Food – Page 112 – Elsie Hui

September 27, 2011March 17, 2019

Baozi Inn – London, England

We went into Baozi Inn for a snack, while we were in England, we ate every meal twice, including snacks — so, this was one of many snack meals that we enjoyed! Baozi Inn is located in London’s Chinatown and it’s a little place, but seats a lot of guests. The service was fast, the food was good, and the prices was very reasonable!

The interior was decorated beautifully – traditional Communist China, which really is quite neat! It is a huge part of China’s history and what not, but I’ve never seen any place do their interior decoration to reflect this time period. It was lovely though.

We ordered a few munchies, of course their bao’s (buns) since that’s what the restaurant is called. We tried their Pork Baozi which was a bun stuffed with juicy minced pork and onion. We also tried the House Special Baozi which for the day was Pork filled. Both of the steamed buns was quite large – especially compared to the ones we get get here at home, say T&T. It wasn’t over steamed where it’s mushy or soggy, and it wasn’t steamed for awhile and sitting there waiting for a guest to order it – as it wasn’t hard either. It just tasted like a wonderful bun that was really fresh.

We also ordered 2 orders of dumplings, and tried Chengdu Dumplings which were pork dumplings in Chilli Oil and Garlicky Sauce. The pork dumplings were boiled and seasoned with chilli oil and crushed garlic. It was extremely tasty, as the strong chilli oil and garlic taste was what we tasted more of, instead of the dumpling. But, the dumpling made a great vehicle for the topping as it was a tasty dish.

Finally, we tried just the Boiled dumplings stuffed with minced pork – served Beijing style with vinegar dip. It looked really plain when it got to the table, but because it wasn’t dressed up with anything, you could really taste the freshness of these dumplings, and it was fresh and delicious. The meat filling was indeed juicy and the skin was rolled quite thin and cooked well as the juices from the inside didn’t leak out until I bite into the dumpling.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience here at Baozi Inn, and I must recommend it to anyone going that way! Not just a snack either, those noodle dishes and what not look and smell great! I would love to go back to get more of everything, plus more!

Baozi Inn

25 Newport Court
London
(020) 7287 6877

September 27, 2011March 17, 2019

Bugis Street Brasserie – London, England

This restaurant is located inside the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington, London and this was the hotel we checked into. After a long walk to the hotel from Trafalgar Square, we quickly went downstairs after putting our belongings down and headed to Bugis Street Brasserie.

We got seated and the staff here are extremely friendly. The waitress spoke to us in Cantonese through the duration of our evening at Bugis Street, which was probably practice for her, as I don’t think too many Asians would eat Chinese food while on holidays to London.

The Hainanese Chicken Rice – 海南鸡饭 that we ordered was quite a large portion, with a big bowl of rice, probably more than a quarter of the chicken, and some sauces that came with this order (which is typical) was really pleasing to the eye and the stomach. This dish was the most pleasing for me, as I had a cold during this time – and a bowl of rice always satisfies an Asian’s belly. It wasn’t hot and warming though – like my next dish.

We ordered the Singapore laksa 辣沙 which is a spicy noodle soup that really originated more from Malaysia in my opinion, even though it`s called Singapore Laska… but it does have a Chinese name – which always always fun to think about the Asian dishes and their names (“laksa” meaning “spicy sand” in Chinese, and this is from the sandy or gritty texture in the sauce from the ground dried prawns). Anyway, enough with my tangent, this belly warming noodle soup was full of intense Asian flavours such as lemon grass and ginger. A hot and spicy bowl of soup right before bedtime makes for a restful sleep. This dish wasn’t so spicy that you’d need to use the washroom during the entire evening, which was wonderful! This bowl of Laksa wasn’t authentic to me, but it was a very tasty bowl of noodle soup!

Finally, we ordered something much more Chinese which was Fried noodles with shredded chicken 杂菜炒面 and the noodles in this dish was really thin and delicate… which meant a lot of short pieces, but the flavour was plentiful, and the chicken slices was generous in portion sizes and slices.

Overall, I really enjoyed this stop for dinner #2 of the evening at Bugis Street Brasserie, after a long hike from dinner #1. It was extremely satisfying to the tummy, the body and the mind! It was a wonderful way to wind down the evening as everything was so pleasing and satisfying.

Bugis Street Brasserie

Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington
Scarsdale Place
Kensington
London
W8 5SR
United Kingdom
44 (0) 20 7937 7211

September 18, 2011October 6, 2011

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

I’ve been in search of the “best burger ever” status for my records and was introduced to Five Guys Burgers and Fries and with my hopes nice and high, knowing that all their ingredients were fresh, it couldn’t go wrong!

We sent in to Five Guys Burgers and quickly saw a long line up. It was on the weekends, but quite late in the afternoon. So, to my delight, I waited in line to order my burger.

I ordered a Regular Hamburger thinking it was the size of a normal hamburger. When I got my burger, it was 2 patties high, and I loaded it up with their condiments. I must say, it was a delicious burger, but some how, I’ve made burgers that was even tastier. So, I was unable to crown them “best burger ever” in my books. I’m almost looking for a place that can make a burger better than mine, and till this day, I haven’t found it.

I’m not saying their burgers are bad by any means. I sat there, and within 5 minutes, I gobbled down the entire burger.

We also had the Regular Bacon Cheeseburger thinking more “fat” would equal “more deliciousness”. It was true, this burger truly was more delicious, but not as good as my burgers.

Five Guys Burgers is a location I will be back – but after I’ve tried all other burger places, in search of the best burger ever! 🙂

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

#222 33 Heritage Meadows Way SE
Calgary, Alberta
(403) 252-3373

September 18, 2011September 19, 2011

Scones with Clotted Cream

Cream scones as they call it is apparently a very English treat, and delicious when warm out of the oven. With me going to England once every 10-ish years, I am not exposed to their culture – so it was neat to be introduced to something local. I do know that Princess Diana and Prince Charles had one course at their wedding reception of strawberries and Cornish clotted cream… but clotted cream was only popular in South-West England, so they had to bring it in to London for the occasion.

Regardless of what I know and what I don’t… we got to try some scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream where the ingredients were bought from the store to compromise as we were pressed for time. The clotted cream was light, fluffy – yet dense and kind of tasteless, with a “cream” taste, and a subtle sweetness. It is quite different from a whipped butter cream, since it was much thicker.

Apparently, clotted cream is used for Cream Tea which we failed to try this trip… so, we gotta try it one day! 🙂 I know making it at home in Calgary will be so different, so I’m not even going to attempt. But, I did get to try ice cream with clotted cream, and I must say – that was the best ice cream ever!

Clotted Cream Ice Cream with Fresh Berries

September 17, 2011May 11, 2019

Melati – London, England

While we were in London, we wanted to try some Malaysian/Indonesian Cuisine, and my brother-in-law recommended Melati on Peter Street in Soho, London. He’s got excellent taste for tasty food, and this location was no exception!

We walked into the restaurant, which looked quite big and was quickly greeted and seated. It was interesting, as one of the workers there started talking to us in Cantonese, and it was actually kind of strange he did that. Regardless, the hospitality in this restaurant was really hospitable.

This was a lighter dinner as we ate not long before this, and we were going to go for other snacks after this meal as well, so we just got enough to sample the goodies. I ordered a Lychee juice and my husband has a Sugar Cane Drink and both the drinks tasted delicious and was really refreshing – especially when used to cut some heat!

The most memorable dish for me was the Sambal Soton which was squid in Sambal sauce, which really means a chili based sauce. The squid was tender and soft but the sauce made it memorable. To my surprise, it wasn’t super spicy as the sambal sauce would make me think. It was sweet and spicy which was just what I was looking for, as we had some other dishes that was super spicy.

One of the super spicy dishes that we enjoyed was Kachang Panjan Belachan which was Malaysian long beans with dried shrimp paste, garlic and other spices. Belachan means shrimp paste, which is a common ingredient in Asian cooking – even the Chinese use and like it. It’s got a very distinctive smell and taste, which of course is an acquired taste like most other Chinese goodies! Most of the time, this isn’t this spicy, but the choice of chili’s and spices used by Melati made it the spiciest dish we enjoyed for the evening! The balance of flavours made this long bean dish really made this dish very enjoyable.

We often have a chicken dish, and for this meal, Kam Heong Ayam cooked with the chicken off the bone was what we ordered. The chicken is cooked in a mild Malaysian spiced dried shrimp sauce and this tasty dish is often enjoyed in Chinese and Malaysian cuisine. With the sauce over the chicken, I ate a lot of this dish with coconut rice. It really satisfied my belly.

The last dish we ordered would be Kari Kambing, which is your traditional lamb curry with potatoes. The lamb was cut into slices and was cooked to perfection – tender and juicy without to much “lamb” taste. The potatoes soaked up the delicious curry sauce flavour, and this was a very filling dish with rice, but well worth it!

There was no room for dessert this evening, as my sister was going to make us some scones with clotted cream for dessert! 🙂

Everything about the food at Melati was so good I would highly recommend this location to anyone who’s craving a bit of flavour in their lives! Bold flavour on top of a bed of rice – you can’t go wrong! We went for both coconut rice and jasmine rice and they both taste so good with all the flavours of Malaysia and Indonesia. The concept of this restaurant was well thought out, and the quality of food will please anyone!

Melati

30-31 Peter St
London,
(020) 7437 2011