Month: June 2014

u.loveit Primitive Milk Tea 优乐美原味奶茶

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It’s another u.loveit drink product. I bought this a long time ago, well a couple of months ago, and I’m only drinking it now.
u.loveit is pretty famous now for their instant bubble tea cups, but what if you don’t like the bubbles and you only like the tea? Well they actually thought of that too. XD
They’ve brought out this instant tea sachet to enjoy without the bubble bits. See Woo Supermarket only had one flavour so I bought it (I forgot the price as usual, but not expensive).
u.loveit Primitive Milk Tea

Ingredients and can you find the instructions labelled as “directions”

Finally there’s some English instructions on the box, but it’s easier making this than their bubble tea version. Add hot water, and that’s it! ^_^

Tea powder in satchets

Pour into a cup

Add hot water and stir
If you like Royal Milk Tea kind of tastes then this is the instant tea you should be trying. It already has the milk and the sugar as well as the tea flavour in it. There’s also the taste of condensed milk, so if you like that kind of stuff then go for it.

Happy drinking!!

Chowon Dong San Korean Restaurant 동산 – London Romilly Street, Soho (NOW CLOSED) AND Adanami Shobo Bookstore

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After watching one of the films at the Terracotta Film Festival I went around the West End looking for things to do. It was almost dinner time and I wanted to go back to Bibimbap Soho but they had queues going outside the door so I decided to look around a bit more in Soho.
I ended up in Romilly Street where I saw this this place called Dong San 동산. Korean. It had bibimbap and I was ready to try it out.
There were already a few customers in there and it got busy after sitting there for a little bit. Seems like a popular little Korean restaurant in the area. Dong San 동산 seems to have several meanings, but the one that seems to popular on the Internet is “mound” like a mound of earth. (I shrug my shoulders in confusion).
Chowon Dong Sang Korean Restaurant 동산
There seemed to be a lot to choose from like all Korean restaurants do. In the end I chose the Dolsot Bibimbap and the stuffed cucumber… I think the kimchi cabbage was complimentary with the food.
My meal
Well let’s start off with the bibimbap. Beef mince with lots of vegetables. The rice was not burnt (I don’t think it was cooked in this pot) and the sauce came separate. I was quite pleased with this as I could easily eat the rice without it being stuck to the bottom which Miss Pinky one time had a problem with in one Korean restaurant ¬_¬””. Not bad.
Dolsot bibimbap
My only complaint is the stuffed cucumber kimchi I ordered… After this meal I looked online to see what stuffed kimchi looked like and it didn’t look like the one below. Very disappointed Dong San. The stuffed cucumber looked like a lazy version of what I saw online. 
Kimchi… my stuffed cucumber doesn’t looked stuffed…

Total cost came to £14.60. Not bad. I wonder if there’s ever a Korean restaurant where I can eat and drink for just £10. Ever.

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

Good points:
– Quiet restaurant
– Ok service
– Bibimbap not burnt!

Bad points:
– My stuffed cucumber was not stuffed >_<""

Address: 27 Romilly St, London W1D 5AL
Telephone: 020 7494 0085

p.s. I was almost late for my next film because of this shop below… Don’t be fooled by its appearance. It is not a launderette. It’s actually a secondhand Japanese bookstore and karaoke place, called Adanami Shobo アダナミ書房. How weird is that! I only noticed that it was a bookstore because of the pictures on the window… They never changed their sign and they’ve been there for years, heheh. You can find this shop in Brewer Street (address below). So if you’re looking for old manga in Japanese (not English translated) then go to this store!! I bought one easy looking manga book, but I think it might take me a while to read it in the future. XD
Adanami Shobo アダナミ書房

Address: Adanami Shobo, 30 Brewer Street, Soho, London, W1F 0SS
Telephone: 020 7437 5238

Abeno Okonomiyaki あべの – London Museum Street, Holborn

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So during my Japanese class we were talking about Japanese foods, and so obviously I started craving for Japanese food big time! When you talk about food I tend to become so excited and want to eat a lot… hohoho. ^_^
Well, I had my eyes out looking for this famous Japanese restaurant on Museum Street called Abeno あべの – there is no meaning to this and I think it’s named after Abeno-Ku which is like a district in Osaka, Japan. This is my theory, coz I can’t find the info. XD It was a bit hard to spot because there was no sign on the top. I walked all along Museum Street and then finally I spotted it. 
If you’re planning to go this restaurant it is ideal for you to reserve a table. So call them before you go. I was quite lucky as two people were leaving and I managed to grab their seats. Phew! I had a few people staring at me because I was by myself… but I was going to eat quick anyway coz I needed to rush to see a film!!
Abeno Okonomiyaki あべの
Each table has their own grill, so it’s not like Okan in Brixton where they grill at the cooking counter and serve it. Here it is grilled right in front of you!!
Tables with grills

The counter

My chopsticks
I ordered this onigiri (I thought I ordered the fishy type and was surprised when I got this). Was very hungry so had ate it all before the okonomiyaki was going to be made.

Onigiri
I ordered the Tokyo Mix with extra noodles, I got the big version as well… I was hungry! But slightly regretted it afterwards because I couldn’t finish it. Here’s my okonomiyaki being made right in front of me. Everything came in a bowl and the waitress was mixing all the ingredients up, poured it all over the grill and let it cook.
Okonomiyaki being prepared
The noodles were added on top and then the pork strips and then it was flipped over to grill.
Noodles!!
I think the whole process took 10 to 15 minutes to prepare and cook. Doesn’t it look like a thick-based pizza?! 
It’s finally done

Hungry? Yes!

Yummy 
Bonito flakes were then added on top with mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce. And then it was cut into several slices. I was like woah, how am I going to finish this?!!
It tasted really good, savoury, there was enough noodles, squid, prawns, cabbage and pork in there to last me for the rest of the evening! It felt like the food was melting in my mouth. ^_^
The final product
In the end I had to give up with the last two slices. I was finding it so hard to finish it and I was pressed for time to get to the film… Hahahaha. Maybe another time, and I think I will get the smaller version next time.
Total cost came to £23.80… expensive yes… But food was good!!

My geeky rating: 5/5
Good points:
– You get your own grill on the table!
– Everything is cooked in front of you
– Polite service
Bad points:
– May have to book a table
– Expensive for okonomiyaki compared to Okan

Address: 47 Museum St, London WC1A 1LY
Telephone: 020 7405 3211

Website: http://www.abeno.co.uk/

Biwon Korean Restaurant 비원 – London Coptic Street, Holborn AND Centre Point Food Store

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After another Japanese lesson (my bag has started to get heavier at this point). Too much learning. I haven’t been so keen in learning a new language since my first year when learning Mandarin!
This time I wanted to eat Korean and I actually wanted something a bit different to what I would usually eat.
I stumbled across Bi Won a long time ago whilst walking from Holborn to Tottenham Court Road, just never tried this place. I think Bi Won 비원 means “The Secret Garden”. Heheh, it looks very secretive from its location point!!
Bi Won Korean Restaurant
As I entered I was greeted by a busy looking woman who looked slightly annoyed as there were hardly any seats around for just one person although I think there was sitting upstairs (not sure about that). Well anyway, I got a table in the end and I had a flick through the menu. There was so much to choose from and I just didn’t know what to choose!!
Didn’t want anything spicy so I chose this beef stew set (I think this is galbitang). It’s something different from what I would usually get…
Beef stew

The beef stew came with white rice in a silver bowl (as they usually do in a Korean restaurant).

Stew and rice

It was a proper beef bone soup but there was a lot of beef bits in the soup as well as some Asian parsnip.

Not a lot of meat on those bones, but there is a lot of loose meat in the soup

Side dishes came with the set… kimchee cabbage, burdock root and beansprouts.

Side dishes: kimchi cabbage, burdock and beansprouts

The soup came out very hot. So I had to blow on it quite a lot. It tasted ok, not too salty not too bland, just ok. I mainly put the rice into the soup to eat like you would with kimchi stew but I think I shouldn’t have because it was hard to eat!

My meal

It was a good meal, I had all the side dishes to cool off the heat from the soup… Unfortunately I couldn’t finish all of the soup because there was so many people just staring about and I felt conscious that people were looking at me… I would rather sit in a dark hole and not be stared at!!

Finished!!

Total cost came to £12.50 that included a £1.20 service charge (10%). Not sure if I should have ordered a drink otherwise I think the price would have been average for this meal.

My geeky rating: 4/5

Good points:
– Nice small Korean restaurant
– So-so service
– Like the side dishes!

Bad points:
– Service charge
– May have to wait for a table

Address: 24 Coptic St, London WC1A 1NT
Telephone: 020 7580 2660

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m14!1m8!1m3!1d2482.780438302017!2d-0.125937!3d51.51724399999999!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x48761b3306a88a2b%3A0x853c01b282cd54ac!2sBi+Won!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1403217831149&#8243; style=”border: 0;” width=”600″>

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p.s. If you are looking for Centre Point Food Store (the Korean food store that used to be on St Giles High Street) it is now on New Oxford Street!!

Address: Centre Point, New Oxford St, London WC1A

Viet Eat – London Holborn

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I’ve started eating in the Holborn area. Reason: I’m taking Japanese classes in the area, and after class I become very hungry!! So the only option is to eat. ^_^ Heheheh.
I’ve been pass Viet Eat for a bit now. Not sure how long it’s been there but I do like a good pho if I can find a place that sells it. 😀
Outside Viet Eat
So obviously I ordered a Vietnamese cold coffee. This was really sweet. Wish I had a bigger glass too. I’ve had better Vietnamese coffee though.
Cold Vietnamese coffee
And it was obvious that I would go for the beef pho right. I always pronounce pho as “fo” that rhymes with “ho”, but I hear people say “fa” or “for” with a silent r. Vietnamese pronunciation is hard.
Beef pho
Well there was a lot of flat rice noodles (but I like the thinner flat noodles!). The soup base was kind of salty, not like the sweet taste I had in Camberwell or the one I had in Paris. There was a lot of coriander but it didn’t taste much of it which was a relief. The main disappointment was the tender beef. They used the slightly harder beef which is not the bit I like in beef pho. I like the really, really chewy tender beef.
Beef pho with a plate of garnish
I did eat the lot but felt slightly disappointed. Looks like I’ll be going back to the South of London for more pho. XD
Total cost came to £12.43 including a 12.5% service charge. I feel like I’ve been cheated in eating a very expensive bowl of pho.
My geeky rating: 3.5/5
Good points:
– Friendly service
– Like the seating arrangements – feels like a proper noodle bar, and they have seating outside too!
Bad points:
– A bit expensive for some one bowl of noodles!
– The soup base and beef was so-so
– I hate service charge
Address: 48 Kingsway, London WC2B 6EP
Telephone: 020 7404 4138

Red Bean Milk Chewy 旺仔紅豆牛奶糖

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Back to sweets!!!

I bought these Red Bean Milk chewies from See Woo Supermarket a couple of months ago. They come from Taiwan and it cost around £2. Not tasted this before, and I do like red bean stuff (like azuki beans).

Red Bean Milk Chewy

Back of the packet
Each sweet is individually wrapped in a pretty pink wrap.
Individual chewy

And inside the wrapper the sweet looks like a strawberry bonbon.

The sweet is actually very, very sweet. It has a very strong red bean taste it, and becomes creamy as you start chewing.

Looks like a bonbon!

I think only buy this sweet if you like very sweet sweets. My colleagues have tasted it and weren’t interested afterwards. Hahahah!!

Terracotta Film Festival 2014

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It’s another year and it’s another film festival! I didn’t lose my phone this time. XD
Terracotta Film Festival was back on the 23rd May for another week of films for all of us film geeks. Asian film geeks that is. Thankfully I already had a week off so I could watch a couple of movies during the week and most on the weekends. Well the good films were on the weekends which was ok for me.
Also a big change this year was that the seats were unallocated… no need to book an actual seat. You could sit wherever you like this time. Cool!!
Terracotta Film Festival 2014
The first film I watched was Unbeatable. A Hong Kong film starring Nick Cheung (Hong Kong star). It was a very, very good film. I haven’t seen a good Hong Kong movie for a long time. There was hardly any dubbing, the story line was great where Nick Cheung played a 2 medal champion who went to prison because of illegal gambling. He came out and became a person in debt taxi driver. One day a guy from China whose father became bankrupt wanted to earn some money for me, so he asked Nick to become his master to learn the art of boxing and defence. Fantastic movie. I would recommend to Hong Kong film fans.
My ticket for Unbeatable
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/2ny2Rac_JsY&source=uds

On the Friday I watched The Face Reader, a Korean film. This one was supposed to be on the Sunday but was swapped around, and I got a chance to book another film to watch. Anyway, this film is set in the olden days where an old man could read people’s faces to see if they were corrupt, why their love lives were so bad or just very good people. One day he was sought by a business lady who was also a face reader to earn some money. His son left him and his uncle to become a governor in the royal palace, this gave the father a chance to leave his home and become a face reader for the public. He solved a crime in the meantime and became the King’s governor… Anyway, it was quite sad towards the end, I shed a few tears. Boohoo.
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/nJTa6JkrIjQ&source=uds

Commitment was on Saturday. This is a great South Korean film depicting the North Korean spies. A lot of Korean fans came to this one, and I enjoyed it very much. A boy of 18 becomes a spy because his father was abandoned by the motherland. The son had to complete a mission (killing other North Korean spies) before returning back home to go back to his sister. It gets a bit emotional. It’s funny at the beginning and I completely love it!!
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/6nFHA0UDQ-c&source=uds

I had a break between this film and the next one… I walked and ate a lot…

The Snow White Murder Case was on Saturday evening. I thought this was going to be a scary Japanese film, but it wasn’t. It was quite funny where a reporter was trying to solve a murder case using Twitter and the internet. The interviews of the witnesses and the people who knew the “killer” were very funny. I didn’t have a great view of the film because the person in front was blocking my view of the subtitles. Good film if you like crime comedies.
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/rb5f4RIzxLI&source=uds

I watched Firestorm on Sunday afternoon. Not tired yet… but unfortunately this film really tired me to death. I love Andy Lau, but sometimes don’t you think we have too many films that are similar to Inferno Affairs. Too much I think. This film is about a crook who comes out of prison and restarts robbing banks with other crooks. Andy Lau plays the “good” cop but gets caught being a bit bad… It becomes really boring towards the end, it was a very long ending, and I yawned more than expected. I didn’t enjoy it, sorry. ¬,¬””
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/RG4O7LDvEUs&source=uds

Judge! ジャッジ was the last film at the Terracotta Film Festival!! This is an hilarious film about an advertising director tells his employee to take his place in an international advertising competition. I love adverts (as most will know) and that’s why I wanted to watch this film. It was funny because it was of a Japanese guy who didn’t know much English and was set out to win this competition. There is a lot of cheating and funny gay moments. Probably the best funny film during the week!
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/9zWsa0UKazs&source=uds
Before the film Judge!
At the end of the film Judge! it was interview time with the film director Akira Nagai. This is his first film, and it is mainly based on his experience as an advertiser in the real world. The person who wrote the script was a also a first time film writer. The film was made to attract younger people to become advertisers although it could embarrass you one day in the future… I hope Akira Nagai makes more films!! All the best!!
Akira Nagai at the Prince Charles Cinema

Interview with Akira Nagai

Come back again Terracotta Film Festival!!  (Why can’t it be held twice a year?!).

Go Compare Poster Advert – Needle in a Haystack

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Heheheh. This ad from gocompare.com is quite funny. I looked at it and thought “needle in a haystack”. It’s a figure of speech meaning that something can be harder to search for in a big space. And GoCompare have used it quite nicely. If you’re looking for cheap insurance, but there’s a vast amount of insurances out there so its hard to look unless you use gocompare.com. 

gocompare.com – “needle in a haystack”

Cheesy isn’t it?! ^__^

Lucozade Sport Poster Advert 2014

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This was out a few weeks ago…
I don’t have any problems with this poster advert from Lucozade, but the only thing in this ad that makes it look all wrong is Steven Gerrard without a Lucozade bottle in his hand. I actually dislike the way he is positioned in the poster with his mouth wide open waiting for a fly to go in his mouth. ¬_¬””
It just looks all wrong on the left hand side… (not that I don’t like football)… He’s just positioned wrongly. He needs a bottle in his hand!!
Lucozade Sport poster ad
Gerrard, take a swig of that Lucozade!

Boring Car Poster Adverts

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There’s been a lot of car poster ads out lately, and I found these ones just a LITTLE bit boring…
This Audi poster was just a bit too plain for me. Add a bit of scenery into it! Or add the Blackwall Tunnell (as it says)…
Audi poster advert – Calm. Serene.
I like the car in this Audi ad but really, really too clean cut for me…
Audi poster  advert – Ultra
I dislike this car ad from Kia very, very much. I hate the way they’ve added a school badge like icon right in front of the car. It actually ruins the advert very much. Don’t think it was needed. But I do love the scenery and the colours used… But that badge thing needs to go.
KIA poster advert – The School Run
Same goes with this other KIA car advert. What the heck is a “cool cat” doing in this ad?! Ugh. I think it actually ruins the poster really. But I do love that red car. Beautiful car, shame about the poster ad.
KIA poster advert – All New Soul, ready to roll
Hmmmmmmmm. I don’t like this Ford advert either. It says #want. I don’t think I want this car. The advert looks too shiny and photoshopped in a with that dark blue background doesn’t look right. Bleurgh.
Ford poster advert – #want
There is a Honda car advert out. Need to take a picture of that when I get the chance!
Do like the cars but hate the ads or vice versa?