Zenna Bar, Soho

Would you like to try some cocktails but with an Indian twist to them? I pondered for only a very short time and was game for it. The aforesaid bar that creates them resides in a quieter side of Soho and it did take some 'eyes peeled' to find it. Once located, I realised that you needed to descend a flight of stairs to the basement level where it has been decked out in a dark purple decor that is instantly cool and relaxing. 

I was here with SC as drinking with company is always better than drinking alone. 

The House Nectar £8 was silky with a sharp tang to it. The passionfruit really sings out which masks the underlying alcohol. Definitely one for the ladies or those who like passionfruit. Stay away if you are not. 

Coriander and Lychee Daiquiri £8

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Toku, Edokko & Atari-ya (Part 4/5)

Toku

Situated next to Japan Centre in Picadilly Circus, I came here for lunch with my workmates. The food is good but expensive for what it is. I am more inclined to head to Golders Green where prices are friendlier and food is better.

Chicken Katsu Don £9.50

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Bincho, Kyoto, Abeno Too (Part 3/5)

Bincho Yakitori

"There's a place that's quite good and you should try it", says T to me one day. They do skewers.

I still remember my wonderful experience in Kyoto of yakitori skewers. Bincho is good and can be quite pricey actually as those sticks can suddenly add up to quite a bit. 

(Kwa £3, Sori chicken oyster £4, Aigamo £4.4, Uzurabacon quail eggs and bacon £3.6, Kushi Hitsuji lamb £4, Unagi £10, Asparabacon £3.6, Enokibacon £3.6, Yaki – onigiri £2.5, Tori yaki meshi £9)

Nasu dengaku £3.2

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Kulu Kulu Sushi & Eat Tokyo (Part 2/5)

Kulu Kulu Sushi

When Mili was in town for a visit, we both went to the Kensington branch of Kulu Kulu Sushi.

As read on their website, they serve basic standard sushi with no frills which is reflected in the price.  You get what you expect and what was advertised with no surprises.

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Cafe Japan, Hi Sushi Izakaya & Koya (Part 1/5)

This is post 1 of my Japanese cuisine marathon posts. I have to say that I was a little surprised with how many I have been and yet there are so many more to discover. The first spot is Cafe Japan in Golders Green which I have been to many times but realised that I haven't blogged about.

Cafe Japan

"WHAT! You haven't been to Cafe Japan?", exclaimed my friends. We have to fix that. So I find myself trekking to Golders Green when the tube guardians decide to keep the train service running on a particular weekend instead of the regular engineering works.

Even arriving for what is considered early for lunch, the place is busy and there is already a queue. So queued we did. It gave me an opportunity to look around. Cafe Japan isn't big with maybe no more than 15 tables, tight and cosy sitting is what I will call it.

We didn't have long to wait before we got ourselves a table.

Sashimi

The sashimi here is of the same quality as what I get from the Sydney Fish Market. With the right silky texture, it was a pleasure to eat it.

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Polpo, Soho

I came to Polpo after enjoying some time soaking in the sun at the park. Again, I found myself heading here on one of those random weekends when it was a last minute plan to have dinner and it would be wishful thinking to go anywhere that is on your eat list without a booking. So where do you go? Somewhere that doest even take reservations at all of course.   

Polpo is very very dark especially at dinner time. You could barely see your food let alone take decent pictures. 

Smoked salmon, horseradish and dill crostino £4

Silky salmon on crusty crostino with the horseradish giving an added kick. What is not to like? 

Wild mushroom piadina £6

Fritto misto £7

Nice little bits of fried morsels. Same as in Da Polpo, they do this well. 

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@Siam, Soho: Be adventurous and choose the unexpected

Having tried a few Thai places in London, I haven’t been too impressed. With that, I have to confess that Thai cuisine has not been one that frequently crosses my mind when choosing where to eat.

That changed when The Skinny Bib did a review of a few Thai places in London. The ONE that caught my eye was @Siam. It did finally take a good few months after before I finally managed to make my way there.

First thing we said to the waiter when he gave us the menu was to recommend to us the more unique/traditional/authentic Thai dishes. If that fails, I usually go with ‘What is your favourite?’

With that, we managed to order a few starters and mains.

My Thai Ice Tea arrived first of course which on first sip tasted similar to HK style milk tea. There were hint of sweetness without being overly so followed by a mid-strength tannin taste. I like this drink.

Sai Uoa £8.95

The first starter to arrive was the Sai Uoa which is a Grilled Northern Thai mixed herb traditional pork sausage. I don’t know if it usually is THAT spicy but these were SPICY! Am starting to wonder in my head if I should perhaps have not said to the waiter that we wanted hot dishes!

The sausages were juicy with the flavours well balanced. As much as this was burning my mouth, I couldn’t stop myself as the more I ate, the more I wanted to eat.

Som Tum Pon La Mai Ruam £7.5

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Barrafina, Soho

I find myself walking in to Barrafina one evening when my friend and I were looking for a place to eat on a random Saturday with no booking in hand. These are the times when you are glad that there are places which have a no reservations policy. 

We walked in to a queue and found ourselves waiting for one of the coveted seats. Well, there is no point in waiting without ordering some tapas to pass the time and also to quell the tummy rumblings. So we ordered three. 

Chorizo and potato chips £3.2

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Gauthier, Soho

I'm in a tiny room; I looked around at the floor to ceiling stacks of alcohol around me. Yes, my table for dinner at Gauthier is in the wine room. This is what I get for only making reservations the day before I guess? I'm here to have a farewell dinner with one of my friends who finished her 3 months secondment in London and moving onto New York before finally returning to Sydney. It was while searching for a place to eat that I discovered that Gauthier currently have a 2 for 1 offer on their tasting menu. With an offer like this, no hesitation from the dinner party.

So back to the wine room, it was both cool and weird at the same time. Weird as we have the wait staff coming in regularly to pick up bottles of wine and we can hear the clinking of cutleries and dishes sent out from the kitchen.

We started with a tray of canapés.

The beetroot macaron was a mini flavour burst followed by crème fraiche wrapped in smoked salmon which was unmemorable.

Sticks of Parmesan Crostinis was dipped into a narrow glass holding a confit of onions and mustard. I couldn't get enough of this; those sticks vanished quickly trying to mop up all that confit.

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MADD Café, Soho: Mangoes Galore!

What do you do when you crave something sweet? There had been quite a few more options popping up such as the like of Bubbleology, Boba Jam and the recently discovered Candy Cafe. Another one that caught my eye was MADD Cafe. Serving and dedicating themselves to one ingredient: Mango! Hey, who says dessert can't be healthy eh?

I've been to MADD twice recently once after a really stuffed dinner and once for a girls catch up.

I got the mango pudding the first time. It took some serious resisting and persuasion from my friend that I can’t possible go for the whole works since the point of us not having dessert at our earlier dinner place was because we were too full! So it was the mango pudding that was selected. 

Back to the café, the counter and the sweet offerings are at the entrance, you make your selection and pay and walk towards the back after which opens into quite a huge area.

There are tables and chairs all around with many of them occupied with play sets such as chess board, monopoly, cards and the likes. They even offer wifi. It comes across as perhaps a place for students to haunt.

Mango Pudding £5.90

My mango pudding arrives and it comes with a serve of pudding set in a square dish, fresh mangoes cut into cubes, mango ice cream, mango raspberry coulis drizzled over a nest of blueberries, strawberries and kiwi and to finish, a squirt of whipped cream on the side!

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Soho Food Feast

During the sunny weekend that we had in London last week, there was a buzz of activity happening in Soho, specifically at the Soho Parish School. The outdoor area was opened for the Soho Food Feast which was organized by Margot Henderson of Rochelle Canteen.

The feast was organized to raise funds for the school which promotes healthy eating to its pupils. It has gotten quite a supportive backing from its neighbourhood restaurants which see the likes of Polpo, Koya, Wright Brothers and Hix amongst others coming out to support this worthy cause.

Good food, awesome weather and most of all, doing my bit for charity was a great way to spend the Saturday afternoon.

Mackerel Udon from Koya

From Hix

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Spuntino, Soho

Talk about taking my time to finally dine here and I ended up going here and its newest addition, Da Polpo in consecutive days. Maybe it's partly the no reservation policy which makes it hard to pick when making plans.

Finally, I tried my luck during the weekend and lady luck was on my side and my dining companion and I got the last two available seats sans the kissing seat!

With a hungry companion, we made our minds up quick and placed our orders. While waiting for our food to arrive, we were served with a mug of popcorn.

Chilli and salt popcorn I think it was. I got myself a whole load of salt in the first one I ate and that was enough for me.

Eggs & Soldiers £3.50

The soldiers were rectangular slices of toast smeared with butter with just the right toasty texture to it. The humble egg unfortunately was cooked for a tad too long and the yolk was no longer semi-liquid runny. Dip your toast in and you come up with nothing.

Spiced Mackerel Slider £4.50

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Bubbleology. Soho: The new bubble tea in town!

Some of you may know how much I adore Bubble Tea. There aren’t really many places where you can get that, and where you can, it is even harder to find a consistently good one. When I heard about a new bubble tea place hitting the town, you bet I was excited.

Bubbleology had the official opening a few days ago and I was one of the lucky people who attended.

When I first arrived, you could see the people still busy setting up the place and getting ready. It was great to talk to the founder, Assad and he was really charming and enthusiastic. My hopes were increasing as I was told about how he went to Taiwan to learn from the bubble tea masters. Definitely a good sign of some good bubble teas being made here?

The predominant drink is bubble tea here but they also serve Monmouth coffee as well as a whole selection of cakes and sweets. I tried the Lemon cake which was light with a sharp tang.

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Quo Vadis: Smooth Operation

Quo Vadis, another project from the same owners of Fino and Barrafina. Based on the popularity of the other two, I was expecting good things from QV.

Having a show to watch at the West End, Quo Vadis was a perfect spot to have an early dinner.

We were the early birds and the place was still largely empty. It gave me time to take in the decor which oozes a rich elegance.

We opted to go for the pre-theatre menu which was priced at £17.50 for a two course and £19.50 for 3 courses. As I wasn't too interested in the desserts available in the pre-theatre menu, I decided to go for the 2 course while my dining partner went for the 3 courses.

Split pea and bacon soup

Refined and smooth, this went down well.

Middle White brawn with piccalilli

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Yauatcha - The traditional vs non-traditional debate!

Going upscale for my next Dim Sum Marathon Week Post, Day 4 brings me to one of the few Michelin-starred Chinese Restaurants in London.

Dim Sum to me is comfort food, something that brings and binds family and friends with happy times. A meal that can be eaten by all amidst loud background chatter and ladies with trolleys rolling their hidden treasures waiting to be eaten by us.

Hence, am not sure how fine dining Dim Sum will be at Yauatcha.

Surveying my surroundings, I quite like the décor, very clean and soothing and doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable like how some fine dining establishments do. In fact, it was quite inviting and relaxed.

One thing that I have been fore-warned about having tea here is that you are charged by the pot. As in there are no tea leaves in the pot, when you finished the tea in that pot, you get charged for a top-up. That sure is one way of spiking the bill upwards!

Steamed Dim Sum

Sticky rice in lotus leaf with chicken and shrimp荷葉珍珠雞


1st Pic: Can't remember what this was
2nd Pic: Winter melon dumpling,
3rd Pic:Thai winter melon, black fungus, straw mushroom, gong choi翠瓜甘筍餃,
4th Pic: Pork and Prawn Shu Mai豬肉蝦燒賣

1st Pic:Crystal Dumpling Wrap金瓜風車餃

2nd Pic:Prawn Dumpling筍尖鮮蝦餃

3rd Pic: Chinese Chive & Prawn Dumpling 鮮蝦韭菜餃

I was not disappointed by the staples in any dim sum, the prawn dumplings and Shu Mai. Some of the more exotic ones like the winter melon dumpling didn’t work for me.

Baked/Grilled/Pan Fried Dim Sum

1st Pic: Shanghai Dumpling上海煎鍋貼
2nd Pic: Char Siew Puff

I really like the Shanghai Dumpling, fried to just the right crunchy consistency with the meat being succulent and delicious.

Fried Dim Sum

Rice Paper Prawn & Mango Roll米通香芒卷

Chicken Taro Croquette荔茸雞芋盒

The whole combination of the rice paper prawn and mango roll just did not do it for me. I think if it this was not fried, it might have worked better.

Cheung Fun

1st Pic: Char Siew Cheung Fun叉燒滑腸粉
2nd Pic: Prawn & Beancurd Cheung Fun腐皮蝦腸粉

Cheung Fan was good as expected from a restaurant like this.

Congee


Pork & Preserved Egg Congee皮蛋瘦肉粥

Claypot

1st Pic: Berkshire Pork & Mui Choi Claypot梅菜扣肉煲
2nd Pic: Preserved Egg Claypot

The Congee and the Claypot were the last two that we ordered and they were the most disappointing. I wanted congee which had the flavours of the ingredients having seeped into the congee which this was not. The Claypot was more like rice being cooked separately with the pork and Mui Choi piled on top. Bland is all I can say.

Overall, I think that Yauatcha does the traditional dim sum well but miss the mark for most of the dim sum where they decide to make it fusion or by adding a twist to it. Fusion food itself is not easy to make as it takes an incredible palate to know what works and what doesn’t which actually appeals to the customer.

The bill came up to about £40pp. Seriously not cheap and with that kind of prices, I expected not to be charged tea by each pot refill and dim sum that open my eyes and mind going ‘I never knew dim sum could taste like that (in a good way)’.

Sadly It did not hit that level for me and so I turned back to the traditional type of dim sum. £40pp it should not cost me and so Yauatcha is not one I’ll be returning anytime soon.

Yauatcha, 15 Broadwick St, Soho, W1F 0DL

www.yauatcha.com

Related Posts:

Dim Sum Marathon Week Day 1 - Dim Sum at Pearl Liang

Dim Sum Marathon Week Day 2 - Princess Garden of Mayfair

Dim Sum Marathon Week Day 3 - Yum Cha

Dim Sum Marathon Week Day 5 - Imperial China
Dim Sum Marathon Week Day 6 - Phoenix Palace
Dim Sum Marathon Week Day 7 - Fu Lin Xuan Shanghai

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