[Restaurant Review] Gigli at Flour & Grape

With so many fresh pasta restaurants about, Flour and Grape was another one that was worth checking out.
It is located near London Bridge on the corner of Bermondsey Road.

When I got there, I was greeted with a chefs making fresh ravioli and other pastas through the window.

I was lucky that I was early because the restaurant was quite full within twenty minutes after I sat down.

Before you order, they serve you sparkling or non water on the house.

The menu:

There were nine pastas to choose so I had to reduce my choice to one.
Clearly it was going to be the Gigli as I have had my fair share of ravioli and parpardelle at other places. To be honest, to compare I should compare like with like but not every pasta place serves the same pasta with the same sauce.
They also had taglierini with truffle but again I have had countless plates of pasta with truffle.

I ordered the Gigli which is pasta that looks like carnation flowers.
Gigli ~ sausage, fennel, chilli ragu, broccoli fiolaro

When it arrived, it did not disappoint.
Every mouthful was tasty especially because of the sausage and fennel.
In a way, it tasted like the Pappardelle with fennel sausages & peppercorn ragu at Padella except the pasta was different.

The gigli here had broccoli as well which complemented it nicely with some vegetables and green for the visuals but perhaps a little over cooked because the green was a bit dark.
Overall, I was impressed with the pasta and don't mind coming back again if there is something different on the menu.


Flour and Grape Michelin Status: The Plate 2020

Humiliation from a Tesco Store Guard

As usual I am always out at restaurants and supermarkets in search of tasty treats for my social media reviews.
It was Valentines day around 17:30 when I walked into Tesco Express on Brighton Road, Croydon.

When I entered the shop, I felt a strange presence from the store guard which I didn't really take into account as I was busy looking at chocolates.
Then from the side of my eyes he was standing from a distance of half a metre, so I smiled and put down the chocolates and continued to look around the store.

While I was looking, he was also walking about so I assumed he was an active store guard doing his job well.
Then my sixth sense kicked in and sensed maybe he thought I was suspicious so I walked around again to see if he was about and he was near me again.

Anyway, as I was attracted by the Lindt Easter bunnies, I decided to put them together for a snap and after the snap I put the bunnies back on the shelf but that store guard came over and asked me "what happened" so I explained the Easter bunnies snapshot were for Easter and again he repeated "What happened and asked me to get out of the store now".

Without quibble I just left the store but just felt completely humiliated in front of other customers in the sense I was asked to leave the store.

I just felt pin pointed when everyone else is posting their Tesco finds on social media and they do not get trouble for it.

I definitely won't be returning to that store again and Thanks for ruining my Valentines evening!!!

[Restaurant Review] Young Vegans Pizza Shop

UK is spoilt for choice when it comes to Vegan foods.
On my vegan tasting journey, I have tried vegan fried chicken, pies, countless burgers but not much pizza which called for a journey to Young Vegans Pizza.

This pizza joint is founded by Marco and Carla Casadei where they make their vegan cheese in house.

Anyway, discovered this place after I tried Young Vegans Pie Shop in Camden which is also owned by them.
Prior to the pizza joint they had a stall at Netil Market which was so successful that they started restaurant located in Bethnal Green in Nov 2019.

Finally tried it one evening and I was impressed with the open kitchen where you can see the wood fired oven and chefs making pizza.

On the other side of the restaurant is the takeaway section.

Photos of the restaurant:

As it was early, I was the only diner there so I took my time to decide which pizza to get.
To be honest, it was such a difficult choice but luckily they were able to do half and half in one pizza so that I could try two different pizza toppings.

Two more pizzas were added on the menu so I was glad I didn't try earlier as I had more choices on this visit.

The Menu:

Analyzing the menu they had two different cheeses: mozzarella and ricotta.
For vegan meats there was Seitan pepperoni, Seitan chickun and ham.
Interesting veggies would be the samphire and Brussels sprouts although samphire is a common ingredient in vegetarian places.

My choice of pizza was really hard as I wanted to try different cheeses and different meats so I ended up getting the Devils Coglioni which had Seitan pepperoni and mozzerella and the Corn of the Dead because it was an unusual combo of pickles, sweetcorn and Seitan Chickun with extra ricotta cheese.

The pizza was so legit when it arrived especially the pepperoni and how fresh the basil leaves were as if they were freshly plucked!

Devils Coglioni:
This was topped with Seitan pepperoni, basil, marinara sauce and mozzarella.
The seitan pepperoni pieces were crispy and tasty which satisfies your pepperoni pizza craving.

Corn of the Dead with extra ricotta:
The pepperoni was classic which was why I had to have the corn of the dead because the topping on this were vastly different.
It had roasted sprouts, creamed corn, pickled vegetable, mozzarella, balsamic drizzle and the extra ricotta I requested.
The taste of this one was a total surprise especially the carrots which didn't look pickled but looked fresh carrots because of its vibrant orange.
Overall it was very appetizing with balsamic dressing and creamed corn.
I liked the sprouts too and wished they were pickled because I loved anything that is pickled.

As I was having this whole pizza to myself, I was trying not to stuff myself by eating the middle first which is probably why the boss Marco noticed me eating the pizza in a strange way :)
Anyway, I managed to eat most of it which was good.
To summarize, their pizzas and homemade cheese were fantastic.

Will definitely be coming again and I would also recommend the mac and cheese if you haven't tried the mac at Young Vegans Pie Shop.

Young Vegans Pizza:
393 Cambridge Heath Road,
Bethnal Green.

Further reading:
Young Vegans Pie Shop review
https://supersupergirl-dining.blogspot.com/2019/12/youngveganpieshop.html

[Review] Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce

Lee Kum Kee is famous for its oyster sauce which was made by accident according to their English website.
As well as oyster sauce, they also have many other sauces like soy sauce and concentrated sauces for cooking.

Decades ago they used to have a oyster sauce factory in Sai Kung, Ho Chung next to Asia Television Station (ATV) which it not there now but I was happy to discover a Lee Kum Kee building in Central.

Although I have tried most of their sauces, this is my first post on Lee Kum Kee.
Tried the Vegetarian Stir Fry sauce which is actually a vegetarian version of the regular oyster sauce.
Compared to the regular oyster sauce, it is much sweeter with less unami.
The sauce is just like the regular oyster sauce with the same colour and consistency.

https://uk.lkk.com/

Hilarious online queue for Park n Shop Supermarket in Hong Kong due to #COVID19

As I was bored, I decided to go online and see what new items Park n Shop supermarket.

To my disbelief, there was a queue to get in the website!

SERIOUSLY, I was just thinking of browsing!

I think the website should have customers log on to queue to pay when they buy something and in the meantime just let people browse freely.

Hilariously, once you get in, you only have 10 minutes to browse online

[Review] Doisy & Dam Chocolate

Discovered Doisy and Dam chocolates at Boots, so decided to grab them all.
The flavours I got were Dark Chocolate with maple, toasted rice & pink salt, Dark Chocolate with coconut and lucuma and Dark Chocolate with maca, vanilla & cacao nibs.

What makes Doisy and Dam chocolates is that they are made with super ingredients like maca, lucuma and cacao nibs.

It is hard to say which one is my favourite because they are all different.

Personally I liked the Dark Chocolate with maca, vanilla & cacao nibs because of the crunch from the cacao nibs.

The maple and coconut were equally likable, again the coconut one has lots of shredded coconut in it while the maple with pink salt has a nice salt quick with crispy rices pieces.

Dark Chocolate with maple, toasted rice & pink salt:

Dark Chocolate with coconut an lucuma:

Supermarket shelves in Hong Kong emptied by shoppers

Not to be alarmed.
The supermarkets are not really out of stock, it's just the cheap products being sold out.
In Hong Kong, there are other shops as well as the big chains if you think out of the box.
Its just a Chinese thing, they all do the same thing in fear of losing out, even taking pictures of the situation.
The good news is, plenty of cheese for the expats!