Abeno Too, 17-18 Great Newport Street, London

It's been 2 years since I last had okonomi-yaki...good old osaka days :) I was walking around when I bumped into this sweet restaurant in leicester square. Wow, they actually have a specialised okonomi-yaki place in London, I'm such a beginner to the London restaurant-scene, I guess they have everything!
Ok, what is okonomi-yaki? It is a savory pancake that is cooked on the hotplate of your own table. It is topped with mayonnaise, katsuobushi(shavings of smoked tuna) and aonori(seaweed flakes). Sounds different huh?



Monday 2pm, obviously not a peak time, we are one of the only two tables :) We picked the lunch set menu that comes with a miso soup, okonomiyaki and seaweed cucumber salad. Our preference of okonomiyaki was Shinshu Mix which contains chichen, cheese and asparagus. Luckily it was diner-style, i.e. the cook prepared it for us, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to fry the pancake thoroughly.
It was a dear friend's birthday. Without making him realise, I asked our lovely waiter(chatty and amicable lady) to bring a dessert with a candle on top. She recommended Sakura-jima sundae, which I loved. Quite weirdly my friend didn't like chocolate much(!), so I might have had the most of his dessert :=)
Having the dish cooked in front of you is fun and it is filling!

Tibits, 12-14 Heddon Street (off Regent Street) London

People! see me published at the restaurant web-site :=)


http://www.tibits.co.uk/e/about-us/media-roundup/


This vegetarian restaurant has no menu but "the food boat" which is basically an open buffet with some 30 dishes to choose from. They are GM-free and made with fresh, seasonal produce sourced from the UK and Europe. There are asian, indian and mediterranean dishes such as hummus, tabouleh, dahl, cheese-jalapeno balls, falafel, flat bean salad, mushroom salad... You fill your plate from the buffet, weigh it at the cashier and pay accordingly. For dinner "boat" price is 21pounds/kg. A plate like the one in the picture weighs around 500g.
I learned from the lovely lady at the cashier that they change the mains every 3 months (i.e. seasonal), but they keep the classics like jalapenos and dahl all year round. By the way there are some desserts as well but was too full to even have a look :) My plate had way too many tastes altogether therefore I choose not to have a drink/juice in order to focus on the dish.
Such a healthy and wholesome dinner!

Manorom Thai, 16 Maiden Lane Covent Garden London WC2E 7NJ

As a regular of covent garden, I was quite ashamed not having discovered this street. Manorom is a small, really small restaurant with less than 10 tables I suppose. It was deserted when we got there on a thursday evening around 6pm. You know when a restaurant is empty, one can't help but have prejudice for low quality/mediocre taste. Only 5 minutes after we put our bums on the chairs, the place was packed!
We preferred the 3-course dinner set menu. For less than 15 pounds we had awesome (seriously no words to describe it) spicy chicken soup, hearty portion of sweet and sour prawns, jasmin rice, veggies in oyster sauce and lychee desert. Amicable staff, good taste, great value.

Soon after this first visit I have taken another friend to this place on a friday evening and it was fully booked for the night. Apparently people have discovered this place already! If you haven't, consider it for your next time in covent garden:=)

Yes I was so hungry, I even forgot to take a picture..this gives me the excuse to go there again!