Tag: china town

Tsujiri Matcha Tea Shop 辻利茶舗 – London, Rupert Street

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Have you been to China Town recently? Most of the pavement work and building redevelopments are finished, we just need more of the shops to be taken over by whatever is planned. Just fingers crossed for kawaii shops to appear and more food places to try out!

So on a hot day a few weeks ago in April, I happened to have a day off, and so it was decided with MummyGeek to go to China Town… As we were going home, MummyGeek had to stop off somewhere, and I didn’t want to wait, so I decided to go and have a cold drink. Cuppacha and Happy Lemon both had queues, they didn’t have queues beforehand!! Unlucky!! Well then, there were two or three new options on the other side, where it wasn’t too busy…

I chose Tsujiri Tea Shop 辻利茶舗 as it wasn’t busy, and there were only a couple of customers sitting around.

Various snacks are available… But didn’t have the appetite for these…

This is what I had, the houjicha ice blend. I think I ordered the regular one, but this could be the medium size.
Could taste the houjicha (a green tea flavour), it wasn’t too sweet… However I thought it was a bit too icy. So hard to drink whilst there was so much blended ice, it just wouldn’t melt on this hot day…!

It took me more than an hour to drink this! Hmmm, I think I would come here again, but not for the ice blend drinks.

My geeky rating: 4/5

Address: 47 Rupert St, Soho, London W1D 7PD
Tel: 07446 245225

Website: tsujiri.co.uk

London China Town Update (April / May 2018)

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Ok, so I took these pictures over two weeks ago, and a few pics last week. It’s been around a year and a half now since the market was closed down.
This is what China Town looks like now from where the pagoda used to be – The China Town Market building… There’s many empty shops at the moment. Might be more restaurants than cute stores, but we’ll see! I think they’re all likely to open this year.

I wonder if a new pagoda will be built here. It still hasn’t been finalised yet.

I think these ornaments are going to be added somewhere.

Unfortunately, they’ve been used as bins… These are not bins people!! Looking at them, they look more like flower pots… 😒

Just in case you’re missing the Chinese cute stores, there are a couple on Rupert Street but probably don’t sell all those kawaii things that the old market used to sell… They are worth having a look into though!

Will update as soon when there’s some more new developments!!

Chung Ying Cantonese Restaurant 中英 – Chinese Quarter, Birmingham

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Free time means blogging time. 😉

Dim sum feast time!!!

The last time I went out to eat dim sum was a week before going to Birmingham! 😂

We went to a Cantonese restaurant which was Miss Wine’s choice, as originally she wanted us to try a Malaysian place a few doors down, but it looked busy and there was nowhere to put Baby B’s pram…

Chung Ying 中英 (Canto: jong ying; Mando: zhong ying) could have several meanings: “Chinese and English”, “Middle of England”, “In England/Britain”. I don’t know what the owners intention was but the name fairly fits in. 😆 It’s located in the middle of Chinese Quarter in Birmingham.

So we had a few minutes wait before going to our table.

And on the menu was KANGAROO! OMG. A Cantonese restaurant selling kangaroo meat. Woah. That was totally unexpected. Did I order any? Of course not!

We all ordered our dishes and dim sum… I think I ordered too much. But it makes up for the evening meal on the train journey. A sandwich for dinner. A feast for lunch the next day. 
I ordered my favourite Shredded Pork Crispy noodles. Practically had the whole plate as the other two didn’t like the mushrooms in it. ¬_¬ Seriously, why do people hate mushrooms?

Miss Pinky had her squid as usual. It was definitely fried differently. A different type of batter. It tasted quite crispy.

Miss Wine ordered the veggie spring rolls… Tasted ok!

Fried prawn balls with thousand sauce on top. Yummilicious!! I could eat these all over again!

Fried beef balls. Very different! Interesting to be honest. I would order these again. ^_^

Some steamed dumplings…

Elks in curry sauce. Yum yum. A bit spicy. Miss Pinky thought they look slimy.

Miss Wine ordered this… Not sure what this was to be honest. Hahahahah.

Miss Pinky had the gizzard / tripe. She loves the stuff.

But she found the ribs not to her liking. I think she thought they were the ones with extra sauce like the ones you get in the American steakhouses. She hardly had any of this… Too bad.

Total came to £52.10. Not too bad for three people. Although I feel like I ordered the majority. Roughly ~£17 each. It’s good. I paid the majority and Miss Pinky the rest. LOL! Treating our host Miss Wine. 😉

My geeky rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Good points:
– Polite service, one of the waiters even helped me with Baby B’s pram down the stairs even when I said she’s a bit heavy (sorry Baby B 😅)
– Reasonable prices… we apparently chose the ok cheapish dishes on the menu
– Very spacious restaurant
– Food came out reasonably quick… and steaming hot

Bad points:
– Can’t think of any! It just tastes as good as the stuff in London.

Address: 16-18 Wrottesley Street, Birmingham China Town, B5 4RT
Tel: 0121 622 5669
Website: https://www.chungying.co.uk/

Bubblewrap Waffle – London China Town

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
What to do on your week off (at the end of March)? Eat ice cream and Chinese style waffles is one answer. 😅 
Bubblewrap is based on the Hong Kong style egg waffles but with added ice cream, sauce and toppings. For some reason it’s gained a lot of popularity. Reason: Not known. Constantly long queues too.
I tried to get there as early as possible but there was already a queue! There was only 10 minutes left till opening time… And I already had to wait. 😮 If you notice before queuing, there’s a sign of where the two hour wait starts from. SIGH. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait two hours!!
Just before opening, I was given a leaflet with the menu.
At this point I was nearing the front after 15 to 20 minutes. 

Getting close!

Almost there!

And finally I got in! I texted Miss Money during my queuing time as it was nearing her lunch break. Tried to get her to come out from work early but I think her boss is quite strict with time. 🙄 Anyway, she asked me to get her one, the matcha tea one, unfortunately they had run out of that flavour. Oh well, sorry Miss Money.

Anyway. I ordered two (Miss Money thought it was only one wrap per person to order, uh no).

After 45 to 50 minutes of waiting, I got my two Bubblewraps. An incredibly long time…

Miss Money and her co-workers got the strawberry one, and I had the chocolate one. 😋

To be honest, it wasn’t very exciting, just taking the pictures of the food was more exciting than eating it. 😅 My chocolate flavoured egg waffle tasted normal with a tiny hint of chocolate. Found it a little hard to eat just scooping out the ice cream and picking at the egg waffles. Miss Money and one of her co-workers weren’t very excited. Weren’t pleased with the pricing too. They said to me, that the bakery opposite sold Japanese taiyaki and green tea ice cream for £2 or £3 something, and had a similar taste to the egg waffle… Oh dear.
So a total cost of £12.98… Not worth the wait methinks.
My geeky rating: 3.5/5
Address: 24 Wardour Street, London W1D 6 Qj
Tel: 0207 734 4535

China Town’s Fourth Gate @ London Wardour Street

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hmmm, where was I when this new gate appeared in China Town? At work struggling of course!

This is the fourth gate in China Town and it’s placed in Wardour Street. It’s astounding! Never would have thought this gate would have been added to China Town. Maybe they should add one at every entrance. >_<"

This says 英倫呈祥 (Canto: ying leun ching cheung; Mando: Yīnglún chéng xiáng) meaning “England Phoenix” as translated on Google.

I think these are the sponsors of this gate…

This is the other side.

And this says 中國太平 (Canto: jung gwok taai ping; Mando: zhōngguó tàipíng) meaning “Peace in China”. Google translator translates it to something else. 太平 = peace and tranquility.

For more info on this gate, go to this website:
http://www.chinatownlondon.org/page/new-gate-for-chinatown/555

p.s. don’t forget it’s almost Chinese New Year!!!

Wong Kei 旺記 – London China Town

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
I think it’s about time Miss Pinky and I went to Wong Kei 旺記 (Canto: Wong Gei; Mando: Wang Ji) in China Town. It’s well known for it’s super cheap dishes and rude service. I used to go to this restaurant often with MummyGeek and to me it looks the same as it did many years ago. 
Miss Pinky was craving noodle soup and I was just hungry after shopping in horrible crowded Primark in Marble Arch then coming down to a quiet M&S. So much difference. Cheap versus Class. Anyway, this post is about food not shopping!
Wong Kei 旺記

We were seated near the back on the ground floor. I know there’s a lower ground part where there’s a fountain (is that still there I wonder).

I ordered the food in Cantonese and asked for my favourite shredded pork fried noodles… and I forgot the words for crispy and non-crispy. Uh-oh. Must ask my parents on that next time. Thankfully the waiter switched to English in which I replied “crispy”. Not many waiters do that!! ^_^
It took a few minutes for our food to come out and Miss Pinky was doing her usual people watching at the restaurant. 
Miss Pinky asked for the beef brisket noodle soup… Oooo the beef brisket was very smooth and silky. Tasted really good. Miss Pinky mainly ate the noodles and forgot about the beef in which she asked for a takeaway pot (it costs an extra 50 pence for a takeaway bowl). 
Beef Brisket Noodle Soup

I had my favourite fried noodles! I haven’t had this for a long, long time and it was about time I had it. The dish came with some extra veggies which I didn’t mind. ^_^ Really crispy. Not salty. Had loads of sauce which is what I preferred.

Shredded Pork Fried Noodles

The plates and bowls are old stuff. I’m sure they had used these for a very long time…

Total came to £10.50. I think the tea came free so we didn’t order any drinks. We forgot to tip, sorry!! Have to save money for this next trip coming up.
My geeky rating: 5/5 for cheap Chinese food!
Good points:
– Ok service (although I could see a waiter who looked a bit rude but said bye – probably tired)
– Cheap Chinese food in China Town!!!
Bad points:
– I actually can’t think of anything… Miss Pinky didn’t make any complaints! Although the waiters should smile a bit more… ^_^
Address: 41-43 Wardour Street, London W1D 6PY
Telephone: 020 7437 8408

Lost in Tokyo, Japan 2014: Day 8 – Yokohama China Town

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Saturday 8th November
My body seems to know when it’s Saturday because I got up late (not that late though… Miss Pinky couldn’t sleep much… Probably because of my tiredness and snoring). Anyway, I started off with eating some mini sandwiches that I bought at Shimbashi Station the night before. The bakery is called Kobeya.
The sandwiches are cute, and filling for ones stomach for breakfast. Each mini sandwich has a different filling with crustless white bread. This cost 570 yen (~£3.58) by using my Pasmo card. 
Mini sandwiches
Hotel reception called… It seems if we don’t go out before 12 they will ask if we want room service… Miss Pinky not impressed… She wanted to sleep more!
Time to head out to Yokohama! (This was Miss Pinky’s idea on the first day we got here to Japan). What’s in Yokohama? China Town. Yes we went out to find THE China Town in Japan. This time I let Miss Pinky take us there. And she took us the long way ’round or a way that I would have not chosen…. So we went from Kayabacho Station to Otemachi and changed for the Maranouchi line heading towards Tokyo Station (but that line is just so far away… Finally we got off at Shinjuku Station. We had to get a round trip ticket for 840 yen (~£5.28) from Shinjuku to Yokohama.  
We finally got to Yokohama, but unfortunately we were at the wrong stop. We had to take another train to the actual stop… Already tired from the long train journey and we had to get on another train! This is not straightforward Miss Pinky!

Not at the right station

Finally we got there and it was already 4 pm. Both of us were kind of hungry in which we ended up in a Chinese restaurant (Miss Pinky wanted to eat frog legs but they don’t serve it anywhere in China Town in Japan).  

We ended up in a place that was serving food for 1980 yen (~£12.45) per person for as much as you can eat and drink.

Total came to 4957 yen (~£31.18). Not bad. But the food was not entirely great. Plus they kept staring at Miss Pinky which I don’t think she appreciated.
My geeky rating: 3.5/5.

Address: 華福飲店 Japan, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Yubinbango231-0023 Yamashita-cho 192-16

In China Town you have to be careful with the prices of things you are going to buy. Make sure you know how much you are going to pay for items that are not labelled with the price… Miss Pinky practically got cheated from buying bracelets for 6000 yen!!!!!

We ended up walking around and we found a Chinese temple. We went in (without paying for incense) and was shooed away… oh dear. It costs 500 yen (~£3.14) to buy incense by the way. At least we made it in there for free.

More walking came along and a few more pictures from aroud the area…

Never seen a man with a hat on a street sign before!

Have you seen these criminals?!!

And then we ended up in a bar called Norge… I had a cocktail at a reasonable price of 1000 yen (~£6.28).

Miss Pinky had a bloody mary…

Final walk around the China Town area before heading back! We only spent 2 and half hours there… We spotted this TV outside and they were singing the song from Puroland… 

Miss Pinky laughed at me earlier for not realising there were signs on the stairs to say where China Town was…

Then it was time to go back (after shopping for a few more things)… We took the metro straight to Shibuya, I think we needed to get off there and reuse our return ticket but instead we changed at Ebisu and took the Hibiya line back to Kayabachō. Unfortunately we had to pay extra to get pass the gates… 200 yen extra (~£1.26). 😦

It was an empty train we got on so I took a few pictures on the train and its advertisements… Advertising in Japan is essential!

Dinner consisted of a cheap bento and drinks from Lawson . 🙂 I tried out Orange Coca Cola (apparently that flavour already existed in London) and a low alcoholic apple cider… Miss Pinky had those beers / lager.

My dinner… The bento is good for 369 yen (£~2.32) so cheap!!! Had a soft creamy cake, an egg (already cooked and ready to eat) and Ghana chocolate from Lotte.

Instructions on how to break your egg…

Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!!

Both of us were exhausted so it was time to head off to sleep… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

End of Day 8.

China Town Summary 2013 (Chinese shops/restaurants)

On By Bao Bao QiuIn Uncategorized2 Comments
A couple of months ago (that’s a long time ago) I sent my brother Mr Stingy on a challenge, and he failed. I asked him to take pictures of all the Chinese restaurants, Chinese supermarkets and Chinese stores… Well he missed a few!! (We skipped the Japanese, Korean, Thai and Malaysian restaurants – not being biased or anything since China Town is supposed to be for the Chinese in ancient times… ¬,¬””). There are a few still missing I believe… (this doesn’t include all the backstreet stores)…
I have sectioned the below into supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, bubble tea places and snack stores. Some of the places I have blogged before but I have added here as a summary… Pictures are going to be small, because there’s a lot to go through!… Also I haven’t added the addresses and telephone numbers for each place, you will need to research that yourself!! 😛
Bakeries / Cafes

Golden Cake Dessert House

Kowloon City Bakery

Sun Sai Ki Wah Chan Teng

Wonderful Patisserie

Chinatown Bakery

Sun Leun Snack Bar

The other entrance to Sun Leun Snack Bar

Golden Gate Cake Shop


Supermarkets / Snack Shops


Oriental Delight – snack store

New Loon Moon Supermarket

Loon Fung Supermarket

Yuan Guang Supermarket

See Woo Supermarket

Mini Market – this is the back streets, so you will need to find this one…

Bubble Tea Shops

Chattime

Up… T

Cuppacha – already blogged about this

BobaJam on Charing Cross Road… There’s one on Shaftesbury Avenue too!!

The Restaurants

Never realised how many restaurants China Town have!!

Golden Day

Young Cheng on Shaftesbury Avenue – already blogged about it…

Mayflower

Little Wu

Wong Kei edit: (changing management ¬,¬)… will blog about this place one day when the changes are made.

Young Cheng on Wardour Street

Hung’s – already blogged about it

Cafe TPT

Dim Sum Palace – already blogged about it, I think it’s still closed… CLOSED

Hong Kong Diner

Mr Wu

Gerrard’s Corner

Kowloon Buffet – this one is next to the bakery

London Chinatown

Golden Dragon – already blogged about it

The Black Bean

Royal Dragon

Oriental Dragon

Dumpling’s Legend

Golden Pagoda- already blogged about it

Moatai Kitchen

Leong’s Legend

Four Seasons

Aroma

New Look Lam Moon

Haozhan

Lido

New Loon Fung Restaurant right next to the supermarket!

Feng Shui Inn

Harbour City Restaurant

Friendly Inn …. I think this is closed down!! Edit: Reopened!!

Wan Chai Corner – this is very new

New World – already blogged about it

New China

Canton

China Buffet

Can’t see the name of this one! Edit: Not a restaurant… it’s an agency of some sort!!

Some snack stalls

Jen Café

Leong’s Legends Continues …

Imperial China

Hing Loon

Beijing

Young Cheng in Lisle street

Mr Kong

Super Star – Already blogged about it

Manchurian Legends

Tao Tao Inn

Hong Kong Buffet

Er Nei

Fu Zhou

Bawei

Longji

Baozi Inn

Real Being Restaurant

Red Hot

Plum Valley

Oversea Chinese Restaurant – newly refurbished!!

If I have missed out any, please let me know, and I will take a picture and amend!!!!

Cute Stores in London China Town and Trocadero (CLOSED)

On By Bao Bao QiuIn Uncategorized30 Comments
Afraid China Town Market is/has closed down… Please look elsewhere for cute stores! I will try and find more!!

Cute stores? Are you looking for cute stores in London? Trying to find that cute, kawaii gift before Christmas or for someone’s birthday…? Well then, here’s just a small summary of those that I know of around China Town and in Trocadero… There’s not many really. They’re all in one area. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of the ones in China Town (but I did take a couple before I was told not to!! No infringement is intended here!!).

So the main one in China Town is called “China Market 中市”. There’s 3 entrances. One’s on Charing Cross Road. The other on Newport Court and the third one is near the car park. It’s like a mini mall of different stalls selling very, very cute things to bags to touristy stuff. I love it. There’s so much Hello Kitty stuff, stationery and other quirky cute things that girly girls like. ^_^ Miss Pinky tagged along when I was taking these pictures and saw all the Pink Hello Kitty mugs, and she wanted them!! Hah!!

China Town Market 中市 … See the Hello Kitty toys in the window? ^^


I took this picture from outside the store!!!!


Mr. Panda – this is inside China Town Market


There’s more stuff around the corner… I love this stall!!


Entrance from Newport Court
Entrance in China Town

Address: 55 Charing Cross Road, Leicester Square, London WC2H 0BL



The next stores are in Trocadero. There’s actually one store missing. It’s been taken over by another store, which is not so cute. It was a Chinese store that sold a lot of stationery and panda toys, clothes and bags… Aww… It’s a shame that’s gone!
Tokyo Toys!! ^^

However, in replacement of that store is Tokyo Toys! I actually forgot about this store!! They sell a lot of toys, T-shirts and manga… Check it out!! ^^


Address: Ground Floor, Trocadero, 7-14 Coventry Street, London W1D 7DH
Website: www.tokyotoys.com

And the final cute store that I know of, which is one level above… It is actually quite tricky to get to because you can’t really see the stairs. So once you see Claire’s Accessories, go around the corner to the right hand side, you will see a set of stairs and then you will see this store… Edit (April 2014): it is now located near the front of the Trocadero entrance as the rest of Trocadero is now being converted into a hotel.

Mosaic House in Trocadero
Mosaic House – I took this picture from the outside

I love this store. It’s similar to the stalls in China Market, but a bit spacious! You can also find an entrance on Rupert Street if you can’t be bothered to go back into the main part of Trocadero…


Address: Trocadero, 7-14 Coventry Street, London W1D 7DH

If I get a chance, I will go and found some more cute stores around London!!

Check out my posts on Forbidden Planet and Artbox too!! 😀

p.s. Forgot to mention Tiger UK and Wing Yip’s New Time City store!!

Bubble Tea in a Chinese Supermarket!

On By Bao Bao QiuIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

In Taiwan they are famous for their bubble tea which has suddenly become popular in London China Town. When I first tasted it in Hong Kong I think I had either a coffee or a tea version with these big pieces of jelly (tapioca pearls) and a big massive straw which is specially made for these drinks!
Well, as well as some café places in China Town which make them freshly for you, you can also get them in supermarkets!
I found these in Yang Guang Supermarket 阳光超市… Authentic bubble tea!! One vanilla and one that looked like coffee but was actually tea… There were only a few flavours available, but it also seems like they are trialling them out. They cost £2.80 each. A little bit expensive, but it’s worth the try! ^_^

One vanilla and one tea

Heheheh, I’ve just noticed that’s there’s a spelling mistake in their lid above. They’ve put “puality” instead of “quality”. ^.^

Big tapioca pearls!

 I actually almost choked trying to get those pearls up the straw!

Big straws for the pearls!

You can also get tea and coffee versions in cans, but they will have smaller tapioca pearls.

Update 21/07/2012
If you want a really fresh bubble tea, then go to this place Boba Jam on Shaftesbury Avenue. I have tried it before, and it’s great!


Update 09/08/2012
Here’s the can version…