Borough market is the tour de force of a food market situated in the heart of London. After much procrastination, I finally paid a visit to the famed market and started off my photo essay in part one. I last left you on a sweet and smelly note with dulce de luche & some black truffles to munch about. Are you ready for more? There and back again Borough market is not one big, continuous market. Rather it’s kinda made of different ‘hubs’. Each hub sells different types of food, for example, the first hubs you saw in part one did sweets and cheese. In this particular section of the market, there was a mixture of cooked food, veges and meat. I love antipasti for the colours, olive oils, its savoriness and the appetising qualities. I am a stickler for small tasters and nibbles. I think it’s the attraction that you get to try a variety of flavours that makes it so appealing to me… either that or I’m just plain greedy. She sells honey and smiles like honey Part of the attraction of a food market is the buzz. The chatters from the large crowds and just generally that warm human factor. You know what I mean right, when a place fills up with people, it seemingly comes alive. Of course, the vendors themselves exude a lot of energy,

Graduation ceremonies in central london can be a rather colourful affair, everyone dressed up, glowing parents & excited extended family, all except the rather dreary and downright boring ceremony. Are you wondering why I’m blogging about ceremonies instead of food? Apologies for this interruption to normal food service, I know its off the topic and abit personal. Imperial is very close to my heart, as it’s where I spent four years nodding off in most lectures… that is when i’m not accidentally wrecking my professor’s lab. My brother’s graduation took place on a rather lovely october wednesday morning in the Royal Albert Hall. It was a little cold but overall, was a nice event altogether. The ceremony itself is quite well choreographed (afterall, they have been doing it for 100 years) complete with the ‘no clapping’ policy when receiving graduands on stage. Believe me, sitting through three hours of name calling is, for the most part, fantastically boring. The ‘ufo lights’ hanging from the ceilings were just about the most appealing highlight from the ceremony… and this is the third one (in a row) I’ve attended in recent memory. The reception, of course, is the best thing about these events, featuring pretentious canapes which don’t quite taste as good as they look. At least the bubbly was free-flowing. It was rather nice to see me old professor again, he has since forgotten the mess of a thesis which I produced for him a couple of years ago ( which is

You know people often ask me where I find out about things to do in the city and my usual answer is “well I just do” . Strictly speaking, that’s an exaggeration because I don’t always “just do”. That part is alot of reading, spotting adverts, recommendations from peeps and just generally keeping my “just do” radar up. Afterall, no man is an island as we are all social animals. Really, we are. ( As according to a variety of scientific and non-scientific studies/surveys over the years in a number of fields which I will not refer to in this post ) ( sorry, I’m being cheeky yet again, *handslap* ) (yet more brackets, ’optional’ reads ) As a blogger, I spend as much time blogging as I do web surfing and in recent weeks have been told of this new website, spoodfed.co.uk, which quite literally ‘spoonfeeds’ it’s users events/entertainment/stuff to do in London. It’s still fairly new, but it’s already looking pretty good and more importantly, they list the more ‘obscure’ events which is always an attraction for me because, as you know, I’m a stickler for rarity. Spoonfeed me kang Well here’s the homepage and it’s fairly easy to follow, there are the separate categories and tags of the events which it falls under. I must admit, websites like these are very useful because believe me ( and this is for

QGTW now reading    intro | one | two | part three | four | five | six | seven Did you manage to put your new tasting skills to good use? Cool, we are about the half-way point in this series and I hope that you’re finding this helpful. If there’s anything you’d like to have included, or have any questions, please do leave a comment at the end of this post, I’ll happily incorporate your needs! In part three, lets turn our attention to buying those special bottles and a few simple tips to turn your home into the pefect short term wine cellar. Here’s an index of what is included in this post: Where to buy wine The alcoholic criteria Storing the precious ones Where to buy wine There are broadly two ways to access wine, the easiest is t. pop into a wine merchants; the other is to subscribe to a wine club. A wine club is basically a subscription service which will then send you about a dozen hand picked bottles every month. Personally, I prefer going to a shop and picking out a bottle, but if you want to avoid the hassle of having too much choice (trust me, there really is too much out there) , you can leave it to a wine club to make the choices for you. The five essential london wine shops

I love going to markets. I love independent producers who passionately pour their heart into their stock. In a world of mass-market consumerism with pre-packaged food manufactured with questionable methods; food is the last thing you want homogenised. Last weekend, I paid a visit to the ‘award-winning’ ( closer to opinion winning) Borough Market in the London Bridge area. They are widely regarded as fine food producer central, even surpassing the famed portebello market in recent years. The market’s board of trustees believe that everyone has the right to eat well. Sounds like my kind of guys. The unusual suspects I managed to drag Yenni out to this trip with me. The weather was looking ok albeit alittle cold. Borough market sells all kinds of food from fresh veges, poultry & meat to cooked food and even spirits & wines. I’ve been wanting to check out borough market for a long time coming and now I’ve got the chance to do it. I’ve done this post photo essay style. Ready to take a walk around the market buddy? Custards of Portugal We started our trip early (11 am on a sunday!) and on an empty stomach. One of the first stalls we passed did pastry. Specifically, portuguese egg tarts (the ones on the left) , ‘pastel de nata’. These are a portuguese favourite and is a type of egg custard

Weekly round-up of yummi-news from around london and the blogosphere. Now released every Sunday and brought to you by a London eater  Reflecting on McCain’s eccentricity, mulling over ice skating and thinking about over-frosting cakes… all from the comfort of my brand new macbook. eating happenings here on London Eater If this was a video blog, it would have been very embarrassing for me because I sound like a horse. Since I fell victim to the autumn flu bug, I’m glad that the worse has passed, but I lost my voice and now I would really like to have my voice back again. It just occurred to me, I sound like Batman. “Tell me where the Joker is!” “Rarr!” Can I please go back to being Bruce Wayne? “Rarr.” This week has been rather hectic for myself. I missed part 3 of my quickie wine guide series, apologies if you were waiting for it, it will be back next tuesday, so do come back for that. However I did manage three posts this week: Started off with a visit to one of London’s coolest wine shops in Berry Bros & Rudd. Chock full of history, the shop floor is almost like a museum. Read it here. I paid a visit to Launceston place in Kensington to check out their £18 three course lunch. It was a pretty good meal that

Its a trend. London’s like that, stuff comes in and out of fashion. Wine bars used to be ( long long ago, in a galaxy far, far away) cool, then it kinda died but now its back and its all the rage. When I was hunting for one to write about, I thought it would only be appropriate to go to the oldest one in London; Gordon’s wine bar. London Whining We were suppose to check out Benares, the first indian restaurant to win a michelin star, but I couldnt get a reservation at a reasonable time. Caro did say that she was feeling more thirsty than hungry, so off we went to the oldest wine bar in London. So lets talk about Gordons. It is known to have existed in the same spot in embankment since 1890 and stakes its claim as the oldest one in the city. Today, the wine bar is owned and run by Wendy Gordon. Much of her extended family helps with the business so, as they mention on their website, it is very much a family affair.. which means one thing, heart and soul. Ok thats two things, but you get my drift ( my drift? That’s the weekend manifesting itself…). Down the rabbit hole we go… Situated in the ‘tourisy’ part of London in Embankment, its by the river and its a nice

It is true british food has a bad reputation. It’s so bad even british people think so too… but not everybody. There is a growing contingent ( or I should say, one that has always been there, but just very quiet ) who know that British food is more than curry chips and fried fish. It so happens, I’m one of those buggers. SW Seven South kensington is home to some landmarks such as the Royal Albert Hall, the natural history museum and is in fact, just off the side of hyde park where you can catch a glimpse of the Prince Albert statue in all its golden glory. Its suburbia and very residential. Did I mention that it’s also terribly expensive to live in this particular part of town? So what is the point of me telling you this? Well, its history. Launceston Place has history. It’s been serving the residents for many a moon, but recently ( as recent as 8 months ago I believe ) , the old management ran out of steam and sold the place on. Today, at the helm is Chef Tristan Welch, formerly of Petrus, of Marcus Waering fame and yes, formerly of the Ramsay empire. Excellent pedigree, so expectation naturally, is high. Enter the Great British restaurant I’ve walked past this place many times on my way to Wholefoods on High Street kensington and

Apologies guys, just let you know part 3 of the quickie wine guide is not going to be released this week, instead it’ll be published next tuesday. Since I caught the flu bug, my productivity has nose-dived like the FTSE 100. In addition, I’m in the process of shifting all my stuff to my new computer, or new platform to be more precise. In order to process my photos with more haste ( and quality ), I’ve decided to take the plunge with a mac. So I’ve been abit caught up with that of late. Moving gigabytes of data across the network is… well, time consuming to say the least. Not to worry, normal service will resume soon enough (sometime tonight), until then, there’s still alot of past content you can read: I love food pictures, especially fish, these were taken in Wales, have a look here. If not, do try this one here about food stories, let me know what food makes you smile . Finally, Meaghan at The Top Floor Flat wrote a review about me here (yay! my first review) , thank you so much Meaghan! Hope you guys have been enjoying reading this humble column, I promise alot more is in the works and I am always working hard to deliver new and exciting stuff. You keep coming back, I’ll keep churning out the good stuff

I love visiting wine shops, most feature these cool and creaky wooden floors. A little musky and dusty, in London the shopkeepers are almost always very cheerful and friendly. I mean, you got to be if your job is to sell not just a drink, but an experience to your customer. Established since 1698 Primarily purveyors of very fine french varietals, you will also find that they carry a nice port & whisky collection. In addition, their other Old-world and European selections are also quite formidable. Before I get to their wines, I want to talk about the shop itself, it’s really atmospheric. The inside is rather small, and it doesnt feel like a wine shop at all, as most of the bottles seem to be hidden away. As you stroll in, it’s like walking into 17th century London. The staff are all very well dressed in smart suits, but exude a friendly glow and make you feel surprisingly relaxed and comfortable. Being that BBR are in the very posh end of Mayfair, I was half-expecting an epic showing of the stiff upper lip coupled with famously snotty service… but none of that here. The shop may look 17th century, but the staff certainly have moved on with the times. They are helpful, warm and most important of all, know their wines. Literally, they are like walking wine encyclopedias. I’m quite amazed at how much they know; it

Weekly round-up of yummi-news from around london and the blogosphere. Now released every Sunday and brought to you by a London eater  A  look back at the past week of the eating blind,  summer revival and…. eating happenings here on London Eater Just as I bid farewell to summer just seven days ago, she came back to me. Oh man, you know, we shared a whirlwind romance, at times me and british summer were at odds with each other. When I wanted to take her out on a picnic, she decided to rain down on me, when I felt like settling for a movie at home, she tempts me with those rays of sunshine. I was heartbroken when she decided to say goodbye, but this week she’s back. Woah. It’s beautiful weather this weekend here in the big smoke. 18 C all day long and that sun, it was unreal. I’m glad. Although, this week I was feeling alittle under the weather, I managed to catch the autumn bug early this year, a mild fever and I did lose my voice. After much warm honey drinks and gurgling apple cider, I’m glad to recover just in time to enjoy the weekend.  I set myself up for a big week, but didn’t deliver on a couple of posts (sorry guys), particularly, my wine review continues to elude. However, I did manage to

This is course number three. Seared foie gras, baby artichokes with a delicate pineapple sorbet and a salad of wild leaves. Notice the glassy looking sheet sitting on the sorbet, that’s peppered sugar. Oh yes, peppered sugar. Are you ready for this? Reeeee-mix Lets rewind a little. L’Autre Pied is the sister restaurant of Shane Osborn’s Pied a Terre. Roughly translating to ‘My other foot’, L’Autre Pied is home to a certain Chef Marcus Eaves, winner of the Gordon Ramsay Scholar award and most recently bestowed Timeout London’s Best new restaurant accolade. I have immense respect for the folks over at the Timeout, they’ve managed to provide very accurate reviews of the best places to eat in London, do check them out. Without wanting to go into too much history, Its clear Chef Eaves has awesome skills and he’s only 28. Decor delight I showed up for a saturday lunch. It was very quiet at 12 but it was absolutely packed out by 2. The clientele: a mix of charming couples enjoying the golden years, some ranting fifty-five year old business-types with chic glasses and pretentiously posh young couples whom I can only assume ply their trade in the square mile. I do digress. You will notice the green walls and the warm woods. Cutlery and plates are all very sharp and the chillout music in the background gives L’Autre Pied a

There are only a few places in Europe where you can find a restaurant which does this. Fortunately for us folks in London, you can experience this at Dans le Noir. No I’m not pulling your leg, this is a genuine restaurant and a very real concept. Explain ‘complete darkness’ to me again? The creators emphasize that Dans le noir lets you ‘completely re-evaluate your notions of taste’ as they strip you of your sense of sight and force you to rely on your other senses to truly taste the ‘truth of the food’. Lets demystify that a little. The concept is rather straightforward, really. When you arrive, you must put away any light emitting elements, ie, mobile phones, watches that ‘light up’ in the lockers provided in the reception area. You can also have some drinks in the completely lit bar on the 1st floor. After which, the blind waiters will guide you through to the dining room which is completely pitch black. My experience.. twice. I’ve actually been to this place twice and both times, it was a real….well, experience. I must say that it is quite vivid in my memory because I can still remember the smell of the food and the sounds. Oddly enough, I am surprised I remember as much as I did even though I didn’t have any ‘visual’ memories of it. Ok, if you want to eat

There has been alot of talk of a UK foodblogging meet up ever since my stumble post a couple of weeks ago. Well, consider this an official shout-out to all UK foodbloggers. I know that many of my foodie pals are already on foodbuzz, and alot of you are already feature publishers. (sorry had to take off the details as per foodbuzz request) Come on guys, let’s meet up, it’ll be fun! If you are a foodblogger and not a feature publisher yet then click here and sign up for free! They also do good advertising rates. If you do sign up, please also refer my name (Kang L) if you could It’ll be a great way to meet new friends, get to know the cool people behind the coolest blogs and help create a community feel. Our friends across the pond have already done it, why not here?   Who’s in?  Let me know guys, so we can discuss time & place.  

QGTW now reading    intro | one  | part two | three | four | five | six | seven     Welcome back folks. Last week we talked about what the different grape varietals were and their fundamental characteristics. Did you try the Diablo Pinot or the Dr Loosen Riesling? If not, maybe I didnt entice you quite enough, if you did, then well done on you! Ok, in this edition, its all about understanding your bottles. We’ll start with the physical appearances and then move inwards and give you the basic tools to help you understand what wine really is. By the end of this post, you should be well equipped to confidently narrow down what you want and start enjoying it properly. Remember now, wine is not about getting drunk or about what other people say is good, its all about you and what you think is good.  Here’s what’s covered in this post: Gear you might need What the labels mean Prepping the bottle Prepping the nibbles Look, Sniff, Smell & Taste After Taste One last thing… Gear you might need Lets get started with some basic stuff you might need. If you’re going to take wine abit more seriously, then its worth consider some simple gear to keep around the house: Waiter’s Corkscrews  I swear by the waiter ones, they are compact, cheap and never fail. I don’t

Fast-food is slowly being redressed as proper food. Take burger joints for example. They have been ‘gourmet-ised’ and have been springing up all over the capital. Smollensky’s burger shack is one of them. I get peckish when I’m out and about, so I decided to drop a visit. Burgering up One of the many blogs I read is a hamburger today. I’m telling you, the number of ways burgers can be eaten today is startling. In this post, we have the one pound chateau louise burger which is an absolute beast. People tend to give burgers alot of stick, yeah sure, sure its not healthy and all that, but think about it, let’s throw away the crappy mince and use some premium protein boosting meat. Really fresh tomatoes and leaves. Top up with fresh tomato chutney and some nicely toasted buns and sesame seeds… is it just me or does that sound like ingredients of a balanced diet all rolled into one? Step inside the shack Where all the magic happens. There are 2 branches, the flagship one is in leicester square.  I went to the other one on charing cross road, which is about a 10 minute walk from totenham court road tube station. I really want to talk about the decor because its all dark woods and brick walls, with lots of retro photographs of stars from the 30′s. It’s a relaxing space to sit

Weekly round-up of yummi-news from around london and the blogosphere. Now released every Sunday and brought to you by a London eater  A  look back at the past week of Jamie’s ministry of food, the return of the British autumn (winter ?), what’s cooking and who’s eating. eating happenings here on London Eater Summer has finally left us ladies and gentlemen. All the beautiful colours, the short sleeves and the mini skirts. There was one last hurrah last weekend when the sun came out but today, the rain has pulled me right back in to reality: enter the infamous British weather. Oh yes, it really is horrible. Its also strange how the seasons here seem to change very sharply, and always on a Monday. Oh well, time to get my woolly clothes out and look like a Michelin man. Puff! On the otherhand, I continue to churn out new content, and I think I’ve kind of achieved some sort of consistency with one post per day. Though, I must say, I still have yet to deliver my first wine review as yet. I guess you’ll just have to keep coming back for it. On London Eater this week: Part one of my quickie wine guide was released on monday and it starts things off by giving you a run down of the major grape varietals used in most wines. Most people

Following my scoop! post a few weeks ago, I went on abit of an ice cream rush before summer ended. Ciao is smack in the centre of Leicester square..ok that’s an exaggeration, its more like behind Leicester square and yes that headline is not a joke, they really do spaghetti ice cream here. Got your attention yet? Cool, keep reading… As promised: spaghetti ice cream  There are actually two menus here.  A ‘standard’ café menu that feature sarnies, pastas, you know, the basic stuff. But I mean, you’d come to cafe ciao not for the savoury food,but for the ice cream. This place is abit of an ice cream heaven. The colourful menu is a photographic odyssey of sweet creations including tiramisu with mascarpone and dairy ice cream. Archie comics style banana splits, complete with hot fudge sauce. And of course, spaghetti made completely of chocolate ice cream strands. I ate fried eggs ice cream I ordered the fried eggs. Its made of two half peaches (for the yolk) and vanilla ice cream (as the egg white), with a chocolate wafer stick in the middle… topped with some very juicy glazed cherries. Yeah it was good. Yogurt Ice Jennie wanted to be healthy so she ordered the yogurt ice cream, with lots of whipped cream on top and walnuts and fudge sauce…. its debatable whether this is actually more healthy. If you’ve never had

Gather round guys because I want to tell you about the next best thing that’s just been unleashed on the internet. Metro what.com you say? It’s a twinning website with the aim to become the latest and greatest online hub that will link arguably the two greatest cities in the world : NY and LON.  The concept is rather interesting, follow me on this one. On the surface it looks like a travel website with recommendations for places of interests, hotels, restaurants, generally anything that’s cool and fun to do in either cities. It’s crowning feature are its ‘lists’ which feature a list of places which adhere to a certain theme. For example, ‘Breathtaking views’ gives you a list of recommended places in NY and LON to take in a breather. Ahh.. Clicking on each place bring us a short 500 character (with spaces) review of the place and why its good. You also get a google map which shows you where it is. You will also see a ‘metrotwin index’ next to the name. Think of it as a popularity ranking system that’s based on a magical computer code in the background which calculates this based on a number of metrics. At the moment the number one place to visit in both NY/LON is the Wolseley.. in London.   The idea is that this website is designed for people on the move, being that they

  Foodies among you will know of this wonderful food network called foodbuzz where you can make friends with foodies and see what deliciousness is being whipped about in and around the community. I’ve made lots and lots of new foodie pals over there and generally love it! I managed to send off my feature publisher program agreement on monday and last night, I was sent my fp badge and advertising banner. Hurray. You can buzz me at foodbuzz, you can friend me at foodbuzz, you can comment on me at foodbuzz and here’s where you can do it all