Back to London

It’s good to be back in London, and call this marvellous city once again our home. I enjoyed our Leeds life, and also made a lot of incredible friends. Norther people dislike London for reasons, just like Souther people tease Northerner about their accents. I take it as different culture and I really appreciate the various culture backgrounds among this country.

After all the hard working moving and driving from North, we finally settle down and had time to relax in our new home and new area.

North London is always the first choice for John if we want to live in London, so at the end, we are living in North West London next to Primrose Hill. While we enjoy the area in Spring and Summer, we will fully make use of the area to offer. John and I said that so far, we don’t need to central London at all, because all the restaurants and shops in Camden have already kept us occupied.

Aagrah Indian Restaurant

It’s bizarre that you can easily find a really authentic Indian restaurant in North, especially Bradford and Leeds. I found Bradford sometimes like London’s Brick Lane.

Mel and I did go to Aagrah underneath BBC in Leeds once. The restaurant has an impressive luxury decor, however food is a reasonable price. Food was full of spice and flavours with a generous portion. Overall it’s pretty good.

On last Saturday night, we forgot to book a tablet and couldn’t find a restaurant anyway in Leeds City Centre except waiting for an hour. Then we drove passed Aagrah In Bradford, then we decided to try it again.

The restaurant in Bradford was not as luxury decor as the BBC one, but it has 3 floors, and surprisingly the first floor was almost full. It’s the most gigantic indian restaurant I had seen so far. We ordered a lot, but because it’s quite late,(about 10pm) and with their generous portion, all of us couldn’t manage to finish them all. Over all, it’s 3.8 of 5.

The Pembroke in Kensington / Earls Court

John told me there is a fancy restaurant and pub called The Pembroke, where it has amazing food located in Kensington and earls court. We were in Kensington area, and decided to have lunch there.

Compared with normal pub restaurant, The Pembroke got fancy decor but also welcoming atmosphere. Price is a little bit expensive than normal pub food, but we are talking in Kensington area. John guaranteed me that the food will blow me away, and it deserved the price. I ordered a luxury lobster linguine, and John ordered a special dish leek and parsnip crumble and mash potato.

My lobster linguine was amazing, and John’s humble crumble tasted absolutely gorgeous. I have never tasted so good and unique potato mash. It’s really die for. Then being naughty of me, I ordered a sticky toffy pudding with ice-cream. It was delicious as well. Food are qualified as restaurant food.

I definitely recommended this restaurant if you are in the kensington or earls courts. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Red Chilli Restaurant for Chinese New Year

After craving for some dumplings in Chinese New Year Eve, I dragged John to have some Chinese food yesterday. John teased me said I just had an excuse to eat more food. It’s true, and how naughty I am. We had been to Cantonese Ho’s restaurant a lot of time. If you need to eat dumplings, the best dumpling is from the North region of China.

There is a Norther spicy food in Leeds City Centre called Red Chilli, which is quite famous. We went and ordered some northern food. Price is a little bit expensive, but food is not bad as well as service. We tried few dishes, and it was very authentic. Overall 4 stars of 5.

We properly ate too much and enjoy lovely Chinese New Year Eve dinner in Red Chilli.

German Market (Christkindelmarkt)

Karolina and I decided to go to the German Market to eat some sausages and beer in Millennium Square in Leeds City Centre. Christkindelmarkt is open daily from Friday 12 November until Sunday 19 December 2010. The market and funfair opens daily from 10.30am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and 10.30am to 8pm on Sundays. The ‘Frankfurter Scheune’ bierkeller and selected stalls open late until 11pm.

It was not that big but it was fun and we ate sausages, beer, potato pancakes, roast chestnut, and strawberries white chocolate and some candy. I think we were done pretty well. We had a lot of laugh and fun even it was a cold night. Food price is from £2.5-£4. Good atmosphere and fun to have a night out with your friends.

Jamie Oliver’s 30 minutes Meal

John bought me Jamie Oliver‘s 30 minutes Meal on this Friday as a present, and I absolutely love it. We followed the book, and tried the ‘oozy mushroom risotto, spinach salad, quick lemon & raspberry cheesecake‘. It was so professional and so tasty. I have to admit that was one of the best mushroom risotto I had tried, certainly better than a lot of restaurants. The dessert was so easy to make and tasted incredible. We were so happy for the results and everyone can do it. It took us 45 minutes and it was dead simple.

Miwa Visiting Me


Miwa was so kindly to come to Leeds to keep me accompanied because she knew that John will be away to Florida for a week, and she was afraid that I will be lonely. Miwa arrived Saturday afternoon, then we went to town to have a walk with Melanie, and done some shopping. I took her to the restaurant called Thai Edge. It was absolutely delicious, authentic with reasonable price. I got my favourite curry crab. I missed it so much. It was 4.5 out of 5 definitely.

We decided to go to Manchester on Sunday, and just chilled out and ate food. Miwa and I didn’t do much research, and just booked the ticket to Manchester. Two little girls were in the big strange city, but we managed well. We went to Tai Hu Dimsum restaurant we went before with John, and we ordered 10 dishes dimsum and finished them all. The time when we finished lunch, all the shops were almost closed.

It’s nice of Miwa spending time with me because she will be back to Japan permanently and I won’t see her easily like she is in London now. I am so glad that I got Eileen, Miwa and Vicky as good friends in London.

Friends forever, no matter where they are!

Ho’s Best Dimsum in Leeds

I love Ho’s Chinese Restaurant in Leeds city centre. We have been there many times, and feel like that it is our regular dimsum place. I took all my friends there and they all said Ho’s dimsum is one of the best, even better in Guangzhou. Ho’s dimsum is certainly home-made Chinese with fresh ingredients and big portions as well. Most importantly, it is cheap and you will be satisfied when you walk out the restaurant.

My colleagues and I went there for dinner as well. The quality of the normal Chinese food was really authentic and I felt like I was in Guangzhou or Hong Kong. I will never feel home sick if we have good dimsum in Leeds. I gave 4.5 out of 5. If you like good quality of Chinese food in Leeds, go and try some.

My home-cooked Asparagus with Cod Fish

Normally we eat a lot of home-made good food at home. In the past few weekends, we bought fish and cooked them with simple recipes. Last night, I pan-fried cod fish with garlic asparagus, and mash sweet potato, add one roast big mushroom. It was so simple, but extremely tasty. Do you like it when you see the picture? It was so delicious.

Home-made Italian Salami Pizza

Since we bought the panasonic SD-257 bread machine, and used to make all kind of bread. It’s a good purchase because we eat bread so often. It is incredible to use and you can enjoy fresh bread every day. We wanted to try to make some pizza bread, then we made our own pizza with delicious Italian Ham and salami, and home-made tomato chilly sauce. It turned out so pretty and delicious.

It’s 100% home-made with fresh ingredients and it encouraged us to do it more in the future. I do like cooking and spoil myself with a lot of good food.