The Trishaw: North London

Showing posts with label North London. Show all posts

Venchi the gelato gem | London

Posted on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 by aipheng

Hampstead is like a green village tucked away in the North West of London. It is such a special little gem that I came to discover thanks to P. He told me to wear some comfy shoes cause we will be doing some long walk. He warned me ahead so I won't make him piggy back me all the way.

After a rather long walk from Finchley Road up and into the hilly residential area with mansions tugged in the midst of greenery, we arrived in Hampstead. There was a shop there that sells one of the most amazing designer furnitures. It was as if a little museum, with the few pieces you would probably find in V&A museum.

With the little calories burnt after the walk, we topped it up some well worth calories. Gelato of exquisite quality, made in the premise. I have already made a note to bring my sister and dad here when they visit this summer.

Dark chocolate and coconut gelato

Venchi

65 Hampstead High Street
NW3 1QP London,UK

Continue

Caravan King's Cross | London

Posted on Thursday, October 10, 2013 by aipheng

Exmouth Market was a very popular market to be at for delicious food with the likes of Moro, Morito and the first Caravan which was always full and almost impossible to get a reservation. Finally they opened up a more spacious restaurant in Kings Cross at the Granary Square where the new Central St Martins is. The day I was meeting up some friends for dinner here was the day it decided to rain so heavily that even an umbrella was not of much use. Well, lucky it is so close to the station, it only took a short few minutes of walk through some building sites and across the little bridge across the river and into the square. There were 1,000 choreographed and individually lit water fountains that hop and pop, spray and gush with rhythm and hues of changing lights. It was a spectacularly beautiful scene especially in the dark.

As soon as I got in to the restaurant, I was shown to my table very quickly. The service was prompt and friendly. While drying out myself and waiting for the girls, I got myself the tea cocktail which was a really good drink to start off a Friday evening. As I waited and waited, I realised something was wrong after over half an hour of wait from when she texted me her arrival at the station. Oh great both of them were lost!! Well, separately lost. They headed towards the wrong way cause the iPhone map told them to! And there I was, sat inside away from the rain wondering how a five minutes walk took them forever!! So if you're looking for this place on your map, don't use the iPhone map! If you are using the Google map, type in Caravan Kings Cross, not just Caravan cause that will take you to Exmouth Market! You think it will be smarter to pin the closest Caravan when one is outside Kings Cross station!! Why would anyone get off at Kings Cross and want to walk to Exmouth Market when there is Caravan just 5 minutes away! So well, one of them finally found her way after over an hour with her jeans wet up till her thighs!! Poor thing. And the other was too hungry and tired that she decided to go home instead. Seemed like it wasn't a TGIF for her after all.

And because the restaurant had the next booking coming in soon that needed the spacious table we had initially, we were moved to a table next to the open kitchen which we didn't mind at all. Lucky I ordered some flat bread to keep my tummy from rumbling through the long wait.

Curried onion flat bread, yoghurt, coriander and nigella seeds was crispy and delicious.

Grilled asparagus with chilli corn salsa and tomato jam

Grilled prawns, csabai sausage, piquillo peppers was a rather small, small plate but had the sweetness of the well cooked prawns with the spicy paprika Hungarian sausage and peppers.

I thought the 'scallop carpaccio with grapefruit, ginger, jalapeno and spiced pop corn' was quite weak as a dish.

It was unsure of what it was supposed to be, with the soft almost tasteless popcorns plonked on the plate. I would prefer it to be simpler with just the scallops, grapefruit and coriander leaves so the beautiful scallops could shine through.

Poached peaches, meringue, raspberry sorbet

Roasted peached, meringue, raspberry sorbet

The roasted peach dessert was good and refreshing but it was no peanut butter parfait. We really wanted the apparently very sinfully indulgent dessert of peanut butter parfait with strawberry jelly to end our meal but they ran out!! It must have been so good that it was sold out so soon but they could have made more. The way it was described to us gave me the urge to return the next day just to satisfy the peanut butter parfait craving. Too bad I did not live close enough to be able to do that. On my next visit, I make sure they reserve that naughty dessert until I finish my meal.

Smile..

Prompt service, friendly staff, good food, good cocktails, nice location.

Frown..

Portions are pretty small even for a small plate. Some good and not so good dishes. Also, who runs out of their best dessert half way through the second dinner service?

Will I return?

Yes, and they serve brunch too.

Caravan King's Cross

Granary Building, 1 Granary Square
N1C 4AA London, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7101 7661

Closest station: King's Cross (northern, piccadilly)

Continue

Trojka restaurant with russian doll mural

Posted on Tuesday, December 04, 2012 by aipheng

This was a completely random find. We were in the area for Lanka’s delightful green tea gateau for our girly afternoon tea. As we were walking towards the station on our way home, we saw what looks like an interesting restaurant with a Russian doll mural. So we had a peek inside and a browsed through the menu. It took us about 30 seconds to decide that we were having early dinner after our tea and cakes. Odd girls, I know but it really was hard to say no to what will be our first Russian experience.

We did not order a lot of food but enough to make me come back with an Eastern European to conclude its authenticity. We started off with some caviar and blinis which were soft and nutty, then the hot and earthy beetroot soup.

To say that I used to hate beetroot is too harsh. It was more like if mum forced me to eat some and that it was good for me, I would take a few bites but never more. So ordering Borschtch, a beetroot soup served with smetana (sour cream) was adventurous. Surprisingly, I liked it and would ask for more if mum came to me with this soup. This soup has transformed my views on the once upon a time, odd tasting red root vegetable. Either that or my palate has changed through time.

The Russian version of salmon pie named Coulibiak was sandwiched with mushrooms, spinach and rice served with smetana and fresh tomato sauce. The pastry was crisp with lots of ingredients inside. It would have tasted divine with more seasoning. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed it. The hunter's stew (Bigos) of smoked sausage, sauerkraut and chicken served with mash was enough to keep the Polish diner occupied. Bigos is his favourite dish in the world. Although this was not the ones his grandma makes, it was enough to make him reminisce of home.

We did not have desserts cause we had some before dinner. And we were not about to leave an Eastern European restaurant without vodka. It can never be too early for Vodka shots so we tried a few. Had Zubrowka for the first time, and lets say that was not the last.