Baked Custard Pudding KitKats

Finally. I get around to reviewing these KitKats that can be baked - everyone else already has!

You can see some great reviews & pictures from the likes of Grocery Gems, Yummy Unchi, and Chocolate Mission. I'd love to see anymore reviews that have already been done too - these are such exciting and strange creations I'm sure there have been tons!

The KitKat brothers have truly had a banner year. In Japan they've opened up the very first shop dedicated purely to KitKats with the KitKat Chocolatory (English language & great photos here) which has seen coverage all over the internet & inspired even more KitKat lovin' folk with the fresh limited batches of some favorite flavors like green tea & chili. They've had some success here at home as well with the launch of the 'new' orange flavor Chunky for summer, and the KitKat cones arriving in shops. Of course, the big KitKat news this year that got everyone at the factory a company sponsored pizza party was the invention of the Baked Custard Pudding KitKat - from Japan, as you might guess.

This got press all across the world - after all, it sounds quite insane. Put a KitKat in the oven and take out a two-finger bar of creme brulee? What madman genius would even think of such a thing? Yasumasa Takagi, apparently! If you take a look at the cover his book available on Amazon, you might guess that he's a bit of a maverick pastry chef in Japan. He's got a few patisseries in Japan and this coming August, if I can remember, maybe I'll try & visit one!

So, I ordered my bag from OyatsuCafe - who had it for the cheapest price at the time but is no longer shipping due to the hot weather in Japan. I understand why, but I as a person living in the UK I can't help but think to myself "Well, they'd firm back up by the time they arrived at my house." It just barely ever reaches chocolate-melting temperatures here. Hey, fair enough though; I'm sure they've had enough experiences with people ordering in the summer & being annoyed at receiving goo that they just put a ky-bosh on the whole thing.

However, UK & EU readers are in luck because TofuCute is still stocking & shipping these! If you're interested, I'd snatch them quick as I've seen them sell out on the other UK based Japanese snack shop, sushinoms.

Once I opened the bag, I was already able to smell the strong vanilla extract scent emanating from these. It really did smell like baking, or rather unbaked vanilla sugar cookie dough. The color scheme is attractive, but I am a bit surprised that they didn't go with any sort of yellow & brown theme around the custard pudding/caramelizing uniqueness of these. The blue color reminds me more of the rum raisin KitKats than anything else.

I was lucky to get the 13-count bag, so I tried one 'raw'. It wasn't mind-blowing - it tasted like a more vanilla white chocolate, maybe a touch sweeter. While it was nice raw, it didn't really get me too excited to try them baked - it was a bit of a let down, actually. For that reason I'd recommend even if you have a large bag to just bake them all up. Believe me, you'll be regretting that wasted unbaked KitKat the second you try one warm from the oven.

I followed the direction of Grocery Gems blog post, but put them on the highest rack (as if I was grilling) and kept my oven a bit lower as mine is fan-assisted. Though when I checked after three minutes and saw they were sort of just melting I blasted it all the way up as high as it could go for the last minute or two. I have a feeling these can quite quickly go from melting & non-caramelized to burnt & wasted, so keep your eye on them!

I also highly recommend putting foil down, as they spread considerably and any mishap might lead to an oven or pan mess that would be hell to clean up. I mean, where do you find the instructions on how to clean up burnt-on KitKat goo? Stick with foil and a pan with sides and you should be fine.

The smell of baking vanilla had gotten even stronger as they stayed in the oven, definitely like a custard or baked vanilla sugar cookie.

The spread layers looked nice and 'burnt', in the way a good creme brulee appeals from it's burnt crust. They form a nice little lattice, and though I was worried about getting the whole kit & kaboodle off of the foil it was incredibly simple once I let them cool for about 2 or 3 minutes. Really, just wedge a fork underneath them and tilt up - or flip them directly into your mouth. You'd be happy you did.

It's amazing how these work, I have no idea how it happens but they truly get a crispy sugar crust and a pastry feel to about 80 percent of the bar. The rest is the cream from in between the wafers, and in my experience just a little melted chocolate still remaining in the section that joins the two fingers.

The taste was like a creme brulee - very very sugary outside, but with a delicate vanilla base & after taste. A fair amount of butteriness as well, and well - it just reminded me a lot of custard! A creme brulee, or a custard in a flaky pastry...either of those comparisons will work.

I think the photos do a better job if explain the textural madness at hand here than words ever could. These come with my highest recommendation, they were both incredibly tasty & really fun to 'make'. Grab them while you can at TofuCute, or wait until summer's over (for Japan, unfortunately - as here in the UK we'd just have to wait a matter of weeks) and get them from anywhere KitKats are sold...in Japan...that ship abroad.

Meltykiss Royal Milk Tea Chocolate

You might recollect from my final Singapore food round-up that I'm a huge fan of Royce chocolate. The smooth melting, fudgey & strong tasting chocolates are some of my absolute favorites. Meltykiss is sort of the shelf stable and therefore more easily accessible version of these. Since they're not fresh & they're made with cheaper ingredients, they're not necessarily as good - but you can actually get them here in the UK (JapanCentre stocking online & in store, TofuCute stocking for cheaper online & at festivals) and they come out with a variety of flavors.

Flavors like Dark Rum, Blueberry, Green Tea, Cappuccino, and also an offshoot known as 'Whips' that I've never tried and look like that might have a bit of sauce in the middle in addition to the chocolate & cocoa powder coating that is classic to Meltykiss. This one is Milk Tea, non-Whip.

Another way to look at these types of chocolates, both Royce & MeltyKiss, is that they're similar to classic French-style chocolate truffles. Rolled up, dusted in cocoa powder. Royce is significantly softer than classic truffles, but Meltykiss is quite a bit firmer. At least the ones that are exported from Japan - it could be that they harden up a bit in the travel. They're all individually wrapped, and there were about 15 in the box, perhaps? Somewhere more than 10.

If you left them on your tongue, they would melt - so, MeltyKiss. If you've never tried one before, I really recommend it. As far as the Milk Tea flavor, I was a fan!

There was a nice tea-like savoriness that paired well with the chocolate - if you like dipping milk chocolate in tea this will really appeal to you. It basically tastes & even has a similar texture to chocolate dipped in PG Tips! Sorta melty, a tea-like taste.

These are a fairly good substitute for Royce, and with some intriguing flavors & pretty easy availability, it's certainly worth a few pounds!

R3D Market 2014 with Dough Bro Pizza, Bare Bones Cue, and Butchie's

If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed that I was the lucky winner of a contest put on by R3D Market for their reopening this summer! I was very excited as I was a frequent eater at their location last year for lunch. Burger Bear, LoveSmile jerk chicken, and the various other sundry taste sensations.

I was really looking forward to their new set-up and trying some of their new vendors, so when I was selected to win some free food & drink tokens I was chuffed! Little do they know I would've gone anyway, haha - but I ended up buying some extra grub too - outside of my tokens. I'm a glutton, what more can I say?

So I brought along my Life +1, my intrepid food-eating husband. We were greeted and treated like a couple of fancy folk from uptown, which was very nice - they're a super friendly crew at R3D Market, and I felt really comfortable with everyone. A nice thing in London where sometimes people can be a bit 'cool', both in spirit and attitude - this was just a friendly environment that felt really welcoming from the managers at the location to all the vendors.

Since this was a Friday after work, the first place we hit with our tokens was the cocktail bar. There were a couple booze options around, a Pimm's Tent, a Sol beer area, and then a cocktail area. I like Pimm's just fine, but these cocktails were just my style, and the Smoked Paloma was so up my husband's alley that it was laughing and rolling dice with an Old Fashioned.

I love fruity drinks so the BB Punch was my pick - it tasted just like citrus & fruit punch, not too sweet and quite natural if I must say. The alcohol was nearly imperceptible but quite potent, which made for a dangerous evening, haha. I'm not sure how common it is for sauced behavior, but when I've been drinking I get much hungrier. The first place we grabbed grub was Dough Bro Pizza.

We're n'duja fans from way back, and get it every chance we have as a pizza topping. Unfortunately for us, Pizza Express is our usual hang-out for pizza - and while it isn't bad, places like Pizza Pilgrims and other big names in London blow it straight out of the water. I think it's fair to put Dough Bro up with those high-ranking pizza slingers, because I absolutely decimated my half as did my husband. We were scrapping over the last savory, oily and rich bits of sausage, and the fresh, naturally milky-sweet mozzarella. The cheese had that inimitable stretch factor, that makes for a much more satisfying pizza experience. Since they were milky dollops on the pizza, and not a full covering, I really got to taste the other elements - crust, sauce, and topping. The crust was lovely & thin, crispy on the outer rim and a bit more soft towards the middle, but held it's structure completely so a bite stayed on course for your mouth. Sometimes softer pizzas curve down, you lose toppings, you hit your chin with the pizza...or at least I do...

The sauce was great, a little sweet & herby - I'm not a stickler for sauce but this stuff seemed to be as good as it gets. The n'duja was super - it's hard to let me down with spiced meat, and I certainly wasn't here. Good portion size for two to share as an 'appetizer', perhaps - and would've been a big lunch for one, maybe even get two meals out of it if you're delicate, haha.

I'll be happy to come back to Dough Bro ASAP. I'd love to try the Nutella pizza, and I can't believe it's just £4. Excellent prices on these, as you could probably get 2 meals out of one if you're a light eater.

Next off we hit Butchie's, which was sold out of the Clancy Wiggum - not a big deal though, as our eyes were immediately drawn to the Dale Cooper! I'm quite sure that is a joke about chicken coops, but what is Clancy Wiggum? Maybe it's because he's kind of a chicken? Or is there a sort of chicken named Wiggum? This is the sort of thing I could Google, or the sort of thing I could write about in my blog and reap the benefits of others who Google it. See what I mean, guy who just Googled "Clancy Wiggum + Chicken"?

The Dale Cooper features fried chicken, Thai basil, lemon & garlic mayo, homemade pickles, lettuce and a buttery squishin' brioche bun. The fried chicken had a really nice flavor - reminded me a bit of Chic-Fil-A from the US with a bit of pickle & a real herbaceous groove about it. The sauce had a nice kick of basil and went really well with the rest of the sandwich. The were lots of hints of different spices like dill, thyme, basil, and the rare and highly esteemed 11 secret herbs and spices throughout the breading and sauce. It was a really nice and flavorful sandwich all around, I'd happily get another.

We also got - to take away - hush puppies & a pulled pork sandwich with the hottest sauce from Bare Bones Cue. The hush puppies were eaten mostly on the way home, and they were nice & piping hot with two sorts of dip - a creamy ranch type, and a barbecue perhaps cut with hot sauce.

Hush puppies are kind of like fried cornbread in the USA, but here polenta is used in place of cornmeal, which makes them a bit tangier. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a difference between the two which should be pointed out! These have been really flavor-blasted from the dullness where they usually reside in America, which is actually a good thing.

Using beer, corn, spring onions and cheese inside the batter really amps them up, so I welcome the change. They tasted quite hoppy, lots of savory taste from whatever cheese is being used, and the lasting tang of the polenta & beer mixed and made for a really interesting taste sensation. Generally when something uses 'beer' in their batter, it's basically imperceptible, but that's not the case here.

 We left a few overnight in our fridge, and reheated them for breakfast the next day - I'd say the taste was even more pronounced at breakfast, so if you feel stuffed at R3D Market I'd pick some of these up for the road anyway!

The sandwich also was had over breakfast the next day but was left unphotographed as we were very hungry & my camera was in the other room. The sandwich was still really tasty, but I do think it'd be unfair to give it a full review since it had been in the fridge and then so cruelly reheated in a microwave. I'll have to eat a fresh one and revisit. I was curious to try their 'Orange Pop' sauce, which is BBQ made with uh...orange pop.

I really enjoyed the entire variety of stalls - I didn't get to try them all, but I'll be back around. The only thing missing I'd say is ice cream or another sweet! Who knows, maybe one will come around later in the year.

Over all it was a super fun time with amazing food, great drinks, and a relaxing environment. I'll definitely be back this summer at R3D Market, Twitter contest win or not!

Singapore Food Round-Up, part 3

Welcome back to my Singapore sling - I'm slinging food reviews your way, get it? Ah, you get it. Read back through part 1 & part 2 if you had missed them earlier.

By the way, the Singapore Sling is a pretty nice little drink - sweet & fruity, just the way I like 'em. When it comes to two other classic Singapore flavors though, I kinda hated them. Durians - love them or leave them, and I would've gladly left them at the very bottom of the gym bag that they must've came out of. Seriously, for me it tasted the way rotten onions smell, but I ate an entire one to prove a point to a non-existent critical audience. "See, you think I couldn't possibly eat something this groddy...well, look at me now!" Durian definitely is a marmite type of situation - I think you can only like one or two of those love it/hate it foods in your life, and I only have room for marmite & coriander, I guess.

I was also a bit disappointed by the chicken rice that I had, which admittedly may not have been the best as it was just the hotel's room service, but I had no idea that it was going to be served cold. Not even room temperature, but actually kinda chilled. My personal preference is to never really eat cold chicken, and the texture of this seemed quite 'slick' and fatty, for lack of a better description. Served warm & I would've liked it more. As it stood I spent the whole meal vaguely concerned about salmonella. It was completely fine, of course, but it just wasn't a nice thing to eat for me. The rice was delicious though - savory as I think it may be cooked in chicken broth & ginger- and the traditional sauces on the side were all nice, ranging from hot to spicy to creamy and spicy. I can see why other people would really enjoy it, and it is meant to be served chilled like that, but for me I like chicken to err on the side of dryness & warmth. Just personal preference, but if you don't like the sound of a cold, moist chicken breast I'd recommend you go for some of the other tasty things Singapore has on offer.

Such as Bread Society's many breads. Some filled with sausage, some topped with blue cheese & walnuts or bananas, caramel & hazelnuts.

This was truly delicious - I'm sure it could be replicated at home, too! Really chewy kinda bread, seemed to be a variation on tangy sourdough with a thick crust. The topping is griddled blue cheese & walnuts, and it tasted so sweet and savory. A really great combo that I'd happily get again if given half a chance. That might seem a bit plain to a European palette, as I understand blue cheese & walnuts isn't an uncommon flavor here, but the next one should become a more common flavor.

I'm talkin' sausage inside bread. Hot dog style. Savory, buttery, with added extras like whole grain mustard baked inside or cheesy sauce innards.

These kinds of soft buns with sausage/hot dogs baked inside are a common sight in Japanese convenience stores, like every single one I ever went in had at least 2 or 3 variations. Mustard, cheese, mayonnaise, and probably even more sundry fillings & toppings that I missed. I was really happy to see them again in Singapore, although much less commonly. There's something about that soft, squishy, sweet bread that completely envelops a warm & savory hot dog that makes me feel so happy. I like hot dogs, but I guess my main problem had always been that the bun wasn't up to snuff. I like soft & squishy bread, and so often hot dog buns are chewy.  These particular hot dog breads were very nice - I had the whole grain mustard one and it was mild, hoppy dijon. Don't know what it is about these that make them so appealing, but I'd love to see these take off here in the UK. First, the country would have to fall in love with hot dogs I guess, haha. Odds are probably better that the US will adopt these buns.

I can see this one going down very well in the sweet-loving UK, though.

Grilled bananas, caramel, and hazelnuts top off a very buttery brioche. Like I said, I wouldn't have been shocked to find this one already available as a brunch option in a London breakfast place, but that doesn't change the fact that it was very nice. The caramel was light and not too sticky, the bananas were very finely cut and added a little tangy fruit taste, and the hazelnuts were nice and slightly roasted...the only problem was they weren't actually affixed to anything, as instead of being on top of the caramel they were on top of the bananas. So, every bite meant that a hazelnut would fall off - just picked them off the plate and ate them that way, so no great loss. Bread Society might've been a little boring, but it's an example of the kind of variations and quality you can expect from even something like a bread bakery in Singapore. I really appreciated the level of choice and expectation of quality - even from something simple.

Speaking of variety & choice in things that we otherwise know very well - enter McDonald's Singapore.

This is a fine assortment of what I'm talking about with variety - to the left is a Himalayan Tea McFlurry, middle we've got a Fiery Mala burger, and to drink none other than a Yuzu McFizz.

Three things you will never, ever see at a McDonald's in the UK or the USA - a shame, because all three were very nice.

I consider myself somebody who can easily eat almost any 'spicy' food challenge. There have only been a couple of times where I felt like "damn, this is way hotter/spicier than I'd like' - and exactly 0 times have I actually had to stop eating something because it as so hot. So when I read 'Level 4 Spicy Challenge' for the Fiery Mala burger, I scoffed. Pah! Like McDonald's of all places would have something that could best me.

Well, long story short - it didn't best me, but it tried - and it was very, very spicy. It was a real peppery and garlicky heat with a bit of mayo to cool it down & lettuce to take the edge off. It's grilled chicken rather than fried chicken - ya know, for your health. I really liked this one, and the heat levels were definitely enough to require lots of sips from the Yuzu McFizz.

The Yuzu McFizz was a cool combination of fruit syrup and fizzy plain soda - you(zu) mixed it up yourself - I didn't know that at first and had a huge sip of pure syrup. Good thing I have a sweet tooth, because I was basically just into it. Sweet & tangy, and when mixed with the soda quite subtle. It wasn't bitter at all, like yuzu sometimes can be, this was definitely a candy sweet version of the stuff. It worked really well to cool down my mouth during the Mala experience!

However, it wasn't even enough...I went straight to the Himalayan Tea McFlurry afterwards. Ya know, just for uh...cooling off purposes. Yeah, that's the ticket. To cool down.

So the mix-ins aren't really listed on the website, but there was bits of crushed cookie, probably Oreo judging by the color, and lots of powder. The powder tasted a lot like cinnamon & tea, sort of like a chai perhaps? There wasn't much chocolate taste from the Oreos, if those were what they were, and it was really just a tasty cinnamon-y McFlurry with crunchy bites. I'd love to try this one again, and I think labelled 'Chai Tea Crunch' with bits of digestive or something, it would actually go over quite nicely in the UK. (please hire me McDonald's headquarters I've got ideas like this all day and I can live off of a small salary & free ice cream)

We also tried a Tom Yum cutlet, unfortunately not photos of this one - but it was a very cheap side-menu item that was like, a chicken thigh cutlet fried with Tom Yum flavoring. Citrusy & spicy, it was absolutely delicious. Definitely worth tacking onto an order if you're in a Singapore McDonald's sometime.

So I'm winding down this round-up, and it's sad to say good bye. It almost feels like only now has my holiday really ended, now that I'm finished talking about Singapore even in past tense. I skipped over some great meals, because either I happened to not have my camera, I was in too much of a hurry to eat, or I just didn't want to make this a 4 part series. So, there's just one little bit left to go: one of my favorite treats of all time, found generally in Japan, but also available in a few locations throughout the rest of Asia with a handful of shops dotted elsewhere...including, to my surprise, 4 in Russia.

I'm talking about Royce! Makers of one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten - 'nama chocolate'. Nama meaning fresh or raw in Japanese, this chocolate is textured like incredibly smooth fudge or perfectly moist & creamy ganache. There are lots of recipes out there for nama chocolate, and I've tried to make it myself a few times to no avail. Royce just has the perfect balance of cream, alcohol, and high quality chocolate. I simply can't match it...but it hasn't stopped me trying.

Before I had only ever had the milk chocolate variety in an airport leaving Japan, but in Singapore I was overjoyed to see that they had many more varieties. We grabbed white chocolate & Champagne Pierre Mignon.

Classy colors, huh? I should've mentioned that these must be kept refrigerated after so many hours, and are therefore basically impossible to get outside of the countries that they're sold in. Sorry everyone who is going to want to eat these in a few seconds.

First up is white chocolate, which was coated in what I assumed to be white chocolate powder - however it was a bit thicker than average cocoa powder, so perhaps it was cocoa butter powder? That is also what it tasted like. Royce is kind enough to provide these little forks in the box, so you can dig right in.

The white chocolate tasted like cake batter, cocoa butter, and vanilla. Truly a delicious taste sensation. The texture is so smooth it's nearly unreal, and it's cooling & soft like a ganache. They're like just-set ganache, or the smoothest and richest fudge imaginable. If ever you're able to get some Royce, I highly suggest you do just that.

Now, the white chocolate flavor - while nice - wasn't as good as the regular chocolate I had before. It was a bit too sweet, buttery, and 'thick' tasting for my liking. It didn't leave me feeling refreshed as other Royce had done in the past. It was just a bit too sweet & rich, without even the slightest bitter or alcoholic hit to curb the cloy.

That leaves the next flavor - champagne!

Ah, now that's a bit more traditional. Small pieces of cool, smooth ganache/fudge/'nama chocolate' dusted in fine cocoa powder. These had a nice alcoholic smell to them as well, much like Charbonnel et Walker's champagne truffles do.

The taste was actually also quite similar to the aforementioned truffles, except in a softer, smoother, cooler consistency with a milkier chocolate. It was also a bit less sweet, as instead of being dusted with powdered sugar, the Royce is dusted in cocoa powder.

 I'm a huge fan of the Charbonnel et Walker champagne truffles, and this was no different. The texture was such an improvement, it made them completely impossible to stop eating. My number one regret about Singapore is that we didn't buy more Royce. Is that so wrong? I guess I also regret not going to Universal Studios! Next time you'll just see pics of me & the Minions snacking on Royce, and you'll know I lived out my dreams.

So that concludes Singapore, this time around. I'll now resume my regular reviews of snacks of all sorts that are easy to get here in the UK!

Singapore Food Round-Up, part 2

Previously on CreamySteaks: Singapore Food Round-Up, part 1. 

(smash cuts of people on a plane screaming, soft serve ice cream, malls, beaches, a Burger King sign, keychain of a squishy pancake being clutched & dropped dramatically into the ocean from 60,000 feet)

That about covered it!

I left off the last post with a late night Chewy Junior snack of cream puffs - their website is up and has been redesigned, so take a look for more flavors. I had a box of some of the most boring it seems, which is a shame - I would've liked to have tried a few others. Honeydew chocolate, roasted buckwheat, and one of the new cuva cakes (combining lava cake with cupcakes) would've been cool! Maybe next time.

I started off the next day as all good days start - with a gigantic iced & flavored coffee and a green tea layered cake. This one came from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, an American chain that I am unfamiliar with. We went here a couple of times, the coffee was always nice and I really loved the Frappacinno style ice blended drinks, particularly the Milk Tea flavor. Pretty sure 'milk tea' tastes so different than regular 'milky tea' because condensed milk is used. Maybe I'll try it here sometime for a nice little treat, as it's super tasty, sweet, and creamy.

That drink however was a 'double chocolate latte', which I think might've had tiny bits of cocoa bean in it - or more likely bitsy chocolate chips. Either way, it tasted very nice and chocolate-y. It's a shame I missed out on the new Melon ice blended that is out, it sounds super delicious & is an appealing pastel coral color.

I ended up needing all that energy as this was one of the most extensive walking days of our time in Singapore! We went and saw some super cool exhibitions, including one about dinosaurs - one of my favorite museum topics, haha.

It was a fun exhibit for sure! When we tuckered of dinosaurs, we went into the nearest mall & ate at Burger King. We had been excited about a couple of things on the menu already - the Beef Rendang burger, 'Tropical Pop', and cheese fries!

Well uh, haha...it's not on the menu anymore. Trust me, it photographed a lot better under the studio lights at Burger King HQ SG. Kind of just looks like a chili burger, huh?

Yeah, it looks pretty gross. The eating was an improvement, but I have to say, not by much. It tasted a bit like plain, cheap beef & onions. The rendang sauce didn't have any flavor at all -I just tasted onions- and even the bun seemed drier than usual. It's been awhile since I ate Burger King, and this burger was a good reminder why. It was a bit tasteless and the texture was off. I had been really looking forward to this one, I was expecting a strong rendang taste with some spiciness, but it just didn't happen. Oh well!

The cheese fries were really good though, nice nacho-style cheese sauce with a bit of heat. Also, the fries were much nicer than Burger King's usually are - they were more like McDonald's mix of crispies & greasies than the usual dry, potato-y mess Burger King provides. The Tropical Pop wasn't available, so I consoled myself with on-tap Fanta Grape. Not only is grape soda available, it's in the fountains!

For dinner I had a great big mound of colorful & multi-textured food.

with gravy!

Shredded lettuce, cheese, hamburger steak, omelette, rice inside omelette, curry sauce. This is how it looked before I started eating it, haha. The only disappointment here was that the rice inside wasn't ketchup flavored. I only thought that it would be as I think classically in Japan these 'omurices' are served with ketchup fried rice. To be fair, this is clearly different than that as it includes hamburger steak and curry sauce. It was a lovely & huge meal that actually filled me so much I didn't even consider dessert.

Things start to become a blur after this day of meals...what's lunch, what's dinner? W h o   k n o w s .  . . 

So, the next meal we had according to photographic evidence was a lunch at Fish & Co, a chain of fish restaurants in Southeast Asia which gave me a super idea for a restaurant here in the UK. Take a look at what I ate:

Just plain fish & chips, are you thinking? Sure, it's more fish & fries...but yeah, nothing you haven't seen before. Number one, the fish was so fresh and tasted so delicate & lovely. Number two, the batter was tempura so nice & crispy without being oily. Hammanah hammanah, but you can still find this in London pretty easy! Well, here's where things change:

Zippy zap! This is 'Danish Fish & Chips', one from Fish & Co's long list of Fish & Chips from Around the World. This one is 'stuffed with spices and mozzarella cheese', and apparently 'even the Viking's couldn't resist!'

I could agree with that. The cheese is a nice in-between of stringy & saucy, the spices seem like they're paprika, pepper, and nutmeg - maybe more, or totally different ones. Danish spices? It's been awhile since I ate it, but it was amazing. So, my grand idea? Well, just Fish & Chips themed around the world. One restaurant in London, tourists would come in wanting to try their country interpretation of an English classic, and locals would come to try new & different versions of the national dish! Am I right, or am I right? I know I'd go.

I really wish I could go to Fish & Co again, and I'll keep my eyes peeled for their other locations on further travels!

I'm skipping ahead a bit to save a meatier post for next time, so I'll end on a sweet note.

Kaya toast is a classic Singaporean breakfast made of coconut jam, sugar, and butter - on toast. Or in my case, on steamed bread.

It's very, very butter. That's an entire pat of butter, artfully placed and it makes for a very cute piece of toast, but man - that's more butter than you need. The kaya itself tastes sweet & a little tropical, I think it might be young coconut so it isn't the same strong taste as you'd normally get. The steamed bread was nice and squishy, and my husband had the traditional toast.

He had even more butter than I did - that entire cheese slice looking bit in the toast was solid butter. It's tasty stuff though - if you like butter, sugar, and carbs. Which all good people do, right?

That's all I've got for today, but I'll be back with more including McDonald's in Singapore and my favorite Japanese chocolate of all time...from Singapore!