London: Bellanger, Islington.

Haven’t been around the neighbourhood near Angel station for a long time, and the French Brasserie/ cafe has been on my list until today we finally had a chance to dine in. Waited at the bar area for about 15 minutes before a table was available for us. Menu presented standard brasserie options and we decided to have Choucroute à l’Alsacienne for two alongside some continental beer on draught. It came in a casserole dish and the meat was cooked ver well maintaining its tenderness and maximising its flavour. Excellent to have with the bread. Dessert had to be gateaux opera which is nowadays rarely seen elsewhere. Very complementary with espresso.

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https://www.bellanger.co.uk

9 Islington Green, London

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London: Din Tai Fung. Covent Garden.

The Michelin one star restaurant specialising in steamed dumplings from Taiwan has extended into the UK. Its famous Xiao Long Bao has exquisite folds and twists that are designed to hold the lovely and fillings when you pick one up with chopsticks. The best way to enjoy Xiao Long Bao is to use chopsticks to place it in a spoon and take a first bite. And taste the juice that oozes out onto the spoon. Then you may dip it in the soy sauce or vinegar if you like. Other options including fried rice with pork cutlet on top and fried dumplings are also delicious. We usually finish our meal here with something sweet such as steamed sesame buns.

 

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https://www.dintaifung-uk.com/index.html

5-6 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London

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London: Smokestak. Shoreditch.

The place caught our eye when we walked past before. Later we found out it is listed on the Bib Gourmand recommendation and thought we should not miss it especially when it’s very meat based. When opening the door, we were welcomed by the aroma of meat being grilled in the open kitchen. We were lucky enough to get a table without booking beforehand. Pigtails and crispy ox cheek as appetisers followed by beef brisket and beef rib with daikon slaw on the side. Apart from pigtails (a bit dry probably due to too much deep-frying), they were all very enjoyable. Quantity was very satisfying as well, you could probably skip dinner.

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35 Sclater St, London
E1 6LB

https://smokestak.co.uk/

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Polpetto. Italian restaurant in Soho.

Recommended by the Michelin big gourmand, this restaurant serving good Italian cuisine is easily missed when walking down Berwick street, yet it serves very nice pasta that you won’t forget once you have tried it. Aiming to cook with fresh produce, the menu may change accordingly. Therefore, the menu is kept to one page, unlike those of other chain restaurants. Both tagliatelle and gnocchi were cooked very well, perfectly soft yet maintaining its elasticity. As for tiramisu, I would have enjoyed it more if it had had a stronger flavour of liqueur.

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11 Berwick St, Soho, London

https://www.polpo.co.uk/locations/polpetto/

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London: Kiln. Soho.

In order to satisfy the yearning for Thai cuisine, we came to this eatery recommended on the Big Gourmand list. The website says it’s walk-ins only so you may not need to make a reservation in advance. It is basically all counter seats, but luckily the bar is quite long so there are probably 20-30 seats. The menu is simple. Have some skewers as appetisers then order a couple of different flavoured curries to go with the rice. On top of that, they also have Kernel beer on draught. All these sound exciting and do make up a good meal. Music is good in here. They play vinyls 🙂 OK back to the curries, the dry one on a plate is venison curry while the other in a bowl is ox cheek. Both nice but I kinda prefer the wet curry of ox cheek. It might be more of a meat preference.

 

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58 Brewer Street, London

http://www.kilnsoho.com

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London: Brasserie Zedel.

Just off Piccadilly Circus lies a grand conglomerate of a brasserie, cafe and theatre, all very authentically French. The brasserie serves an all day menu that caters to those who like to dine in any hours of the day. Needless to say, their baguette was of good texture. The plate of pork chop was of decent quantity and delicious, too. Their dish of the day was pasta with roast rabbit which proved to be a bit fiddly because there were quite a few tiny bones. But overall the taste was good. We did want to try their desserts; however, we had to leave it until next time as the meal was pretty filling.

 

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20 Sherwood St., Soho, London

https://www.brasseriezedel.com

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London: Aquavit

Having walked past the place quite a few times without realising that it is one of the Michelin restaurants in central London, we finally had the opportunity to enjoy some Nordic cuisine. A lot of intriguing options on the menu, quite exciting to read. Set menu is of great value. So don’t forget to have a look before making a decision. Pickles, herring and blood pudding with lingonberries were lovely while the main dish of meat balls was absolutely delicious. Surprisingly, they had the best panna cotta I’ve ever had, great with Scandinavian berries on top. The second time we tried the duck breast which was cooked perfectly. If you are looking for something scrumptious, I can say this is the place that won’t disappoint you.

 

 

 

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St James’s Market, 1 Carlton St, St James’s, London

http://www.aquavitrestaurants.com

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London: Great Queen Street Restaurant

A hidden gem not far away from the bustling Covent Garden is where you can enjoy modern delivery of authentic British cuisine. Warm rabbit salad was really delicious. Our mains, pork and fish pie, were also good. However, I did find the outer surface a bit burnt, the lovely mash and sauce kinda made up for it.

 

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32 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AA

http://www.greatqueenstreetrestaurant.co.uk

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Worcester, England: The Old Rectifying House

Went to Worcester one Sunday planning to visit a museum in the town centre, only to find that it was not open. Never mind. At least, we had a chance to explore local food scenes and happened to find this place with a Michelin sticker at the entrance. Food was good; however, the service could be better. It was not completely packed, but for some reason it was difficult to get your order done. So in the end, we left without having desserts. In addition, they could have given us a table away from groups, but they chose to sit everyone together in the same area which showed a bit of a lack of consideration. From the time when we arrived to the time when we left, there were quite a few tables left unseated for the whole time. Anyway, the drinks we had were quite nice.

 

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https://theoldrec.co.uk

North Parade
Worcester
WR1 3NN

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London: Mash Steakhouse. Soho.

Having walked past this restaurant several times, we thought it might be worth trying as we were trying to find a place for dinner. You may think that you need to book in advance before going in. However, what we did was to go there before the busy dinner hours and aimed to have a pre-theatre menu which we found on the board by the entrance. My partner enjoyed his cocktail and sirloin while my starter of a collection of charcuterie and steak from the set menu were also good. With side dishes of mashed potato and cheesy spinach, we had a very satisfying meal, which left no room for desserts unfortunately.

 

 

 

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77 Brewer St., Soho, London

https://www.mashsteak.co.uk/?landingpageVisited=true

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