An old time favourite

Everyone loves apple pie but apple pie isn’t the easiest thing to make and it involves a lot of work and effort if you are going to make it from scratch.

 

The next best thing, that's quick and easy is a tray bake. One of my favourite tray bake recipes is an apple and cinnamon recipe given to me by a friend a long time ago. Its like a bite size piece of apple pie.

 

Apple cinnamon tray bake

 

Ingredients 

• 3 bramley cooking apple
• 220 grams butter, softened
• 280 grams golden caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 340 grams self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Grease & line a square baking tray
3. Peel, core & thinly slice/peel apple and set them to one side.
4. Place butter, caster sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, cinnamon & baking powder into a large roomy mixing bowl & mix well until smooth.
5. Spread half of the cake/pudding mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange the apples over the top of the mixture.
6. Cover the layer of apple with the remaining half of the cake mixture 
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown, well risen & springy to the touch.
8. Leave to cool slightly for 10 minutes & then cut into bars and place on a wire rack to cool completely
9. Once cooled store in an airtight tin or container.

 

 

Simple, easy and full of flavour. What could be better.

These bring back a lot of good memories and are a favourite of my team at work. If you warm them up a little bit in microwave it really is like a bite of apple pie! 

 

Give them a try and let me know what you think.

A taste of Japan

One of the best experience of my life was the time I spent in Japan. From the people, culture, scenery, history and of course the food. It isn’t that easy to find good authentic Japanese food outside of Japan but thanks to a friend’s recommendation a Japanese gem in London has been located.

 

Oushi Eatery
All you can eat Japanese buffet restaurant
40 Frith Street
Soho
London W1D 5LN
Tel: 020 7734 9635

 

 

This place is great! It is all you can eat sushi, which I didn’t even know existed!

 

How it works.
You get a 2 little pieces of paper and tick what hot food and what sushi you would like and then you can just keep reordering the sushi if you want to. It is great!

 

The amount of hot food dishes you get depends on the amount of people you come with. We had 5 so the price included 8 options of hot food and then what seemed like endless rounds of sushi. The quality of all the food was exceptional but the sushi really stood out.
 

We got

King prawn tempura

 

 

Sweet potato and mixed vegetable tempura

 

 

Japanese spring roll and tofu steaks

 

 

Beef teriyaki

 

 

Chicken Gyoza and Vegetable Gyoza

 

 

Salmon Nigiri, Soft shell crab roll, California roll, Salmon avocado roll, Avocado roll, Inari cucmber roll

 

 

Butterfish Sashimi, Salmon sashimi, Salmon Nigiri, Salmon avocado roll, California roll, Inari cucmber roll, Avocado roll

 

 

By the end of it we were so full and if we wanted we could have had four more rounds of sushi! The food just keeps appearing. I can guarantee this is one time you won't leaving hungry.

The only point I will give though is don't order more than you can eat. If you leave a certain amount they charge £5 extra per head to avoid waste.

 

I suggest getting a bigger group together so you get to sit downstairs. We had five people and it felt like a good number to try a lot of different stuff. The down stairs has a great, very authentic atmosphere with recessed seating. It felt like being back in Japan.
 

It is a little pricey. Weekday prices £17.80 and weekend £18.80 pp but sooo worth it.

 

This place is a real gem if you love Japanese food so go check it out and see what I mean.

My Berlin Food Journey – Part 6 German food in Germany!

This is my last instalment of My Berlin Food Journey and I saved the best for last. German food in Germany!

German food doesn’t generally have the best name for itself because it’s a bit stodgy. It’s pretty heavy, rich food using a lot of butter, cheese and sour cream to flavour dishes more than herbs and spices like other cuisines. Preserved foods i.e. pickled cabbage, sausage, etc. are very popular.

With German food being so heavy we didn’t eat a lot of it while we were out there but for a special treat one night we went to Augustiner am endarmenmarkt a well-known Bavarian-style beer hall serving South German cuisine.

Augustiner am endarmenmarkt
Charlottenstraße 55
10117 Berlin
Germany 

The restaurant is affiliated with Augustiner-Brau, a brewery in Munich that was established all the way back in 1328. It is the oldest independent brewery in Munich. I had a really nice Augustiner Pils which I talked about in my post My Berlin Food Journey – Part 1 Snacks and Drinks.

Food wise we ordered some really great stuff. In true German style it was very rich and heavy but tasty, tasty, tasty.

We got the typical German favourites
Beef goulash with Augustiner dark beer, Swabian egg noodles and sour cream

The Original: crisp knuckle of pork in one piece (1000g) with Bavarian cabbage


Cheese noodles Allgau style with leaf spinach

And for dessert the warm apple strudel with vanilla sauce

I thought the food was really good but in saying that I ate this much of it

And a few bites of the strudel and was soooo full. We shared the dishes between four of us and there was still some left! Definitely a lot richer and heavier food type than I would normal have but I really enjoyed trying it out. 

I would recommend it for sure. Not for every night but a nice treat one night to get a good authentic taste of German food. It is a must!

Well that's it for my series on Berlin, hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed eating and drinking it all!
 

My Berlin Food Journey – Part 5 Sweet treat time

Ever since I was a little kid I have had a pretty bad sweet tooth. I love sweets, cakes, cookies, ice cream! If it has sugar I generally love it. As I have gotten older I have learned to control my sweet cravings but I still indulge every now and then and when better to indulge then when you are on holiday.

Before heading to Berlin I’ll admit I didn’t do a whole lot of research so I was really lucky our hosts were so great and knew all the best spots to hit. One of the best, for sure, was Fraulein Frost in Maybachufer.

Fraulein Frost
Friedelstr. 39
12047 Berlin
Germany
Neukölln
 

Has to be the best ice cream I think I have ever tasted!

It has the most bizarre selection of flavours. The weirdest being GuZiMi which is cucumber, cinnamon and mint, which is a big favourite with locals. Being allergic to mint I passed on this one and went for tiramisu and it was ridiculously good!

The best bit about it is all the ingredients are organic so that means it’s good for you, right? So you can eat as much as you want, right?

It wasn’t till I came back to London that I found out it is one of the most famous and popular shops in the Kreuzkölln area where the Kreuzberg and Neukölln district meet. Despite all the unique flavours and its popularity it’s still only roughly 1 Euro per scoop. You cant beat that and I can’t wait to head back to Berlin and try some more of the flavours.

The next sweet treat spot we hit was the amazing Fassbender & Rausch.

Fassbender & Rausch Chocolatiers
Charlottenstraße 60
10117 Berlin
Germany

The story behind this store is pretty cool. There was two main chocolate making families in Berlin. Fassbender whose chocolates were regarded as so fine they were supplied to the royal court and Rausch who was so successful with their first store, they opened seven more.

In 1999, the two chocolate making families came together to become Fassbender & Rausch Chocolatiers at the Gendarmenmark. Happy chocolate families! The business remains family owned to this day. Jürgen Rausch is currently in charge at the flagship store which is the one we visited.

 

One thing I really liked about them is they make a point to let their customers know they only engage with supplier who work in ecologically sound cocoa production and maintain the standard of quality outlined in the Rausch cacao manual. Always good to know you are supporting a company that is working ethically.

Though the raw materials are sourced from around the world, the chocolates are manufactured locally at a factory in Tempelh which is pretty cool.

It’s like walking into the chocolate store from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, with chocolate versions of anything and everything you can think of.

Be warned though, don’t try to take a bite because although they are made of chocolate they are lacquered in vanish!

I myself indulged in the Rausch Plantagen Chocolate range. It had eight different chocolate bars. The cacao for each type comes exclusively from individual plantations from Trinidad, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea. They were soooo good. Even better than my favourite chocolate of all time Lindt!

 

If a chocolate bar isn't your thing try the small chocolates pieces or the cakes. They have glass display cases containing sixteen different kinds cakes and loads of different flavours of chocolate pieces that you can get packed up to take home.

 

There are also lots of great gift ideas

 

Lastly there is a café on the second floor with an amazing view of the famous domes of the Gendarmenmarkt. We unfortunately, on this visit didn’t get to indulge in anything at the café but it is on the list for the next trip! Yet another reason to head back to Berlin.


 

My Berlin Food Journey – Part 4 Change of cuisine

One of my favourite things about Berlin was all the different cultures that seem to be represented. From the diverse art scene, cultural institutes and of course the food. In past posts I’ve discussed the Turkish influence, My Berlin Food Journey – Part 2 Hasir and My Berlin Food Journey – Part 3 To kebab or not to kebab.

Today I am going to talk about a few other cuisines I tired while out in Berlin.

I can’t believe I hadn’t tried it before, but I am glad I got to try my first taste of Sudanese food on my first night there.

We went to a great little place called Sahara
Sahara
Reuterstr. 56
12047 Berlin
Germany
Neukölln

I got a falafel & Halumi sandwich and it was ridiculously good and it only cost 3 Euros!

The peanut sauce is what made it. I don’t even know how to explain how tasty the sauce is. It isn’t fancy but you’re really just in and out and the most important thing, the food tastes good and the staff are friendly.

I am generally not a fan of falafel but this was well-seasoned and fresh. If this place was in the UK I would be there every week! It’s a must the next time you are in Berlin.

From my blog you’ve probably notice my love of Dim sum/Yumcha so I was pretty chuffed when my friend suggested going to Yumcha one night.

We headed over to Yumcha Heroes
Yumcha Heroes
Weinbergsweg 8
10119 Berlin
Germany
Mitte

I wasn’t blown away but by no means was it bad. I think with Yumcha it can be a bit hit and miss if you chose the wrong dishes and that’s probably what I did.

I got the roast beef rolls which are filled Chinese pancakes, served cold with tender roast beef, Peking Duck sauce, cucumber, carrots and leek.

I wasn’t a huge fan of them. I can’t really put my finger on why though so I am guessing it was my more personal taste preference than that they were bad.

I shared the honey spare ribs which was honey-glazed spare ribs, pak choi with ginger-soy-sauce.

These were probably the best savory part of the meal. The meat was tender and the sauce was really good.

I also shared the orange prawn’s dumplings (Prawns, water chestnuts, Schezuan pepper, egg, and bamboo)

I felt the dumplings were maybe a little under cooked as the casing was chewy and I didn’t like that aspect but the filling was really good.

My other friend got the Shanghai dumplings, one of the restaurant favorites and known as the mother of all dumplings with steamed Minced pork, Schezuan pepper, ginger, hot broth inside.

She really like these and they looked more cooked than the orange prawn.

My vegetarian friend got the vegetarian fried rice-paper roll filled with glass noodles, ginger, zucchini, carrots, Shiitake mushroom and bamboo.

She liked them but I thought it looked a little greasy. They may have been better seamed than fried.

She also got the green veggie dumplings filled with glass noodles, zucchini, Shiitake mushroom, bamboo and carrots

Again these looked better cooked than the orange prawn ones and she enjoyed them.

The best part of the meal was definitely the dessert. Usually Dim Sum/Yumcha places don’t do dessert, if they do its either jelly or fruit but this place had a few different dessert options that sounded really good.

We shared the Tang Bao which is 2 yeast dumplings filled with hot chocolate-nougat crème with vanilla sauce.

It was really yummy and was the highlight of the meal so make sure you leave some room for it if you go check out Yumcha Heroes.

I would go back again and try a few of the other dishes and of course get that dessert again. I also saw a lot of other places while we were walking around that I would have loved to try if we had, had more time. Most of the places not only looked great but seemed reasonably priced, which can sometimes be hard to find in London.

I know London has a lot of great restaurant from all different cultural cuisines but its funny how I always seem to try more when I’m on holiday. Just gives me an excuse to travel more I guess *smiles*

(Picture taken form http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/04/reader-recs-signature-dishes-around-the-world/)