Ting Lounge @ The Shard

 So I have not updated this for quite a while due to my busy personal life ...But I am back! This has got to be one of my favorite London restaurants with a stunning view of the city of London and not because it is has same name as me Ha-ha.

 It is actually decently priced for a restaurant on the 35th floor of The Shard. On the 35th level of the shard consists the Ting Lounge and Ting Restaurant which is part of the Shangri-la Hotel. For me, I prefer the Ting Lounge in terms of comfort(seats are softer and super comfy and has the better the view of city of London! Photos below!!

I had this lobster bisque for £12 (comfort food). It had quite a strong lobster flavor which some people may love! I love lobsters so I really enjoyed the dish. They have other good starters that I have yet to try. The A la Carte menu is not that big, but every time I always order the Hainanese chicken and rice dish. The portion is quite big and the dish is always very tasty and very filling! Dish costs £18.

^Look at this piece of art O_O

The desserts have to be the best part! The presentation is amazing and just too pretty to eat. Also, the taste, texture, flavor and everything about it was good (ha-ha yes, a little over dramatic). The desserts are between £5-£12. Our total bill was around 30 pounds per person for great view and great food! They also have afternoon tea menus that I am tempted to try out.

... The view is STUNNING!

I definitely recommend this place if you want a restaurant with a stunning view of the city and tasty food at good value! Staff are very friendly and the atmosphere is relaxed (not those awkwardly super quiet posh places ha-ha). I would rate this restaurant an easy 9/10!!! Yes I love it HA-HA.

Wagyu Beef @ Tokimeite ~~

So I have recently been craving wagyu beef and came across this newly opened Japanese restaurant called Tokimeite. The restaurant opened last November and is located at 23 Conduit Street, London W1S 2XS. (www.tokimeite.com) 

We were the first customers to arrive as there are separate lunch and dinner opening hours. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a large number of waiting staff all at the same time(felt like a VIP ha-ha). We ordered the "Hotate Gyushi Yaki  ホタテ牛脂焼" for Starter; which was scallop on the shell with cauliflower puree and Wagyu salami costing £7. This dish was tasty, particularly the cauliflower puree which had a very smooth and creamy texture. The dish looked very appetizing with all the pieces carefully placed onto a scallop shell. Although, there were only two small slices of salami and one scallop and at £7, I would say the price is decent for a fine dining restaurant.

For the main, we ordered one of the popular dishes on the menu, "Wagyu Sukiyaki 和牛すき焼き"(£45/150g). On the menu it mentioned that the dish is recommended for 2 to 3 persons, however when we received the dish it seemed much smaller than I had expected(FYI I have a quite a big appetite ha-ha). This dish consisted of simmered slices of Wagyu beef and sliced truffles with onion and watercress indulged in miso dashi as well as a side of truffle sauce. First off, the dish itself looked very appealing; it was heated over a mini stove in a pot. The flavours of truffle slices and wagyu beef was a brilliant combination! The complementary truffle sauce had a creamy consistency and flavour (similar to mayonnaise). However, the beef was a tad overcooked to my preference even before it was heated over the mini stove, but it still had a soft and delicate texture. Next time, maybe I will try the Wagyu rump steak instead! But all in all, it was a very flavorful and enjoyable dish.

We also ordered Wagyu Nigiri Gokan 和牛握り五貫( Five wagyu nigiri). It does not say on the description, but three of the nigiris are seared/grilled and other two were smoked and they were absolutely ahhh-mazing! OMG the seared/grilled wagyu nigiris just melts in your mouth! The dish was £24 which is quite pricey as you only 5 rather small pieces but it was so tasty! The wagyu nigiris were so soft, yet had all the right flavours.

The mocktail (Harmonic Berry)was presented in cute glass jar with the berry fruits layered on top with lots of ice. Sweet and soothing drink but quite pricey at £6.50. The drinks menu is quite large consisting of juice drinks, mocktails, cocktails as well as hot drinks including tea and coffee. There is also an entensive range of premium sake, shochu and whiskies.  

Overall, I would recommend Tokimeite if you are looking for a place serving wagyu beef with a great ambience atmosphere. For me, the downfall was perhaps the service. The waiting staff didn't seem very professional as they were standing around and chatting. We also got the wrong nigiri dish which happened to be a 5 kinds of sashimi nigiri and the nigiris were tiny! (so guys don't order that dish XD). Nonetheless, the quality and flavours of the wagyu beef dishes were amazing so definitely worth a visit if you want to try wagyu beef in London! (My rating 8/10)

By Alison [18/01/16]

First Post!!~ Superstar BBQ (Korean restaurant)

Since 2012 I had always wanted set up a food blog due to my love for food and my obsession with taking pictures of food. However, I had a busy schedule due to uni life and never got round to it.  But now I have graduated and found a new job so it's finally happening!! (ha-ha) 

So I recently went to this Korean BBQ restaurant called "Superstar" located approx 10 minutes walk from Holborn tube station and 5 minutes from Tottenham Court Road tube station. I chose the Set 2 Menu £30p/p. The starter consisted of: Korean Fried Chicken, Kimchi Jeon (kimchi pancake), Japche (glass noodles), Banchan (Namul & Kimchi). The portion for starter was huge! I enjoyed the Banchan, there was a selection of beansprouts, spinach, and radish. Each serving were decent portions.

The KFC (Korean Fried Chicken)was tasty with the sauce. I've never came across a korean restaurant in London which serves this with radish cubes. I enjoyed the flavour of the fried chicken and its texture was crispy and not too dry. However, there were not enough radish cubes for the chicken pieces.

The Kimchi Jeon (Kimchi Pancake) was slightly disappointing as there was to much flour and hardly any kimchi; although the portion is quite big.



Japche (glass noodles) were warm and quite oily. We finished all but the glass noodles as it was  too oily  and prefer  if it was served cold.

The main course was the BBQ selection that I was most looking forward to. It was a large selection of IB Galbi, Beef Boolgogi, Spicy Chicken, Spicy Pork, Grilled Vegetables and Salad. I ordered pork belly as well. But for the price of £30 for a 3 course set menu, the food is certainly worth it. I ordered pork belly as well. I also like the fact that you are able to grill the meat yourself rather than having someone to cook it for you. I always find it slightly awkward while you're chatting and the waiter/waitress is listening to your conversation but not intentionally. The BBQ had good flavours particularly the spicy chicken. The grilled vegetables seemed quite dry however and pretty random as there were a couple of  sliced mushrooms included. 

Following the BBQ was a small portion of Bimbimbap and Miso Soup. I was happy to see that the bimbimbap was small as my belly was so full at this point! The bimbapbap served in a small hot stone bowl. Be careful not to touch the bowl as it WILL burn you. The desserts was ice cream or either cinnamon drink. There were 3 options for the ice cream which I recall were green tea, black sesame and red bean; of which I chose green tea as I'm not a big fan of the other flavours. Tasted like the typical matcha green tea, nothing special.

Overall I would give this restaurant a 7/10 for the set menu selection. If it was your first time you may be confused with the what to order if you aren't familiar with korean food; as korean cuisine generally consists of a variety of small dishes.. Last time I ordered a few dishes including a few BBQ dishes and the portions were disappointing  and  smaller than I expected. This time I was left super full! I was most impressed with the huge selection with the starter and main course. I would recommend this place as the staff were very friendly and the food was pleasant.

By Alison Lo