Chinese Laundry, Islington Restaurant

As you may have read earlier, I'm moving to San Francisco in the coming months. As much as I've loved so much of the food I ate in the UK, and even found plenty of great analogues to American foods that I missed, there was one (okay, two counting Mexican) food genre that just never hit the spot for me here like it did back home...Chinese food.

Of course, American Chinese food is nothing like real Chinese food, but it is super delicious, especially if you're raised on it. I've had plenty of Chinese takeaways here in London and they always just fell a bit short on the flavor side of things. Like, it was serviceable chicken-with-sauce but it wasn't the flavor-blasted chicken with extreme sauce that you get in American Chinese buffets. Also,  there is a soul shattering lack of Crab Rangoons.

 For all I know here in London it's closer to authentic (I'm certain it's closer to 'authentic' than Indiana!) but it's just a bit 'meh', usually. Kung pao tasting rather like sweet & sour, you know what I mean? Samey samey.

Okay, long lead up to tell you that I've had the best Chinese food ever in London now, so I'm feeling even more bummed out about leaving! D'oh!

Chinese Laundry opened up in Islington sometime last year, and I was quite keen to give it a try as I love the theme: Northern Chinese food, as prepared by/for a family, in the 1980s. Specific...I love it. We made it over for brunch and I thought it was awesome that the theming continues all throughout the restaurant. I spotted some super-cool drinking glasses, including a Mondrian print one that I must've pointed out to my husband no less than a half dozen times. The chairs, all the dishes, it was all very on theme and a bit kitschy - not the familiar kitsch of the West - but still identifiable as of a time and of a type. We split everything we ordered and felt very satisfied.

Started off with what I assumed was a drink, but later figured out is kind of a soup - Peanut & Rice Milk. Top tip - use a spoon. It was very nice, more savory than the Peanut Milk at Bao, which is fair enough as they're from two different parts of the world and of course, definitions of 'peanut milk' will vary! Either way, it had the savory nuttiness of a satay sauce, with none of the accompanying spice, and a bit of rice grain sweetness. It was very thick, and a really pleasant start.

Next we had the Bacon & Egg Bing, which is a fried 'pancake' of sorts, in the same way that Korean pajeon is a pancake. The flavors were very different though. Pajeon is almost always kind of oily tasting, but the bing at Chinese laundry was fresh & much 'lighter' in feel. Seemed like there was a lot of basil involved, with a soft-cooked egg & thick and plentiful salty bacon. Lovely meld of textures and flavors of sweetness, herbs, and spice.

The Pork Belly Baozi was next, and it's like a massive bao, slightly bigger than a man's fist. The pork belly was sweet & slightly hot and just the perfect texture of pork belly - with a bit of softness & a bit of chew. There was nothing to dislike about this one, it's an easy pleaser! The green bean version also sounds interesting.

We also ordered the Milky Little Buns which come as one steamed bread, and one fried version of that steamed bread. Two different sauces also accompany, one quite hot & vinegary thin sauce and one thick, condensed milk based sweet almost frosting-like sauce. You could mix and match the two buns with the two sauces, my favorite pairing was the steamed bun with the sweet sauce. Soft, kinda chewy, and so milky sweet. It was an awesome extra, I really loved being able to go from sauce to sauce.

We finished off the food with the Dumpling Stir Fry which was a ton of tasty dumplings fried up with peanuts, bacon & garlic. I think they were pork dumplings, they also had a bit of a basil taste to them. There was a kind of creamy, peppery sauce on top - it's hard to describe this one really, but it was probably my second favorite course after the bing! Highly recommended.

We also enjoyed a couple different teas, I definitely remember one had the word monkey in the title...regardless, they were both very nice. There was a salted lemonade as well that was rather intriguing, I'll order it next time!

I'll have to fit in another visit to Chinese Laundry before I go, although I'm sure San Francisco has it's fair share of awesome Chinese food, this place seemed really special & unique.

Halloween Whopper in the UK

Happy Halloween Eve, everyone!
So the big news of last week was the surprise release of the Halloween Whopper here in the UK. I'm not crazy about Burger King usually, but I've got to support any fast food restaurant that is willing to release a Halloween themed burger, especially in the slightly unresponsive-to-spooks UK market.

There aren't many Burger Kings in London - so I had to make a special trip to Leicester Square. They also have the Coke Freestyle machine, which was...nice, but every single machine available was either broken, or was missing some element, such as Sprite or Coke base syrups, and no ice available at all, anywhere. What is it about fountain drink machines in London and them falling into disrepair? Meh, I wasn't there to review the Coke Freestyle machine, so it's not a biggie.

Couple differences between the UK Halloween Whopper & the USA Halloween Whopper include: the use of barbecue sauce instead of A1 Steak Sauce, and natural colors rather than artificial colors. I respect both decisions, as even though I like A1 it's not something well known in the UK in the slightest, and it's just a sort of tangy sauce. Using natural colors I think will also ensure there will be no instances of green poops in the UK, at least not resulting from this Whopper.

All that being said, the bun is still super black. Everyone I was eating with was shocked, I suppose we all expected it to be not so densely dark. I was also surprised by how matte it was, no sheen to it at all.

I forgot that Whoppers had a lot of 'fresh' vegetables on them, the most noteworthy to me being the large pieces of onion unlike the McDonald's dehydrated variety. That definitely adds a real onion-y bite to the burger, which is nice coupled up with the barbecue sauce. I always take out tomatoes so I can't comment on that, but the lettuce was fine. I mean, it's a Whopper. It's fine.

Basically, it tastes like a Whopper with a bit of barbecue sauce. The novelty factor is what really makes it special - and if you like Whoppers you'll like this. Mostly, I'd recommend buying it so that the UK gets more cool stuff in the future!

Twirl & Dip Soft Serve in San Francisco

Ah, San Francisco. I had a lovely time there - thanks for asking, running commentary in my head! One of the places I was most excited to try was the Twirl & Dip truck, heralded as the best soft serve ice cream in America. I love soft serve ice cream, and while I've had some that was marginally better than others, I've never had any that was like, "This is far and away better than a McDonald's Vanilla Cone."

That is, until I tried Twirl & Dip! We had a nice little stroll through Golden Gate Park, as evidenced by these photos of my greatest foe, the outdoors:

Shudder. It's so...bright. In order to cajole me outside, I was informed that the Twirl & Dip truck was situated in Golden Gate Park, or rather, the very near outskirts of it. There was a massive line when we arrived on Labor Day weekend at about 4 pm, which is to be expected. It moved relatively quickly though, I mean - it is ice cream, so you really won't be waiting long.

I ordered a vanilla cone with dark chocolate TCHO dip, with an olive oil & sea salt sprinkle. Not only did it sound crazy delicious & right up my salty-sweet alley, it's also the most highly recommended item on the menu. Well, I didn't plump for the specially crafted sugar cone, so I didn't get the most highly recommended version. I did my own slightly cheaper variation using a cake cone. That being said, the sugar cones sure looked cool. They were sort of embossed with attractive retro patterning. As you can see the cake cone is plenty photogenic, with the big soft peak of ice cream coated in dark chocolate really taking center stage anyway.

So, onto the taste. Most soft serves are vanilla in name only, tasting mostly just sweet & milky. The better quality ones out there will taste the slightest bit vanilla, but never reaching the heights of say, a quality true vanilla ice cream.

I'm pleased to say that this vanilla soft serve tastes as strongly of vanilla as a high quality, natural vanilla bean ice cream. It's warm and sweet with rounded edges, just like the best vanillas. The chocolate dip is where this really shines, though. As a long time player in the salty-sweet game, I can tell you that this is a special mix. Dark chocolate which isn't too bitter, married to delicious flecks of mild sea salt - the olive oil just lends a bit of savory oomph & warmth to the proceedings. If you've ever tried a brownie made with olive oil, it's something a bit like that.

The price can quickly rack up on these cones, however. I believe mine was about $5.50, with the base soft serve & cone being $4.50 and an additional $1.50 for the dip. If you spring for the fancier cone, you're looking at a $7 soft serve. So, yeah - judge for yourself whether or not you think a real A+ soft serve experience is worth nearly $10, but I certainly felt that the $5 ball park was acceptable for such a perfect dipped cone. I'd convince someone else you're with to get that fancier homemade sugar cone, and just take a photo & a quick nibble before you dig into your delicious and cheaper option.

Bao London

Bao! Bao! Bao...wow!

The place that everyone is talking about, and queuing up for. Before they opened up their Soho restuarant, Bao was a much-chased street food truck. I participated in the chasing and was happy to catch one of their classic pork buns & a limited edition "Heart Attack" fried chicken bun at an event. It was lovely - this was around 2013 and towards the beginning of the steamed bun craze. Around the same time I also reviewed Flesh & Buns, and worked right above Yum Bun. Those were the days, mate. Now my office has moved to Moorgate and I'm staring out the window at insurance companies, Pret, and Cafe Nero - not even a big Pret at that.

So since my lunch options more or less stink now, I've been enjoying going out to eat at the weekend even more. We managed to get into Bao relatively quickly by queuing before they opened, and being a small group of 2 we could fit onto the bar quite easily. I recommend visiting Bao in small groups because of this - it's a small restaurant and as you know incredibly popular - a big group will likely spend a longer time waiting than a small one. If you must go as a group of 4+, make sure you all arrive at the same time.

Bao has expanded the menu beyond the namesake buns and has been adding new things throughout the year. I was most looking forward to the buns in all honesty, but I was curious about other items. Unfortunately I ate at Bao a number of weeks ago and therefore I've forgotten the exact names of some of the menu items, but I certainly remember the experience.

I had two drinks - two, count 'em, two drinks. The peanut milk was a small serving (very inexpensive on the menu, so a suitable size if you ask me) of creamy peanut deliciousness.

When I was googling around for peanut milk afterwards I stumbled upon a pretty interesting story. It became popular in San Francisco via the KK Cafe, which was operated by a Taiwanese couple in America. The story is interesting because people claim that the peanut milk helped them to heal from traumatic injuries, immune system illnesses, and more. It had a real cult following in that city. Bao could get into a side business selling bottles of this stuff, especially if their recipe is also dairy and grain free!

My second drink was the foam tea, an oolong tea base with a foamy & sweet milky top. I tried in vain to find a recipe for 'foam tea', but the foam itself remains elusive. It's a bit fatty, a bit sweet, and richly dairy. My guess it has something to do with condensed or evaporated milk, as that's a popular dairy ingredient in that region of the world. Regardless, it goes so well with the smooth & refreshing cold tea, which I believe is a cold brewed oolong of some sort.

Thinly Sliced Steak, Aged White Soy Sauce -  The soy sauce was rich with umami & pleasant saltiness, and it thoroughly imbibed the steak with much the same. It was a great way to start things off, and this is a surefire winner for Bao - even among people who may otherwise not enjoy the less familiar flavors. Basically, you can't go wrong with this one, but for my druthers there are more exciting options.

The turnip greens were garlicky, vinegar-y & topped with sprinkles of salty & dare I say 'cheesy' century egg. Nice dark greens were used, you could tell that care was taken in which produce they sent out. If I was guaranteed such dark & flavorsome vegetables with every dish, I'd eat salads a lot more frequently!

Trotter Nuggets - Very soft & porky with a hint of ginger. These worked well and certainly made 'trotters' appetizing, but for me they didn't hit it out of the ball park like the rest of the menu did. Lovely stuff, but the flavors were a bit more familiar and therefore less mind-blowing to me. I'd like to try trotters again though, but maybe not in nugget format.

Scallop - A bit of citrus zest, firm but yielding flesh to the scallop, and a lovely garlic citrus sauce with a rounded, savory bean base to it. Feel free to slurp the sauce out of the shell once you've eaten the scallop. If anyone gives you guff, tell 'em "CreamySteaks sent me with strict orders to slurp this sauce!"

Lamb Bun - Incredibly well spiced with coriander, some hint of a familiar Thai spice (perhaps Thai basil?) and garlic. The meat was soft & not at all gamey. The bun, as always, was soft & creamy with a gentle whisper of sweetness. This was my favorite one, and I'm not usually a lamb fan.

Classic Pork Bun - Hard to beat. Perfectly marinated and soft pork, peanut & cilantro garnish. There is a reason Bao has risen as high as it has - and that reason is very hard work & this pork bun. It's a must try!

Pork Belly Confit Bun - Most subtle & gentle of the buns, very little spice but very high quality pork with a great fat-to-meat ratio. The shallots are gentle and add a bit of textural change to what would otherwise be a real soft & gushy fest. There is a sauce, but I don't recall what it was meant to be, sorry!

Deep Fried Bao with Horlicks Ice Cream - I loved this! The deep fried bao was like a doughnut, softer on the inside and definitely leaning more yeast than cakey, and filling it with ice cream is a no brainer. I really appreciated that the bao itself was only subtly sweet, and the Horlicks ice cream was also strong in it's maltiness. It wasn't just a sugar rush, you could really appreciate the flavor of the dough, the sweet ice cream base, and the malt. The only thing I'll say it was a fair struggle to eat with just a spoon, as the bao is a bit tough for cutting using just that. I recommend asking for a small fork or knife as well.

The one thing I felt was missing at Bao was Taiwanese beer as a drink selection. When we went, they were serving Japanese beer (I believe Asahi?) which I do enjoy, but I think it is always more fun to match national beers to their national foods. Certainly not a deal breaker, but I am looking forward to them expanding the beer selection a bit.

The Manor

We went out to eat with my in-laws to celebrate their anniversary a few weeks ago (happy anniversary by the way, guys!) and The Manor in Clapham was chosen as the place to be. It's just opened recently, and it's from the same people who run The Dairy, a very popular restaurant in the same area. This style of food, sort of new British or European cuisine, it's not really something I'm terribly familiar with - so don't take this review as that of an expert: I'm a humble American raised on Kraft Mac & Cheese and frozen burritos, haha.

We started with cocktails and a quick amuse bouche - it was a puffed cracker and tasted quite a bit like mayonnaise with a hint of the sea. To be honest, I can barely remember it. I remember that I liked it at the time, but it must not've been the most memorable part of the night! Really, you're in trouble if an amuse bouche is the most memorable part of your meal. The cocktail I had was one of my top favs so far this year, and I've had some good ones. I highly recommend the Clockwork Orange to my fellow tangy 'n' zesty citrus fans.

We were recommended to have four courses each, which would've been a ton of food. I had three & a half and felt very full, as did everyone else at the table. I mean, maybe at dinner four courses would be more reasonable, but at lunchtime it would've been wild. The portion sizes vary, but my vegetable & fish course was both quite sizable and would've been enough as just two courses, even.

We ordered the sourdough bread with chicken butter - definitely a great start. Warm, and sour & slightly lactic sourdough (one of my favorite breads, not terribly easy to find a good one here in the UK) with whipped butter dotted with fried tiny bits o' chicken skin. Salty, savory, and just a little bit sour: this was a lovely beginning. It was served in a cloth bag that kept it warm, and was presented all together very charmingly. No pictures, by this time we were quite hungry, haha.

My first chosen dish, however, was my favorite - spiced beef droe wors. Droe wors is a South African sausage snack, It's traditionally dried and quite chewy, but in this case it may have been made more fresh & therefore was softer like a cured salami or summer sausage. It had a strong beefiness & spicy hits of coriander, black pepper, chili, and perhaps paprika. This one was super tasty, I'd happily have just wolfed down a double-sized portion of these.

The vegetable course was burnt kale, cavalo nero, and toasted almonds. It was slightly bitter & tasted a bit like Parmesan, in the pleasant way that kale does, and reminded me a bit of burnt popcorn - being burnt, in all, it's just char. Masses upon masses of it was set upon the plate. The almonds & the addition of butter made it seem quite decadent, and I think the amount of butter probably evened out the healthiness of the kale, haha. If you ever chomp down happily on the charred bit of anything, you'd probably love this. I like burnt crusts & burnt bits of brownie, so I was a big fan. Interesting to note that kale & cavalo nero are almost the same thing.

I also had the "Lady Hamilton" smoked pollock, cultured cream, new potatoes and sorrel. The fish was, pardon, swimming in the cultured cream, which at first I was into, but quickly became a bit much. I love cream: sour, fresh, fraiche, whipped, sweetened, whatever. This is a thin cream with a sour tang, presumably 'cultured' in the same way yogurt is - similar to buttermilk. The fish was exceedingly well-cooked,very soft & tender flesh with a light smokiness, but that cream...just too much. Every mouthful of every thing on the plate had to be eaten with about half a tablespoon of cream. And I love cream, and I'm even partial to buttermilk, but this stuff was just too much. I nearly enjoyed this dish, but it really just had to have about half the amount of cream that it did, and it would've still been quite a lot.

I had heard that there was a dessert bar of sorts, a 'make your own sundae' style bar with more adult toppings. Unfortunately, I'm always a bit nervy to ask about 'off menu' things and this sundae bar wasn't listed anywhere or being advertised anywhere in the restaurant - I had only heard about it via the Heroine in Heels blog. I'm sure had I asked our server about it, I would've gotten an answer - maybe it's only available at weekends, et cetera, but I clammed up. That's my fault! My guess is it is just for dinner time.

All is fair though, because I did get a delicious spiced dark chocolate mousse & blood orange, and brown bread ice cream platter. The mousse was creamy and quite heavily spiced, the blood orange came in the form of lightly sweetened slices and a bit of syrup, and the brown bread ice cream was malty & delicious. There were also crisps that tasted like cocoa nibs - all in all, a well-balanced & tasty end to the meal.

...but it wasn't the end! We also got little cubes of jelly that were like malty quince. Very nice - I actually would've happily taken a box of these home, and I'm not usually a jelly fan.

All in all a very good meal with far more hits than misses - just the fish wasn't so good, just because of the amount of cream. I've seen a few other pictures online of this dish, and it seemed to have less cream - so I think that I may have just accidentally gotten more. I'd highly recommend trying the bread, the droe wors, and of course the sundae bar that I couldn't find, ha. A very nice meal, and good service - I'd go back for sure, and I'd like to try The Dairy as well.

Jinjuu

One of the most recent big openings in London has been Jinjuu - already declared by The Independent as one of the restaurants you must visit in 2015, must, simply must darling...Well, that's what they say, but what about your ol' pal Creamy Steaks? Will this classy establishment reach the lofty heights set by oh, the Domino's Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza, or a Russell Stover Red Velvet Santa?

We were very lucky to get a lunchtime table last week on Sunday - checking again at the beginning of that day showed all tables taken up around that time for the next two weeks! However, I did notice quite a few empty tables when we were there. Not that the place wasn't busy, it just wasn't "no bookings, stack 'em on top of each other" busy, you know? For that reason I'd suggest not falling into despair if you can't get a table - it's worth just showing up, as they may have some tables reserved for walk-ins anyway!

So it's considered small, sharing plates for the most part - anju in style, Korean food best had with alcohol. So, clearly we had to order cocktails. I highly recommend both of the ones that we tried, and I'll try to remember the names: South Korean Sling and Soju-juicy, or something? They were both strong & fruity without being overly sweet. A great accompaniment to the meal! If they don't tickle your fancy, there are tons of cocktails to try, all of which have at least one exciting ingredient, other than booze.

It was with much despair that we decided to not gorge ourselves to the point of sickness and - spoiler alert - we did not end this meal with dessert. Regardless of how you hear that this place is small portions & sharing little bits, or you're advised to eat x amount of plates each, I think our amount of food was perfect for a big, sumptuous & very filling lunch.

We started off with Gochu Bombs, three served on a plate, jalapeno 'poppers' in style: filled with bulgogi beef & pork, cheddar & Parmesan cheese and served with ranch on the side. These were very nice - I was a bit worried they'd be overly rich with jalapeno, bulgogi-marinated meat, and all that cheese. Honestly though, for my druthers it could've been a bit stronger throughout.

The jalapeno ended up being the dominant flavor for me, along with a slightly sweet & spicy bulgogi pork. I didn't get much of any cheese, but that might've been for the best. I'd get these again, but maybe not for my very next visit. They just lacked a bit of heat, and I probably would've liked them more if instead of bulgogi it was gochujang pork & beef - certainly would've hotted the proceedings up, but maybe it would alienate people who don't have iron stomachs & mouths like me. The ranch sauce it was paired with was definitely more on the sour cream side of things than a full-flavored ranch, but again - probably for the best for the average tastebud.

Then we had the Bulgogi Beef Tacos, two served per plate. The beef was tender & sweetly spicy, not a ton of heat so these would be totally fine for a person with a more mild sensibility. The slaw & kimchi were both fresh & zingy, with a good amount of crunch. I'm not sure exactly how kimchi is meant to be prepared, but I like it both crunchy & floppy - this one was crunchy. These were super satisfying even though they weren't large, and both of them plus one more dish (and a cocktail) probably would've made for a decent lunch by itself. I'd like to try Korean-Mexican fusion in San Francisco, presumably the place it was born when you consider immigration patterns, sometime. If it's anything like this, it works really well. The asian slaw & kimchi acts almost in the same way as a salsa, bulking out & adding some freshness to some well-seasoned, spicy meat. I can see where the two marry well.

Then we ordered their sort of hallmark dish, the Jin Chick thighs (you can also get wings), 4 big pieces per plate, with both sauces Jinjuu Black Soy & Gochujang Red. The fry batter is crispy & light -bordering on tempura but a little thicker- with a savory & salty hit. It must be lightly seasoned before being fried. The meat itself is dark & well trimmed, with no odd bit of gristle or anything. I don't know how restaurants do it, because every time we've tried to cook chicken thighs at home they're quite dreadful. These were super tasty though. The two sauces, as recommended on the menu, do go best together & compliment each other very well. The dark soy sauce is a little bit sweet and a lot umami, while the gochujang red has a punchy, spicy heat. When you put them together, it's almost like all the best elements of Korean flavors & even more, that special different 'taste' that Asian cuisine in general has compared to Western spices & sauces. Really excellent stuff.

Alongside this one we had the Kimchi Fried Rice, which was the largest and cheapest plate we ordered. I was surprised at how generous this one was, at just £4 it was loaded with pancetta, vegetables, and of course, kimchi. All that topped with a fried egg? I'd happily order it for a lunch during the work week and be fully satisfied. It was soft, pickle-y from the kimchi, and the pancetta was salty & smokey. Nothing to complain about here, and I still can't get over the price.

I'd love to go back to Jinjuu, as a matter of fact, I must. I need to try the bibimbap & the Snickers Hotteok, of course. If they ever put something in the style of tteokbokki on the menu, I'd be there the very same night. It's a great place with a cool & unpretentious atmosphere, and I found the staff super pleasant and helpful. There were a table of older ladies next to us who seemed a bit unfamiliar with Korean food, and they got lots of attention and consideration. It's definitely not the kind of place that's 'too cool' for anyone, and the prices for the food is all quite reasonable given the portion size, especially on some of them like the kimchi fried rice & the chicken. The cocktails were expensive, but intriguing. If you could resist them, you'd actually have a right reasonable bill at the end of it all, I think!...but why resist? They're very nice.

Shackfuyu

Shackfuyu is the latest opening from the Bone Daddies/Flesh & Bun family of restaurants. Allegedly only open for the next year, but with any hope that's not going to be the case. For you see, this place is far too delicious to only be around for one measly year.

It's sort of a small plates place, so go with a large group if you want to try a bunch of stuff. There were a few 'mains' on the menu, including beef with kimchi butter tare, a whole seabass with coriander miso, and presumably the hot stone rice could serve as a main as well. My suggestion if dining for two (like we did) is to split two 'small plates', one main, one dessert. I mean, depending on which small plates you get - we went with two of the heartiest and it made for a very filling lunch.

Beef Picanha with Kimchi Butter Tare - I've never had this cut before, apparently it's from the rump and quite popular in Brazil. It had a nice beefy taste with a bit of resistance, but the tender fat is left on. The sauce is amazing - hot & slightly sour like kimchi. I'm ashamed, or maybe not so ashamed because here I am writing about it, to say that I took my spoon to the sauce after the meat was gone. I absolutely loved it - hot, spicy, a little bit sour & high quality beef. It's got every right to be the highlight of the menu.

Fried Potatoes and Japanese Curry Sauce - Excellent curry sauce, better quality than your curry roux blocks that are now fairly easily found in the UK. Thick but not unctuous, hotter than standard Japanese curries (probably, funny given the history of curry in Japan, made that way to appeal more to English palates) with crispy diced potatoes.

The indulgent freak & me wondered about topping them with cheese - but they totally didn't need it, I'm just a freak for cheesy potatoes like all red-blooded humans. I can absolutely see this being served in Japan too. Either at one of the 'family restaurants' that are popular there (like Jonathan's or Denny's) or at Cocoichibanya. Curry sauce & potatoes is universal - and if it's not, it damn well should be.

Mentaiko Mac 'n' Cheese - Every time I see mentaiko, I think 'mental', as in "That's mental!" - an exclamation you may use as you eat this. See that big plop in the middle is mentaiko: AKA fish roe, AKA fish eggs. I've had it before but never in a proper form, just as a pasta sauce or a Cheeto (reviewed here) - so I wasn't sure what I'd think of it as a straight up plop. I'm not the biggest fan of very fishy things, but I'm pleased to report that it's not strong at all. It's very mild - not that it tasted like lobster mac & cheese, but it had a similar level of "fishiness", which isn't that much. The cheese wasn't very strong at all, which is probably for the best in order for the subtle taste of mentaiko to shine. I really enjoyed this one.

Kinako French Toast with Green Tea Softserve - The green tea soft serve is lovely - strong and not overly sweetened, it's a very refined dessert and would've made for a lovely light finish served all by itself. They don't stop there, however - the kinako french toast alongside is a big ol' thick slice of sweetness. We all know the best sort of french toast has three distinct textures: crispy edges, sturdy top 'n' bottoms, and a nearly gooey middle. Right, we all know that.

This one has it in perfect balance. The kinako flavor is subtle, and while I really enjoy toasted soy powder, I can see the need to keep it light. Kinako can tend to have the slightest savory edge, like peanuts or sesame in a dessert. I think it's presence here keeps the french toast from being overly sweet.

No cocktails this time around! They do have some great ones though, and I think it's cute that they're served in a little bottle for you to pour at your own discretion. Not sure if that means they've been aged, which would be quite cool, or if it's just a fun way to serve them. Either way, I've got my eyes on the sake cherry gimlet for my next trip. Really looking forward to returning, especially as they'll be changing the menu periodically!

Nobu, Berkeley Street

So my birthday was last week, and I enjoyed a delicious meal at Nobu in Berkeley Street.

Nobu is fairly well-known, if not very well-known, and gets referenced in movies, reality TV, and other venues fairly frequently. It's an international chain, with the NY locations being the most famous. The most popular dish is miso-marinated black cod, which we did not have because my husband actually makes a really nice miso-marinated regular cod and I figured it was better to imagine it's just as good, than to be proven right or wrong. ;)

Anyway, there was a time it was one of the big places to spot celebrities in London, but I think it's luster has worn just a bit - it's still a great location with good food & excellent staff, but it's just not riding the trendy wave at the moment. Frankly, I think that makes it a great place to go and celebrate something. I didn't really like the idea of being upstaged on my own birthday by say, a one Mrs. Charlize Theron tucking into a big hunk of lobster without even getting butter on her chin. Luckily the diners around us were normal, everyday folk who didn't accidentally shame me with their beauty, fame, or money. My kinda environment!

Seems we were feeling quite fishy that day, as we went with a real ocean spread. Starting off with 'crispy rice & spicy tuna', which might've been my favorite of the entire meal! It takes guts to go ahead and say, "Yeah, it's crispy rice. Gotta problem? It was by choice." considering that rice is so frequently applauded for being fluffier, softer, or stickier than thou.

This one was crispy through and through, and delicious for it! The spicy tuna on top was coated in a lovely creamy, spicy sauce. The tuna itself was mild & soft. The crispness of the rice, don't let it fool you - there was not that much chew to it - but it didn't stick to my teeth, which is what I was afraid of. I would really describe it as 'crispy', rather than chewy or crunchy. In the same way puffed rice is crisp, this had that sort of edge - but softer.

Next up was shrimp in creamy spicy sauce - you could have it tempura style, or 'regular'. We opted for un-tempura, as we had our eyes on an upcoming fried dish that is nuts. The shrimp served was massive, split nicely with the tails still on for what I can only presume is easy handling. The spicy sauce reminded me of a lot of Japanese food, like when you're served something there that comes with 'spicy mayo' it's quite a bit like that. Simple, but effective. The giant shrimps themselves I believe must've been wood grilled, because they had a really nice sort of char, wood grilled steak taste alongside the sweetness of the shrimp itself. This was probably my favorite dish of the night.

The main course for my birthday I had already decided on - a fine lobster tempura. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Who'd ever thunk it - frying a lobster? Only in a Downeaster's fevered dreams could I imagine such a thing existing, and yet here it is. I think it's an entire lobster, taken apart, and tempura-fried. It's probably not the best lobster on Earth, but for the love of all that's good it's fried. What a world. As you might expect it tasted pretty awesome, with that soft & crispy batter that tempura is known for - and the delicate, buttery flesh that lobster has.

While it was definitely an amazing experience, I probably wouldn't order something like this again - I feel that perhaps when it was fried, some parts of the lobster got to be kinda chewy. Whatever the case was, that slightly disappointed me. There were some pieces that were perfectly soft, but others had a bit of toughness & chew that just wasn't good. This dish also came with a couple of dipping sauces, which didn't make a huge impression - yuzu truffle & spicy lemon garlic. I think I liked the yuzu one better of the two, but neither were really Earth-shattering. It was definitely worth the experience, but like I said, probably not a repeat order for most people, including me..

We ordered a couple of different desserts, but I can hardly remember my husband's so I can only review mine, whoops! His was the Macana - I remember it was well balanced with nuttiness & citrus zing.

I ordered the Eki-Nox, which was 'goma' and white chocolate mousse (two separate layers, I believe) with orange & chocolate cream, and a genmaicha ice cream. I had no idea what goma was, but it turns out it's sesame. Perhaps it's a different sort of sesame than I'm used to, as I didn't get much of the salty, kind of peanutty taste that I usually get with sesame flavored things. That's not to say it wasn't good, as it had a savory edge that made the white chocolate seem less sweet - and therefore, easier to wolf down. The genmaicha ice cream was super, genmaicha being the Japanese brown rice tea. It had a lovely roasted flavor which was very unique in an ice cream format. If you've ever had genmaicha, you'd recognize the taste straight away - very well done.

It was very sweet that when ordered our desserts they had done a nice little presentation for my birthday. I had just mentioned on the reservation that it was my birthday, figuring it couldn't hurt - and I was right. It was just a good level of specialness, with a candle & some sweet chocolate writing, I knew it wasn't going to be the kind of place where they sing to you - and I was glad, haha. It did make me feel happy - definitely the right amount of attention.

Over all it was a really great place to celebrate a special occasion - the servers were all nice & attentive at the right times & gone the rest of the evening. It's also interesting to note that they had a lunch menu with quite reasonable prices, takeaway (hard to imagine that level of luxury!) and also just a varied menu pricewise in general. It sounds expensive, but I believe you could enjoy Nobu on the cheapish if you came in with a plan & didn't have any alcohol! I'd happily go again, but probably for the lunch menu to keep my budget in mind.