I was triggered to write this post because one sunny and very hot afternoon in the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, Yea Ji texted saying "Is it weird that I miss CnR Chinatown's laksa even though I'm in Malaysia now?".

At first, I went "Hmm CnR? Sounds familiar..." But I couldn't really put my finger on which restaurant this was. So I google maps it (turns out it's the one in one of Chinatown's side alleys), and the map of London on my screen brought up floods of fond memories. Sadly, these memories were hazy, half forgotten, and I knew that more would be lost to time. That's why after 5 years I decided to blog about London, maybe mostly about food, because I am a glutton.

CnR... CnR.... I doubt I have any photos of that place, as most of the Asian restaurants in London are kinda dinghy and frankly not photo worthy. After scavenging through my harddrive however, I do have a photo of the famous Four Seasons where they serve you a plate of what I call "fuck off oranges" together with the bill when you've finished dinner and they want you to get out fast so the next customer can come take your table. You know London, rent ain't cheap so the restaurants are mostly teeny tiny. And Four Seasons is always packed since it's one of the most famous Chinese restaurants.

Typical hanging chicken/duck/pork at glass window setup.

But when it comes to rudeness, there is no other than the notorious Wong Kei. I remember going there a lot with Weng Hoe in my first year since the food was cheap and portion was big, but boy did the waiters have attitudes. I think there was once where I wasn't confident reading out my order in Chinese so I just pointed on the menu and got chided for that. Food was meh but when you're a poor student craving some Asian food, Wong Kei is the cheapest option. Well either this or Misato. Misato also served nice generous portions of katsu curry chicken, I use to eat only half and then pack the other half for my lunch the next day. Hmm I don't seem to have any pictures of Misato either. I probably didn't take too many photos back in those days especially with my laggy Samsung phone. First year was a not a good time since we were all adjusting to life in London. I remember Oondy went into some sort of depression or something close to that. When we first arrived in London I used to go over to Hughes' Perry quite a bit to hang out with her. The shopping centre near her place was called The Brunswick and it had an amazing huge Waitrose which I loved. Used to buy all my Tyrells and Gu there since they had a large selection. Oh and some Waitrose instant meals from time to time. There was also this burger chain there called GBK and I had a lot of that since they had a decent student discount, like 30% off or something. I remember bringing Joanne there when she came over.

Fast forward to my second year and my dining experience got much better since the shock of having to pay in Pounds had worn off and I got my Petronas scholarship so financially I had more room to breathe. No more GBK, no more Wong Kei, no more Misato. This girl was moving up in life. I think it was then that we discovered Eat Tokyo, and I can say it became my favourite restaurant all the way to my fourth year, me loving Japanese food as it is. Sadly, once again I don't think I have any pictures of Eat Tokyo. We went so often it was like a norm. Their variety was great and the food quality and portion was decent for the price. It was the restaurant we (BS3 gang) went to on Christmas Eve after we came back from Austria, tired after a long journey. Since it was Christmas Eve, we even got presents in the form of chopsticks that night. I also remember the head chef in their Holborn branch looked like dad. When I go back to London I will definitely pay a visit there, just for old times' sake.

Second year was also the time Sara and I got into cupcakes. Hummingbird Bakery was a bit too sweet for us, but we loved Primrose Bakery, even though it was on the other side of Regent's Park, in a really quaint neighbourhood. I remember long walks and Barclays' bicycle trips to get there, but it was worth the effort.

Ahh Primrose, I do miss you.

I don't think I had Lola's more than a few times. It was alright.

Sara got these from Bea's for my birthday :)

Since I started this post with CnR, I need also mention my favourite Malaysian restaurant in London, Roti King. Their food was as Malaysian as you can get in London (CnR is good too!) but it has a special place in my heart since they have a dude making fresh roti canai there in front of the diners. Can you imagine being 10,000 km away from home and then seeing something like this? Watching him made me homesick yet slightly warm and fuzzy all at the same time. You brought joy to me, you really did. :)

My third and fourth years were a lot of takeaway Wasabi, Nandos and Pret as we laboured over our design and research projects. Fourth year was the best since that was the time I shared Lizman House with Sara, Joolin and Eujin. All of them were great cooks and tidy people, still the best housemates ever. We cooked so many dinners together and had so many great conversations over dinner. There was one late spring/early summer night during the height of the Pokemon Go fever where we spotted Mr Mime on our maps but it was on the other side of Euston Road. So we slip on jackets over our pajamas and scrambled across Euston Road in our slippers to catch some Mr Mime. Fourth year was also the time I finally let myself loose a little, joining dance together with Sara and Wenying, watching a tango performance in Borough market, exploring fancier food places, one of which I have pictures of is Brasserie Zedel. To be honest, I don't think the food was anything that special (or did I order the wrong thing?) but I remember the restaurant being...grand... magnificent... fancy schmancy.

Look at my face of awe.



I also finally went to a Michellin star restaurant - Yauatcha, with my coursemates (I can't remember whether this was in my second or third year). The dim sum was very good I guess, but I don't really know what makes a restaurant star-worthy. I don't even have any photos of the dim sum, only of the desserts. Hah, you can see where my priorities lie.



My love for Mexican food was also discovered during this time. There's not as many Mexican places in London as there are in the states, but I did have my fair share of Chipotle (Guac!) and Wahaca. I'm not sure why Joanne dislikes Chipotle. Thinking of coriander and lime rice with shredded chicken and black beans topped with a generous amount of guac is making me hungry. I'm pretty sad Chipotle hasn't come to Malaysia, but I don't think many Malaysians know how to appreciate Mexican food. I don't remember what Wahaca's food was like, but I remember its restaurant was bright and very colourful. Again, frustrated at myself for not having pictures.

One of the places that I frequented especially in my fourth year when I threw most of my concept of money out of the window was a tiny place (I think there was a total of 3 or 4 tables) near Finchley Road called Lanka. It's a Japanese-French cafe run by a Japanese that originally attracted me because it had a number of pretty decent green tea desserts. Actually, the green tea taste of their cakes were not as strong as I would have liked them to be, but overall their stuff were solid and this place slowly overtook Primrose to became my favourite dessert place in London. I still follow them on Facebook til this day, and have been craving their Green Tea Tart to the point where I considered trying to bake it myself. In the end I chickened out since I can't even get my brownies to taste the way I want them to. Another place to re-visit when I get to London.

Clockwise: Green Tea Chocolate Gateau, I-can't-remember-what-this-was, Earl Grey Creme Brulee, Green Tea Roll Cake. The Earl Grey Creme Brulee was especially heavenly when I shared it with Amanda and Rae, but another time I had a whole Creme Brulee to myself and felt ill after that because it was so rich. The downfalls of gluttony.

I think I will end my post here on a sweet note with Lanka. :) After this pandemic, Europe will definitely be on my travel list.