Sinfully Good Sorbets - Gelupo, Soho

How could Gelupo not make another appearence? It's a practically a hop, skip and a jump from Maoz and it would be rude not to drop by ... really. On this visit I got a double scoop on a cone - chocolate and espresso sorbets. Rich, dark and so good!

Gelupo
7 Archer Street, London W1D 7AU

Falafel Sandwiches and Belgian Fries - Maoz, Soho

A late appointment in Soho a few weeks ago led me to Maoz for a bite to eat. Despite having walked past on numerous occasions I've never been in. There's always somewhere I would have preferred to eat like ... well, Chinatown. Think of all those yummy crisp skin roasted ducks, wobbly soft braised pork belly, crunchy sautéed greens coated in minced garlic ... This time I wanted cheap and fast and NOT McDonald's so Maoz it was.

The Maoz Sandwich combo meal is priced pretty decently (around the 5 or 6 quid mark or thereabouts) and it consisted of a falafel sandwich with houmous and grilled aubergine, a side of Belgian fries and a drink. There's also a free reign of the salad bar. To be honest I'm not sure what they mean by a free salad bar ... would I be whacked on the hand if I went back for more? I wasn't about to find out so I made just that one sweep at the bar. It's not so much fun since they cunningly stuff the pita pretty full in the first place. But no worries ... Woolworth's (in the days of old) pick and mix taught me valuable lessons on how to get as much sweeties into a tiny little bag and not having to upgrade to a bigger bag. But under the eagle egg of the girl behind the counter and the guy next to me at the salad bar who kept getting in my way, I didn't pile on as much as I would have liked. I managed a few pickles, red cabbage, lots of fried cauliflower and a great big splat of garlic sauce. Verdict? All the top bits were yum but the bread was dry and just got in the way of the serious eating. On a scale of 5 it was probably a 2.5-3.

I'd been looking forward to the Belgian fries (yup, that's what it's called on the menu) but they were seriously disappointing. I've always salivated when I saw photos of the fries from Maoz - crunchy golden nuggets of deliciousness. They were instead the exact opposite of how I imagined them to be. A solid fry with a limp-ish exterior. Also, drinks wise don't bother with the fresh lemonade with mint. It unfortunately sounds and looks better than it tastes. I'm a big fan of ice and Maoz doesn't do ice or chilled either it seems. The lemonade was lukewarm and incredibly sour.

Maoz is actually pretty decent. The food's not bad for the price and the next time I stop by I'm definitely going for the salad box. I've worked out that the salad container is sturdier (better) for the purpose of fried cauliflower and garlic sauce overload. And minus the whimsy bit of pita. Happy days!

Maoz
43 Old Compton St, London W1D 6HG

Cupcakes - Bea's of Bloomsbury, London

I've been in a right old state over the last few weeks. Nothing more than what I call my annual bout of autumn blues. But I think I'm being particularly dramatic this year. Come tomorrow I can officially say that I have called London home for the last 10 years. It's a pretty big milestone and it's throwing up more questions than I have answers for.

And all this while I have been craving cake but not any old rag pile but a particularly fine Victoria sponge. Trawling through the net I found an entry for Bea's of Bloomsbury's. A mere stone's throw from my office too. But being the overly dramatic queen I'm turning out to be, I moaned to a colleague about my hankering for cake but refused to walk out to get myself some. The next day when I got to my desk I found a box sitting on my desk with these little babies sitting inside. My lovely colleague, TN, whom I was moaning my life's ills away to the day before had stopped by Bea's on his way to work to pick me up some cake. No Victoria sponge but a lovely chocolate cupcake with chocolate fudge ganache icing topped with a sliced strawberry and very pretty another chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream icing topped with a raspberry. It certainly put a smile back on my face. Thank you, TN!

Malaysia Eats

I thought I should finally sort out my photos tonight, starting with those of Istanbul taken all those months ago back in April. But ... there's always a but ... bloody Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Live Photo Gallery keep crashing my computer so I've given up. I'm too tired to faff around trying to troubleshoot something I haven't a clue about. So I've turned my attention to some of the stuff that never made it to my posts about my last trip home. Just a few photos from various meals. Oh hush my grumbling tummy .........! Enjoy :)

Marco Polo Restaurant
1st Floor, Wisma Lim Foo Yong, Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur

This used to be one of the places to hold a Chinese wedding banquet when I was a kid. I haven't been back in years. The dim sum is decent - think a step up from your local coffee shop on a Sunday morning and not quite as fancy as the Chinese restaurant at your favourite downtown 5* hotel.

Steamed black pepper chicken balls

Lor mai kai (steamed sticky glutinous rice with chicken, mushrooms and various other bits)

Din Tai Fung
Lot LG-207, Lower Ground Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City

Famous for their xiao long bau (Shanghainese soup dumplings) and very popular with my family. The food is pretty good and seems pretty consistent from the two occasions that I've been here. The one thing that grates on me is their insistence of the waiting staff to only speak Mandarin to their customers. Correct me if I'm wrong but Cantonese is the accepted Chinese dialect spoken in KL, so why insist on Mandarin? The waitress is only giving herself more work since she'll have to repeat everything she just said to me in English anyway. Yes, I sound like a spoilt brat and I refuse to apologise for it ..... making me sound even more brattish :)

Xiao long bau ... yum yum yum! Good splurt of hot broth but eat too many and you'll start to notice how fatty each little dumpling is.

Thin slithers of ginger in black vinegar, the traditional accompaniment to xiao long bau.

Deep fried beans with mince. I always thought of this as a Sichuanese dish but apparently it's Shanghainese too.

Braised seaweed topped tofu with Chinese mushrooms

Beard Papa
Lot LG007, Lower Ground Floor, Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur

I haven't had a Beard Papa custard puff in years and it seems like my mum had never had one ever so I bought us one to share. It's still good. And I still not a huge fan of choux pastry.

Ampang Yong Tau Foo (shop next to Foong Foong)
Jalan Besar Ampang, 68000 Ampang

Foong Foong is the family stall of choice when we want Ampang yong tau foo (like so many other families I suspect) but mum broke some rather sad news when I insisted we cross town in mid day traffic to eat here ... Foong Foong is closed. Seriously? Surely not ... it's been there since.... well, since I remember eating yong tau foo. We went anyway and sure enough the shutters were down and the gates firmly padlocked. I hope we went on a day they decided to close for the day or I shall be very upset. So we went to the stall next door. Usually sad and so in need of custom, they were doing a good trade with Foong Foong closed (I don't even know its name ... dearie me). To be fair the yong tau foo tastes (dare I say it .... ) almost the same as Foong Foong but years ago they cocked out and started selling other dishes to entice customers. Imagine ... assam fish with yong tau foo ... impossible!

Our miserly looking 15 piece yong tau foo plate for 4 people ... it just can't compare to my dad's order of 40 pieces for 4 people when I last ate at Foong Foong's in January 2009. This order was definitely enough considering our 4 this time included my 90 year old grandmother who now eats like a bird.


Deep fried sui kow (like wontons but better!)


This is really what I come for ... the soup sui kow. This has got to be one of my all time favourite foods.

Restoran SS2 Murni
Jalan SS2/75, Petaling Jaya

Murni has got to be one of the coolest mamaks around. Run by a Chinese owner (*eyebrow raised .... "really?"), it's frequented by a truely muhibah crowd ... we sat next to a large Indian family finishing their dinner, a Malay couple eating roti and sipping teh ais whilst talking quietly to each other, a young Chinese couple sharing an extra large juice and a maggie goreng as they busily texted friends and practically ignoring each other, a large group of friends who were very possibly in college together. And there was me and my sister busy stuffing our faces, nudging each other and cackling out loud as we watched out our neighbours. I've been coming here for years and it's still as busy as it was when I was in college. The food is insane ... the menu combination is like no other mamak - there's your traditional rotis and rotis with a new twist - roti hawaii, roti seafood, roti salad. There's also the steak and chips, loh shu fun, spaghetti marinara. Brilliant!

The juices are also another reason to drop by Murni. We both got the medium watermelon juice special. Fresh watermelon juice blended with lots of ice, topped with lychee, chopped watermelon and nata de coco. So damn good on a muggy evening.


Candice had a hankering for fried chicken so we got fried chicken. The waiter gave us a choice which was - batter or not batter? Errr .... no batter please. Batterless fried chicken .. almost pointless. It was quite nice though. A whole chicken leg marinated in soy and served with chili sauce.


My must have dish when I'm back in KL - Maggie goreng. Probably not as good as other mamak stalls but it'll do.


Roti Jepun - we're still not entirely sure what was in this but we think it was egg, cheese and condensed milk (or the Malaysian version of dairy free condensed milk anyway). Not sure how this is in anyway Japanese and it wasn't particularly great.


Roti Hawaii - a new twist on the traditional murtabak. Filled with mince beef, sliced frankfurters, tinned pineapple and cheese. Topped with a generous squeeze of the mayonnaise bottle. Served with a blob of red sauce (chili or ketchup?), dhal and curry. What a combination. I oddly liked this. Give me frankfurters and ketchup and I can be very forgiving.

Penang Teochew Cendul
Lebuh Keng Kwee, Off Penang Road, Penang

Part of our search for good Penang char kway teow included a cendul stop (see post here). There was apparently a very good stall that we just had to try. Personally I wasn't too bothered to get to this stall. It was a horridly hot day, I was stuffed from too much lunch and it was too comfortable in the air conditioned car to tempt me out. But hey I was on holiday and it would be mighty unsociable to continue snoozing in the car, which would get baking hot the moment the engine was stopped. So we trudged along Penang Road, not quite sure where we were going until we found it. A dingy little stall down a side street with a crowd of people holding plastic bowls. The sign proudly proclaimed it as the famous Penang Road Teochew cendol. So how is Teochew cendol different from ... let's say the Indian guy who sells it? No idea. This stall does however add red beans to their concoctions. Ergh! Hate red beans.

I just had to be difficult - my special order of no red beans. Good cendol? It was ok cendol.Less sweet than many other I have tried. My mother who has a particularly sweet tooth would have complained they were too light on the gula melaka. Ahhh each to his own I suppose :)

Mangal Ocakbaşı - Grilled Lamb Dreams Do Come True!

My visit to Istanbul was all about the consumption of lamb .... all the delicious dripping goodness of the revered baby sheep. But by the time our 5 day stay was over, lamb ... and mutton was definitely off my menu for awhile. Ok... so Istanbul was months ago (end of April ... and still no posts from that trip up yet) and even then I surprised myself when I suggested trudging up to Dalston/Stoke Newington over the weekend for some grilled meat ... some Turkish grilled meat to be precise. It is a long way to trudge, something of which SM constantly reminded me of as we made our way there through Saturday evening traffic, but what's a few miles and a bit of light London traffic when there's such promise of good food? I think some true Malaysian colours are shinning bright from me :) Anything for a bit of delicious chow.

I had done my bit of research and was set on Mangal Ocakbaşı with its very decent online reviews. Not even a Saturday evening with queues of diners and rumbling tummies was going to deter me from this restaurant. Thank heavens the queue was short and we got a table within 10 minutes of arriving. As we waited we watched the man behind the grill work his magic - meat on, wait, turn meat, wait, turn meat, wait, meat off the grill - all this behind a huge plume of smoke. I take my hat off to him. He must go home stinking of grilled meat at the end of the night.

As soon as we sat down, a basket of bread was set down on the table. Judging from the other tables, this was the bread we were going to have to work with throughout the meal. Soft yet chewy at the same time it .... brilliant on an empty stomach and even more delicious with our order of ezme salata - finely chopped tomatoes, onions, parsley, chili and lemon juice. I absolutely adored this (remember my love for tomatoes?) ... tangy, refreshing .... what's not to like? Oooh .. maybe the the raw onions. What a strong lingering after taste.

I was pretty insistent on getting the lahmacun, which came thin,crip and topped with a right amount of minced lamb, onion and peppers. Very nice indeed but (shake your head if you must) even better with a nice big dollop of ezme salata. Perfect portions for a starter but not enough for me. I wanted more!

For a bit of everything, the mixed grill is a pretty good choice. For £13 there's a minced lamb kebab,a piece of lamb chop on the bone,a piece of lamb chop off the bone, cubed lamb and a chicken wing (fortunately/unfortunately you don't get the other boring chicken bits like chicken breast kebab). Served with a grilled tomato, grilled green chili and a mixed salad. For a couple of extra quid, the quail could be added to the mix. he lamb chops on the bone was probably the best of the mix, tender with just the right amount of fat and of course that bone to gnaw on. I found the chop off the bone had a little too much fat and the lamb cubes were cut just too small. The chicken wing was tender and juicy and oh so good. I sometimes forget how much I enjoy barbecued chicken on the bone.

Adding to our lamb fest, I ordered a portion of lamb chops on the bone (£9). The three large juicy pieces of lamb were served with the usual grilled tomato, grilled green chili and a mixed salad.

Mangal Ocakbaşı is not the sort of place that seduces you into staying too long. Space is tight, noise levels are high and there's almost always a group waiting eagerly for a table by the entrance. Here you eat, you drink (it's BYO if you want anything alcoholic) and then you make way for the next lot of diners. The service was brisk but not unfriendly. Some old timers have complained that Mangal Ocakbaşı has lost some of its charm since its popularity has soared over the last few years - heaven forbid,they have even introduced a menu! :) The food is wonderful and so worth the visit.

Mangal Ocakbaşı
10 Arcola Street, London E8 2DJ

Summer Dinners

Tom Yum Mussels with Garlic and Chili Pasta

The mussels were a spur of the moment purchase from a Chinese supermarket one weekend. I cooked them up with a tom yum spice mix I had brought back with me from Malaysia and tinned tomatoes. Loads of herbs I also picked up from the Chinese supermarket went in - coriander, dill and mint. Served with pasta simply tossed in olive oil, garlic and chili.

Chedder Stuffed Burgers with Courgette Crisps

I stupidly didn't consider the size of my roll when I shaped out these patties. Amateurish mistake! I was so focus on getting the meat to encase the ball of cheese I forgot about everything else. The patties turned out pretty darn good though - oozy melting cheese. Yum. The meat was flavoured with a myriad of different things I found in my cupboard, which is possibly why none of my food ever tastes the same twice :) The courgette crisps were made by deep frying thin long strips of corgettes coated in cornflour.

Full English

Well, not really a full English since I decided against eggs and bread but I got the hash browns that I had been thinking about. I won't take any credit for this meal as Stuart knocked it up in about 10 minutes flat.

Bacon Fried Rice

I had some rice sitting in the fridge, a pack of bacon I couldn't find room for in the freezer and a whole load of bits and bobs lying around. So fried rice it was and bacon just goes so well with just about anything, doesn't it?

Sweetcorn Fritters with a Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Someone mentioned sweetcorn to me in passing one day and I just knew I had to have sweetcorn fritters for dinner that very evening. I mixed up a batch of batter of flour, corn flour and an egg, seasoned it and added some cayanne pepper. I then added as much sweetcorn as the batter could hold. On hindsight I should have defrosted the sweetcorn before I added it to the mixture to avoid the huge sweetcorn clump. Yes, I know it's summer with an abundance of sweetcorn but sometimes I just want a pain free evening that frozen food offers. Served with a simple salad of chopped tomatoes and cucumber topped with olive oil and chili pepper flakes.

Roast Teriyaki Chicken Legs

I marinated a batch of chicken legs in teriyaki sauce, honey, black pepper and spring onions overnight. All I had to do the next day was to shove it all into the oven and dinner was ready 40 minutes later. Served with steaming hot rice, of course.

Grilled Mackeral with Thai Inspired Salad

The mackeral fillets were quickly grilled (about 3 minutes each side) and served with what I like to call a Thai inspired salad (thinking along the lines of the Thai papaya salad, som tam). Long shreds of courgette, carrot, red onion, tomatoes and coriander tossed in a dressing of fish sauce, chili, lime juice, sugar and garlic.

Macaroni in a Fresh Tomato Sauce with Burger Patties

I love summer for it's abundance of fruit and veg and none makes me smile more than the tomato. My tomato love affair is intensely passionate and if I could, I would probably add tomato to all the dishes I cook. I bought a huge batch the other week and I'm desperate to eat them before they go bad. What better way than a fresh tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic and basil. I also added some spinach to my boiled macaroni and fried up some sun dried tomato burger patties (cut up into bite size chunks) to serve with it.

Fried Kway Teow (Thai Style)

My food is frequently Thai style but never truely Thai. I just like borrowing elements from Thai cuisine - I love the freshness, the herbs, the flavour. This is a lot like phad thai but minus quite a few of the essential ingredients like tamarind juice, crushed peanuts, lime juice, etc. I boiled up some flat rice noodles (which I love over and beyond any other kinds of noodles and know it as kway teow or hor fun), fried up some chinese leaf, thinly sliced tomato, spring onion, shredded chicken, prawns and egg. I added the softened noodles to the mixture before flavouring the dish with fish sauce, oyster sauce and my secret ingredient, ketchup. I guess I'm just a big kid who never outgrew her taste for ketchup with almost anything :) Some rough torn basil leaves went in just before the final toss of the noodles for extra flavour.

Summer Treats - Amorino & Gelupo, Soho

I've gone a little ice cream mad lately. Actually not just any old ice cream but that lusciously beautiful stuff that the Italians are so proud of - gelato. I love ice cream, I LOVE dairy .... I could quite happily eat ice cream and whipped cream by the bucket load ... did someone mention clotted cream? Oh yeah ... bring on tub down with you.

Unfortunately, dairy don't love me.

Every now and then I turn a blind eye to this love-hate relationship and indulge for all its worth. First stop, Amorino on Old Crompton Street in Soho. I've poked my head in a couple of times for a good look at the lavishly displayed offerings and walking away with muttered reminders to return another day. Not that I've ever made it back for a tasting until DT showed up in London on a short notice holiday and suggested dinner. DT, it turns out, is a big ice cream fan so Amorino seemed like a pretty good dessert stop.

The back wall of Amorino is lined with glass cases filled with boxes of beautifully coloured sweets for sale but look at the price!

I stayed on the safe side and got myself a small tub and got my two favourites - Alphonso mango sorbet and hazelnut. I wasn't thinking of great combinations when I got those flavours mixed. I never miss out when there's Alphonso mango on the menu and well, I kinda love anything that has hazelnuts in it. Both flavours were good but I was hoping they would blow my head a way a little more than they did. It's pretty hard to get hazelnut wrong so that was fine but there just wasn't enough 'umph' to the mango. When you put the name Alphonso in front of mango, I expect a great big hit. Then again I sometimes do expect too much .....

DT got a large cup with crème caramel and pistachio (what I liked about this place is that the small cup size gets you 2 flavours and all the larger sizes gets you as many flavours as you wish to combine - cup sizes go up to XXL, I believe). The crème caramel was nice but got really sickly sweet after the second bite. Brilliant if you have a super sweet palate. Now the pistachio was a different story. It was SO good! An amazing revelation to me. You see I have spent all these years avoiding pistachio ice cream mainly because I thought it would be another case of good almond/bad almond. I like almonds as a nut but then something weird, bad and wrong happens when it's ground down, cooked, or whatever ... and I, well ... naively thought this would be the same for pistachios but it's not. It's so delicious with an almost meaty depth. So you have it ... a pistachio ice cream convert.

A few weeks later I was on the ice cream case again (even though my 'dairy hates me' consequences from my last ice cream stop had barely faded from memory). This time I wanted to try Gelupo, also located in Soho but this time located down the slightly seedier Archer Street opposite its sister restaurant, Bocca di Lupo. Gelupo is decorated along clean line with duck egg blue tiles, marble table tops and white painted floorboards. Unlike Amorino, their offerings of gelatos, sorbets and granitas hide beneath metel domes that are only revealed when you make an order. And here you pay per flavour not by cup size.

SM was quick to put in an order for blood orange granita and melon sorbet. Damn, those were my choices too! If I had to pick between melon and mango, the melon always wins. It's just so hard to find a place that does melon and does it well. But I'm adamant there will not be duplicate orders. I go for the espresso sorbet and after lots of 'ahhh-ing' settle for the hazelnut (of which I mentally kicked myself over and did berate SM for talking me out of getting the pistachio). I love my hazelnuts but I've had pistachio on my mind ever since I had it at Amorino.

SM's choices were an instant hit. The blood orange was amazing - mouth puckeringly tangy with an amazing hit of dense, full bodied blood orange . There is no such thing as watering down the flavours at Gelupo. The melon in contrast was mellow with great perfume. Considering the punch of the blood orange, the melon held it's own very well.

I'm officially in love with the espresso sorbet, which is apparently milk free ... but does this mean it's dairy free too?Not that it matters, I guess but it's one of those things that will niggle at the back of my mind until I find out. The sorbet is bitter and strong with just a twinge of sweetness to keep it in check. So, SO good. The hazelnut is good but with the discovery of the other flavours it is slightly sidelined. I think I may just have to give it a rest on my next ice cream trip. There is a whole world of amazing flavours to be tried. Rumour has it the avocado and honey is good, and there is even a rice flavour (I had it in Vietnam and it was pretty darn good).

I do believe I have a preference for Gelupo over Amorino. The flavours are whole lot more exciting and there is more heart in getting what they offer up to scratch. Food tastings aside, the service is much better at Gelupo too. Yes, I know it's an ice cream parlour with minimal interaction with staff but in those short minutes spent at the counter, efficient and friendly service makes all the difference. The servers at Amorino seem almost impatient with customers. No smile, haughty explanations of how their cup size system works and (almost) looks of disdain when recommendations were asked for. When I asked what one of the gelatos was (my Italian being non-existent, so the name tag meant nothing to me) he prattled out the name anyway and I asked him what it was exactly, there was a definite look of 'how can you not know what it is?'. Not good, not good at all ... My other gripe about Amarino is the odd queuing system - this place operates on pay first and get served later but the till is located at the far end of the room after the refrigerators housing the ice cream. So they make customers walk away from the goods they want to buy only to come back again later. This to-ing and fro-ing makes an already tiny space congested and confusing and somehow I don't believe the mind of the customer works the way they have set their operation out. By all means ensure your customers don't have to start queuing on the street but there really must be another way to all of this. Despite my grumblings I will quite happily return (I'll just have to ignore the appaling service). And believe me when I say thank heavens there are a few more decent ice cream places in central London. Not so long ago the best recommended was Scoop which I find to be pretty dire and have kept my distance ever since.

Amorino
41 Old Compton Street, London W1D 6HF
Web: www.amorino.com (there's a language choice of either French or Spanish)


Gelupo
7 Archer Street, London W1D 7AU
Web - www.gelupo.com