Tag: bao

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Had my usual…

When I get to Wagamama, part of me says, try something new, another part of me says, I like the yasai yaki soba, which is mushrooms,  soba noodles cooked with egg, peppers, beansprouts, onion, pickled ginger, crispy fried onions and sesame seeds.  I decided I would have this and some mushroom bao, another dish I regularly order. 

I don’t always order this, when I was visiting a branch of Wagamama at Cabot Circus recently, I had Honey Fried Chicken and Chicken Pho. Whilst in Nottingham though I went with the yasai yaki soba I had different bao.

This time we were back in London and visiting the Wagamama branch at Covent Garden. We have been there before and had an issue with the delay in getting the gluten free dish we had ordered to the table before everyone else finished their food. Part of that was that the server took our main order, but a manager has to take the gluten free order for the table. 

We were quite early in the evening, there was no queue, and we were shown to our table, one aspect of Wagamama which is useful in central London, and to be honest elsewhere as well, is that not only do you not need to book, but you can’t book anyhow. So, just turn up and see if a table is available. When we came to order, we asked for the manager straight away, so we could order everything together.

I really don’t mind that Wagamama bring out the dishes when they’re ready, but we did have to wait nearly an hour for our food. Luckily this time all our food arrived within a reasonable timeframe.

I enjoyed my yasai yaki soba, though I always think it could do with more mushrooms. If I order the chicken yak soba, I get a fair amount of chicken, with the mushroom version, they appear to be quite stingy with the mushrooms.

This was rather tasty, I like the contrasting textures and flavours in this dish.

I also enjoyed the mushroom bao buns. The crispy aubergine is a nice touch which gives the dish a contrast of soft fluffy bao bun, the crunch of the crispy aubergine, and the delicate texture of the mushrooms.

We all enjoyed our food and we settled the bill using the app. As we left there was now a queue which was out of the building and down the street. 

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Teriyaki Chicken Donburi

Helsinki

Back in February I was on a trip to Helsinki in Finland for a few days for work. I was staying at the Scandic Hotel Simonkenttä in the heart of the city.

For a quick good value meal I went to Momotoko in the Kamppi shopping centre, it was close to the hotel, and it was nice food that was reasonably priced. Part of me wanted to have some authentic Finnish food whilst I was in Finland, but I was on a budget, and I quite like Korean style food. You order at the counter and then they bring the food to your table.

I had enjoyed my previous donburi at Momotoko so when needing something to eat it was easy to head back there. This time I went with the Teriyaki Chicken Donburi, this was rice with teriyaki sauce and chicken slices. It was accompanied by marinated egg, shiitake mushrooms, edamame beans, marinated cucumber, sesame seeds and spring onion.

chicken donburi

This was a delicious bowl of food, fresh and tasty. The chicken was tender and nicely done. I liked all the accompaniments, I did like the egg and the mushrooms.

I also had another Kimchi Fried Chicken Bao, which I had on my previous visit, This was chicken fillet, salad leaf, fresh cucumber, kimchi, momo-mayo and spring onion in a steamed bao bun.

This was similar to bao buns I have had elsewhere. A crispy piece of chicken, the freshness of the salad constructing well with the kimchi. Really tasty bun.

I have since found out that Momotoko has now closed down, so if I ever get back to Helsinki, I won’t be able to taste these dishes again.

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Korean Pork Donburi and a Chicken Bao Bun

Helsinki in the snow

Back in February I was on a trip to Helsinki in Finland for a few days for work. I was staying at the Scandic Hotel Simonkenttä in the heart of the city.

Scandic Hotel Simonkenttä

For a quick good value meal I went to Momotoko in the Kamppi shopping centre, it was close to the hotel, and it was nice food that was reasonably priced. Part of me wanted to have some authentic Finnish food whilst I was in Finland, but I was on a budget, and I quite like Korean style food.

You order at the counter and then they bring the food to your table. There were quite a few choices, so I went with the Korean Pork Donburi. This was rice with Korean style sauce and deep fired tofu. Accompanied by marinated egg, shiitake mushrooms, edamame beans, Momotoko-kimchi, sesame seeds and spring onion. 

Korean Pork Donburi

I really liked the tender pork in this dish. The freshness of the edamame beans was a good contrast to the deep spicy pork and flavoured mushrooms. The pork was tender, and I liked the addition of the egg.

I also had a Kimchi Fried Chicken Bao, which was chicken fillet, salad leaf, fresh cucumber, kimchi, momo-mayo and spring onion in a steamed bao bun.

Chicken Bao Bun

This was similar to bao buns I have had elsewhere. A crispy piece of chicken, the freshness of the salad constructing well with the kimchi. Really tasty bun.

I have since found out that Momotoko has now closed down, so if I ever get back to Helsinki, I won’t be able to taste these dishes again.

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Wagamama at Nottingham

It was one of those times when I thought to myself, what do I want to eat, I will go with something I know and like, it’s getting late and all that. I was staying in Nottingham for a conference and having arrived the day before, I headed out to get something to eat. I chose Wagamama as I do like the food and the restaurant was relatively close to my hotel as well. I had looked on Google Maps before heading to Nottingham to see what was around, but the few places I looked at were not open on a Monday night.

Wagamama was heaving and I had to wait for a table, normally I prefer not to wait, but I did think all I probably would do would be walk around a bit and then end up back at Wagamama. I was a little surprised on how busy it was, this was the end of June on a Monday. All the students would have “gone home” and I would be surprised there would be that many visitors around compared to July or August.

After waiting for a short while I was shown to my table. I had missed out on lunch so was quite hungry, so I ordered the chilli squid, pork + panko apple bao buns, and yasai yaki soba. Despite the busyness or the place, it wasn’t too long before my food arrived.

The chilli squid, is Wagamama’s iconic crispy fried squid tossed in shichimi spice, and served with a chilli + coriander dipping sauce. 

squid

This was lovely generous portion of crispy squid. They’ve stopped doing the crispy chilli mushrooms which I may have ordered as an alternative. I did think about having the hot honey fried chicken, but went with the squid; I do like the squid and it was nice and tasty.

The next dish to arrive was the pork + panko apple bao buns, which was two buns, that contained slow-cooked pork belly with crispy panko-coated apple, sriracha and vegan mayo, topped with coriander.

I would usually have the mixed mushroom bao buns, I also thought about trying out the korean barbecue beef, but I liked the sound of the pork and apple buns. The pork was tender and soft, which contrasted well with the crispy apple.

My main dish was a regular choice of mine, the yasai yaki soba. This is mushrooms,  soba noodles cooked with egg, peppers, beansprouts, onion, pickled ginger, crispy fried onions and sesame seeds.

I think it needed more mushrooms. The amount of mushroom in this dish is rather inconsistent when I have this dish, which surprises me. Despite the lack of mushrooms, it was a very tasty dish and I enjoyed it.

Overall the food I had was very tasty and rather filling. I don’t think I really should have two side dishes with my main course, but it is hard then to choose just one. Maybe next time I will just have side dishes instead.

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Bao Buns at Paddington

Paddington Station

Having arrived at Paddington, I headed to Market Halls for lunch. This is a new place in the Paddington Square development. There are various places now to find somewhere to eat. Market Halls at Paddington is one of four halls across London, but this was my first visit to any of them. They consist of a range of street food stalls with common tables. A great place to go and eat if no one know what they want, or people want different things. Lots of choice including bao buns, tacos, curry, and burgers. On a previous visit when I was there, I went to From The Ashes Parrilla, which is an Argentinian grill place. I had the grilled picanha steak with fries.

This time I went to Bao and had two bao buns. I placed my order, took at seat and waited for the buzzer to go off. It wasn’t long

I had the Beef BAO, beef short rib, gherkin, and Sichuan mayo.

The beef was rich and deeply flavoured, and the gherkin and mayo added a nice contrast. The bao bun was soft and fluffy.

My second was the Fried Chicken BAO, soy milk marinated chicken, golden kimchi, coriander, hot sauce, and Sichuan mayo.

The bao bun was different, halved and toasted. The fried chicken was moist and tender with a nice crispy coating. I liked the golden kimchi.

These weren’t the best bao buns I have had, but they were tasty and I thought reasonable for £9 for the pair of them.

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Slow Yaki Soba Yasai

Needing a quick dinner, a visit to Wagamama was the solution. You don’t need to book and usually service is efficient and quick.

I had a look over the menu and decided what I would have and waited…

I then waited some more…

Then a little more time…

I was about to leave when a member of the waiting team arrived to take my order. They did apologise, but not sure what the issue was.

I went with the mushroom bao buns and the yaki soba yasai with mushroom. 

This was soba noodles cooked with mushrooms, egg, peppers, beansprouts and white and spring onion. topped with crispy fried onions, pickled ginger and sesame seeds.

The yaki soba yasai arrived first.

It was really good. I love the combination of flavours and textures.

 My mushroom bao buns arrived a little later. This was mixed mushrooms with crispy panko-coated aubergine and vegan mayo, topped with coriander.

These were nice but felt that they lacked enough mushroom. I have had these before and wrote back then:

I did feel the mushroom bao buns could have had a lot more mushroom in them, what mushroom was there was slightly overpowered by the crispy panko-coated aubergine.

Pretty much felt the same this time as well.

I did think both dishes needed more mushroom. If there is mushroom in the title of the dish then I think it needs mushroom in the dish.

Overall, I did enjoy the food, the service once it started was good, but I did feel the delay in taking my order did impact on my enjoyment of the dining experience.

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Master Bao Buns

When I am at Westfield and having lunch, I usually make the decision to go to Master Bao for a couple of bao buns. They are cooked to order and are always delicious.

This time I went with the Shiitake Mushroom Bao, which was teriyaki Shiitake mushrooms, pickled onions, and miso.

A little big and messy to eat with your hands, but the bun was soft and fluffy, and the filling was intense and delicious.

I also had the Mr Bao, this was slow braised pork, house pickles, and roasted peanut.

Same fluffy bun, and some tasty pork with the added crunch of peanuts.

Really nice food which I enjoyed.

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Beef short rib bao bun

One of the regular places I stay when in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes.

Having dinner there, for my starter I went with the Beef short rib bao bun with bourbon maple glaze, aioli, coriander and peanuts.

bao buns

I have had these twice before and really enjoyed them. These though looked very different to the bao buns I had before at Drayton Court.

The beef was very tender, but I am pretty sure it wasn’t short rib. I couldn’t really taste the bourbon maple glaze. They were good, but I did feel something was missing from the dish.

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Going Vegan at Wagamama

When I was staying in London for a few days I went off to Ealing to get something to eat. I did think about going back to Polka, but it was closed on Mondays. Reinata was another place I had considered, but they had gone back to their Winter opening times, so wasn’t open in the evening until Thursday. After spending way too much time walking around Ealing I decided I would visit VanTan again. I had enjoyed my last meal there, so after looking at the menu outside and choosing the Braised Fish Claypot. This was described as braised fish steak caramelised in a sweet savoury sauce with steamed rice. I was given a warm welcome, and handed a menu. Alas though the fish dish was on the menu outside, it wasn’t on the menus at the table. Rather than have something else, I decided I would head off to Wagamama instead. 

I had an equally warm reception at Wagamama. I was shown to a bench and I had a look over the menu. I chose three dishes at Wagamama. Generally I would have two, but was feeling peckish, and it was difficult to choose.

The first dish I chose was the crispy chilli mushrooms. A vegan version of the crispy chilli squid. This was coated and fried crunchy oyster mushrooms. They were dusted with a red pepper powder and served with a chilli and coriander dipping sauce.

The crispy chilli mushroom was nice, not as nice as the chilli squid, but was tasty.

The second dish was one I have had before, which was the mixed mushrooms bao buns. This was mixed mushrooms with crispy panko-coated aubergine, creamy vegan mayonnaise. topped with coriander.

I did feel the mushroom bao buns could have had a lot more mushroom in them, what mushroom was there was slightly overpowered by the crispy panko-coated aubergine.

For my main dish I had the silken tofu gochujang rice bowl. This was something I hadn’t had before. It consisted of silken tofu coated in a spicy gochujang sauce with bok choi, pickled cucumber, snow onion slaw and red onion. It was served on a bed of sticky white rice. finished with spring onion, sliced red chilli, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds and red pepper powder.

This was an interesting dish, and when it arrived it surprised me. Why it surprised me I don’t know. I guess I was expecting more of a hot tofu dish with rice, whereas this was more a salad with rice and deep fried tofu.

The silken tofu was excellent. I really enjoyed the dish, there was a nice mix of different textures and flavours. The bok choi was a little tricky to eat with chopsticks and there wasn’t a knife to cut it either.

I didn’t plan it, but all three dishes were vegan. Overall I enjoyed all three dishes and would certainly have them again.