Travel – Page 95 – 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 18, 2011October 23, 2011

Hamley Squiddy

Okay, I’m not 3 years old, but I do enjoy some toys in the bath-tub, so when I was at Hamley’s Toy Store in London, I fell in love with a squid bath toy. It’s pretty cool, as it claims to swim, spin and dive around the bath tub — which he did! It was really cool! I guess it was actually a Hamleys brand toy that we purchased, but there are others just like it! 🙂 I know it’s funny that I’m talking about a bathtime friend, but I’m really happy that I spent the money on it. It wasn’t cheap, as it was around $15 Canadian and I was expecting it to die after I submerge it in water… or even worse, electrocute myself as it takes 2 AA batteries. None of the above happened, so I’m recommending Hamley’s Squiddy!

Click here to view information on insert or changing batteries for Squiddy

Here’s a clip of him under-water! My tub is yellow-ish…