Quick lunch - Baozi Inn

 Need something to warm you up from the cold weather? Suggestion = bowl of 擔擔麵 (dan dan mian). Noodles served with chilli minced pork - hit the spot nicely but it was so cold that I had to keep my coat on in the resto!!!

Bar Shu

Now that I have got my job situation sorted, I am finally getting my arse in gear and meeting up with some long lost chums who are still living in the big smoke. I met up with a very dear friend ("la chilanga") after work on Thursday night for a spot of dinner and a much overdue chinwag. We have made a habit of eating out in Chinatown whenever we meet and this time was no exception - I suggested that we try Bar Shu, a Sichuanese restaurant that has been getting rave reviews ever since it opened a few years ago. We managed to grab a table without a reservation and I proceeded to do the usual of ordering too much food :)

The great thing about "la chilanga" is that she's a pretty adventurous eater which meant we could order some of the more "exotic" dishes on the menu......I had a fantastic evening, great food and even greater company - the food in Bar Shu is not bad and I am looking forward to going back and trying some more other dishes. My only gripe is that they don't tell you that service charge is included in the bill and when "la chilanga" went to pay her share by card, the machine gave another further option for giving a gratuity, pretty poor even by Chinatown standards.

Thin slices of beef in numbing hot chilli oil - not actually that spicey. Not sure if I would order it again partly cos the oil is a little off-putting.

Tripe with chillis and peppercorns - HOT! HOT! HOT! Really delicious but potentially a health hazard.

Ox tendons braised with mincemeat served on a bed of pak choi - best dish of the night, mild on the chilli scale :)

Stir fried morning glory with fermented beancurd and chilli

Return to London = marathon Asian food eating sesh!

Saturday lunch = Cha Cha Moon (strangely quiet at 1pm?). Alan Yau's modern take on HK's noodle shops, its been open for almost a year now, I think and at the beginning, there was a flat rate of £3.50 for every dish on the menu. Looks like the credit crunch has also impacted Mr Yau and prices these days have mostly increased and all dishes are variably priced. Food was not bad, I went for the roast duck laomian, JD went for zhajiang beef ho fun which I thought was a little on the mean side - we both thought they had forgotten the ho fun when it arrived! We shared some chicken guotie (nice) and a portion of spring onion pancake (I liked it but not to JD's liking). Special mention to my glass of fresh soymilk, yum!

Saturday dinner = Nahm. JD and I had dinner here a couple of years ago to celebrate one of my bonuses, I think? (back in the day when I was employed) At the time, we weren't particularly impressed with it, service was also a bit OTT as well. I think they meant well when they asked if either of us had any food allergies but when JD mentioned that he was allergic to prawns, all our dishes were then stripped of lovely shrimp paste and we also missed out on a luscious-looking lobster curry, which funnily enough, JD can eat!

JD's chum François was in town and is also good friend of Nahm's owner, David Thompson and kindly invited us along for dinner. The dinner this time was a marked improvement on the one we had a few years back and we were privileged to meet the chef himself who was pottering around in the kitchen and came out to say Hello. I think David asked François and E to pick out dishes for everyone to share and then he would throw in a few surprises - am not entirely sure what was ordered but everything that came out was delicious and by the end of the night, I was left holding a full stomach which was groaning with bubbly, booze and food. It felt a little rude to be snapping away throughout the meal so I only managed to get a few pics, some of them a little blurry due to my inebriated state! Here's the list of food (probably most of the menu) we had:

•  Amuse-bouche: triangles of sweet pineapple topped with shrimp paste and small leaf of coriander.
  
• Starter: salted chicken wafers with longans and Thai basil.
• Soup: clear soup of minced pork dumplings with shitake mushrooms and cabbage.
• Mains: jungle curry; massaman curry; pork belly curry with plum leaves; minced prawns and cured pork simmered in coconut cream
with grilled squid, star fruit and white turmeric; plaice salad with Thai herbs and young celery; grilled scottish scallops with garlic, chilli 
and lime sauce; stir fried aubergine; deep fried bean curd with crab and pork.
• Dessert: mango and sticky rice (JD), Thai fruit platter (moi).

Sunday lunch = Rasa Sayang. Quick pitstop with JD and bro to this relatively new Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown before jumping on the Eurostar. I'd been here a couple of weeks ago and was eager to come back to sample the rest of the menu. Dishes ordered were Hainanese chicken rice (they should stop bothering with the trio of chilli sauce, ginger oil and soy sauce condiments and just give everyone a giant dollop of said chilli sauce!!), Beef rendang, chicken satay, beef satay, roti canai. One word.....delish :)