June 2020 - Happy eats

Wing’s Diner @ Small bar

This is one of those places where I’ve been meaning to go to for ages and before the lock down, it was always so busily impossible to get a table that I never got to go. But I kept hearing good things about it.

I finally had a chance to taste their food recently during lock down of all times and I can see why they’re so popular.

Wings has started doing an online booking system during Coronavirus lock down where you order ahead from Monday of that week for a timed collection slot between Thursday and Saturday that week, or until the food runs out. This also meant I had a guaranteed slot to try their delicious Asian fried chicken.

It works rather well, you simply make your order online on their website like you would any online food order, select a day and time slot before paying. When you turn up at the venue, it’s all very well signposted where you’re supposed to pick your order up from (the door on the right). The white, smaller door on the left is for buying your favourite tipple from the small bar selection, served in what looked like 2 pint milk bottles.

We ordered the Korean burger, Malaysian burger, chicken wings, Dirty Chicken fries and some kimchi slaw.

I can probably give the kimchi slaw a miss but everything else exceeded my expectations. When I saw the burgers I had an initial pang of fear that it may be yet another sloppy, dirty burger that seems to be all the rage at the moment where you cannot hope to eat one of these burgers without the sauces and juice going everywhere.

To my surprise, the burgers held together really well. The Korean burger consisted of a fried piece of chicken dressed in a sticky Korean sauce which I think is gojujang based, with a bit of the kimchi slaw (maybe if you’re getting the Korean burger anyway then don’t bother with the separate kimchi slaw). The chilliness of the sauce worked very well in the burger.

In contrast, the Malaysian burger was a fantastically crispy piece of fried chicken with peanut sauce. Most importantly, the fried chicken remained crispy throughout. A classic flavour combination that you cannot go wrong with.

It was on the chicken dirty fries that we got to taste their saracha mayo and it was a very well blended flavour of chilliness (from the saracha), a little bit of tanginess which I can only assume is from lemon juice or something, and mayo. This sauce was doused over a piece of katsu chicken over fries. (You can choose other sauces for your dirty fries)

All in all, it was a lovely bit of normality being able to try a new eatery again. I just hope I’ll be able to get a table once all of this is over. For now, cluck and collect!

Happy eating! 🤤🤤🤤🤤

12/06/2012/06/20

Aubergine and minced pork (魚香茄子）

Usually, this dish is served in a sizzling hot pot at a restaurant, ideally after hours of slow cooking so the aubergine and mince pork practically melt into one within the fragrant salted fish sauce.

In order to replicate this at home, you would have to be able to find Chinese salted fish (鹹魚) and have a ceramic pot that you can get up to a searingly hot temperature. Not to mention time.

I came across this Lee Kum Kee sauce satchet for this dish and you know what, it wasn’t bad at all! All you needed was pork mince and aubergines (pre boiled) and simply add the sauce mix. I added about a tbsp of light soy sauce and a tbsp of fish sauce to the mix and it turned out quite well.

Nice, quick dinner dish, perfect with a bowl of rice.

Happy eating!

07/06/2003/06/20

Pad thai

A quick, easy dinner. Also very versatile and you can use any meat you want, here I used chicken thighs that I had in the fridge. You can even use prawns instead or as well. The key is the flavouring to pad thai.

This is the type of rice sticks that I used, there are a variety of these available at Asian supermarkets of different thickness. You’ll see that I am using the Vietnamese rice noodles here which is fine for pad thai. All you have to do is soak the noodles in hot water for about 10 minutes then they’re ready to be used whether for frying or in soup (as in Pho).

To make sure your noodles will be fried in high heat later, cook your chopped meat in the same wok you will be using later. Remove from wok and set aside.

Make sure you have all your ingredients ready to hand before you move onto the next step.

In a hot wok, heat a tablespoon of oil, fry the shallots/onions until softened. Add preserved radish (if using) and beansprouts and fry for a couple of minutes. Add your cooked chicken and softened noodles. Add the sauce mix (see recipe) then mix into the noodle mix quickly.

Serve with chopped coriander, peanuts and a slice of lime.

See recipe

Happy eating!

03/06/20

Pizza Workshop – can’t get enough of it

This place has held the position of being my favourite pizza place for some time. Not only is it on my doorstep (I wish it was even closer), but the pizzas are fantastic everytime.

Pizza Workshop (now with two branches in Bristol) probably looks like another sourdough pizza places that has been trending for the past 5-10 years. I’m not one for trends (cronuts?!) But I can honestly say I have not yet found a better place that has been able to compete with Pizza Workshop yet (in my humble opinion).

Whether it’s the slightly smokey, charcol-y scented sourdough base from their woodfire ovens, or the geniously curated combination of toppings, I just can’t get enough of it.

My current favourite topping combination is their number Two (aubergines, basil, mozzarella and parmesan) and then I like to add nduja sausages to it. That spicy oiliness of nduja and slightly meaty aubergine is cut through by the fresh basil.

No 10 – spinach, pinenuts, ricotta and added anchovies

A new combination I tried recently was their current number Ten (ricotta, spinach, pine nuts and red pesto) which I then added anchovies to. The saltiness of the anchovies combined with the woodiness of the pinenuts and the light ricotta is a taste that will make you wanting more.

Yes, you might say that I’m not strictly eating within the true spirit of Pizza Workshop’s carefully curated combinations. But the genius of Pizza Workshop is that their pre-selected combinations and beautifully oven baked base is an art form on its own and versatile enough for you to make it your own.

Ps: they’re still hard at work during these difficult times for businesses. Gives me an excuse to support my local businesses (as if I needed an excuse!)

Happy eating! 🤤

Pizza workshop @pizzaworkshop