RESTAURANT REVIEW: Bad Egg

I'd been keen to try Bad Egg ever since it opened a few months ago but it's City of London location meant I wasn't often in the area, despite my fondness for the Barbican. This is the latest development in the world of Neil Rankin, from head chef at Pitt Cue Co. to the wonderful Smokehouse and now an American style diner serving burgers, beers and plenty of eggs. Don't be fooled by the name, the eggs were anything but bad!

I think the menu has changed a little since Bad Egg first opened, there aren't any starters or small plates now but there are plenty of main course options including eggy delights, ribs and burgers. We decided to share one of the egg plates, chilaquiles. This was similar to a nacho plate with crispy corn tacos loaded up with guacamole, chipotle, peppers, goats curd and chilli, with a fried egg slapped on to for good measure. Very nice it was, especially when the running egg yolk combined with the guacamole and tacos.

Steve went for the Korean pork belly ribs which were melt in the mouth delicious. The pork was incredibly succulent and fell away easily from the bone. The Korean style dress was a nice mix of sweet and spicy without being too hot.

I went for the Bad Egg burger as the promise of Nduja cheese fondue and a soft egg was too good to pass up. The burger was a messy one, you can see the cheese and egg dripping down the sides and that before I had even picked it up. The beef patty was succulent, pink and very tasty, combined with the oozing cheese this was one indulgent beast of a burger.

I'm not a huge fan of kimchi so we went for the Nduja cheese fries with a fried egg. These were perfectly crisp, just the way fries should be. The fried egg made a nice dip but we ended up leaving the white as we were pretty egged out by this stage.

Here's the dessert menu, we didn't have any because we were already full and I don't like peanut butter or Nutella, if only that s'mores pot could use normal chocolate I'd be in heaven!

Bad Egg is a great little diner, it's got a real American dive bar vibe to it thanks to the dim red lighting and neon signs. The food is messy and dirty but with a name like Bad Egg, would you expect anything else? I'll definitely be back again to try the brunch menu i.e. even more eggs.

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RESTAURANT REVIEW: Bao

It's been a while since I donned a restaurant queue but I knew I had to make an exception for the newly opened Bao in Soho. Following in the steps of many a street food legend like Pizza Pilgrims and Bleecker Burger, Bao have moved from food truck to a permanent restaurant in the heart of London's food centre. Their speciality is of course bao, or to be more specific Taiwanese gua bao i.e. pillowy soft, steamed milk buns, packed full of delicious meaty fillings. I've sampled these beautiful buns at numerous street food markets such as KERB and Street Feast but it had been a little while since I'd seen a Bao market stall, Yum Bun seem to be more present these day, so I was looking forward to reminding myself of their deliciousness.

Last Friday I finished work early and was in central London for 5pm, I decided to get myself a place in the queue for Bao before it opened at 5.30pm. I knew the restaurant was experiencing mighty long queues and whilst this is great for them it isn't great for me. At 5.15pm there wasn't a queue to be seen, there were however a few people milling around the pub next door. I grabbed a half pint of cider and waited for Steve. A few minutes later someone walked up to the restaurant's front door and within a blink of an eye a 20 person deep queue formed. I quickly found a place and to be perfectly honest was a little annoyed I hadn't bagged myself a better spot but alas, once the kitchen opened we were in for the first sitting. Unless you're prepared to queue for hours you really need to get there before opening, or try popping back later in the evening.

You're given a little paper menu where you write down how much you'd like of each dish. The menu is split into small sharing plates, bao (4 savoury and 1 dessert) and small side dishes. A waitress comes over and pops the order into a fancy iPad thing and you wait for your food to arrive plate by plate. The restaurant is tiny but despite a lot of people being crammed into a small space, the simple airy wooden interior doesn't feel claustrophobic. I love that the walls are lined with hooks, making it easy to hide your coat away. A small hatch at the back of the dining area allows you a peak inside the busy kitchen. I've not been to Taiwan but I image Bao have done a great job of recreating the simple Asian vibe in London.

Steve had a beer whilst I enjoyed a slightly sweet but refreshing Yarlington Mill cider. You're automatically brought tap water which is a nice touch  and there's wet wipes to clean your hands with before and after the meal.

Scallop with yellow bean and garlic - you only get 1 scallop per portion but at £3.50 that's hardly a surprise for this delicate shellfish. Tender and perfectly cooked this was a lovely bite seasoned with intense Asian flavours. Scallops are generally cooked in delicate flavours to bring out their subtle taste so the dramatic yellow bean and garlic may have been overpowering but it still worked well.

Taiwanese fried chicken and hot sauce - perfect crispy whilst remaining succulent in the middle, this chicken was delicious. The hot sauce added an intense heat but because the meat isn't swamped in chillies the overall heat was very pleasant.

Aubergines and wanton crisp - the smoked vegetable was delicious, cooked to a soft pulp this was textural delight when eaten with the crispy wanton. This reminded me of middle eastern cooking, especially since I made a very similar Persian dish the previous weekend, the addition of chilli makes this more Asian and a mega tasty dish.

Trotter nuggets - these were one of our highlights, succulent and meaty, melt-in-the-mouth porky nuggets with a little kick to them, simple but heavenly.

Pig blood cake - Steve has just declared this was his favourite and for very good reason. Black pudding still leaves me feeling a little squeamish (as it did with the neighbouring group of girls) which is ridiculous because I know how good this stuff tastes. You mash the meat and blood with the egg yolk yourself which provides a rich and deeply flavoursome taste.

40 day rump with aged white soy - this may look like a simple plate of perfectly rare beef but the tender, melt-in-the-mouth rump was a taste I had never experienced, due to the white soy I guess. This was definitely an unusual taste but one that was certainly enjoyable. For such a small portion this packed a hell of a lot of flavour.

Turnip tops with salted egg - I hated this, we both did. The turnip leaves were coated in the intense crumbled egg that was too much for me but I'm glad I gave it ago, sort of.

Finally, on to the actual bao!

Confit duck bao - I order this over the classic bao. The soft bun was full of rich, fatty, tender pork in a sweet and sticky BBQ like sauce. Piled high with crispy onions this was a joy to eat.

Classic bao - less rich than the confit pork bao, this is just as delicious due to the additional salty peanut crumbs and fresh salad leaves. The pork is just a tender and the bao is just as fluffy, delicious.

Fried chicken bao - I love that this bao resembles a little burger, the rice flour is different from the previous pillowy soft buns with this version having a crisper edge to it. The chicken is tender with a good kick of heat but it's in a slightly lighter batter compared to the bunless sharing plate.

Fried Horlicks ice cream bao - I feel awful for saying this, but this dessert did not live up to the hype surrounding it. The malty ice cream was lovely, the sweet fried bun was delicious but for some reason I had been expecting a hot bun much like the fried coconut ice cream bao Yum Bun does. This was still a very enjoyable dessert but if the bao had been hot, thus allowing the brutally cold ice cream to melt a little I think this could have packed some real wow factor.

Bao was excellent, I had such a wonderful meal and I can totally understand why people are willing to queue down the road to get their hands on the delightful soft buns and sweet meaty fillings. The turn around is fairly fast so hopefully you don't have to wait too long but I don't think the queue won't be dying down any time soon with positive reviews coming in thick and fast. Steve and I went in thinking we would be having a cheapish meal so were a bit taken aback when a bill for £77 (including service) was presented to us, but as you can see from above we did order most of the menu. I'll definitely return, soon I hope, as I'd love to sample the rest of the menu.

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Riga - Latvia

I'm hopeless when it comes to travel posts, I find them very time consuming to write as I have to go through hundreds of pictures and try and remember all the different places I visited. I'm making a promise to myself to finish this series of Baltic posts before I make a start on my holidays since.

I sat down to write this a little while ago but once I stared looking through the pictures I couldn't remember what anything was so I've had to go home and dig out my travel book to refresh myself, anyway I digress.

Riga, the capital city of Latvia and our third overnight destination of the trip. After three nights in Lithuania, one in Kaunas and two in Vilnius we caught the bus to Riga having prebooked tickets via Ecolines for roughly £15 per person. The bus takes around 4.5 hours and is a pleasant journey through the flat, green countryside.

We spent 2 nights in Riga which was perfect, it's a small city and most sights can be done in a day. We stayed at the Old City Boutique Hotel which is a charming little place split into a modern and old section. I booked a room in the old section as it was slightly cheaper (from €60 a night) and included in the room rate was a fantastic breakfast buffet with hot and cold food a plenty. The room was nice, a little dated but comfortable and the bathroom even has a bathtub which is something not that common these days. I would definitely stay here again as the location was perfect, it only took 5 minutes to walk to the central bus station (and train station) and we were situated in the beautifully quaint old town.

We arrived in Riga in the afternoon and once we'd checked into the hotel we ventured into the town centre for lots of exploring. I'm a big fan of museums, I love checking out local art, ancient texts, and medieval artefacts but you'll find most museums in Europe closed on a Monday. Guess what day we arrived in Riga? Anyway, a quick flick through my guidebook reassured me that we weren't missing out on too much so we began our walk around the historic old town checking out plenty of beautiful buildings like churches, government offices and castle ruins.

We started at the famous Central Market which is actually next to the station, just outside the old town. Situated in five enormous zeppelin hangars, the market is a foodies paradise with rows upon rows of local produce. We picked up some lovely fresh bread and fruit to snack on whilst trying to blend in with the locals doing their weekly shop.

Blackhead's House - a 14th century fraternity for unmarried German merchants

The Blackhead's House Christmas Tree memorial plaque in the main square

The controversial Latvian Riflemen Monument i.e. Lenin's personal bodyguards

Next to this monument is the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia which we did manage to visit the following day. Much akin to the museum we visited in Vilnius the account of Nazi and Soviet occupation was informative if not harrowing. The museum has a vast amount of literature to read and you could easily spend a couple of hours taking everything in.

St Peter's Lutheran Church

One of the Three Brothers' houses - this is over 600 years old and the oldest stone dwelling in town

Jacob's Barracks next to Riga Castle

Cat House

In the old town you can also visit Riga Castle and lots of the old city gates, take your time walking around as you can easily visit these historic buildings in a few hours.

The Freedom Monument marks the border between the old and new town and is now a symbol for freedom from the fierce Soviet rule last century

The magnificent Russian Orthodox Cathedral

  Views from the Skyline bar at the Raddison Blu Hotel (do you sense a theme?)

The industrial and busy new town is in stark difference from the quaint, cobbled streets of the old town. The buildings aren't as charming and there's a very soviet feel to the big streets and grey colour scheme. Saying that, it's still an interesting place to walk around and it's here you can find the famous Art Nouveau quarter. Take a walk along the canal between the two district and bask in the sunshine as you stroll down the esplanade.

We stopped for a breather in the fantastic soviet themed bar Gauja. I'm a huge fan of soviet interiors, I love the clunky designs and muted colours. This non-fussy mid-century style is something I'd like to replicate myself one day. We enjoyed a beer and the retro play list before heading out for an early dinner around the corner.

This meal was probably my favourite of our entire trip and one of the best value so I really can't recommend it enough. I'd read about Galerija Istaba in my guidebook and was intrigued about the art gallery come cafe concept. We turned up to the gallery shop, a little confused about what to do but were told to head upstairs where we found a warm and welcoming dining room overlooking the main gallery shop. We took our seats in big comfy chairs and awaited the menu. A waitress came over and explained that there was no menu, the chef goes to the market daily and picks up whatever he fancies. She told us that the starter would be sharing plates and the main would be a choice of meats with several side plates. I went for prawns and Steve asked for duck, I was excited to see what we would get!

The starter was a delicious selection of meze style dips with a huge portion of garlic bread. The dips were sublime, I was especially fond of the vibrant beetroot and cheese dip and whilst I don't generally like olives I really enjoyed the black dip. We were also presented with an enormous salad which had to be placed on a side table as we had run out of space.

After an amazing starter we were presented with a sublime main course. The selection of meat and side dishes were impressive. Not only were they extremely flavoursome but the portions were huge.

Steve's duck was cooked to perfection, the meat was succulent, juicy and pink.

I received a huge bowl of buttery kings prawns cooked in a garlic and white wine sauce, absolutely delicious.

We were given three different side dishes, the first being a lovely bowl of steamed seasonal veg.

The second side was my least favourite, potato and mushrooms in a cream and bacon sauce. Despite my mushroom aversion I ate the potatoes which were heavenly, not too soft and not too hard.

The final side was my favourite, puy lentils and onions. So tasty and comforting this was home cooking at it's finest.

The whole meal was magnificent but the very best thing about this dinner was the price. With 2 enormous courses each and a couple of beers I couldn't believe my eyes when we were presented with a bill for €30! We were not told prices at the beginning but receiving this quality (and quantity) of food I was expecting at least €50 and I still contest that this was worth way more than 15 quid per person.

If you are ever in Riga I 100% recommend visiting this place, you will leave with a full belly and a full wallet.

After dinner and before the sun had properly set we headed back to the canal to walk around the art nouveau district, one of Riga's highlights. This area is only made up of a few streets but the choice of art nouveau architecture is impressive, look up whilst you walk around and you'll be greeted with this haunting style of decorative art everywhere. My Lonely Planet book (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) had a wonder 3km walking tour that we followed thus making sure we found all the best spots.

Riga is a lovely city and somewhere you could really enjoy for a few days. There's enough sights to keep you busy but not so many that you're rushed off your feet. Outside of the city centre is a TV tower that we didn't get a chance to visit but I'm sure it provides some impressive views. I didn't think I'd love Riga as much as I did, I expected it to be full of the stag do crowd taking advantage of the cheap beer but I didn't once experience a sleazy vibe. The city's old town is beautiful and charming, the cobbled stones are romantic and the city parks make for perfect summer time strolls. I really hope I can visit again once day.

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