Haven’t done a review for a while so here we go… This review actually should’ve taken place a couple of years ago, except for the fact that I got confused, and booked a table at the underwhelmingly shit Steak and Lobster, instead of Burger and Lobster.
Before I dive into the actual review, just for comparison, Steak and Lobster has a near identical (although slightly less interesting menu), obviously is based around the same ‘surf ‘n’ turf’ concept, but the interior is weird and sterile, the service was a bit shit, and the food was dead. Literally of course, the steak and lobster were dead, but going beyond that. Dead af. Bland and uninspiring. I’m not sure I could paint a less glowing picture.
So after this unintentional restaurant visit, I’d been pining for the real deal. Pining for two years in fact. And today was finally the day that I got my Burger and Lobster.
This is not acceptable lighting.
I can probably concede that the only thing Steak and Lobster did better was the lighting. I have a thing about poorly lit restaurants. Really does my head in, and the Burger and Lobster in Soho at least was like this. That is, however, pretty much where the negativity ends.
To start, the three of us shared the Lobster Croquettes. These were super creamy with a lovely level of spicy flavour from the bed of Chipotle mayo. The little avocadoey blob on top doesn’t add much but it does look pretty. These aren’t cheap. You get 4 croquettes for £9.50, and you can bet that we divided that last one up between us into incredibly precise thirds. But at the end of the day, it’s a lobster restaurant, so if you’re on a budget, just don’t bother in the first place.
I’d always thought that I’d end up having the Lobster Roll here, but ultimately after some intense social media stalking, I decided that the B&L Beast Burger looked exciting. It consists of a thicccc AF beef patty (medium rare ofc) with a solid chunk of lobster meat on top, gooey melting Brie, truffle and tarragon mayo, fennel and Chinese cabbage. It is such a satisfying burger. Part of me thinks the flavour of the lobster gets a bit lost when it’s served like this, but despite that I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It really is a bit of a beast.
I was super tempted by the melty Gruyere Spinach on the side, but decided to be slightly less naughty, and opted for the tenderstem broccoli instead. As far as veggie sides go, it was nice and buttery, but obviously there are more interesting options. I did however, have to try one of my friend’s Truffle Chips of course. I was surprised that they were proper thick cut chips rather than fries, and if I’d known I might have been tempted myself, although we all agreed that despite the truffle smelling quite strong, there wasn’t much actual truffle flavour from them.
Finally we come to dessert, which I had told myself I wouldn’t have. But why stop myself if I change my mind? Gutted I didn’t get there last Easter for their Creme Egg Cheesecake, but rather than going for their plainer White Chocolate Cheesecake, I was taken by the Cranberry and Hazelnut Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream.
First off, it definitely ticks the gooey box. It was super soft and melt-in-the-mouth. The hazelnuts and cranberries were both really nice additions, both in terms of texture and flavour. My only complaint would be the warmth of the brownie. Normally when something is served with ice cream on the side, it’s so hot that the two kind of melt together, and the hot-cold contrast works beautifully. With this dessert, the brownie seemed to be kind of lukewarm in the first place so that delicious contrast wasn’t quite there.
Service was great, super friendly, and the menu has a decent selection of mains combos.
There is probably a gimmicky element to the lobster craze, which accounts for the high cost of the food, but if you’re willing to look past the food as a trend, for me at least, it was a good quality, tasty meal. £25 for a burger with a small amount of lobster in isn’t ideal, but I’m in London, I know what I’m getting myself in for, so there’s no use in complaining.
As I often tell people with a sickly sweet smile at my place of work when they scoff at the pricing,’It’s fine, you don’t have to buy it.’ 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
When I visited Morocco about 7 years ago now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that taken by the food. I entirely put this down to the fact that I was still in my fussy phase at 18, rather than the food actually not being good.
Tagine and Cous Cous were frequently on the menu, and apparently neither of these satisfied me back then. Added to that was the fact that I was on a school ‘expedition’, so most of the meals that I was eating had been cooked for me by our hosts, whether that was Rashid’s wife in Taroudant or the amazing team who looked after us during our camping trek in the Atlas Mountains. Looking back now, this gives me even more reason to be in awe of the food. No choice, just delicious home-cooked (or mountain-cooked) meals dished up for us every breakfast, lunch and dinner. It really was a treat I should’ve appreciated more.
I’ve not really eaten much Moroccan food here either. I once had a tagine from Giraffe at Birmingham aiport, and despite having had some lovely meals from there before, it really wasn’t good.
Other than that, my inspiration for this probably has to come from my Dad’s leftover lamb stew, that we’d have the day after a Sunday Roast. For years I refused to eat it if it had apricots/dates in, as the idea of mixing sweet with savoury really didn’t work for me, but now that’s my favourite part.
I’ve finally come up with my own recipe for it, along with a side dish for mopping up all the sauces, inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Cheat’s Paratha’.
Of course it would be more ‘authentic’ to serve with cous cous, but ultimately you can choose whichever side dish you wish. This one’s satisfyingly indulgent, but I guess cous cous would be the slightly more health-conscious option.
A few disclaimers before I get to the point.
I don’t do recipe writing. It’s not my forte, but I do want to be able to share my successes. Because of that, my way of instruction won’t be the most precise – you’ll have to trust yourself to go with instinct sometimes, but the basic guidelines will be there.
Serves 2
For the stew
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 tin of chickpeas
1tsp tamarind paste
1tsp ginger paste
2 tsp rose harissa pasta
1tsp ras el hanout
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of dried apricots
small handful of dates
leftover lamb
water
salt/pepper
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion and garlic.
When fragrant tip in drained chickpeas.
Add the pastes and spices, give it a good mix and cook for a few minutes.
Chop dried apricots and dates into smaller pieces (generally I’d chop apricots in halves or quarters and dates into thirds), and add these along with the chopped tomatoes and seasoning.
Chuck in the leftover lamb and add enough water so that everything is almost completely submerged.
Leave to cook on a low heat for preferably a couple of hours (if you’re massively impatient like I often am, a shorter cooking time just to reduce the liquid slightly will do)
This stew-style sauce should still be liquidy when ready – don’t expect it to reduce down completely. You are aiming for the perfect balance between a thick pasty sauce and watery broth.
For the ‘Paratha’
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
1 chilli
½ ball of mozzarella
1 tsp chilli powder
As I mentioned before, this is inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s Cheat’s Paratha. Certainly not a paratha (type of flatbread) in the typical sense, instead of having to make the dough from scratch, here you are just using puff pastry. It ends up having the most amazing soft, spongy texture, and I’ve just added a couple of extra ingredients to make it even more delicious.
Cut your ready-rolled puff pastry into 2 rectangles (you probably want enough that when you roll it into a ball, it’s a fist size).
Roll each rectangle into a ball.
Finely slice your chilli, and tear the mozzarella lump into smaller pieces.
There is no precise technique to this next bit – basically divide the chilli/mozzarella mix into two piles – one for each paratha, and press the puff pastry ball into that pile, constantly pushing the dough around so that the chilli and mozzarella becomes incorporated into the dough. At this point you can also sprinkle over as much chilli powder as you can handle. You want to knead the dough/push it around for a couple of minutes so that the mozzarella and chilli are evenly distributed throughout the dough rather than just being concentrated in one area.
With a rolling pin, roll them flat into circles – I like mine quite thick, so I’d probably go for the thickness of two pound coins. If you’ve used rubbish, cheap mozzarella like me, don’t worry if the dough is incredibly sticky and wet, it might seem like a disaster but it will still work fine.
Heat a frying pan on high, and once rolled out, add your paratha to the dry pan. There’s no specific cooking time, but you want to leave it until it’s crisped up and is no longer sticky at all on one side, and then you can flip it to crisp the other side. A couple of minutes should be enough, but just monitor it and use your common sense.
When fully cooked, you should find that they are browned up on both sides but that the centre is soft and slightly gooey and when you pull it apart, the cheese should stretch between both sides.
Serve the stew with your paratha on the side for a cheesy, spicy dipping experience!
Would love to know if anyone ends up trying this, so please leave a comment or connect with me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn.
One month has flown by, and so we’re already at week 2 of my mission to reduce my meat and dairy intake.
I’m gonna go straight in there and say that I enjoyed this week a lot more. I think the meals I ate were more varied, and I focused slightly less on beans and pulses; my body ultimately thanking me for this as I felt less heavy and bloated.
I’ll kick things off with one of my absolute favourite things that I snacked on at work nearly every day.
I saw this recipe on @mrshollingsworths Instagram account and they looked amazing – peanut butter energy balls filled with raspberry chia jam. You never know if these kinds of things are going to work for you in the same way that they miraculously do on Instagram and recipe books etc, but I can confirm that these came out perfectly. Basically just a combination of oats, peanut butter and dates blended together. For the chia jam you can either buy it or make it yourself but you need to freeze it in an ice cube tray so that the little blobs are easier to work with. Once they’re frozen, you take them out and press the dough around the frozen jam in a little ball. The jam will then defrost so that when you bite into them, this happens…
Just delicious. And with the same Rachel Ama raspberry chia jam recipe that I used for her pancakes last vegan week. I’m looking forward to trying other variations of these little energy balls next time round.
Along with these snacks, I needed a more substantial main meal for my week of packed lunches and decided to take a risk, following a salad recipe. Just to emphasise, I am really not a salad person and just the word alone makes me shudder. But, being open-minded and all, I went straight to Jamie’s Veg book (which seems to be absolutely everywhere recently) and tried his Bhel Puri Salad recipe.
Biggest shock of my life. It was amazing.
First off, it was so vibrant in colour – I think perhaps the fact that it wasn’t such a green salad helped me to find it less off-putting. It’s certainly not a traditional leaf-based salad.
You’ve got red onion, radish, peanuts, pomegranate, and a whole load of crunch from the Bombay Mix and crushed poppadoms. Add all the spices and this really does form a solid meal that tastes as exciting as it looks.
A couple more Rachel Ama recipes followed, one a bit meh, one an absolute winner. I had a brunch of her Nut Butter Toast which was okay but quite basic I guess, but at least it’s something you can customise yourself in terms of toppings and flavours.
What did really impress me though was her French Toast. I’d never really thought of french toast as something that could be vegan, as I’d thought that the egg was a key component. The substitute for the beaten egg mix worked perfectly though and visually created the same yellow-brown hued appearance on the bread. The recipe also used sourdough which I was sceptical about as I thought (bare with me on this one), it might be too ‘bread-like’. As in perhaps a bit crusty etc but it turned out super soft and spongy.
Ngl I would gladly eat this in a restaurant. Credit where credit’s due.
So after this masterpiece and the PBJ balls, I felt like I was on a bit of a roll, but I did take a few steps back again with my attempted Mango Cococnut Chia Pudding breakfast topped with granola and coconut shavings. I made this the night before as Rachel suggests, thinking it would be ready to go, perfect for the following morning and giving me an extra 15 mins in bed as I didn’t have to make anything from scratch. However, this ‘pudding’ just didn’t do it for me. A question of taste I reckon. I’ve never enjoyed mango that much but I’m always determined not just to write off recipes containing it. But that, along with the coconut milk that had soaked into the chia seeds forming an almost gelatinous slime really didn’t go down well. I don’t think the recipe is bad by any means but it just didn’t work for me.
From one coconut recipe to another, her simple, straightforward recipe for Coconut Rice was a winner, and pairing this creamy, delicious side with Jamie’s Stuffed Curried Aubergine worked a treat.
Doesn’t look massively appealing here, but it was absolutely packed with flavour – I highly recommend trying this recipe.
Back to Instagram, and the vegetable I have a love-hate (like-hate is probably more accurate) relationship with, it’s @elavegan ‘s recipe for Kung Pao Cauliflower.
This didn’t end up being bad, but I think I would’ve enjoyed it more had I boiled the cauliflower beforehand to soften before pan-frying and roasting.
Then came the evening when for once I didn’t have a plan. It was my opportunity to wing something. I had some filo pastry that needed using up so decided to try a filo pastry pie. Instead of egg wash I used coconut oil which I read was a half-decent substitute, and so after lining the dish with a couple of layers of the pastry, I filled it with chopped walnuts, mushrooms, vegan pistachio pesto (featured in my last Meat Me Halfway post), and @iamnutokay ‘s vegan black truffle cheese. The end result actually turned out pretty well, and it was really tasty, despite the photo looking like an absolute mess.
I bought a couple of things from @iamnutokay at Victoria Park Market in Bethnal Green a few weeks ago. All their ‘cheeses’ are plant-based, and although the texture doesn’t particularly resemble actual cheese, it’s a great substitute that comes in a range of really tasty flavours. Along with the black truffle, I also bought a chipotle cheese, and both of them are delicious. Vegan ‘parmesan’ also seemed like an important staple so I grabbed a jar of that to keep me going for a while, to add to vegan pastas and risottos.
***
Some of you may know that yesterday was actually World Vegan Day, and the evening before, on Halloween, I got last minute tickets to the Vegan Nights Festival at the Trewman Brewery in Shoreditch, London. I am going to do a separate post about that shortly, but I tried quite a few different vegan street food style meals with mixed results! A couple of amazing finds and some to be avoided, but more to come on that soon!
Restaurant-wise, I’ll take it back to Itsu, which is really great for vegan lunches. I also find their food so refreshing and energising, and they make rice box salads that are super filling. I don’t have any photos this time, but I still adore the vegetable gyozas which I had for a second time, and also was massively surprised by the mini avocado maki rolls. Not a huge fan of avocado, but for some reason, encased in sticky rice and nori sheets it tasted great.
***
I still love the fact that two of the best biscuits out there (Oreos and Lotus biscuits) are both vegan, and so these make a great base for vegan shakes. From Ed’s Easy Diner, I got an oreo milkshake which was creamy and indulgent, and kept me going through a long night shift.
Again, not the most appetising-looking but I promise it tasted great!
Last but not least, I finally got round to trying Arancini Brothers, whose burgers I had first noticed on Instagram a while back, being astounded that they were vegan. I ordered a ‘nudie’ arancini pot along with a chorizo burger. Other than the arancini arriving cold which was disappointing, I loved everything about the food.
I didn’t get any chorizo flavour or texture from the burger to be honest, but the flavour was still beautiful. It was pretty spicy, and the whole concept of an arancini patty is amazing, especially if you’re not a fan of typical plant-based patties made from soya/beetroot/mushroom/lentils etc. The ‘cheese’ was just oozing everywhere, and so for me, this is the perfect example of how vegan food can be utterly indulgent. We’ve come a long way from immediately associating a vegan diet with greenness and health-obsessions.
So that’s pretty much everything. Like I said I found this second week a lot more exciting food-wise than the first week and there are a few meals here that I would actively choose over meat/dairy-based meals which is a good sign. It’s given me a new burst of enthusiasm for all the recipes that I’m going to try next time around at the end of November when week 3 comes calling.
Stay tuned for the Vegan Nights post coming as soon as I have the time. In the meantime why not research vegan eateries near you and set yourself the challenge of eating out at one of these plant-based spots this month. Go in with an open-mind, and…
The ‘Rankings’ heading has been floating around on my blog
ever since I started it a few months ago, but until now hasn’t actually
featured any writing.
The idea of ‘Rankings’ is that I group together my favourite
dishes in a range of categories, ie, ultimate cake, ultimate chicken burgers
etc etc.
Obviously it takes me a while to have tried enough of any
one kind of dish to establish a solid top 10 or so, hence why it has remained
blank for all this time.
But now I’m ready with my first in the ‘Ultimate’ series,
and it’s my absolute favourite category – Street Food. Now what I mean by
street food in this context is anything I’ve had literally in the street, at a
food market/food truck, or even a food hall where the trader wouldn’t necessarily
be considered a restaurant, but more like a small pop-up style eatery (think London’s
Seven Dials/Market Halls etc).
This list is in no particular order – it’s hard enough
whittling it down to a top 10 (or 15 in this case) let alone then having to
decide which ranks as the absolute best of them all.
You’ll find their Instagram handle in brackets – do check
out their amazing social media content to see more of what they do best!
So enough of the rambling, here are my favourite street food eats…
The Athenian (@theathenianuk)
Location: Boxpark Shoreditch
Cuisine:
Greek
Dish:
Lamb Gyro with Halloumi Fries
I’ve tried a few Greek places in and around London and The Athenian has to be my favourite. Their Gyros (finally worked out it’s pronounced ‘yeeros’) are second to none, and are absolutely packed with all the essentials i.e. meat (lamb in my case), chips, halloumi and salad. The pitta wrap was super soft and the halloumi fries on the side were delicious with a creamy, slightly sweet salad cream style sauce. An absolute winner.
Kottu Lanka (@kottulanka)
Location:
Victoria Park Market
Cuisine:
Sri Lankan
Dish:
Mutton Curry
This was one of the first street food dishes I tried after moving to London and I was blown away. Rarely for me, I hadn’t had a look to see what traders would be at the market and so hadn’t decided in advance what I wanted to try. I think it was the idea of Sri Lankan food that intrigued me in the end – I’m always interested in trying new cuisines that I don’t know much about. I had their mutton curry and it’s difficult to put into words how much I loved it (to be honest if I had ranked these in order starting with the best, this may just be Number 1). The photo really doesn’t do it justice, but the meat was incredibly tender, the sauce on top was beautiful, and I loved the fact that there wasn’t a heavy curry sauce; the flavour just came from the spices and the way everything had reduced down and infused with the meat.
A Pie Party (@apieparty)
Location:
Victoria Park Market/Greenwich Market/Canopy Market
Cuisine:
Desserts
Dish:
Toffee Popcorn Pie
I won’t say too much on this one as my last blog post was entirely dedicated to this amazing business, but as a reminder, my highlight is 100% the Toffee Popcorn Pie with its indulgent blondie-style base and sticky, sweet popcorn topping. A Pie Party is unique on this list, as an original and exciting dessert street food stall. The menu is regularly switched up, meaning there’s always something new to try, and you won’t see any pies like this elsewhere in London (or the country for that matter!).
The Mac Factory (@themacfactorylondon)
Location:
Camden Market
Cuisine:
Mac and Cheese
Dish:
Pesto Mac and Cheese
Okay, so ‘Mac and Cheese’ is not typically considered a ‘cuisine’ in itself (lol) but the heading ‘cuisine’ sounds better than ‘type of food’ etc, so we’ll stick with that. The Mac Factory’s mac and cheese is my favourite that I’ve had so far and I’ve tried quite a few. They have lots of exciting combinations and toppings, making it quite difficult to choose but I went for the Pesto Mac and Cheese in the end. It was so creamy with salty pesto, and mozzarella balls to top it off. It’s as appealing visually as it is flavoursome.
Rice Brother (@ricebrotherlondon)
Location:
Spitalfields Market
Cuisine:
Chinese/Asian Fusion
Dish:
Char Siu Rice Roll
I’d been on the hunt for sushi burritos for a while, and was struggling to find a mainstream option within London’s food markets. This isn’t technically a sushi burrito, as the recipes and ingredients are Chinese-inspired rather than Japanese, but it’s a similar concept, using sticky rice and nori (I think?) to fill out the roll and hold everything together. The Char Siu Roll had so much flavour – the meat was delicious and with the gelatinous rice, worked as a really filling, but not overly-heavy lunch, not to mention they’re super colourful.
2 Lads Kitchen (@2ladskitchen)
Location:
KERB King’s Cross (and various other locations)
Cuisine:
Afghan
Dish:
Chicken Flatbread Wrap
Much like my experience at Kottu Lanka, it was the idea of Afghan cuisine that drew me in, having no idea what that really meant. As I approached the stall, the smell of the grilled meat wafting towards me was incredible. My first bite of the wrap consisted of literally just the flatbread, but even that in itself had so much flavour. After that, it was absolutely packed with chicken, a small amount of relish and lots of hot, spicy sauce (although you don’t have to have it so hot!).
OINK (@oinklondon)
Location:
Various (I went to City Point)
Cuisine:
Pork Burgers
Dish:
Notorious P.I.G and Pepper Pig
Notorious P.I.G
THE best burgers I’ve ever had. Genuinely. You know when you eat something so good, all you can do is close your eyes and savour that deliciousness, hoping that it’ll never end. The Notorious P.I.G consisted of bourbon glazed bacon, a pork patty, bacon chilli jam, mozzarella, bbq sauce and apple slaw. Dreamy. And the Pepper Pig, Sriracha streaky bacon, pork patty, Monterrey Jack cheese, jalapeño salsa and avocado mayo. I loved that these two burgers were very different, as I sometimes find with street food burger stalls that they have a few different burgers that look and taste pretty similar. Can’t recommend these guys enough – life-changing food.
The Bucket List (@chipbuckets)
Location:
Various/Cromer (I ordered via Deliveroo in Norwich)
Cuisine:
Loaded Chips
Dish:
The New Yorker
One of my rare experiences of street food outside of London,
this ironically became the complete opposite of street food when I ordered it
via Deliveroo to my hotel room in Norwich. I didn’t have time to eat out
properly when getting ready for an evening out, so basically went by how
interesting the pictures and descriptions looked on Deliveroo (which I now am
no longer using due to them being useless when my account got hacked and orders
were placed using my money. They failed to delete my account on 3 occasions to
prevent access and I’m still waiting for my refund but more on that fun story
another time!!!).
This was the unhealthiest thing I’ve ever eaten and admittedly I did feel gross after, but it was so incredible that it was worth it. The New Yorker is a bucket of chips (very decent ones at that, with a crispy, crunchy exterior) topped with umm, everything. Chicken nuggets, gooey, fried Brie, cheese fondue, bacon, bbq sauce and aioli (garlic mayo). If you haven’t had a heart attack just reading that then, congratulations. I’m still salivating.
Bill or Beak (@billorbeak)
Location:
Camden Market
Cuisine:
Chicken Burgers
Dish:
American Fried Chicken Burger
Still my favourite chicken burger that I’ve had in London, they do both grilled and fried options, in case you want something a tad ‘healthier’ lol… but when would I ever choose grilled over fried?? It looks a little squashed because I refused to eat it until I’d taken it on a 45 minute journey home but this didn’t affect the taste and it looked wonderful when I first got it. The chicken fillet was huge and with a super crunchy fried batter. It was very simple, with American style cheese, lettuce and crunchy pickles, but in this case simpler was better. Really impressed, and great service from these guys.
Truffle (@trufflelondon)
Location:
Seven Dials Market
Cuisine:
Truffle???
Dish:
Beef Shin Croquettes
I did have a couple of lovely burgers from Truffle, but what really blew my mind were the Beef Shin Croquettes. These were insanely delicious, with shredded, stringy beef with a crunchy exterior. I don’t actually know what the dipping sauce was but it was beaaautiful. These were heavenly. And I don’t think I have anything else to add.
Hanok BBQ (@hanokbbq)
Location:
Victoria Park Market
Cuisine:
Korean BBQ
Dish:
Korean Chicken and Beef BBQ Bowl
This was an unexpected one. Hanok BBQ had never really been on my ‘desperate to try’ list, but after seeing a few amazing looking photos I decided to give them a try. Everything about this dish exceeded my expectations. I absolutely love sticky rice and so anything sitting on a bed of it gets off to a great start. I decided to indulge in the best of both worlds with chicken and beef, and the meats were sticky, smoky and super flavoursome. The kimchi on the side added that burst of flavour, unique to Korean food, and the side sauce (why do I literally never know what the side sauce actually is???) was AMAZING. It was probably some kind of sriracha mayo, it had that kind of feel/flavour to it, but who knows?
Breadahead (@breadaheadbakery)
Location: Borough Market
Cuisine: Doughnuts
Dish: Salted Caramel Honeycomb Doughnut
I’m labelling this as street food based on the fact that I got it from a stall, in the street, at Borough Market. Breadahead’s doughnuts all have a very uniform look, and their signature trading point is the way they really focus on the actual bake of the doughnut. Their dough is not heavy and is super soft. The fillings are generous and the salted caramel was delicious. The only thing I would say was that the honeycomb genuinely nearly broke my teeth so I couldn’t eat it, but the actual doughnut itself was beautiful.
Motherflipper (@motherflipperuk)
Location: Victoria Park Market
Cuisine: Burgers
Dish: Breakfast Muffin
I think I’d been scarred for life by the Mcdonalds breakfast muffins, which despite all the hype, I thought were kind of gross, but the Motherflipper one looked so good I was willing to try it. I was really pleasantly surprised – delicious sausage patty, oozing cheese, slightly crispy bacon and the perfect fried egg with a gooey yolk. Definitely worth the calories.
Seasoned: Street Food (@seasonedstreetfood)
Location: Hatch, Manchester
Cuisine: Various
Dish: Beetroot and Feta Fries
Fries are never my favourite side. I often leave them out in favour of more exciting options such as croquettes, mac and cheese, things like that. But these fries just sounded incredible. I really love beetroot and so the idea of beetroot flavour fries was really intriguing. The portion was huge and even I couldn’t finish them, but the beetroot dust was delicious, they looked incredibly striking, and the feta sauce on top added a creaminess that enhanced the flavours and textures.
Tarricrii (@tarricrii)
Location: The Market @ University of Manchester (open to anyone – when I visited they were located at Hatch in Manchester)
Cuisine: Arancini
Dish: Butter and Ham Arancino
The best arancino I’ve ever had. You can see how cheesy the centre was, and the rice cooked through beautifully. Massively creamy with a thin, crunchy outer shell, not to mention the size of it! This is really huge and would be a good side to share between two (unless you’re me and you eat it all to yourself).
WILDCARD
I’m going to finish with a Wildcard option, which will be a
regular feature of my ‘Rankings’ post. This will be something that doesn’t
necessarily fit in with the other options for whatever reason, but absolutely
still deserves a mention.
Sai Woo
Location: Jalan
Aloor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ciusine: Malaysian/Chinese
Dish: Singapore
Vermicelli Noodles
My top 15 have all been within the UK, but the irony is that the majority of the street food we see in this country, is inspired by cuisines from elsewhere in the world. A highlight on my trip to Malaysia was eating the fantastic food on Jalan Aloor, a street full of amazing freshly-made street food. This is also another kind of cheat, as actually this place was more like a restaurant, with the food cooked inside and brought out to you. But I’m going to treat it as street food, as the street itself is full of small stalls cooking dishes before your very eyes, and the restaurants are not restaurants in the typical sense. We ate here 3 times in a row, each time the food was absolutely beautiful, but my favourite of the dishes was this Singapore noodle dish, which I often have when eating Chinese at home. Deliciously spiced with the addition of pork, egg and veg, this street, and restaurant in particular are definitely one to watch if you ever venture to this wonderful country.
So, my round-up is complete. No doubt that week by week I’ll
be frustrated at all the amazing new street food I’ve eaten but that I can’t
add to the list, all for it being too late, but who knows, I may do an updated
version in a year or so’s time! Definitely check out these recommendations,
even if you’re not someone who would typically try this eating-in-the-street
street food malarkey. Casual dining is becoming huge so stay tuned for a
further post in a few months focusing a bit more on some of London’s most
popular food markets and halls, rather than the individual dishes.
My reviews so far have all been of London restaurants, so it was nice to head home to Nottingham for a couple of days to explore more of the foodie scene there. Gotta put the ‘travel’ in foodtravelsldn somehow…
Persian Empire is somewhere we’d never been before but had seen fab reviews on Trip Advisor. It’s in a city centre location where you might not typically find the best quality food, but so many good reviews surely meant something.
The interior is a bit basic and dare I say, slightly tacky,
but I’m all about the main focus being on the food itself.
To start, we shared a mix of 5 starters for 4 people with a side of flatbread. They came well presented on a rotating dish; I’ve numbered each of the dishes to review them individually.
Your simple hummus. A lovely, thick and creamy texture with lots of flavour. Bland hummus always sets off alarm bells but this one hit the mark.
Olivier. Chicken, egg, mayo and potato with gherkins and peas. I wouldn’t have known this was a typical Persian dish, and the flavour was giving me generic egg-based salad feels, but I did actually enjoy it and was great piled onto the bread.
Ghel Gheli. Lamb meatballs with prunes. These were flavoursome with moist mincemeat sitting on a juicy sauce.
Kashke Bademjan. This shredded aubergine was delicious. The way it had been cooked gave it a tender, almost meaty texture.
Last, and to be honest, least, was the Sabzi Paneer. Basically just cubes of feta with walnuts and various herbs. Each element sat there in isolation, none of the flavours or textures working well together harmoniously. Nothing unpleasant about this at all, but just not one that I’d recommend.
Quick mention about the flatbread – perfect thickness – not wafer thin and crunchy but not heavy and stodgy either. A great balance and the ideal side to accompany the mixed starters.
Onto the mains, and typically, whenever I head to middle eastern restaurants I tend to always go for lamb over chicken. This time I decided that I’d change things up a bit and stick to chicken. The Fesenjoon caught my eye on the menu straight away. It’s a pomegranate and walnut chicken stew served with either rice or bread and salad. Really rich in both colour and flavour, it was delicious. The shredded chicken soaked up the creamy sauce, and the pomegranate added the perfect amount of sweetness to the stew. The saffron rice was a solid accompaniment – not wildly exciting, but just what you need to mop up all the sauce.
I couldn’t leave without satisfying my dessert stomach, obviously, so I shared the Faloode with saffron and pistachio ice cream. Faloode is basically rice vermicelli soaked in rose water syrup. For me, any food this bright in colour immediately makes me slightly sceptical. My brain is automatically shouting ARTIFICIAL… and admittedly this dessert was divisive. For me, the flavours were quite unnatural and I didn’t associate them with saffron or pistachio. The vermicelli in the syrup was also incredibly sweet and I just found it to be too much. Its crunchy texture also didn’t really work for me. Having said that my Mum really enjoyed it, so just goes to show that our tastes are entirely subjective.
The service was great throughout. Waiters were lovely, and
attentive but without being overbearing. It’s also fantastic value for money.
Starters are generally under £5 each, mains around £10 and desserts under £4.
Even with a couple of rounds of drinks the final bill was a pleasant surprise.
So whether you’re a Nottingham local, or find yourself
visiting in the future, I definitely recommend this place. It’s not at all fancy,
but if you just want some hearty, flavoursome food, this is the place to go.
Looking up ‘Let’s eat’ in perfect Farsi might be a bit
ambitious so for now I’ll stick with…
Three things that together, summarise a new 21st century phenomenon.
The world of influencing is a controversial one. Less than
ten years ago, the word ‘influencer’ would be defined and understood very
simply, and broadly, as follows:
‘A person or thing that influences another.’ (Google definition)
But now it has taken
on a whole new meaning. This new meaning stems from a marketing viewpoint, one
in which an influencer is recognised as:
‘A person with the ability to influence potential buyers of a product or service by promoting or recommending the items on social media.’ (Google definition)
But here’s where I take a risk. This new term and even ‘career path’ just doesn’t sit comfortably with me. I’ll try and break it down into a few key issues that concern me.
‘Lifestyle’ Influencing
What does this even mean? I have seen numerous Instagram accounts where the person behind it purports to be a ‘lifestyle influencer’. To me, this simply implies that said person doesn’t actually have a main area of interest or passion to justify their ‘blogging’. It suggests to me less than ideal motives such as fame, and the addictive nature of follower counts and likes. ‘Lifestyle’ can encompass so many different things – from home to food, fashion to travel, and realistically no one has a specialist interest or knowledge in all of these vast areas.
2. Aspiring to be an ‘influencer’ as a full-time career
Some people are inadvertently able to influence others due to the following they have accrued through other roles involving talent, for example actors, singers, designers etc. They are able to influence others naturally, as they are well-respected and have made a name for themselves through something they are skilled at. However, aspiring to simply be an ‘influencer’ for me is really quite sad. It shouldn’t constitute a career in itself. Being sent free products or services and posting about them (often using pre-scripted captions – not even using your own words) should not be a job that merits payment. Of course I can see why marketing teams take advantage of this new form of promotion, because ultimately for them it is profitable, but for too many people they reap the rewards without actually putting in much work.
3. If you love something enough you will always be happy to pay for it
Recently I’ve seen many a post on Twitter from food traders telling cringeworthy stories of people asking for free food in return for a feature on their account. It’s quite scary how many responses these posts get from others saying they’ve received the same arrogant requests. Being sent something for free in return for promoting it to help the brand who have got in touch is one thing, but actively contacting businesses yourself to request freebies, for me, really shows no shame. If you are passionate about whatever you talk about on social media, you’ll always be happy to put money into businesses in order to gather content for your page, along with enjoying the product itself, whether that’s spending money on food, beauty products or clothing.
4. Do you even like what you’re promoting???
Of course not all of this applies to eeeeveryone, but there are ‘influencers’ who don’t even appreciate the products and services they receive. People promote for the sake of it when they’re asked to, rather than turning down freebies or payment if they’re not interested in the product. I have met people who have openly admitted that they get so many offers/invites, that it’s just not ‘special’ anymore. When it comes to food blogging, may I ask that if you’re on any kind of diet, be it low-carb, sugar-free etc (unless it’s for genuine health reasons, ie intolerance etc), don’t bother accepting an invite to an indulgent meal where photos are taken, but food is left untouched. Not only is this ridiculous but it’s also incredibly misleading to followers who trust you, when you’ve refused to eat the food. This happens and it is very frustrating.
So, where do I consider myself to be placed within all this? I’m not naïve. With just under 3000 followers on Instagram and a measly 14 on this blog, there would never be any suggestion of me being called an ‘influencer’. And I would never want to be. There are a few reasons I do what I do and I’d like to highlight what I think is the difference.
I combine my love of food and writing. I’m no food expert, nor am I the most talented writer, but I am going to be kind enough to myself to recognise that I do have some sort of skill when it comes to my writing ability, and I enjoy pairing that with my foodie ‘research’ to provide interesting and insightful content.
I started doing this for myself. And still do to a large extent. When I first started my Instagram page, I was scared to follow ‘normal people’ as opposed to business accounts because I was embarrassed, and I certainly didn’t want anyone I knew to ever come across my account as I would’ve found that utterly humiliating at the time. Fortunately now, I no longer play host to this self-conscious mentality, and in fact, when friends and acquaintances contact me to tell me they’re really enjoying my posts, I find it really uplifting. Having said this, it still all comes back to self-gratification. I am my number 1 fan! Literally my own number 1 stalker. The amount of time I spend looking over my own accounts at the foods I’ve eaten and the places I’ve visited is almost a joke. But ultimately, doing this kind of thing for yourself before anyone else means that you never lose sight of why you started.
I spend most of my wage on food. This isn’t a competition. A ‘who can eat out the most’ or who can buy the most expensive meal?’, but the fact of the matter is I don’t need freebies to feed my posts. I love supporting businesses whose food I absolutely adore and would never see this as wasted money. I think in the past year I’ve had 3 free meals, and don’t get me wrong, I’ve been so grateful for each of those. The excitement of receiving an invite will never lose its magic for me, but not in a million years will you see me actively asking for complimentary food.
Photos. I don’t want to stand around a table with 20 other people, bright lights and big cameras, positioning food delicately for half an hour, only to then consume a tiny bit of the food cold. Yes, of course I take photos to complement the written content I produce, but also as something for me to look back on. But I’ll snap a few shots on my phone over about a 30 second period, and then I’ll enjoy my meal. I don’t feel that I owe anything to the people who follow me, I am not producing content for them and so my priority is having a delicious meal with friends/family. This is also why I don’t often produce video content for Instagram stories for example. This is much more time consuming and is too much of a disruption to a relaxed sociable mealtime for me.
So to reiterate, for me, a ‘blogger’ is someone who produces
original content, whether it be written, visual or both based on a specific
area of interest using skills that they possess.
I’m not going to attempt to provide my own definition of
‘influencer’ to contrast my blogger definition, because I appreciate that some
people would consider the two to overlap and would argue that influencing can
be a really positive thing, but I think you can gather why I consider them to
be very separate from the points above.
Despite my views, I’m not out to offend anyone. I just think
it’s disappointing that this new craze-turned-profession is taking the beauty
and excitement out of having a genuine passion for something.
Everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion, and I hope I’ve
given fair justification for my thoughts. Ultimately, if you love what you do,
and you do it for the right reasons, then no harm done.
But really, please don’t aspire to be an ‘influencer’. Who cares if people act based on your promotions or not? Eat because it tastes great. Wear something because it looks amazing on you. Use a skin product because it makes you glow like a goddess. By all means share your thoughts, but don’t base your entire career on convincing people to invest in a product or service just because you’ve been given an incentive to do so.
Less influencing others. More doing it for ourselves.
Every time someone tells me they don’t like cheese, my eyes do a 360 roll in my head. Believe me, such people actually do exist, and there’s clearly something wrong with them.
I’m tempted to say that the best kind of cheese is always melted or baked, hot and gooey, an oozy cheese pull stretching from the plate to your mouth. But normal cheese, you know, hard cheese, soft cheese, basically uncooked cheese, is also a delight, especially when accompanied by gallons of wine.
The super successful Cheese Bar, located in Camden, have just opened their wonderful new project in KERB’s latest food hall/market in Seven Dials, Covent Garden. How no one’s come up with this before I’ll never know, but it’s basically like Yo Sushi, for CHEESE…
For anyone who’s not familiar with this set up, you basically find yourself perched on a bar stall, with a conveyer belt of cheese circling before you. Each cheese plate is contained within a little glass pod with a numbered tag, which corresponds to a number on the menu, explaining exactly what it is. The challenge here is finding the number of the cheese in front of you on the menu and deciding whether you fancy it or not, before it flies past and you have to wait for it to do another lap to come back to you.
Belt dish prices range from £2.95 to £6.10 and you can find out the price by looking at the colour of the dish and checking that against the price guides dotted around the restaurant bar in front of you.
Upon arrival I was told there’d be a 30-40 minute wait, which I’d kind of anticipated seeing as it’s new and there’s still a lot of hype surrounding it. They take your phone number and text you when a table is free but you can opt out of this at any time, and there’s loads of seating throughout the food hall where you can sit and wait.
It probably ended up being about half an hour, so really not too long at all.
There are 3 or so off-belt menu items, plus some desserts, but the vast majority of the dishes you can just help yourself to from the belt. There was only one that they didn’t have available as everything is fresh from their various suppliers and on this occasion the supplier wasn’t able to provide it.
Service was friendly and staff were enthusiastic and helpful.
It is honestly so hard to whittle it down to just a few dishes because I was desperate to try everything, but as per, I still gave it a pretty good go.
Plate number 1: Kingham with Walnut Fudge
My ability to articulate the subtleties in cheese flavour and texture is limited, so I’m going to settle for a ‘This was good.’ The cheese was pleasant, described by suppliers as having ‘a buttery, strong flavour, with a Gruyere-like texture.’
That fudge though…
I know it’s not supposed to be the star of the show but it was beautiful. Weirdly, one of the highlights. It was smooth, creamy and absolutely delicious.
Plate number 2: Rachel with Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Pesto
It was the Pesto that appealed with this one, and although it was nice, I found this to be the least exciting. The cheese was still decent, with a kind of manchego-y appearance and texture and a slightly nutty taste, and the pesto did complement it well but the best is still yet to come…
Plate number 3: Fellstone with Sherry Baked Cherries
Definitely one of my favourites here. Although technically a hard cheese, it still has a thick, creamy feel and taste to it. The sharpness of the cherries alongside it worked perfectly. The ultimate example of sweet and savoury working together in harmony.
Plate number 4: Stilton with Chocolate Oat Cookie
Now I had to try this one, as weirdly, it’s made in Cropwell Bishop, the tiny village in Nottinghamshire where I went to Primary School. They actually have two cheeses on the menu but I went for the Stilton as I absolutely LOVE blue cheese. It took me a while as a teenager before I was willing to stop turning my nose up in disgust and actually try it, but now I can’t get enough. So honestly, if you’ve always avoided it, you really should give it a chance, as it’s a lot tastier than its mouldy appearance might lead you to believe.
I’m not entirely sure why they decided to pair it with a chocolate chip cookie (am I missing something obvious?) but regardless, I’m not complaining, it was a softly-baked (random) side treat.
(Wine also excellent and inexpensive)
My friend tried the other Cropwell Bishop cheese which was the Beauvale with Sticky Pear Jam so I had a tiny bit of this one too. Super soft and creamy with a the sweet, sticky jam, I would definitely recommend it.
Plate number 5: OFF BELT
You CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT, visit Pick and Cheese without ordering this dish which appears on the menu but not on the conveyer belt.
Whole Baked Waterloo with Basil Stewed Blackberries and Bread
Remember when I was talking about baked/melted cheese being unbeatable at the beginning? Well…
LOOK AT THIS. JUST LOOK AT IT. Not only does it look massively exciting, but it was one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in a while. There’s actually quite a bit more to it than appears here, and it’s definitely more of a sharer.
The sharpness of the blackberries with that gooey baked goodness was heaven. Can’t say I was getting much basil from it other than the giant tree-frog-style leaf but I didn’t want the basily vibes anyway. The bread is unexciting but entirely necessary for dippage.
Honestly, when I go back (and I 100% will), I’m getting this just for myself. No sharing.
Just as a side note, they do also have a few charcuterie dishes but I wanted to stick exclusively to the cheese this time round.
Overall, I was super impressed with Pick and Cheese. It’s not just a meal, but a fun dining experience. For all the above dishes plus the glass of wine and service I think I paid about £35 which I thought was really reasonable. Waiters add up the prices based on the colours of the piled up dishes that you’ve accumulated throughout the course of the meal.
I love that each cheese comes with a unique, complementary side, and I’ll be honest, this often influenced my choices more so than the cheese itself!
This place is wonderful. It’s situated within a buzzing (but not overwhelming) food hall environment, has a sophisticated feel to it and produces some excellent food. I, for one, can’t wait to go back with other friends and family.
It may not be a hidden gem, but it lights up London’s food scene all the same.
Sixteen years of my life I spent thinking I didn’t like cheesecake.
SIXTEEN YEARS.
I will never be able to retrieve those lost years, but what I can do is attempt to make up for the lack of cheesecake in my life.
According to the wonderfully useful and addictive Eaten app (see my previous blog post on how it all works), I am officially the number 1 cheesecake expert in London. You simply cannot argue with their statistics. Here’s the proof:
So what is it that makes such a good cheesecake? And what are the warning signs of a disappointing dessert of this kind?
We’ll leave the best until last so I’ll start with some of my least favourite efforts.
One of the most important aspects of the cheesecake is its base. A dodgy base = a dodgy cheesecake. A few months ago I got carried away in a whirlwind of Brazilian flavours at Temakinho in Soho, and couldn’t resist their passionfruit (or maracuja) cheesecake. The flavour itself was lovely and sharp but the base really let it down.
I need to taste the buttery crumbs with their gritty texture. A welded-together stodgy base like this just doesn’t do it for me, no matter how lovely it looks.
Another major factor is of course the creamy cheese filling. Unfortunately this one just wasn’t creamy enough and had an odd savoury cheese flavour rather than a sweet cream cheese.
Ultimately Temakinho had produced a dessert full of fruity flavour but lacking on the textural front (with that disconcerting actual real-life cheese cheesiness).
Some attempts find they have the opposite problems though. Take this banana cheesecake from AlmostFamous in Leeds, for example.
An excellent biscuit base (if you can actually manage to get your spoon to the bottom of the jar), and a pleasant consistency to the cream cheese. HOWEVER… bananas. I love bananas. And I love desserts flavoured with actual banana. But the problem is, as it’s not as sweet as other fruits, once you combine it with cream cheese and/or whipped cream, the flavour is is not powerful enough to shine through. The texture of the actual banana pieces gets lost in all the creaminess and the overall flavour of the cheesecake becomes quite bland. I often find this is also the case with an average banoffee pie. Banana + cream is not enough. More sugar or an extra burst of flavour somewhere is needed to heighten the overall taste. A pretty cheesecake that felt good to eat, but didn’t quite hit the spot.
Moving up slightly, we find this dessert in a whole new form. The frozen cheesecake by Whipped in CoventGarden looks absolutely delightful. Their fantastic menu allows you to customise your flavours, and so I ended up with a Lotus Biscuit base, blueberry sauce, honeycomb and oreos. To be honest I think I panicked under the pressure of having to come up with my own flavour combinations, but this is what appeared before me…
This majestic beast was slightly overwhelming and I hadn’t expected it to be quite so tall. But not one to turn down a food-related challenge, I put in my best efforts to finish it. My thoughts on the idea of frozen cheesecake? I’m not sure if it’s a ‘thing’ . As in, is this frozen cheesecake? Or is it basically just ice cream/soft serve/whatever you want to call it with a biscuit base hidden at the bottom. I would argue the latter. That’s not to say it didn’t taste decent; the blueberry sauce with the ice cream (as I insist on calling it) tasted good, but ultimately I prefer the more traditional cheesecake-baking methods.
Ok we’re getting to the good stuff now, and a pleasant surprise up next. You may have seen this dessert already in my Chalida review from a few months ago. In it, I talked about my indifference towards mango, but also came to the conclusion that in this particular cheesecake, the flavour worked fantastically.
The base was very thin, but the creamy topping was so light that the ratio of base to topping worked really well. It was airy and non-indulgent with a lovely sweet sharpness. On top of that, you have to acknowledge the carefully thought-out presentation, producing a delicate-looking dessert, rather than dishing up a heavy, indulgent slab.
In complete contrast to Chalida’s mango cheesecake is another Whipped creation, and a super popular one at that. After the interesting and probably not recommendable combination I chose for the frozen cheesecake, I decided to play it safe with my baked option, going for their classic banoffee cheesecake.
Now, backtrack a few paragraphs and there I am going on about how banana doesn’t work in a cheesecake. Well, it can, and here’s how…
This is not a load of plain cream cheese with plain whipped cream, with a few bananas chucked in. This cheesecake has a strong banana flavour, complemented by gooey toffee, warm melted chocolate and a crunchy biscuit crumb. There are lots of elements all working together in your mouth. Contrasting textures, chilled cream cheese vs warm sauce, and extra sugar from that toffee and chocolate. Extra sugar doesn’t always sound like a positive, but when it comes to banana desserts, it really is a requirement.
The fact that the cheesecake is baked does give it a heavier feel, but really if you’re looking for a light, guilt-free dessert you shouldn’t be heading to Whipped anyway. It’s the equivalent of a vegan going for dinner at an Argentine steakhouse.
Another surefire way to success is to come up with original or less obvious flavour combinations. I love vanilla, strawberry, salted caramel… the list goes on, but sometimes the way to stand out on a menu is to be different.
This next cheesecake is apricot and white chocolate from TheTap and Run pub in Upper Broughton.
You’ll see that the ratio of base to topping in this one is slightly skewed, and ideally I’d probably have a slightly thinner base, but the stand-out for me was the apricot flavour. I’ve never seen apricot in a cheesecake before (although I’m not doubting that they exist), and that candied apricot topping was delicious. I have to say that white chocolate is quite difficult to include in desserts as it gets easily lost when combined with other more powerful flavours, i.e. the apricot in this case, but nonetheless this was a beautifully-presented dessert with a delicious take on the traditional fruity cheesecake.
Right, just a few more to go. And a really important point here is not to neglect the chain restaurant dessert. One of the nicest cheesecakes I’ve ever had was the lemon cheesecake with raspberry coulis from Zizzi.
It may not be the most delicate-looking but boy did it taste good. Lemon topping with raspberry coulis is a fantastic combination, and the portion is the perfect amount to avoid feeling like you’re going to roll out of the restaurant (although if you’ve also had a starter and a pizza like me, you may end up feeling like that anyway). But the point is, don’t turn your nose up at places like this. It’s great to support independent businesses and everyone loves a cosy, intimate setting, but personally I think the zizzi menu is pretty decent, and this certainly was satisfying.
Now to my top 2.
Heading for dinner at a fish/seafood bar, cheesecake was the last thing on my mind. Yet, the berry cheesecake at JSheekey was stunning.
Not only is the presentation incredibly elegant, but that berry compote topping was beautiful. As much as I like chocolatey, caramelly style cheesecakes, you can’t beat the contrast of a thick creamy cheese topping with a light, sharp hit of fruit. I’ve used the word ‘sharp’ a huge number of times but there really is no other way to describe that taste and feeling when the sugary cooked fruit hits your tongue.
For me this cheesecake was second only to one. And that one remaining slice of delight is Crumbs and Doilies Apple Crumble Cheesecake.
The excitement for me was the originality. Not just a fruit cheesecake, not just an apple cheesecake, but an apple crumble cheesecake. This title led to high expectations. I didn’t want a cheesecake that just tasted of apple, I wanted to be able to sense the difference between the flavour of the fruit itself, and the flavour of the crumble dessert that we all know and love.
I was not disappointed. Texture-wise you can see just from the photo that we have a clear crumble topping, with an added sticky toffee style sauce. But it wasn’t just that. It didn’t have a generic, artificial fruit flavour, it really did taste specifically of an apple crumble. The cheesecake topping itself wasn’t the best texture I’ve had, as I prefer a very smooth creamy cheese, however, I have to give it to them for originality and flavour. I have never before seen an apple crumble cheesecake, and now I feel like I don’t need to. I’ve tried it, it was delicious, and now I’m ready to be wowed by something completely new.
This is not the end of my cheesecake marathon. It really is my go-to dessert and there’ll be plenty more for me to discover.
If you want to keep up with those future discoveries, you can check out my Instagram account: @foodtravelsldn, or my Eaten account of the same name, where you can also find my full list of cheesecakes ranked from best to worst.
Now close your laptop, put down your phone, find yourself a nice, big slice of cheesecake and shove your face in it. Immediately.
¡Comemos! 