Borough Market on a day too cold to be out on the streets of #London.

Morning walk through the floors of Tate Modern.

My parents brush with Art.

Pun totally intended.

The winds were harsh and streets too cold.

Yet we walked on past Shakespeare's Globe towards Borough Market.

Without a shelter to hide,

it was the food that took our mind off the cold for a bit.

A very short bit.

The Mont d'Or

Simply heat and serve for a deliciously simple cheese fondue.

The costs weren't for the smells. But take my advice.

No. Don't smell it.

It's good when infused in oil.

But that's as far as we go.

I mean, as far as we stay away.

This was new.

I didn't see a demo kitchen last time I was here.

Four years ago?

It's been that long already.

I actually have no idea what it was but it had a pungent meat taste.

Too pungent to be enjoyable.

It was huge on fat and anything hot tasted better that it would on a cold, cold day.

But this!

Was just as good as I remembered.

Thai Green Curry was awesome.

With rice.

So was the Vietnamese Curry.

Ohmyyum.

Fresh.

And pricey it seems.

A treat for the eyes!

Mum's lunch.

We grabbed a weiner.

With tomato and sauerkraut.

Dad had a smoked meat sandwich.

My parents and their less than preferred food choices.

Thanks for sticking it out with us :)

Raclette cheese.

Shaved and served with new baby potatoes.

Delish!

Walking onwards to London Bridge after thawing in the church.

I kid you not.

It was THAT cold.

Look at their faces.

And no, they didn't stay to watch the tower bridge lift.

But they waited for me to.

I was too excited for my own good.

I almost froze over in the cold.

*sings

London Bridge is lifting up.

Falling down.

Lifting up.

Shop on.

Too cold to do anything else but hang out in the shopping streets of Oxford Circus.

Their first experience on Primark.

No one went mad shopping. We came out with small paperbags.

Good job!

And a good fifteen minute walk home to Cosway Street right where Marylebone is.

Seashell of Lisson Grove and their awesome cod and chips.

Takeaway packed with pots of tomato, mustard and vinegar.

Rough cut chips with mayo and tomato.

The indulgence.

And because we wanted a rice meal...

Minced beef and mushroom cooking on the stove.

Fried.

Chef Nigel and I.

With the simplest of salt and black pepper from the cafe at Tate Modern.

Oil from the minced beef.

We managed a decent fried shortgrain rice attempt at home.

Topped with hand pulled pieces of buffalo mozzarella.

This was simple.

Simply satisfying.

:)

Makan Gathering @ High Society Mansion (Pacific Plaza)

It's been a rough week for me.

I definitely was not feeling the least bit Ms Congeniality.

But I guess it was time to take a break.

To see my friends.

And have a good mEAT-up session.

Thanks to MissTamChiak for accomodating three of us at such short notice. :)

For just $35 nett.

Minstrone soup.

Pretty interiors on the second level of High Society Mansion at Pacific Plaza.

We didn't take lamb, so between fish and pasta,

we settled happily on haddock.

Only to be sorely disappointed by the size and taste of thin dried flaky fish with encased in a salty batter.

Whip out the flash already.

It was fun focusing all our cameras on the pork knuckle sharing dish. :)

That also meant,

*slaps hand away.

everyone just had to wait for the photo madness to be over before eating.

Crabmeat ceasar salad.

The seafood taste was too strong to be enjoyed.

And serving us the heart of the lettuce stalk?

Dear Chef,

It was an oversight right?

I'd like to think.

Yay brussel sprouts.

And mash and gravy.

But the cajun chicken tasted dry and tough.

And where's my cajun spices anyway?

Salted prawns.

It seems.

I took a scallop instead.

Juicy but not tenderly so.

Pasta tasted reminiscent of mee siam more than laksa.

Duck confit.

The carrot puree was key for our table's discussion.

My grip was in the skin though.

Where's the crisp? :(

And duck that tasted like KFC's originals.

So says my dining companions.

Oxtail stew.

Oh I totally mopped this one up with the bread. :)

Yummy delish!

And I scream, you scream, the girls all scream for dessert!

Cupcakes. Topped with cream.

Lots of cream.

And if it wasn't chantilly cream, I'd not want to pile on the fats for this.

These cupcakes were unique with that dollop of cream with various tastes and addition of nuts.

These things should come with placards.

Or maybe not.

We had our fairshare tasting and guessing.

Noisette cake slice.

Aside from tasting frozen, this was decadent.

The macarons were an ultimate sweet treat to end off the night.

It wasn't the food but the company.

I had awesome table mates.

And we even had goodiebags to bring home.

Hello 1kg of Huiji honey, kaya and coffee.

I had a good Saturday night out.

Thanks @misstamchiak and @dashtaz.

To more makan gatherings! :)

Swensen's @ Nex for good food and even better company.

Loads to share.

Fried prawn wantons.

Crispy and full on juicy prawn and minced meat fillings.

Deep fried button mushrooms.

That gritty batter I cannot decide to love or hate.

It's yummy but also gets caught in the most awkward places in my teeth.

Le sigh.

Fish fillet with Apricot Mayo.

Crispy batter and pretty strong tasting apricot mayo. :)

Fruity.

Almost makes one wants to skip dessert.

Classic fish and chips.

Crumbs and bread battered.

Old school yum.

And that piquant tartar sauce just makes me want more!

Meatball bolognaise.

Oh I would love you more if the pasta was not so overcooked till soft.

Ample sauce and baked cheese topping.

Can I also have more meatballs please?

And that's for ONE hungry boy.

Mega burger.ed.

Without addition of vegetables.

*shakes head.

Fried egg.

Cheese slice.

Chicken ham.

Turkey/ Beef bacon

Beef patty

Ham

And bacon.

STACKED meat.

Eat your meats.

Food's always the same at this old school American joint that's less contrived than Billy Bombers.

But the company that we keep is always awesome. :)

chums steakhouse @ toa payoh lorong 6

Fish and chips.

Batter was slightly heavy on the salt content.

Generous serving.

The chicken was juicy.

The panko breadcrumb crust was an oil sponge.

While I liked the melted mushroom cheese, it made everything a lot more salty than it already was.

All mains come with the complimentary salad bar.

Sounds familiar?

Sizzler style.

I don't know how true the news is- just a change of management for Sizzler?

I took a salad bar option and it does seem that it's exactly the same.

I had my favourites of tuna mayo potato salad, mushroom soup, nachos and soft serve ice cream.

Mmm. :)

and how befitting that it would be a dinner date with the chums and our favourite kids.

age is but a number.

:)

new treats at broadway plaza

This looked a lot like Nando's.

With attention grabbing wall prints and menus.

And chicken of course.

In all forms. 

This was much better than I thought.

Would be what I envision the bonchon 4 fingers crispy chicken to taste like.

The skin was crispy indeed.

And coated in a spicy sweet sauce that was purely addictive.

I wish there was more of where that crispy skin came from!

The gravy on the mash was much too thick but definitely savoury from seasoning.

Be sure to have water on hand after this!

And because Broadway Plaza's undergoing a massive makeover from their previous makeover not so long ago, they are having a one for one special. And this was one of the options from the complimentary dish.

One of the few non-chicken options.

A standard thawed and grilled dory fillet.

Massively drowned in sweet and spicy sambal sauce.

I had expected a dollop of the sauce and of the thick nature but this was liquid and made my side of fries soggy in an unappetizing way.

The coleslaw was a generous serving and creamy and not too tart for my teeth. 

Dinner was really better than we expected.

But only because we expected very little.

Worth a try.

Especially those hot hot drums! :)

And this was even more exciting.

Yet another one for one treat!

This runs till the weekend and only applicable at Broadway Plaza- 22/04/2012.

One for one on a small cup at yoguru.

$3.50 for two of these yummylicious treats.

This was mango and bliss.

Mmmm. :)

what's to be had at 313?

Too cute it made me smile :) Sitting in the al fresco area was a choice I didn't have to give a second thought about. :)

 

I was torn between wanting to see pretty latte art and a cold drink. Cold won me over on an unusually sunny day. :) Vanilla latte it was. Good amount of coffee amidst all that milk. It wasn't 70% milk on a usual latte. Definitely less but it was aromatic and smooth on taste. :)

For starters.

Bangers and mash. The bangers were tasty. Very tasty. The creamy mash was fluffy and light on flavour. The onion gravy added the needed saltiness to the mash. We cleaned up the plate. 

Beer battered fish and chips. A generous 4-piece fish portion with a handful of thick potato wedges. Served piping hot it was tasteful on its own but made better with tartar sauce. Personal preference :)

Sticky date pudding with a lovely dollop of old fashioned vanilla melting prettily into the warm pudding.

The handful of plump raisins in the caramel sauce were bursting with rum. What a surprise :) 

Chocolate. There were more adjectives accompanying this on the menu but let's state the obvious because the obvious was really thick and rich.

Oh if you loved chocolate.

You also need a tissue paper on hand because it's gonna be lip smackingly chocolate-y. I was with a girlfriend. We could get as messy as we wanted. Okay, maybe just me because she was prettily made up and took care to dab at her mouth after every spoonful. I just relied on my trusty tongue. :p

Thanks for the treat and for the souvenir from your trip!

What a tongue twister.

I'll be glad to use it for hmm. red packets? :) A big fish and a tiny fish pouch for coins.

I need to get me to Vietnam one of these days.

So Oriole. For coffee art the next time round.

The barista washes his coffee machine at 8pm sharp daily so get your coffee fix before then!