Lee Boulanger

A very good friend of mine from school has finally realised his dream and opened his own bakery in his hometown of Seoul, which is called Lee Boulanger. The doors opened to the public proper on the 18th November so if you happen to be in Seoul looking for some yummy French bread, this is the place to go! My friend has sent me some pics of his breads, all of which he makes on-site and they look stupendously good - if only I lived nearer but alas, am stuck here on the side of the globe :(

I am soooo happy and proud of my friend and really wish him all the success in the world with Lee Boulanger - 아자! 아자!, 원상!

 Cosy looking yet professional lab!

 

Bread and viennoisserie, I wanna try everything!!

 Shop floor

Lee Boulanger

Ground Floor of Corner Mansion

796-4 Bangbae-Dong

Seochu-Gu

Seoul

South Korea

137-830

Simply Thai

My friend T had been telling us about a really good Thai resto in her neighbourhood which she wanted to take us to and we finally got to go this weekend! The resto had generated a lot of praise a couple of years ago when it was featured on "The F Word" and according to T, the place was booked up for weeks on end after that! Luckily for us, it's much easier for us to get a table, even on a Saturday night!

We ordered a bunch of dishes to share between us and everything tasted delicious - full of life, exciting flavours which you don't necessarily get in most Thai restos. A most enjoyable evening, yummy food and great company - can't ask for more than that, thanks so much T! :)

 Thai beef salad with lime, lemongrass, coriander, shallot and a touch of chilli

 Chef's special of crispy crab and prawn cakes - no scrimping here, actual flakes of crabmeat in the cake!

 Chef's special of duck larb salad, a North Eastern speciality.

 Chef's special of deep fried red snapper

 Chef's special of soft shell crab

 Side of excellent Pad Thai

Chef's special of pan roasted quail

No pictures of dessert sadly because of a poor selection......my meal would've been perfect if I was able to order mango with coconut sticky rice! ;)

Yummy indeed!

I've been spending the last few days away from the big smoke and headed up north to Glasgow for family reasons. Despite spending the first 7 years of my life in this city, I rarely go back now and it certainly has changed a lot since I was last back. Like everywhere in the UK at the mo, the recession is affecting everyone and you can really see how hard it is to make a living, especially in the Chinese catering business.

On the recommendation of my uncle P, we headed to Yummy Food for one of our dinners. The decor and location is nothing to write home about (whilst there, we overheard a conversation between the boss and the delivery boy about the latter having a takeaway delivery nicked whilst in a tower block and not being able to collect money for it......ROUGH!) but the food is generous, comforting and quite tasty! Yummy Food is open every day midday to 2am (CRAZY HOURS!!), so if you're in town, I recommend you pop in for a bite to eat!

You've been warned about the decor!! :)

Mmmm.....what to eat? Authentic Macanese favourites, anyone?

 Bitter melon and spare ribs in black bean sauce (Ba Chan's chopsticks in the background, he was hungry!!)

叉燒 and 燒肉

 Braised oxtail

Breakfast, Glasgay style!

Fresh out of the oven of China Court Bakery in Glasgay!!

Finished!

So after almost 18 months, I have decided to leave my current job and head to pastures new :)

I don't have any concrete plans at the moment but there are a few things in the pipeline which I am hoping will lead to something - apologies for being a little cryptic but I will keep you posted!! :)

Baking experiment - Pear tart

Recently, I've been on the lookout for an alternative pear tart recipe to the Tarte Bourdaloue which we were taught at school. I came across this one which is taken from a book that caught my eye in the library, "Tarte Tatin" by Susan Loomis. The book is part biography, part recipe book and this particular recipe was given to her by a woman who shops for pears at their local market in Louviers. It is pretty straightforward with no need to poach pears, making almond cream, etc. The result was pretty tasty and the use of vanilla sugar made our flat smelt pretty yummy for an evening! :)

I don't think that this tart can replace a Tarte Bourdaloue but its a tasty alternative. Its best served warm since it is custard-based. However, I had a slice cold the following day and it was still pretty good, bon app!