See Ya, 2012!

The cats (and I) wish you a Happy New Year. Come on, 2013! 

New World, (not so) New Year!

Well, this little post is rather late, isn't it? I had meant to write it up just after the New Year, but we are now nearly a quarter of the way into 2012 which means I have failed rather miserably. 

I know that I've claimed quite a few times in the past that Dragon Castle was my favourite dim sum place in London, but I'm afraid that is a lie. It's actually only my second favourite, having been pushed out by a new contender. That interloper happens to be New World in Chinatown - an old stalwart which I've recently sort of 'rediscovered'. 

Rice noodle rolls with prawns

Deepfried savoury dumplings with a minced pork filling

Tripe with...stuff

Prawn dumplings - har gow

Deepfried prawn and pork spring rolls

Crispy roast pork belly

Roast suckling pig

The dim sum served here is more or less similar to the prawn and pork mince-based items served in most dim sum places, along with a few other specials including roast suckling pig. I was particularly excited to try the suckling pig. It proved, however, to be slightly disappointing - while the meat itself was tender and succulent, the skin (which I had looked forward to) was hardly crisp and crackly, probably a result of having sat too long in the cart. 

Oh yes, the carts! Probably the main reason why New World is now top of my list - the waitstaff here trundle around with little carts stacked full of dainty dishes. The carts are brought round to your table, where you can point at the dishes that take your fancy. It makes for a much more entertaining meal, as well as negates the need for the guessing game that sometimes occurs when faced with a long list of dishes. 

Other carts are filled with boiling stock and topped with nests of noodles, much like street food carts in some Asian countries. You can ask for freshly cooked noodles in soup, made right in front of you. I resisted the temptation to go for a bowl of noodles this time, but that's not to say I won't be so wise in future.

Deepfried prawn springrolls wrapped in beancurd skin

Dessert soup thing of mango juice with grapefruit and mango bits 

This little bowl of soupy dessert has now become my new favourite dim sum dessert. The first time I went to New World, I asked for my usual dessert option of mango pudding - the delicious but boring choice - but was offered this because the pudding was out of stock. The cold, sweet and slightly citrusy 'soup' is light and just refreshing enough after a heavy dim sum meal, and definitely much more interesting than a mango pudding. But I still love you too, mango pudding...

New World

1 Gerrard Street

W1D 5PA

New Year

New Year's Eve was spent snuggled up in bed, feasting on homemade cranberry and marzipan pie, macarons from Laduree, and fizzy pink hibiscus-flavoured wine (cheaper and tastier than Buck's Fizz, but no more sophisticated). 

The pie was thrown together in a jiffy, in order to use up some leftover egg whites and bland shortbread. All you need are:

- some shortbread and butter (for the base)

- cranberries and marzipan (for the filling)

- and egg whites and sugar for the meringue.

Crush the biscuits and add butter to it, then place the mixture in the bottom of your pie tray. Cut up about 100gms of marzipan into bite-sized cubes, then add about the same amount of cranberries, and place them on top of the biscuit mixture. Make up your favourite meringue recipe, pour it over the pie and bake it. It's great on it's own, but a spoonful of plain ice-cream alongside never hurts!

It's not the most accurate recipe, but I wasn't taking note of the amounts I was using, because it was New Year's Eve and who can be bothered being pedantic with a pie on New Year's Eve?

Dyslexic Santa

What do you do with a discounted, build-it-yourself gingerhouse house kit from Kfart? Well, you can always make a gingerbread house for New Year's Eve...

The kit came with a bag of 'Royal Icing' mixture, and also 'The Best Piping Bag In the World' - which Goggy and I got pretty damned excited about. It turned out to be an above average piping bag.
To get the lovely pyschedelic colours of our icing, just add some pink and blue dye after you've spooned the icing into the piping bag. That way, the colours don't get to mix together evenly and you get swirly bits of colour.
We also added a touch too much water plus it was a stinking hot day, which is why the icing turned out slightly goopy. Try not to let a dyslexic get their hands on the piping bag though, they might end up misspelling 'Santa'.
Make sure to decorate the outside of the house with all of the hundreds-and-thousands and Smarties provided with the kit.

Happy 1976, everybody!