Month: October 2014

Aaron Kwok 郭富城 Concert – London SSE (Wembley) Arena 2014

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Oh my ultimate Canto-pop idol dream has come true!!! I got to see Aaron Kwok 郭富城 in concert for the first time. For those who don’t know Aaron Kwok 郭富城, he is like the Dancing God of the Hong Kong entertainment industry since the 1980’s and I have be in awe with him for a very long time, but I’m not an obsessed fan as some! 
Gosh, I think I was about 6 years old (or maybe younger) when I saw him for the first time on a TVB Hong Kong drama. I was struck by his dance moves, and then later his singing, and much later his movies. Aaron Kwok has come a long way and he is still single at 49!! Sigh. He’s not even going to get married. A die-hard singleton. ^_^ 

Aaron Kwok celebrated his birthday in London on Sunday 26th and then he performed a special concert for us folks in London the next day on Monday 27th. Awwww!!! You must feel envious with us Asia!! Aaron Kwok was supposed to have held his concert in the summer but unfortunately he was told not to perform due to an injury he sustained from a previous concert. I was so sad and actually cancelled my ticket because I thought the new concert date would clash with my holiday. But thankfully it didn’t and I re-purchased a cheaper ticket. Phew! I cannot miss this concert for the world even if it is on a Monday and it will make me late for work the next day (I have cover, so not too much trouble I hope!).


Well the concert started about 10 minutes late, it’s usual with all concerts these days. It was good to see a wide range of age groups as I didn’t feel my age at that point and was very relieved… Here’s most of my best pictures of the concert, so enjoy!

 Can you spot yourself?

There was a short break at this point followed by a very small encore… Change of clothes and lots of people leaving at this point. 😦 And we had to use 3D glasses to see the animation… (I felt a bit silly wearing them!).

Concert lasted for over 2 hours, and I got home by midnight! I loved the concert very much and Aaron Kwok is a very good Hong Kong entertainer. He spoke mostly in Cantonese that night and I’m really happy he did because majority of the Chinese there mostly spoke Cantonese. Lots are bilingual and I think could speak Mandarin. ^_^

A lot of the audience left early as this concert was on a Monday. I think the entertainment groups could’ve tried harder for the concert to have been on a weekend but nevermind! Better luck next time. The main thing I can fault about this concert is the Simplified Chinese subtitling, it should’ve been in Traditional Chinese!! Plus I wish he sang my favourite songs 聽風的歌 (Listening to the wind song) and that Pepsi ad one (Generation X). Oh well! Come back soon and sing my favourite songs Aaron!!!

p.s. Thanks Jazzy Group and co for bringing Aaron to London!!

Videos to come soon!!!

Update 17:52 – Sorry for the blurriness in some of the videos… Totally won’t be a camera-person in the future! 😀 (Thanks to YT user 0526stop for naming all the videos!)

Video 1 –  以歌會舞 + 一變傾城

Video 2 – 唯一色彩

Video 3 – 絕對美麗 + 愛情基本法

Video 4 – 我為何讓你走

Video 5 – 飛

Video 6 – 無忌

Video 7 – 強

Video 8 – 脈搏 (an Aaron Kwok special… he wrote the song!!)

Video 9 – 鐵幕誘惑

Nissin Soba Cup Noodles

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What? More noodles? But these are cup noodles!! ¬,¬””
I’ve been on the slow blogging path this month. Reason: trying to save up for my holiday next month (which isn’t going too bad). But when I come back, I’m positive there will extremely loads to blog about!
Spotted these Nissin Soba Cup noodles in Longdan which are a little expensive than the usual cup noodle you get in an Asian store. What are soba noodles? They are usually made out of buckwheat, but I think these ones aren’t. Didn’t look at the ingredients! Whoopsie. They are quite popular and can be eaten cold in a cold broth.
There are 4 flavours (the curry one I found a week or so later). Please make sure you follow the instructions as the water can burn you… It can be exhausting though using their method of draining the water from the lid’s holes.
Starting off with the Classic Soba noodles… These definitely taste like soba, they are a bit spicy and it’s light for a snack and definitely not for a meal.

Teriyaki flavoured one came with a sweet soy sauce but it was a tiny bit salty. Tastes like teriyaki and not overwhelming with the sauce as most teriyaki dishes are filled with the sauce.

Chilli tasted sweet, it wasn’t spicy like the Korean stuff but hot enough if you like chilli flavoured foods.

The Curry flavour is good! It’s sweet, there’s a slight pungent curry smell. It’s picy but not overpowering with the curry flavour. You have to really mix the sauce in to get the curry flavour throughout.

For each cup noodle you need to thoroughly mix the sauces in to get it all even with the flavours. Vegetables sank to the bottom, but not really that much of a problem if you don’t like veggies I guess.
There are also packet versions but I haven’t tried those ones out yet. My favourite one is the classic soba one!!
Cost per cup: £1.40 – expensive!

Mudo Korea Restaurant – London St Giles High Street (Closed)

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So this is the last Korean restaurant along St Giles High Street but obviously not the last Korean restaurant I’ll be going to!
It was not a surprise to see ASSA Yorimichi go as more Koreans frequent the area than the Japanese and I believe Korean food has become more of an in thing recently (but I still love my Chinese and Japanese foods!!!).
Mudo Korea that replaced ASSA Yorimichi

I find Mudo Korea a little bit like Seoul Bakery but with more choice of food and staff, plus they have a downstairs with seating too! However it is a bit expensive like the other Korean restaurants along the high street. Seoul Bakery happens to be the cheapest. In Mudo Korea you can also write on their walls with cartoons etc., etc. No need for post-it notes! Plus they have free Wi-Fi!!

Lots of scribbling on the wall

Upside down menus

Miss Pinky loved the PSY posters, so I thought why not take some more pictures!

PSY posters

More scribbling… cute!!

So was it hard to choose what food we wanted. Not really since I was dying from a cardiovascular workout held by Miss Pinky’s other younger brother. Ugh. Cardiovascular workouts are so tough!! And this is what we had…

Side dishes came out first. Miss Pinky was munching away at these…

Side dishes
Miss Pinky saw this Jjampong Ramen dish in the window of the shop. And this looks nothing like what we saw in the window! Damn photo shoots. Food never looks the same as it does in the window! She ordered this without prawns due to her allergies. Well, Miss Pinky loved this. It was spicy. The squid was nice and tender and the soup was good too. There are a lot of veggies in this one too.
Jjampong Ramen
Another dish that was shown in the window were these marinated beef ribs. Wow. These tasted really good! A little salty. Marinate was great! And the beef was nice and tender. Chewable and not too hard to the bone. I would have definitely snucked a few more pieces from this hot plate if Miss Pinky wasn’t looking. Heheh. 😀
Marinated beef ribs

Next came my Korean fried chicken. This comes with 2 beers at £17. An expensive dish but at least Miss Pinky got the beers! They were nice and hot when they came out. The chicken meat was very moist and juicy inside but unfortunately it lacked a little salt and sauces weren’t suggested. 😦 I could have done with some extra spicy sauce as a dip! You can buy this for £10 as takeaway without the beers.

Fried Chicken
Both of us ordered a beef bibimbap each. Not sure why Miss Pinky ordered more than she could actually eat… she just wanted to take this away. This looks like the type of bibimbap you would have at home rather than in a restaurant. It looks similar to Seoul Bakery but there’s more in here! It comes with a fried egg… and all I can say it was good. I think Miss Pinky was a tiny bit disappointed as it wasn’t in a hot pot.
Beef Bibimbap

The bill!

Total cost £57.20 including service charge. We spent arount £30 each, so it wasn’t too bad for what we got in the end. I would definitely come here again to eat more of the fried chicken and maybe tryout something else.

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

Good points:
– Free Wi-Fi available (just look for the code on the wall)
– Loved the fried chicken (but it needs salt or flavouring)
– Polite service (our waitress was very good at memorising our order without writing it down!!)

Bad points:
– A bit expensive
– Service charge (as usual)

Address: 53 St Giles High St, London WC2H 8LH
Telephone: Can’t find one!

No website!!

Ippudo 一風堂 – London Central St Giles Piazza

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Just opposite Kanada-ya is another ramen bar called Ippudo which has become popular around the world and had officially opened on Friday 10th October. I went the next day just before it closed for lunch, and thankfully I managed to get a seat as it proved to be quite popular on its second day. Kanada-ya was unfortunately looking bleak at that moment, but I believe that no other place can beat their broth!
Mr Stingy says it’s an insult for both Ippudo and Kanada-ya to be so close to each other! Whatever that’s supposed to mean! ¬,¬” There’s just TOO much ramen competition and then you see the unpopular places closing down in London. So sad! 😦
Ippudo opened its doors in 1985 in Fukuoka City, note: same place as Kanada-ya. Many branches have opened around Japan as well as around Asia and one in the US. This one happens to be the first to open in Europe. London has become the fashionista for food lately. Everything opens up in London first! Ippudo 一風堂 literally means  in Chinese “one-wind-hall” but don’t know what it means in Japanese terms…
Ippudo London

Street view

Ippudo London sign hidden behind a pole
On arrival, there was already a small queue but it seemed like a lot of people were being turned away as there was no seating available. The bar was open but they don’t serve people at the bar. Unfortunate… I think they would be able to serve food at the bar…

Well luckily I was able to get a seat as I was by myself but still needed to wait!

Lots of kitchen staff!

Lots of bowls and spoons

Chopsticks (they are very pretty!) and napkin
Each customer is welcomed into the restaurant in a cheerful manner but this distracts the other customers from eating (and basically I avoided listening each time so that I didn’t have to look up – I’ve had loads of practice from work).
I had a very quick look at the menu but already knew what I wanted from looking at the menu online (as usual).
I had the gyoza. It came out nice and hot but it looked really oily. The dipping sauce was good though! Sake and soy sauce mix.
Chicken and vegetable gyoza

Nice fleshy inside
Next came my Shiromaru Hakata Classic (shiromaru means white circle. Hakata is the place in Japan). It looked nice but bland looking in comparison to my ramen bowl I had for the same price at Kanada-ya. (Really trying not to be bias!! XD). One piece of chasu, spring onions, bean sprouts that had sank to the bottom and a small amount of fungus… and my egg didn’t look good. I wished they had cut it length ways as it was quite difficult to eat it. 😦 Eeeeeeeeeeh. Did I come too late for all the best cooking? The broth was creamy and salty like a proper tonkotsu but not that creamy and I didn’t finish it… I could taste a slight fishiness in it too which didn’t suit my appetite. There was no nori either… 😦 A friend of mine from Malaysia said to me that quality always changes at Ippudo Malaysia… hmmm. 
Shiromaru Hakata Classic with an extra soft egg

Close up

Handmade noodles

Nearly finished it!
Total cost came to £18.56 including service charge (and I didn’t even order a drink since they offered water)…. Didn’t leave a tip. 😦 I’m a bad geek I know. 
Bill time
I’ve become a food snob. ←～（o ｀▽´ )oΨ
My geeky rating: 4/5
Good points:
– Creamy broth but could taste some fishiness
– Big spacey area, and I think there is an upstairs
– Ultra friendly staff
– There is a vegetarian ramen option!
Bad points: 
– Just a bit too lively!!! Please tone it down a tiny bit!!
– Not cheap
– Was disappointed with the food…
Address: 3 Central Saint Giles Piazza, St Giles High Street, London WC2H 8AG
Telephone: 020 7240 4469

Honest Burgers – Brixton Village Market

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As I went back to Mama Lan to take another picture of the place, I thought I might as well and stop by and eat at Honest Burgers which is a few doors away. Mr Picky had a burger there last year and he seemed to like it.
Thankfully when I got there it wasn’t too busy. Perfect timing! I took a bench seat in the corner inside the little restaurant and had a good look at the menu. I already knew what I wanted but had a browse anyway…
Honest Burgers

Inside Honest Burgers Brixton
I ordered the Cheese burger and I forgot to tell them I wanted Stilton cheese, but that doesn’t matter. It came with a big plateful of chips that were salted and almost resembled wedges as some of the chips had the skin on. A different style of chips! The plate I noticed looked very basic and they look like plates that my parents would have used in the 70’s / 80’s. They only give you one knife and no fork is included.
Yummy burger and chips!
The burger itself came in a soft brioche like looking bun that wasn’t sweet. The cheese melted nicely onto the beef burger and this looked very big to eat at first! Well, my verdict is that it tastes better than a Gourmet Burger Kitchen burger. It has a sweet tasting relish accompanying the burger and  the beef burger was very well done, which was what I wanted!
Close up of the Cheese burger
I asked for the curry sauce which was only £1 extra, why not! The curry sauce was a little spicy and it was also salty. Didn’t like the saltiness of the curry sauce so I added ketchup on plate (which was hard to get out!). It’s worth a try though.
Curry sauce

My well done burger
Total price came to £11 including my drink. Wow. A burger joint that is actually worth going to and I would definitely come here again! A very “honest” burger place. ^_^ Bad joke!

My geeky rating: 5/5

Good points:
– Cheap-ish burger meal (better than eating at GBK!)
– Very filling since they give you a lot of chips

Bad points:
– Nothing majorly bad to report here…

Address: Unit 12, Brixton Village, London SW9 8PR
Telephone: 020 7733 7963

Website: http://www.honestburgers.co.uk/

Mama Lan – Brixton Village Market

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I had a day off so I decided to eat at Brixton Village. ^_^ I again lost some of the pictures so I went back to take a picture of the shop but not of the food…
Mama Lan has become a very popular Northern Chinese restaurant in South London, so obviously I had to try it out. It’s had many reviews, mixed reviews and so I thought I had to try it out. 
Mama Lan (I lost my other pictures… so this was the day after)

Inside Mama Lan (I sat outside)

I mainly wanted to try out the dumplings as I already tried some really tasty dumplings from My Old Place in Liverpool Street and wanted to compare…

It was difficult to choose but in the end I chose the beef, pork and pak choi plus the fried vegetable dumplings. I also had the apple and jasmine tea cold drink (lost picture of the drink :p). The drink probably needs a little more attention… a little more apple juice or stronger jasmine tea… 😦
The dumplings came out… I couldn’t see the difference between the pork and beef even when the waitress told me which one was which. They were all piping hot, lots of juice spilling out as I bit into them, but unfortunately both were too salty on the filling side. I don’t think I liked these… However I did like the pickle veggies that came with them and I did like the fried vegetable dumplings. These tasted crispy, sweet with the carrot filling and I could taste the spring onions. These dumplings went well with the sweet and sour sauce provided.
Dumplings!

Total cost came to £17 (they take cash only). Expensive for all of this plus the drink. Not the best dumplings I’ve had I’m afraid… 😦

My geeky rating: 3.5/5
Good points:
– Nice and local
– Polite service
– Like the fried vegetable dumplings
Bad points:
– Expensive (compared to My Old Place)
– Didn’t like the meat dumplings but need to try out the noodles 

Address: Unit 18, Brixton Village Market, Coldharbour Lane, London SW9 8PR

Website: http://mamalan.co.uk/ (love the website!!)

Sushi Hiroba (Japanese Fusion Restaurant) – London Holborn

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The stupid geek lost her pictures of this lovely restaurant on her phone by accidentally “cutting and pasting” rather than “copying and pasting”, so what did I do? I went back to eat more sushi of course… Any excuse to eat more sushi really. ¬_¬” Heheh.
Sushi Hiroba
This restaurant has been around for years but on weekends it opens at 6pm, which is a little annoying if you want to eat there at lunch time… First trip round was on one weekend and I spent less than £50 on these dishes. Yes around £50. An expensive sushi meal this was! Shouldn’t be so greedy as the plates were just coming. 😀
Instagram picture of the food I ate the first time round
Second trip round and I tried to eat the same amount of plates and this time I managed to spend less! Yay!

When you go in, you get the choice of sitting at a table or at the sushi bar. On both occasions I ate at the sushi bar. It’s a bit like Yo! Sushi but the sushi is expensive (and I would say a bit more tasty). Each plate is colour coded and there’s a price tag for each coloured plate, so I recommend looking at the prices of each plate before diving in. I think the restaurant is run by Koreans as I could hear them talking in Korean. I don’t mind as long as the food is delicious and appetising!
They have pretty lampshades

The sushi kept coming
Here’s what I had second time round. I really like that everything is fresh and the fact that the rice is warm for some of this dishes made…
Scrumptious breaded crumbs on top

I think this is eel

Salmon onigiri

Don’t know which raw fish this is

Squid sushi

Tamago (omelette) sushi

Not sure what this is called, it had sesame oil and it tasted like siu mai

Prawn katsu sushi

Scallop sushi – I recommend!!!

Avocado and sushi roll
Second trip cost just over £39 including the drink. Not bad, but I might just stick to eating cheap bentos from Wasabi. Or I’ll eat the Korean food… ^_^

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

Good points: 
– Freshly made sushi
– Polite and friendly service
– Recommend the fresh scallop sushi!

Bad points:
– Expensive place to dine (but I recommend this place for the business people and lawyers that work around the area… and basically if you’re willing to fish out a lot of money)
– Opens at 6pm on weekends (wished it opened at 12pm…)

Address: 50-54 Kingsway, London WC2B 6EP
Telephone: 020 7430 1888

Website: http://www.sushihiroba.co.uk/