Sedap review (revisited) Old Street Malaysian food - still as good as ever and getting quite popular too

Address: 102 Old Street, London EC1V 9AV
Tel: 0207 4900 200
Nearest Tube station: Old Street

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £10 pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: **
Suitable for: small gatherings for people who can't survive without their laksa, chicken rice and beef rendang. Call to reserve if your group is larger than 4…. well, always call in advance







There are restaurants that are good and there are restaurants that remain consistently good. As time goes by things do change - the chefs are replaced, new managements take over, the menu and price change, and after awhile, these changes filter down and it reflects in the quality of food.

Sedap is one of those restaurants that maintains its standards since it first started business at Old Street.

SH, the guy who bought me a return ticket to Dublin earlier, flew into London for a week and we met up at Sedap for dinner a couple of days back. We ordered a Singapore Laksa, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Seafood Char Mee, with Malay Tofu as a starter, and teh tarik to wash it all down.

Sedap was packed. Though I wasn't surprised as there was a lack of decent Malaysian and Singaporean food near Old Street roundabout, what was interesting was that the clientele did not only comprised of people who grow up eating the cuisine and was rather broadbased.

As the food arrived and I began to snap pictures of them, the elderly English gentleman who sat next to our table exclaimed to his partner, "Look, he's taking pictures of every dish!". Upon knowing that I would writing a piece on Sedap, he replied, "Oh, be sure to mention that we love this place and make it a point to drop by at least twice per week!".

There was another table of three sitting near the exit. "When will you be opening a shop at Chelsea?" one of them asked Julie (the lady proprietor of Sedap) as she went by to take their orders. Though Chelsea was a tube ride away from Old Street, it was still quite something to travel across Central London for a restaurant and we were not talking about Yauatcha there.



The Malay Tofu (£3.90) was the Tauhu Goreng (fried tofu) that we were familiar with. The tofu was deep fried just enough such that the surface was crisp while interior remained soft. The oil wasn't recycled otherwise it would be obvious from the taste. The almost sweet curry layered over it went well with the crunchy beansprouts that came with the dish.



I got the feeling that the portion of chicken in Hainanese Chicken Rice (£7) had shrunken a bit. That dish never failed to bring me right back to my childhood when Dad and I would frequent that corner stall, which sold nothing but chicken rice, at Chinatown back home.

Few people realised that the essence of good poached chicken laid in the suppleness of its skin. To prevent its skin from falling apart, it was pertinent to immerse the entire boiled chicken into cold water before chopping it up. Sedap chicken rice, though on the pricey side, was more than palatable with the chilli and dark soy sauce.



There was nothing but praise for the Singapore Laksa (£6.80). Wife who considered herself an authority in laksas exclaimed that it was better than she remembered it to be. She generously spared me some (but not too much). People familiar with laksas would know that the dish could be quite heavy due to huge amount of coconut milk that went into preparing the gravy. Interestingly, Sedap's laksa was relatively lighter in taste. But I though it could do with some sliced vegetables though it wasn't normally added to the dish.



SH didn't mention anything about his Seafood Char Mee (£6.80) probably because we were all too busy with catching up. But he didn't say anything bad about it, and knowing him, that would most likely to be a compliment.

Even though we were pretty filled up, we had to order some Nonya kueh at £2 per portion of three pieces. Till this day, I'm surprised at how the kueh is almost never mentioned on the menu. I mean, people who are new to the cuisine won't come to know of it. It may just be as well because Sedap's kuehs are all handmade and there is a limited supply each day. If the word gets out, there may not be enough to go around.

When it comes to good food, I'm totally selfish.

Read More......

Yauatcha review (revisited) - London dimsum restaurant with menu watered down and price jacked up

K wasn't impressed. It was probably our fault. Afterall, it was us who persuaded him to go all the way to Soho to try out the Michelin starred Chinese dimsum restaurant. Then again, K wasn't the only one disappointed.


Macarons gone and replaced by... tea sets

We hadn't visited Yauatcha for quite some time and there were some changes since then. First, the trays of macarons that made Yauatcha unique were gone and in their place sat some display teapot sets. The menu went through some major overhaul; intersting items such as the fried almond prawns, more exotic soups and a host of others were removed, those remained had their prices jacked up - the Penang fried kuay tiao had its price increased from under £9 to over £11.50. Most cheung fun were going for around £6.50 per serving.


Pickles to whet your appetite and chilli oil goes well with steamed dimsum

We wondered whether the price increase was justified in the Penang fried kuay tiao and were dismayed to find out that other than its price, the dish remained the same in terms of quality and quantity.


Sticky rice in lotus leaf (£4.80) handy for filling up your stomach without too much grease

The Char siew buns (£3.50) were still as good. Though their size could be bigger, the fillings were definitely way better than any of those I had tasted in London.


Have a beancurd cheung fun and you'll never want any others

We agreed unanimously that the Beancurd cheung fun (£6.50) was the highlight in the meal. Yauatcha was the only dimsum restaurant that I had come across to add soy sauce to the dish only after serving it at the table - the rest had them premixed. That prevented the saltiness from being overwhelming so that the freshness of its fillings would be apparent.


Pan fried turnip cake (£5.50) - a bit pricy but another stomach filler, crispy surface with mushy and light interior

Service was efficient and polite as ever but I couldn't help but notice that there were more empty tables than usual for a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps the dismal weather had something to do with it but I wouldn't be surprised that Yauatcha's price hike had turned away some of its regulars.

Address: 15 Broadwick Street, London W1F 0DL
Tel: 020 7494 8888
Nearest Tube stations: Oxford Circus, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £25 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ****
Suitable for: leisure late afternoon tea with groups of three, never four because most dimsum portions come in three

Read More......

Di Monforte review - London Islington Italian restaurant, friendly service with a mean seafood spaghetti

Address:
70 - 72 Liverpool Road, London N1 0QD
Tel: 020 7226 1475
Nearest Tube station: Angel

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £20 pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: ****
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
Suitable for: groups of four and above, definitely not for quiet romantic dinners.








A pal asked for a casual Italian ristorante in Angel Islington and after much deliberation, I asked her to try Tenore Pizzeria.

She called me after that and thanked me for the recommendation. Halfway through the conersation I realized she was talking about a different restaurant altogether. She was in fact referring to Di Monforte, which is in the same vicinity but along Liverpool Road. Apparently, she took a wrong turn and stumbled into Di Monforte.

After her raves about the Di Monforte experience, we decided to give it a shot one Thursday evening. I called at 6.30pm and managed to get a table for two at 8pm without much fuss. Then again, it was a weekday.

Anyway, there were some delays on the Tube (always blame it on the Tube, people will actually sympathise with you) and were were nearly 30min late.

I pushed through the door and a somewhat distinguished looking gentleman immediately came striding over from the bar. Upon confirming that we did have a reservation, he showed us to our table just round the corner from the bar.

I couldn't help but noticed that the background music (no vocals, just a very loud electric guitar and lots of drums) was playing quite loudly. Didn't thought much of it but it became somewhat unbearable towards the end of the dinner that we actually cancelled out desserts just to get out of the restaurant.


Fresh scallops wrapped in bacon with olive oil sprinkled on it, enough said.

A pity really considering that the sea scallops wrapped in Italian pancetta on a bed of courgette (£6.50), though could not compare with that at Hawksmoor, the accompanying bacon added a interesting dimension to the otherwise relatively bland scallop. But I must maintain that the scallops were quite fresh and the courgette went down well with them.


Spaghetti done nicely with generous serving of seafood

Spaghetti al Scoglio Monforte (£13.50) - spaghetti with seafood sauteed in white wine and garlic was definitely one of the more satisfying seafood spaghettis I had ever tasted. The mussels, oysters and clams (especially mussels) were juicy and the full garlic flavour(not raw mind you) was oozing from the concotion. Though I must add that the single prawn was a tad overcooked.


Cabonara - tasted heavenly but was overpriced

Tagliatelle with wild mushroom bacon n cream sauce (£12) was essentially glorified tagliatelle carbonara. Though the consistency of the cream was tastefully done, I thought that they could be more generous with the mushroom (there mushroom bits were barely discernable).

There was a irrepressible young waiter who was literally all over the place taking orders. As Di Monforte began to fill up, the service became noticeably slower. Our dinner took almost two hours. To give that waiter some credit, he was unfailingly polite and good humoured, and managed to placate everyone.

By the time we finished our mains, i was dying to get out of the place as the loud music was starting to give me a headache. I wasn't the only one who think so - the guy seated in the table next to ours asked a waiter, "What kind of music is this? Sounds like a live rock conert going on!'

I left Di Monforte wondering how their tiramisu tasted like. Oh well.

Read More......

Joy King Lau review - London Chinatown version of Yum Cha dimsum, cheap and decent (for the price)

Address: 3 Leicester Street
London, WC2H 7BL
Tel: 020 7437 1132
Nearest Tube station: Leicester Square

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £10 pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ***
Service: **
Ambience: *
Suitable for: affordable venue for a quick dimsum fix








What kind of name is that? I asked myself. Joy King Lau sounds like Chinese takeaway to me and I would probably never step into it - for dim sum anyway. In fact, I almost didn't until Kai mentioned Joy King Lau in passing when I exclaimed that I told him about Yum Cha.

"Cheap and good dim sum? Why travel all the way to Camden Town when there's already one in Leicester Square?". Not his exact words but close enough.

So we were off to Joy King Lau over the weekend. To be honest, we were a bit apprehensive as we read about how bad the service could even thought the dim sum was decent enough. We stepped into the restaurant on that rainy afternoon with rock bottom expectations.

Long story short, it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was comparable to Yum Cha in most respects.

The ground floor of the five storey restaurant was only half filled when we took to our tables. Even before we sat down, the waitress was flipping two teacups onto our tables and filling them up with a pot of tea - so we weren't really talking about gourmet tea there.

There was not much ambience to speak about - definitely not a place to bring someone for a romantic date. Then again, that wasn't the main concern, the food was. Most of the dim sum on the menu were priced at £2.10 per serving, which was comparable to Yum Cha although there was no discount provided unlike the latter.


Fried dough cheung fun was a letdown

We were a bit disappointed with the Fried Dough Cheung Fun as the fried dough wasn't fresh and was chewy (left exposed to air for too long) instead of crispy.


Char siew buns tasted a bit wierd 

The same could be said to the Char Siew Buns as well. We thought that the taste was a bit 'off' as the sweetness was really artificial.


Fried turnip cake scored

The fried turnip cake was a definite winner - its surface was crispy yet not overdone and the interior retained its fluffiness. The accompanying chilli oil was just right for the dish. Note that that was one dish that had to be taken hot as the oil would get to you when it turned cold. 


Wanton noodle better than that at Cha Cha Moon

The noodles in the Wanton Noodles was done nicely, much better than the one that we had at Cha Cha Moon. However, my lunch mate wasn't too enthusiastic about the dumplings. She insisted that there was too much fatty pork in them though I found them just to my liking.


Almost as good as the ones at Yum Cha

The egg tarts were comparable to Yum Cha. Instead of three small ones, you get two (much) larger pieces. The tarts were just as crusty though I prefer the custard over at Yum Cha. The Har Gau was a bit rubbery but arrived piping hot. For just over two quid, it was decent.


Almond sago on the watery side

For desserts, we ordered almond sago. It arrived icy cold even though we asked for a warm portion. After realising that, the waitress promptly popped the entire bowl into a microwave and it was back to our table again two minutes later. The almond sago could be a little thicker though it was just sweet enough.

Would I bother to travel all the way to Camden Town for cheap (and decent) dim sum in London? Don't think so, not after I have one that is right in the centre of London's Chinatown even though it sounds like a local Chinese takeaway.

Read More......

Hazev review Canary Whaf Turkish food - affordable cuisine with friendly service

Good food cheers me up, especially one that is reasonably priced and comes with excellent service. After introducing K to Puji Puji during his visit to London, he returned the favour by asking me to meet up with him lunch at Hazev, the new Turkish restaurant that opens up at Heron Quay, right across the footbridge from central Canary Wharf.


Other than a full restaurant, Hazev host a deli beside it as well

The place was bustling when we arrived at around 1pm. It must be the lunch deals (most under £10 per person for two courses) that Hazev is currently offering. The waiter held the door open with a wide grin and quickly showed us to our table. Though the place was packed, the number of waiters rushing around was more than adequate for the lunch time crowd. There was no flustering and the entire place was like a well oiled machine.

We opted for the Sahan Menu and I chose Sahan Humus as starter and Chicken Shish for mains. Like most decent Turkish restaurants, Hazev served complementary Turkish bread and olives. But unlike most, it comes with soft white cheese as well, which went extremely well with the soft scented Turkish bread.


Humus that went delightfully well with soft Turkish bread

Though the humus was nothing to shout about, the highlight has to be the shish. K ordered lamb and offered to trade some for my chicken, which I did without missing a beat. While it's hard to roast chicken without toughening it, it's more so for lamb. Hazev did both to perfection.


Chicken shish and the marvelous chilli sauce on its side (top left corner)

The spice sparsely sprinkled on the chicken and lamb shish added to the aroma to the nicely done meat. Not only that, the Hazev's chilli sauce was defintely one of the better ones that I have tasted. It wasn't too spicy - just enough to give a subtle tinging sensation to your tongue, and came with a generous servings of chopped up tomatoes and other vegetables. We asked for additional chilli sauce and a waiter promptly scooped up two huge spoonfuls from a large bowl without batting an eyelid - wouldn't be surprised if they had been getting similar requests regularly.

It's apparent that Hazev is competing for the same lunch crowd with a number of restaurants and eateries in the Canary Wharf area. But unlike the Marriot's Curve, there is a real danger of not being able to get a table here.

Address: Discovery Dock West, 2 South Quay Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 9RT
Tel: 020 7515 9467
Nearest DLR station: Heron Quay

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: below £15 pp
Service charge:
Taste: ****
Service: *****
Ambience: ***
Suitable for: Canary Wharf workers looking for a great lunch deal

Read More......