Eat Like Ushi

I had a hire car from Europcar in Nuremberg. As I didn't want to pick it up from the airport (since I arrived after 10pm), the most convenient place to get to from the airport, stay at a cheap Airbnb, and pick up the car early the next day was at Schoppershof/Nordostbanhof only a few stops on the U2 line. After a very comfortable sleep, breakfast nearby Europcar was essential.

There's a big shopping centre which I'm sure has a few pickings but the bakery Brothaus Cafe nearby piqued interest. Out the front you can see enormous wheels of bread around 2kg which I would have been delighted to take with me. Sadly not on this occasion.

The cafe does some cold tiered platters which I assume are a more traditional type of German brunch. Luckily they also have a wide array of sweet and savoury breads including sandwiches. In the end the carbohydrate overload of an excellent (but soft based) pizza with cheese, tomato and anchovies, a croque madame of even more cheese, and a pretzel proved enough. The ham and salad ended up being take away with the heavily laden seed crust adding to the grain flavour of the bread. Excellent.

Unfortunately the coffee was bitter and terrible. You can't win them all.

I've actually been to M+H multiple times this year, approximately 4 in 6 months. That may not seem like so much for a local cafe, but for me that's actually quite a lot. The small corner shop with a tiny amount of seating space, the open kitchen, friendly staff and the plant pots along the street outside all add character. Not to mention they do a good matcha latte (heavy on the matcha, minimal on the sweet).

The menu is small but there's something for everyone.

- Oliver's Puff Pancakes (fresh orange, orange compote, yoghurt, sugar, candied nuts) £7.5 - they replaced the fresh orange with raspberries which was probably a good thing. The pancakes were fluffy and thick;
- Waffles with zatar-coated halloumi, spicy baked beans, yoghurt, fried egg, avocado, chives £10 - delicious ingredients mostly the soft egg and squeaky halloumi.

My favourite local cafe and lucky that it is near. The menu does slightly limit return trips over and over but the waffles will always be a good option.

The website has also mentioned taco Tuesday and China-street-food Friday nights which I may have to sample before leaving the area.

There was a Timeout deal to have a meal at Roka in Aldwych. The reviews have always been good and it was one of the few places to offer a special during the Christmas period. I am skeptical about Timeout deals because most of the time they aren't - Timeout just overinflate the perceived value to make it seem reasonable. For example this deal on Timeout costs £42 with a bellini and unlimited wine - in the restaurant it is £43 with a bellini or £59 with unlimited wine. So therefore you need to drink a lot of wine to make this actually a deal. And considering I don't drink wine and the extreme Christmas flu I had prevented me drinking anything, I just had to be content that the food was good. And to be fair, it was.

- Edamame with sea salt - standard and salty;
- Selection of vegetable pickles - decent kimchi;
- Robata vegetables with sweet yuzu miso - grilled vegetables with a nicely savoury balanced sauce;
- Soba noodle salad with kurumi dressing - cold soba salad;
- Chef's sashimi selection - one piece of salmon, tuna and kingfish per person. Quality was standard;
- Spicy mixed sashimi with cucumber & asparagus - I think this was replaced by the other maki roll;
- Vegetable maki with kampyo, cucumber, avocado - a refreshing roll with a bit of wasabi mayo;
- Japanese pumpkin & sweet potato salad - a bright orange mash that seemed a bit light in flavour;
- Chicken & sancho gyoza - small amounts of meat in the pretty parcels and nicely panfried;
- Prawn & vegetable tempura - juicy crisp prawns were the stars of the dish.

The sharing starters were all ok but paled in comparison to the mains. The robata items are all visible cooking in the middle of the open kitchen and it is impossible not to want these when selecting a main.

- Baby chicken, lemon, miso & garlic soy - outstanding chicken in flavour and tenderness;
- Beef sirloin, chilli & spring onion - requested and cooked perfectly medium-rare with reasonable tenderness but even better glazing and dipping sauce;
- Glazed baby back ribs with cashew nuts - 7 ribs per serve from a good meaty pig;
- Grilled skewer selection - chicken, lamb, pork and nicely done.

Finally the Roka dessert platter was presented to the table. The whole platter is impressive with the chocolate buddha being the most intricate. He is accompanied by various balls of fruit icecream, green tea and berry pannacotta, and some fruit. It's a fine way to finish.

Overall the food quality and presentation is excellent. The highlights are clearly the dishes cooked on the robata as expected these have great texture and strong flavours. I'm sure what the normal a la carte prices are like but I'd happily go back with another voucher - it's especially good value if you drink enough wine...

Next to the persistent queue of the bubble wrap place (although I've actually seen times with no customers during the winter) was the shiny electric very typically Japanese manga pachinko-looking place of Ichibuns. It's a strange name that seems to draw influence on the ichi-ban meaning number 1 in Japanese, buns in that it may serve hirata buns (it doesn't) but instead has burgers, and that sometimes you may just have an itch you need to scratch.

A 6:30pm date at Picturehouse Central (the best non-Imax cinema in London) with Blade Runner 2049 meant an easy entry and seat downstairs.

The decor is hipster Asian with cool Japanese touches that overall do work for me. For some reason I expected a food court style selection of places to get street food when instead it's table service surrounding bars.

The peanut crunch ichi shake (sesame icecream, crunchy peanut butter, salted peanuts, maple syrup) £5 ensured I wouldn't need any form of dessert.

- Salmon & avocado maki (salmon, avocado, lime, tempura crumb, wasabi tobiko) £5 - an inside out roll with the typical ingredients with crumbs of tempura and a very mild wasabi caviar dip. Refreshing way to start the meal;
- King crab ramen (king crab, shiitake mushrooms, roast onions, beansprouts, spring onion, mizuna leaves, chili oil, soya marinated egg) £11 - crab claw meat with ramen that retained spring but sadly only half an egg. It was quite a salty savoury broth;
- Wagyu beef (slow-cooked wagyu beef, shiitake mushrooms, roast onions, beansprouts, spring onion, mizuna leaves, chili oil, soya marinated egg) £11 - essentially soy-flavoured pulled beef with the identical same as above. Do they use the same meat broth for both the ramens?

Overall it was a nice meal and adds ramen to the Chinatown armoury. I do prefer the thick pork tonkotsu that is available at nearby Kanada-Ya or Bone Daddies. But it's good to mix things up a bit.

This is probably the highest rising restaurant in town at the moment complete with a recent Michelin star. London has generally been quite poor in Asian food for me however the high end places seem to have good offerings. The now closed HKK was my first taste of this finer cuisine in London many years ago and I hoped A. Wong would be the second.

Bookings were essential on Thursday night at 5.30pm before watching Big Fish The Musical closeby. Unbooked hopers were turned away even at that early time. It was an excuse to explore the dining scene of Victoria which I'm sure benefits from shows like this and Wicked and Hamilton bringing crowds nearly every day.

- A. Wong dim sum basket £6 - the signature selection of har kau (topped with a prawn foam), sui mai and xiao long bao. Each morsel was small and tasty and just not enough. The flavours were a little more refined than standard but you really are paying for presentation;
- Xian city "lamb burger" with sesame, coriander & chilli £12 - the first sharing dish was a winner. Again a bit expensive but you create your own little sweet bun burgers with lamb and condiments. There's enough filling for 4 buns and it would be much better if they provided this as such;
- Crispy duck: Mrs. Chow's pancakes & plum sauce £12.95 - the second sharing dish was a bigger winner. A duck leg is mashed up and provides the typical fillings for peking duck with five spice salt and pickles. There were 6 pancakes (from memory) and a brush to paint the flavours on. Another table received a second helping of pancakes but I'm sure if this is to order or not. We certainly didn't have any extra brought to us and had enough ingredients to fill another 2-4;
- Dong Po slow braised Blyth burgh pork belly £10 - strong flavours but overall a bit too fatty for me. The thin shreds of meat in between the fat were very soft but the amount of wasted fat (I have my limits) was a bit sore. The sauce was excellent with the rice;
- Yunnan wild mushroom, truffles & red date casserole £10 - another dish of flavoursome sauce (was there a tiny bit of truffle flavour?) with a tofu skin cracked over the top;
- Crab & seafood filled in braised leaves, shallot powder, cockles £10 - a Chinese cabbage leaf was circled and topped with a collection of seafood and crab meat. It made it difficult to eat as once you bite through the base, the toppings all fall away. It was mild and clearly flavoured by fish and cockles;
- Egg fried rice £3.5 - a generous serve of fried rice to mop up all the sauces. Adding the salty chilli oils lifted this to another level and a dish on its own.

The food is well executed and the presentation and art are clearly designed to be different and a more interactive experience than the standard mess of Chinese restaurants or the other end of high end expensive versions. This is food designed to be cool with decent flavours (and prices) to match. Similar to many of these institutes more skewed towards the Western palate, the chilli needs a better kick. But it'll do for now for a special occasion. I wouldn't necessarily advocate it before 7.30pm theatre starts as you may feel a bit rushed even with a 5.30pm dinner, but if you are comfortable ordering and eating fast and don't expect to wait in line to pickup tickets (they are all pretty fast these days to enter anyway) then give it a shot.

After successfully avoiding eating at Bao for the past couple of years due to not wanting to wait in line and finding other things to eat at Netil Market, I instead made it to Xu. I wanted yum cha and several Sundays ago discovered Xu isn't open that day of the week. The nicely coloured green and brown do make it look nicer than what could be construed as a tacky faux-Chinese interior, and it is helped by the food and attentive service. Interestingly I didn't see any Chinese wait staff despite being in Chinatown and a Taiwanese brand.

My disappointment was slight when I realised the menu is far from yum cha. But at least allayed quickly by the quality of the food.

- Tomato & smoked eel (with soy dried daikon) £5.5 - sweet tomato with a tiny amount of eel in chilli oil;
- Xian bing pan fried dumpling (pork, chilli vinegar dip) £6 - a large fried dumpling with mild savoury mince inside;
- Taro dumpling (Taiwanese sausage) £6 - beautiful thick gelatinous textured skin was the most exciting feature and so good I don't quite remember the filling;
- Chilli egg drop crab (white & brown crab meat with salmon roe, egg drop sauce, red chilli, fermented shrimp & garlic) £16.5 - a refined version of chilli crab with strings of meat mixed in a chilli tomato egg sauce that would be perfect with any kind of noodles or rice;
- Xu's mapo tofu (silken tofu with mapo sauce made using green Sichuan peppercorns from Yunnan) £11.5 - silken tofu on top of regular tofu with a sauce that was more reminscent of salty XO sauce. Different to the usual versions and excellent;
- Mushroom glutinous rice (wrapped in magnolia leaf, salted duck egg yolk) £7 - a surprisingly mild mushroom flavoured rice with a thick stick-in-your-teeth duck egg that wasn't very salty;
- Lardo lard onion rice £3.75 - good flavoured rice with strips of pork fat adding extra savouriness.

The Iberico pork char siu looked fantastic and I would be certain to order that next time.

This was a refined (and more expensive) version of classic dishes spanning the cuisines of China. The cooking and flavours are excellent. You just have to be prepared to pay for the experience.

The bright neon pink sign of Rascals is a new addition to Shoreditch and I was lucky enough to take advantage of the 50% soft opening. It's an interesting sounding menu with dishes and ingredients spanning many continents.

The Japanese-inspired cocktails £11 have fun names such as Yuzu Pretty (delicious, sweet and quite strong) or Shiso Fine. The expresso Speedtini sounds like a great version before a long night out.

- Tempura Squid Spirals (with apple aioli, Thai dressing) £9 - the ink disc was impressive but the squid itself was remarkably plain and unflavoured;
- Cauli Cod Waves (burnt cauliflower, crispy cod) £9 - well cooked and not dry at all;
- Sticky Pork Belly (mezcal glaze, pickles, fennel) £10 - soft pork belly, mildly seasoned with a sweet coating;
- Slow Cooked Lamb Rump (anchovy lamb, potato, cauliflower) £10 - very tender pink lamb with a potato stack and excellent anchovy and capers bringing strong umami. More lamb would have been appreciated if this is the same £10 serving size;
- Sprouts & Romanesco (saffron, pickled blueberries) £8 - interestingly enough this vegan option one of the best dishes with delicious kale sprouts, brussel sprouts and pickly cauliflower roasted and seasoned perfectly;
- Ballie's Chocolate £8 - a chocolate sphere has caramel sauce poured onto it until it collapses in a heap. Nice but too sweet for my savoury tooth.

It was a shame to note that we were given an old menu which didn't have the grilled lobster on it. It was only at the end of the meal did we see someone else get it and realised the food envy. Shame. Shame. Shame.

Overall the food quality is good and obviously at half price a great deal. I'm not sure if I would specifically go back given the relatively high prices especially when drinks and service are incorporated. The larger share dishes are also a big step up in price so they would have to be very substantial for the cost. If I do find myself there again (which I wouldn't be disappointed with at all) then I would surely get the lamb rump, sprouts & romaneso and a larger share of seabass washed down with a Speedtini. Otherwise the lamb shoulder large share would have to be very significant in size but sounds good.

Just as my partner pointed out to me that it's unlikely I'm the first to say "I'm hungry in Hungary", it's equally unlikely I'm the first to search for "best goulash in Budapest". I'm sure every English speaking person has read the same websites as me to determine where to go. To save everyone and myself again next time the search (although perhaps there will be new runners by then), there were 3 options for me depending upon budget, availability and location. Stand25 is the most expensive and run by award winning star chefs and even though the lunch or dinner set menus seem affordable, there's an extra supplement for almost every single course on it. I can't be bothered to have to deal with that. Bestia had a slightly more outer location but near a gelato place (Gelarto Rosa) I wanted to try but didn't get the chance. Gulyas had overall multisource excellent reviews and location in the Jewish area near Szimpla Kert with the most concerning feature being getting a seat especially as we were going on Saturday night.

The venue has also the cheapest goulash of the well known places and also a reputation for stews.

By luck we snagged the last 2 seats at the countertop, with all the tables being occupied or booked. Straight after us a few other stragglers were turned away, so can't be unhappy about that.

The staff were all very friendly and lovely.

- Bread with sardine, paprika spread and Spanish onions - delicious fishy spread to start the meal;
- Hungarian goulash 'Alfoldi' style 1100HUF - a vastly different beast to the canned version I had growing up. Lovely tender beef pieces flavoured the stock with warming paprika and soft vegetables. Exceptional;
- Farm chicken paprikash from chicken drumsticks with egg noodles 1970HUF - I partially chose this because it's the traditional version, because venison or lamb may be similar to my beef from the soup, and also it was much cheaper than the others. It was a small piece of chicken breast, definitely not drumstick which was ok, and served with a savoury sauce and scrambled egg into firm chunks;
- Catfish stew with baked curd cheese noodles rolled in bacon 3350HUF - reasonably cooked fish with mild cheese wrapped in fatty bacon.

The stews were very different to expected. For one, stew usually means more liquid like a thick soup (to me anyway). Although the mains were smaller than anticipated, with the complimentary bread and a slow pace of digesting it turned out to be very filling in the end.

I'd definitely go back for the goulash. Next time I would still order a stew but probably the lamb paprikash or venison stew.

After a long day of walking along the Buda side to the Citadel, Buda castle and Fisherman's Bastion, the sun had long set and the cold was well and truly in. Even though it was only about 5pm and too early for dinner, it seemed a good idea to stop somewhere for a cafe pit.

Gerbeaud was tagged on my Google Maps as serving traditional cakes in an opulent setting. It's location at the Christmas market town square meant there was no shortage of tourists and priced accordingly.

It seemed most appropriate to try the Hungarian cake selection 3490HUF - Gerbeaud slice (centre - sweet pastry with apricot jam and walnuts covered with chocolate), Esterhazy cake (left - walnut cake with vanilla cream), Dobos cake (right - sponge cake with chocolate cream topped with caramel), and with vanilla icecream and apricot sauce. They obviously serve this often as the plate was near identical to the picture. My favourite part was actually the vanilla icecream, simply because none of the cakes were overly much to my liking.

If I was to pick one again, it would be the Gerbeaud slice as I'd be harsh not to say the chocolate and apricot made a nice mix. So yes, I would order that one again.

After failing to enter Szimpla Kert on Friday night and taking a leisurely stroll through the premises on Saturday morning (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/szimpla-kert-budapest-11-2017), the advice from a tour guide overheard there was to go to a different more local and quieter ruin bar in the evening.

I read about a few ones online and liked the sound of Csendes. Somewhere to drink, chat and play boardgames. Unfortunately they didn't have any board games but they did have a DJ playing very old tracks off vinyl one after the other (not DJing as such), a good atmosphere of what seemed like mostly foreign non-English language and some good drinks.

As with the other ruin bars the walls are covered in random junk including encouragement (I assume) to add your mark to the walls.

If I'm ever back in the city with friends for drinks, this will be on the list.