bali buda/bali buddha, bali (eat-in)

good food – incidentally, healthy too – at this holistic café-deli chain, nearish kerobokan. this place has a slew of good reviews on tripadvisor, and I was lured by their online menu, which had a large range of healthyish (and very interesting) options for brunch and lunch – though if I were honest it was most likely the pancake and cereal options on the menu that truly reeled me in.

the food veers toward the healthy-sounding, which scares off people like my partner – and I think men in general – and even has options for vegan/vegetarian/macrobiotic-sounding diets, but which appeals to me. I like the idea of having a large and satisfying brunch with wholesome ingredients (dimsum excepting), and this place certainly served up. but for all you manly men out there with a fear of supposedly healthy food, they do have things like burgers and pizzas – so you can certainly get your share of the mornin’ grease here.

recipease, london (the deli)

pretty little deli belonging to jamie oliver in the heart of notting hill. this is a sequel to my earlier post on the cafe at this same site – and I have to say that just as much as I enjoyed breakfast at the cafe, I loved walking about the deli. bread, pastries, jams, oils, chocolates, utensils – I mean you name (a food-associated) it, they probably have it.

these photos are just a tiny distillation of the huge space downstairs. there is a sort of giant island in the centre, where people take cooking lessons – that night there were a group of adults learning various methods of cuttings vegetables, such as dicing, matchstick-ing and julienning. surrounding this are shelves full of food: jamie-branded jars of jam and mustards and pickles, colourful bottles of oils and vinegars, and loads of straight-away-edibles such as chocolates and biscuits.

recipease, london

pretty good breakfast in notting hill. this was the first breakfast I had in london since arriving, and it was more a convenience meal than a destination one – I hadn’t realized it was a jamie oliver establishment until we walked through the door – since it was only about 5 minutes away from where we were staying.

I’m not sure how to go about describing this place, but it felt very much like a british cafe, the like of which I miss in singapore – vibrant but calm, welcoming, and somehow feels like you’ll get a good cup of tea (only now do I realise how spoilt I was by the countless steaming cups of tea I had back in college) in there. it also fits with the impression oliver has been portraying these few years – it’s not something I can necessarily describe, but suffice to say that if you’ve been watching his shows and enjoy his aesthetic, you’ll feel at home here.

muriel’s kitchen (visit 2), london

good cakes in south kensington. I’ve blogged about muriel’s before, and rather enjoyed the experience.

happy jubilee, everyone!

there’s something brilliantly british about this weekend, and I had the chance to go out for a spot of cake and some tea, a very british activity. though the weather itself is rather british as well – that is, grey and wet – and so it might put a slight of a dampener on the weekend. but what are the british if not resilient and weather-tolerant?

in any case, I came here for a quick spot of cake and dessert, and muriel’s served us very well with our slice of carrot cake as well as a slice of very good dark chocolate bread and butter pudding, with its custard served alongside. I didn’t eat any of the cream cheese frosting, but that’s a personal dislike for any sort of frosting that I haven’t made myself. the bread and butter pudding is one of those comfortingly stout desserts that remains light and rather delightful, and something I love very much.

come here! prices are a tad high but not exorbitant or even unusual for a cafe, and it certainly feels homemade and britishy. have a good weekend everyone! (and yes I know that there are two photos of each slice of cake, but really I can’t resist the beauty a photo of cake holds, and I hope you can’t either)

bistro kos, gdańsk

fantastic food in gdańsk. I haven’t been so impressed by a restaurant in a long time, not even here in london – but then I haven’t been going out as much recently – but this place is spectacular for both price and quantity and quality of food.

I had done some research (tripadvisor, anyone?) on this recommendation from the receptionist at the hostel, and so I knew we were going to get big portions. beyond that, we weren’t too sure hat to expect.

when we arrived at 8pm for dinner, the small space was packed out with people either  eating or waiting to get their takeaways. this is a semi-self-service establishment, where your food is brought to you but you go up to order and to pay, and you damn well get your own table in the place. the demographic of people here was wide-ranging, from young groups of teenages to working men to old couples. I fancy this must be the hangout in gdańsk.

for dinner, we got two main courses of fish – one of halibut and one of sole. the large battered fillets were fried golden (perfect!) and served alongside your choice of fries or boiled potatoes, as well as three vegetable side dishes. the fish was marvellous; the batter was not thick and yet substantial enough, the fish was sweet and flaky, and my boiled potatoes were heaven (let me tell you that if you have never tasted the beauty of a well-boiled tasty spud sprinkled with the merest scattering of salt, you have not lived). the three ‘salads’ was a grated carrot salad (the best one), a horseradish-dressed cabbage one, as well as a beetroot salad. they were so good even my salad-averse partner finished most of it up. I ordered a side dish of boiled vegetables – it is called something like sports salad or something equally ingenious – which really was a plate of overboiled carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I didn’t actually mind it too much though.

the best thing about this meal? two huge main courses (we couldn’t finish the potato or the salads), 1 pint of paulaner and a side dish came up to the equivalent of 9 pounds. HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT.

we liked it so much we returned the next morning. they have a dedicated breakfast menu on top of the regular one available at lunch and dinner. I opted for a smoked salmon salad (I had lots of envy for a large plate of salad the night before) and my partner had scrambled eggs with bacon, as well as a plate of white sausages.

the salad was lovely – there was a raspberry vinaigrette on very crunchy salad leaves; the smoked salmon was generously draped over the the leaves and it was all topped with a perfectly-fried yolk. I love eggs, and one with a liquid yolk that unctuously (yes this is my attempt at a nigella impersonation) drapes over the rest of my meal is a very good thing.

the eggs kept my partner very happy, and he decided to up the (cholesterol) ante by matching the white sausages and the eggs on a roll – but that was too much even for him. these white sausages aren’t the ones we expected – we were thinking of the bavarian ones – but this was very good though a tad too salty.

this place is a must-go. I’m hungry just thinking of the perfect fish we had.

daylesford organic, london

amazingly photogenic british deli in notting hill. this is what I’m going to miss most when I leave london, the existence of these pretty delis where you can buy every-thing you want (given you have enough money), in an environ that may seem highly contrived, but really just makes me very relaxed.

we stole into here after some cake in tom’s – which makes this the third and final stop on my food tour in notting hill – because it was just too enticing from outside. I think what I’m most drawn by is the fact it feels so much like you’re shopping at a highly sanitized and restful farmer’s market. I know many people go to the market just for the noise and the jostle, and I do like that sometimes, but much of the time I want a pretty place to admire the colour and appeal of fresh produce.

they have everything from sweets to cold savouries, fresh produce and beautiful brown and white eggs, an ice-cream freezer shelf and a side for diners to sit. christmas was also in full appearance here, with shelves of stollen and preserves, a christmas shop and lots of mince pies and fruit cake.

come here, nay rush here for some posh but approachable calm. we took some of very generously-cut samples of carrot cake – moist with a smooth creamy icing, some stollen and very good flapjack. I know this is a chain, but it does what it does so well.