Tag: japanese

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itsu Chicken Ramen

I hadn’t anticipated making a ramen, but I had popped to Waitrose to, essentially get some bread, but had a browse and in their stir fry meal deal they had itsu Chicken Gyoza Dumplings,  itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth, and itsu Restaurant Ramen Original Noodles.

I decided I would have ramen for tea.

So, what I did was first chargrill the chicken in a frying pan and kept this warm to one side. I stir fried some vegetables in the pan I had cooked the chicken. After they were cooked, I did some mushrooms.

While this was cooking I cooked the noodles in boiling water. The gyoza dumplings were heated up in the microwave. I also heated up the itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth in another pan.

In a large bowl, I placed the cooked noodles, the vegetables, and the chicken gyoza dumplings. I added the itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth, before topping with sliced chargrilled chicken. I garnished the dish with the cooked mushrooms and a boiled egg.

I was really pleased with the end result. So much so, that I did a version with a roasted duck breast.

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Wagamama in the heart of the city

I do like the food at Wagamama, though I like trying new things, I also like having what I had before. On a recent visit to Wagamama in the City of London,  I went with two dishes I had before. For my starter I went with the crispy otsumami. 

This is six squares of crispy fried rice soaked in a soy + yuzu dressing, topped with pulled shiitake mushroom, smashed avocado + edamame and sriracha mayo, garnished with coriander cress.

I had these before when I went to Wagamama in Basildon. I did think this time they were even better. They are tasty morsels of yum! I like the different textures and the flavours combine to create an extravaganza of different tastes within your mouth.

 For my main I went with the silken tofu gochujang rice bowl. I had this before in Ealing in 2023. This is silken tofu in a spicy gochujang glaze on a bed of sticky white rice, bok choi, pickled cucumber, snow onion slaw, red and spring onion, red chilli, sesame seeds.

I like the contrast between hot and cold ingredients in this bowl. There are a diverse range of complementary flavours within the bowl. Overall a tasty dish.

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Time for Wagamama in Basildon

I was on my way to East Anglia and was staying over in Festival Leisure Park in Basildon at the Travelodge.

Across the retail park are various places to eat. I did walk around looking at various outlets, thinking about what I wanted. In the end I went to Wagamama with the plan that I wouldn’t have what I usually have at Wagamama. For a starter (or is it a side) I had the pulled shiitake crispy otsumami. 

This is six squares of crispy fried rice soaked in a soy + yuzu dressing, topped with smashed avocado + edamame and sriracha mayo, garnished with coriander cress.

These were really interesting and tasty. They were also very pretty. They were quite an intense flavour, but I liked them.

For my main course I went with the (new) crispy chicken sambal fry.

Described as lightly battered chicken coated in garlic + red pepper powder, mild tomato sambal, vibrant pickled slaw. coconut rice. chilled turmeric-stained egg, amai sauce on the side.

I wasn’t as impressed with this dish as I thought I would be. The chicken was disappointing, and I didn’t really like the mild tomato sambal sauce. I enjoyed the plate of food, but I wasn’t blown away by it. Think I should have had my usual mushroom yaki soba.

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YO! Sushi Magic Bag

I knew I would be around at the collection time of 8pm so I ordered a Too Good To Go Magic Bag from Yo! Sushi at the Mall at Cribbs Causeway.

The app stated £15 of food for £5.

I got three items.

Pack of o-mega Salmon – 3 YO! roll, 4 salmon nigiri, 4 avocado maki
£8.95

Kaiso seaweed – marinated mixed seaweed, edamame & carrot in a su-miso dressing.
£4.25

Classic edamame
£3.25

Value of Bag
£16.45

So it certainly meets the terms of the deal. However on a previous visit I got almost three times as much sushi, and as they had over-estimated the number of bags, they actually made me some fresh sushi for the bag. So though this bag was a good deal, you can imagine I was a little disappointed as the bag did not meet my unrealistic expectations. Would I go again, probably. 

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Time for Sushi

There are a number of places for sushi in Weston-super-Mare and after doing some research decided we would visit Sakura Finest on the Boulevard. They had a good gluten free offer. They don’t really have an online presence, so I actually went there to check the gluten free options and to book a table. They limit the number of covers they do, so to ensure that everyone has a better experience; over filling the place with people.

On the day itself, we arrived a little early and were given a warm welcome, we took our seats and poured over the menu. There was a lot of choice. I found it difficult to make a decision but got there in the end.

I had some tempura soft shell crab maki.

This was a beautifully presented dish. The crab had a crispy tempura batter and tasted of crab. They were delicious.

I also had a portion of Tori Kuwayaki, crispy chicken in a teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds. 

We had this made gluten free. I did think the salad garnish was a little bit on the large side. The chicken was tender and tasty.

I had some maguro (tuna) nigiri.

The nigiri was presented lovely, and looked fantastic. The tuna was lovely and fresh.

Feeling a little peckish, we ordered some more sushi, and this time I had some hokigai (surf clam) nigiri.

It was very interesting, and I was intrigued about the dish. It again was beautifully presented. The clam was a little chewy, but it was tasty.

Overall we had a delicious meal. 

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Spicy Korean Chicken with Rice and Takoyaki

I was visiting the University of Birmingham and wanted a bite to eat. There was a branch of Kimiko. I had seen it on a previous visit to the university. I went in and ordered the spicy Korean chicken, with rice, and a portion of fried octopus takoyaki.

The spicy Korean chicken came with rice and was garnished with spring onions. 

chicken dish

The chicken sadly wasn’t freshly cooked and was a little dry, even with the sauce. The sauce was good though.

The takoyaki was presented with sauce and pickled ginger.

takoyaki

These were excellent and very tasty. I enjoyed these (more than the chicken).

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A disappointing chicken karaage

I was in London and looking for lunch, it was raining, so the Leather Lane street food market was struck off my list of possible places as I didn’t want to get too wet. In the end I went to K10 and looked over their menu of hot food.

I decided I would have the chicken karaage. Chicken karaage is inspired by Chinese fried chicken recipes, karaage is a delicious izakaya or bento box favourite, comprised of crunchy, deep fried pieces of marinated chicken.

My food arrived promptly and I took it back to the office.

chicken karaage

The box was a bed of rice with chunks of deep fried chicken, chunks of cooked onion and pepper with spring onion and sliced chilli. This is then covered in a sticky sauce.

Alas, though I was looking forward to the dish, I was somewhat disappointed. The chicken was over-cooked and had dried out as a result of probably hanging around for a while. 

The accompanying onions and pepper were better, though I think they should have been cut up into smaller pieces.

I also ordered a side dish of prawn katsu. What I got was panko prawns, on shredded cabbage and carrot, with a sweet chilli sauce.

Overall I was quite disappointed with the food and I think I would have preferred to have got wet and got much better food from Leather Lane.

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Time for Society

I was up in Manchester for some meetings. After a long morning meeting I headed out into Manchester city centre for something to eat. On previous visits to Manchester I had seen Society before, I had even gone in there to see what it was like, but I had never actually eaten there. So, on this walk around the centre, and having looked around a few places, I ended up at Society.

A fresh addition to the city’s vibrant cultural space, Society is a hub of street food, craft beer, wine and cocktails and boasts an impressive line-up of talented independent traders. Society features four independently-owned kitchens, from the towering burgers of Slap & Pickle, pan-Asian specialists Manzoku Street Food, flavoursome Indian street food from Chaat Cart and experts in Korean street food, Yoki Social Table. Society also houses a cocktail bar and specialist taproom by craft brewery Vocation.    

The process is quite simple, take a seat, note your table number, scan in the QR code, place your order on your phone and wait for your food. With some of the traders you can order at the counter if you want to.

I did first peruse the different (phyiscal) menus and noted that Manzoku had a January special of bao buns. Now I quite like a good bao bun, so this was quite tempting.

I sat down at a table with a glass of water from the bar and looked over the menu. I decided to have the crispy chicken bao buns with a portion of crispy squid.

The January Special Bao Chicken was two fluffy bao buns filled with ginger and garlic chicken thigh in a crispy coating, with Japanese pickled slaw.

They looked great. The chicken was a little dry and overcooked for me, but did have a nice flavour. The rest of the dish was great, fresh and flavoursome.

Alongside I had the Spicy Salt & Pepper Squid. This was deep fried marinated crispy salt & pepper squid with a kick, chilli mayo, and togarashi spice.

When eating this I was reminded of the chilli squid I have eaten at Wagamama. It was crispy on the outside, tender squid on the inside. Nice spicing and I enjoyed the chilli mayo.

Overall I did like both dishes and really enjoyed them. It was a little more than I would normally pay for lunch, but I do think it was value for money. I would certainly have a night out at Society, having a beer and a few dishes from the different street food traders.

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Eating at the Cranside Kitchen

Cranside Kitchen

I was staying in a hotel in Glasgow close to the SECC where I was attending a conference. I had planned to just eat in the hotel restaurant, but found that the restaurant wasn’t open. Well that wasn’t helpful. I had a look around the area on Google Maps and found that, apart from other hotel restaurants there wasn’t much choice close by. I could have walked up to Argyle Street, but it was dark and cold, and to be honest I didn’t fancy walking back.

I did though went for a walk and looked at the Cranside Kitchen, from the outside it looked like it was now an Italian place called Romano’s. I wasn’t sure if I wanted Italian, so walked around the area a bit more, but didn’t find anywhere else apart from some hotel restaurants.

In the end I went to Cranside Kitchen. I found out then it was a little more than an Italian place. You scanned the QR code on the table and placed your order online. As well as the Italian menu, there was also Chinese, Thai and Japanese. So I discovered I had a wider choice of what I could eat.

Cranside Kitchen menu

I actually prefer proper restaurant service, but I can see the advantages of this kind of system. You can order from different places so if you were in a group you could order what everyone wants. It makes splitting the bill simpler, as people can order and pay for their own food and drinks. It is also easy to add stuff to the order as well. I spent some time looking over the menu before choosing what I wanted to eat. It was quite a challenge as there were quite a few choices that I liked the sound of.

In the end I went with the Seafood Cha Han, this was Japanese style wok fried rice topped with mayo and mix sesame.

Seafood Cha Han

I really liked this dish, it was fresh, full of flavour,  and really delicious. 

I also ordered some Bao Bun Box. You had to order a minimum of two buns, I decided to order three. I went with the chicken karaage, aromatic duck and enoki mushroom.

When the bamboo box arrived I was a little surprised by the size of the buns, they were bigger than I expected (and have had at other places). I think I could have got away with just two buns.

Bao Bun Box

The aromatic duck was my least favourite of the three, it was cooked duck in hoisin sauce. The chicken karaage was deep fried battered marinated chicken in a spicy sauce. The enoki mushroom was surprising, it was also battered and deep fried. The mushroom bao bun was my favourite.

As I had paid when I ordered, I could leave the restaurant when I had finished and wanted to. 

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Confusing Fried Chicken

I wasn’t really intending to get lunch out, but I was walking through the St Nicholas market in Bristol and did feel a little peckish. It was quite late during the lunchtime period, so I could see some places were low on stuff. I did think about having something to eat at the Spanish place, La Lola, but in the end thought to myself I would have something I hadn’t eaten before. Across from La Lola is Woky Ko.

Located at the heart of Bristol’s historic St. Nicks Market is our lunch spot offering quick and tasty lunch boxes designed by you, made the Woky Way. Here you will find us serving out the BEST chicken Katsu curry or Korean fried cauliflower with noodles or rice. 

I have been tempted before, but this was my first visit. I do think it is an interesting perspective with Korean fried chicken served with a choice of either Japanese Katsu sauce or Thai red curry sauce.

This is three different kinds of Asian cuisine, which to be honest I am not sure actually works. I would like to have a Korean BBQ sauce with my chicken, but that wasn’t available. Is this fusion cooking, I didn’t think so. I did fancy the Thai red curry, but they had run out, so I went with the Katsu.

The fried chicken was served on rice covered in the sauce with some salad on the side.

The chicken was nice and crispy, the sauce was quite tasty. I did enjoy the dish, but I don’t think it would be something I would have again.