~*El Rancho de Lalo & Lutong Pinoy in London!*~

One of the things I love most about London is the amount of choice there is of places to eat. London is a melting pot full of incredible restaurants, cafes and eateries, and there is always somewhere for everyone.








When I went to visit J in London last weekend, we visited a couple of amazing restaurants, which I will be telling you about in this post.










The first place we went to was a fantastic little Colombian eatery called El Rancho de Lalo. Situated in Brixton Village Market, it is a small, simple looking restaurant that is always jam-packed with people because the food is just too damn good! Reasonably priced, fresh and with VERY generous portions, it is the perfect place to get your fill on high quality grub. It was the second time J and I visited El Rancho de Lalo - we loved it the first time and we loved it even more the second time around!!
 

J with his Club Colombia beer!

On this visit, J ordered a Cazuela de Mariscos, which is a seafood soup with mussels, squid, octopus and shrimp. This was served with a portion of rice, salad, a couple of croquettes and cornbread. I was grateful for J sharing some of the seafood soup, because it was quite possibly one of the best dishes I have ever tasted!

Cazuela de Mariscos

Yes, I'd be happy with that dish too!

I ended up ordering the same dish as I had done on my first visit - the Bandeja Paisa, which is Colombia's national dish. The Bandeja Paisa is an absolute man meal (as you can see in the photo!) made up of different meats (grilled beef steak, fried pork belly and Colombian sausage), grilled plantain, rice, fried egg, beans and corn bread. I didn't finish everything as the portion was so huge (I shared most of it with J), but it all tasted amazing - the plantain, especially, was a nice way to break up such a protein-heavy meal!









La Bandeja Paisa!

The second restaurant we visited over the weekend was Lutong Pinoy, a cosy little Filipino restaurant on Kenway Road, about a 2-3 minute walk from Earl's Court tube station.

Upon walking into the restaurant, the whiff of cooked white rice made me feel very much at home - it smelt like a typical Filipino house, which made me feel super hungry!! I absolutely love the smell of Filipino food in the air, as it reminds me of being at home with my family.

The menu was full of amazing Filipino dishes at decent prices. We opted for Filipino Longanisa sausages with garlic rice (me) and Dinuguan with egg rice (J). Dinuguan is a Filipino savory stew of pork offal (typically lungs, kidneys, intestines, ears, heart and snout) and/or meat simmered in a rich, spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chilli, and vinegar. Needless to say, I was impressed with J choosing this as I thought he'd be put off by the ingredients, but he's very open-minded about food and he ended up loving it!

For drinks, I ordered a fresh Mango juice (my favourite!) and J enjoyed a bottle of Red Horse beer, which, along with San Miguel, is the Philippines national beer.

And for dessert...Halo Halo for both of us!! And it was delicious!!

Overall, I think we had a pretty awesome weekend of brilliant food and getting fat...I look forward to visiting both places again in future!

~*Cooking with Bae: Part 3 - Fajitas*~

It's been a while since I've posted a "Cooking with Bae" piece!




Last weekend was the first time in ages since J and I were able to cook something at home (blame the Christmas madness!) and to be honest, it wasn't anything massively exciting or complicated. Nevertheless, I am going to share it with you and hope that this inspires you to cook at home...maybe with your bae too!




This time, we decided to cook Fajitas, mainly because it's cheap and quick to prepare, and J wanted Mexican food (like he always does). We did cheat a little...well, quite a lot actually, because most of the stuff that we used, such as the Fajita seasoning and the accompaniments, were shop-bought, i.e. from packets and bottles! BUT...please take this as a review of the products we used, as we still encourage home cooking as much as possible!


First, we cut up some fresh chicken breast, onions and peppers and placed them in a frying pan, lightly cooking over medium heat. We then mixed in a packet of Santa Maria Fajita Mix (mild) and stirred until the chicken, onion and peppers were covered in seasoning.

We also chopped up some fresh iceberg lettuce and grated some cheese (J's job!) to add to the Fajitas.

For accompaniments, we used Mexi Grande Guacamole (in a bottle), Santa Maria Classic Mexican Salsa and Aldi's Snackrite Sour Cream. I have to be honest, the shop-bought Guacamole has nothing on the proper homemade stuff!!

The wholemeal wraps that we used for the Fajitas were Asda's own brand which I lucky managed to buy from the "Whoopsies!" section for 10p a packet (of 8 wraps). So I bought 5 packs and froze most of them! :D


We also cut up some fresh watermelon for dessert.

For those who know me are aware that I am not a big fan of pre-made sauces, seasoning, etc, but the ones we used in this instance were OK - nothing too special. I wouldn't discourage people from purchasing the products we used, but I personally wouldn't be in a rush to go out and re-buy them either.

Overall, I would give the food portion of the dining experience a 5/10, though dining with J after a 2-week gap was a lot of fun - I really miss him when he's not around. Next time, we will definitely be cooking from scratch!

~*Dinner Date @ Barrio Comida (Newcastle)*~

I have been fortunate enough to have spent more than the usual amount of time with J this week, as he's been back home in Newcastle for the Christmas holidays (yey!).

For one of our dinner dates during this time, we visited a new Mexican eatery called Barrio Comida. Situated in the Quayside area of Newcastle, Barrio Comida is a gorgeous little place that is made up of two shipping containers, and is perfect for date night or a super chilled catch-up with friends. If you sit by the window, you'll have a lovely view of the Tyne Bridge, which is especially beautiful at night. The entire restaurant is candle-lit, creating a romantic and hygge-like ambience, and the décor is simple, with aloe vera plants placed on typical Mexican-style plastic table covers.

Prior to going to Barrio Comida, I had read a number of great reviews and I knew both J and I needed to try it out.

J is half Mexican/Geordie, and he absolutely loves Mexican food. After checking out their website (www.barriocomida.com) and scrolling through their menu, which mainly focuses on traditional tacos which are cooked to order, I knew that Barrio Comida would be right up his street. I also loved that Barrio Comida isn't a chain (I believe there is another one in Durham and that's it), so I expected the food to be of high quality, fresh and as authentic as possible.

We started our date with a Michelada each. Michelada is a popular Mexican cocktail prepared with clamato (a mix of tomato and clam juice), beer, lime juice and assorted sauces and spices. It is definitely an acquired taste; J loves it but I personally wasn't crazy about it. It reminded me of a watered down Bloody Mary with stronger flavours of spice. I ended up giving most of mine to J to finish off!

Michelada

We then ordered our tacos (suggested serving of 3 tacos per person) - this was a difficult task since they all looked absolutely delicious! In the end, we ended up settling on the following:

J: Al Pastor, Camaron & Mole
Me: Lengua, Ensenada & Cabeza

Please check out www.barriocomida.com to see what each of these tacos consist of.

The tacos were AMAZING - you could taste the freshness of the ingredients, which were all well put-together to create incredible flavours. J, who has a talent for clearing his dinner plate in a matter of seconds, hoovered his tacos up at record speed - they were just too good!

J's tacos!

 

My tacos...my God I'm getting hungry again

 

J enjoying his grub!

J also treat us to a Ceviche Tostada (raw Tuna, Salsa, Chipotle Crema and Avocado on a toasted taco) each, which was definitely my favourite out of all the tacos we ate that evening - it was ridiculously good!

Heaven on a plate...Ceviche Tostada

We had another round of drinks to finish off our meal; J had another Michelada and I opted for a non-alcoholic homemade Agua Fresca called Jamaica, which is a lightly sweetened Hibiscus infused juice-like tea. The Jamaica was super tasty and the flavour of Hibiscus was just right, making it refreshing and very easy to drink.

A cup of Jamaica

All in all, it was a brilliant dining experience and I would strongly recommend anyone with a love of good food to try this place out. It's a very chilled setting so there's no need to get dolled up for the occasion either, which makes it the perfect place to have a laid-back gathering with your friends and loved ones.

Barrio Comida

Wesley Square

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 3DE 

~*Merry Christmas 2016!*~

Hallo!

I know it's a little late, but...Merry Christmas! I hope you had a great one :)

As always, I'm posting a photo of my international "Christmas Table" -  as you can see, it's pretty similar to every year. From traditional Turkey and veg to Japanese Sushi and Filipino "Lumpia" Spring Rolls, all of it contributed to my additional festive lbs, which I thoroughly enjoyed gaining!

Can you tell which one I enjoyed the most...?

Merry Christmas!! :)

~*Date night in Paris*~

J and I have just returned from a lovely weekend in the city of love. Though it was a very quick trip, we managed to cram a lot of activities in, from The Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, to Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the breath-taking and beautiful Eiffel Tower at night.


Of course, no trip is complete without sampling the local cuisine, and we made it a mission to eat Parisian-style crepes, escargot and frogs legs during our visit to the French capital.


J, who is fairly familiar with Paris (he has visited on a number of occasions, and speaks pretty mean French too!), led us to Quartier Latin  (The Latin Quarter), where there are a number of bars and restaurants to cater for all tastes, but mainly serving French cuisine.


We decided on a quaint restaurant on the main strip called Le Symposium for our Parisian date night. At 15 euros each for a 3 course meal, we thought it was pretty reasonably priced.


The ambience of the restaurant was very French - calm, sophisticated and romantic. An ideal setting for date night with mon amour!


We started dinner with a bottle of red wine (Cotes du Rhone), which was fairly priced (for Paris!) at 18 euros.

For starters, we ordered escargot in garlic butter sauce (6 snails per person), which was amazing!! J and I both love garlic, so this was ideal. The strong flavours of the garlic mixed with the subtle taste of snail resulted in the perfect balance. For those who may be slightly uncomfortable with eating snails, don't be - they are delicious and definitely worth a go! Just don't be put off by the texture! We also had a side of frogs legs which, at 10 euros per plate, I thought was quite steep, given that the portion was pretty small. Nevertheless, they were very tasty and we polished them off with no problems.

Frogs legs!

Escargot in garlic butter sauce

For mains, J ordered a classic French Beef Bourguignon and I had steak (cooked perfectly rare, mmm!!) with peppercorn sauce. Again, absolutely delicious - we couldn't fault either dishes.

Beef Bourguignon

Steak with Peppercorn sauce

Rare is the best!

Dessert was Crème Caramel, which was a lovely way to end such a pleasant dinner.

Crème Caramel dessert

The bill came to 58 euros in total which, for Paris, is not bad at all. The food was basic but fantastic, the service was great and the dining experience as a whole was wonderful.  


We visited the Eiffel Tower after dinner (which was amazing and super romantic - the boy did very good!) and after a couple of hours there, we ended the night with a savoury crepe each, filled with ham, eggs and cheese. There are several crepe vans dotted around Paris so they are readily available. We paid 6 euros each for our crepes (near the Eiffel Tower), but you can easily get them slightly cheaper (around 5 euros) if you shop around.


To me, Paris is like a fine wine - it will take me time to truly appreciate the beauty of it. However, the memories I have of our trip are very happy ones!


If you do visit Paris (or anywhere in France), I would totally recommend that you try French cuisine (like escargot and frogs legs) - it is simply delicious. For when it happens (and I hope that it does)...Bon Appetit!! XOXO  

<3

Le Symposium

29 Rue de la Huchette

75005 Paris, France

+33 1 43 54 28 98

~*Cooking with Bae: Part 2 - Super Easy Spaghetti Bolognaise Sauce (aka "Speggy")*~

One of J's all-time favourites but this time, without a ready-made sauce jar in sight!



For part 2 of "Cooking with Bae", we decided on a simple, inexpensive and incredibly tasty homemade Spaghetti Bolognaise sauce, served with a side of warm bread, Italian ham with a hint of Rosemary, sliced Mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil and olives, all drizzled with olive oil and mixed herbs. Oh, and not forgetting the red wine to wash all of the deliciousness down...super nom!



It's difficult to go wrong with Spaghetti Bolognaise (or "Speggy", as J calls it). With the simple ingredients that are super cheap to pick up from your local supermarket (ours were all purchased at a reasonable price from Aldi) and the easiness of putting them together, you'll find that the most difficult bit is to make sure that the pasta and sauce are done around the same time.




Again, head chef J did a great job working the cooking tools - you wouldn't think that this was only his second time cooking something from scratch! I only had to guide him occasionally, just to talk him through the order in which things had to go into the pan, how long to cook them for, etc, but in general, he had it all well under control. It was obvious that he had grown in confidence following the success of his Paella (please see "Cooking with Bae" - part 1!) and he whipped this concoction of tomato-based delightfulness up to perfection.




And folks, this is how he did it...




Super Easy Spaghetti Bolognaise Sauce (aka "Speggy") - serves 4*



*It actually served 2 in our case. Both J and I have pretty big appetites, though J can REALLY put it away!



1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
500g minced beef
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1/2 diced onion (white or red) - we used white.
1/2 diced red pepper
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 chopped button mushrooms
Tomato puree
Green olives
A splash of red wine (to taste)
Mixed herbs (to taste)
Salt and pepper (to season)
Shredded basil




1. Heat oil in a cooking pan. Add the garlic and onion and cook over a medium heat for around 30 seconds.




2. Add the minced beef and fry until browned. Stir in the can of chopped tomatoes. To make the mixture more "sauce-like", add a little bit of water to reach your desired consistency.



3. Add the tomato puree. How much depends on how "tomato-ey" you want the bolognaise sauce to be.



4. Allow the sauce to simmer for a couple of minutes, then stir in the red pepper and mushrooms. Add a handful of green olives and a sprinkle of mixed herbs. Let the sauce simmer lightly (over a low heat) for another couple of minutes.



5. Splash (or pour, it's completely up to you!) a bit of red wine into the sauce. As tempting as it may be, please refrain from adding the entire bottle! Mix the sauce.

6. Place a generous amount of sauce on top of cooked pasta (we chose Spaghetti) and decorate with shredded basil. Sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Chopping away at onions!



Head chef J at work!

Adding a "splash" of red wine...glug glug.

The finished product!

Nom nom!

The sides!

After dinner! Alfie cat missed the dinner party!

~*Cooking with Bae: Part 1 - Simple Paella & Guacamole*~

J and I had been hemming and hawing for a while about what to cook for our first "Cooking with Bae" sesh. Japanese, Mexican, Italian...so many great cuisines to choose from!



In the end, we settled on a Spanish/Mexican/French fusion - a simple Paella, Guacamole dip and a side of baked baguettes (which we didn't bake ourselves - yes, we cheated!), Ardennes pate and Spanish meats. This was served with a large bottle of Sangria.


Head chef J was in charge of cooking the Paella while I, sous chef MY, whipped up the Guacamole and prepped the table.


For someone who hasn't had very much experience in the kitchen, J did a brilliant job of the Paella! I was pleasantly surprised at how well he took to cooking, and he looked so cute using the spatula when mixing everything up in the frying pan...:) I'll be sure to give him a more challenging dish to cook next time...without my help!


Both dishes turned out very well, but the Paella for sure was the star of the show. J was so proud of himself that he ended up cooking the Paella for some friends when he went back down to London. I've been told that he got massive thumbs-up for his efforts too!


Anyway, here are the recipes that we followed for the Paella and Guacamole...enjoy! XOXO

Paella  (serves 2)

1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
Slice chorizo (please feel free to be generous with this!)
1/2 diced onion
1/4 tsp turmeric
300g cooked plain rice
100g cooked prawn
50g frozen peas
Lemon wedges (to serve)

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Tip in the chorizo, onion and garlic, then cook for a couple of minutes until softened. Stir through turmeric, followed by the rice, prawns and peas and 150ml of water.


2. Keep stirring until everything is warmed through and the water has been absorbed. The rice should still be wet. Decorate with lemon wedges.



Guacamole (serves 2)


2 ripe avocadoes, mashed
1 diced tomato
1/2 diced red onion (or a whole one, depending on how strong you want the bite)
Chopped coriander
1/2 lemon for the juice (to taste)
Salt and pepper (to season)


1. Place the mashed avocadoes, tomato, red onion and coriander into a bowl and mix well.


2. Take the lemon and squeeze small amounts of juice into the avocado mixture at a time. Keep adding the juice until you are happy with the taste.
3. Add salt and pepper to season.







J working his magic!



The table! Alfie the cat was "guarding" the food at the time!



Made with love