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Tuk Tuk Noodle Bar, Old Compton Street – we had a quick lunchtime snack, therefore a short and quick review. In the heart of Soho, Tuk Tuk is never without customers. Often, fairly late in the evening (2130 hours) there is a queue outside Tuk Tuk. It is a place that you can grab fast fairly fresh food without emptying your pockets. The place is buzzling with lunch time workers around the area, quick catch up with friends and I guess, like me, wanderer and feeling peckish.
 As you enter Tuk Tuk, the waiter sits you down fairly quickly after ascertaining the number of people in your company. The place is not a very huge rectangular shaped dining place, lit with bright fluorescent lighting, continuity of mirrors on each side of the wall, the tables and chair are placed against the walls leaving a narrow space in between for only one way traffic. Despite food entering the dining area in dumb waiters, the place is slightly too warm, bordering sweaty and uncomfortable.
 The menu has a long list of items; a mixture of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Singaporean. If you feel more secure seeing the dishes in advance of ordering, there is a pictorial menu just before you enter Tuk Tuk. Coded in numbers, you can just tell the waiter you want, “Order no.49”. Prices are average comparing to the other restaurants around. Dishes, starters to main course, ranging from GBP 4.50. No desserts served. Continue reading Tuk Tuk, Soho
 Back in my student days, away from home, nostalgic emotional moments towards family and food were not uncommon. In my rented accommodation it was difficult to replicate either the stir-fries of chinese hawker stalls or the mamak’s teh tariks back home. I tried but still lacked that allure of mamak’s stalls. Having said so, there is one dish which I am proud of making is the dhal – part of a duo with roti canai. In every way, this is a great dish.
Wintriness season in London, restricted times to cook during exams period and limited financial means made dhal even more attractive. This is a healthy and warming plate, made up of ingredients which mostly are from the pantry staples. I would normally make a huge batch of dhal and freeze them in small-sized portions. It makes a great emergency entertaining meal when you have hungry friends around. Six months later, they were still good to consume. I am, along with more than a couple of friends, living proof of this. Continue reading Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam
Thai Thai East, Old Street – sprawled over three shop lots. Standing huge but laid-back, Thai Thai is 300 metres west of Old Street station, directly opposite St Lukes Church. Typical of a restaurant, Thai Thai has gone for large window display, exposing much of the restaurant’s interior. At the entrance, Thai Thai felt inviting.
 Inside, Thai Thai was about two thirds full that night. Most were couples plus a few others; quick meal for one, and friends gathering. As for the interior, Thai Thai has the right setting as a classy Thai restaurant. Notice, I did not say poncy. The colours of the gold statues, white walls with the occasional red intervals, colourful stained mirrors on the ceiling, wooden tables and chair and few Buddha’s face ornaments came together in a seemly manner. Shame, because despite the great taste, Continue reading Thai Thai East
Swithins, Swithins Lane – Swithins Fish Restaurant considers itself with being a fine dining Italian restaurant. Sitting in the triangle of Monument, Bank and Mansion House, Swithins has been around since 1985. Entering Swithins,being in the Rothschild banking district, the place is logically crowded with people in office suits. It is a popular place for after office drinks.
 Continue reading Swithins Fish Restaurant
Boyd’s Bar and Brasserie, Northumberland Avenue – Stunning. Boyd’s Bar and Brasserie inspires awe. Standing in admiration of the place, my dear diners said, “this could be our usual meeting place”. A few doors down on Northumberland Avenue the Grand Hotel shares the same building with Boyd’s Bar and Brasserie. Less than 150m from Nelson’s column on Trafalgar Square, Boyd’s appears to be in a strategic location for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or even a cocktail drink now and then.
 Inside, the place is majestic. The walls are marbled, restored to their original period details. Entering the revolving doors into the lobby with high ceilings from which chandeliers not only hang beautifully demanding attention but, at the same time, gently lay a background to the scene. There is a spacious area just for waiting place before the bar and restaurant, in which, you could also entertain yourself to a cocktail drink from the 1920′s style bar. Continue reading Boyd’s Bar and Brasserie
Deep fried spring rolls. Before mentioning anything further, I have to say that I am not one that neither likes deep fried food nor deep frying as part of my culinary repertoire. I was one that suffered outbursts of pimples in my younger years. I tried many ways to avoid such horror of pimples. One of my practices, learnt from the wise adults in my family is to avoid deep fried food until the pimples are less aggravated. I did, but that means cutting out my favourite tea time snack, goreng pisang (deep fried bananas in batter). Compromise!
Science says that part of the human brain favours fatty food contents. The norm of society is that anything bad for your health is going to be superlicious. Doctors tell you how your arteries may clot from having too much fried food. Health educators say how cancer might develop from having too much deep fried food. My husband says that life is too short to worry about mights and what-ifs! True enough, the chippy shop never goes out of business or suffers lack of customers.
The more mature me now does not have that same sense of craving for deep fried food as I did when I was younger before. Every now and then, I do give in and have yam croquettes during dim sum outings or in this case, spring rolls.
This is not my first time attempting to make spring rolls. In fact, I have made them a numerous times. Each time, the spring rolls turn out unsatisfactory to me. I go through the oily, soggy, limp, burnt, bursting spring rolls and somewhat ok fillings. When that happens, I chuck away the rest of the spring rolls, disgruntled and move on to something else. Learning through all those experiences, I now believe that I have mastered the technique to producing some very delicious spring rolls. Continue reading Enigma to Delicious Deep Fried Spring Rolls
Que Viet, Kingsland Road – looks buzzling on Sunday night. Vietnamese cuisine = Kingsland Road. Que Viet boasts with traditional Vietnamese cuisine with a delicate French touch in their cuisine. Whether this is true, I am about to find out.
 Inside, Que Viet has a large dining area but somehow the arrangement of tables made the place looked rather small and crowded. The individual tables were arranged so close together that it looked like canteen style tables. There is no way that the waiters could manouver around the tables with seated diners. Even ants could stretch their legs and cross over to each the adjacent table with no hassle at all. Excuse me for moaning over space. Seating on the other hand was comfortable. Lighting was good for reading their menu and the music was gentle in the background. Apart from the space, Que Viet has a friendly mood. Continue reading Que Viet, Kingsland Road
Indiana, Salmon Lane – for us this Indian restaurant was a gamble. Being a short distance from the renowned Brick Lane including the massed Indian restaurants that East London is not deprived of, picking one is an arduous effort. Nonetheless, we are not discouraged by the thought of a good Indian meal, especially on a cold London winter’s night.
Indiana Restaurant, twenty years in the neighbourhood, is a favourite amongst those who knows it. Tucked away on quiet Salmon Lane, Indiana churns out one of the best Indian meals we have had by far. If you are not familiar with East London, look up nearby St Anne’s Church. An Ecclesiastical Grade I listed building by Nicholas Hawkmoor, back then St Anne’s Church turns out to be a landmark for every ship entering the Pool of London. Today, on the public transport, it is between Limehouse and Westferry – Docklads Light Railway (DLR) and for busses, the 15, 115 and 135.
 Inside, Indiana’s “thing” appears to be chic and sleek; lighted with the dimmest blue purple-ish light, funished with four identical thick black framed mirrors wall, leathered chairs, properly laid out cutlery and untainted white tablecloths and napkins. Indiana is disguised behind the black strips curtain. This, from the outside, hides the restaurant from the street. I am usure what it appears to be in daylight but if walking down Salmon Lane in the evening or on a cloudy afternoon, I would not have guessed that Indiana Restaurant existed. We doubted for a second thinking the business has ceased trading and the website booking has not been updated since. However, inside Indiana’s, it is pristine, almost identical to many of the Indian restaurants in East London, with one reservation, I hold, to their taste in music. Continue reading Indiana, Salmon Lane
I knew I have always been silly. Even now. For example, on the subject ice-cream, I never thought that ice-cream was made of cream. My sister, sarcastically said, “the clue is ice-creeeeam”. She is a foodie, knows her stuff and is the kind that eats but never seem to carry any of the extra weight, even if she says she does. Be that as it may, she could not get passed telling the difference of a frying pan and a saucepan. Hah, I win hands down on that!
Continuing on the subject of ice-cream, I thought I might give a try at making fresh ginger ice-cream. I had this dessert a few weeks ago in a restaurant, Bam-bou, and it was utterly disappointing. I thought it was a fake. It had lumps of, maybe ginger, but apart from that, the only resemblance to a ginger ice-cream it had was the colour.
 This is how the fresh ginger ice-cream materialised… Continue reading Fresh Ginger Ice-cream
Bam-bou, Percy Street – This part of London is just full of restaurants. Walking through Fitzvoria, I had to quickly get my Evernote application out to list all these fantastic (judging by the look) restaurants. Oh, I just wish I had a bigger belly! Bam-bou sits at the bottom of Charlotte Street. Bam-bou prides itself as a Vietnamese restaurant but has a mixture of Chinese, Thai, Japanese influence and of course, Vietnamese.
 Inside, was captivating. Bam-bou is on two floors. I am tempted to explore this building which is divided into several enclosed areas. The dining area downstairs sets in an old-fashioned and elegant manner. The large picture of a Vietnamese (?) lady sitting cross-legged, hands clasping together in a Buddha’s position reminds the room of it’s Oriental feel. Up the stairs and into another dining area, is the bar. Adjacent to that is a smaller room that sits up to 18 people furnished with a fireplace. I peered into every room feeling excited and enthralled at the place. The lighting is dim, inviting and friendly. I start imagining myself living in a place like Bam-bou as opposed to running a restaurant in this town house.
 Continue reading Bam-Bou, Percy Street
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As you enter Tuk Tuk, the waiter sits you down fairly quickly after ascertaining the number of people in your company. The place is not a very huge rectangular shaped dining place, lit with bright fluorescent lighting, continuity of mirrors on each side of the wall, the tables and chair are placed against the walls leaving a narrow space in between for only one way traffic. Despite food entering the dining area in dumb waiters, the place is slightly too warm, bordering sweaty and uncomfortable.
The menu has a long list of items; a mixture of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Singaporean. If you feel more secure seeing the dishes in advance of ordering, there is a pictorial menu just before you enter Tuk Tuk. Coded in numbers, you can just tell the waiter you want, “Order no.49”. Prices are average comparing to the other restaurants around. Dishes, starters to main course, ranging from GBP 4.50. No desserts served. Continue reading Tuk Tuk, Soho
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