Chinatown: Open Air Stall

This wasn't actually 'my food', but my friend Min-Hwee's (as I was too full from jiaozi from the previous entry and I don't eat pork). Alas I don't read Chinese well enough to know the name of the stall if it has one, but it's one of about three hawker stalls in Chinatown at the moment that prepares fresh food in the open air.

Now that's one substantial crepe.

Where?

Soho, Chinatown, right at the end of Gerard and Lisle street where the pagoda is. The nearest tube station is Leicester Square.

What?

 A crepe filled with hot dog, youtiao (Chinese savoury doughnut stick), herbs, an egg, and chili and hoisin sauce. I tried a little bit of the crepe itself and it was very tasty.

This was quite a large amount of food, and only for £3. One of the several bonuses about the stalls (apart from the tasty food) is the value for money you get. I'll write a post about the baozi and egg waffles another time.

I loved watching the lady make it up! It started off like a regular French crepe, then the lady cracked and egg onto the surface and swished it around. She sprinkled some herbs on one side and flipped it over to paint hoisin sauce and chili sauce onto the other side, and then placed the hot dog and youtiao onto the crepe, folding it up and putting it into a paper bag to be eaten (I missed snapping the hot dog part because I was too busy laughing with another onlooker about how she was using a proper digital SLR camera to take awesome pictures, whereas I just had my little Samsung compact camera).

Visit these stalls if you want a substantial snack on the cheap: you won't be disappointed.

Chinatown: Jen Café

I'll say this right away: Jen Café is all about the jiaozi- the Beijing dumplings.

There's usually a lady at the front making fresh jiaozi (the lady under the window with yellow text)

Where?

Situated in Soho right at the beginning of Newport Place, Chinatown, the nearest tube station is Leicester Square. If you're around in Chinatown, look for the pagoda in the square at the end of Gerard Street or Lisle Street and you're there.

It felt a bit weird capturing this pic- usually there are loads of people sitting around it

What?

Like I said, you go here to eat dumplings. Reviews about this place are often pretty mixed when it comes to the service and the other food, but the view on Jen Café's freshly made pork and vegetarian dumplings (and their bubble tea) is unanimously positive. You can pick any other place in Chinatown to have decent noodles, rice and roasted meats, but if you want affordable, fresh and delicious dumplings boiled or fried, you go to Jen Café.

I had vegetarian fried dumplings. Eaten dipped in soy sauce and Chinese vinegar, these were beautifully crispy, pleasingly chewy and full of flavour

Concerning bubble tea, I always, always measure how good a café's bubble tea is by their taro bubble teas- it's my favourite bubble tea flavour. Taro is a type of purple yam, and since I like yams and I love unusually-coloured food, it's pretty much my perfect flavour. It was good but could have had a stronger flavour; I'd say the second-best taro bubble tea I've ever had. The first belongs to a place formerly known as Cafe de Hong Kong, now under the name of Longji, but I'll review that another time. It wasn't at all watery though, which is what I've found with the more disappointing bubble teas I've had.

Bubble tea: a tea, coffee, milky or fruity drink served hot or cold with sweet and chewy tapioca balls (which are the 'bubbles')

The menu isn't huge although it boasts a large range of drinks, but after all this is a café, not a restauraunt.

The service was alright- the ladies got our orders a bit confused but were pleasant enough, contrary to a review I've read where they described the staff as being 'contemptuous'. Not the slickest of systems, but one that works in the end- and certainly worth it for the bubble tea and jiaozi.

It's About Time!

Welcome to Where I Like To Eat! The title might be a bit misleading- not only am I going to include places I've been that I've had a good foodie experience in, but also unusual foods and places where I buy food that I haven't made from scratch (like black sesame pudding paste, glutinous rice cakes and bubble tea- they'll probably mostly be Chinese or Malaysian, since that's part of my culture and what I often find myself eating).

Indeed yes, I will be posting about restaurants and cafes, too. Happy eating!