Our 1st Maccas meal in London

We were lazy to cook last night and ended up having our first maccas meal in London. I must say, the meals are smaller and quality of food was pretty crap!

Craving for Pho

Trent and I have been craving for Pho for a while now, but we havent found anything as good as home! So we googled some recipes and made it ourselves for a Sunday dinner.

It was very time consuming and I believe we probably didnt have all the correct ingredients and the beef bone was not right. Mann.. pretty disappointed with our 1st attempt, I only rate it a 5/10 for the aroma (it smelt like Pho) but just didnt have that kick!

We used: Beef bones (but no marrow), stewing beef, ginger, star anise, corriander seeds, white pepper, onions, cinnamon stick, are we missing some key ingredient? Any tips will be much appreciated!

For dessert, Trent's 3rd attempt at the chocolate fondant! This time is was perfect, I rate it 10/10!! Just devine...MmmMmmmmm.....

Iberico Ham

Since we have been in London, Trent has stopped making his tuna and boiled egg sandwiches! He has switched to cured meat, various fromages, chutney and salad. This week for our weekly grocery shopping we came across £200 p/kg Iberico ham! Obviously we didn't buy it, but this is only considered the mid range stuff!

Here in London, Daffodils grow like weeds, they are all over the park, side walks and turn up in random places..hmmm ...and with the Spring weather upon us, londeners are sun bathing in 15degree weather? Weird? I say so...brrrr...

L'Autre Pied

L'Autre Pied (1 Michelin Star) is the sister restaurant to Pied a Terre (2 Michelin Star). Given that the restaurant has only recently received their star, our expectations were high for good food, service, and atmosphere.

Unfortunately we were disappointed on all counts. The food was over seasoned, the wait staff were inattentive, and the atmosphere lacked the class, elegance or warmth of a Michelin star restaurant. To sum it all up, Marisa's comment was "I think the bread was the best part of the meal"

Stella Fish & Chips

We bought some haddock fillets on the weekend and decided to do home style fish & chips, using Stella for the batter. We even made our own fries! 

Trent's comment "Mmmm... Velly dericious!"

Sunday Scones

It was a very nice sunny and warm Sunday. We had bought some dried lavender at the markets and Trent decided to whip up some lavender & lemon scones! It was pretty good, I give it 8/10.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon - London

The credit crunch ain't all that bad... well at least for us food enthusiasts, there are some pretty good bargains for michelin restaurants.

Tonight, Trent and I tried the 2 star L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon on West Street, London. They were pretty easy to book, but it was packed out for the special 2 & 3 course dinner menu. May I add, we got some freebies ..woohoo!

The monkfish was exquisite and for some reason my chocolate dessert was bigger than the lady next to me. All the staff was very attentive and even the head chef, Olivier Limousin came out and said goodbye. Hmm.. Trent thinks we snubbed him because he wanted us to take a photo with him! I think he might have given me the death stare while I was putting on my coat.. Ooopsy...

Lack of updates

We apologise to those who read our blog for the lack of update. Nothing really interesting has happened lately, as we havent planned any major travel for March, trying to save money!

Last weekend we went to London Fashion weekend, that was kinda boring as we missed out on the runway shows. The designer exhibits were a bit like an outlet, with girls and women pushing and shoving.

Oh ..and our Fat Duck experience has been rescheduled to early May, hopefully noone else will claim to be sick just for a free meal!

We haven't had any new inspiration for our home cooking, but we attempted to make thai-green curry from scratch. It turned out very fragrant but I felt it lack some sort of kick...hmm.

Chocolate Fondant - Trent Style

After Marisa's initial attempt at the chocolate fondant, I was determined to impress her with some of my own cooking. 

I give myself 7 out of 10. Bit longer in the oven and it would have been perfect! Top that Mr Ramsay. hehe

Food...

We ate at Holm House, our B&B on the first night. I thought most of the dishes were overseasoned, but I did enjoy my smoked duck, hazelnut salad with onion chutney.

For breakfast, Trent had Welsh breakfast and I had smoked salmon, scrambled eggs on a crumpet. Havent had a crumpet in ages!

Most of the better restaurants in Wales were fully booked for a Sunday lunch, we were quite lucky to be able to reserve a table at The Vineyard in Stockcross with 2 michelin star chef John Campbell.

We had 3 course lunch and was stuffed by the time we drove home!

This was John Campbell's michelin star, kinda disappointing. I would have thought it was a minature statue of the michelin baby himself!

Old South Wales for the Weekend

Unfortunately our Fat Duck reservation had to be rescheduled due to a slight food poison scare.. hopefully they will be back on their feet in no time! Since we had hired a car, we decided to go on a small road trip to old South Wales for the weekend.

We drove past Cardiff Castle and we stopped by a fairytale inspired castle, Castell Coch.

We stayed at a Penarth B&B which was real nice and cosy, but the owner seemed very stress, she should really lighten up!

The place wasnt all that interesting, maybe we will be back in the Summer time for some hiking and camping!