Lido, Gerrard Street – serves dim sum until 1700 hours. There are a la carte dishes all day long. For the simplicity with large groups, the menu has a package. Lido is also one of the top 10 places for dim sum on the British Chinese Community website. Lido is reasonably priced and is considered one of the cheapest and good value for money on Gerrard Street. Read the rest of this entry →
Sticky Rice, Westfield Stratford City - situated in the corner of the lower ground food court. Joining the other eateries, Sticky Rice offers pan asian dishes (as they advertise).
Sticky Rice’s menu presents dishes similar to dining in the Chinese restaurants in UK. Categorised as pan asian restaurant (either by itself or by Westfield) it says it offers a range of Thai cuisine but the dishes seems to me, more Chinese than Thai. Sticky rice is glutinous rice and it is a common ingredient in Chinese cuisine. The menu, I would say is quite sophiticated. It has a good handful of appetizer choices; soup and hot dishes (spring rolls, wan ton soup, miso soup, crispy prawn toasts, etc); with prices from GBP 2.50 onwards and main dishes which has either rice or noodles (sweet and sour chicken, soup noodles, fried rice, barbeque pork rice, etc.), starting from GBP 4.50. Read the rest of this entry →
If there was an economic crisis in Kuala Lumpur, it certainly did not bother many of the younger generation, who would happily pay a little extra for the comfort, ambiance, wi-fi, cleaner toilets, even if the food is just mediocre. The emphasis obviously is about image as to where you “chill out” and “hang out”. Understanding such demands, the growth of cafes around Kuala Lumpur has sprung like daisies in summer for the last 18 months.
These new cafes, I noticed, adopt a very similar decorative trend – the kopitiam theme. This is the 1950s and 1960s style of coffee shops in Malaysia and Singapore. Kopitiams are frequented by their locals, usually for the coffee supported by a handful of delicious home cooked dishes. In my living memory, kopitiams are characterised with their coffee cups – deep dark green flowering on a cream background with matching saucers, slowly revolving ceiling fan, people feasting on breakfast like the huge steam chinese pau, oblivious to the knowledge that their style and decor is a train setter to the younger generation. Heard of the saying, “our grandfathers knows best”? Read the rest of this entry →
Kopitiam, Soller made it into the German newspaper, Mallorca Zeitung published on 27th October 2011. It has been fourteen months since Kopitiam, Sóller first opened. It started with no publicity except for word of mouth. Customers were mostly friends and passer-byes. Since this article was published, Kopitiam has had diners that had made special trip from other towns on the island to dine in Kopitiam.
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Szechuan or Sichuan cuisine is known for hot and spicy flavours. The combination of pungent, sour, spicy, aromatic, hot and sweetness certainly appeals to my platter. The reason for the heavily spiced cuisine is generally linked to the climate in Sichuan; favourable climate to faster food spoilage. The spice helps fresh food to be preserved.
When we dine in Chinese restaurants, I am in favour of dishes when described as Szechuan style, Szechuan pickle, marinated with Szechuan sauce, served with Szechuan relish. It is so enticing. Unfortunately, I am a mortal gifted with limited tummy capacity.
Back at home, I take comfort on the bottled sauce jars. Often, spoilt with the numerous choice in the supermarket shelves means that I end up going through each bottle before finding the ideal brand/bottle. With experience, I am always (even till now) disappointed with the bottled sauce jars. The saltiness often masked all the other flavours that are supposed to bask in the glory of Szechuan cooking. While some have suggested to add more sugar during the cooking process, this means the amount of sugar must not be shy. Does it still sound appealing? It is so sweet that you can almost serve it as a sauce in a pudding. Imagine, cheesecake with Szechuan sauce?? Interesting thought. Perhaps, one day.
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Living in the land where citrus fruit is abundant, I cannot forgive myself for not including them in my culinary list. Or at least, try to. Not only the citrus fruits are abundant, Sóller’s soil is gifted in bearing the best citrus fruits. This widely known fact has increased the demand for Sóller oranges and lemons which in the last year have started appearing on the shelves in large chain supermarkets in Britain. What is sad is that many restaurants and bars in Sóller themselves are not selling their own best local produce. Why? Because it is more expensive to pay someone to pick the fruits. Result? Those fruits are sadly left to rot on the same spot it fell on. Only a handful of fincas are supplying oranges to local little markets. Occasionally the little local shop owners and restaurateurs are approached by a retired person searching for few pennies in exchange for his pickings. Where it is commercially grown, most of them are transported out of the island, to other parts of the world. Read the rest of this entry →
Restaurante Campo Sol, Port de Sóller – The entrance to Campo Sol is beautifully set with plants surrounding the fences with a wooden beam over the entrance. Therefore, if you are taller than six foot you might want to duck slightly as you enter the restaurant.
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MALLORCA WINE AND VINEYARDS COMING SOON!
When I made karipaps, Spanish people say that they are an imitation of the cocarroi. This week, I am making siew paos. These are little pork buns, baked in the oven. “Siew “translates as baked and “pao” means bun. Therefore, siew pao(s) = baked bun(s).
There are a lot of similarities to the pork buns here in Soller, known as empanadas. Similar, but different. For instance, the pastry of siew pao is flaky whereas the empanadas are heavy and somewhat crumbly. Siew paos are glazed with egg wash, for a beautiful deep colour (look like they’ve had a tan) and finished off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds for the Asian look (just guessing).
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Salad – popular and much preferred in the heat of summer. Cool, refreshing and whet your appetite for more!
This grapefruit salad is a reminiscence of the popular som tum salad (green papaya salad). The sauce used is the same combination to that of the som tum salad. Then, why grapefruit? Because they are in season, and abundance of them just fall to the ground and rot. Soller is known for its citrus land. The grapefruit here is therefore nonetheless heavenly flavoursome. Apart from that, it makes me, as the chef, feels good. Ethically, where the food we have it at least not flown all around the world. Flavour wise, what could be better than freshness from your locally grown produce?
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