Out/About

Some things I've seen and eaten in the last couple of weeks. 

Ron Mueck show at Hauser and Wirth

Slow-cooked miso marinated pork belly at Akasiro in Chinatown. Lovely, especially when paired with hot steamed rice.

Insanely detailed chocolate creations at Choccywoccydoodah in Fouberts Place. 

 

Be warned - enter with your sweet tooth in tow. My friend Sheree and I shared the peanut butter milkshake and chocolate sundae between us - a dastardly concoction of chocolate ice-cream, whipped cream, brownie, fudge, some kind of berry jam-like thing, as well as plenty of chocolate buttons and who knew what else. We had to admit defeat about three-quarters of the way through. The milkshake tasted like a cold, soft Snickers bar (if you like that sort of thing, which I do), and went down slightly easier, but we still left without finishing the whole thing.

St. Paul's looked lovely in the last light of day. 

Village Food (Part 2)

Click here to see Part 1 of what I ate while in Chainat, Thailand.

After a couple of hours to digest our earlier (and massive!) meal, we were taken to another little riverside restaurant, where our group turned out to be the only customers. The staff had set up our table on a little platform right on the water - very pleasant since the slight breeze helped cool us down after the stifling heat of the day. 

Lots of fish dishes again, as expected from a riverside restaurant. The picture above is of a dish of whole fish, each about 5 inches long, deepfried until crunchy. It's very addictive, I tell you! 

We also had a plate of chicken, some papaya salad, a bowl of jungle curry, and some frogs, served sizzling on an iron plate under a spicy sauce. The frogs were far from my favourite dish, not because of any sort of squeamishness associated with eating frogs, but because of the strange gristly texture. 

The jungle curry, though spicy, was nothing compared to the raw, numbing heat of the papaya salad. Big chunks of chilli and chilli seeds will do that to your tongue. Maybe I'm a masochist, but looking through those pictures makes me want a papaya salad now!

Village Food (Part 1)

Our first two days in Thailand were mostly spent visiting relatives who lived in Hankha in Chainat Province. It was about 3 hours away from the airport in Bangkok, so of course we had to stop at a shack by the side of the road for some fresh coconut juice. 

After that refreshing stop, we were off again, for more food of course. Sitting in a car for hours is hungry work! About an hour later, we stopped at a river side restaurant for a huge meal with the HUGE extended family (long story involving multiple families in multiple countries...). The restaurant looked, well, fairly shabby, to say the least, and rather empty, so I guess I wasn't expecting too much. Of course, I was wrong! Most of the best food I've eaten in Southeast Asia have often been from the dustiest, shabbiest hole-in-the-wall, and this was no exception. Look and drool, my friends...

Gigantic grilled river prawns. Look at the size of those legs! This one almost looks like a baby lobster. The prawns were stored in a pool at the front of the restaurant, and only picked up and grilled when ordered. They were cooked without any seasoning, but came accompanied by a bowl of dipping sauce (fish sauce, chillies and ginger, I think). These were some of the sweetest, juiciest prawns I have ever had, and I was content to eat them plain.

Lots of fish dishes, including fried fish cakes, and steamed fish served in a number of ways. I especially liked the one that came in a fish-shaped dish on top of a heated container. 

A sort of omelette with glass noodles -sort of plain but strangely addictive. 

Homemade steamed cakes with grated coconut and steamed corn (below).

All these items were consumed within my first two, maybe three hours in Thailand. Jealous?

Revisiting Silk Road Restaurant

Well, business certainly seemed to have picked up at Silk Road Restaurant since the last time I wrote about it. Back then, we pretty much had the place to ourselves, even if it was a weekend. On our last two visits (twice within a week, both on Sunday nights), the place was packed with a mixture of students and family groups. Lucky for us though, there was a long, empty table left so we didn't have to endure an awkward table-sharing situation until halfway through our meal - and we were so engrossed in our meal by then that we hardly noticed the newcomers. 

Kelp in spicy sauce

Manbacon and I started with kelp in garlicky, spicy sauce - it's the one dish we always order on our visits there. I love it so much I'm pretty sure I could eat it every day if I had to (not really sure what situation would come up in which I would HAVE to eat it all the time though).

Egg, leek and shrimp dumplings

I wasn't feeling particularly meaty that day, so we got the egg, leek and shrimp dumplings instead. As usual, not particularly shrimpy, but still tasty and filling. I like dipping them into vinegar (provided on the side of every table) - the acidity really helps cut through the rather thick skin and gives it a bit of a kick.

Beef and potato

This was Manbacon's choice and it was...just okay. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in a restaurant that has so many outstanding dishes, this just didn't stand out. It's slow-cooked beef with chunks of potatoes, in a soy sauce based gravy. The beef was tender and the sauce went well with white rice (we ordered a bowl to share) but it was just a little...meh.

Spinach with chilli

I'm not sure what kind of spinach they used here, but it was definitely a more robust cousin to the soggy, easily-wilted kind other restaurants use. The hardy greens were great for soaking up the garlic and chilli sauce, and for injecting some much-needed vitamins into my relatively poor diet. 

They may have become busier, but I'm glad to report that standards haven't slipped one bit, and prices are still as low as ever. But it would be great if you didn't all come at once - I still like not having to wait for an empty table there. 

Silk Road Restaurant
49 Camberwell Church Street
SE5 8TR

Malaysian Canteen

Some old friends visited London recently, and suggested a trip to Malaysian Canteen in Bayswater. Hidden away in a basement under the Malaysian Embassy, it's easy to miss if you're not paying attention. So, pay attention and keep your eyes open if you're intent on heading there! 

Like its name suggests, the Malaysian Canteen serves up Malaysian dishes, canteen-style - no surprises here! There's a long counter at the back piled high, buffet-style with all sorts of dishes. The back wall is plastered with A4-sized photos and names of dishes. The rest of the space is taken up with tables covered in a red gingham printed plastic, and lots of customers (we did visit during lunch, after all). 

 Nasi lemak with beef rendang.

We had the nasi lemak with a side of beef rendang, but there are other curries you can choose too. Or fried fish. Or fried chicken. Or a fried egg. The nasi lemak came with a portion of fried ikan bilis and peanuts, some sliced cucumbers and half a hardboiled egg. The nasi lemak and rendang were alright, in that it tasted pretty similar to what I've eaten in the past in Singapore and Malaysia. I don't think I would make go all the way to Bayswater just for it. The ikan bilis, on the other hand I could have done with more of - it's crunchy and ever so moreish and I found myself craving more after I left. Guess I'll just have to try and make it myself then. 

 Asam laksa

Now, asam laksa is a different breed of beast to what I refer to as 'regular' laksa - that is, the curry based type - so I was expecting it to look something like this when we got it. What was unexpected though, was the taste. It just wasn't that great - the flaked fish in it tasted canned, and the vermicelli was so soft it pretty much disintegrated when I picked it up with my fork. We resorted to scooping up the broken vermicelli with our spoons. The others thought the soup was too sour, but I quite like sourness, so that part was alright with me, but I definitely won't be ordering this again. 

 Lakna

The choice of lakna was a pure shot in the dark - we thought it was a mispelling of laksa when we first saw it on the menu, but when it kept popping up all over the menu, we realised that it must be a dish in its own right. So we asked for it, and this arrived. It turned out to be rice noodles in a tomato-based sauced, with a fried egg on top. Simple and almost studenty but surprisingly tasty. 

By the way, I still have no idea what lakna actually is - I've been to Malaysia several times, but don't recall any dish with that name, and I've never heard any Malaysian I know speak of it. Can anyone shed some light on this for me, please?

 Nasi goreng

The nasi goreng was served with more of that delicious ikan bilis and more sliced cucumbers on the side too. Like the nasi lemak, it was alright, but not particularly wonderful. I remember enjoying it at that time, but I was really hungry. It was also a little too on the salty side for all of us, in fact, most of the dishes were. We had to wash it down with plenty of bandung, but that's fine by me because I love bandung. In fact, I forgot how much I love it until this trip to Malaysian Canteen - I might have to pop by the Asian supermarket down the hill to get myself a bottle of rose cordial so I can have homemade bandung all the time. 

Kueh dadar and nyonya kuih lapis

The four of us were pretty stuffed by this point, so only opted to share these two little pieces of kueh. The kueh dadar was moist and coconuty on the inside, and not toothachingly sweet, which I like, but the pancake outside was just a little too dry. I'd still eat it again if I was there though. I was told the kueh lapis tasted like 'solid bandung', but can't confirm it as I only really had a tiny little bit.

Oh, another thing - we were told only Malaysians are allowed to eat here, but I went with an Indonesian and two Singaporeans, and we didn't get kicked out or anything. It probably helped that we could speak and understand Malay when ordering, but everyone working there seemed really nice and helpful, so I don't think you'd need to worry too much if you don't. 

Malaysian Canteen

30-34 Queensborough Terrace

Bayswater

W2 3ST