Besides all the street food I saw and tried in London, I had some normal meals, sit-down style. I was not prepared to go to some really nice restaurants (need some more research) but I had some nice meals and Ben took me to his favorite dim-sum place. Here we go:
Byron supposed to be one of the best burgers in London
Diner style but with an open kitchen. We sat down outside, it was sunny, a rare occasion in London.
The burger section of the menu. There’s some other stuff but you’re not supposed to get them when you go to Byron.
Mexican hot sauce on the table. Don’t worry, it’s mild.
Ben, already experienced, took the Byron burger but asked to switch the cheddar with blue cheese. Also comes with bacon of course.
I took the avocado burger with bacon
Came with a gherkin and fries. Drinks are extra.
Ha ha I love this pic!
The waiters go around with a Tshirt saying “Medium” in big letters. Byron, as they explain, suggest to have their burgers in the medium cooking degree. I agreed to the suggestion and this is what I got. Does this looks medium to you?
The good: the buns were fresh, the bacon was crispy, the gherkin was a nice touch. The less good: the fries were too thin for my taste – I prefer the fat version with some potato inside; the cooking degree was not right for me, coming from France, I guess I should have asked for a rare burger to get a succulent patty; with a soft drink and service charge it came up to 15 pounds, a bit pricey for this kind of meal I suppose. Also, Ben won, blue cheese takes avocado.
One night we bought groceries and cooked our own dinner. This is what we’ve done:
Ingredients
Some salmon and scallops
Baby carrot cooking in butter and pineapple juice
Bacon and spring onions on the electric griller
Crispy skin salmon with bacon, seared scallops and grilled spring onions
Baby carrots glazed with pineapple and ginger
The dim sum restaurant:
Ben’s asking for his usual (make it a double)
Chinese styling to the place, similar to a dim sum restaurant in China but looks a bit better.
Jasmine tea seems appropriate
Soy, sriracha and chili oil on the table
Roast pork puff
Sweet puff dough, baked, with sweet pork inside
Prawn Cheung Fun, which is rice flour dough filled with little shrimps
Shanghai pork dumplings – wheat dumpling filled with pork and its stock. Ben showed me the steps to eat this special dumpling.
First put the dumpling on the spoon and catch gently with the chopsticks
Take a small bite off the dumpling to allow the pork stock to drain into the spoon
Drink the spoonful of soup
Put back the dumpling on the spoon and add sriracha sauce (chinese mild hot sauce) and / or chili oil
Last bite
Prawn and chives dumpling
Classic one
Roast pork bun
Sweet sticky pork inside the steamed bun. hmmmmm
Soaked in soy sauce
Our table during the meal
Turnip cake, my new favorite.
For dessert (although was one of the first dishes to arrive at our table): Milk and egg tart, which is the chinese creme brulee but more eggy
The bill
Overall a very nice experience in a more authentic Chinese Dim Sum restaurant. I always prefer small little bites of different flavors to one big dish of something. I love Dim Sum.
We went for a second dessert after making some room in the belly. Yogurt ice-cream with fresh fruits and toppings
Ben’s favorite combination
That same evening we went to a family dinner in an Asian restaurant. This is the green curry
Kung Pao chicken
To try out a bit of the Indian cuisine I went for lunch at the most recommended Indian place close to where I was that day.
Sagar, a vegetarian restaurant. I don’t mind because I’m a vegetarian as well as being a carnivore.
The menu
Very Indian decor
…
Appetizer: papadum with mint and lemon chutneys
I like chutneys.
The meal composed of rice and indian bread with dal (lentil stew), cashew and vegetables curry, potatoes in spices and yogurt.
The cashew was the best but overall not bad
Indian is always a colorful meal!
For dessert, Payasam: hot pudding made with vermicelli, sugar, milk, cashew nuts and raisins
Last meal before leaving we went to the exotic meats burger stand “Tuckers”
Selection between: buffalo, ostrich, kangaroo, springbok, wildebeest, zebra and wild boar burger.
We took one buffalo and one wildebeest.
The wedges were the way I like it. Instead of ketchup and mayo sauce we had homemade relish and English mustard.
Trying to be creative inside the brown bun – we had cheddar cheese, caramelized red onions and wild rocket. Seems like not enough of any of these.
So we asked for more sauces.
Very colorful. Maybe I overdid the mustard. The meat itself did not taste that special. I think we can go back to beef.
Bye bye London! I’m going back to steak tartar..
