misswills's Profile
Urgently need help with non-foodie visitors! [London]
How about Itsu, Yo! Sushi or another conveyor belt sushi place? You mentioned that the mom likes seafood, dad likes shrimp, and I'm assuming the kids like something you can get at these places (e.g. California rolls, chicken katsu, gyoza). I don't imagine there are lots of conveyor belt places in Jersey (correct me if I'm wrong!), so it might be a fun experience.
Same goes for Wagamama. Not necessary exciting for a CHer (especially given a recent post), but it sounds like it might be a real different experience for your guest family. And once again, there's something for everybody at Wagamama.
Another recent post also mentioned Belgo for its simple food and fun restaurant theme. Maybe give that a try? It'll be a chance for them to try "Belgian" food without straying too far from their comfort zone.
ATTN: Brits [Moved from General Topics board]
I bought some Gundelsheim sauerkraut a while ago from Waitrose. It came in a glass jar. It was fairly decent stuff -- actual kraut, not the stuff enhanced with vinegar. It wasn't too expensive. I just checked Ocado (Waitrose's delivery service) and it has it listed there for £1.04 for 810g.
good espresso or hot chocolate in london?
Cafe Vergnano on Charing X Road. Excellent coffee, but the shop has limited seating.
Algerian Coffee Stores on Old Compton Street (Soho) sells good take-away only coffee. They also sell lots of different beans (including green beans), teas, and coffee accessories. And it's CHEAP! (90p for an espresso).
College student visiting London
Near Trafalgar Square/National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery/Leicester Square: Chinatown is a good bet for cheap and filling eating. There's lots of bakeries & snack shops within Chinatown if you want to grab a quick snack in between the museums. I prefer Haozhan, which is nice for slightly more upscale Chinese fusion. Tokyo Diner, while not the most amazing Japanese, does offer really good portions and reasonable prices. They're also open fairly late (11 pm, if I remember). Hit Cafe Vergnano on Charing Cross Road for very nice coffee. Or try Algerian Coffee Stores in Soho (take away only) for cheap and excellent coffee. I know these coffee suggestions sound silly, but it's hard to get a good, rich cup in London. If you're the type that doesn't see colors until you've had a morning cup, you'll need these places. :)
Near the British Museum: Abeno, for okonomiyaki or "Japanese pizza". You almost have to book ahead of time for this location because they get so busy. There's also a location close to Leicester Square which doesn't require bookings. Bi-Won for decent Korean. They do quite reasonably priced lunch specials. If you're hankering for proper fish and chips, there is a 'chippie' about 15 minutes' walk from the museum called Fryer's Delight on Theobald's Road. You can eat-in or have it take away ("to go"). There's also another place in the other direction (towards the universities) called North Sea. This is a sit-down place. My Old Dutch is a Dutch pancake house about 5 minutes from the BM. It's a bit campy, and not life changing, but it's fun. They serve HUGE pancakes, which can be shared by two moderately hungry people.
Also, remember that many places include gratuity in the bill. If not, a 10-13% tip is usually appropriate.
There are lots of convenience stores and corner shops around. These are great places to pick up water, fresh and dried fruit, nuts, crackers, and other snacks to keep you going throughout the day.
Lastly, if you're staying at a hostel, check to see if they have a guest kitchen. The cheapest way to get by in London is to cook yourself. So if they have a kitchen, use that opportunity pack your own lunches. Packing your own lunches also enables you to try all sorts of British goodies.
Cooking schools in Guangzhou?
Anyone have any suggestions for cooking schools in Guangzhou? I noticed fairly recent board activity about schools in HK. Any suggestions for schools in Guangzhou would be appreciated.
Pearl Liang in Paddington?
I was referring to the restaurant's prices and aspirations. It has positioned itself as a Chinese restaurant in the vein of/style of Yauatcha and Hakkasan. But I suppose every nicer mid-range and high-end East Asian eatery aspires to be like Hakkasan nowadays.
I didn't go there expecting Yauatcha or Hakkasan. I had read favorable reviews online about the restaurant and decided to give it a go. I was shocked that given the pricing, the food was poor and the service, worse. Given that it is a restaurant that is trying to reach for the Michelin stars, it's got a long way to go.
Pearl Liang in Paddington?
It was a Sunday. It actually wasn't busy, as I mentioned. It was about 3/4 full, but many tables were finishing service and closing out on their checks.
In my own experience of dim sum dining and working at a dim sum restaurant, the weekends are supposed to be when your restaurant is at its best. That's when you have the most traffic flow and everyone and everything is supposed to be "on". Granted, I might have hit a bad day. But everything was consistently bad! There were no hits and misses, they were all misses -- the dim sum, the beef ho fun, the service, everything.
I would've tolerated the wait, the lack of service, the bad food, etc if the food costs were lower and if I were in Chinatown, where there are lots of "misses". I suppose that's why I'm especially critical of Pearl Liang. With prices and aspirations that rival Yauatcha, I just expected more.
Pearl Liang in Paddington?
I was very disappointed by Pearl Liang. I went in late January with my mother, who was visiting from the US, and my DH for a late afternoon dim sum lunch at around 2 pm. She wanted to go because she was pining for dim sum, and I chose this restaurant because I hadn't tried it.
The service was slow and a bit bitchy. The maitre d' was rather passive aggressive about seating us. He was non-committal about giving us an approximate wait time. My party had to wait 30 minutes for a seat, which we did without complaint. The restaurant was about 3/4 full, with mostly small parties having late lunches and a few large tables of families/friends. Although it was full, it certainly didn't feel busy or frenetic. Almost all of the tables were at the end of their meal or they were closing out their checks. Only a handful (5) were at the start of the meal.
When the maitre d' finally sat us, he didn't give us dim sum menus. He only gave us the dinner menus, which have a few dim sum selections albeit at a much higher price. We had to ask several times for the dim sum menu.
It also took a very long time for our food to come out. There was a 40 minute wait between our penultimate and final dish -- a fried turnip cake and a plate of beef ho fun. And all of the food was poorly cooked. Everything was over-salted and very greasy. The beef ho fun was the worst I've had. It was slick with grease, to the point where you couldn't grab it with chopsticks.
My poor mother was the most disappointed of all. As a Chinese-American living on the SF Bay Area, she's used to a much higher standard quality of Chinese food. She couldn't believe we paid that much for food at a "high end" restaurant.
KitchenAid Stand Mixer
I would agree with everyone who argues that you should leave the KitchenAid at home. You can buy them here in London, albeit at a very, very dear price (Think 300 pounds for the Artisan versus 300 dollars). Life sucks without it, but it's not worth blowing out your mixer. They're also very expensive to ship given their weight!
To further illustrate my point, I'll give you my previous experience using step-up converters. I had a step-up converter that I used for charging small electricals (e.g. Nintendo DS) and for blowing up the Aerobed for guests. It worked great for these purposes. However, I blew it out immediately when I tried to use it with my American rice cooker. I imagine that a stand mixer would succumb to a similar fate.
Long-Haul Travel with Cheese
Thanks for the reminder about the cheese rules. I'm quite familiar with them and the other food transit rules across the Atlantic.
I already have every intention of purchasing a cooler bag. I guess I'm trying to see if there are other options or tricks that I've overlooked. I'm also a bit weary of putting cheese into my checked luggage because I don't want it to get banged up. I've always had bad luck with food presents that have been transported in checked luggage rather than carry-on.
Long-Haul Travel with Cheese
Hi Chowhounds,
I'm taking a long-haul flight from London to California in a few days. I'd like to bring back some English cheeses to share with friends and family. In particular, I'm thinking about bringing home some stilton and cheddar. I've carried on food before, but not cheeses, so I'm a bit nervous about how I'm going to do this.
Any suggestions on how to keep cheese nice and fresh on an 11 hour flight + transit time without the use of 'technology'? (e.g. no dry ice, ice packs, etc). Bonus points for suggestions on how to keep the cheese in a presentable state (I plan on bringing the cheese back to share at gatherings over Christmas).
Thanks in advance for the help!
Christmas hamper or present suggestions?
www.seventypercent.com has some amazing dark chocolates from different parts of the world. They offer hampers and other gift packs. They also have a tasting club, where you get a few packs of chocolate per month for 1/3/6 months or /1 year (Nice option for someone who's really special to you--a gift that continues beyond the Christmas season!)
The hampers & gift packs start at about £18. It's very reasonable, and the packaging is quite nicely presented so you don't look scrooge-ish. The tasting club membership starts at £14 for 1 month, £40 for 3 months, etc.
UK Kitchen Measuring- Cups, Spoons, Scales
UK recipes are often written in metric nowadays, but some of the old recipes are written in imperial units. These units are similar to US/"English" units, but they're not the same. Lengths/distances, for the most part, are identical in the UK-US, but volumes and weights are different. If you're cooking these differences this may not make a huge difference, but I can imagine it would if you plan to do a lot of baking.
Therefore I gather what you're looking for are measuring cups & spoons in imperial units. Is that correct? Lakeland.co.uk might be a good place to start.
Also, here's a website I found that explains some of the basic differences between UK/Imperial, US/"Engish", and metric measurements. I'm sure there are other websites out there; this was one of the first I found on Google. http://www.pasta-recipes-online.com/Cooking-units-of-measure.html
Shabu shabu in London?
My favorite Japanese place in London thus far is Sakura at 9 Hanover Street, London, W1R 9HF. Their shabu-shabu is fairly expensive (£30) if I remember, but it's a fairly popular option there in the winter. I've not had their shabu-shabu, but I've had literally everything else, including the sukiyaki. Their food their is very good and popular with lots of Japanese ex-pats and Japanese tourists alike.
Thai Groceries in London
I stopped by a Thai grocery near Morning Crescent tube today. It's called Taste of Siam and it's at 45-47 Camden High Street, London, NW1 7JH. They have a sister restaurant located next door to the restaurant.
I wouldn't make a special trip out there, though. Much of what they sell can be bought at stores in Chinatown or even at Sainsbury's and definitely Waitrose. The prices are somewhat cheaper than what you'd pay for the same ingredients in Chinatown or at Waitrose, but as I stated, if you were to make a special trip out, you'd end up spending your 'savings' on your tube/bus ticket.
Brining Bag
I have no idea where to find a brining bag, but I do have some suggestions for what to do as an alternative.
In the past, I've just made do with putting my bird into a sanitized & cleaned paint bucket (the big white 5-gallon types). You should be able to find one of these at B&Q or another home improvement store.
This year I'm going to try the method listed on Slate since I don't have the facilities to do a proper brine. http://www.slate.com/id/2178010/ They suggest 'curing' it with a salt and sugar mix overnight, similar to what you'd do to make gravadlax.
Hope that helps a little.
West London Chinese Market
Oonth, I spotted meat floss buns and curry buns today at Golden Gate Bakery in Chinatown. It's the bakery located at 13 Macclesfield Street (around the corner from Golden Gate supermarket). I think they were selling for about £1/bun. Hope that helps!
London restaurants for Thanksgiving dinner?
The US Embassy in London published an extensive list of restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinner in its most recent newsletter for November 2007. I'm copying and pasting this information below. Hope this helps!
Thanksgiving Day Meals in London
For those staying in London, several restaurants in central London serve a full Thanksgiving meal.
Anderson Tours (www.andersontours.co.uk)
Big Easy Bar B.Q (www.bigeasy.uk.com) Tel: 020.7352.4071
Bodean’s (www.bodeansbbq.com) Locations in Soho, Clapham, Fulham, and Westbourne.
Cactus Blue (www.cactusblue.co.uk) Tel: 020.7395.5801
Christopher’s – The American Bar & Grill (www.christophersgrill.com) Tel: 020.7240.4222
The Chesterfield Mayfair (www.chesterfieldmayfair.com/whats_on_mayfair) Tel: 020.7491.2622
The Conservatory ▪ Lanesborough Hotel Tel: 020.7259.5599
The Georgian Restaurant at Harrods (http://www.harrods.com/HarrodsStore/GlobalPages/Restaurants.aspx ) Tel: 0207 225 6800
Hard Rock Café (www.hardrock.com) Tel: 020.7514.1700
Maxwell’s Bar and Grill (www.maxwells.co.uk) Tel: 020.7836.0303
Missouri American Grill & Restaurant (www.missourigrill.com) Tel: 020.7481.
Navajo Joe (www.navajojoe.co.uk) Tel: 020.7240.4008
Planet Hollywood (www.planethollywoodlondon.com) Tel: 020.7478.1558
PJ’s Bar and Grill Tel: 020.7581.0025
Sticky Fingers’ Café (www.stickyfingers.co.uk) Tel: 020.7938.5338
Tentazioni Restaurant (www.tentazioni.co.uk) Tel: 020.7237.1100
The Texas Embassy (www.texasembassy.com) Tel: 020.7925.0077
Villandry (www.villandry.com) Tel: 020.7631.3131
140 Park Lane Restaurant & Bar (www.140parklane.co.uk) Tel: 020.7647.5678
Whole Foods Market Tel: 020-7368-4541
Thanksgiving Groceries
For those preparing a Thanksgiving feast at home, we've seen Thanksgiving offers at least two grocers. Harrods in particular should be noted for making American beef available in the British market.
Harrods is featuring genuine American beef this month from Creekstone Farms in Kansas, in addition to a full range of Thanksgiving dinner items.
Whole Foods is offering complete prepared Thanksgiving Dinner Packages
[Dublin] Getting a turkey and other Thanksgiving foods
KaCHing, I saw a shop mentioned on the TV the other day that might interest you. There's a place called UnPackaged at:
42 Amwell Street
London
EC1R 1XT
It's not technically a bulk bin place, but it works the same way. It's all food and items sold in bins sans-packaging that you pick and weigh yourself (except here the point is to bring your own bags and containers to reduce landfill waste, and to avoid corporate branding/logos/marketing). I haven't been yet, so I have no idea how good it is. But I plan to go tomorrow, and I thought that might interest you if you want bulk foods.
I'll let you know how the trip goes and if it's close to American-style bulk bin shopping.
Russell Square and Picadilly: Moroccan, Lebanese, Kabob?
There isn't much going on for food near Russell Square tube by way of Moroccan or Lebanese. However, if you wanted to walk a bit into Soho (20-25 minute walk), there are quite a few Moroccan and Lebanese places. Unfortunately, I can't provide any specific recommendations since I find myself perennially too poor to try them (such is the life of a PhD student!)
If you want a very nice English breakfast with bangers, try the Wolseley. Be warned, it is a bit expensive as it is an upscale place.
-----
The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly, London, Greater London W1J 9EB, United Kingdom
Great chow destinations OUTSIDE London?
I'm partial to Brighton and the Sussex coast. Brighton has a very good food scene, partially since it is a getaway destination for Londoners from the hustle and bustle of the city. I don't think there was anything I was craving that I couldn't find a decent restaurant for in Brighton. It's also a good destination if you like seafood.
If the weather is pleasant this coming April, then I strongly suggest making a visit. Aside from the food, it's got a nice, pebbly beach, the Royal Pavillion, lots of interesting small shops in the Lanes, and is also very close to the English countryside and the Downs. If you plan to visit, base yourself in Brighton and take the trains out to Lewes (sleepy medieval town with Harveys, an excellent local brewery), Arundel (home to the Duke of Norfolk, his castle, and Arundel Cathedral), Chichester (Chichester cathedral), and other points of interest which escape me now.
West London Chinese Market
If you need super soft, Korean tofu might be a good idea. They sell that at Hana. It's sold in a clear plastic tube (kinda looks like a tube of toothpaste).
West London Chinese Market
For some reason the ones in the plastic tubs aren't made to have variety, which is odd to me, because they're packed the same way in CA but they come in firm, regular, and soft. *Shrugs*
Anyway, if you want variety the only way to get it is if you buy the aseptically packaged tofu (the shelf-stable tofu that comes in the cardboard box). Morinaga/Mori-Nu has the corner on that market and they sell this stuff most everywhere.
West London Chinese Market
I haven't found anyone that makes tofu daily, but then again I haven't really been prowling for tofu.
Most of the Chinatown supermarkets and even Hana Supermarket (the one I mentioned earlier) sell some "fresh" tofu -- the kind sold in individually wrapped plastic tubs where the tofu's swimming in water. Much of the tofu I've bought in this form seems to come from one supplier out in Surrey somewhere, which isn't too far away. Given that this type of tofu has a relatively short shelf life anyway, it's about as fresh as you're going to get.
The nice thing about Sichuan, though, is because it's heavy on spices it won't really matter if your tofu wasn't made fresh that day. :)
West London Chinese Market
Sichuan's still fairly novel in the UK, from my understanding. I think the big interest/boom in Sichuanese cookery came when Fuschia Dunlop published her books.
Anyway, a decent substitute for Sichuanese chili paste is to use Korean kochujang. There's a Korean grocer called Hana Supermarket on 41 Store Street, a block away from UCL's main entrance. They sell lots of chili pastes and chilis there which work quite well for Sichuan cooking.
If you need Sichuan peppercorns, Hob at the Brunswick was selling them the last time I was in. Not sure if they still have them, but if they do, they sell it loose so you can buy as little or as much as you like.
Also, which Sichuan cookbook are you reading? Was it published in the US or in the UK? The reason I ask is because certain imports from China are allowed into the US, but are banned in the UK/EU and vice versa (though it's usually the case the UK/EU is more selective). Therefore if you're reading a cookbook published for the US market, you'll find that certain ingredients or certain brands are simply not available here.
[Dublin] Getting a turkey and other Thanksgiving foods
Hi Lina,
I don't live in Ireland, so my answer is a little general. But I found Sainsbury's to be a great resource. I got my Thanksgiving supplies at Sainsbury's last year. I got a frozen turkey, fresh cranberries, and even a fresh pumpkin.
The nice thing about Sainsburys is that they deliver so if you're car-less, as I am, it's easy to get all of your ingredients in one go. Their website for delivery is www.sainsburystoyou.co.uk.
Hope that helps a bit!
Trendy lunch spots in Covent Garden
Try the The Ivy, a favorite among celebs and the trendy.
Foodie "must have" gifts from London -- need advice
Mel21, the reason why most candy, cakes, and even soda taste better in the UK/Europe vs the US is because sugar is used. In the US, candy, soda, cakes....eveything!...contains high-fructose corn syrup instead. It's cheaper for manufactures to use HFCS, but alas the taste is sacrificed.
PASTA???
Balfour on Marchmont street is my favorite. It's priced similarly to Carluccio's, but much better.
Foodie "must have" gifts from London -- need advice
Jaffa Cakes are always a big hit, and not very expensive. They sell them in tubes now so they don't crush as easily. It's especially fun to get Jaffa cakes for a Beatles fan. Legend has it John Lennon stuffed himself on these when the Beatles first became superstars.
Shortbread is always nice. Fortnum's packages theirs in some very pretty gift-ready boxes.
English mustard
Crumbly fudge/Scottish Tablet
English candy bars are always a hit. Maltesers, Curly Wurly, Crunchie, Aero, etc. Yorkie bars are fun to give to male chocolate lovers since the package emphatically states, "They're not for girls!"
Branston Pickle
