Month: June 2015

Bayroot Lebanese Street Food – London Camberwell/Walworth Road

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At the end of Walworth Road and at the start of Camberwell is a new Lebanese Street Food restaurant. I was actually quite excited to see this new and upcoming restaurant which is probably trying to make Camberwell and Walworth Road a little more trendy. I think the area already has become trendy with the variety of food that’s building up in the area. Think Walworth and Camberwell is becoming the new Dulwich… only joking!! ^_^

There seems to be a trend of kebabs along the Walworth Road. I’ve counted four in my head and now we have a Lebanese restaurant. Do you count Lebanese food as kebab food? I don’t know. I leave that for the experts.
Bayroot is a different spelling to the capital city Beirut. Good idea for a restaurant name!

They already had a few customers in the restaurant and I was allowed to sit anywhere. I had a quick browse at the menu and they were only serving the skewers either on it’s own or as a platter. I chose the platter option where you can choose up to three meats. I felt one skewer by itself would’ve been too boring.

I sat for a long while and had a look around. There seems to be a lot of lighting but it actually looks quite dark inside. Don’t worry, I think it’s to make you feel cool and they do have candles for I believe a romantic setting in the evening. There was no music in the background when I went in… I think they forgot because I could hear some music just before I was leaving

The tables look trendy, don’t know why… very simplistic!

If you sit near the entrance you will notice this clock. The background is shaped into Lebanon (I checked on the map).

First came out the apple and ginger juice which is freshly squeezed. It wasn’t cold enough and it didn’t have enough ginger. I’m sure I’ve had freshly squeezed juices that were cold…

Then the meal came out. It looks cool!

The platter came with one piece of lamb kofta, beef rump steak and king prawns. I actually wanted the squid steak but I think they ran out. There’s also a few pieces of grilled vegetables underneath. I started off with the prawns. They are definitely fresh but were only lukewarm and not spicy enough. The lamb kofta was well seasoned and went well with the sour cream sauce. The beef steak cooled too quickly, a little bland but went well with the spicy red sauce. I had all of this and felt quite satisfied with a full stomach

The Bayroot Fries is not anything too special, it just had some spices added on to it. Didn’t finish them. 😦

My disappointment was the mainly the bread. Yeah. The pitta bread. It was a bit too dry when it reached the table. I had half a piece and didn’t eat the rest… 😦

There’s always room for improvement!
Total came to £27.22. Woah a bit expensive for grilled meat, fries, bread and juice. The kind owner gave me a small discount – was quite surprised about that… Well I have had expensive food but not sure if this was worth that amount… maybe the rump steak was my mistake. ¬_¬”” After examining the menu leaflet I think I should have chosen to eat a wrap instead! 
My geeky rating: 4/5 (it was better than eating at Duck and Waffle considering this place had only opened for less than a week when I went!)
Good points:
– Polite service, although still new so still rusty with what they’re doing (I’m sure it will improve)
– I felt full after eating which is a good sign that I enjoyed the filling meat
– I think the lunchtime menu will be a hit – must try out a wrap next time
Bad points:
– Meat and prawns cooled down too quickly – but that happens to most grilled meat I guess
– Pitta bread was a bit too dry to my liking
– A bit expensive (maybe because I chose the expensive meat!)…defo have to try out a wrap ^_^
Address: 8 Camberwell Road, London SE5 0EN
Tel: 02079984030

Duck and Waffle – London Heron Tower

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Another evening out with Miss Posh. This time we tried out Duck and Waffle which is also located in Heron Tower (the same place as Sushi Samba). Another so-called posh restaurant. Yep. No open toe shoes, no trainers, you must dress in appropriate clothing! 
Duck and Waffle is another fusion restaurant between British and the Europeans. Nice concept… I was expecting very nice combinations from a restaurant like this! 

Miss Posh got there before me and I was late by 10 minutes because of bus traffic. For the first time Miss Posh was early!! … We ordered our food as soon as I arrived. I already knew what I wanted and it seemed Miss Posh was already full from an away day meal she went on. Lucky her! 😛
Finally the food came out… I was a bit hungry!
Miss Posh had the Pea, Mint and Ricotta Ravioli dish. She liked this. I didn’t get a taste.

She didn’t like this corn on the cob with toasted coconut and spiced mayo. It didn’t suit her tastebuds and I didn’t want to try it fearing I would get bits stuck in my teeth. (I told a colleague of mine who knows a lot about food and nutrition the next day about this and she said corn on the cob should only be seasoned with butter. It doesn’t need to be cooked like this… hmmmm….

This is her non-alcoholic coctail…

I have a thing for aubergine at the moment so I asked for the Coal Charred Aubergine… to be honest I thought I would get slices of aubergine with the skin on, lightly spiced with cumin and minimal yogurt. I took a taste of this and thought the cumin just doesn’t go well with the aubergine. Bleurgh. The saltiness flavour came at the end… just not for me this dish.

I also ordered the famous classic Duck and Waffle dish. It looked cool but not completely to my taste. The fried egg was a bit rubbery, I think I even flicked a bit into my eye. ¬_¬”” The duck egg was crispy and very tasty, this went well with the waffle and syrup that came with it. Too bad I didn’t have the guts to clean that duck leg in front of so many people… 😛
Top view

Side view

From the lift we could see the sun ready to set… ^_^

Waiter came to us with the bill without us asking for it (I’m sure we never asked for it). I think I dislike service like that… Total came to £59.63 and I only had tap water! ¬_¬”” The price of paying for what seems posh to us in London. 
My geeky rating: 3.5/5 (I’m afraid I was still hungry… 😦 )
Good points:
– Polite service (except for the person who gave us the bill)
– Duck and Waffle dish was lovely without the egg
Bad points:
– Expensive for a piece of roasted duck leg
– Side plates didn’t go too well with the classic dishes…
– Felt hungry after eating this 😦 Make sure you eat a big lunch before going here… unless you decide on the meals to share

Address: 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY
Telephone: 0203 640 7310

New York Snack Summary

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Whilst in New York (that was in March) I did buy a few snacks here and there although I felt like I had tried nearly everything from the time I went to Dallas.
So the snacks I have here are ones I have never tried before. This will be just a short summary of what I tried as I’m too lazy as I know it’s been a while (3 months post holiday to be exact). ^_^”
M&M’s Chocolate Bar! Wow. I’ve not seen one of these yet. It’s basically a very sweet chocolate bar with some M&M’s in between.

M&M’s Mega is basically a larger version of normal M&M’s. There’s just more chocolate in each piece.

The Milky Way Midnight Dark is an awesome chocolate bar!! Hope they sell these in London somewhere. It’s really smooth. There’s a hint of vanilla taste in the nougat. The caramel is thick. Dark chocolate isn’t too sweet. It’s a chocolate bar to die for really!!!

I’ve still got some of these. Think they’ve expired but I ate them anyway. This is a nice savoury peanut butter cookie. It’s not too sweet and I think I could eat lots of these. ^_^

Nips are like hard toffees. The peanut butter is in the middle of the sweet but I couldn’t taste much of the peanut butter unfortunately. They get stuck in your teeth too, so eat with caution.

And lastly another Milky Way bar. A 2 in 1 bar. I think I just love Milky Way. It’s not too sweet and the nougat is really smooth…

Next time I visit America I must get loads of Milky Way!! ^_^

Hoa Phuong – London Hampton Street (off Walworth Road)

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I had a spontaneous moment where I wanted to try out a newish place which I had seen whilst on the bus heading towards Elephant and Castle many months back (can’t remember how long it’s been open now). This Vietnamese takeaway called Hoa Phuong (which I think is a type of red flower found in Vietnam) is hard to spot if you don’t look out the window on the left hand side whilst going pass Dragon Castle. This takeaway shop used to be a Chinese takeaway which unfortunately I didn’t try out in the past.

Had a quick look at the menu online but that needs updating because when I looked on the blackboard inside the shop they had some extras. 

They even have some seating! 

I was greeted by an old Vietnamese lady whose English is not the greatest but I could understand. I made my order and then sat there for a while (about 15 to 20 minutes because I ordered a bit) for my food to be made. I don’t think everything is pre-made… Took a few pictures in the meantime.

Finally my food was ready. I was very hungry and wanted to get home before everything got cold. Thankfully I know the backstreets and took the shortcut home.
This is the food I ordered.

The noodles (not pho, they’re called bun) were not in the soup… I was thinking where are those white noodles… they were hidden underneath the fishcake! ^_^ This is actually the second time I’ve seen a restaurant / takeaway separate the noodles from the rest of the ingredients. Cool!

I asked for spicy beef noodles which is why my soup looks dark as some chilli oil was added. This is a different version of Vietnamese noodles as I read on Wiki. It comes from Central Vietnam. The one we’re used to seeing is pho which has a sweeter broth and flatter, thinner noodles. Inside the soup there’s a lot of sliced beef. You will need to dig in to see it. Quite amazed at how much beef was given. 

I added the bun, fishcakes and lettuce and started eating. The soup is good stuff, a little spicy, not too sweet and is full of flavour. It’s not too beefy but it had a lot of herbs. The greatest thing about this is that I was never given any coriander and no coriander (I believe) was added to the soup or box of ingredients. So cool!! I love this place already. ^_^ Instead there was some lemongrass and a lot of chopped up lettuce.

The bun was brilliant too. It was no flat rice noodles, it was thin round noodles which I haven’t seen before. Thick and filling.

Next I started on the grilled pork rolls (goi cuon). A tub of sweet chilli runny sauce is given.

These were amazing. The grilled pork reminded me of Chinese bbq pork without the sweet taste. This type of summer roll is brilliant. I need to know how to make these. ¬,¬””

Finally I had a dessert. Che Mixed Bean. There were chick peas, red beans, clear noodles and green noodles. There was a separate bag of sweet white coconut milk. Be warned: these desserts are very sweet, I think my teeth wanted a clean brushover afterwards as it was too much for my them. >_<"

Total cost came to £11.50 although I calculated it to be £11.70 as the blackboard stated the dessert was an extra 20 pence from its original price. Nevermind, didn’t want to argue. It’s cheap, and I enjoyed the food. 
My geeky rating: 5/5
Good points:
– Cheap food!
– Ingredients separated from the soup and there’s lots of ingredients included!
– Love the rolls
– Polite service
– There are small seating areas in case you have nowhere else to eat
Bad points:
– Had to wait a while for the food as there’s only one person serving and cooking (at that time)
Address: 4 Hampton Street, London SE1 6SN
Tel: 07832 999573 or 07776 508 125
Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday 12pm to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm

Japanese Kit Kat – Pumpkin Pudding and Shinshu Apple Flavours

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And for my 600th post I’m going to eat some Japanese Kit Kat. ^_^
Here are two flavours I have not tried out yet – Pumpkin Pudding and Shinshu Apple. I wonder when the bigger versions will make it to the UK…

So I tried out the Pumpkin Pudding パンプキンプリン味 first. Do I even know what pumpkin tastes like… ¬,¬” I don’t think I do. Uh oh. 

Well, when I opened the tiny packet it smelled of white chocolate. I tied to picture in my mouth what pumpkin tastes like, but all I could think of was white chocolate. >_<" !!

The Shinshi Apple 信州りんご was the one that I really wanted to try out. Shinshu is a place in Japan and I guess their apples are the best! ^_^

Instead of white chocolate they use normal milk chocolate. 

And wow, the taste and smell of the apple is wonderful. It’s like you’re eating real fruit. There’s a sort of stickiness in it which makes the Kit Kat gooey in texture. Delicious!!

Sorry, not sharing these!
You can buy both flavours for £1.30 each from Japan Centre website: http://www.japancentre.com/.

3D Origami Avengers (The rest of them)

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Uh oh. I was asked to make the rest of The Avengers (already made Captain America) and so it seems I like I had loads of time to make more models, well in between holidays, working and studying. 😀

Here’s the Hulk. He’s my favourite of the lot I made. So green, so mean. ^_^

The Flash was easy to make, just needed some gold paper which I managed to get for cheap on eBay. 

Was struggling to design Thor as there’s too many versions of him so I kind of improvised with old and new versions of him.

I was asked to make one more… Nicky Fury – the Samuel L Jackson version.  Easy to make but also added in his coat which now makes him look like a vampire! Yeek!

Need to design more stuff!

3D Origami – Some Requests

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It’s been a while since my last 3D origami post, so here’s a round up of what I’ve made…

Uh, a friend at work requested a bunny for next Easter. Yes that’s right next Easter. So I made this fairly simple white rabbit and placed it’s tail in the correct position! =^.^=

Since I don’t have a cat of my own I made a cute black cat for myself.

Mrs Hen wanted a puppy. I thought she hated dogs but she says she likes cute puppies. ¬,¬” I have to make another one of these but in brown…

This was rather a strange request from a colleague of mine… Akhenaten… a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt… Hmmmm. This didn’t take me long to make but it was weird to make this. Hahahah.

I’m hoping someone will ask me to make more because I’ve got too much paper to get rid of.

Lanzhou Noodle Bar 正宗兰州拉面 – London Cranbourne Street

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Hidden away (not really that hidden). But behind one of the entrances of Leicester Square Station is a noodle bar called Lanzhou Noodle Bar 正宗兰州拉面(Mando: zheng zong Lanzhou la mian), meaning: “authentic Lanzhou pulled noodles”. Miss Money went there the other day and explained  to me that they sell cold noodles which I didn’t try – maybe next time but had read that their noodles are really good.

Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar

I was seated next to a bunch of people. The place is a bit cramped so make sure you don’t bring too much stuff because you’ll probably have nowhere to place things, except the floor. I think there are seats downstairs as well…

Fun cartoons on the wall

Instead of the cold noodles I read that the beef brisket were the best noodles, so I ordered that with my poor Mandarin and I also ordered a plate of steamed/boiled dumplings… why not, I was there. There are other options like rice dishes if you don’t want noodles.

The noodles came out first. It’s a big massive bowl. Floating on top were some leaves of pak choi, beef brisket and to my utter horror – coriander!

Beef Brisket Noodle Soup

In the midst of all that soup were the noodles. Lamian 拉面, the pulled noodles. In other words ramen. These were chunky, a kind of bland taste and filling at the same time. The disappointing factor was the beef broth. It was light in taste but it didn’t have that strong beefy taste which I like from the Cantonese style beef brisket noodles. It also reminded me of Vietnamese pho.

Pulled noodles

The dumplings actually made up for the noodles. They were filled with pork and chives. They were fat and filling. I think the wrap is made using the noodle dough.

Pork and chive steamed/boiled dumplings

So much filling… this is recommended

I was really full after eating!! ^_^ Total cost came to £11.50. Bowl of noodles cost £6.50. You pay at the counter rather than asking for the bill. A little expensive and I didn’t order any drinks with this. I’ve learnt my lesson… if you order soup noodles don’t order a drink with it. Service is average – don’t expect full smiles and greetings.

After this I walked towards Westminster to digest and see the Naked Bike Ride.

My geeky rating: 3.5/5

Good points:
– Big bowl of pulled noodles
– If you’re lucky you will probably see a chef pulling noodles
– Steamed/boiled dumplings are filling!

Bad points:
– A little expensive for Chinese soup noodles
– The noodle soup was not the best I’ve had 😦
– Feel like you have to eat quick and go… no place to stay and chat

Address: 33 Cranbourne Street London WC2H 7AD
Tel: 020 7836 4399

Vita Coco Poster Ads – "Stupidly Simple"

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Heheh, two weeks ago I saw these poster ads in Waterloo and I started giggling… Who on Earth would be so observant with the ins and outs of Waterloo Station!
Well the advertising team for Vita Coco must have looked at where all the posters were going to go before deciding on what to write. ^_^ And they are really “Stupidly Simple”!! I like.
I always find London confusing! No straightforward answers to what we want. 

Never even noticed there was a mystery ladder!

I think the dodgy door is a fire escape…

Lol!! Seriously… Why on Earth would we want directions for a pigeon? Heheheh!!

Can you see a pigeon? I can!! Hahahah.

Yes there’s a bike rack here. That’s a bit obvious.

This one is “Stupidly Simple” indicating the obvious… The water in this carton is from a coconut.

The sun was in the way… but this one says “Woman taking a selfie” – there were no women taking selfies at that point in time. It also scrolls to say “Man taking a selfie” and “Child taking a selfie”. Believe me there were no people taking selfies at that point!! 😛

Hahaha!! Missing cat poster!!

And to be fair, there was a missing cat poster…! Lol.

There are a few more on York Road – why don’t you have a look and see what they say. ^.^

p.s. If you’re heading into Waterloo Station don’t forget to check out the dinosaur statues which are to promote the new Jurassic Park movie.

Naked Bike Ride 2015

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Warning Note: there are naked pictures in this post… I’ve tried covering up the private bits and pieces to make this a friendly post. ¬,¬”” 
For those who were just going out to see celebrate the Queen’s official birthday today (she was born in April though) may have stumbled across the Naked Bike Ride in the afternoon. The bike ride is a demonstration against car culture and how we’re dependent on oil.
Showing off without clothes has been around for centuries, it’s just that we choose to cover up so I wasn’t surprised at this at all… I just had a clear mind and thought I was watching Game of Thrones live. For some reason I kept smiling! ^_^
After eating a bland broth noodle soup (which I will blog about later) I headed down to Westminster. I saw no naked cyclists until I sat at a bus stop and waited for them to come… I heard a loud jeer and finally saw a lot of nude men and women, mostly men… So if you’re not completely shy, here’s a few pictures of the naked cyclists. Don’t forget I have covered the private bits, don’t want to embarrass the cyclists! Some were clever and covered their faces, wore sunglasses or had paint covered bodies… heheh.

At this point a young girl with her parents said why do they have to be naked to demonstrate…? Well, it’s to demonstrate ~~~ I don’t know why really…!

The photographers trying to get their shot for the papers etc, etc… so funny seeing them like this!

From here I could see the people in the car trying not to look… well the men in particular… ^_^

I followed the cyclists up to the end of Westminster Bridge and around the corner which blocked the traffic and created a bit of hassle from the drivers. Beep beep they go.

From this point I decided to leave because I wanted to head the other way into Waterloo.
It was an enjoyable afternoon seeing something different happening in London. These peeps of course are very brave to demonstrate about cars and oil dependency! Thankfully I’m happy I didn’t see any people I know joining in… It would have been quire an embarrassing moment for me seeing them naked!! ¬,¬””
p.s. it is legal to walk around naked in England – but please, I beg of you, don’t do it! Save it for the beach, your home and demonstrations. ^_^
p.p.s. it only happens once a year, so this will be the first and last I see of this demonstration. Maybe.