasted much better than mine actually...

For my pot of tea (£3.20 per person, on its own), I selected the camomile which was decent. You'd be surprised by how much tea that pot can fill. It lasted me till the end of my meal and I drink my tea pretty fast! The glass of homemade lemonade was not as good as the one from Time for Tea but still very decent.

With a Tastecard, it was supposed to be 50% off, but ended up paying just a little bit over £20 as the server told us that something in the tea set was excluded from the discount. It didn't really bother us. No doubt that the tea set was excellent value for money with overly generous serving sizes, but for the most part, everything tasted pretty well. Service was okay, not great. The waiter forgot to serve us lemonade at the beginning and only remembered once he came over to take away our empty plates (which initially had scones on them), but otherwise can't complain. If you want variety, there is no doubt that this is a good option to go to!

Daylesford Cafe @ Selfridges
Rooftop of Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, W1A 1AB (Closest tube station: Bond Street)

This one was a bit of an accident. It was my friend's birthday and I had actually taken her out to the Providores and Tapas Room for brunch. Hours later she wanted a break and in turn I had suggested mini golf at Selfridges, however, they were pretty full so we decided to go the Daylesford Cafe on the rooftop to have a bit of bite to eat. For you organic eaters, this café is 100% organic. We didn't want to eat too much because we were going out later for her second birthday dinner of the weekend. It was still pretty busy around 3.30 and decided to order the afternoon tea for one, with a pot of tea (£17.95). We decided to shared the afternoon tea between the two of us, while I drank tea and she ordered a separate coffee.

Even for one person, I was quite disappointed about the size of the selection, especially considering its price. Maybe one or two more items would justify the price? Okay sure, its location suggests that it was never going to be an economical meal but still?!? Presented on some kind of crate, there was a fruit scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, a slice of bakewell tart, and two finger rolls - one with smoked salmon and cucumber, the other with egg mayonnaise.

When you go out for afternoon tea, sometimes you expect such inflated prices. In fact, afternoon tea are one of the few meals where inflated prices are considered acceptable by some people (I don't think I'm one of them...otherwise I would have gone all out by heading to The Langham in London). With such inflated prices you'd think that it comes with an expected standard. Quality control. While the filling of the finger rolls were decent, the rolls itself were a bit hard. Cutting them in half to share was a bit of a nightmare.The scone was a tad dry too and could only be rectified with lots of clotted cream and jam (sorry stomach).

The service was perfectly fine – polite and attentive wait staff – but when the food doesn't hold to a certain standard, there's a bit of a problem.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this post! The next three updates are going to look at the rest of my time in London. Merging lots and lots of restaurants and eateries into three posts. I only just realise by organising myself with these three updates that it seems like I did a lot of eating out in London. When did I stay in and cook exactly? (A lot actually, but it doesn't seem like it. Whoops).

London: Quartier Restaurant at Eight Members Club

While I ate my dinner with my parents today, I began to contemplate the development of my palate and what I used to like and not like. Isn't it funny how over time, something that you might of hated a few years ago doesn't suddenly repel you anymore? For example, I used to despise eggplant with a thousand suns. I hated the fact that it was purple and the texture (no matter how it was cooked). Then suddenly while I was studying in London, I went out to a really decent Chinese restaurant and my friend ordered a dish that had eggplant. I decided to try a bit and I surprisingly enjoyed it! I figured it was a fluke but it wasn't! In fact, a bit of baba ganoush would be a really good snack right now. But actually I ate some for dinner....

Same thing goes for pavlova too actually....

But there are some things that will never change, and one of those things is beetroot. Also: Pickles/picked anything (which is unfortunate since I'm going to marry a Pole). Pineapple. *shudder*

Ok, I'll stop!

This next review is a bit interesting since you typically need to be a member of this place in order to get in. We weren't exactly members, but my fiancé found an awesome deal online for a "modern European" five course meal for non-members. While I was on a daytrip to Stratford-upon-Avon with my friend, I received a message asking me if I was interested! While there were a couple courses  that had particular ingredients I'm not a huge fan of, I'm always interested in trying things out when it comes to food!

Quartier Restaurant @ Eight Members Club 

1 Dysart Street, London EC2A 2BX (Closest tube: Moorgate/Liverpool Street)

Finding your way to Eight is an interesting adventure. You have to really know where you're going to find the place as it's not entirely straightforward to find on your first attempt. Appropriate for a members only club, you say? We couldn't find Street Number 1 anywhere, until I noticed this interesting looking warehouse entrance. We saw a lift and after further analysis, we figured that this must be it. The lift is pretty cute. You only have options of the Ground Floor and Floor "8". Obviously the 8th floor takes you up to reception and to the restaurant, which is on the rooftop of the private members club. The views from the rooftop (if you choose to go outside) are not too bad.

I wasn't exactly sure about what to expect. Were they going to be less attentive because we weren't members? Was the food going to be as elegant as its venue?

We started our meal with a glass of Tattinger Brut, which was a part of the five course menu (£49 for two people) and a complimentary bread plate. Always love a glass of decent champagne! Bourdain is really making me so paranoid about the "bread basket" now...dammit! A decent variety and they're even fancy with how they provide guests with butter - lids to ensure freshness! Cute. By the time we were waiting for the first course, I was pretty red. Which is a sign that perhaps I shouldn't drink all of it before the meal even begins! 

The first course was a smoked eel parfait with celery jelly and micro cress salad around melba toast. The parfait was pleasantly light, but I must admit that I didn't quite taste the celery in the celery jelly. If I hadn't been told that there was celery, I wouldn't have had any clue! Apart from the eel that was on the plate, my fiancé seemed to think that the dish was too light, almost bordering on a lack of flavour.

The second course was a beetroot cured salmon with wakame salad and black mustard dressing. Had to google wakame at the table (turns out it's edible seaweed). The colours of the dish – with the red and black – really made this dish pop. This was one of my fiancé's main highlights of the night. He really enjoyed the salmon with the  black mustard dressing. I liked it, but not as much as he did. While I enjoyed the dressing, I think I could only handle a little bit it because it was quite aggressive. The salmon was good though because I didn't really taste an overwhelming amount of the beetroot cure. 

Both my fiancé and I believed that the third course was overwhelmingly the best course of the night, which was an artichoke tortellini with a light globe artichoke velouté. I'm not even the biggest fan of artichokes and I wanted more. The velouté was just so delightfully silky, I was such a happy person by this point.

The fourth course was the pan fried corn fed chicken breast with braised baby gem and kohlrabi coulis. This was my second favourite dish of the night as the chicken was so tender and well-cooked and everything that accompanied it went so well together. My fiancé also enjoyed it but I think less so compared to the previous two dishes because they kept the skin on the chicken breast (sadly he doesn't like skin....which is a crime) and it was not as imaginative as the other dishes. Sure chicken is a bit of a boring protein, but that doesn't matter when it tastes good!

The fifth and final dish of the night was a cheesecake with saffron poached apricot. It was delicious and vibrant. Everything together was not too sweet, which is just how I like my desserts to be. It was a very good way to end our meal!

We were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed ourselves. Eight was one of my fiancé's favourite dining experience while we were in London (Caravan being the other). For the most part, the meals tasted great and looked beautiful in terms of presentation. Service was undoubtably first rate, with all of the waiters being very attentive. Everything was pretty classy. My favourite part of the restaurant decor was their kitchen - wish I had taken a photo!

The only awkward part of the night was actually leaving the restaurant. We had handed our voucher at reception as demanded, before entering the restaurant. So by the time we finished our dining experience, it was more or less like, uh can we leave now? We were unsure if the waiters realised that we had already paid for our meals. But in hindsight, we might have been a bit silly presuming that they lacked such understanding. Silly me, silly us!

Would I pay for membership though? If I was extremely loaded, then sure!

Next blog: Tea time!