The first thing we did on our second day in London was to have lunch with Seamus. We picked K10 because we wanted Seamus to experience the whole sushi train thing. Kaiten zushi in Japanese means rotating sushi, hence the name of the restaurant, and this one seemed to have gotten good reviews. Unfortunately, we also selected the one branch that was located in the heart of the financial district, so when we got there, the place was packed with the lunch time suit crowd. Most of the customers there that day were in groups of twos, and whenever a group of two left, they filled the space with two other people. As we were a group of three, we had to wait for almost an hour, while people behind us in the queue proceeded to get seated first because they were a group of two. To their credit, the very nice guy organising the seating did apologise and offered complimentary drinks while we waited. When it was time to pay the bill, he even took a few items off as further compensation. But the damage was done. The food was OK; nothing really special to make me want to return.

After lunch, B and I headed off to our first sweet pitt stop. Minamoto Kitchoan is a Japanese confectionary shop specialising in wagashi – sweets usually eaten during the tea ceremony. We picked a persimmon and yuzu flavoured sweet each. Both were jelly based. The yuzu one was my favourite. Light, citrussy and not too sugary sweet.

Then on to La Maison next door where we sampled some champagne chocolate truffles and bought a palm sized macaroon and a bag of truffles to take away. There’s an air of being all very exclusive and hush-hush in there – it felt as if I had stepped into Hermes by mistake. They declined my request to take photos of the chocolates. I took some exterior pictures of the Halloween-themed window displays instead, but can’t seem to find them on my camera anymore, and have concluded that they must employ some sort of secret camera scrambling technology to thwart Intellectual Chocolatory Theft. Woah!

Since we were already in the Piccadilly area, we continued to walk around checking out the different shops – most notably the Apple Store on Regent Street which is meant to be the world’s largest Apple store, and Hamley’s, a toy store. Note the $8640.00 giraffe, and the Butterscotch the Pony display still makes me laugh. Realistic breathing!

Next : Day 2 – Part 2.. – Just when you think it’s not possible to fit anymore into the day, we visit Parlour at Sketch, Laduree at Harrods and St. John.

K10 City
20 Copthall Avenue
London EC2R 7DN

Minamoto Kitchoan
44 Piccadilly
Piccadilly
London, W1J 0DS

La Maison du Chocolat
45-46 Piccadilly
Piccadilly
London, W1J 0DS

Godiva Chocolates
247, Regent Street
London W1B 2EW

Hamleys of London
188-196 Regent St
London W1B 5BT

Jetlag is a bitch. The good thing about waking up with the sun each morning was that I was getting quite a lot done. The bad thing was finding myself nodding off by 7pm, over my dinner plate. The cause of this jetlag was my recent holiday to the UK. B and I spent over 3 weeks in Belfast, visiting his family and friends, and then 6 whirlwind days in London on the way home.

The very first time I saw London, was when E and I backpacked around the UK. As students, we were on a tight budget, so it was truly a shoestring holiday. Being gainfully employed now, I was determined to make the most of our trip to London. By the end of the 6 wonderful days, I’d managed to completely wipe work from my memory and eat my weight in technicoloured dream-macaroons. Joy. And yet, I felt sad to leave because there was still so much of London I wanted to explore…so many cakeshops to pop in to, the Tate Britain to see .. But as our plane descended into Sydney city at 8:30 on a Thursday night, I peeked out the window and gasped at the jet-black landscape encrusted with glittering jewels, marvelled at the graceful arc of the Harbour Bridge, and remembered why I call Sydney home.

Now that I’m slowly getting my act together and have been sifting through the many pictures we took during our trip, I’m going to be doing a recap of the time we spent in London, starting with Day 1, in which we didn’t actually do anything! We touched down in the afternoon and made our way to Sydenham, where B’s cousin and family had generously offered us a place to stay. The rest of the day, we spent with them – getting to know 2 1/2 year old Gracie (who was initially shy and quiet for all of 5 minutes before reverting to her usual chatty self), having dinner (M cooked – lovely sea bass with pinenuts and olives) and banana ice-cream for dessert, and then retiring to the spare room we were staying in, which also doubled as a Dr. Who shrine. Between two walls of shelving groaning with Dr. Who videos, cassettes, books, memorabilia and assorted literature, we slept.

Next : Day 2 : K-10 with Seamus, Minamoto Kitchoan, La Maison, Parlour at Sketch, Piccadilly Circus, Laduree, St. John and that dessert.

It seems only fitting to start with a picture of the dessert, because it’s the dish that is freshest in my memory. Ice Kachang is a great way to end any rich or spicy meal. A landscape of shaved ice topped with rose syrup, conceals a mixture of grass jelly, basil seeds, red beans and palm seeds. It’s light, palate cleansing and leaves you with a smile on your face. I can’t wait to have more of this during the hot summer.

However, we did not actually return to Sambal just for dessert. What I really wanted was to have more of that delicious Belachan Eggplant we’d had during our first visit, and to try some new dishes. Sambal seems to get conflicting reviews, depending on who goes when. As they are relatively new, I think they are still finding their ground. I notice that the current menu is slightly different to the copy I kept from my previous visit. Gone is the vegemite crab that apparently no one orders anyway. I’m glad to see that they’re tweaking things as they go. After this most recent meal, I still stand by my last assessment of the place. It’s serving very good food, and if you know what to order, you’ll manage to have a very decent, very reasonably priced Malaysian meal.

So what did we have this time round? In the company of a full set of parents, the brother, B, S and Calamari, we chowed our way through Beef Rendang, Belachan Eggplant, Mamak Rojak, Gulai Tumis Fish, stir-fried Kangkung and a starter of Loh Bak. The eggplant is as good as ever. Don’t visit this place without trying it. The Gulai Tumis Fish, one of my other favourite dishes of the night, was a spicy sour fish curry redolent with chillies, tamarind paste, and lemongrass, and topped with shredded ginger blossom. Another dish I quite enjoyed was the nonya salad called Mamak Rojak. Under a coating of spicy, slightly sweet sauce, we found a crunchy mixture (which is what “rojak” means) of sliced cucumber, yam bean, tofu cubes and prawn fritters. We also ordered a squid dish from the list of specials. I can’t recall the exact name, but Mom remembers it as being Yau Yee Ung Choy, which means squid with kangkung. The squid in this dish is actually dried squid which has then been soaked for several hours until it has reached just the right level of crunchiness (over-soaking would make it limp and soggy) – perfect with that carpet of crushed peanuts, as seen in the photo.

I don’t normally like Loh Bak – the quality of the spiced shredded pork wrapped up in those bean curd sheets can vary. There have been several times where I’ve tried it and discovered bits of gristle or cheap unpleasant cuts of pork hiding in there, but the version here at Sambal was great. At the start of our meal, S also ordered a grass jelly drink. Dad says that if you order a grass jelly drink with soy milk in Malaysia, it’s called a Michael Jackson. I didn’t believe him at first; not since he told me that elephants laid eggs, but surprisingly, Wikipedia says the same thing.

If you’re wondering how we managed to eat all that and still order dessert, well, we were actually too full, but somehow miraculously rediscovered our dessert compartments when two free bowls of the aforementioned Ice Kachang were brought to our table. Help – I need to be rolled out the door!

Sambal Restaurant
Shop 7, 285-297 Lane Cove Road
North Ryde 2113.