Fine sausages by Villagers Sausages in Beckenham

Stumbled upon Villagers Sausages as I was in Beckenham.

Taking a closer look, there were so many sausages ranging from traditional ones to pork with black pudding and even Indian inspired ones.

Inside, they also sold sauces and had pies from Cockneys of Croydon, Truckle cheese and even Bury White pudding which I have tried before at some restaurant.

I did have doubts because I have tried expensive ones before and did not like them because of the texture but somehow I had the feeling that the sausages here would be different.

Anyway, it was really hard deciding which sausages to get but ended up getting the [pork & apricot 94% - pork] and [pork & chestnut - 96% pork].
When I left the shop, I actually had regrets not getting the pork and black pudding.

Being a foodie, I browsed their website when I got home and discovered how they started off.
To cut the long story short, Ron Etheridge is really creative with sausages and came up with so many different types.
Fortunately and unfortunately he was not able to introduce his creative sausages to the sausage specialist shop in Greenwich which is why there is this successful shop today!

If I get the chance to go out again, I would definitely get the pork and black pudding, plum and ginger, Whitstable, Beetroot and horseradish and lemon chicken.

Although they are slightly pricier than other sausages, I would definitely recommend them because you really can tell the difference when you eat it.
The filling is proper grounded pork so it was meaty without the nasty fat and chewy bits so I definitely agree with their ingredients that it does contain a high percentage of real pork.
The stated pork percentage 9X% is pretty high vs the average 70% from other brands.

For the two sausages that I got, they were both amazing but I couldn't quite taste the apricot or chestnuts in the respective sausages.

Pork and chestnut:

Pork and Apricot:

I am so impressed to want to go back again because the sausages doesn't contain the weird grisly bits.
You will find that the sausage texture is a lot firmer because the filling is like minced meat whereas other brands are soft containing lots of fat and other stuff.
If there is a chance, I would love to try an authentic Whitstable sausage because it contains oysters and I would also like to visit the Greenwich sausage shop which inspired Ron Etheridge to see how they fare.

https://www.englishsausages.com/

Panic buying in UK

Vintage books by St Michaels (Marks and Spencer)

Vintage books!!
For those of you who don't know St Michael used to be a brand of @marksandspencer

[Review] Possibly the last KFC meal in Croydon due to covid

Since everything is getting affected, decided to have KFC again in case it does get affected.
Got a takeaway because the dine in areas have closed down so ate the chicken outside.
The chicken was ok but a little dry but its probably due to the low demand hence the reason it was in the heated cabinet for a while.

On another visit, I had the spicy wings which fared better, the coating was light yet crispy and the meat came off the bones.

The chicken was fresh and springy but you could also taste the oil coming from the coating.

Instaworthy Cafes in Beckenham

Instaworthy Cafes in Beckenham

Ems Kitchen and The Cosy Kitchen

[Review] Insta pig at Golden Gate Cake Shop in Chinatown, London

I have mixed comments about Chinese bakery.
Chinese egg tarts in UK are definitely better than Hong Kong because it tastes delicious and the pastry is flakey like puffy pastry compared to the weird floppy egg tarts with liquid fillings in Hong Kong.
As for the cakes, the ones in Hong Kong are terrible especially the waxy stiff cream they use and the cakes just taste weird.

To be honest, I was captivated by the piggy shaped thing at Golden Cake Shop.

I wouldn't describe it as a bun or cake because it has pandan lotus paste inside with a hard pastry which is the same as the traditional mooncake pastry.
Therefore I would expect it to taste like a mooncake without that weird savoury egg yolk.
I actually hate mooncakes because lotus paste is like a big lump of brown ear wax loaded with calories but I love pandan so definitely had to devour this cute little piggy!

Back in 2017, the piggy was only 1.70 and now it costs 3 which sadly I didn't try back then but if you look at the photos, the piggy is much more charming now.

2020!

Golden Gate Cake Shop is located on one of the side streets, spotted it before but it wasn't very welcoming as the entrance looked like a side exit and I hate confined spaces.

Finally went in and the bakery was a lot smaller inside than anticipated.

They had colourful Swiss Rolls and other bakery items but I just had my eyes on the pig.

The piggy got home intact which was good but the eyes of the piggy were mind boggling as they didn't melt or scratch and remained shiny.

It was time to eat it, so sliced it and inside was this green pandan lotus paste.
The pastry was quite thick but it kept the pig intact during its travels.
Later when I ate it, I found out that the eye was a hard black bean!

The taste of the pandan was impressive as it was really fragrant so I would definitely recommend this pig.
Pandan is like the vanilla of Asia used in Thai desserts and Singmalay dishes as well as drinks.

Personally, I thought the piggy was delicious with clotted cream because it brings out the flavours and makes the lotus paste smoother.

The eye of the pig turned out to be edible as well because it was just a black bean!

Also tried the pandan mooncake which was similar except there is a salted egg yolk in the middle.

I felt that the yolk took up most of the room and the pandan filling was not sufficient.