Cheese & Rosemary Madeleine

It was light and yum :)
I used Emmantel instead and sprinkled some Parmasen on top and it worked well :)




INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup parm or Swiss Gruyere cheese, grated
1 tbsp rosemary, minced

DIRECTIONS
1. 425F.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, egg and yogurt in a food processor or blender; add cheese and herbs.
3. Spoon batter into madeleine molds and bake in the centre of the oven for 10 mins. Remove and let cool in mold for 10 mins before turning onto a rack to cool further. Store in a ziploc bag at room temp for up to 3 days.

Greenwich Market

We have heard about the Greenwich market for a long time but have never managed to drag ourselves over ( it is not the most easily accessible area of London and you do have to make an effort to get there!) 

Last Sunday was a nice Sunny day :) could be a tad warmer but let's not try and be too greedy with life :p 

The market is not very big, it has mostly little local craftworks on sale.  However, what we are really there for .. is THE FOOOOOOD! 

The sausage itself is very well seasoned - a little spicy .. with lots of paprika.  

The salt/pepper baguette was nice and crusty.. but couldn't really taste the pepper 

It was good :) 

We then went to the portguese counter and had a suckling pig pastry - which was not nice! 

not much flavour and it has a soggy pastry (Which was reheated by microwave!) 

The stew at those big pan looks a lot more appealing!

Caramel / chocolate filled churros was the highlight of the day :) 

We had half half (i.e. 50% caramel for the bottom half, 50% chocolate sauce for the upper half) 

 but I think I prefer caramel over chocolate :p 

Pollen Street Social

We loved Maze so was quite looking forward to try out Pollen street social

We went there for Monday lunch.  It has a very casual vibe but quite noisy actually.  

We were going to go for a la carte but none of the dishes look particularly appealing so we just went for the set menu which was quite good value - 22 for 2 course, 25.5 for 3 course

The service was so-so.  quite slow until we get to the dessert bar. 

Starter 

Normally starter is one of the more exciting course but neither of them was memorable in this case. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying they weren't nice but they were just  not very interesting.  

Veal cheeks braised in onion juices, onion squash cream with leek oil,

artichokes braised in olive oil

very small portion.  nice flavour but not memorable.  

Loch Duart London cured salmon, beer pickled onions, oyster mayonnaise, miso aubergine

Main

Roasted Creedy Carver duck, mandarin & clementine conserve, purple sprouting broccoli, braised duck leg, Jerusalem artichoke

 Slow-cooked Dingley Dell pork belly, honey & soy braised pig cheek, Brussel sprout tops, spiced tamarind

- very flavoursome.  it would have been better if it had crispy skin

we were wondering if the two sauces that went with the duck and pork were the same :p 

we couldn't really tell the difference

Dessert

here comes the highlight of meal :)
we were offered a seat at the dessert bar facing the kitchen where you can see all the action going from both the main kitchen and the dessert bar.
the "bartender" offered us pre-dessert as soon as we sat down
and they were sooooo niceeeee

Sangria mousse, blood orange granita, curd milk jam 

loved it :) 

we also had two little scoops of icecream - lime and passionfruit!

very smooth and refreshing.  

they were gone before I could take a photo of it ! 

we went for a dessert from the a la carte menu - the deconstructed tiramisu

a creamy mousse base with broken chocolate sponge, chocolate oil, cubes of jelly

it comes with a shot of hot coffee chocolate- SO NICEEEEE 

we drank it instead of pouring it over as a sauce.  

It was also nice too see her putting each component all together. 

I wonder if we could just book a seat at the dessert bar and skip all the mediocre starter/main course :p 

Life, Old street

It has been recommended by a friend living nearby. 

It's cold and snowy today.. with free parking on Sunday in the city ..

we thought we could drive over and have a go :) 

The people sitting next to us were having kobe beef teppanyaki and the smell of butter was very mouthwatering.

but we managed to resist and went with our original plan of going for sushi instead.  

Overall, the fish were fresh - one of the better ones in London.  

Sushi say is still the best for good old traditional sushi/sashimi

but it is more convenient - right in the city and it offers some interesting combinations and very pretty presentation.  

Starter

Seabream capaccio with yuzu and shiso dressing

It has some little diced tomato and deep fried crispy garlic flakes on top. 

very pretty and yummmmm 

love the dressing. very refreshing.  citrus and light

our favourite dish for the day.  

There were 3 slides of yellowtail sashimi :p but it was gone before I could get my mobile out to take a photo of it

It is very fresh sweet and melt-in-your-mouth

Main

Life Special Sushi set

- with lightly grilled salmon, butterfish, beef, yellowtail and eel

fresh and soft.  

they were all lightly seasoned with different dressing (yuzu sauce/ pesto/ ginger/ jalapeno/cheese)

actually it was too lightly seasoned..... 

but the flavour wasn't as memorable as shiori of sushi. 

rice perfectly cooked at the right temperature

the prawn tempura roll was nice. prawn was sweet and fresh but soggy.. it's supposed to be tempera I thought

we might go for the simple sushi set next time (which is slightly cheaper - £16 as oppose to £23)

Today's Special - Butterfish with miso walnut sauce

lovelyyy sauce but fish slightly overcooked

I am going to try cooking my own version of it next time.  :p 

Garlic rice - a bit like fried rice with garlic spicy dressing.. 

read online that their garlic rice is supposed to good so we ordered it to go with the fish. 

it was nice :) very pretty 

They offer things like green tea creme brulee/ banana fritter/ icecream as dessert
but we were too full for it :)

£36 per head, which includes 12.5% service
we just had green tea as drinks(£2.5 each)

http://www.life-oldst.com/

Le Gavroche

Celebrating the new year at Le Gavroche! 

We saw both Albert and Michel there :) how lucky lol 

Albert was having lunch there with a "friend"? and Michel was walking around all the tables checking if everything is OK. 

There's this 52 quid set lunch - incl 1/2 a bottle of wine and mineral water and coffee 

On the whole.. everything was nice and perfectly cooked

Good traditional french food

but I don't feel I was wow-ed as much as Ledbury

and I feel I could get equally good traditional food at Roux at Landau - which doesnt require booking months in advance

but it could just because we had set lunch menu rather than a la carte... 

we thought about having a la carte but there was no price tag next to the plates :p so didnt really know how far the bill would get..haha.. 

so we played safe... 

I would definitely go back one day though.. for a la carte/ tasting menu :)

It's all in French but luckily the waitress helped us out 

pretty plate

I don't really like the atmosphere that much.. 

just like an old hotel's restaurant.. nothing very exciting.  

but the service was good. very nicely decorated with painting and little sculpture which can be sold online on their website at a ridiculous price.. 

they seem to be made of cutlery! e.g. 

lobster

Cruets

Terrine as amuse bouche

There were also some canape as soon as we sat down

didn't take photos of them but they were yummm 

breadwise - they are just nice simple bread - french baguette, rye and country bread.  

Starter

Oeuf a la Reine 

-Brioche stuffed with poached chicken, poached egg with creamy sauce and truffle

I would have hoped more truffle flavour and with a warm crispy brioche instead

but it was nice and creamy... just different from what I expected 

Octopus with chorizo and chickpea

- very flavoursome.. soft octopus 

this is the starter that we like out of the two 

- with painting of Michel Roux 

I wonder if Michel is a little self obsess.. .seem to see pictures of him everywhere

Main course

Mix Seafood with creamy sauce

everything perfectly cooked ... 

grilled/confit rabbit with grilled polenta

very nice and flavoursome

Dessert
- The other option was mixed icecream .. which doesnt sound too appealing
so we both had omelette souffle with rhubarb and ginger

very soft but I had a whole mouthful of grated ginger :S which wasnt very pleasant

yummy petit four afterwards :) with mint choc macaron, candied fruit, crispy sesame cookies and a little cake

Chinese year cake

Happy Chinese New year :-) 

This is my favourite Chinese New year food

I've added  driied 桂花 (Sweet Osmanthus?) to one of my batch :) 

It's so nice! 

材料（2個3.5吋x7吋的長方模）

糯米粉    300 克

片糖     300 克    ( I saw some black cane sugar from Waitrose - I would guess it would work too!)

清水   490克

澄麵   75克

製作

1.  將片糖加水煮溶待凍，待凍後加入椰槳、薑汁用格篩過去什質

2.  加入糯米粉和澄麵中（粉要篩過），用筷子攪勻用隔 2 次，粉會滑一點。直至挑起粉槳即瀉下為合。

3.  倒入已塗油之糕盆內，隔水蒸約 1小時。

Ledbury

We were there as my birthday lunch :) I'm so blessed :)

went there on a weekday so there was the set lunch which only cost 35 quid for 3 course.  

There were 2 options per course.  

one of us went for set lunch and the other had a la carte and we shared everything :p 

Their Sunday lunch offer is quite good value ( though I've noticed they've just pushed up the price!) 

you have more option to choose from and it's 50 quid for 3 course! 

we actually went there prepared (studied the menu online and picked what we want) 

but the menu shown on the day was different ... oh well.... 

foie gras mousse on digestive 

so smoothhhh 

didnt take any photo but their bread was good

there were crusty sour dough + bacon/onion brioche! 

Hampshire Buffalo Milk Curd with Saint-Nectaire,Truffle Toast and a Broth of Grilled Onions

THE TRUFFLE TOAST WAS SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD

amazing presentation

the dep fried grilled onion was niceee 

from set menu - hand rolled macaroni stuffed with crab with ginger/clementine

set menu: spiced pork belly 

very moist and flavoursome 

Roasted Breast and Confit Legs of Pigeonwith Red Leaves and Vegetables, Foie Gras and Plums

- those confit leg on the side is crispy and yum

Roasted breast was rare, soft and moist

set menu : chocolate brulee with malt whisky icecream 

I particularly liked the icecream... 

Caramelised Banana Galette with Salted Caramel,Passion Fruit and Peanut Oil Parfait

What can go wrong with caramel passionfruit and peanut oil!

Petit four