London: Reminiscing NYC @ Shake Shack, Convent Garden.

One of the most random eats I did in London was at Shake Shack in Convent Garden.  It simply happened when I walked past by the market for the second time.  Seeing a Shake Shack and nothing eating there is almost like sinning!  So despite being  stuffed from the breakfast I had before, I decided to order the single Shack burger and a Salted Caramel Shake (they ran out of peanut butter !@#%).

First bite in and I was over the moon.  The yummy patty sandwiched between a shiny-sweet bun with a drizzling of secret "Shack Sauce"  was still as amazing as I remembered it to be.  Shake Shack's patty was simply scrumptious and this was a very basic combination that did wonders when it came to flavours.  Every bite was reminiscence of my trip to NYC last year.  It was sensational.  So much better than the gargantuan Shack Stack which I had last year. It is amazing how the folks at Shake Shack can mass produce something that tastes so good!  No meal at Shake Shack is complete without their Milk Shakes.  So if you are ever deciding between skipping the cola for an ice cream or vice versa, I tell you now to put both aside.  The milkshake at Shake Shack is the best of both worlds.  Thick, creamy and rich in caramel, it was slightly sweet but every bit yummy.  Good old fat ass moments I have to say.

For some reason, I was not so impressed when I first had Shake Shack at the Grand Central shop.  But a re-visit to its original location in Madison Square convinced me of Shake Shacks cult status.   Re-visiting Shake Shack in Convent Garden and I was convinced for the second time, that this is a truly delicious burger.  Definitely come here for a treat!

WenY

London: Amazing Chorizo Hash @ the Riding House Cafe, Oxford Circus

It was a Sunday morning and it was time for breakfast.  But with the Delaunay breaking my bank the other day, I decided to stay away from bloggers' suggestions and instead depended on my robot partner Siri.  First on her list was an Australian place called Granger & Co. in Notting Hill but it was an hour wait.  With not time to waste,  I asked again and Siri recommended the Breakfast Club in Oxford Circus.  Alas, it was another one hour wait! For the third and final attempt, Siri recommended the Riding House Cafe just a few minutes walk from the Breakfast Club.

At 9.20am, there was no queue which means my friend Jacques and I were seated immediately.  Its morning breakfast menu was charming with all the usual suspects but I could not go past the first item I saw on the menu, the Chorizo Hash Browns for £10.

Crisp on top and soft on the inside, the Hash Brown infused with Chorizo flavours was every bit amazing.  Each mouthful comes with a whiff smokey paprika hit.  In certain parts you have slices of  Chorizo which gave the dish a meaty bite.  To finish was some simply garnished spinach leaves, poached eggs and a large mushroom.  Definitely no complains from me.

After all meat we had yesterday Jacques have something light and went for the Bircher Muesli (£4.50).

While I could not make much out of it.  I knew he enjoyed it very much. But that was probably because he was scared of all the eating I made him do the day before haha.   Nonetheless, the lush berry topping and sticky muesli looked promising!  

The Riding House Cafe was a surprise candidate during my trip to London, and it served me a sensational brunch.  Not to mention a rather cheap one too!  Including tea, I think the bill came up to £20 for two of us which was rather cheap compared to my meal at the Delaunay the day before.  Jacques thought the same too! He commented that compared to the Delaunay, the Riding Horse Cafe was a place he would return to over and over again.  

P/S: When I was leaving at 10.45am, there was a small queue outside.  But it was nothing compared to the Breakfast Club and Granger & Co. I went to earlier!

WenY

London: Delicious Roast Duck and Pork @ Four Seasons Roast House, Bayswater

The Four Season Roast House is easily an iconic symbol of the East in London.  With its celebrity like popularity, the Four Season Roast House name has spread back to the east as far as Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.  In fact, there are a couple of branches in Malaysia, and Bangkok; perhaps even more!  Coming to London, I knew I had to taste for myself whether the Four Season Roast House is the real deal or plain hype.

At 2pm, I walked in and asked a table for two.  Believe it or not, there were no seats just yet.  Do not even bother asking for a wait duration too as the long list of names and unpredictable customer behaviour make it impossible to gauge.  But thankfully, it only took some 25 minutes before Jacques and I were seated. For lunch today, the Frenchman was going with my suggestion.  We each ordered roasted meat and rice along with a piping hot bowl of wanton soup.  A classic Cantonese lunch.

My choice of roast is none other than my staples, the crispy roast pork and juicy roast duck for £8.50.  It is decent pricing when you consider the fact that London is one of the world’s most expensive cities to live in.  

But money is only figure when it comes to food.  Its the taste that makes a fact.  As far as anticipation goes, the roast meat at Four Season Roast House ticked some very important boxes.   For starters the Roast Pork was well seasoned at the bottom whilst at the top, it was thin, shard-y and crisp!  First bite in and you get that sensational crunch.  The proportion of fat and lean meat is around 35-65 which is decent but can get a little too fatty towards the end!  Over all, it was tasty!

The Roast Duck on the other hand, was equally impressive.  On the outside you get that beautifully roasted skin while its flesh was still mildly juicy and very tasty.   While the meat themselves were delicious, I did not like the sauce which they put on the rice.  It was a little too sweet which masked the natural flavours of the roast meat.  Instead, I wanted something a little more savoury from the juice of the meat that can be served with the rice.  I would not mind if it was a little more herbed too.

The wanton soup for £3 was the perfect way to wash down this meal of roast meat which can leave your mouth feeling greasy.   This salty-slightly peppery soup filled with tasty morsels of prawn wrapped in wanton skins was rather basic but is still every bit quintessential of the Cantonese cuisine. Topped with finely slices scallions, it was delicious.

The Four Seasons Roast House served me some serious Roast Pork and Duck that day.  But was it worthy of all the long queue, newspaper publicity and hype that has been bestowed to it?  For me, definitely NO.  If you have eaten in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and even Australia, yes AUSTRALIA, you will not be fully impressed.  The quality displayed by the Four Season Roast house was almost flawless but its overly sweet sauce was a let down.  It needed more balance on the plate.  

See my other delicious Roast Duck/Pork posts which includes my 2 Perth favourites, a Malaysian Chinese Classic and my Michelin starred adventure in Hong Kong.  Also in the list below is what I believe is the best Soy Chicken I have ever eaten, a shop located in Melbourne.

Good Fortune Roast House @ Albany Highway, Victoria Park - Perth

Hong Kong Barbecue  @ Francis Street, Northbridge - Perth

Ming Court @ Langham Place, Mongkok - Hong Kong

Overseas Restaurant @ Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

Pacific Roast House @ Lonsdale Street, Melbourne CBD

WenY

London: the Full English @ Delaunay, Convent Garden.

London is one of the world’s most international cities and it's food scene is sensationally vibrant.  But because EasyJet arrived some 3 hours after my intended arrival, I was too tired and decided to sleep my hunger out.  Never trust something that calls itself "easy".  Thankfully, it did not take long before the morning came and I was prepared to eat.  For this,  I brought my host/colleague Jacques to the Delaunay, an elegant top class establishment with suited up waitstaff in Convent Garden. 

What better way to start the morning with some tea and a Jam Doughnut (£3.75).  While it was really quite a basic Jam Doughnut, I still enjoyed every bit of it! I am a sucker for these things haha.  Fluffy, sugary deep-fried doughnut balls filled with a fruity jam.  Damn!

After finishing the doughnut, our breakfasts arrived.  Jacques and I decided to go for two very different breakfast which the Delaunay offers.  Mine was the full English while his was the Viennese breakfast.  The main difference?  His was a traditional Austrian breakfast platter of charcuterie with a bagel, egg and accompanying sauce of mustard whilst for me, it was the good old fry-up.

The Viennese breakfast (£11.50).

For the full English breakfast (£16.50), you have all the usual suspects.  Streaky bacon, juicy sausages, fried eggs, shrooms and a decadent black pudding.  The only odd element which I feel did not deserve to be on the plate were the baked beans.  Not because it was not a proper element of a full English, but simply because it looked so “out-of-the-can” which it probably was.

While everything was prepared well on the plate, it was the black pudding which I enjoyed most.  The black pudding was crisp on the outside but on the inside, it was mildly creamy with all the seasoning of herbs making it really tasty and unlike the ones in Australia which tend to be seasoned heavily, the one here was seasoned moderately which helped accentuate the meatiness of the pudding!

While the breakfast was really quite enjoyable, it was not a cheap affair!  It was perhaps we had our breakfast quite quickly and did not quite take the proper time to absorb the wonderful place the Delaunay was.  You will realise there were people there earlier than you still sipping their same pot of tea even though you have finished your breakfast.  My choice of breakfast that morning might seem odd to those who know me considering I have sworn to never eat things I could make at home.  This includes omelettes, bacons, sausages and the list goes on. But coming all the way to England means I had to try their iconic morning starter, the full English breakfast.  Thankfully it was delicious!

WenY

Copenhagen: The new Nordic movement @ Relae, Kobenhavn - Copenhagen

My trip to Copenhagen allowed me to sample one of the top New Nordic Institutions in the world, Relae.  While I am not a textbook food nerd, my trip to Relae was a great opportunity to understand what exactly is the New Nordic Revolution and why there are such big praises for it.  Off the book its approach is the same like every other cuisine.  It aims to create food that are fresh, seasonal and simple with the use of local produce.  

Relae, in Copenhagen have some serious credentials to its name.  This includes claiming the 45th position in the World’s Best 50 Restaurants List and a Michelin star.  Walking in, I felt a sense of mystery.  This overly casual restaurant was a joy yet I knew that beyond this bare facade is a journey into the unexpected.

As you would expect, the waitstaff was attentive as ever and once my order was placed, Relae presented me with my first appetiser.  It was my nemesis, the cucumber. It was shocking to receive nothing but cucumbers and a dip because you can say or do will detract from that the fact that this is a cucumber, served in its most honest state.  It ticked all criteria you would expect and a bit more where it packed some serious juiciness and sweetness compared to the supermarket ones.  

But the part of this snack which I enjoyed most was its accompaniment of bread sauce salted by the anchovies. Prior to serving, the sauce is aerated to help the sauce stick more easily to the cucumbers.  Creamy with a mild saltiness from the anchovy, it complemented the sweet cucumbers well!

Cucumber, w/ Bread, anchovy and cream sauce - aerated

Complementary bread

The bread tasted like bread.  It has a very yummy savoury crust but that was as far as it got for me.  I did not really appreciate it too much.  It has been slightly over 4 years now but someone has yet to topple the best bread in Australia from Tetsuyas and in the global food scene, Le Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

The next dish could not have looked any more pure. Seaweed wrapped in a thin slice of celeriac and topped with a slice of black olive before sitting these little “wantons” in the juice of the olives.  Refreshing, and crisp but very “plain”.  It left my tongue feeling slightly rubbery afterwards.  Probably an overdose of olive flavours.

Celeriac, black olives and seaweed

The countries in Europe love for small forage fish is never-ending.  After having the Herring at HanTing, I was presented with another fish course by Relae.  Slight cured, the Mackerel yet still extremely fresh, it was surprisingly not as fishy as I had expected it to be.  More importantly, the pairing with bergamot peel and a neutral cauliflower made it even nicer.  Try let the Mackerel linger in your mouth and it was actually quite buttery!

Mackerel, cauliflower and Bergamot.

Course break -  Brown and champignon mushroom broth with olive oil.

This course looked almost too pretty to eat.  But what was hidden underneath the green pasture was a Danish Kimchee made from fermented Romaine lettuce.  Comparing it to the regular Kimchee, it was equally yummy without the spiciness but had a better scent to it!  Other than that, there was something unexplainable about the dish that made is special.  Maybe its just plain visual pleasure!

Romaine Lettuce

Carrots are a must in every slow-cooked stew I make.  But the chefs at Relae have decided that this is an understatement of the root vegetable and decided to make the carrot a star on its own.  These perfectly roasted carrots looked so bare on the plate.  Yet its soft-sweet flesh was wonderful to eat with the vinegary blackcurrant sauce.  The contrast of flavours between, sweet, salty and sour made it an addictive pairing.  Earlier, the waiter explained that the seaweed on the plate came from Iceland and carried a liquorice taste.  Surprisingly, I did not get any peppery-aniseed flavour which is a blessing because I am not the biggest fan of it. 

Carrots, söl and blackcurrants

My meat course was Relae’s Organic Chicken cooked sous vide.  There is so little on the plate again.  Which only means that the execution of every component had to be flawless.  True enough, it was.  Starting from the sous-vide chicken to the wilted cabbage and ending with a sensational crunch from the fine bits of chopped up chicken skin, it was safe to say that I was thoroughly impressed.    I thought that this dish spoke a language which I was familiar with.  It packed a load of flavour and everything complimented the chicken.  Even the liver bits hidden underneath were to a certain extent a little “creamy”.  Amazing.

Sødam Chicken. cabbage and lovage sauce.

With the savoury course done and dusted, it was time for the happy ending.  And my anticipation was running at an all time high after that successful meal of sous vide chicken.  The first dessert to come was an ice cream.  Creamy, extremely milky.  In some sense, if you dislike the strong flavours of “cow-y” you might be slightly turned off.  But I loved every bit of this creamy delight.  The toppings of very gently warned raspberries which accompanied desserts added a surprising touch when it exploded in my mouth upon first contact.  Its as though, all the fibres inside the little berry had perished due to the slow heating!  The grape seeds was a multi-functional element that not only the whole dessert texture, but a mild nuttiness too.

Milk, Raspberry and grape seeds

My last course came and it was a delicious serve of chocolate mouse, with apples and chanterelles mushrooms!  Earthy flavours paired with a fruity yet mildly acidic apples were nice.  Why no picture?  Because I ate it too quickly LOL.  I was THAT excited about the dessert course at Relae.

The Scandinavian landscape is rich and fertile but its harsh environment also means that harvest can be limited.   To earn Michelin recognition and a spot in the World’s Best 50 Restaurants List is like making gold from lead.  An act that is somewhat impossible. However, do not underestimate pure innovation for excellence.  When experimenting with simplicity, the outcomes can be extremely rewarding.  This is the amazing story of Relae by Christian Puglisi, an ex-alumni of top institutions like Noma and El Bulli. He has created a name for himself beyond his past.  But beware, Relae is not for everyone.  In fact, most who do not fine dine would consider Relae is an atrocity.  Carrots, cucumbers, herring and cauliflower?  Why would I pay for that they would think.  But for me, it was worth it. The last 4 courses were exceptional.

WenY

Copenhagen: Danish Pastries @ Lagkagehuset Bakery, Kobenhavn K - Copenhagen.

Danish pastries are a morning staple like Vegemite is to Australia.  In Copenhagen you are sure go past many bakeries in town with one the more popular chain stores being Lagkagehuset and it was my early morning stop on Sunday morning. The Lagkagehuset Bakery was perfect considering most of the other bakeries close on Sundays.  From the outside, one might mistake the modern exterior for an upscale bakery.  But do not be fooled as sleek exteriors are almost a must in this stylish Danish capital.  The baked products are on display so just tell the waitress what you want and she will pick it up for you.  Heating is available too. 

My two picks for breakfast were the chocolate croissant and the classic Cinnamon Snail.  Despite having some of the best layers for a croissant, the lack of an intense butter aroma made the usually decadent chocolate croissant very dull.  It definitely needed a re-work!  It was safe to say that when in Rome, do what the Romans do.  So do not eat Croissants in Copenhagen :P!

Thankfully the Cinnamon Roll was up to scratch and lived up to my expectations. Peeling the crisp layers off, you get you fingers all sticky before revealing the hidden pockets of tasty cinnamon sugar. First bite in and the tasty roll was faultless. Who am I kidding?  I am in Copenhagen after all!  Deeper inside, you get the soft more fluffy bits!

No wonder many have praised them for their pastries which I have to say was quality although not as amazing as what some have claimed it to be! Note that Lagkagehuset was one of the few hardworking bakeries open for on a dreamy Sunday. Its prices were decent and the quality of Lagkagehuset's pastries were up to scratch. Stick to the Danish basics and you will do just fine!! 

WenY

Copenhagen: Danish Pastries and the best Hot Dogs @ Andersen Bakery, Kobenhavn V - Copenhagen.

Great breakfasts make normal days better.  If you are in Copenhagen, I have a little place for you to start.   This bakery is the love child of a Japanese Baker and Danish Pastry that goes back some half century ago.  Conveniently enough it is located right along the walls of Tivoli Gardens, the worlds oldest theme park.  This is Andersen’s Bakery.  

The morning is a little drizzly when I got out at 8 in the morning but the good folks at Andersen Bakery starts before dawn to ensure everyone is well-fed in the rainy Autumn weather.  My pick for the morning was the classic Cinnamon Roll and a  Danish Vanilla Creme Crown.  To keep me warm was a pot of English Breakfast.

The Cinnamon Roll was a classic Danish Pastry. It smells so good it was unmistakable from the moment I stepped in Andersen’s Bakery.  Fortunately enough, it tasted as good as it smelt.  Crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, this bun was absolutely more-ish with the little bursts of cinnamon & sugar mix in certain parts of the roll!

The second pastry was not a default choice of mine.  After snooping for awhile, I was overwhelmed with the choices pastries and I decided the to get waitress to recommend something she liked personally.  Her choice was the Danish Vanilla Creme Crown which was spot on!

Each bite was flaky and when you hit that custard centre, you get a silky smooth custard with a fragrant hit of warm-floral vanilla.  Best of all, this custard was the real deal.  Not some random custard out of the can.

But when the clock strikes 10 in the morning and you want something proper to keep you going through lunch, I recommend Andersen’s Hotdogs for a wholesome brunch.  My choice that afternoon was the Spicy Dog.  

For 55 Crowns you get a delicious signature hotdog in a white bun, both of which are specially made in house.  To finish, the hot dog is given royal treatment where it is topped with fried shallots, Jalapeños, relish and wasabi mayo. 

The Spicy Dog combination is simply potent and as you bite into the juicy hot dog, you soon realise why the Danes are one of the largest hot dog consumers in the world despite their relatively small population.  This had to be the best hot dog I have ever eaten.  Not to mention the toppings which paired with the hot dog so very well.  You get the crispy fragrant onions, the tangy relish and a chilli kick from the Jalapeños before thin slices of cucumber cools the tongue.  It was lovely.  To complement the chow, Andersen Bakery also had a freshly squeezed elderflower lemonade!

Andersen Bakery is one of the most popular places in Copenhagen and it is not surprising at all.  Top notch Danish Pastries paired with amazing hot dogs makes a formidable combination.  If you have one chance to eat Danish Pastries/Hot Dogs in Copenhagen, it would have to be this little bakery.  Also, do note that the prices here are a quite similar to what you would pay for say a fully loaded hot dog on the road while the Danish Pastries are the same price like the ones you would get from your local baker.  So if you ever go to Copenhagen in Denmark, remember to stop by Andersen Bakery.

WenY