Eneko at One Aldwych

This month sees the opening of Eneko Atxa's newest restaurant at the basement of One Aldwych hotel in the Strand. Eneko at One Aldwych is a more casual version of his three-Michelin Azurmendi restaurant in Bilbao, Spain. Azurmendi has recently been rated as one of the world's top twenty restaurants, so we were excited to dine at Eneko's newest restaurant today.

The simplified menu consists of several seafood and land-based dishes, as well as vegetarian options. We had the anchovy tempura and a trio of pork consisting of  mushroom and Iberico ham, suckling pig brioche and crispy pork jowl. The anchovy tempura were served in a cute fish and chip style cone. Despite being a battered dish, I found the anchovy tempura to be light, but the trio of pork (trexxi boda pork festival) stood out for its generous portion and delicious variety of pork.

The Crooked Well review

The Crooked Well is a local gastropub in Camberwell. Five minutes walk from Denmark Hill railway station, it isn't too difficult to find. Its location in a neighbourhood, rather than on busy high street of Camberwell Church Street, ensures that it has a quiet ambiance, quite unlike what you would find in most pubs.

Gastropubs are not special to write about, and The Crooked Well isn't particularly special. But what they do, they do it good. We first visited on a Sunday a couple of months ago to sample their roast. We are particularity fussy about our Sunday roast, so it was delightful to find that the roast did not disappoint. The beef roast was delicious and served with appropriately thick, but not too thick gravy. In terms of my own personal Sunday roast ranking, it sits just behind Hawksmoor and Princess of Shoreditch, but The Crooked Well's take on traditional roast takes the crown for south of the river.

Brockley Market

Brockley Market is a weekly food and farmer's market held on the outskirt edge of Brockley close to Deptford and Lewisham Central. We've been living in Brockley for 1 1/2 years now and visits them at least twice a month. South East London hasn't been getting plenty of love by the media, local and regional government, so it isn't like we have a high street that is worth shouting about. We do not even have a none-chain groceries shop selling fruits and veggies. So something like Brockley Market has become crucial to the community here.

Brockley Market is divided into two distinctive bits - one which sells locally sourced market produce - meat, veggies, flowers, wine, cheese, fish and all sorts, an another half where street food hawkers sells hot food and drinks.You know, the kind that are despised by some top chefs in Soho because it is totally wrong to pay £5 to stand and eat something you can see cooked before your eyes, but it is totally okay to pay £40 for something previously frozen and heated in an oven.

Peckham Bazaar review

Hands up if you ever believed that there's no such thing as a good restaurant in the south east region of London? Yep, we've all thought about that at least once. But not only are there good restaurants down here, there are loads of hidden gems. One of them is Peckham Bazaar.

Peckham Bazaar started out as a pop-up restaurant in an old pub on the boundary of Peckham and Nunhead. Its location within modest rows of Victorian terraces, low rise council flats and a Grand Design house, might not be an obvious destination for culinary fans, but trust me, it is worth trotting up here (as we so occasionally do from Brockley).

They have since become a permanent fixture at the same location. Peckham Bazaar describes themselves as a pan-Balkan restaurant, and you can tell by the eastern European influences that goes into their innovative dishes, primarily cooked on the grill. The menu changes daily and seasonally, depending on what ingredients their chefs can lay their hands on. This ensure that at least each visit will be a unique experience.

London Street Food

Street food is all the rage these days, as it has always been. The quality has improved beyond anything we've had before, and often if I need my daily dose of calorie boost I would seek out a food truck.

Here are my picks for some of the best street food operating in London right now, in no particular order.

Bleecker St Burger (Spitalfields Market, South Bank Queen's Walk, Street Feast Dalston Feast)

Bleecker St Burger won the annual London Burger Bash with their special New York style burger made out black pudding sandwiched between two patties of beef. And it tastes so darn good. Top it off with a cup of their delicious sweet potato fries.

Roti King review

Nasi Lemak

Roti King is a Malaysian cafe/restaurant located close to London Euston railway station. Formerly located in Charring Cross, they moved there earlier this year.

Good and cheap Malaysian food are hard to come by in London. There are a couple - for example Malaysian Hall in Bayswater area is run by the Malaysian government, and Malaysian Deli in our very own Brockley. But Roti King does something that neither of those does - proper roti canai.

Roti canai is a type of fluffy flat bread sold in Malaysia, an is normally eaten as a side with curry or dhal (lentil) sauce. It is a versatile dish, and can be combined with other ingredients like eggs and meat, but the best is still the plain ol kind. It is light and fluffier that the kind of flatbread that are normally served in Indian restaurants in this country. When I used to live in Malaysia, I would have it for breakfast, lunch an occasionally, dinner.

Street Feast Lewisham - Model Market

Today marks the launch of the Lewisham chapter of Street Feast. Hosted at the derelict abandoned 1950s Model Market just off Lewisham High Street, the organisers has used to opportunity to inject some much needed vibe into the local scene. Foodies who lives in Lewisham has one less reason to make the trek to East London. A good thing too as I personally find East London to be a victim of its own success.

Argument about the march of gentrification aside, the feeling that I've got from speaking with some longer term residents as well as newer residents like us, is that Lewisham has been waiting for something like this to happen to their beloved by often neglected town centre.  After all, Lewisham (and by extension, South East London) has long been a laughing stock of inner London (fun fact: Lewisham is the only inner London borough that isn't connected to the London Underground).

Browns of Brockley review

I have a confession. When I was first introduced to Brockley, the area we now live in, it was through the wonder of London's specialty coffee scene. Brockley is an odd place to visit for coffee, but it was how it was. In any case, our chance visit to this part of Lewisham opened our eyes to its lovely Victorian housing stock, many of which were largely ignored, but so many potential. The rest was history.

Browns is located conventionality in a row of terrace opposite Brockley railway station, making it an ideal spot to hang out in the wee morning when a train breaks down somewhere down the line. The shop is small and unassuming from the outside, and neutral and unpretentious on the inside. Delicious cakes and bagels greet you as you enter the shop. Oh, and the sweet smell of good coffee.

Pho Cafe lay claim to word pho, ridiculed

This morning the news reached me that almost made me gag over my bowl of instant noddles. Pho Holdings Ltd, the London-based restaurant chain, appears to believe they own the word 'pho' and threatened legal action against Mo Pho, an independent Vietnamese restaurant in Brockley, London.

Ignoring the simple common sense that one can't possibly confuse the brand Pho (logo+Pho) and Mo Pho (geddit?), it is disturbing that IPO would have allowed Pho cafe to trademark the generic term pho, used to describe the popular Vietnamese noodle dish, in the first place. Imagine if Burger King were allowed to sue every burger restaurants with 'burger' in it or Pizza Express taking on Pizza East. It is that ridiculous.

After that huge PR blunder, Pho has back tracked this evening by 'allowing' Mo Pho to keep their name. A huge win for the little people, one who I will be supporting when we move to South East London. But this sorry episode does leave me with a nasty opinion of Pho cafe. Sorry Pho, you should never have attempted to claim ownership on a national culinary dish in the first place.

Source: Brockley Central

Flesh & Buns by Bone Daddies review

Flesh & Buns is the newest venture from Ross Shonhan, the brains behind the brilliance that is Bone Daddies, one of London's finest Ramen noodle bars. Located in Seven Dials, Covent Garden, the restaurant is described as a Izakaya-style restaurant (a drinking den that serves food). Not surprisingly, the venue of the restaurant is at the basement of the Thomas Neal's Centre.

Naturally, the drinks menu, populated with choice of sake, whisky, shochu, beer, wine, champagne, cocktails and anything in between, is even more expensive than the food menu. Still this is not what I want to write about. In addition to the usual appetisers and starters (including sashimi), Flesh & Buns serves Chinese-style steamed buns (also known as hirata buns). These buns originated from China or Taiwan or Korea depending on who you speak to.

The buns served here are modeled after the Taiwanese version and made at a Chinese bakery in London so as they are more suited to the British palate. Still, the buns were mostly perfect, soft and chewy enough without getting too soggy and breaks when dipped. The buns also have the right balance between sweetness and saltiness.

Five Guys & Shake Shack London burger joints review

The last couple of years has seen the rise of good burger joints. The surprising thing is it has took so long for people and restaurateurs to realise that people want good quality burgers with proper meat than the bland we've grown used to from either fast food or pub chains like Weatherspoon. And we are willing to pay for it.

We in the South East are blessed as fine burger joints in the form of Meat Liquor, Lucky Chip, Patty & Bun, Mother Flipper, Honest Burger and many others open shop around London serving their own style of awesome burger. You will never have a bad burger at either joints but they are all different enough to have their own band of burger fans. Just don't ask me which is my favourite as I love them all equally (okay, some more than others but hush now!).

Last week saw the opening of two new burger joints in London. Both are established American chains operating on the upper end of the fast food burger market. Will these two big name burger chains be enough to take on London's burgeoning indie burger scene?

First up, Five Guys. With over a thousand restaurants and a thousand more in development, they are the fastest growing fast food chain in the US. Their new restaurant in Long Acre (on the site of the former The Long Acre bar) is their UK's first and no doubt more shops will follow if it proves to be a success.

The Attendant coffee shop review

The Attendant in Fitzrovia, London, was recently brought to my attention by the budding London coffee snob community. This lovely new coffee shop's rise to fame is its venue - a refurbished Victorian public toilet, built in the 1890s and closed since the 1960s. For all we know, George Bernard Shaw and George Orwell, who both lived in Fitzrovia once, probably frequented this establishment - so there's a lot history in this place.

Now, the idea of turning an old Victorian loo into usable modern space isn't exactly new. Cellar Door, a cocktail bar in Aldwych is one such example. But The Attendant takes it further by retaining many of the original features. Things reserved  includes the cistern towering above two Hector BTC lamps, porcelain urinals since repurposed into bar tables, where you can have your coffee at; and even the original attendant's office, which now houses a kitchen.

Have a flat white on an old Victorian porcelain urinal

You might be tempted to think this is all just a gimmick, and I won't blame you. Too often have we been conned by new cafes and bars who would rather trade on the the niche of their venues, rather than the value of their food or drink. However, you will be glad to know however that the same care that was put into transforming the venue has been put into their food and coffee as well.

Crate Brewery review

I have found the holy grail of pizza. And it's in Hackney Wick.

Crate Brewery resides in an old disused building called the White Building. It is, you can guess, white in colour so you won't miss it. Despite it's rather pretentious and grandeur name, the White Building is just an average sized building that happens to house a pizzeria and brewery, it also houses a creative lab with studio spaces for hipster East London artists. The building can be found right by the western side of Hertford Union canal, happily on the other side of Stratford. You can also just about see that ugly towering monument known as the Orbit sticking out somewhere from the Olympic Park.

As evident from their name, Crate Brewery also brew their own goddamned beers. Now I don't pretend to be a beer expert, but I do know that craft beer is supposed to be all the rage these days, as if it confirms your cred - so I guess that is rather impressive (they taste good actually). Oh and they also make pizzas. Bleeding good pizzas actually.

Bone Daddies Ramen Bar review

Ramen is making a come back splash in London. After Tonkotsu, we sample out the latest in Soho ramen scene, Bone Daddies. Opened last year, each of our visit to Ross Shonhan's newest noodle bar continues to stun our palette. Alongside Tonkotsu at nearby Dean Street and Shoryu on lower Regent Street, Bone Daddies is the ramen joint to visit in London.

With all the rage of tonkotsu-style ramen, perhaps the biggest surprise with Bone Daddies is the T22 chicken ramen. The soy-based ramen, which is made up of a bowl of delicious chicken bone broth, slices of chicken and out of this world cock scratchings. Now, there is something about these cock scratchings that get to me each time I visit. It destroys everything else on their menu. Utterly delicious and brilliant. And the soft boiled Clarence Court eggs? Mind blowing. This deadly combination? A snip at £9.

Chicken ramen for the enlightened soul

Still, if you are here for some tonkotsu ramen, then you won't find yourself disappointed. Tonkotsu is created after boiling bone marrow for 20 hours, resulting in a deliciously cloudy and heart attack inducing (everything in moderation) pork broth that is one of the best I've tasted in London yet. No cock scratchings with the tonkotsu, but you can have them as extra.

The starters, with the exception of the soft shell crab, are a little uninspired so if you are a little hungry, ask for extra ramen noodles instead. With the exception of the poor beer selections, the drink menu on the other hand is rather extensive - including oodles of sake, Japanese whiskey and sake-based cocktails. The Maiken-Me, a combination of shochu sake, ume shu and watermelon laced with salt is one such fine example of what you can do with sake.

If there is a disappointment with Bone Daddies, it is how popular it is with Soho hipster crowd. Expect queues from the moment they open up for business. One hour queues are not unusual during peak weekend hours (it doesn't help that you can't book). The small premise is also hardly the most comfortable, with tall stools dominating the venue. Fortunately turnover is quite quick, particularly during lunch.

London's affordable noodle scene is evolving rapidly - and not only with Japanese ramen, but Vietnamese Pho and Chinese la-mian. We haven't had it this good. Here's to a more mature London noodle scene in 2013.

8/10

Bone Daddies Ramen Bar
31 Peter Street
Soho W1F 0AR
London
Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Duck & Waffle (and Sushisamba) Heron Tower review

Duck & Waffle is a new experimental fusion restaurant on the 40th floor of Heron Tower in Bishopsgate, London. One of the few venues in London that offers even us plebs a chance to dine 180 metres above ground, it is also surprisingly good value. In other countries, we may scoff at the idea of dining more than 50 metres above sea level as anything special. No thanks to London's archaic planning permission law, you get very few choices here.

Despite being opened 24 hours a day, booking is recommended, particularly for peak times (lunch and dinner). Duck & Waffle offers four menus throughout the day. These menus also changes on a regular basis. Their signature dish, if you haven't guessed already, is their namesake duck 'n' waffle, which consists of... a leg of crispy duck confit, waffle and fried duck egg. Simple, and rather neat as well. They also offer traditional English breakfast, though I am not quite convinced by the trotter braised beans.

The Orange Buffalo review

Food trucks are all the rage these days. Having been to quite a few, many are pretty dodgy, but you do find the odd gem once in a while. One such example, Pitt Cue Co. formerly trading in a cart under Hungerford Bridge, is so renowned for their pulled pork, they can get away with charging 'restaurant prices'. They have since opened a restaurant in Soho, where punters would regularly queue for an hour just to have a sit at their tiny basement room. But it is worth it. (If you haven't figured it out, Pitt Cue Co. - do it!)

Anyway, The Orange Buffalo is another such food joint that is destined to be remembered with equal greatness. Found on the Ely's Yard carpark in The Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, the food cart sells New York style buffalo wings. Now, I have never been to New York, so I can't vouch for its authenticity. But having been to the Orange Buffalo four times, all I can say is that the wings are flippin fantastic, authentic or not.

Tonkotsu review

Tonkotsu is a new'ish ramen noodle house, founded by the same people who brought us Tsuru Sushi & Katsu. Not quite unlike the more specialty udon-based Koya nearby, Tonkotsu is aimed at people keen to expand their Japanese noodles palette beyond the usual Wagamama chain of bland pan-Asian restaurants without straying too far from the comfort of home.

The pork-based Tonkotsu is served in thin noodles and delicious pork belly. The thin noodles aren't particularly fantastic, though I do love the broth and pork belly (who doesn't?). The Tokyo Spicy ramen on the other hand is a mixture of pork and chicken stock and comes with medium thick noodles (my preference when it comes to ramen), topped with pulled chili pork. Pulled pork, in my opinion, is one of the most overrated dishes to trend this side of the century, but they do taste well here.

Burger & Lobster (Soho) review

Our new favourite food joint, Burger & Lobster on 36, Dean Street in Soho, deserves a short quick review on this blog purely because of how its success is build upon a simple concept - whole lobster meals for £20.

That's right. £20. The menu consists of only three items, a burger, lobster and lobster roll, all of which costs £20. Lobster, unsurprisingly, is the most popular item on the menu though I have seen numerous number of burgers and lobster rolls on tables as well.

I won't comment on the burgers as I personally can't see why anyone, unless they are allergic to seafood, would want to order a burger when you can get a whole lobster for £20, however awesome it may be. Plus Honest Burgers is just down the road if you want a fantastic burger.

In any case let's continue talking about the lobsters. I was told that the £20 lobsters weigh around 1lb 2ozs. You can also go bigger for £10 extra though I've never opted for that. Each items comes with a bowl of chips and salad. Lobsters can be served plain steamed or finished with a grill - and I do suggest you opt for it to be grilled.

Assa London Korean restaurant review

Assa is a small restaurant on St. Giles Street, a short walk from Tottenham Court Road station. It serves Korean food, and judging by the number of Koreans who dine there, authentic ones too. With the open plan kitchen right at the back, the restaurant has an 'Asian feel' to it, a far cry from the increasing number of pretentious modern Asian restaurants popping around Soho.

We've been coming here regularly since first reading about them on a copy of Time Out: 1000 Things to do in London for Under £10 I got from Nicola a couple of months ago. The place is regularly packed, a good sign of a good restaurant with loyal customers. Assa's speciality lies in hot pots where the food is cooked in a broth on a gas cooker in front of the customer, though there are plenty of other dishes on offer. Be warned that Korean food can be a bit spicy, so asked first! We personally recommend the Bibimbap, Kimchi pancake, Rabokki (noodles with rice cake) and one of the many hot pots on offer.

Two side dishes and tea are always offered for customers. The price isn't too expensive, and there's a special lunch menu (for example, a good portion of rice and beef for around a fiver). The decor of the place is rather mismatched, but gives it a homey feel to it. There is also a karaoke room in the basement, but never tried it. The toilets are also worth a visit, if only to admire the eccentric murals around it.

Feringgi Bay, Edgware Road

I have been meaning to write something about this Malaysian restaurant ever since I was introduced to it in summer. The restaurant is located in Edgware Road Colindale, a short walk from the old Oriental City building where they once did business there as Oriental Garden.

Feringgi Bay's name comes from the popular tourist destination Batu Feringgi beach strip on the northern coast of Penang, Malaysia. I have been there a couple of times and while it is a lovely strip, it is pretty much a tourist beach. But enough of that.

The service here is brilliant if a bit slow. Once our main meals arrived about 15 minutes apart which I found unacceptable. Fortunately delays like this does not occur too often and seem to be isolated to whenever I order the Nasi Lemak. The staff are courteous and friendly throughout.

The prawn noodles is pretty authentic, and probably second only to the one served in the resurrected Kopi Tiam (now on Charring Cross after a series of disaster expansions...). The Nasi Lemak is pretty good as well, though I wouldn't classify the sambal as overly authentic. The portion is generous, a snip at about £6.50. Other recommendations includes the Laksa, Char Kway Teow and Tofu Rojak.

A meal for two with starter and drinks generally come out at about £24, which is pretty decent. You will do much worse with some of the newer and trendy high end oriental bar/restaurants in the West End.

It is definitely worth the effort of making a visit. There are a number of bus services to Edgware Road, including the 142 from Brent Cross and 32 from Kilburn. They are open daily except for Wednesdays. Do note that they get very busy at times (it isn't a huge restaurant) and are popular with the local oriental community.

Address: 225, Edgware Road, Colindale, London