Month: September 2014

Lotte Let’s Be Cafetime Morning and Latte

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Whoopsie Daisy. I completely forgot to blog about these drinks over the summer. Was pre-occupied with the heat to even remember!

Well, these are coffees from Korea which I found in Longdan Express and I forgot the prices of them. They aren’t expensive. (To be truthful, I bought these because of the cartoons on the front, so gullible for cartoon-like products!).

Let’s Be Cafetime Morning and Latte

First I tried out the Morning version. It’s very sweet and it’s quite watery. This only had small amounts of coffee taste and it was only a little creamy… it didn’t keep me awake at work unfortunately. I suppose it didn’t have enough caffeine!

I drank the latte version a few moments later. This one was also quite sweet, didn’t taste like a latte, but it did have some milk… unfortunately it was quite watery too.


I won’t be buying these again! Needs a little improvement with the taste methinks…

Nissin Tokyo Shoyu Noodles

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I’ve blogged about the Nissin Black Oil ramen now it’s the Tokyo Shoyu. As mentioned in the previous post this is a Product of Singapore and not Hong Kong or Japan. This ramen looks rather authentic except for the soup, and I rather like this version.
Unfortunately you can’t get this is many places. I found this in the Rice Wine Shop in Air Street and you can also get this in Oriental Delights in China Town – a pack of 5 for £3.50. Both places are similar in prices.
Tokyo Shoyu Ramen

Product of Singapore

Back of the packet

All the stuff in the packet

Well I cooked it as the packet says (just in case I get into trouble from a reader ¬.¬”). Put the same base in.

Add the soup base and oil after cooking

And then sprinkled the nori on top.

Sprinkle that nori ^_^

Verdict? This is the best ramen I have ever tasted from a packet. It’s a little oily and the soup is a little salty but very tasty. I basically drank all the soup as it tasted so good. The noodles were like spaghetti and there was so much of it!

I recommend this to any ramen fans even if you can’t make it to the famous ramen bars in London or around the world.

Next goal is to learn how to cook a Hanjuku egg to eat with these ramen!

Japanese Canteen – London Middlesex Street + Tower of London Poppies

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A couple of days after visiting My Old Place I decided it was about time I went to Japanese Canteen. I had seen this place a year ago and haven’t even tried it out!! When I passed it during the evening it was quite busy and I saw the sign Korean fried chicken, and thought I must go and eat there!!
I got there just after it opened, and there were already customers sitting around! There’s an extensive menu of Korean and Japanese food. Not sure why there’s Korean food when it’s a “Japanese” restaurant but that doesn’t matter as long as the food is delicious, simple and filling. ^_^
Japanese Canteen

The place looks very quiet during the day but it’s busy at night.

Many seats

Can you see how long the menu is?!!

Extensive menu!

Pretty honeycomb like lantern…

Love the lantern

I ordered the strawberry and apple fruit juice. It isn’t bad

Juice
I ordered the Korean Fried Chicken donburi a.k.a “KFC” heheh. This came with rice and salad like a bibimbap with the hot stone bowl. The chicken was in a nice sticky sweet Korean red pepper sauce. It doesn’t look hot but it definitely was spicy hot and hot, hot. I was pretty much full after eating this! Really, really filling if you’re just looking for one dish to eat.
Korean Fried Chicken Donburi
And I had to order takoyaki which was smothered in mayonnaise and okonomiyaki brown sauce. Quality of the takoyaki was good! Even the piece of the octopus was substantial. ^_^ Too bad there were only 4 pieces. I would have liked it if there were two more. ¬.¬”
Takoyaki
Big piece of octopus inside

My meal ^___^

Total cost came to £10.85!! Wow. I finally found a place where I can enjoy a meal for around £10.

My geeky rating: 5/5

Good points:
– A combination of Korean and Japanese food
– Very spacious
– Polite service
– Cheapish and affordable for a night out

Bad points:
– Nothing I can think of really!

Address: 100 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EZ

Website: http://www.thejapanesecanteen.co.uk/index2.html

***


Next stop was Tower of London. I could have walked from Liverpool Street to there but was lazy and got the bus. ¬_¬” Ms LǜFù informed us about this so I thought I might as well have a look.

The surroundings of Tower of London is filled with poppies (which are not real, they are made out of ceramic). This is to commemorate Remembrance Day on November 11th.

Looks like they are planning more stuff…

Sea of ceramic poppies

These pictures were taken with my Sony camera (not the phone)

Close up shot of the ceramic poppies

Let’s remember the heroes and the soldiers who fought during WW1…

Website: http://poppies.hrp.org.uk/

My Old Place Revisited 老地方 – London Middlesex Street

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I don’t usually re-blog about restaurants I revisit (lie!) but was insisted by Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak (aefelgar-yellow-cloak) to write about our adventure on the main floor as we were in the basement last time.
Ms LǜFù contacted us out of the blue to have a get together dinner. Reminds me of my yearly get together with Miss Rock during Christmas. Well this is our Mandarin class get together. ^_^ There were 5 of us including one of Ms LǜFù’s Chinese friends. We waited for quite a longish time before we ordered a dish each (the waiting staff were very patient with us! I actually felt like ordering a drink in case they thought we weren’t staying…). 
The main floor was busy, but not very busy when we got there until maybe an hour later it started getting really busy. At that point they had to direct people to the basement. Northern Chinese food seems to be a hit in the Liverpool Street area!
So here’s what we had… (by the way I am very happy with these pictures taken with my new Sony Xperia Z2. Really good quality. ^_^).
I wanted the beef stew but was told by the waitress we shouldn’t have that. It was the elbow of the cow (probably lots of bone and not enough meat I guess). So we had one of Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak’s favourite, which we had last time 锅爆肉 (mando: guo bao rou; canto: wo baau yuk; trad: 鍋爆肉)… copying and pasting from my last post. ¬.¬”” It looks a little more orange than the previous one we had, or maybe it’s just the quality of the lighting and the camera. But it still tasted good! Sweet and a tiny bit crispy… This dish was completely demolished… They should add more!
锅爆肉 guo bao rou
Ms LǜFù ordered the aubergine 茄子 again, (mando: qiezi; canto: keh ji). This one was also finished quite quickly. It stayed hot throughout the time we were there! Amazing. I think a lot of oil was used in this one, but nevertheless it tasted good! 
茄子 Aubergine
Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak ordered this rare Northern dish which I have never seen before. It’s called 京酱肉丝 Shredded pork in Beijing Sauce (Mando: Jīng jiàng ròu sī; Canto: ging jeung yuk si, Trad:京醬肉絲). 京酱 Jīng jiàng means Beijing sauce and 肉丝 ròu sī means “pork”. The cheese-like looking wraps are actually tofu slices. Surprised? Well I was. The meat is pork drenched in a salty Beijing sauce placed on top of some corriander (bleurgh) and some spring onions. Mr ÆðelgarYellowcloak showed us how to eat this. You put some of the meat, spring onions and/or corriander into a filled rice bowl. Then you take a piece of the tofu slice, place it on top of the rice and then you must attempt to wrap the meat, salad and rice with your chopsticks… The art of chopsticks must be used here. Heheh. 😀 Forgot to take a picture of my attempt but it was great fun! (I only tried once).
京酱肉丝 Shredded pork in Beijing Sauce
Next came the seabass ordered by Ms LǜFù’s Chinese friend. I don’t like fish that much but I think I should have had more of this as the sauce was pretty yummy. My ex-classmate sitting next to me ate the eyes. Bleurgh… This was well cooked, had a little fishiness but that can’t be helped…
Seabass
Next came these beans called 干煸四季豆 Dry-Fried French Beans with Preserved Vegetables (Mando: Gān biān sìjì dòu; Canto: gon pin sei gwai dou Trad:乾煸四季豆). Literally means “dry-stir-green beans”. I had a few but unfortunately this wasn’t the popular dish (sorry ex-classmate). It was salty, a little spicy and a little bit hard to chew on. Can’t remember how much was left on the plate… probably a lot… ¬.¬”
干煸四季豆
Total cost came to around £62 including the tea. That’s around £12 each! Not bad, not bad!!

My geeky rating: 4.5/5 (still giving this place a 4.5) – the beans disappointed me… next time I’m ordering dumplings!!!
Good points:
– Very consistent with their cooking (it feels the same like last year really!)
Bad points:
– I can’t think of anything bad at the moment… Just to point out the taps in the ladies were hard to stop the water coming out.

Address: 88-90 Middlesex St London E1 7EZ

Telephone: 020 7247 2200


Previous post: http://asimplegeekylife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/my-old-place-london-middlesex-street.html

3D Origami Overkill – Part 4 (Cute Ones)

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Here’s the final post of all my 3D origami so far. It’s been a very long year making all these wonderful pieces and I’m so happy I’ve made a lot friends happy.
A Lion – One colleague spotted the Winnie The Pooh in Mrs Jewelry’s office and so she asked me to make her a lion. She didn’t say lioness, so I made a male one. I looked online for some examples and came across one which I thought was good, but I couldn’t do the hair so I designed a different way of doing it. I’ve been told this is the best work I have made so far!! Is it? 

Hello Kitty in Keroppi suit – I have wanted to make this for a very long time, and I finally got the chance in between all those sport players I made in the previous post. This one has to be my favourite at the moment!

Candy Crush Saga Tiffi – I am a definite Candy Crush Saga addict. So I made Tiffi, the strange looking candy girl who helps the troubled and smashes all those candies. ^_^ I think I made her look all scary.

Wedding Couple – here’s a wedding couple I made for a friend. It’s an anniversary gift for my friend’s relatives. Have to keep this hush hush for now, as the anniversary is not until November!
Bride – I looked at a few designs online and decided to make a small version of what I had seen… Very pretty don’t you think?!

Groom – this guy was easy to make. Must be the simplest design I have ever made!!

Large Me-To-You Bears – one of my colleagues had requested these bears for a very long time! I made her a small one when I first started, but it wasn’t enough! She asked for two, one father and one mother… >_<"" They were pretty easy to make though.

Father Me-To-You Bear

Mother Me-To-You Bear

There will be more to come!

p.s. I have almost finished watching all 9 SEASONS of 24… a few more episodes to go!!

3D Origami Overkill – Part 3 (Some Sports Players)

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My colleague (calling him Mr Sporty) seems to be an addict to all of these pieces I’m making, so I made a few more for him and his family.
Lianne Sanderson – Women’s England Football player. I never really paid much attention to the women’s team. Not sure why… I made three of her and then I remembered that I forgot to add her beauty spot! It’s hard making a ball out paper, so I bought some polystyrene balls and coloured them in. 😀

Rafael Nadal – He asked me to make Nadal, and I thought really hard about this one as he would look like the Federer that I made earlier in the year… Well I changed the colours of the racquet, so that’s one difference!

Cristiano Ronaldo – and another one for Mr Sporty… This one is similar to the Lianne Sanderson ones. I’ve had so much practice in making football players now! I have no idea what he is going to ask me to make next. Let’s just hope it’s something simple. 

This is a no-name basketball player in a Chicago Bull‘s outfit (a colleague’s son) – I made this (including the basketball hoop) in 3 and a half hours! I watched 5 episodes of 24 in one sitting. Yes, I was dazed after making this but so proud of myself. My colleague needed this the next day as it was her son’s birthday. Thankfully I had extra pieces made by MummyGeek. ^___^ The basketball is again a polystyrene ball coloured in orange with black lines. I used a print out of the Chicago Bull logo which I found online.

Very proud to be a 3D origamist although I think some people would think we shouldn’t be using glue… Glue is just used so that it doesn’t fall apart during transportation, I’ve had a few that were destroyed because I didn’t glue it all together. ^_^

3D Origami Overkill – Part 2 (Nativity Scene)

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It’s too early for Christmas you say? Yeah it is! Better to do this early than late… Mr Picky asked me to make the Nativity Scene for his mother, so here’s everything, almost everything. I missed out some of the animals but I can do that another time. ¬_¬””

Baby Jesus

Mary – Miss Pinky seems to like this one.

Joseph


Sheep – looks like an alien!

Star of Nazareth

Shepherd

The 3 Wise Men… I did extensive research on these guys. It wasn’t that easy to find! I used normal origami to make the crowns and boxes with some small adjustments.

Melchior – the one carrying the gold

Gaspar – he held frankincense

Balthazar (Balthasar) – he held the myrrh

Some scenes… Don’t have a cot for baby Jesus, but I’m sure you can see what’s going on here…

Nativity Scene in 3D Origami

3D Origami Overkill – Part 1

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted up some 3D origami and it’s almost been a year since I first started  this as a fun project. Now it’s become a very tiny business. It just never stops!
So instead of me blabbing on, I’m just going to show you the pictures.
Rilakkuma – for Mr Bear’s birthday, which is next week. I forgot to add the tail…

Korilakkuma – I thought Rilakkuma looked wrong by itself so I made this one, his companion. I forgot to add the tail for this one too.

Kiiroitori – And I made the chick of course!

A couple of Bruce Lee’s for a colleague.

Bruce from Enter the Dragon – made his nose to big.

Bruce Lee from Game of Death.

Same colleague wanted Oleg for his mother.

And he wanted Spiderman!!

I really wanted to make Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock. So this one’s mine or I might give it away to Miss Money as a birthday present.

Mrs Jewelry wanted this Dark Vader for her husband…

And also this Storm Trooper. This was fun to make.

There’s more to show! So keep an eye out for the next post. ^__^

Cheap Korean Snacks

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I was going to blog about these strange Korean food snacks last month but I got too lazy to think about blogging… It was too hot… Yes blame the weather!
I bought all of these at Centre Point Food Store which is now on New Oxford Street. I was being nosey as I hadn’t been there for a while. For one thing the store has improved with the space that they have and service is the same as usual (meaning: with strange faces).
But anyway, here’s some of the snacks I bought. Quite cheap in fact!
Some Korean snacks
I started off with these fizzy straws. Korean style obviously. Unlike the American version these are less plasticky and more like the British version I would say.
Sour Apple and Strawberry flavours

This one is apple sour not lemon. It’s sour. Not too much sugar. Its a little hard but chewable but definitely tastes better than the American stuff. I think it was on sale for 15p. ^_^
Sour Apple
This one is strawberry. This one isn’t sour at all, but the apple one, it’s a little to bite into and better than the American stuff. Something like the British ones.
Strawberry
Ah, this one was the one I wanted to try the most. It’s called Kikiriki Drumstix from Nongshim (they are the ones who create all those delicious spicy Korean noodles). Fried chicken sounded odd at first, but when you get those weird Walker crisps flavours coming out this autumn, you cannot help but thank someone that this is actually a normal flavour.
Kikiriki Drumstix

Nice packaging
Look at these snacks! They really look like mini chicken drumsticks. They are actually cornsnacks. The crispiness of the snack resembles the fried chicken and the aftertaste really tastes like chicken. They are very good to snack on if you’re craving for some fried chicken. You don’t think it but there’s a lot of these little snacks in the packet, so you will never be tired! And it only cost 99p. Bargain!
Lots of snacks!

Very crispy
I bought this one out of curiosity and just wondered in if these would taste like fried spicy squid.
Fishy fried squid

When you look inside each snack is shaped into a sea creature, They taste like sweet squid crisps, its a bit fishy, but if you love squid you just might like this and it’s not spicy. There’s lots of little snacks in the packet and I still haven’t finished them. Costs 99p too!! Don’t think I’ll buy this again though… not my type of fishy snack.
So much!

Sea creatures

And last but not least are these Lotte Vegetable Crackers.

Vegetable Crackers

There’s 3 packets in the box
Crackers with vegetable products… Smells strongly of spring onions and carrots. They taste quite sweet because of the carrots and peppers added in. These look healthy, but not sure if they are. If you like Ritz biscuits with some small flavouring, then these are for you. Cost £1.29. Not bad. There’s 3 small packets, so I get you can enjoy them anywhere.
Oh Crackers!

Look like normal plain crackers

I want more of that Fried Chicken. 😀

Kanada-ya 金田家 Japanese Ramen Bar – London St Giles High Street

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A-ha! Another ramen bar has opened up in London! And this one is a little unique as it serves a broth that has been brewed for 18 hours.
Kanada-ya was first introduced in Fukuoka, Japan by Mr Kanada in 2009 but not sure if there are any other branches in Japan. Anyway, a branch was opened up in Hong Kong, and now there’s one in London. I already received notification from a comment on my blog, and I kept to my promise to check it out! Kanada-ya 金田家 literally means Kanada House. The kanji 金田家(Chinese characters) means in Chinese and Japanese (the same meaning) is “golden-field-house”.
Kanada-ya in St Giles High Street

The store opened on Wednesday 27th August for their soft launch, and Mr Bear and Mr Smiles wanted to go and try it out, but in the end we didn’t go. I received an email from the store on that night to say that they were closing on Thursday 28th (which is the day we wanted to go) but we ended up going on the following Monday 1st September! Mr Bear’s mother also joined us!

😦 When we got there, there was already a queue! A queue on a Monday!!! Nooooo… It was supposed to be the last day of their soft launch, but in actual fact it’s TODAY since they closed for one day (probably to restock and re-look at their service). So we queued with many people for about an hour. Yeah, that’s right an hour!!! I have not queued for food for this long for a VERY long time. Some people left the queue, but we carried on queuing in the rain. Luckily the Kanada-ya Team were so nice and handed out umbrellas to us hopeful customers. Thumbs up for a promising polite service. (^_^)b
Queuing time 😦 … almost to the front!!

Watching the chefs cook

The bowls look big here, but aren’t really

So many orders!

The lights from the outside

Look at all those people making us jealous 😛

We finally got to the start of the queue before 9pm! Yipee! I had a quick look at the wet menu and already made my decision.
Everyone became very smiley when we got to the table. And then after some more thinking we ordered our way through… but had to cutback on the extra toppings… they had no more eggs, no more of the deluxe bowl and no onigiri. 😦 Gosh, what did the people in front of us eat! What pigs they are! ¬,¬””

Mr Smiles holding up the menu for me 😀

Finally inside and at the table

Well, this is what we had in the end…

We ordered some lemonade, original and orange flavour, the strawberry ran out! This was a little strange because you had to push the marble down to be able to pour the drink. Phew! Such hard work figuring that one out. XD The drink itself is light in orange taste and not that lemony. The original is so-so for me.
Orange lemonade

Check out the marble

Original Lemonade

The marble

Mr Bear took a different step and tried out the Calpis. He didn’t like it (I think) so went for the green tea (forgot to take a pic of the teapot).

Calpis

Mr Bear and his mother MummyBear ordered the Moyeshi Ramen. So they had extra beansprouts. Mr Bear had black garlic oil in his. MummyBear had the spicy miso with hers. 
Moyeshi Ramen with black garlic oil

And Mr Smiles and I ordered the Original Ramen. Mr Smiles had black garlic in his and I had spicy miso. All I can say is that the soup is wonderfully AMAZING!! On the first sip it tasted creamy, a little salty, and then it tasted like a creamy cheese that wafted through my mouth. By adding the spicy miso it changed the flavour slightly (which I regretted adding), but still I drank the whole soup! 

Original Ramen

Yummy soft noodles

Spicy Miso Paste

I even ordered some extra noodles, that’s how hungry I was. 
My extra noodles

In the end I was the first to finish. Famished from the rain and waiting around. BUT it was worth the wait, and I was happy that I went because it was 50% off, and I don’t think that will happen again. Can’t say much how the others felt, but they thoroughly enjoyed their food! Total cost came to £32.85 (original cost was £65.70, an average of £16.43 per person). 

Finished!

The bill

When we left there was still a queue (a smaller one)! I really hope they do takeaways too… Must ask the next time I go.

My geeky rating: 5/5 (I will definitely be returning)
Good points:
– Absolutely breathtaking pork broth
– Polite service even when they were busy!
– I recommend trying out the lemonade just to experience the marble go pop. 😀
– The chairs swerve (so enjoy swerving)
– Doesn’t look like service charge is included (that’s probably why Mr Bear and Mr Smiles gave extra tips to them!)
Bad points:
– They ran out of stock, it was just too good for people not to be greedy pigs, heheh
– It will be expensive post the soft launch but reasonable for one person

Address: 64 St Giles High Street, London WC2H 8LE

*There’s no telephone number as they don’t take bookings. First come first served basis.
**They are closed on Sundays and they break between 3 and 5pm Monday to Saturday!

Website: http://www.kanada-ya.com (there’s nothing much on the site yet…)
Additional pictures from my second visit. MummyGeek and Mr Stingy loved this place too! Broth was great they said. ^_^ For some reason I didn’t finish the broth… maybe next time!
Got to try out the strawberry lemonade ^_^

MummyGeek had the original 

Mr Stingy had the deluxe

They forgot my egg!! 😦

I got the egg… yay!! Try the egg!!