Taco Rice

I only heard of Taco Rice last year and was really intrigued by it. Checked online to find out what it was and saw the video from Cooking with the Dog on Youtube and thought it was a must try recipe. It is a Japanised version of tacos and it's really delicious and easy to make! ^^ (basically, you eat it with rice). 

Here is the video: Taco Rice -Cooking with the Dog-

I did not follow the recipe/video step by step and I think it still turned out pretty good. Like for example I didn't make the salsa myself (I'm lazy like that) and just bought the jar :P

For the meat, I added the salsa and some soya sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce. I placed the rice in the bowl, lettuce pieces, meat in the middle, tomatoes and sprinkled some grated cheese AND added cheese blocks. Then the avocado and tortilla chips, and added some sour cream (made the whole dish a bit creamier hehe).

Anyways, very good recipe that I should make more often! 

So many colours! 

Alfajor -Review-

Alfajor is like THE most devoured snack in Argentina. Recently, when my relatives from France visited and went to Portobello Road in London, they found alfajores, cookies filled with dulce de leche (a form of caramel very very popular in Argentina). There are MANY MANY different types of alfajores in Argentina and they can vary greatly from one to another (I remember having alfajores from Milka as a school snack sometimes). Obviously, in Europe you cannot find them easily. The Havanna brand, is I think the most commonly seen brand outside of Argentina and also the one people bring back the most when they go visit. This brand has other confectionaries than alfajores (like little chocolate drops filled with dulce de leche and white alfajores etc.). I remember people saying that the Havanna brand was considered to be the best kinds of alfajores and these are the ones you find at the airport! The box is pretty easy to spot being all yellow :P

Anyways, it had been a while since I ate these... And to be honest, I didn't even eat that many alfajores when I was in Argentina... I was kind of sick and tired of dulce de leche to begin with because everything had dulce de leche :P (cookies, doughnuts, churros, toast, EVERYTHING). I think the fact that I am not much of a sweet tooth matters (and alfajores and dulce de leche are both pretty sweet products). It was nice to eat one the other day though, reminiscing of the good old days.

Gold wrapping :P

If you ever go to Argentina, you will most definitely have many choices for alfajores and I would definitely recommend you trying some (any brand really... Maybe try to try other ones than the Havanna ones, those you can't find in Europe or other places)! The Havanna one I had is pretty good, though for me, half of it is enough. But if you are a big sweet tooth Nomster, this should be on your must try list! :)

Dulce de Leche in the middle! :)

Yo-yo Kitchen

Today I will be reviewing this place called yo-yo kitchen in West London. It's a Japanese place where you can buy bento (lunch boxes) and other nibbles. I've been going there to get some lunch boxes for the past 4 years now and it's super delicious! 

They have quite different varieties of bento and other take away dishes (Japanese curry rice, gyuu-don, katsudon, gyoza etc). They also have already made sushi and onigiri (the 'little rice bowls' they eat in Pokemon :P). 

They also sell random stuff like Japanese notebooks to practice your ideograms and basic for Japanese cooking (soya sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, etc). They also have different Japanese drinks and you can even eat instant noodles there (have to pay for the boiled water though I think hehe). 

Anways, you can eat it there or take it back home! My all time favorite is definitely the karaage bento (Japanese fried chicken), sooo yummmzzz! Price is decent (6£ for my favorite bento) so you should really try if you are around! ^^ It's the best way to have real Japanese bento! :D

Leaving the site over here you can check their menu! It's right next to West Acton tube station!

---> http://www.yoyokitchen.co.uk/

Here are some photos of their nom-nomz!  :)

Teriyaki chicken bento

Kara-age bento ><

Inari zushi

Frogs legs

So for my birthday this year, I went to a French restaurant in London. When a young French girl/boy becomes an adult, he/she has to eat 6 sets of frogs' legs. Just kidding. Nyaaaa~

Ok in all seriousness, I did try them but only because I have been very curious about how they tasted like. I had it as a starter and they were arranged like this:

I couldn't really realize what I got until I started separating them. Then I could really see the shape of the legs and I could really recognize the little animal (kind of made me laugh :P) as you can see on the photo below.

Such gracious legs.

I had heard before that frogs legs were kind of like chicken... And honestly I couldn't agree more. The meat is white like chicken and the consistency is also pretty similar. What was absolutely delicious was the sauce (butter, garlic and parsley). But the legs itself were nothing spectacular, I mean it just tastes like chicken but is more expensive than chicken. Obviously, it's worth trying and it's still a good experience but I don't think I would specifically order frogs legs for the sake of eating the actual meat. One down side was that I thought it was a bit too much for a starter (also because of the butter, it feels pretty heavy); only 3 sets of legs would have been enough for me. 

Anyways, I felt like a real Frenchy after eating this :P Oh no wait... Still never tried escargots... o_O

Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup

Two years ago, I discovered Reese's peanut butter cup via an American exchange student and it was definitely life changing.

Not being such a fan of peanut butter to begin with I was a little reluctant to try them at first but now I must say I am definitely HOOKED. 

Couple of months ago I heard of the existence of Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream and definitely had to try it. Luckily, American products are becoming more readily available in London compared to 4 years ago and it was easily found in local super market. 

Verdict: 

This ice cream is now one of my favorite at the moment. Compared to other Ben & Jerry's ice creams (for example Chocolate Fudge Brownie which I love but is too sweet for me) is that this one is not too sweet. It tastes like peanut butter but not too much (not being such a peanut butter fan, I found this perfect) and does not give you a heavy feeling afterwards.

Entire piece, YEY!

You can find pieces of the cups which is absolutely delicious (if you eat this ice cream you will fight with your family members or friends to get the cups :P). They are usually broken into halves but I was lucky to find have an entire one in my bowl! ;)

Overall, as a Nomster I would really recommend this ice cream despite the high calories :P

nom nom nom

Grape Fanta

Recently, in Atariya (a small Japanese shop in West London) I found a can of grape flavored Fanta for the first time. I cannot even explain the excitement when discovering it. I've been looking for it in different countries but never found it. Even in France where there is so much variety of everything, they did not have it.

As soon as I opened the can, I could smell the grape. The grape flavored candies and juices in Japan are very different from the ones in Europe and it also doesn't seem to be as popular. Personally, I LOVE Japanese grape flavored candies. If you would like to try some and you are in Europe, I would say try chewy candies called hi-chew. They are probably the easiest Japanese candies to find around and I would definitely recommend them (You can also find other flavors than grape, like strawberry, kiwi, apple flavor etc).

Going back to the Fanta can, it was very tasty. It immediately reminded me of when I was little in Japan and had a Happy Meal with nuggets, fries and Grape Fanta as a drink. Even though I think I appreciated it more when I was little, it is still a nice drink but maybe mainly because it brings back memories from when I was small :P

How to spot a good Eclair au Chocolat

Eclair is, in my opinion, one of the most well-known French dessert. As a Nomster, I have tried a high amount of different eclairs (mainly chocolate flavor) in different countries and heard the criteria for a good Eclair many times throughout my life via my (French) mother. There are a variety of signs that can tell you if the eclair is going to be good. Here are a few tips:

1. Creme patissiere: this is the cream that fills the eclair. It is very important that it is chocolate/coffee flavored depending on the eclair of your choice and most importantly that the creme is NOT white. I have had many disappointments upon buying or finding those shaped like and called eclairs but filled with whipped cream. If you see white cream in the inside, remember, it is an impostor.  
2. Chocolate icing on top of the eclair. On a good eclair, the chocolate icing should be shiny. I find it aesthetically more appealing and it also shows that it is not the same cream used for the filling and the covering. 
3. Dough: this is something that can only be tested once in your mouth. The eclair dough has to be soft and moist. If it is too chewy and dry, it means the dough was left on the fire for too long. 
4. The filling: the filling inside of an eclair is called creme patissiere. This cream should be filling the eclair generously. If not, the eclair may feel rather dry. 
5. The taste of creme patissiere: a good one will obviously taste like chocolate or coffee. Sounds obvious but I have come across some that were rather tasteless! 
6. Consistency of creme patissiere: the cream inside should neither be too liquid or too thick. If too liquid, eating it without any spill will be a challenge and if too thick, it will make the eclair heavy. 

Below is a chocolate eclair from a French boulangerie that opened in West London. As you can see the icing in very shiny and dark and the filling tasted like chocolate with a good consistency. The only minus point was the dough that could be softer. 

The next eclair is from Maison Blanc at Chiswhick. This one was absolutely delicious: the dough was light and the filling was exceptionally good. It was pretty thick and you could really taste the chocolate (you can also see it's pretty legit by the colour of the filling as well!). The only minus point was that they were a little stingy on the chocolate icing on top.

Filled with deliciousness!

Hope this will help you identify more authentic eclairs :)

Omelette de la Mere Poulard

I went to France end of September and I visited Mont Saint Michel for the first time. It is an island in Normandy (North-West of France) where an abbey has been built on a rock! The weather was very nice considering the season. and it was very beautiful and interesting to visit!

But getting to the important moment of the day for a NOMster: Lunch.

In Mont Saint Michel there is one very very famous restaurant: La mere Poulard. It is right at the entrance of the Mont, on the left hand side.

Its most famous dish is their fluffy omelette, omelette de la Mere Poulard which costs 65 euros T.T

A little too expensive for my taste, we looked for another place to have lunch in. Turns out most cafes/restaurants on the little island do have the omelette for much cheaper! So here it is I had the omelette similar to the one from La Mere Poulard.

The omelette was very fluffy on the inside; it was like mousse. The secret is to whip the egg for a long time, until it becomes all fluffed up. Taste wise, it didn't have that much... It just tasted like a normal omelette. It doesn't fill you up very much and it's a little bit boring... Overall a little bit disappointed with this overrated dish and I think home made omelets can be much tastier and way cheaper.

All the fluff! 

It also came with fries!