Restaurants – PB Eats, PB Travels

PB Eats… Vegan Toronto

So apparently the week I was in Toronto was a great week – weather wise. I agree, all I could see were blue, cloudless skies from the meeting room where I spent 11 hours a day for the week. Yep, Toronto for work, but I did have about 12 hours free before flying back where I did take full advantage of the sunshine, and to check out the plentiful vegan scene. Lunches were all at work, and I had told my colleagues about my food needs – and I was pleasantly surprised. Roasted veggie wraps, cous cous with curry, pasta, salads – all good. As for my other meals, during the week they had to be near the hotel and quick. A combination of a cold and jet lag meant that once we finished, all I wanted to do was eat and sleep.

There was a mall about 5 minutes from the office, and amongst all the places, I found 2 – Urban Herbivore and Thai Express. Having had cold sandwiches for lunch, I didn’t want the same for dinner – and that is exactly what Urban Herbivore did, however good they looked, I didn’t try them out. Thai Express had an option for a vegan pad thai – which I had a couple of times in the week. Spicy, delicious and comforting – exactly what I needed. Where else did I eat?

Planta Burger

I found out (thank you Happy Cow) about a vegan burger joint that had opened up a few months ago, literally across from the hotel. I was so excited! So Day 1, I went to Planta Burger to order my takeaway. They had 4 options, and if I see buffalo cauliflower on any menu, I’m ordering it. I will not lie, I had visions of the burger I had in New York at Blossom Du Jour. At Planta Burger, I ordered the spicy buffalo cauliflower burger with ranch, pickles, red onion, iceberg and tomato. I also got a side of the caesar salad. YES. vegan caesar salad. Whoo! I was very excited and so looking forward to eating this. The salad – very excellent. Creamy and crunchy with meaty mushrooms and killer pickled onions, this was good. As for the burger – a sheer disappointment. The bread was hard, the patty almost burnt and too small for the bun, with NO flavour. It was just very dull.

I’m all for second chances, so the next night I went back to try another burger. I picked the crab cake, with heart of palm and tartar sauce, and a side of the BBQ fries. The fries = tick. Very nice, very moreish and crunchy. But the burger? Yes. Again. Horrible. It looked like the burger from the night before. Tiny almost burnt patty, tasteless and grim. The only redeeming factor, the tartar sauce which tasted like the real thing.

2/2 terrible burgers is not good in my book, I wouldn’t go back for the burgers – maybe if you forced me, I’d get the casear salad, but that is it. Nothing else. There is a Planta restaurant too, but I didn’t want to risk trying it if it turned out to be just as grim as the burger joint.

Mill Street Brewery

For our team dinner, we went to the Distillery District, to the Mill Street Brewery. I really like this area, the last time I was here it was in the middle of winter, and it was just as magical in the summer. There were a few veganisable options on the menu – and they were very accommodating too. This being a brewery and my interest in beer increasing over the years, P and I decided to split a beer flight – 4 tiny beers, 2 for him, 2 for me. I went for the organic original lager and an organic amber lager. Very impressed and very smooth. The also went down a bit too quickly 🙂 For my main, I went for a falafel salad – without the falafel as it was made with eggs. But the creamy dressing was vegan, and when in doubt, always ask for avocado, which is what I did. I got a giant portion full of beans, chickpeas, rocket, sunflower seeds, clementine segments, avocado. So tasty and filling, I could only get through half of it. I did finish all the avocado though!

Fresh on Bloor

I’m a firm believer in balance – every grim meal means that there is a superb meal waiting for me to enjoy. And enjoy I did at Fresh. This is a chain of restaurants scattered around downtown. It was heaving when I got there around 7pm, and I only had to wait for 10 minutes for a table. Everyone there was SO friendly and chilled, I really liked the atmosphere. You get a big bottle of water when you sit down, and a MASSIVE vegan menu. I’m not used to this much choice!! I wanted a burger mainly because of the crap ones I’d had earlier in the week. I went for the chipotle bacon burger – chipotle, tempeh, jicama – yum yum. And then I saw ‘dragon fries’ on the menu as a ‘side’ option. It read “french fries, miso gravy, hot banana chilies, green onions, sesame seeds and chili oil” How could I say no!

The burger was great – a giant of a burger, with generous fixings and a nice chunky patty. Most enjoyable. BUT THOSE DRAGON FRIES. If you live in Toronto, go here NOW. I will say it – hands down the best vegan thing i have tried. Hot, crispy fries, umami popping miso gravy, a punch from the spring onions, a super punch from the chillies – OMG. Stunningly, amazingly, perfectly delicious, perfectly LUSCIOUS. I went here on my last night. It will be my death row meal – I loved them that much!! But for now, if I do go back to Toronto, this is the first place I will go to. Straight off the plane. YUM!!!

King’s Cafe

I had the morning off to wander around the streets of Toronto, and what a time to be there. The Invictus Games were starting that evening, so the place was buzzing. I walked around Kensington Market, or what I call the Camden Market of Toronto. I loved this place, full of quirky shops, delis, restaurants and cafes.

I came across Bunner’s – an all vegan bakery full of yummy looking stuff. Since I was flying later I didn’t have the liberty of buying the selection I wanted to (one of each), so I settled for the apple butterscotch crumble tart and I bought a brownie for later. The tart was sweet, apple-y, full of texture and super good. I loved it. I didn’t take a pic of the brownie which I had on the place with a cup of tea on the plane – JUST AS GOOD.

Washed down with an almost perfect iced coffee with almond milk (whooo!) from Jimmy’s, it was the perfect mid morning treat.

So onto Kings Cafe – which made me very happy. Another all vegetarian/vegan place, I just wanted a few dim sums to keep me going. Once again, this was a Happy Cow find. What did I order? Curry puffs, veggie dumplings and my favourite – sticky rice.

I am pleased to say this meal hit the spot. The curry puffs were crispy and stuffed with this fragrant potato mixture – yum. The dumplings were stuffed with veggies and herbs – excellent. And that rice. With that chilli sauce – oh man. Super good. I would definitely come back here to try more dishes. Suitably stuffed, I headed to the airport. The plan was to have dinner in the lounge and knock out on the plane. There were very few vegan options – everything had cheese or a yoghurt dressing. I helped myself to a cucumber salad and got them to pimp a fajita for me – roasted veggies and salsa. It was enough to fill my belly.

All in all, I would have loved to spend more time in Toronto, so hopefully I’ll get to go out there soon – lots of things to do and lots and lots of vegan food to eat!

PB Eats… Vegan In London 2

No travel blues, no jet leg, I’m enjoying the weather and free time and not really thinking about going back to work in July. What have I been up to? Spending time with my lovely niece, pottering about, chilling in london and exploring new restaurants. This week I have mainly been eating a lot of hummus and falafel. But first, a wonderful discovery – a vegan cafe in Pinner, north west London. Everything is vegan, fresh and simple. I loved the concept – a number of hot dishes – tofu, beans, potatoes, quorn that can be put in a wrap or in bowl – with loads of salads on the side.

We went for an ABC – apple, beetroot and carrot – juice, freshly pressed and tasty. I went for a chilli tofu salad bowl with quinoa, salsa, avocado, cucumber. The other bowl? Bombay potatoes with hummus, avocado, olives, cucumber and watercress. These were big bowls for about £6 – such good value for money. We really enjoyed our food – simple, tasty and flavourful. They also had a counter of VEGAN cakes and muffins. We bought a slice orange and polenta cake (really really tasty and orangey) and an apple and cinnamon muffin (ok, a bit to sandy in texture for me), but forgot to take photos.

This is a place I will definitely be going back to – a no brainer really. Next stop? Turkish restaurant Yaprak in Eastcote. They have an excellent lunch time menu, 2 courses for £6.95. My sister had been here before and was impressed with the food. The restaurant was a bit quiet – we were ladies who lunch on a weekday – but I’ve been told it gets really busy on weekends. I ordered a fresh mint tea and chose a starter and main from the lunch menu. Hummus and falafel. My sister went for just a main (a la carte) of vegetable kebab, that came with a big salad.

Complimentary flatbread brushed with this lovely mix, and dips – yoghurt (I think), olives (marinated with coriander seeds – whoa! Excellent) and chilli sauce (sensational!!!!!). The portions were massive and super tasty. Everything was made in house – and you could tell. Hummus was very earthy and full of flavour. The falafel was airy, nutty and very moreish. I didn’t know what to expect with the vegetable kebab – but we got a mound of vegetables in this delicately spiced sauce. Absolutely lovely. Only thing I didn’t want to have or try was the psychedelic Turkish delight. Another place I’d visit again.

A place that I won’t be going back to is Ya Hala, a Lebanese place in Paddington. We went for a an apple juice with mint and ginger – nice, but mainly because I needed hydration as opposed to it being good. It definitely wasn’t fresh. I went for the falafel and hummus again, and M went for a mixed mezze plate.

Big portions – and the mezze platter looked good but M did not even have 3 bites. Verdict? The meat tasted like it was a few days old and everything was tepid and horrible. So epic fail then. The falafel on the other hand weren’t bad flavourwise, just very dense and stodgy – nothing like the light and airy ones at Yaprak. Salad was dull. The hummus was ok though.

So more hit than miss on the restaurant front, but it is always good to explore new places. And talking about new places, there is an ice cream shop in Ruislip that does proper gelato and dairy free sorbets – La Dolce Vita.

I chose raspberry and it was super delicious! No added colouring, nice bit of raspberry flavour, no artificial taste – bellisimo. The pistachio and hazelnut gelatos are apparently very very good! Will definitely go back to try the other sorbets – mango, passion fruit, lemon… whooo!

PB Eats… Mildreds

I’m back in London, will be back at work in July, so am enjoying the last few days of ‘freedom’. I have to say the glorious weather has definitely helped – they’ve chased my holiday blues and jet leg away for sure. First meet up was at Mildreds, a place I’ve been meaning to try for a while. Vegan heaven, super popular and amazing food. Aaah. So the food was not as good as hoped, and I’m not sure if it was down to them being so busy or whether it was poor choices on our part. But poor choices aside, the food should taste good, right? We kicked off with a cocktail, I went for an Aperol Spritz – perfect drink for a sunny day.

Instead of going for a main course, we decided to share some small plates/starters, and go with the flow. I thought we chose a good selection of dishes. Gyoza with a soy/sweet chilli dipping sauce. The filling was soy mince I think, not my favourite, but the outside – hard and chewy dumpling wrapper, and not in a good way. Next? Smashed avocado with lime and chilli and organic corn chips. Beautiful avocado, but lacking in terms of seasoning and lime – which let everything down. The purple corn chips were quite yummy though.

Now I love miso aubergine, or nasu dengaku, and when done right, this dish is luscious. Meltingly soft aubergine, hot, almost fluffy miso dressing, sweet, sour, salty, umami overload. Sadly this dish was an epic fail. Barely lukewarm aubergine, I couln’t taste any miso. Bland bland bland. The best small plate was tenderstem broccoli with confit garlic and chilli. Perfectly cooked, the dressing was so delicious, and the garlic was divine. Loved this dish. One decent dish out of four, I wasn’t happy and didn’t want to spend any more time or money on the savoury stuff.

So bring on desserts. Vegan desserts. Now We Are Talking. The BEST vegan dessert I have had. Chocolate hazelnut brownie, salted caramel sauce and ice cream. Served warm, it turned out to be one of the best vegan desserts I have had. Seriously chocolate my, seriously caramel, seriously creamy, seriously good. That with a cup of green tea – lovely.

In hindsight, I think I should have just gone straight in for a main course – but it was such a hot day, the idea of having a pie or a burger or a stir fry/curry or a dish with rice (yep, still not feeling it fully) was not welcoming. I will give this place another try and check out the main courses – just to make sure the problem might have been with me and not Mildred.

PB Eats… Caravan Bankside

Walking to this dinner venue was very very nostalgic for me – and even more so when I got there. Caravan Bankside is ‘housed on the ground floor of an old metal box factory’. 10 years ago, I worked in that very building on the third floor, and it was a dodgy building, with a dodgy lift and no air conditioning…. my my my… how times have changed! It is now a trendy hipster building (with air conditioning, no doubt) with a trendy hipster restaurant, and if this restaurant was there when I was, I would be there every day, no doubt.

Gin has become very popular and trendy over the last few years, but this is the first place I’ve come across that makes their own tonics! Had to be done – I went for an orange and cucumber tonic with Hendricks. Refreshing, light, a touch sweeter than I wanted, but really really good. Go home made tonic! We also had some juicy olives and almonds – so good that M ordered that again for dessert!

The meaties ordered a few dishes which they enjoyed; air dried beef and oxtail (meat good, black beans – hard).

I loved the fact that there were SO many options on the menu that were vegetarian and could be veganised. We went for a whole load of them, the highlight being the squash, with miso and herbs (no blue cheese). This was so good, the fresh thai basil, mint and spring onion perfectly complementing the soft squash and the deep, sweet miso. The spiced cauliflower (with pomegranate yogurt on the side) was also very good. Soft cauliflower sitting on this spicy harissa sauce – really really really good. We also ordered some potato bread (that came with olive oil instead of lemon thyme butter – thank you :0) which was soft, flavourful with an excellent crust. YUM! The crispy, chilli salt tofu was excellent too.. silken tofu, with a super crunchy coating, and lots of yumminess – black beans, coriander, soy sauce, spring onions.. I thought the portion size was a lot smaller than the other small dishes.

The other dishes we ordered were the quinoa dish (this dish contains honey – why? not sure, I don’t see the point. I only ate the peanuts, which were copious and delicious). The molasses roasted beets and onions with loads of seeds was super salty – I suppose the goat’s cheese curd (on the side, which was apparently VERY good) was to balance it, but I wasn’t a fan of the dish.

Overall it was a really tasty meal, really enjoyable and I already want to go back and try the other dishes I didn’t!

Another really good meal to mention this week, at another regular restaurant – Chawallas. I decided to go for a vegetarian thali instead of my usual Chana Masala, and other than the yogurt and dessert, I could eat most of the food. Really delicious and just under a tenner for all this food. I didn’t even take a pic of the three giant puris and the poppadom that came with it. Large enough to share, or enough for one greedy person. Yum yum yum.

Countdown to Asia is in full swing.. I still need to finish my packing and I only have a few days to go!! Sooo excited!

PB Eats… Vegan In London 1

There has been a lot of eating going on over the past few weeks, lots of home made food, lots of the usual stuff (Zizzi, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Haz), and a few interesting eats, which I’ll talk about here. So the first one was… wait for it… a vegetarian pizza restaurant! So this place is apparently the third in a chain, and not only is it vegetarian, but Indian – which means that you can order pizzas with lots of coriander or paneer!!

Mr Singh’s is just outside Gants Hill tube station, we rocked up early (pretty early, around 6pm) for dinner. We were the only ones there to sit and eat, but it filled up quickly. There were lots of people taking away or picking up orders. The menu is great – not only do they do pizzas, but burgers, wraps, lots of sides and lots of desserts. I decided to go for the vegetarian hot, with red onion, sweetcorn, mushrooms, peppers, jalapenos and fresh green chillies, sans cheese. They do a soy based vegan cheese, but I’d rather go without. My mama ordered a vegetarian supreme, which was essentially the same as mine, but without the green chillies, and obviously with cheese.

It was only after I ordered I read that pizzas are deep pan, but you can request thin crust (which is my pizza of choice). The deep pan was about a centimetre thick, really well cooked and crispy – so no complaints there. I usually top my pizza with chilli oil, chilli flakes, and whatever else there is – but this time, I didn’t have to. The pizza was SO good – and the generous amount of green chillies really hit the spot. Super tasty! Definitely coming back here to try the other stuff on the menu.

Next? The food stalls at Spitalfields Market and Boiler House. Well we did check out all the fashion stalls – there is so so much there, all quirky and different, teeming with people – but I was here for the food.

There was something for everyone – virtually every different type of cuisine and dish available, and everyone, well, almost everyone was happy with what they got. I wanted to check out the vegan burgers at Pomodoro e Basilico. I had been seeing these ‘cheesy/mozarella’ sticks that they sell on social media for so long, I really wanted to try them – so I ordered one.. It looked like the real deal, tasted like the real deal, the only problem for me was that it was under seasoned. All it needed was hit of salt.

They also do different kinds of burgers, either with seitan or jackfruit. They even do a sweet burger. I went for ‘The Good’ with a seitan beef patty, beetroot ketchup, garlic mayo, cashew cheddar, carrot bacon, lettuce, tomato and onion. There is a lot of effort that goes into these burgers, but for me, it was too sweet! The bun was sweet, and the beetroot ketchup and carrot bacon just enhanced that. Also, my patty was really really small. I think that if the patty was bigger and thicker, it would change everything about the burger.

We also went for a slice of the spinach, peanut butter and banana cake. Amazing texture, moist, but it could have been a bit sweeter for me.

So some stuff was too sweet, some not enough sweet or salty – but overall, quite pleasant. I will try them again though, and compare the difference to this time…

Next highlight – din din with the cousins. We wanted to go to Iberica, but they didn’t have any availability until 10pm, so we ended up going to Sabor Iberico – tapas too, but much more rustic, cheaper and cheerful. It was a lovely place, lovely staff and a typical menu with all the expected fare… but what was unexpected was a lovely gin menu, with my favourite tonic(s) – Fever Tree.. I went for a Portobello Road Gin, which was jolly good.

There were a few meaties and I think they ordered the calamari and chorizo, but there were loads of veggie/vegan options. Olives – fat, juicy and so moorish. Delish! The pan con tomate was sensational – we ordered some plain and some with manchego cheese. Fresh tomatoes, fresh bread – it has got to be one my favourite tapas dishes. We also went for patatas bravas (acceptable), ensalada de espinaca with nuts, butternut squash and a really good whole mustard dressing. The padron peppers were appropriately charred, with a sprinkling of paprika..mmmmm. I was happy.

Other veggie dishes ordered were the tortilla with cauliflower (hmmm), the feedback was that it was ok. What went down well though was the broccoli in a nice buttery sauce, and a dish of mushroom and goats cheese.

Sadly I couldn’t partake in any of the desserts, so I settled for a cup of hot water with lemon (they had run out of fresh mint!) and watched the girlies enjoy the churros and tarta de Santiago – and boy, they did.

Sabor Iberico was really reasonable, the food good, the desserts and gin heavenly – will definitely return for a cheap and cheerful and tasty meal.

So those have been some of the eats (to be honest, the ones where I remember to take photos of, haha). I’ve been busy planning travelling phase 2 – Asia it is and some of the countries have been decided on, but I’m also doing a bit of ‘going with the flow’… I leave in 2 weeks – and I can’t wait! Whooo!

PB Eats… Yauatcha

I am enjoying being back home, making the most of the free time I have, and eating obviously. I met up with L for dinner at what has become my favourite place for dim sum – Yauatcha – I prefer going to the branch in the city. Over the years, I have experimented with what I can eat, what I want to eat, what I should be eating, and Yauatcha has always graciously supported my preferences. L managed to wrangle the current bookatable £29 deal – 9 courses (including dessert) and a cocktail. Yay! The table was already set with the usual fare – vinegary cucumber (yummo), and two chilli sauces, top right con fish, bottom right sin fish.

Our cocktail arrived – a cherry chaser with brandy, cherries, orange and a few..erm.. other things – yep, I can’t remember. Surprisingly refreshing and not very alcoholic given all that ice.

So the set menu has the following yummy nibbles – Har Gau, Crystal Dumpling Wrap (ve), Baked Venison Puff, Mushroom Spring Roll (ve), Shui Mai, Black Pepper dumpling, Prawn Cheung Fun and a lotus leaf sticky rice. Phew. Obviously most of the stuff was off limits for me, but they had alternatives, as expected. I got more taro (2 to be exact) and veggie dumplings (1 fried and 1 steamed) and a mushroom cheung fun. The fried dim sum were very tasty – as were the steamed.

We also got a cheung fun each – soft, yielding and very delicious. At first glance, you may think this is not a lot of food, but it was just the right amount. Every dim sum was well made and flavourful, I can’t choose a favourite. Ok. I can – the orange dumpling, it’s always been you. It contains pine nuts – not an expected ingredient but what an ingenious addition! The mushroom spring roll with a hint of truffle comes a close second. My dishes on the top, L’s in the middle.

PB Eats… Copita

I’m back in London! I wasn’t supposed to be back so soon, but a combination of unhelpful travel agents, expensive tickets and fate meant that my plans to go back to Mexico didn’t work out. Saying all that, it is good to be back, seeing family, catching up with friends and most importantly, enjoying my Indian food. I didn’t miss it while travelling, but boy I was glad to overdose on it when I got back. Thanks mum! Home made indian dishes, rotis, gol gappas, puris, yum yum.

And I’ve been catching up at the regular restaurants, Zizzi – I’ve missed that wonderful pizza base, Chawallas, Wagamama, Shoryu – mmm, soy milk ramen, delicious. Incidentally, they have a deal on at the moment, £22 for a bun, ramen and delicious cocktail. Definitely worth it. I’m not going to blog about any of those – but I will say that it is good having all this variety and choice of vegan food sans issues or drama.

The meal of the week though was at Copita, to catch up with my partner in crime (and evil thoughts – forgive me!! haha), M. A nice, trendy space with that irritating rule of no reservations in the evening. Being a lady of leisure, I got there nice and early in the evening and had my choice of tables – or bar stools. Result!

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover not only do they have a lovely food menu, but a very very lovely gin and tonic menu!!! Tanqueray! Bloom! Whoo!! And they have Fever Tree tonic water – the only tonic water worth drinking.

The service was helpful and friendly, but as the evening went on it did get harder to grab their attention. They rattled off the dishes I could eat (leaving out a few ingredients), so I obediently ordered them ALL. M ordered the chorizo, croquetas de champiñones (no pics), and the giant gambas (check them out!!), which I didn’t hear any negatives about.

We also got the sweet potato bravas (alioli on the side). These were moist, juicy but not very spicy. Not at all to be honest. The broccoli with a pepper sauce – delish. Still crunchy broccoli, yummy sauce, I enjoyed this dish.

The highlight of the meal was the ajo blanco, dressed with grapes, beetroot, parsley and almonds. It was so tasty – not too garlicy, really creamy and the bits on top added little bursts of texture and flavour. Every mouthful tasted different – yum yum yum. Please order this! The lowlight of the meal, for reasons to explicit and nasty to mention here, was the roasted aubergine. It didn’t really look appealing, it had no seasoning and the texture was not nice, and the top half was undercooked, and I couldn’t taste anything in the sauce. The hazelnuts though, were excellent.

I had no room for dessert after all this food and the very tasty G&Ts (my dessert), but M ordered the coffee and burnt milk ice cream. Judging from the speed at which it disappeared and her expression, it was a tasty dessert.

Overall – it was a good meal, I would go back again and again just for that ajo blanco!

PB Eats… Big Easy

So my travels are about to start – I fly next week to Central America (sooo excited!) to start the first part of my travels, but before that – I needed to meet up with S and T, my wonderful friends/work mates. We agreed to meet at Big Easy in Canary Wharf.

Big Easy specialises in ribs, lobster, meat, bbq – basically 99% of the menu is inedible for me. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not fussy – if there is one item on the menu it is mine.. and more importantly, I never want to be in a situation where I can’t socialise because my eating options are limited – or where I have to always dictate where we go to eat.

It was so so wonderful to catch up, so much to talk about, so much to say, so much prosecco to drink! When we finally had a look at the menu, I honed in on the Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burger (hold the sour cream). What arrived was a decent looking burger, stuffed with a yummy bean patty, avocado, pickled onions, tomato and lettuce.

There was a lot of bread, which I basically didn’t eat. In the battle of bread vs fat chips – fat chips win everytime! The pickle was a nice addition, and I didn’t try the slaw so can’t comment on that.

S went for the Lobster Roll meal deal (terrible photo, I know) and T went for the giant lobster meal – both came with a free drink and were giant portions! I think they went down well!

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The staff were lovely but very strict about the ‘2 hour turnaround policy’ and reminded us about it more than once – until we had to decamp and move to the bar – where we ended up staying for the next few hours.

Big Easy has an amazing atmosphere – it was buzzing and busy and we had such an awesome time, to be honest the food (which was decent) definitely played second fiddle to the brilliant company – that was one good night!

PB Eats… Grain Store

I met up with M for our annual Christmas dinner (yep, in January – thank you cold/flu virus for making me miss it in December). Ever resourceful, she suggested Grain Store – a restaurant with lots of options for the dietary fussy amongst us.

Now Grain Store is one of those painfully hip places, the staff, the menu, the cocktail list (they have savoury cocktails! Aubergine Rum! Horseradish Vodka!). Too much hard work to go through the list – so we settled for a celebratory glass of prosecco 😉 Thankfully the food men was less complex, full of yummy stuff.

We both loved the look of the desserts (parsnips in a dessert! So hip!) so we decided to forgo starters for mains and dessert. It was a toss up between the chilli con veggie or the veggie bourguignon and the lovely waitress did say the chilli was a better option – decision made for both of us. What arrived were 2 piping hot skillets – one with mixed rice (brown, white, wild) and one with the chilli (the pot of white fluff in the middle was sour cream).

Oh boy. I was impressed. The chilli was full of flavour and warming spices, all complementary and subtle. Super delicious. Moving on to desserts. I really wanted to try the “Coconut & Kaffir lime green tapioca, sweet potato, banana crisp”. I thought it was a very intriguing bunch of flavours and textures – and I also like tapioca (never been scarred via school dinners – was it really that bad??) so it was a no brainer. M went for tart of the day – apple bakewell, served with a coulis and creme fraiche, which looked LUSH.

As for my dessert, WOW. It was sensational – other than the banana crisp which I though was a bit stale so didn’t eat it. But the rest of it – wow. Umami flavour explosion. I can’t even explain how tasty this was – so different yet so comforting, it was more like a chia seed pudding than a tapioca pudding. Exceptionally delicious!

Accompanied by a cup of fresh mint tea, and I was a happy bunny. All in all, a really really good meal. I definitely want to go back to try the other stuff on the menu.

PB Eats… Hakkasan

Happy New Year! I was actually pretty ill over Christmas so I didn’t get to enjoy the festivities much – but thankfully I’m back, and rearing to go! I wanted to see the Christmas lights in all their glory with my niece before they disappeared.

Thankfully it wasn’t as bitterly cold as everyone was saying it would be, although I did layer up with Tromso gear – so I was toasty and warm! The lights were beautiful – I loved the floating Angels! I’m also glad that some lights – like these peacock feathers and fans – are being reused.

So all this walking and shopping made everyone hungry, and the hunt for food began. We decided to go to Hakkasan. B & C had been to the Hanway Place branch and waxed lyrical, and they wanted to go again to satiate their craving. However the Mayfair branch was much closer, so we went there instead. I have been to this branch before, but only for a set menu option. This time we were going a la carte!

As expected, the menu was pretty extensive. We decided to go for a couple of starters/small plates that we could all enjoy, including the impeccably behaved Little Miss S. We chose the vegetarian dim sum platter and the salt and pepper pumpkin tofu.

Now for someone who hasn’t had meat for years, that dim sum platter definitely reminded me of not only the texture of chicken, but the taste! All the dim sum were very yummy, but part of me just couldn’t get over that meaty texture! As for the tofu – I love silken tofu, and this was essentially coated in a pumpkin/seaweed/veggie floss. The tofu was meltingly soft and the seasoning just right. And don’t be fooled but those red chillies on the plate – absolutely no heat at all.

For mains we ordered veggie fried rice, Hakka noodle (with mushrooms, leeks and bean sprouts). The latter went down particularly well with Little Miss S – she thoroughly enjoyed them. And the noodles were tasty – better than the rice, which I thought was no different to what you get from your local Chinese takeaway.

We also went for the four style veggie sir fry (with beans, tofu, mushroom and nice chunky asparagus) in a Szechuan sauce. Now. As far as I know, a Szechuan sauce is supposed to be hot, potentially tongue numbing. Nope. Not even close. No hint of chilli, not even a tickle. It was a pleasant enough dish, but nothing to write home about (apart from on the blog haha)

The final dish we ordered was the stir fry black pepper vegetarian chicken – just to try what it would be like. In all the excitement I didn’t take a picture! Plump bits of ‘chicken’, coated in a peppery sauce, with a few sugar snap peas and red pepper chunks thrown in. It was Ok – not one to order again in my opinion, I wasn’t really a fan – but 100% for the mock chicken! Check out this piece – I can’t believe it’s not chicken!

All in all, an average meal (didn’t warm fully to the mock meats and the lack of flavour in the sauces), but with great company (with my favourite chica in the whole world) and beautiful Christmas lights – a lovely day to start off the new year!