tian of orkney brown crab in clear gazpacho £6.95

the lime tree restaurant & crannog were 2 restaurants recommended by our b&b host.

wife innitially booked the lime tree at 8pm. we were uncertain of our schedule as we were driving to fort williams from glasgow & stopping by a few places, so we canceled it.

in the end we arrived early & checked in around 5pm+ at our b&b gantocks, and decided to go to fort williams town centre & walked a bit.

the lime tree fort williams

Crannog was fully booked. we managed to get a table at the lime tree, which also filled up quickly!

menu=the lime tree fort williams

the menu looks ok…

amuse bouche = smoked salmon

was surprised that the restaurant served amuse bouche, the practice of fine dining restaurants.

amuse bouche = smoked salmon

presentation was great!

the smoked salmon was competent, not very salty, not the lightly cured type, still a good smoked salmon, and a great start to dinner.

bread

bread was ordinary…

tian of orkney brown crab in clear gazpacho £6.95

the tian of orkney brown crab was outstanding…very wow dish! 🙂

later i had chance to compared with the very good crab dish as part of a degustation menu at three chimneys at isles of skye, a one star michelin in 2014. i think this still came out better!

crab meat was very fresh & sweet & a large helping, and the clear gazpacho was excellent, the combination superb.

smoked haddock soufle £6.95

the smoked hadock soufle was an unusual dish as usually soufle is dessert & not savoury, so quite inventive!

this turned out really good. wife liked it a lot. so do i. 🙂

smoked haddock soufle £6.95

i guess if i had to compare, the tian of crab was still better for me, but this was really quite an excellent dish.

salmon fillet £19.95

the salmon fillet was good standard, very competent, but i guess not really a stand out dish.

scottish highland salmon £19.95

presentation was good too.

pheasant breast with chicken haggis £19.95

pheasant breast with chicken haggis £19.95

the pheasant breast was more pedestrian.

pheasant breast with chicken haggis

wife found one portion of it dry. the other pieces were quite ok actually, but they are not the very tender chicken breast you get in a goof=d french restaurant.

the lime tree fort williams

dinner for 2pax was £64, quite ok.

we did not care much for the mains, but the 2 appetisers were outstanding.

the next day after hiking at steall falls, we actually came to see if we could have lunch & just eat the appetisers but alas lime tree was closed.

c.h.e.f andy

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carrot & parsnip soup £4.75

Luss a tiny place. it started to drizzle soon after we parked. then the rain got slightly heavier.

coach house coffeeshop= makan stop @ Luss

our park & pay was for 1 hr. so we just had a little time for a makan stop at coach house coffeeshop to stay out of the rain.

carrot & parsnip soup £4.75

we ordered one carrot & parsnip soup £4.75 to share. it was a nice & homely soup & very nice crusty brown bread.

we also ordered a flat white to take away our car park was expiring,

it was a nice makan break, soup very sweet & homely & we thoroughly enjoyed it.

c.h.e.f andy

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four seasons chinatown 1/2 roast duck = £14.50

had a really nice four seasons chinatown 1/2 roast duck takeaway for £14.50 on 8.6.2017. 🙂

taking the 2350hrs sleeper from euston station to glasgow central station arriving tomorrow at 7.20am. so no plans to eat out this evening.

after our excellent £29 3-course express lunch at l’atelier joel robuchon, we walked over to chinatown to buy some frozen pork & chicken dumplings (guotie 锅贴).

and decided to takeaway 1/2 roast duck from four seasons.

the last time i came to four seasons with son was on 25.8.2014!

four seasons chinatown 1/2 roast duck = £14.50

duck was really fragrant (“pang”) & the dipping sauce was excellent too.

really, really shiok!

c.h.e.f andy

beef medium rare – main course 

l’atelier joel robuchon at covent garden is serving a £29 3-course express lunch.

i was here last month when traveling london/wales with my 2 RI bros and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

it was supposedly 45mins express lunch, and hence you have to prebook & pre-select each course online, rather than choosing from the menu at the restaurant.

chefs at l’atelier joel robuchon 

wife had been here several times on previous occasions but not for this express lunch, so we booked this lunch here today on 8.6.2017. ^^

l’atelier joel robuchon 

i booked the entire restaurant!

sad that they are serving these fabulous food & even with this £29 promotion, there are very few patrons…must be making lots of money elsewhere?

only 2 other customers came during the entire lunch!

chefs at l’atelier joel robuchon 

the atelier (workshop) concept is you can see the chefs preparing your meal. more interactive? not really…maybe participative?

chefs at l’atelier joel robuchon

whatever…but it’s quite fun to watch the dishes taking shape.

bread basket 

the bread were the really good restaurant category…

burrata in tomato gazpacho 

my burrata in tomato gazpacho was simply fabulous,

the food here are not just that they look like works of art!

there are combination of many different ingredients & mostly importantly the taste & texture combine perfectly, so exqusite & fine!

salmon cured in beetroot 

wife had the slamon cured in beetroot.

i had this last time & it was really good..still is. this time though i like the burrata even better.

beef medium rare – main course 

the beef was like last time, very competently done.

it was not the best cut of beef (very decent already for this price), so it’s not in the prime portico or top steak restaurant category…but it was ery good class for this beef cut.

seabream – main course 

my seabream dish was what my RI bro had last time.

it was very very good. like the best seabream i had? almost, anyway among the best,,,

seabream – main course 

& so beautiful to behold..

JR famous for their mash 

JR famous for their mash. it was very good, just that i don’t take much & didn’t…

rum baca outstanding cos rum was excellent 

the rum baba was excellent, because of the rum, really fragrant & nice.

rum baca outstanding cos rum was excellent 

the texture of baba infuse the rum well …

wild berries tart like work of art but just ordinary good taste 

wife had the wild berries tart. looked like work of art but just ordinary good taste…

They gave complimentary petite four becos i had to wait for the rum 

They gave complimentary petite four becos i had to wait for the rum. nice too!

well, i think handsdown this the best ever & best-value £29 3-course lunch. i had anywhere la..

c.h.e.f andy

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very nice korean food at kimchee 

son booked a cab for us from heathrow terminal 2 to king’s cross.

took us 1.5hrs through the evening traffice. we arrived apartment about 7.05pm.

decided to go for dinner, so we could retire after dinner to recover from the jetlag. 🙂

kimchee restaurant opposite google building 

i saw that there were several new restaurants around the google building when i was here last month.

son had tried the kimchee restaurant & thought it was good, so we walked over to pancras square.

kimchee restaurant opposite google building 

kimchee is oppostie google building at king’s cross st pancras.

very nice ambience, high ceiling & quite a large place well patronised. 🙂

kimchee’s menu 

the menu is quite comprehensive.

kimchee’s menu 

has bbq meat, also bibimbap. bibimen etc.

galbi £10.80

we ordered 2 meats.

the galbi was very good, very nicely barbequed & nicely flavoured, tasty meat.

ribeye £12 

the ribeye was also very good. a good steak restaurant quality.

& served korean style, they came with lettuce & a mildly sweet chilli paste so you could wrap the bbq meat with the lettuce.

kimchi jjigae 

the kimchi jjigae was quite authentic flavours.

it was good, though our favourite singapore restaurant aburiya is unbeatable in this department, so this one still not comparable! 🙂

seafood pancake 

the seafood pancake was very good too.

this the crispy & starchy version, which we like. but anyhow this dish not really my favourite item.

jap chae 

the jap chae was tasty but a bit on the salty side.

wife thought it was alright when taken with rice.

fried chicken 

we also had fried chicken.

this was the poorest dish, nothing like korean fried chicken, more like a pedestrian sweet sour chicken with too much batter!

the bill

galbi & ribeye 

wife & son shared a large beer. i as usual didn’t drink.

the bill for 3pax included beer came to £64. very good price actually for the dishes we had, and cheaoer than greek larder & dishoom.

i can come back here for dinner! will do la when we return to london after iceland!

this a VERY GOOD FIND INDEED!

c.h.e.f andy

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Kimchee Restaurant

Address:

2 Pancras Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4AG

Contact:

Telephone: 020 3907 8474
Email: kimchee_pancras@kimchee.uk.com

OPENING HOURS:

Monday – Saturday, lunch: 11:45am – 3pm
Monday – Friday, evening: 5pm – 11pm
Saturday, evening: 5pm – 10:30pm
Sunday: 12pm – 9pm

SQ308 Sin-London 7Jun2017

this time i was able to get SQ economy return at S$1382 for my travel dates.

for my last trip to london & wales 27apr-11may with my 2 RI bros, i had to travel by qatar airways as SQ fare for the dates were S$2200! and qatar was S$1034 for the same dates, no brainer la!…

too bad now qatar has all these problems, airspace etc…

SQ A380 seat leg space & screen is smaller than qatar’s A350-900

SQ A380 aircraft aging…economy leg space & screen much smaller c/w qatar’s A350-900 aircraft i took last trip for the sector Sin-Doha..

breakfast -dimsum items

for breakfast, they served dimsum.

it was quite poor la…

breakfast -dimsum items

siew mai i supposed edible, carrot cake less so, the lor mai gai i took the mushrooms & chicken just a bit of rice.

how to describ this breakfast? pedestrian?

anyway for me considered edible, not by much…

lunch – rogan josh &; bismati rice very good

for lunch, i chose rogan josh.

lunch – rogan josh &; bismati rice very good

this was good!

nice herb flavours, mutton was tasty with the gravy, tender enough, more so c/w qatar’s mutton meal.

bismati rice was good, loose & fragrant..

vegetables also good!

lunch – rogan josh &; bismati rice very good

i had a tomato juice.

the salmon was quite ok too.

lunch – rogan josh &; bismati rice very good

the movie program on board quite poor, not many newer movies, noothing exciting to watch.

had some peanuts & coffee in between. it’s a day flight, did not sleep much.

we arrived maybe 19mins late at heathrow terminal 2.

we had our red fastlane card. the normal lane no much queue so looked about as fast.

we had 3 checked in luggage. so we prebooked a cab. took about 1.5hrs to get to king’s quarters apartment, about 7.05pm.

after that we went dinner with son at kimchee opposite google building at king’s cross st pancras.

c.h.e.f andy

lontong @ asia treasures lounge T3

leaving for a long 1-month trip to london, fort williams/Isles of Skye, Iceland 7Jun to 7Jul2017. 🙂

this my longest overseas trip, not counting a 1 month JICA trip to japan long, long time ago in the mid 80s while working in the government.

asia treasures lounge T3

today’s flight is at 9am.

wife & i were checked in & past immigration at 8.45am so just a short break at the asia treasures lounge at T3. 🙂

wife travelling SQ business redemption. we both prefer the asia treasure lounge, haha!

lontong @ asia treasures lounge T3

there’s no laksa or hae mee (prawn noodles) so we shared a lontong, and other dishes. 🙂

the lontong was good standard. but laksa or hae mee would have been better la..

fried carrot cake @ asia treasures lounge T3

the fried carrot cake here is always good.

very fragrant, tasty & very good with the crispy chilli. not better than the good hawker stalls, but pretty good standard.

fried beehoon @ asia treasures lounge T3

last item i tried was the fried beehoon.  wife did not want too heavy makan. i took 1/2. a very good beehoon, well infused with tasty stock & nice mushrooms.

for drinks, we had the kiwi fruit blended juice. they don’t serve the popular berries slush any more. afterwards we had cappuccino.

a great rest stop before boarding… 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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