lobster (half steamed half grilled) £23

some london eats on our itinerary included roast duck (goldmine or four seasons) and burger & lobster.

an old RI schoolmate of ours was doing his sabbatical & staying in london with his family, and we arranged to meet for a meal together. happened that he had not tried burger & lobster so we decided to meet here at 5.30pm on 29.4.2017, as there is often a long queue later.

the last time i came here was a year ago with my wife & son on 25.3.2016.

burger & lobster dean street

we were all on time at 5.30pm.

our friend who stayed to watch the 3hr romeo & juliet play at shakespeares globe was the earliest to arrive.

burger & lobster dean street

so we got to sit down almost immediately.

lobster (half steamed half grilled) £23

the menu has changed substantially.

the concept at the start, i was told, was simply bulk buying. just 3 items on the menu – loster roll (nice brioche no need to use hands), whole lobster, and burger. so no need big menu, no need much cooking, just sell lots of live lobsters at an affordable £20.

now it’s £23. price wise it was quite ok, with inflation, £ at lower forex whatnots. the menu now included other options & combinations.

but primarily, it is still lobsters! except i noticed our £23 only got us a one pounder – 454g lobster. the lobster didn’t seem much smaller. the one & a quarter pounder (which i asumed was the standard previously) is now £32!

hasn’t really fathom this, but anyhow it was a great experience. we all very much enjoyed our £23 lobster. & all of us agreed that the steamed lobster was sweeter, more moist & overall better. same observation as my last time.

my friends wanted to celebrate, so we took a £30 white wine.

and indeed we do have much to celebrate for – our good health, lasting friendship, wonderful time together! ^^

c.h.e.f andy

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Burger & Lobster

Address –

borough market

we were meeting an old schoolmate (now residing with his family in london for his sabbatical) for early dinner this evening at burger & lobster on 29.4.2017.

millenium bridge

so the idea was to explore borough market, sample the famous street eats.

and afterwards to walk over to the beautiful pedestrian millenium bridge linking tate modern on the south side of the thames to st pauls across the river.

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i bought some milk, eggs & granola earlier. as we were having street eats then early dinner, a light breakfast would do, so we had a hard-boiled egg & a bowl of granola with milk each. 🙂

then we set off.

IFO – identified flying object

we had the pleasure of viewing the art piece? IFO – identified flying object in broad daylight..

IFO – identified flying object

bird cage?? haha…anyway…quite nice la..

st pancras clock tower

my photographer friend could not resist a shoot of the st pancras clock tower, constructed between 1866 and 1873…

st pancras clock tower & king’s cross station

how about sleeping in a £5m apartment for a night via airbnb?

maybe next time?

st pancras clock tower

a magnificient building like to capture on camera…

king’s cross st pancras to borough market -london bridge station

we took the tube to london bridge station, and borough market was just round the corner of the block.

going up london bridge station escalators

we all had the oyster card, will travel.

exiting london bridge station fare gates

like old london pro…

borough market

we were early at 11am. borough market not yet crowded & congested.

folks were having an early morning beer

folks were having an early morning beer, a great bazaar atmosphere.

interesting ambience

a rather interesting ambience.

fresh seafood 

fresh seafood

cured items

among the first stalls we saw was the fresh seafood stall, and some cured items.

large freshly shucked oyster – £2 each 

we were drawn to the oyster stall – large freshly shucked oysters for £2 each. this size oyster sashimi would be like S$12++ in a japanese restaurant in singapore.

short queue to get oysters

no short of people queueing up to sample the large, plump, sweet oysters, no metallic taste.

a herb chicken dish – quite nice 

opposite the fresh oyster stall was the herb chicken (furness foodhut advertising malaysian curry chicken).

i tasted, was quite nice with the herbs, not sure how it is malaysian curry??

my friends weren’t keen..they were fed too much chicken on the MAS flight….

bomba paella 

at the same stall was bomba paella.

i tried that the last time i was here. didn’t think it was good.

boma paella 

more crowd now..

ROAST sandwiches stall

i stood in line for the short few person queue for the must-have roast sandwich.

Roast crackling belly pork sandwich 

we decided on the crackling belly pork sandwich.

my 2 friends though this was the best food here. pork was sweet, tasty & moist. actually the skin was NOT crackling enough & so slightly tough. & the baguette was not that great. the brioche i had previously at the duck confit stall & at maltby market were much better.

ROAST restaurant 

Roast restaurant is just atop on the second level. can consider trying it sometime but not a priority.

stall selling duck confit salad or sandwich 

next we went to try the duck confit.

stall selling duck confit salad or sandwich 

we decided not to have bread, so we ordered a salad.

duck confit salad £6.50 

today the duck confit was not so good too.

the flavour still there, but it was a bit stringy & the texture a bit dry & tough.

duck confit salad £6.50 

the greens complement the dish a bit. overall it was passable but not great.

borough market shard building behind 

from this side we could see the shard building behind. 🙂

borough market

borough market 

more crowd milling around the market.

chorizo shop 

my friends weren’t keen on another sandwich though the chorizo sandwich was good from my last visit here.

we went into the shop, tried the iberico cured ham (prosciutto) & bought a packet.

strawberries, cherries, fruits 

we looked at 2 fruit stalls, one opposite the duck confit.

strawberries, cherries, fruits 

we decided to buy from the stall on the outside.

we bought packet of strawberries (i think 400g) for £2, and cherries for  £1.

green market (part of borough market) 

we walked past bomba paella to the other side.

there is the green market, selling fruits, vegetables, cheese etc.

getting crowded around 12pm

it was now very crowded.

we walked to the back of the market. wanted to take a cuppa, but the stall was quite crowded.

likewise the monmouth cafe at the other side (duck confit) we were on earlier also had a long queue.

we decided to start walking over to the millenium bridge & pick up a coffee along the way.

c.h.e.f andy

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Borough Market

Address:

Borough Market
8 Southwark St, London
SE1 1TL

Tel: 020 7407 1002

Opening Hours:

crevette saganak £9.50

met my 2 RI bros at Kings Cross St Pancras Regent’s Canal exit..no problem for them, they said – directions was clear..

Giffgaff SIM card working well. so we had whatsapped each other when they arrived at Heathrow T4.

i had intentionally passed by dishoom on the way. queue was like 40pax & 1.5hrs & had to queue physically not by taking queue no. dishoom was off…

so after putting down the luggage at the apartment, we decided to go to The Greek Larder at Arthouse for dinner instead..

greek larder

nice place, great ambience & crowd.

nice crowd – great happening place

imo as much happening place as dishoom.

difference is – we got table immediately.

nice crowd – great happening place

great food, wine, and we had some dessert also.

my friends had moscato too. celebrations!

bread

and service was good, friendly.

we had water. and they replaced the bread & butter when we finished the first.

angelo, the waiter from latin america (forgot the country) was cheerful & friendly. he took photos & also had a photo together with us after dinner.

crevette saganak £9.50

the greek prawn dish, crevette saganak, had a nice presentation (top photo & above).

prawn is prawn, so good if ordinary, the salsa was good with the prawns. may look at some online recipes later.

grilled octopus £13.50

the grilled octopus was good, especially the “chao-ta” bbq flavours. not enough i think. the texture itself slightly tough, not tender enough, not quite the standard of the italian dish at lake como, milan & cinque terre.

still it was a good dish, quite pricey now at £13.50

salt cod £8.50

my friends heard about the salt cod & didn’t mind to try it.

one friend said it was a bit salty but quite ok with the skordalia mash(greek potato & garlic spread) …overall quite ok dish..

grilled steak – about 300g = £23

the best turned out to be the grilled scottish steak. it’s done like the italian tagliata (which means serving the steak in slices).

grilled steak – about 300g = £23

it was done nicely medium rare.

i think it was about 300g – anyway a very good helping for 3 of us.

grilled steak – about 300g

& came with nice mushrooms & tasty mash.

grilled steak – about 300g

the steak, though grass fed & not top quality, was very nicely done – sweet, tender & flavourful.

desserts

my friends wanted to try the desserts.

galaktoboureko – traditional greek custard pie

we ordered 2 desserts to share. i am not a dessert person. so i took just a little to try. both desserts were competent. not my kind of dessert, but pretty ok standard..

galaktoboureko – traditional greek custard pie

galaktoboureko is a traditional greek custard pie.

carmelised icing, custard inside…

baklava & ice cream

baklava is a filo pastry with chopped nuts & cream layers. ok too.

the bill – £85.50

dinner was £85.50, inclusive of 12.5% service.

not including the 2 moscato & dessert, it would be £54 for the food alone, 3 appetizers & one main to share for 3pax. i think quite ok price in London.

chef & kitchen – greek larder

the servers & chef all quite cheerful, and the overall ambience was quite engaging. a place to come back again.

c.h.e.f andy

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qatar economy airbus A350-900 – big screen

first time i took Qatar Airways!

according to skytrax world airline awards 2016 ranking, Qatar Airways (2nd) ranks below Emirates (1st) & above SIA (3rd) & Cathay Pacific (4th) for world’s best airline.

& Qatar Airways ranks second, above SIA (3rd) for world’s best economy airline, AND Qatar Airway ranks 1st, again above SIA (2nd) for world’s best business class airline.

so Qatar Airways ranks above SIA, generally! amazing!

the truth is i would have taken SIA economy if the pricing made sense.

there was no promotion price for SQ when i could confirm my period of travel. i checked both SIA & BA which i preferred as they were direct flights whereas for Qatar i have to stop-over at Doha, so 15hrs/16hrs c/w 13hrs+direct flight.

but SQ was like S$2,200 & BA S$1580 by economy return! made no sense when i can have Qatar economy return at S$1,035! so that’s what i did.

i usually travel light & do not check in luggage. however Qatar only allows 7kg carry on, so i checked in my luggage. fortunately the online check-in queue for bag drop was just 10mins.

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so safely on board!

the leg room seemed better on this new Airbus A350-900 than my usual SQ experience (on the first sector Sin-Doha…on the second sector Doha-London, it was a Boeing 777-300ER, so maybe leg room about the same).

and a big screen for movies! (top photo)

flight meals menu 1st sector Sin-Doha – dinner & light snack

i felt though that the food & drinks were not as good as SQ, and the service too!

i press the attention light, and it was on for an inordinately long time i turned it off myself, and NO service response! (it was ok on the return flight, so many one-off!)

flight meal – dinner food tray

for dinner, i picked the roast chicken rice.

sautéed mushroom appetizer good

the sautéed mushroom appetizer was good! very tasty, flavourful..

chicken dry & tough..sauce tasty

the roast chicken though was dry & slightly tough.

luckily the sauce was tasty…

green tea cake was good

the green tea cake was good too!

i finished it, though not the subsequent second sector dessert & not on the return flight. in fact dessert on all the sectors were quite good.

light snack = chicken panini & sweet cake

the chicken panini was quite good.. (on the second sector i took vegetarian – that was poor!)

the sweet cake was nice! not overly sweet & nice crispy skin..

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the plane landed like 1/2 hr late, and we had to be rushed & shepherded to board the transfer. anyway made it la!

second sector Doha – London = braised lamb tasty but tough

on the second sector Doha to London on Boeing 777-300ER, the previous standard bearer along with A380, leg rom was less, screen were small, food marginally poorer.

the appetizer salad was usual mediocre.

braised lamb tasty but tough

the lamb was tough, but the braise was good, tasty…

braised lamb tasty but tough

the mash was ok… i finished the lamb & veg.

So overall, from the flight & also the return flight, for me the food & service slightly poorer than SQ. but the ticket price was <50% = S$1,035 vs S$2,200.

SQ pricing just made n sense to me la!

c.h.e.f andy

2nd sector doha to london 737-300

queue at qatar, changi T3

was much looking forward to this london & wales holiday with my 2 RI buddies 27apr-may112017. ^^

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i was booked on qatar flight departure 10.40pm changi T3 on 27.4.2017. my 2 friends were booked on MAs departure the next day.

there was a bit of a queue at the qatar check-in at T3 even though i arrived >2hrs before departure. it’s always good to check in online first & just do a bag drop. so the bag drop queue was in fact quite fast maybe 10mins queue.

asia treaures lounge @ changi T3

after immigration, i proceed as usual to DBS asia treasures lounge @ T3.

it is a small lounge, more private, very few people every time i visited, and food is quite good.

kiwi fruit mix slush

somehow they have stopped the crowd favourite berries slush??

this kiwi fruit mix slush quite ok, but i prefer the berries.

fried carrot cake

the local food are always good here.

the fried carrot cake was good, tasty & “pang” flavourful. i asked for 1/2 portion. no laksa or prawn noodles at this hour.

braised beehoon

the braised beehoon was very good, very tasty. again 1/2 portion.

fish congee

i skipped the prata, asked for very small helping of fish congee. it was very good also, sweet & smooth HK standard congee.

cappuccino

cappuccino the usual.

a very good rest stop before boarding – read papers, drink & light makan & a cuppa before borading. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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