London Livin'

The closest restaurant you will get to Singaporean Chinese food if I can consider my family’s tastebuds singaporean Chinese. Slippery smooth wanton skin from our ala carte wanton soup; ingredient laden soup base for the buffet steamboat. At £24++/pax for the buffet you usually gorge yourselves towards the end with consistently fresh flows of 料; be prepared to only leave when you have been stuffed silly.

These were different- from a critical perspective: stalely chewy; from a kind perspective distinctly different with the mild tasting but chewy ricotta- “almost ready to be mistaken for Halloumi” as the main ingredient.
Honeycomb butter and bananas were well executed without complains- they started a flavour party up till the pancakes 😳 where I become confounded as to whether I was a fan of such pancakes altogether.

This was before I had a Big Mac yesterday so to say this was a better version of Macdonalds or “Macdonalds on steroids” is unsatisfactory. While the beef patties are similarly thinner to I believe, allow easier mouthfuls, and some ingredients are of a similar profile; all similarities ends here. The burger is delicious, hearty with a variety choice of tasty add ons: we had grilled mushrooms, onions and more. The soft sesame buns were a contrast from the stale bread I had from my Big Mac; as the tasty and fresh patties compared to the rubbery, unpalatable Big Mac patties.
Might be a one-off bad order from the Golden Arches but Five Guys Burgers along with their signature potato cut fries is of a premium and distinct league in the fast food industry. Personally paying extra pounds for a good burger might mean having burgers less frequently, and truly as a #treatyourself. An excellent proposition for various reasons.

That food experience when you are all set to roll out rhapsodies of praises knowing the place is on the Michelin guide, only to end up trying your best to find outstanding elements of the meal.

Came here because mum was craving familiar food- after 3.5 months in England (and around Europe); we succumbed to Chinese food. While the slightly translucent XLB skin looked promising, it is stickier and chewier than expected. The addition of ginger to the spicy pork filling was wise- ensuring wrapped pockets of delicious odour-less XLB. As for the dumpling skin and 手工面 used for the zhajiang noodles; while it was undeniable they were handmade, the evident inconsistent in thickness of both flour produce were starkly unpleasant. The use of ketchup/ tomato sauce in the supposedly spicy zhajiang sauce was unusually as well, we suspect to appease the English palates.

P.S: Pardon the unintended feature of ringed hand 2

That food experience when you are all set to roll out rhapsodies of praises knowing the place is on the Michelin guide, only to end up trying your best to find outstanding elements of the meal.

Came here because mum was craving familiar food- after 3.5 months in England (and around Europe); we succumbed to Chinese food. While the slightly translucent XLB skin looked promising, it is stickier and chewier than expected. The addition of ginger to the spicy pork filling was wise- ensuring wrapped pockets of delicious odour-less XLB. As for the dumpling skin and 手工面 used for the zhajiang noodles; while it was undeniable they were handmade, the evident inconsistent in thickness of both flour produce were starkly unpleasant. The use of ketchup/ tomato sauce in the supposedly spicy zhajiang sauce was unusually as well, we suspect to appease the English palates.

“I am satisfied by simple things” is what these perfectly golden discs above made me believe. Nothing really beats American-styled warm, soft pancakes that are good on their own and just they way I would like it. One should also take note of the savory characteristic of the pancake batter here; we believe explains why most if not all other tables around us had savory pancake dishes instead of sweet.

P.S: Pardon the unintended feature of ringed hand

Was looking forward to my first time trying French Galette (essentially buckwheat thin pancake), very happy I didn’t have to break the bank for it when I remember a cozy french cafe back home on Seah Street serving them at SGD20+. Our 2 pax set meal was a worthwhile £28 for 2 galettes, 2 sweet crepe and a bottle of cider.
Our 2 savouries came out a little charred but crisp; ingredients were delicious and harmonious. Overall the buckwheat Galette was slightly overdone but interesting.
As for the sweet crepes- poached apples were tougher that expected but could be easily coated by vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. For a child like saccharine option- La Henri Dès will feel like a chosen answer.
Overall, I was pleased with both our french thin pancakes remembering it being a first Galette experience.

Was looking forward to my first time trying French Galette (essentially buckwheat thin pancake), very happy I didn’t have to break the bank for it when I remember a cozy french cafe back home on Seah Street serving them at SGD20+. Our 2 pax set meal was a worthwhile £28 for 2 galettes, 2 sweet crepe and a bottle of cider.
Our 2 savouries came out a little charred but crisp; ingredients were delicious and harmonious. Overall the buckwheat Galette was slightly overdone but interesting.
As for the sweet crepes- poached apples were tougher that expected but could be easily coated by vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. For a child like saccharine option- La Henri Dès will feel like a chosen answer.
Overall, I was pleased with both our french thin pancakes remembering it being a first Galette experience.

3 variation of my favourite food in the world; sesame white bread, ribboned like brioche and white pita bread. All were excellent on their own but deliciously savoury when you cut up the feta and pile it on the fresh bread. Take your pick which- but I personally liked having the ribboned brioche like choice on its own- with its slightly sweet nature.

Enchanting combination of flavours- the huge scoop of smooth cream cheese was a delight to pair with the crisp pastry base, almonds, blueberries and honey. This unique rendition of “cheesecake” makes it memorable. Another key factor was the minimal drizzles of Essex honey; yet surprisingly incorporated into many bites of the pure cream cheese adding a naturally sweet note.
Overall worth ordering and it leaves me tempted to try the alluring display of desserts/cakes selection on the counter.

Priding themselves as “proper burgers”- their patties is a combination of 3 different parts of beef. Sadly I was disappointed by my burger; probably because the waiter got my order wrong when I would rather a medium patty. Reason being- a fear that medium well would be too dry, which materialised unfortunately.
Nothing could redeem the main point of the burger- a good patty. I might have been at the wrong outlet at the wrong time and this could be a one off thing but with so many other better burger joints around, I do not foresee a re visit soon.

Cafe brunch grub for a weekend! I was very excited to devour my pancakes 🥞, they were dense and cakey; perfect for a greedy stomach. As accomplices think rich butter like mascarpone and thick viscous salted caramel sauce that was scarce amongst 3 pancakes. Oh and the sadly forgettable cardboard bacon than was limp tasting and/yet oily.

For a pure savoury option, the background brunch plate screamed “thick English Sio Bak” making me miss home a little. The entire dish was deceptively small portioned but nothing but filling- with the house baked sourdough and potato hash browns as highlights.