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.

Time for something that was not as good as it could be

In my first visit to Manchester since September 2019 I was needing a place to eat dinner. I did consider going to Reds the barbecue place, but in the end decided that the last time I had eaten at Reds, in Leeds, it wasn’t the best meal I had had. Back then the brisket was a little dry. The menu had changed, so I couldn’t order the mixed platter with the short rib as I had done in Leeds. I then decided I quite liked the idea of tacos, but Chilango who did some nice tacos back in October 2016, tacos were no longer on their menu. They did burrito and boxes, but I fancied tacos.

In the end I went to Wagamama. It was quite busy, but they found me a seat. I looked over the menu and thought about what I wanted.

I wanted to have the shu’s ‘shiok’ chicken, turmeric, garlic and ginger marinated chicken, roasted and served on a bed of coconut and lemongrass dressed rice. pickled slaw and radish. chilli. coriander. caramelised lime. However they had run out of the turmeric, garlic and ginger sauce. This also meant they couldn’t do some of the other dishes as well.

In the end I ordered the teriyaki chicken donburi, this was chicken in teriyaki sauce with sticky white rice, shredded carrots, pea shoots and onions. garnished with sesame seeds and served with a side of kimchee.

It did look really nice. The chicken alas was overcooked and a little dry. It could have done with a  little more sauce in my opinion. I enjoyed the rice.

Alongside I had the vegan mixed mushroom hirata buns. These are two small, fluffy asian buns stuffed with mixed mushrooms and panko aubergine, served with coriander and mayonnaise.

These were nice and full of flavour. I also had a green tea which alas wasn’t hot.

Overall it was okay, certainly not as good as I have had at other branches.

I then went back to the hotel where I had a (hot) green tea.