Don’t you forget about me?

Firstly apologises for the absence. Life kind of got away from me for a bit there. Who needs small talk though, let’s get straight back to it. I finally made my way to the much talked about 'Breakfast club' a few weeks back and I have to say it did not disappoint.

Note - be prepared to wait! Since opening its first location in Soho in 2005 Breakfast club has been fiercely popular with longs queues nearly all of the time. You'll be lucky if your wait is only thirty minutes but it’s more likely to be an hour to an hour and half.

We decided to chance it and go for a Sunday brunch (probably there busiest time) and as expected we waited roughly an hour before we were seated. You can't book which is kind of annoying but becoming the norm in London these days (frustration). I will say however the staff were good with the queuing patrons, giving out small cups of free hot chocolate (very tasty) and giving realistic time frames etc. Luckily I was with a friend who I hadn't seen in a while so happily chatted away while we waited in queue.

The breakfast club as the namesake suggests is an all-day diner that is dedicated to the most important meal of the day...Breakfast. It also does its best to give of the vibe of the 1985 film of the same name. With six locations across London, the original cafe lies on D'Arblay Street in Soho...you can't miss it with its brightly painted, sunflower yellow shop front. We however decided to hit the London Bridge location.

The Breakfast Club
11 Southwark Street,
London Bridge
SE1 1RQ

Despite the name they do also open for lunch and dinner where they do burgers, tacos, salads etc. typical diner food and off course have their late breakfast menu but I thought considering the name, we would go at breakfast...well more of a brunch (1130am), it was Sunday after all.

The breakfast menu is stacked with options for every type of taste bud. From club classics, to pancakes both savoury and sweet, to eggs any which way and of course porridge, fruit and granola.

We started off rather boring with a cup of tea, an Ever-so English breakfast tea from the Joe's tea range. It was really nice and I heard a lot of people talking about how good the coffee was (I myself, not a coffee drinker)

 

After looking at the menu for far too long, practically wanting everything we both settled on Chorizo hash browns, a Breakfast Club original which is chorizo, mushrooms, home-style fried potatoes and fried eggs.

It was ridiculously big and super tasty and very reasonably priced. Well worth the hour wait in the cold. The staff also made it worth the wait, polite with genuine smiles and conversation. We didn't feel at all rushed, which can happen with places with large queues. The staff seemed capable and unfazed by the popularity which was a nice change.

I have to go back and try the pancakes one day with my friend Paula and I will let you all know how that goes, you know how much I love my pancakes.

This is definitely one to put on your restaurant bucket list, just make sure you bring something or someone to keep you occupied in the queue *smiles*

Enjoy!

 

Simply Good

One of my favourite areas in London is Camden Town. With the hustle and bustle of Camden market, the leafy streets, live music, the Etcetera theatre and the many different walks of life you will bump into there. Another thing I love is the food, the street food of the market and the amazing restaurants in the area.

I blogged a while back about one of my favourite Japanese spots, Bento Ramen in Oishii (おいしい). Another place I like to frequent in Camden is just minutes away from Camden Town tube, Simply Fish.
Simply Fish
4 Inverness St
Camden Town
NW1 7HJ
020 7482 2977

This place is super simple and that’s probably the thing I like about it. It is a good place to go when you are wanting a healthier eating out option to.

They have there world classics, salads and there platters full of seafood treasures, but the thing I like the best is the "create your own fish meal" which is what I usually get.

How it works
You choose your fish, how you want it cooked, what sauce you want with it and then your sides.

The first time I came I had the sea bass because I had never tried this type of fish before and it was sooo good. Simple, fresh and tasty. Everything you want food really.

I recently went with my cousin and his partner. My cousin, not the most adventurous when it comes to fish, went for the
British Fish & Chips, Minted Peas & Tartar Sauce

I got to try a little and it was very tasty. My cousin gobbled it up which was a success for a usual non fish eater.

I originally also chose from the World classics menu and got the crab risotto.

As you can see from the picture it doesn’t look very crabby...so I was a bit disappointed when it came out. When I tasted it, it tasted good. Nice herbs and a tomato, vegetable stock base but no sign of any crab flavouring or crab pieces. I talked to the waiter about my disappointment and was offer to swap my choice.

I went back to the trusty create your own fish meal choosing Swordfish, grilled with hollandaise and sweet potato wedges.

It was so good. Again this was my first time having swordfish. A really meaty, tasty fish cooked to perfection. I usually don't like to cause a fuss but I was glad I had voiced my disappointment with the risotto and got to enjoy this.

My cousin’s partner got the salmon, baked, with hollandaise, with the mushrooms and lemon & Basil new potatoes. 

Again another great dish. I got to taste some and the salmon was so good. I also sneakily ate probably a quarter of the mushrooms which were really tasty, sautéed in butter and garlic.

I also really like their choice of juices with so many flavours, mango, apple, guava, lychee, cranberry, grapefruit and of course orange. My favourite is the lychee, closely followed by the mango.

As we know I am not a big alcohol drinker but they so also have beers (as you can see above) as weel as cocktails, mocktails and wines.

If you want something quick and simple which has good portion sizes which you can keep healthy than this the place for you…oh yeah and you have to like seafood, it is a fish restaurant after all.

This little piggy

Sometime I just like to bake to make someone smile.

There is a girl at my work called Laura who has to be one of the sweetest, nicest people there. She has always been really lovely to me, even though she doesn’t know me very well.

One Friday a group of work colleagues went over to visit little micro pigs that were visiting our offices and unfortunately she wasn’t able to make it because she was to busy with work. This sucked because she was really looking forward to it and is a big animal lover.

I decided I wanted to cheer her up and see if I could make her smile. If she couldn’t go and see the piggy’s, I would bring them to her in cupcake form.

Laura’s Micro Pig Cupcakes

Cupcakes

Ingredients  

• 175g softened butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C
2. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Pour in the vanilla essence and add the eggs and mix again to make a yellow batter.
4. Add the flour and mix until it is smooth. The longer mixing time enables air to get into the mixture which will make it lighter.
5. Pour the batter into the cupcake cases.
6. Bake for about 14 minutes. Keep an eye on them. They will be perfect when they bounce back to the touch and the top still looks slightly sticky. This will ensure they keep their moisture.
7. Leave on a cooling rack for 30 minutes or until cool.

 Frosting

Ingredients 

• 1/2 cup strawberry puree
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, nearly at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Add the strawberry puree to a small saucepan. Heat mixture over medium-low heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally until reduced by about 2/3. Should take about 10 - 14 minutes
2. Pour reduced puree into a small bowl and leave to cool.
3. In a bowl mix butter until pale and fluffy.
4. Mix in 1 cup powdered sugar, then blend in the reduced strawberry puree and vanilla extract
5. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and continue to mix until frosting is pale and fluffy, adding in an additional 1/4 cup powdered sugar if needed to reach desired consistency.

To decorate as little piggy’s like mine get red jelly beans for the ears, chocolate drops for the eyes and I got Percy pig noses to use as, you guessed it, the noses.

Layer on the icing when the cupcakes are completely cooled. You will need a decent amount of icing for your decoration to stay on and then just assemble to resemble little piggy's like below.

Unfortunately at the time I was making them I wasn’t aware she was vegan (rookie mistake) but I know she appreciated the thought and I know the rest of the team enjoyed them in her honour.

Give them a try. Cute, pretty easy to make, sweet and really tasty.

My Berlin Food Journey – Part 3 To kebab or not to kebab

Or is it to kebap or not to kebap…

From my last post (My Berlin Food Journey – Part 2 Hasir) you saw how big Turkish food is in Berlin. I know when I think of Turkish food I think of kebab.

When I lived in Australia one of my favourite foods was yiros, basically what we call kebabs in Australia. Don’t ask me why. Like any food you have your hit and misses but generally most yiros shops were pretty good. There were two places in Adelaide that were my favourite, Andy’s yiros and Yiros house. Funnily enough I use to go the most with my mum. We went probably once every few months when I lived there and now every time I visit home we head to Yiros house at least once. It’s become a tradition I really look forward to.

When I moved to the UK I was told the yiros was just called a kebab and there was a shop on every corner. I was super excited until I tried them. They were nothing like in Australia, in fact they were pretty gross and I can see why they are only really eating when people are hammered after a big night out! I am sure there are some good places in London, but I am yet to find one.

I now tend to steer away from the kebab at all costs, so when I was planning my trip to Berlin and a friend said you must have a kebab I didn’t take him seriously and just ignored it. It wasn’t till we were in Berlin and our hosts said it was a must that I decided to give it a go.

The guys suggest there local
La Fiamma
Kottbusser Damm 31
10967 Berlin
Germany
Kreuzberg

I had the traditional doner kebab lamb meat in bread with salad and garlic sauce.

t was ridiculously good. Different to the yiros from Australia but a good different. The bread was so soft, meat was tender and full of flavour and the salad was nice and fresh. Although I had already eaten a lot that day I was still able to nearly finish the whole thing and it was huge.

One of the friends I was with was not a fan of red meat and the other was a vegetarian so for them we went down the road a bit to
Urfa Kebap
Kottbusser Damm 33
10967 Berlin
Germany
Kreuzberg

They got a chicken doner and a vegetable and halloumi doner. They both looked amazing and the girls gave great reviews.

Next on our kebab journey of Berlin is the famous Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap.
Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap
Mehringdamm 32
10961 Berlin
Germany

Do you ever have a flashback to something and then when you look into it, that flashback was totally made up! That happen to me in Berlin. When we were walking along Mehringdamm and I saw a big queue for a kebab cart called Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap I had a flashback to a show I had watched a few years back called Anthony Bourdain No Reservations – Berlin. It was due to this flash back I decided we had to go there and eat! Turns out my flashback was a lie, as it wasn’t in that episode and from a bit of internet searching it doesn’t look like Anthony Bourdain has even been to Mustafa’s Gemuse Kebap. I’m sure I must have seen it on some show I just have no idea which show!

I’m not upset that my mind was playing tricks on me though because we went and it was awesome.

Other than my fictional memory of one my favourite chefs/authors/television personality giving this place a great review, you could tell it was going to be pretty damn good from the giant queue of people. We first passed by on a Saturday and it was crazy. People must have been lining up for over an hour for food. We decided to go back on our last day, a Monday, for lunch. The queue was still huge!

We waited probably about 45mins. The guys that work here are insane, working in this tiny little box from 10am to 2am.

The wait was worth it though, tender meat, tasty fried vegetables and delicious sauces. It was super tasty and whatever the secret marinade is, it’s fantastic!

I can’t really compare it to the one I had at La Fiamma because I had the chicken doner here and the lamb at La Fiamma. They were both great.

The funniest part of my fictional flashback of the Berlin episode of Anthony Bourdain No Reservations was not that Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap wasn’t on it, it was that Hasir’s was! (My Berlin Food Journey – Part 2 Hasir)

Check it out below, parental discretion advised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLhV6sXExSs

I had completely forgotten Hasir was on this episode. I was lucky my hosts were in the know, so I got to go. When we went to Hasir’s I knew we were going out for a big German meal that night so I decided not to have a doner kebab…which after watching the show again I am kind of regretting. At least I can use needing to go back to Hasir’s for an excuse to go back to Berlin! Will have to swing past La Fiamma and Mustafa’s again to *cheeky smiles*
 

Keep calm and Bake on

Time to bake me some brownies...why...because they taste so goooood!

Chocolate Brownie cupcakes

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Lucky double yoke egg

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C and use a muffin pan lined with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together granulated and brown sugars and butter until smooth. Whisk in vanilla and almond extract. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture, beating until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 28 minutes or until a tester inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached and a little melted chocolate. The tops of cupcakes will not spring back when touched.
5. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

They are ridiculously tasty, so try them out and tell me what you think.