Hakkasan review - London best dimsum, no questions about that

Address: 8 Hanway Place,
London W1T 1HD
Tel: 020 7927 7000
Nearest Tube station: Goodge Street,
Tottenham Court Road (closed till 25th Nov 2011)

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £30pp
Service charge: 12.5%
Taste: *****
Service: ****
Ambience: *****
This is a guest post by TT. A regular guest blogger of both London Chow and London Expat, she loves her siew mai and har kaw. 

A good meal makes me happy and a recent meal at Hakkasan made my day. It had been eons since I was last there and I had forgotten how good its dim sum was. Thanks to some friends who just arrived in town and who wanted to try its one Michelin star cuisine I was reacquainted with the delights from Hakkasan.

Every dish I had there exceeded my expectations save perhaps for the fried rice with salted fish and egg which while perfectly acceptable paled in comparison to the dim sum dishes. The turnip cake was excellent, crispy and yet not oily with just a hint of spice. The vegetarian cheong fun stuffed with you tiao (fried dough) was the best I had, the silky smooth cheung fun and its crispy stuffing bringing out the best in each other. The scallop siew mai and the har kaw (prawn dumplings) were succulent, the stuff of a seafood lover's dream.

We were bursting at the seams but couldn't leave the restaurant without trying it's desserts. I loved my deserts and was pleased to find that Hakksan had a large selection though mostly of the western variety. It had just 3 Chinese deserts - white fungus soup, custard buns either steamed or fried and black sesame balls. We went for the fried custard buns which took some time to arrive, probably because they were prepared only when ordered. They were a real treat with the crispy chewy dough perfectly complementing the sweet custard.

Service was attentive and while I know there are people who like their dim sum in a more traditional setting, Hakkasan's sleek moody decor appeals to me. Excellence comes at a price, the average price hovering around £5. Alas price tags like these meant that a meal at Hakkasan will be for that special occasion, I will have to make do with Royal China for my dim sum fix.

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Madam Chi review - Upper Street coffee and wine lounge, a quiet place to chill

Address: 187 Upper Street,
London N1 1RQ
Tel: 020 8045 4202
Nearest Tube station: Highbury & Islington

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £10pp (cake and drink)
Service charge: N/A
Taste: N/A
Service: **
Ambience: ***
With Blue Legume opening up along Islington Upper Street, buggies tottering mothers are hanging out further away from Angel and towards Highbury and Islington station. Madam Chi, that has started business moments away from Highbury and Islington station is set to ride on the trend.

Serving cakes, tea and even wines, Madam Chi is perfect for hanging out for a lazy afternoons. With a sign that indicating that baby changing facility is available within, Madam Chi clearly targets stay at home parents. However, as it can only be found in the ladies toilet cubicle, I'm afraid it's only for mothers, sorry fathers. Not only that, the stairs to the second floor where the changing facility is are rather steep, not at all good if you are struggling with a baby unhappy about her wet nappies.

Apologies for dwelling on the baby change facility but that was what got us into Madam Chi in the first place. We saw shelves of books within only to find out that it was the wallpaper. There were some backdated magazines (Bazaar and Vogue I think) and even remnants of an encyclopedia set in case anyone would like to educate themselves about 'Opera' and 'Olympus, Mount' while they have their tea.



The slice of carrot cake that we got had a bit too much icing for our liking. But for those with a sweet tooth, I would say go for it. That, with a white chocolate truffle and a pot of breakfast tea thrown in set us back by £8.90.

With soft pop music playing in the background and free wifi, this is indeed a good place to chill. A bit more privacy can be had on the first floor seating area. From the looks of it, Madam Chi seems to be targeting parents with toddlers in the afternoon and those looking for a drink in the evening. An unlikely combination but who knows? Madam Chi might just pull it off.

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Sen Viet review King's Cross Road - decent Vietnamese fare served with a smile

Address: 119 King's Cross Road,
London WC1X 9NH
Tel: 020 7278 2881
Nearest Tube station: King's Cross

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £15pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ***
Service: *****
Ambience: ***
We were at MC's place for dinner one evening when he brought out some Vietnamese noodle soup that he got from a local takeaway. While I didn't get a chance to sample it - the dinner was a spread, Wife kept on telling me how good it was after the meal and I had to ask MC for the contact details just to placate her. MC was traveling then and didn't have the number or the address but he gave us the name - Sen Viet and it's located just next to Thai Aubergine.

When we eventually find Sen Viet along King's Cross Road, its somewhat dismayed facade gave no hint of its clean cut and almost swanky interior (with Mariah Carey's Hero playing in the background) I could hardly be blamed to think that everything looked brand new because they actually are. Barely a month old, Sen Viet was already getting a steady stream of customers, many of whom were first timers.

The staff's service was friendly to a fault. They did their best to strike up a conversation whenever possible. Though LO was a bit grumpy as her nap time beckoned, the staff did their best to placate her and even warned me that their blender was going to be rather loud (making my avocado milkshake no less).



I took a quick glance at Sen Viet's menu and was pleased to note that its prices (£6.50 for a large pho or bun, £4 for a bahn mi) were very reasonable. We didn't have to wait long for our orders to arrive. Wife's bun bo hue (spicy noodle soup) £6.50 came with thick vermicelli noodles in one of those broth with a tinge of spice but a strong heaty aftertaste. I thought that the beef slices could be a bit fresher but Wife was lapping it all up with nothing much praise.



I fell in love with bun when i first had it at Song Que. The Sen Viet's bun thit nuong (rice vermicelli) £6.50 came with chargrilled beef with the elusive 'smoky' aroma. Bits of peanuts added the much needed crunch to the stirred mixed dish. While the dish looked more put together, it lacked the grittiness of Song Que's. Also, I thought that the beef could do with less tenderizer.



We were still feeling a bit peckish after we were done and ordered some crispy rolls (£4). Sen Viet's version came with more generous fillings. I thought it was a bit too densely packed though and the freshness just didn't come through.

A small cup of condensed milk accompanied the hot Vietnamese coffee (£2). It was a bit too thick for our liking so much so that we requested for the coffee to be diluted halfway through. But I was certain that the original concentration would be exactly the way the locals halfway round the world would have liked it.



Sinh to bo (avocado smoothies) £2.50 was an apt round up for the meal. Blended with condensed milk, the smoothie was thick yet not overwhelming, there was also no hint of any crushed ice in the concoction.

Sen Viet was also the first Vietnamese restaurant in London that served a dainty cup of tea at the end of the meal. When asked what it was, a staff grinned and replied that it was 'Vietnamese tea'. A nice touch indeed. Did I mention that Sen Viet is currently offering a 10% discount for students?

Before Sen Viet opening up at King's Cross Road, the nearest decent Vietnamese restaurant from us would be those along Old Street (Cay Tre) and Kingsland Road (Song Que and the lot). We were quite keen on Sen Viet's delivery services initially only to find out that it no longer deliver beyond King's Cross vicinity as 'its driver has left permanently' whatever that meant. Well, until Sen Viet gets a new driver, I guess we would have to make our way down for our pho and bun.

Beside relatively decent fare, Sen Viet's greatest strength would be its ever so friendly service. And I can see us returning repeatedly just because of that. Let's hope that the staff wouldn't get jaded in a hurry.

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Gail's Bakery review - Exmouth Market breakfast scene upped a notch

Address: 33-35 Exmouth Market,
London EC1R 4QL
Tel: 020 7713 6550
Nearest Tube station: Farringdon

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below £15pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: ***
Our love affair with sourdough bread and clam chowder was rekindled after our trip to San Francisco. While we didn't get a chance to have that at Pier 33, I would often meet Wife at Boudin Sourdough Bakery and Cafe at Macy's.

Back in London, tried as we did, we just can't find any restaurants serving sourdough bread and clam chowder. Then we chanced upon Gail's at Exmouth Market, which specializes in sandwiches, pastries, cakes and more notably - gourmet breads. A sizable loaf of "San Francisco style sourdough bread" enough to last for at least two meals goes for just over £3. With that, we are good to go with ap can of clam chowder (99p) from Waitrose.

After a week of so of getting our bread from Gail's, we decided to check out its breakfast menu instead. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the interior dining area was much larger (with a skylight for natural lighting no less) than it appeared to be from the outside. Other than a row of low tables, there was a huge workman table that could seat more than ten diners. With temperature getting warmer, Gail's had also set out a small outdoor dining area.



I went for the first item on its breakfast menu - roast field mushrooms, baby spinach, melted taleggio and a fried egg on toasted bread (£8.50). I don't think I have eaten a better field mushroom ever and the taleggio melted over it played no small role. I almost loathed to share that with Wife, they were that good. The breakfast item was one of the examples where simple items just come together nicely with the field mushrooms (yes, with melted taleggio). I would actually opt for this than the usual fare I get from Caravan that Is a few doors down.



Wife went for the brioche French toast with poached rhubarb, vanilla and citrus ricotta (£5.95). I couldn't help but compare it with the French toast at Ottolenghi. Given a choice, I would go for the vanilla ricotta anytime. It just goes much better with eggy toast than Ottolenghi's creme fraiche. The rhubarb added an interesting twist as well.



Gail's doesn't have the roasted coffee and the large outdoor seating of Caravan, neither does it have the variety and audacity of Ottolenghi but what it does, it does really well. We left Gail's with a smile, knowing that we have found ourselves yet another breakfast place that's for keeps.

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New Asia review - San Francisco Stockton Street dimsum from a bygone era

Photo by davidsilver

Address: 772 Pacific Ave,
San Francisco, CA 94133
Tel: (415) 391-6666

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below $20pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ****
Service: ***
Ambience: ***
This is a series of reviews done up for my trip to San Francisco. I figure that since I have to eat, I might as well write about it. Enjoy!

I was told that San Francisco houses the largest Chinese Cantonese community in USA and a dim sum breakfast is a must have for any visitors. This time round, we give the more expensive Yank Sing (check spelling) at Rincon Tower a miss and went to the other end of the scale at the heart of Chinatown instead.

New Asia (an unlikely name for one of the most popular dim sum restaurants for the locals), sits at Pacific Avenue and Stockton Street.

It was quite clear when I stepped in that it belonged to the era where cinemas were the only places one could catch movies, bell bottom jeans were the rage and fast food had yet to entrench itself in the culinary scene. New Asia had seen better days, no doubt about that. The first floor was closed when we were there that morning at half eight and the ground floor was slowly being filled up. There was a xi (happiness in Chinese) character permanently placed on a wall. That must be for the occasional weddings or birthday parties still being held at New Asia that can easily sits hundreds.

I always have a penchant for the old style dim sum restaurants where they serve everything in trolleys filled with hot steaming tapas styled delicacies. It must be the times spent at the now defunct Tai Zi Lou along Selegie Road back home when I was a kid. Siew mai, char siew bao, har gao, chee cheong fun, lor mai gai - the dim sum staples, all seem to taste much better when they are served out from a steaming pushcart. To the untrained eye, the only inkling of what is contained in the pushcart is the constant calling of the waitress behind it.

Never mind that LO was fussing around when we settled down at a far end of the great dining hall, my eyes were darting frantically in anticipation of the next pushcart laden with fresh dim sum pushed out from the kitchen. I was a kid again. "Char siew bao (roast pork bun)!" I called out to a waitress who acknowledged with a friendly grin and a quick nod. The moment she laid down the bamboo steamer, I was waving my hands at the lady pushing the chee cheong fun (rice noodle wrap) cart. Before long, the entire table was filled and Wife gave me the all too familiar wary look.

Out of the dim sum that we (or I to be more precise) ordered, the char siew bao with the enough fatty meats in it left a deep impression. The siew mai (steamed pork dumplings) came highly recommended by the travel guide stuffed in my back pocket and they were easily the most fatty ones that I have ever come across - just the way I like it. The fillings were packed loosely unlike many of the dim sum restaurants in London that serve reheated frozen packs that one can easily get from supermarket shelves. Lor mai gai (glutinous rice with chicken) came with, yes, fatty chinese sausages - heavenly. I thought that the cheong fun's skin and the egg tarts' crusts could be thinner though.

The old style dim sum restaurant is probably the equivalent of parisian sidewalk coffee shops. You could literally spend half a day people watching while nibbling at arteriole clogging dim sum downed with tea (there were no choices of tea being offered, New Asia just had 'tea'). In New Asia, you could do that under the odd combination of plasticly looking chandeliers and two gaudy good pillars in the middle of the hall.

After two hours at the corner of ours, I couldn't help but notice that there were really just four main categories of people that morning and possibly every single morning. There were those old couples who probably got so used to each other that they have absolutely nothing to talk about, staring into thin space and having their breakfast in silence. Then you have the singles who came with a full set of newspapers. Sitting on a table meant for four on their own, they are prepared to last for the entire morning. There would invariably be groups of friends. These are the jovial ones who probably meet regularly for mahjong, chess or simply trading gossips. Finally, you have the families with at least three generations with the grandparents looking a tad weary, parents looking somewhat cross and children fidgety.

I wouldn't be surprised if New Asia is a lifeline to those who still clings onto an era that they grew up in and thus familiar with. In fact, if I were live in the lovely city, I could see myself dropping by every now and then. New Asia might be from a bygone era but I suspect there is a bit of it in everyone of us sitting there that morning.

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New Ming's San Francisco Mission Street's "economic noodles"

Address: 641 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: (415) 227-4798

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below $10pp (for takeaway)
Service charge: N/A
Taste: **
Service: N/A
Ambience: N/A
This is a series of reviews done up for my trip to San Francisco. I figure that since I have to eat, I might as well write about it. Enjoy!

One thing that I like about short overseas working stints is that you would normally be put up near the office itself to minimise travel time. Not that I have any issue about that as I do fancy taking a stroll back to my accommodation to chill during lunch hour and still back it back with time to spare. Or I can do lunch takeaway and not having to jostle for space in the office cafeteria.

"You'll like the chinese restaurant just round the corner," Wife murmured when I was wolfing down the pork katsu curry from JapaCurry one afternoon. I paused my assault on the pork katsu for the briefest of moments. "Well," she continued, "their wanton noodles was good though, I tried it yesterday." She got me hooked at the mere mention of wanton noodles, the half demolished Japanese curry laid in front of me seemed to have lost its allure. Darn, she does know the right buttons to push. On the bright side, I got my lunch plans the following day all planned out.

Or so I thought.

What she didn't tell me was that New Ming's Restaurant located along Mission Street (and New Montgomery) does "economic noodles" as well. I'm sure there's a more decent name for it but economic noodles (or jing ji mian in Mandarin) is the name that it's known for back home. It essentially comprises of a main noodle (sometimes rice or rice vermicelli) portion, often pre-tossed in soy sauce and comes with a choice of side dishes from a variety all laid out behind a glass cabinet counter. The final price depends on what side dishes or more precisely, whether they belong to a meat or vegetable category; a choice of two vegetable side dishes will cost much lesser than another with two meats.

So I promptly decided to give the wanton noodle a miss and promptly went for a meat (sesame chicken) and two vegetables (broccoli and tofu with long beans) to go with soy sauce tossed noodles (just under $9). With a silly grin on my face, I marched up to my apartment and settle down for lunch.

Truth to be told, New Ming's Restaurant's economic noodles was nothing to shout about. The noodles was bland at best, chicken was under-seasoned, broccoli and tofu are, well, broccoli and tofu. However, economic noodles, as the name implies, is never haute cuisine. The dish itself is a triumph of quantity over quality. Simply put, it is meant for people whose primary aim is to stuff down as much food through their gut at the shortest possible time.

And that was exactly what I did that afternoon. It felt exactly like when I had to finish my lunch (no prizes for guessing what it was) before hopping onto the ferry to Pulau Tekong in my army days. Boy, was it satisfying. Sadly I didn't get a chance to return for New Ming's Restaurant's wanton noodle so I'll just have to take Wife's word that they are good.

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Tan Po Po - Ramen in San Francisco Japan Town, soupy comfort with a smile

Address: 1740 Buchanan Street
San Francisco CA 94115-3209
Tel: (415) 346-7132

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below $15pp (without drinks)
Service charge: discretionary
Taste: ***
Service: ****
Ambience: ***
This is a series of reviews done up for my trip to San Francisco. I figure that since I have to eat, I might as well write about it. Enjoy!

One of the regrets from my stay in San Francisco is that I didn’t actually get a chance to pay the Japan Town a visit. As our accommodation come with a fully functional kitchen, we were looking forward to prepare some meals on our own every now and then. Other than Chinatown (San Francisco apparently has one of the largest in the US), where else is a better place to source for Asian groceries than Japan Town itself?

Actually, we did get manage to squeeze in two visits to Japan Town albeit late at night for dinner when all the stores were closed. Our first visit was to Doobu (or Tofu House) set right in the heart of Japan Town. A Korean colleague of mine, on our behest, brought us there for dinner and apparently, he was pointed there by his Korean contacts. The meal went into a blur of beer and barbecue meats but I did recall that Doobu’s seafood tofu soup was a masterpiece.

The same week, after suffering from noodle soup withdrawal, we were back at Japan Town. This time round, after consulting Yelp (which is quite an authority in the Bay area), we settled on Tan Po Po, which sits directly opposite Doobu.

Tan Po Po’s layout was that of a mini bar cum restaurant with its bar taking centre stage. A large LCD TV was perched just behind the bartender and was tuned to the US equivalent of Takeshi Castle. With their eyes fixed onto the TV, two couples were slurping through their ramen. With a couple of families (yes, kids and all) occupying the main seating area, Tan Po Po had this relaxing and laid back feel about it.


miso ramen


karamiso ramen with karaage chicken

Fully staffed by ethnic Japanese, the service was efficient and all smiles. We went for the miso ramen ($9) and karamiso ramen ($9) topped up with karaage chicken (additional $2). While I can’t exactly remember what was the difference between miso ramen and karamiso ramen (I was that hungry), the hot piping meal was definitely one of the more satisfying ones that we had in San Francisco. However, I did recall that that the generous slice of barbecue pork that came with the ramen had just the right amount of fat and the tinge of sweetness went well with the savory soup base.

I’m heading straight to Tan Po Po if I were to visit San Francisco again. Nothing comforts more than a bowl of miso noodle soup especially with the chilly winds outside.

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JapaCurry - San Francisco Japanese katsu curry, one of the best katsu curry

Address: various locations
Contact: info@japacurry.com

Ratings (out of 5 *)
Price: Below $10pp
Service charge: N/A
Taste: ****
Service: N/A
Ambience: N/A (takeaway)
This is a series of reviews done up for my trip to San Francisco. I figure that since I have to eat, I might as well write about it. Enjoy!

I am surprised to find that one of my favourite eats in San Francisco actually comes in the form of a truck. We first stumbled upon Japa Curry when it was stationed along near Mission St and New Montgomery St. We promptly joined the queue and got ourselves a pork katsu curry each.

At $8.90 (no other taxes), Japa Curry's pork katsu curry was a sizable portion - perfect for big eaters, not mention that it would almost certainly induce drowsiness in the afternoon. The pork katsu was thicker (thus juicier) than what I have encountered in London as well. Curry has a good consistency, non of that powdery remnants of the lesser curry houses.

Imagine my elation when I spotted the Japa Curry truck again on Howard St and Fremont St again a couple of days later. I went for the 'omoru' (or large) version - more rice for an extra 75 cents. Well, it does bento boxes as well but let's face it, curry katsu trumps sushi bento boxes anytime.

Japa Curry does a different location each weekday. Check out http://www.japacurry.com/ for the schedule. Yes, it does lunch only, sorry. 

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