Happy 4th Birthday to this blog!

Walworth Road is forever changing with the food chain.

After a late start to the morning and a trek to Knightsbridge to try and at least get a peek at Banksy’s artwork opposite the French Embassy, I was met with disappointment… so onwards back home. 😦 Politics and workmen always destroy street art! Might just go and find some more works down Shoreditch. 

Anyway. Once upon a time there was an internet cafe I used to go to before internet was available in my home. The internet cafe disappeared and it changed into a normal cafe. Then things changed and it changed into a cafe/restaurant. That place is now called Pan & Grill.

It’s amazing how this place has change from once an Internet cafe to a normal running restaurant. The layout almost reminded me of Bayroot, but this place has more lighting, it opens for breakfast and there’s a selection of different foods available. It just needs some soft music in the background to distract people from other customers.

I ordered a variety of things. I think this is a Turkish owned restaurant by the way but they do a variety of foods in this place.

Tried the starters first which was lightly battered. It had a very fresh taste to it. Didn’t have too much of the sauce that came with it but that was nice and rich.

This was a different dish. I have never seen a dish called Grape Casserole. I was very intrigued with this and so I had to try it out. Well, the grapes were a bit too sweet for this dish. The vegetables were nicely cooked and the cheese blended well with it. The grapes need a little something to go with this dish (I almost left them on the plate, but I ate them anyway)… even the owner was asking how did this dish go… This dish could change!

Cous cous came with the dish which blended well with the veggies.

Total cost came to £19.40. That’s not bad. If this was a very fancy restaurant for the posh I’m sure they could have charged more. Very good indeed! There are many dishes, Italian, burgers, Turkish foods… You might just find something in this place.

9 more granny squares to go! Speeding up now! ^_^

I had planned to go and watch Romeo and Juliet the ballet version a month ago, so a couple of days ago the day had come, but before the performance The Geek had to eat.

I went out drinking with my soon to be ex-colleagues (but of course we’ll be in touch – we’re like a close knit family) at the beginning of the week… you must wonder why my workplace has a high number of turnovers – well that’s for you to guess. ¬_¬”” Anyway, one of these ex-colleagues/friend who I will call Mr IronMan (the triathalon thingy he likes, not the superhero) was telling me about green tea ice cream that he had had with some of his female friends at Bone Daddies Shackfuyu (but he couldn’t remember the name of the dish). In the end I ended up googling about this ice cream he enjoyed… So before the ballet, I trekked towards Charing Cross Road and had to switch between buses during the journey, humph.

Bone Daddies Shackfuyu

Bone Daddies Shackfuyu is on Old Compton Street. It’s actually a Japanese fusion pop up restaurant that opened this year in the winter, and will close next winter (now turning permanent for some reason). So limited time people, limited time! Shackfuyu is a play on words where they have joined two words together – “shack” meaning a rough, ready space and “fuyu” 冬 meaning winter in Japanese.

I was greeted by nice staff and thankfully I beat the queue because it started to get busy after 6pm. I kind of already knew what I wanted (because as always I look online at the menu apart from the drinks)… so this is what I had…

The menus

First came out was my drink, the Okinawa Sunset – a mocktail. This was citrusy and sour.

Okinawa Sunset Mocktail

DIY pouring

A few moments later my food came out…

My food – post mixing my hot pot… itadakimasu!

Hot stone rice (basically a bibimbap) came out second and the waiter that was serving this started to mix it (it’s not his fault – that’s what they are told to do)… Do they not know that bibimbaps are supposed to be mixed by the customer! Argh! Take Korean food classes!!! Well I politely requested that I mixed it (although I rudely said you’ve ruined it – with a smile – the Japanese way)… I could mainly see the sweetcorn, mushrooms, seaweed, bits of beef and the carrots… it had a sweet vinegary taste – I felt like it was never going to end. It’s too bad they never offered any gochujang paste or was that already in there?

Hot stone rice

Next came out was the prawn toast okonomiyaki. It came with mayonnaise but I completely forgot about it. This dish is amazing. It’s presented like an okonomiyaki but inside it’s actually a prawn toast. Wonderful. 

Prawn toast okonomiyaki

It’s definitely prawn toast!

And the aubergine which came in a sweet miso paste dressing, bubu arare (crispy puffed rice pellets) and shredded nori. This was to die for! The paste reminded me of hoisin sauce and the aubergine was cooked perfectly. ^_^

Aubergine

gochisosama deshita!!

Last but not least was the green tea ice cream, which in fact called the Kinako French toast. The ice cream was clearly not the highlight of the dessert but the French toast. ¬_¬” Thanks Mr IronMan for not remembering this. So kinako きな粉 means roasted soybean flour, this was sprinkled all over the French toast which is amazingly sweet. The green tea ice cream (which needs more green tea flavouring) toned down the sweetness of the toast. Hmmm, great combination! ^_^

Kinako French Toast

Total came to £35.20. A little expensive for a pop up restaurant but I guess they have to make the most of it since it won’t be staying for too long (…for real, this place is going to permanently stay!). 

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

Good points:
– Very polite service – I think they were a bit too eager though…
– Food was definitely filling – just don’t order too much
– Funky music (ok they played the CSI NY theme song, which I love so much)

– A tad expensive
– Don’t mix the hot stone rice! Ask the customer first!

Address: 14a Old Compton Street, London W1D 4TJ
Tel: 020 7734 7492

Website: http://www.bonedaddies.com/shackfuyu/

p.s. there is a hidden bar below the restaurant which I have not seen.

p.p.s. don’t forget to go before it closes next winter (I think in 2016) 

The day before my birthday (March 24th) I was taken out for a lunch treat by Miss Posh (booked a table online before my holiday). ^_^ I had only been back to work for one day and I already decided to take a further two days off. Selfish Geek. But I deserved a good break and there was no point taking a half day before lunch…

I seem to get to places before Miss Posh, it’s not my fault I live so close to the East End (and to the West End and so many central places :P). A little info on Sushi Samba. It’s fusion food between Argentina and Japanese.

I waited outside but in the end it was almost time to go in, so I went up by myself. The lift is scary by the way, so if you hate heights and going up really fast to the 38th floor then defo look away.

Indoor mural by street artist Pejac ^_^

I waited for Miss Posh… always hard for me to wait for the other person so I took a picture of the lights.

Lights of Sushi Samba

Finally she came… And we pretty much ordered our food a few minutes later plus a couple of cocktails (one was non-alcoholic and the alcoholic one was for me). I had the Eastern G and Tea, which to me was a “posher version” of gin and tonic. ¬,¬” (One of the waiters said they didn’t do G&T’s as cocktails… I guess I proved him wrong when I said “what’s this drink?”…). Can’t remember the name of Miss Posh’s cocktail.

Cocktails

The food came out plate by plate. So first we had the Mini Kobe Beef Burger which is £6 each. It is I believe Kobe beef imported from Japan, as I’ve heard that restaurants serving Kobe beef around the world do not really Kobe beef. This was a little different. It didn’t have that British beefiness in it. Quite succulent with the juices. Light in taste and it wasn’t heavily seasoned. It was a good burger but too bad it had to be small.

Kobe Beef – Mini Burger

I wanted vegetable tempura… Just like vegetable tempura, nothing too special about this really.

Vegetable Tempura

Miss Posh’s lamb chops came out and these were probably the best lamb chops I have ever tasted. It was cooked at medium-rare, so it wasn’t too bloody and chewable. The sauce was sweet and it just went well with the lamb. Oh. I could eat more of this! Maybe this should have come out last…

Delicious lamb chops

And lastly the sushi came out. We weren’t told both of our sushi rolls were on the same slab. Miss Posh had the had the Samba London (the one in red), thankfully I only had one piece otherwise Miss Posh would’ve cut my throat. ¬,¬”” I had the Tiger Maki which had a fresh prawn inside. ^_^  I think the Head Waiter was a little disappointed in his staff for not telling us… but don’t panic, it’s just human error. I don’t like perfect restaurants anyway!! Sushi was tasty, but not spectacular. Let’s just say I have had better.

Tiger Maki and Samba London

So total cost came to uh hm £105… Yep you seen the price. Well we’re in the finance town of London so I think you would expect to pay these prices. If you ever decide to eat in a posh restaurant make sure you have at least £50 per head (or more if you plan to eat and drink more). 

Thanks Miss Posh for taking me out to lunch!! Where are we going next 😉

Here’s some pictures as we go up and down the lift. Heheh.

My geeky rating: 4/5

Good points:
– Polite service (although you can spot some staff who have a little attitude)
– Lamb chops and Kobe beef were excellent – I actually recommend the lamb chops

Bad points:
– Sushi was a bit disappointing although decorated very nicely

Address: Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY

Telephone: 020 3640 7330

Website: http://sushisamba.com/