EuroRevs

Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ Review

February 25, 2026

Date of visit Feb 18th 2026

CHINESE BBQ IN LONDON is growing in popularity. London loves meat on skewers with beer. North East Chinese BBQ skewers (shaokao) hits this food craving.

China Town London is where to go for roast meats, Chinese regional GuangDong BBQ. Cantonese BBQ aficionados craving siu mei (燒味) specialities; roast duck, goose, char siu – pork belly, siu yuk – crispy pork belly. East London takes grilling skewers over charcoal seriously, as can be seen here.

North East Chinese BBQ Prawns

Charcoal BBQ prawns

Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ

North East Chinese BBQ (Dongbei Shaokao) is grilled over charcoal. Cold beers at Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ pair well with this Dongbei style skewered street food, in King’s Cross. Shielded from London rain, charcoal cookery, no reservations: bliss.

Chinese Charcoal BBQ Prawns

First to arrive are the prawns and boy do they work up a thirst. As drinks arrived well before any chargrilled morsels of food, it’s not ideal. Humouring me was their tidy drinks menu. Basically bottled beer starting at £4.50 a pop, excluding service charge. That, or lethal spirits like clear Chinese wine. Ask for glass and a banana yellow child-sized plastic mug appears.

These charcoal grilled skewered prawns were dusted in salt, msg or bouillon. It hot the palate on my first shell-on bite. The body was tiny and hard to detach from its exoskeleton.The repeated hits of white pepper came next, stabbing the back of the throat, as I looked to crunch a tamale stuffed prawn head to balance the flavours out. Unfortunately, there was none or it evaporated in the charcoal smoke, which came through and was lovely. Next bites were smothered in salt, pepper, chilli and garlic, amplified by tried to take on that tough shell, it wasn’t as thin or as crispy as I hoped.

Pork Instestine Skewers stuffed with Garlic Clove

BBQ Pork Intestine Skewers

Chinese Charcoal BBQ Oyster Mushroom Skewers

Charcoal skewer grilled Pork Intestine – Dongbei Style

Grilled pork intestine stuffed with a partially cooked through garlic clove: yes, please. We’re talking teeth sinking into textural wonderlands. It’s saliva inducing. The slightly salty fat spills uncontrollably as you burst through the every layered bracket before hitting the middle sweet, plump garlic clove.

Oyster Mushrooms at Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ

The smoky skewers of oyster mushrooms are seasoned to the max. Salt, garlic powder, cumin, chilli powder. They look and taste like meat.

Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ

North EastChinese BBQ Lamb

Lamb Skewers London

The dry rub flavours are different to the Cantonese Chinese BBQ pork belly or char siu (叉烧) in Cantonese (cha shao in Mandarin). Accessible in China Town with ease; this Cantonese Chinese BBQ is famous for its sweet BBQ glaze. Hoisin sauce and Chinese five spice powder. It doubles down hard on that sweet-savaoury flavour profile remiss of Cantonese cooking I’m more accustomed to. The roasting, nutty sesame from the oil and other spices, add gloss and saturate the finished product of tasty Cantonese BBQ roast meat flavour. Charcoal-grilled Dongbei or North Eastern Chinese BBQ skewers scream smoke and salt by comparison.

Lamb Skewers at Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ

Just when you see yourself at the finish line, flat as a starfish on the sofa, the richness dissolves. Then it’s round two. Sweeping skewers of charcoal lamb and beef appear. Fragrant, nutty, meaty bites. Delivered directly to mouth by barely a toothy tug. Char, chew and as you see more clearly in the ten small lamb skewers (above) those juicy squirts from rendered fat that snap you back to task.

Beef Skewers

North Eastern Chinese BBQ Beef

Skewering by alternating meat and fat seems held off a tad on this beef version. Traditionally, the BBQ method closest to Dongbei style; Xinjiang-style shaokao method embraces it. It could be more rendered due to palate preference, beef quality (which is more likely given the beef skewer price). As discussed below, vehicles can cut through it, making the overall dining experience more moreish.

North East Chinese BBQ skewers in London

Chinese Chicken Wing Skewers

Each charcoal barbecued chicken wing is a majestic, juicy, dark poultry present, wrapped in umami crunch and BBQ smoke. The bones feel non-existent – they’re that good.

Chinese BBQ Chicken Wings

BBQ Chinese Chives

Dongbei Style Grilled Rice Cakes

The charcoal Chinese chives are leek-like, with a toned down fresh young garlic savouriness. The spice blend measure out to balanced sweet and salty side dish. A bit more chewy than I would like – but a much needed break in colour scheme of stacked skewers.

Chinese BBQ side dishes

Roast, toasty skewered rice cakes bring diversity to the mouthfeel and flavour. This version tramples upon any monotonous, gummy, single flavour profile I’ve experienced with tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes). The cheesy sweetcorn was a much needed respite from the spice for my dining companion, who devoured them with enthusiasm. Apparently, if you catch a member of staff to make a note before you place your order, you can ask for milder spicing.

Charcoal Grilled Rice Cakes

Cheesy Sweetcorn

Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ

A pairing of a pickle or two would not have gone amiss. Something zesty, cooling, to cut through the elements. Rich BBQ pork intestine, the rendered fat on the lamb skewers, for instance. Or the monotony of bite after same bite of meat. This is just nitpicking at this point but I prefer it, particularly alongside cold beer. A fresh chilli to crunch into might be too much here, unless you eat raw garlic with as much gusto as proper piquant pepper.

With a dry rub skewered affair, I’m partial to a side of salt and pepper in a dipping bowl. A bit or crushed cumin, some chilli flakes to dip into wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Charcoal Champ Chinese BBQ Review

A NOTE REGARDING VALUE FOR MONEY: These prices are extremely reasonable for London with some caveats. Those being; there are limited drinks options, with them being served typically immediately on ordering, well before any food arrives – not just on on our table. We requested tap water but it did not arrive so I cannot comment. This is a thirst quenching meal with no options but to buy bottle after beer bottle. A service charge is applied in spite of orders being made by mobile device. It’s applied each you place an order, which can add up. Be prepared or enquire with the staff further about it if you’re not sure how much to order.

Ratings!

Food – 7.2/10

Value for money 7.8/10

Vibes and service – 8/10
Joy King Lau – China town London

February 19, 2026

MY LOVE OF DIM SUM transports me to where it started. Not just my love of dim sum. Chinese food, Chinese Cantonese food in London. Cantonese classics like yum cha. Giles Coren once said “I love Chinese food above all things”. You know, as he does. Before going on to say: “Indeed, if I lived in China, I would never leave. Even if I was allowed to.”

Date of visit 15 January 2026.

China Town London

Joy King Lau

Off to Gerrard street I go, or rather just off it. Joy King Lau on Leicester Street, in the District of Soho of London is buzzing before The Lunar Year. The lady queuing in front of me repeats this information into her phone. Three unimpressed teenagers beside her look down at their rain-soaked trainers. It’s about 12 steps in front of a bustling See Woo where I overhear West London mummies chide their children. It’s in that non-whispering Waitrose tone that they emphasise those packet noodles are full of sodium which is bad. MSG is hidden in the noodles. Stay well clear. Although, obviously, they don’t use those three cautionary “words of wisdom”.

Har Gao Prawn dumpling at Joy King Lau London

What does MSG taste like?

Mono Sodium Glutamate Umami flavour hits a dish with deep savoury notes. Like parmesan cheese, sprinkled atop a pasta, a caesar salad. It enhances the other flavours, encourages them to rely on salt less. Think of a nutty roquefort, walnuts; all foods naturally high in glutamate. Naturally occurring glutamate in tomatoes too are a taste of what the flavour enhancer, MSG adds to season many foods we consume today.

Any way, Chinese New Year is upon us: See Woo tills are rolling up those paper receipts as fast as Germans scan foodstuffs at Lidl daily

Dim Sum Review of Har Gow at Joy King Lau – Chinatown London

I hope you have some snacks to hand. Perhaps a cheeky instant noodle so we can see, together. what I mentioning about the dumpling folds. This Har Gow doesn’t entice at first glance: fewer dumpling folds, less visual access to the prawn filling. Aromas are there, as well as the steam we want to see.

Har Gow Prawn dumpling at dim sum

Har Gow dim sum order China Town

The King prawn dumplings throw me off. There’s an adhesive slick of prawn mayo flavouring. It’s as though the filling were a pink striped fish ball disguised in the shape of a prawn – a bit odd . The bite of whole or chopped prawn is there: they’re not even chopped up, in fact, which is the style sometimes. Perhaps the thicker wrapper with fewer pleats lends itself to the gummy texture overriding the dumpling chew. It offers an eating experience with underlying pure prawn query.

First to arrive was another dish, however. There’s a gap of around 20mins or so between when I receive it and all the other four orders I place.

Dim Sum Menu at Joy King Lau

Dim Sum Menu at Joy King Lau

Joy King Lau China Town London Menu

Amusement comes over me as I pick up the pen, apply it to the paper dim sum ordering menu; participation is the sense it gives me. Are us diners taking part in an exam, unbeknownst to us? Will our servers determine the doctorate holders in this here, establishment? Who demonstrates sagacity in the discernibly noble, yet humble, practice of picking dim sum to yum cha?

Phoenix Claws in black bean sauce

I stare at their faces when they pick up the paper to see if there’s any tell-tell sign – if they try not to laugh, for example – that I ordered the wrong thing. Or a nod that says I passed or I am worthy to receive my dumplings and other hot (in steam baskets) or cold morsels.

Phoenix Claws in China Town London – Dim Sum review

Phoenix claws or chicken feet in black bean sauce arrive with all of my multiple-choices. All at once. Each claw in split into half for ease of eating, as is expected. They’re have a similar flavour – as well as that bite to the bone mechanism of consumption – to the chicken wing. Texturally, they are more comparable to a braised pig trotter. The chicken feet envelope the sweet, savoury umami notes that the (most likely jarred) black bean sauce brings to the dish. These were good, very good indeed. A generous portion too, at £5.50.

Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce

Smacked Cucumber with Chilli

How to Eat Chicken feet

As you would with a wing, get messy. With your clean hands suck, savour, spit the little bones out. They’re a textural sensation full of fatty unctuousness, that pairs well with a beer. A smacked cucumber salad with chilli also does the job. It’s not considered rude to handle, or rather tackle the chicken feet this way. Apart from it being practical to pick them up, there’s the sensory satisfaction.

Pop a peppery slice of fresh green chilli into your mouth. Get some of the black vinegar into the mix too. Follow it up with crunchy, cooling cucumber. It’s a winning combination that sees you delve right through your bamboo basket of chicken feet.

Cheung Fun in China Town London Review

Cheung fun or rice rolls, as they known across the pond, are a typical Hong Kong street food that is also commonly eaten in China – specifically in the Guangdong providence of China. The thin batter of rice and starch flour is steamed to remain silky, thin, malleable. Eaten alone with a peanut (and hoisin), peanut and sesame or spicy sauce.

As a dim sum dish it can be filled with shrimp, Monk’s vegetables, beef, pork or a savoury Chinese donut, called a youtiao. You tiao is a deep fried stick of dough that can be purchased from most bakeries in Chinatown, London. You dip it in congee, may find it as an accompaniment to Vietnamese Pho, savour it with your fresh soy milk breakfast. These are only a few – of many – ways to try a Chinese doughnut.

Deep Fried Dough Stick Cheung Fun

Cheung Fun at Joy King Lao

Crunchy in the middle, steaming hot, thin elastic batter with a gorgeous light aroma of spring onion. This is the best dough stick cheung fun I have ever had. The subtle symphony of sweet and salty reminded me why silence speaks louder than words.

Steamed Buns with Melting Custard

The steamed buns here were as stale and stodgy as they were pale. There was no custard – in fact it was more of a half crystallised salted egg yolk situation – which I love. However, I don’t enjoy eating it out of a cakey excuse for what is misnomered as a steamed bun.

Steamed Buns with Melting Custard

Dim Sum at Joy King Lau

Why don’t more people order this at dim sum?

Monk’s vegetables dumpling at £5.20 (excluding service charge) cheapens this Cantonese dim sum stunner of an order. Jam packed with fungus, lotus and other root vegetables. Delectable with my ratio of dumpling dipping sauce – available on the bar counter at Joy King Lau, or on request at restaurants with a dim sum menu. This was ordered in December 2025, just before Christmas but I’m including it in my review as it is deserving of inclusion.

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Joy King Lau China Town London Review

Here’s my overall review, based on my two visits. I’d return for my favourites. I’d also like to try the soft shell crab. For dim sum in this tourist-friendly zone of London, where a theatre awaits at every corner – this is decent. Read decent as tasty.

Food – 6.8/10

Value for money 8.5/10

Vibes 7.5/10

Service – 6/10
Hoo Hing – Hangar Lane

February 15, 2026

My Chinese culinary journey to dim sum stemmed from childhood in Chinatown. Dim sum in London was “served until 3pm” on Gerrard street. This meant, inconveniently jumping off the tube at Leicester Square for a pork or prawn filled dumpling. Dim sum 點心 all day in London and Greater Britain is prolific now. Har Gow 蝦餃 as part of yum cha on the Hoo Hing cafe menu gives in-store buyers direct access to this trend. Business-wise for the retailers it provides inspiration for product purchase. A once West End Londoner’s treat on a street built between 1677 and 1685 is now a sought after culinary Cantonese tradition.

Date of visit February 11 2026

Har Gow at Hoo Hing

Hoo Hing in Park Royal being an Asian supermarket sets the scene for Seng Canteen. With at least four commercial branches supplying restaurants with online across the UK, curiosity deepens. You can park for free at Park Royal to purchase Chinese Vinegars, fresh noodles, fresh seafood and condiments. The Hoo Hing cafe (now called Seng Canteen) is located upstairs with a new menu in 2026 as owners have changed hands. It was a solely Cantonese menu up until Covid. Now it offers a menu boasting with Cantonese Dim Sum specialties as well as Malaysian cuisine.

Hoo Hing Menu London

Hoo Hing Park Royal Menu

Hoo Hing Park Royal Dim Sum Review

Seng Canteen in Hoo Hing Park Royal offers a menu that includes my favourites of Cantonese style dim sum. I try for the first time steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce.

Steamed chicken feet at dim sum

I love a gelatinous bite of food smothered in umami. Savoury slippery mouth-feel bites of food where I barely have to chew, are full of fat – which means flavour. Texture comes second to custom palate preference with menu offerings chosen at Chinese Dim Sim restaurants outside of China or Hong Kong, in my experience.

A plate of cold jelly fish in Chinese vinegar with the accompanying mustard and cucumber makes my mouth water. Slippery foods like steamed scallops with glass noodles are simple with layers of flavour. Cheung fun that counteract chopsticks create comestible cognitive memorable inconsistencies. Controlled delivery system to mouth by chopstick is the messy ex-girlfriend you didn’t come to dim with. The messy dispatch of of your Cheung Fun, HoFun noodles, Won Ton, beef tendon, tripe or intestine soup is simply more memorable: it is fun to eat, delicious,

Chicken feet bones
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CÔTE BRASSERIE – London

January 25, 2026
Date of visit: 1st January 2026

THE CÔTE BRASSERIE WAS SOLD to the Karali Group in late 2025 so it was to be expected that this 2007 born French-style, British restaurant chain founded in Wimbledon by Richard Caring et al would see changes. Changes in menu, at the very least, as the Karali Group also operate franchises for Burger King, Taco Bell and Murugame Udon.
Côte Brasserie Ealing
A la carte food menu in Ealing for the Côte Brasserie
Interiors of the Côte Brasserie in Ealing
Restaurant menu
Restaurant interiors
Côte Brasserie bar
Côte Brasserie Ealing
Côte Brasserie Review

I’ve nothing against a good, solid chain restaurant. Consistency is to be graciously acknowledged as there is nothing simple about it.

I hadn’t sat in to dine at a Côte in a long time. There were no dishes of note that blew me away and there were always better options right next door (here in Ealing, being no exception). They had a busy summer on Sloane Square which hid the view of the roundabout it was on. I had a short but pleasant catch up over cheese and wine there, ordered by a QR code, about two years ago or so. Nothing memorable. In fact I always preferred Café Rouge, particularly the branch on High Street Kensington.

The menu didn’t excite me: having perused it previously, I was not unpleasantly surprised. I was ready for a good meal nonetheless. Missing were the typical French bistro starter classics of escargot or snails, oysters, frog legs, foie gras, eggs.. Where were the eggs, the leeks? Oeufs mayonnaise, coccotte meurette, poireaux vinaigtrette etc? That those weren’t their forte or didn’t suit the target audience palette, (bearing in mind the new take-over) didn’t dampen my mood or impressions of what was to come. If they survived as a chain with such strength in numbers, somethings had to be bringing the masses back in, surely?
French Onion Soup
Côte Brasserie French Onion Soup
Warm Beetroot Salad
The Food at Côte Brasserie In Ealing

Having taken our seats in the cozy interiors, of which I particularly liked the tiled floors – although my fellow diner noted they were scuffed – our first plates arrived about 30 mins after ordering. I was excited to see Ricard and Pernod on the menu as it is to may taste, which is not compatible, apparently with the taste of almost all of London. Our first (yes, first) server had a jolly demeanour about her and informed me she would check the cellar to find out about the Pastis situation.

French onion soup. Rich, sweet onions with little to no bite, sit calmly until a whirlpool broth-bath seamlessly appear when you gently turn your spoon to marry the melty cheese and gentle broth of wisps of wine and beef. A bit of bite from the bread – a slice of sourdough torn into three, in this case – and then it’s all in the power of the spoon, to dunk, to leave bobbing on top. A bit of this. A bit of that. Textures upon textures.

It’s almost outrageous to think a bunch of onions, wine, good stock and gruyère (or in this case Comté cheese) with a bit of bread chucked in can give you a life-changing moment. It is both a fortunate and unfortunate fact that it can.

The French onion soup at Côte Brasserie was not that. The bowl was warm and its contents stayed so throughout. Possibly as it came in a mug-sized portion. The emulsion between broth and cheese that lends French onion soup that divine silky mouth feel; that binds the sweet, savoury, rich flavours in the mouth, was there: in the last spoonful or two at the end of the bowl. However, it heavily leant towards, burnt Bisto gravy with charred onion to add to the bitterness. The Comté didn’t stand a chance, especially as most of it was glued to the one piece of floating sourdough torn into three. At £9, I’ve had better, bigger and cheaper not only in Ealing but also Central London.

Some people like that. Beefy, gravy-like broth. Onions with a bite. Sourdough. Cheese. I guess I just like thin onion soup with the cheeses they use for fondue, dash of alcohol with preferably not sourdough. Oh, and thoroughly cooked though onions that don’t require chewing. I want my onions sweet and melted in texture.

The warm beetroot salad was the surprise of the meal. Moreish, plated to invite mopping up all the sauce atop the beets. Finely sliced green apple and toasted almond flakes, of which I’m not normally fond of on my much preferred single-ingredient salad. However, here it left the palate yearning – as a well thought out starter should. For the same price, it didn’t leave a bitter taste or desire to start again, as the soup did. Neither were inexpensive for a chain restaurant starter.
Roast Chicken and Fries
Côte Brasserie Roast Chicken main
Scallops with black Pudding
Sautéed scallops
Sautéed scallops, black pudding, apple, cabernet sauvignon dressing
Chicken – I can do better. I don’t mean this to be rude but rotisserie chicken in France is a street food done to perfection. Smoked chicken is sold in supermarkets in France. That is a lot of respect for the chicken and it was not had here.

The fries were a let down. Which is a shame because I love a deep fried thinly cut potato. So much so that I would have taken advantage of the promise of free-flowing fries were it not for the fact that they were not crispy and fluffy or even warm.

The fact that the roasted beetroot dish was the most memorable, I think, speaks volumes.

The sautéed scallops with black pudding, apple and cabernet sauvignon dressing worked well. The sweetness of the small scallops and the delectable bite of those that have not sat in a frying pan for long stood strong on their own. The thinly shaved green apple and unctuous blood sausage married well on the plate as individual bites, as well as on a whole with the scallops.

I’m not sure why Café Rouge more or less departed London but I am sure that buying Côte Brasserie is a good investment. A prime real estate investment. Restaurants are a tricky business, no doubt and Côte is no shy player in this game to rinse it out till its last breath-on-a-story. On Sloane Square they reside neighbourly to Colbert. I told you: not shy. It’s also probably why I’ve never had the urge to pop in and try new menu items like the tartiflette that is apparently coming and going every day, according to my emails. I’d rather stick to spending more when I can and order from a menu that speaks to me in French. It’s seasonal too, so you get to try new things!

Regarding the Pastis situation, it was 4th server or waitress who informed me (after I thought it worth another go at trying to fulfil my initial request) that she could find me a Pernod.

Côte Brasserie

Food – 5.7/10

Value for money 5.8/10

Vibes and service – 6.9/10
Normandie – Battle Of Crêpes

January 1, 2026
Crêpe vs. Pancake

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CREPE AND A PANCAKE comes down to the recipe, giving it that texture.Typically, a crêpe is just a thin pancake, is it not? A European culinary delight: shunning air bubbles, bounce, fluff, plate piled pancake aesthetic. Thin means, also, there’s no Japanese jiggle.

Calling it a pancake in and of itself suggests heft. Pre-Lent Shrove Tuesday in Britain sees a thinner version of the American pancake get made. Are we snobbishly upholding the stereotype that most Europeans are thin or meagre? It’s the day to indulge after all. The French Diet has entered the chat…
Crêpe A la Crème De Marron
Out of every Pancake encountered, I’ve yet to see the layering cake effect of tasty American buttermilk pancakes. Lemon and sugar as pancake toppings are a British classic. Is that where “flat as pancake” comes. British pancake recipe is the same as French crêpe traditional recipe. Both exclude a raising agent. The difference is that English pancakes are not as thin or big as French crêpes.

So outside of France it’s called a French crêpes. In Norway they deliver complication. The Norwegian Sveler looks stackable and much like the fatter stateside pancake of similar batter.

Crêpe vs. Galette

Street food with flair? I do love a plated moment with either, though. The pliable glutinous chew of a crêpe demands your attention like a bowl of hand pulled noodles. You could eat it with chopsticks: the single handed concentration of oral pleasure is doubled. Which is ironic, as this is the sweet version of the thin pancake or crêpe in cone from a street stall, often smothered in Nutella.

Crêpes at night in Caen

The galette or Breton galette cannot be distinguished from the crêpe by sweet and savoury nuances alone.

The Best Galette in Caen Normandie

The rozell is mandatory for the best galette. As a home cook, you don’t need a crêpe maker to make a crêpe; English pancake, or a galette but out of your home, it is a tragedy if neither a billing nor rozell are in the hands of the street vendor or restaurant kitchen.
La Ficelle
Galette with roquefort and creme, potatoes and ham
Menu at La Ficelle Caennaise crêperie
Galette with roquefort and creme, potatoes and ham
Galette in Normandie
Rain being a backdrop for Normandy, there is solace in back alleys. The locals are comforting. The streets; inviting, warming to me. There were gifts to be bought and the relief – the sheer relief – of having the last purchases to hand made me giddy.

I went for the La Larzac galette at the Caennaise crêperie La Ficelle – established in 1974. The galette was crispy on the edges. The potatoes rounded off the rocketing roquefort funk that was tamed by the ham and gently balanced by the crême fraiche. The handsomely wrapped galette took it over the edge. Bite, even in the middle and little fermentation flavour in that buckwheat – that can put people off from the “savoury crêpe” – was toothsome and whole. The salad may look like an afterthought but it was not.

What does L’ andouille De Vire taste like?

A typical day in Normandy means it’s raining. A hand held street food crêpe? Or galette (only in London this..) just doesn’t cut it. Nor should it. It takes time to savour. This is the French way. Let’s cut to the point. French butter from Normandy divinely lifted off a plate, like a sauce you need to mop up the crêpe up with, requires a plating moment. In the Vaugueux District of Caen you find that thin doesn’t mean meagre. So if the crêpe needs a plate, what about the galette?

Here we have Andouillette de Vire in a galette. I ordered it several times, alone or with whatever it came with and each restaurant said it sold out.
Galette of andouille, cream, potatoes and egg
Menu at Pourquoi Pas Caen Normandy
Galette served with salad
Andouille de Vire the smoked tripe delicay
Savoury Crêpe in France
At Pourquoi Pas in Caen, the waiter was hesitant to serve me this galette.

“Madame, are you sure? It is quite a strong… taste…”

I was sure. It tasted like smoky spaghetti ribbons of stink in the best possible way. The egg and whatever else was inside leant itself to one side. The entire galette tasted of this laborious creation of pork intestine and stomach, smoked over beechwood for God knows how long.

Ratings!

La Ficelle Caen

Food – 8.8/10

Value for money 8/10 (I love a Ricard)

Vibes and service – 9/10

Pourquoi Pas Caen

Food – 7/10

Value for money 8/10

Vibes and service – 6.5/10
Eat Tokyo – Notting Hill London

November 3, 2025
Eat Tokyo Notting Hill Gate Date of visit: October 2025
THE MENU AT EAT TOKYO in Notting Hill is an encyclopaedia. It’s also hard to find online. I’m not averse to photo filled long menu. I like to read, menus included.

I used to study here, in Notting Hill, not this authentic Japanese restaurant. This was when literature was respected. Books were a gift. Reading for was for pleasure. Carving out knowledge through the vessel of a well-constructed sentence was honourable. Coveted, even.

Eat Tokyo Notting Hill Gate

Before cobbled cul-de-sacs and cozy cat cafes, there was a fishmonger right by Notting Hill Gate station. Only the tiny Pret a manger and Starbucks remain.

Now we have Eat Tokyo – an authentic Japanese restaurant. They operate several branches across London. The locations in Soho, Hammersmith, Holborn, and Golders Green offer different menus.

Recently, director Mr Hiroshi Takayama was proud to bring the Taste of Japan to the Grand London Sumo Tournament (the first held outside of Japan). Here are some clips from the event at The Royal Albert Hall, along with the Eat Tokyo Company’s Head Chef Motohashi and Head Chef Wu discussing Chanko Nabe with a Director of Fallow restaurant, Chef Will Murray.

We won’t be eating Chanko Nabe at Eat Tokyo.

Here’s what you can eat at a sit down, authentic Japanese restaurant in London that serves sushi.

The menu at Eat Tokyo Notting Hill Gate

There are restaurants I scrape to find a full online, up-to-date, a la carte menu for and this is one of them. Extensive higher-low end price points: from A5 wagyu cuts of beef, to cucumber rolls using Premium Grade sushi rice; a high quality, short grain variety. I am not a sushi making expert but I hear that rice is one, if not the most important elements that classify good sushi from bad sushi.

Menu at Eat Tokyo Notting `Hill Gate

Fresh Uni Nigiri (Sea Urchin) in London £7.80 pp Review

I love sea urchin: the addition of uni when in season makes Eat Tokyo stand out even more for me. It’s not an omakase style restaurant. There is no unspoken “I’ll leave it to you” request to the Sushi Master when it comes to the menu. A laminated booklet reads like a scroll, blanketing the dark dinng wooden table top. It takes a good read and many visits to get through. Did I mention I love sea urchin?

Sea urchin – uni – and tobiko – flying fish rose

The uni is buttery and nutty with a hint of that full-fat tomalley flavour profile carrying it through at end of first bite. This symphonic undertone lingers until the last bite. It is generously portioned here onto the rice in an uni nigiri format. There’s only one thing better: fresh sea urchin eaten out directly out from its shell with, perhaps, a squeeze of citrus circulating in between the strips of pumpkin- coloured gonad.

Flying fish roe or tobiko crackles and pops in the mouth with a moreish briny sweetness. A bite of pickled ginger in between the two nigiris to cleanse the palate make this a well rounded choice of nigiri for someone, like myself, who appreciates good rice but doesn’t need a lot of it with every bite.

Eat Tokyo sushi sahimi menu Notting Hill

Nigiri and sashimi with menu prices at Eat Tokyo Notting Hill

Eat Tokyo also has branches in Japan and Germany. In a saturated market of London restaurants offering sushi as Asian fusion foods or high end authentic Japanese sushi, Eat Tokyo hits that mark at being welcoming to enthusiastic eaters. There’s a tapas style to the way the dishes read in print that screams more.

Butter asparagus

Going through it, the extensive here in Notting Hill may be the largest. There are appetisers expected of an authentic Japanese restaurant in London and then there are complete surprises. Vegan salmon tartare, unagi and or sake foie gras and fatty funa or otoro as opposed to holding back at chu-toro – all make an entrance. Soups and ramens take a bow here and there but most regulars go for a set dish or all out on the range of wagyu beef selections to choose from. It’s fun, is what I’m getting at.

A simple butter asparagus dish is executed perfectly. It’s sweet and salty, light yet rich, with the lemon butter peppered ever so subtly as it clings to the trimmed, steamed three-bite earthy stick.

Snails at Eat Tokyo – sea snails in a light broth served with toothpicks

The sea snails are chewy. There was an inedible part which was a flat delicate shell: easy to remove from the organ itself, which I gleefully poked out to eat. Like a cockle without vinegar, a mussel without cream, squeaky and meaty to the bite: a yummy treat on the end of a toothpick. It looked as ugly as it was delicious (see photo below). Order them. Their fragrant broth is reason to as it carries that savoury sweet balance so typically used in Japanese cooking. The clean fragrance owing to the plentiful ginger steeped inside the bowl. A hint of white pepper could be detected, which gave a freshly fermented, warm end-note to the dish.

I didn’t know what to expect from sea snails at Eat Tokyo. I’ve mentioned that the typical restaurant preparation in Europe can come from a can, then re-stuffed into used shells. This was more of a bulot which was exceedingly popular and equally affordable in Normandy, France.

Sashimi platter at Eat Tokyo Nottinghill London

The California rolls and asparagus rolls can be seen in the background of the photo above are not to be dismissed by their price point. Fresh ingredients; the use of chunks of crab rather than surimi, for example, generously fill or wrap all the rolls and temaki I have sampled at Eat Tokyo.

The sashimi selection cannot be faulted. If you prefer your raw fish without rice, you won’t be disappointed with the freshness and quality they provide.

Bulot or sea snails in London

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Eat Tokyo London Restaurant Review

Ratings!

Eat Tokyo in Notting Hill.

Food – 7.9/10

Value for money 7/10 (£25-35 pp including alcoholic beverages)

Vibes – 6/10
Caen France Bouillon

November 3, 2025
Caen France - Bouillon Saint Martin

Date of Visit - October 2025

Here is my experience in Caen, Normandy

I WAS REFUSED ENTRY at the French Bouillon restaurant I researched. This is to preface to what happened next. I hot-footed it there, knowing that the opening hours were all over the shop. Bouillon restaurants are mostly a Parisian thing.

I found another, by chance that I was passing by. This is what happens when you look up at your new surroundings. Travelling to a new place, while clutching your phone, can mean you miss out on what’s actually going on.

Caen Normandy by night

No reservations were made by me, at either establishment. Where I ended up that night did not come up on any of searches online in Caen or London.

I wanted a French bouillon experience. Typically, Paris is the way to go. I didn’t make it there either but perhaps that’s a tale to tell another time. Normandie, let’s see what you have to offer.

Bouillon Saint Martin – Caen

Dining in France as a Local

The French don’t do rushed dining. Once seated, no one at the restaurant will rush to take your order. You are in France eating out. This activity is a pleasurable pass time of pleasure, a celebration of gastronomical tradition, steeped in history. It’s nothing to do with their service charge / no tipping culture.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t proper French dining – it’s a Bouillon restaurant. They originated in Paris, more specifically with the first one opening in 1767 on Roue des Poulies and named after Monsieur Boulanger, commonly referred to as the 1765 Parisian soup vendor.

Soupe à l’oignon gratinée – French onion soup in Caen

“Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego vos restaurabo”

It’s no coincidence that the restorative properties of a bouillon broth led to Monsieur Boulanger’s shopfront engraving of “Come to me, those whose stomachs ache, and I will restore you,” in Latin. Nor surprising is that it closed around 1854 when the street was torn down.

Soupe à l'oignon gratinée - French onion soup in Caen

Previously not drawn to a French onion soup, this challenged my persuasion: the broth – not too beefy, in fact not beefy at all. One wonders about the stock used; nothing almost gravy like about it, nor do the onions resemble a caramalised mush. This is essence of onion, soft Roscoff slivers, dispersed Gruyrère goo and slightly fermented baked bread. Hint of bay and bright alcohol cooked off and not a garlic crouton in sight. None of it is sloppy or astringent, as my description may suggest. Perhaps it is their take on it; Bouillon Saint Martin style?

Having tried it in brasseries across London all it needed there, for me, was a splash of red reduction and it could go onto a banger or Sunday roast – spare the cheese. At Bouillon Saint Martin in Caen, this is not that. When I stir my spoon into it the creamy emulsification resembles my Pastis the moment the ice hits the glass and the water is release through it. You want to take your time with this, trust me.

Escargot, beurre persillé – Bouillon Saint Martin, Caen

What snails are Escargots?

Butter, parsley, garlic and the Helixpomatia. Burgundy snails which are most prized and a protected species in France. Also known as the Roman snail they are a classic to be eaten in this preparation. The three other varieties are the “escargot du turc”, “petis gris” and the large grey snail. While restaurants in France typically use fresh precooked snails (before adding the butter etc), home cooks or kitchens without such availability used canned. These are then stuffed back into a snail shell purchased separately for this purpose.

The garlic isn’t playing here. It will stay with you. It lingers. I taste the earthiness of the mollusc’s diet in each al dente chew, bathed in Beurre d’Isigny. The accompanying complimentary bread acts as a delivery mechanism for every morsel of that butter bath gushing from the shell with each extraction of flesh.

Sausage and mash

The snappy smoked pork sausage is satisfying to cut through with the steak knife the dish is presented with. The jus is light and seeps into the chive scattered mash. The portion of the accompanying carrots and mushrooms can be less or replaced with a few simple roast carrots or plain cabbage. Although a speck or two of Dijon would not go a miss here, I add nothing to any dish, if not prompted.

Inexpensive French faire served honestly in an expensive environment: the French bouillon re-opened in the late 1850s. This time it was butcher Pierre-Louis Duval serving cheap meat and broth to workers in Paris. By 1900, Paris had nearly 250 bouillons.

Warm choux pastry filled vanilla bean ice cream with Chantilly cream and chocolate sauce

Once sat, it’s rare to see a new set of diners appear. Most of our closely placed tables seat a family, a couple. It makes as good case for this Michelin thing where they excel: “Take a seat. Get comfy. It’s going to be a long ride.”

I’m not a dessert person. Fresh choux pastry, warm, I might add, enveloping vanilla bean ice cream like a hug only an airy pastry puff could give. Créme patisserie with vanilla bean and chunks of dark chocolate. I’m still dreaming about it. Hot and cold, crunches of bitter chocolate, all afloat colossal cream clouds swimming in Willy Wonka’s pool.

Place Saint-Saveur – the heart of old Caen

Bouillon Saint Martin address – 21 Pl. Saint-Martin, 14000 Caen, France.

Food 8.9/10

Value for Money 10/10 (25-30 Euros pp for 1-2 appetisers, main course, desert with a carafe of wine, digestif)

Mood/Vibes 10/10
OUISTREHAM France – Ft. Funny Fish

October 28, 2025

OUISTREHAM Ft. Funny Fish

Date of visit – 22nd October 2025

IF YOU LOVE FRESH SEAFOOD – come to Normandy. Brittany and Normandy, France are synonymous with raising children to eat well, eat oysters. If you don’t believe me, see it for yourself. Take a look at a French school child’s menu in this reason to understand.

Where it’s the dream of many lovers of seafood – of shellfish and perhaps, simply oysters – to visit Brittany or in my case, Normandie, France, I quite fancied avoiding any tours. Perhaps even try oyster farming on a, well, an oyster farm.

Ouistreham shellfish market

So on the overnight ferry I popped from Portsmouth to Oistreham in Normandy, France. No, I hadn’t heard of it either (Ouistreham that is) but then Normandy is big and there are many place in Normandie to visit. If not just eat to their famous four cheeses that start but don’t end with Camembert. Other soft but not as creamy characters include Livarot. The heart shaped bonbon de Neufchâtel attracts the eye and makes a lovely cadeaux while Pont Lévêque formerly known as “l’angelot” is a high fat dairy devotee. (Yes that’s four cheeses. I double-checked).

More on dairy in Normandie shortly. Back to oysters!

Anatomy of an oyster in Normandy France

The anatomy of an oyster is not something I looked into in England as, although they are a treat to eat, for myself, I rarely do. They’re expensive or a messy, an accident prone fanfare to shuck without the appropriate tool. I also feel that they are to be savoured and so, when in France that is exactly what I plan to do: savour. Which is a way of life, I suspect, not only translates in the way the French like to eat.

Funny Fish Ouistreham Oysters

Funny Fish in Ouistreham delights with another frenzy of fours and this time it’s at the oyster bar which is here.

There are four types to choose from and I try them all (in the image of the oysters above). I like both creamy and sweet and slightly saline and creamy oysters. The Papillon oyster (pictured but labelled incorrectly due to lack of labels, as I was told) along with the Asnelles no. 3 oyster hit the spot all the more for me in this regard.

Menu at Funny Fish Ouistreham with prices

Here’s the menu for funny fish in Ouistreham with the reasonable prices. Not pictured but indeed present are the lovely staff who know and chat to all the locals that frequent to purchase their seafood for the day.

Delicious crab in Ouistreham France

Would I recommend Funny Fish in Ouistreham, Normandy?

Would I recommend visiting Ouistreham out of all the places in Normandy to add to your travel itinerary?

I highly recommend both to do, to try. I almost insist upon it. Especially if you are an oyster lover or shellfish lover for that matter, you are a Francophile, considering where to visit in France that is not Paris for a change. Even Emily left Amélie and France altogether, apparently.

I did not imagine to eat the best crab of my life in Normandy but I did and that is not another blog if you like.

Overall shellfish in Normandy France Ouistreham

Taste: 8/10

Service: 7.2/10

Value for Money: 8.5/10

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Maxim Restaurant London Review

October 19, 2025

LOVE OF SPECIFIC FOOD TEXTURES is as subjective as taste. In Cantonese cuisine, for example, there is a desired contrast in textures of bouncy, in tandem with a crispy mouthfeel. Something slippery or slimy like an oyster or rice cake can dim the light of a palate unaccustomed to it. The best wok hei flavour. may be lost, in this instance.

MAXIM – Ealing, London – dates of visit 2014-2023.

Food trends drive us to be more open, into challenging our palate. Or is it that we have to try expensive options in a restaurant as they correlate to being the best menu options?

Eating Cold Jellyfish with Chinese Vinegar, Cucumber and Mustard

Cantonese style Chinese Food in Ealing

Maxim is a Chinese restaurant specialising in Cantonese cuisine, in Ealing, West London although it’s based in Northfields and much closer to get to on the Piccadilly Line by tube from there. Ealing didn’t have many Chinese restaurants specialising in any regional or traditional foods or cuisines when Maxim arrived – so it was crowned Ealing’s best Chinese restaurant.

Cold jellyfish is prepared with a side of mustard sauce for dipping. Thinly sliced cucumber adds Song hao – the crisp, crunchy bite. It’s a trilogy of textures and flavours I never thought I’d try. It works as though The Godfather Part Three was typecast to satisfy its audience. No fishy taste or Haribo jelly texture. Just smooth cartilage-like bite with a slippy snap that gripped the hot mustard and mellowed out with the cucumber. The creamed Chinese cabbage: a juxtaposition of things you’d not like to eat, is milky, sweet and on the scallion side of allium forward fruitiness. They are my two favourite dishes at Maxims. Executed impeccably.

Sizzling Beef at MAXIM Ealing

So there’s the jellyfish that looks like translucent hand cut noodles, that is crunchy and moreish and the creamed Chinese cabbage. Two reasons why ordering in a group is good here. I would not think to order these alone. I’ve ordered both from Maxim as many times as we visited as family – which is probably 25-35 times.

The spring rolls are fat cigars – probably frozen filo pastry filled with bean sprouts, carrot and Chinese cabbage – succumb as much to that instagram -able presentation as absolutely nothing on the menu at MAXIM.

In spite of what you feel about chilli oil, this is what David Chang called “ugly delicious”. Only works if it is –and it is, delicious.

MAXIM – Best Chinese Food in Ealing

Maxim Restaurant London Review

We had been coming as a firm family favourite to MAXIM in Northfields for a decade or so. I was avoiding the past tense, until this statement. I want to clarify a few things. There’s a husband and wife team at the head of business or operations in the kitchen and the wife is a delight who takes every individual’s dietary needs, requests, on board without fuss. The Hot and Sour Soup and stir fried mixed vegetable dishes at MAXIM sent me to my kitchen (a place that simultaneously sustains my life and sucks and spits it out) to seek replicable answers.

The food was good. Consistent yet pricey for, well, Northfields. But good.

One evening, on a bank holiday that was not busy we were encouraged to order our drinks first. We ordered bottles of wine for the table as it was a special occasion and our usual sparkling water. We were charged £20 per bottle of sparkling water and when we were asked if we would like to order anything for dessert (we barely did as its mostly frittered fruit and ice cream from Tesco) we mentioned it was a birthday. We had the option to decide what we wanted in this case and we left to the server. It was a version of what I just described and we charged for it. All in all, it left us with a bitter a taste for the establishment. Take with that, what you will.

Overall MAXIM - LONDON in Northfields - Chinese Food Ealing

Taste: 6.9/10

Service: 1-3/10

Value for Money: 4.5/10
VILNIUS Part 1

October 15, 2025

Visiting Vilnius, Lithuania – Part One. Date of Visit: February 2025

George Orwell said: “A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing…” So when I was greeted with “Why?” as the common response to mine – over mid-February exchanges in London that encourage enquiring over one’s plans – I was even more eager to go.

Fried Lithuanian Bread at Šnekutis

Fried Lithuanian bread smacked me upside the head. The historic Old Town Vilnius was founded in 1387 so it probably saw me coming. As did this Lithuanian snack that must have smirked to its mate Lithuanian wheat beer and had a giggle with the garlic. That’s those flecks in the picture: garlic.

Earlier I acquainted myself with the Lithuanians of London by way of booking an off-peak Ryan Air flight experience. This included the added thrill of a group of us paying a fine more costly than the plane ticket – newly implement, of course – for exceeding their permitted onboard carrier luggage dimensions. As we shook our heads and took it on the chin, apart from one or two anti-heroes which sadly did not make it on board, I realised that I was disappointed in myself. I couldn’t convey collective emotion in the Lithuanian language let alone basic non-emotive conversation prompts.

Cathedral Square Katedros Aikštė – Main Square Vilnius – City Capital, Lietuva

Šnekutis beer pub was were I had by first Lithuanian fried bread. English breakfast fried bread can sod off. Šv. Mikalojaus (Saint Nicholas) Street is where my trainers had an absolute wreck of a first date with all forms of white and black pavement encrusted ice. Coming off Cathedral Square, nearby (in better walking conditions) into contact with overhanging bulbs of welcoming lights, a beer-mat tramp stamped swinging door to draught beer at 10pm Lithuanian time, had me proverbially weeping with joy.

One might say that by that point anything I consumed or imbibed would have sent me over the edge. Which is fair, apart from the fact that I’m writing this many months later and I’ve eaten a lot of fried in the Baltics since. Paired with beer. Any way, home to the oldest surviving church in Vilnius – the Gothic-style Šv. Mikalojaus (Saint Nicholas) – Šv. Mikalojaus (Saint Nicholas) Street at Šnekutis is where I started my foray into Lithuanian wheat beer and bread.

Although the Lithuanian language is one of the oldest living Indo-European languages in Europe, I asked for whatever local beer and snack the bar keep recommended, in English, punctuating only my knowledge of beer (pour measures) in the process: a pint.

The accompanying cheese sauce was like edam, white cheddar and garlic mayonnaise decided that cohesively they united as an inseparable sauce when warm. The fried non greasy strips of kepta duona (Lithuanian fried bread) graced me with gentle linseed, whispers of malt syrup, barley and spices combined with flecks of unexpected astringency from the garlic. Kepta duona is magically moreish. The cheese sauce as anti American and cut off from Tex Mex I would swear I’ve never heard of a Dorito or nacho if it meant I could bottle this Süriu, Ĉesnaku ir Majonezu Sauce. It wouldn’t taste the same though. Not least because it’s garlic and cheesy (sour cream accented) mayonnaise.

Landing at Vilnius airport in February

Ushering my tired trainers back out to the their hazardous fate I took in the post snow air, a mix of piss and mildew and I did: I felt excited about the next days of exploring this historical Capital City of Lithuania. Was there another language that google translate disabled the speaker tool for? Was the local wine as good as the beer and was breakfast a thing here? I didn’t know how to pronounce sveiki yet but if I heard hello one more time when I tried, my head would explode. The local wine sounded interestingly strange and I wondered if the complimentary buffet breakfast was real, considering what I paid for my clean, warm, private room.

I got some change from a 10 euro note for my pint of local wheat beer and kepta duona with cheese sauce. There are local hearty, substantial meals to try at Šnekutis at reasonable prices too so you should try them.

There are five historic and cultural regions in Lithuania. Vilnius the capital South Aukštaitian dialect speaking, is located in the ethnographic region of Dzūkija (also known as Dainava). Although the regions can be considered to correspond to different Lithuanian dialects, this is not strictly the case. In the case of Vilnius: it does not mean that Dzūkija is part of Aukštaitija; dialects of other regions are spoken in certain parts; there are three indigenous dialects in Samogitia (some of which are subdivided into sub-dialects).

If that sounds complex that’s because it is.

Overall for a first timer in the capital of Lithuania

Taste: 6.9/10

Service: 4.2/10

Value for Money: 7/10