Lunching in Canary Wharf

Although the Canary Wharf area is known to be over run with lunch friendly (ie. chain) stores such as pret, EAT, etc. my favourite place if I have a bit more time is by Hazev, a Turkish restaurant, bar and deli located near South Quay.

After a day’s worth of applications (the exams, and applications are a never ending cycle in life…) and opening the fridge only to find it empty, I immediately seized this opportunity to visit Hazev.   If coming to Hazev, I prefer sitting in at the deli rather than the restaurant as I can still order my mezze – at a fraction of the price in a more casual setting where I can easily chat or even read a book sitting on the comfortable arm chairs provided

Mezze assortment (3) Creamy Hummus in the background Cracked bulgar wheat + nuts (my favourite) Tabboulleh salad
Served with complimentary bread if you order 3+ mezze eat in
Feta and pumpkin savoury bread – all the Turkish bread are house made, buttery and sweet
Feta and Olive bread

Bakery selection

You can also buy assorted Turkish goods – not exactly sure what these are but I have bought something similar to cous cous in the past from the counter

Hazev is usually quite a reliable option for lunch at Canary Wharf serving a delicious good value Turkish meal. Sharing a mezze is always great fun especially when it lets you sample a range of flavours. Recharged with yummy food and good company, I returned home to finish the rest of my applications. (fingers crossed that the brain food worked!)

Hello Weekends.

Ever since starting work, weekends had a completely new meaning to me.  Gone were the days of going out on Friday night; I much prefer coming home, enjoying a simple meal in front of the couch or cuddling up in my bed to catch up on all the TV shows I had missed over the week.

However, my mom has always been the concrete keeping me sane from work every weekend.   She really knows how to lift my spirits after a bad week and has been there through the good, bad and ugly.  Through this post, I just wanted to say, Thank you mom.

And of course, on the weekends we usually go to explore London’s vibrant market offerings- one of my favourites is the Southbank real food market at Waterloo. This time that we visited in October, it was the Real Food Festival.

Southbank Real Food Festival


A good paella by the Jamon Jamon – my favourite


Always Al-dente and heavy with seafood flavours- satisfying my paella craving developed from Ibiza

To sampling cookies from the Lallapalosa baking company

Their peanut butter cookies were so addictive that I ended buying one after returning five times for samples.

Although one order of paella plus a gigantic cookie may not seem like much for two people, the festival had an abundance of generous samples from malaysian pancakes, brownies, bread, roasts, chocolate etc. which ended up being more than enough to satisfy on a Saturday afternoon.

the return to London – but still Asian at heart

I’ve been back in London, finally part of the real working world meaning that i’ve been getting a bit(very) lazy about keeping up my blogging habits. But, considering today is the last day on my annual leave I finally feel a bit re-inspired again to start blogging again. I’ve still kept a journal off all the food I have sampled, and looking through my phone, I think this post should be dedicated towards all those weekends that I had off sampling Asian fare with a friend that I am so so so lucky to have by my side through all these years.

Bone Daddies.
Miso Ramen (another friend of mine also ordered a Tonkotsu which… i didn’t take a picture of but the broth was super creamy and hearty according to her account)
Tsukemen

Yauatcha.
Char Siu Bao

Stir fried aubergines

Egg Fried Rice

Xiao long bao

Wontons dressed in Chili oil

Mandarin kitchen (lured in by the 15 pound lobster deal) 
Pork belly with vineagar dipping sauce
Salt-pepper fried tofu
Lobster noodles
Morning glory

Koya
Kamo (duck breast)
Buta miso (pork)
Hiya – Atsu with kinoko (mushroom miso + cold udon in hot broth)

Bar Shu
Kung Pao Chicken
Five spice wuxi spare ribs
Pigs ears
*note and there was a dan dan noodle dish as well which was quickly devoured before photo opportunity…

– we also frequented the atari ya near bond street (a favourite) for their ever so reliable chirashi sushi (nom nom nom)

As much as we both enjoy the culinary diversity of London, Asian food always strike close to the heart for comfort.   London’s Asian food scene has become much more developed since my arrival to the UK in 2007- enough for me to now frequent different restaurants now on a weekly basis!