Jen Café

By enlarge Jen is a pioneer of cheap Northern Chinese street food in Chinatown.
It was also the first to exhibit a lady (9.5 out of 10 times, believe me) slaving away making Jiaozi dumplings by the front window, hours on end.
I must say I fell for this marketing thing when it first appeared over a couple of years ago.

I’ve been slightly reticent about posting a review on this place. I haven’t been back for nearly a year as I found the cooking very my much hit or miss. I suppose it’s a typically Chinese restaurant thing, if you notice there were wholesale changes amongst the staff then expect things to change invariably. I simply walked away when they lost the plot with the portions.
I came back recently because of this fellow. Mr Quality Street, who knows a thing or two about quantity, has been going to Jen ritually, twice a month. He said the dumplings were the now the same size as they were two years ago. I poked his abdomen and asked him about the quality, he squealed ‘better than most!’ (If you ever see him at Jen, ask him something on Joan Sutherland, you’ll be stuck with him for quite some time)
Jen’s corner location in this part of Chinatown is pretty prime, it’s unlikely you’ll miss this little green monster. It’s a tiny eatery and communal eating is greatly encouraged. Except for Mr Quality Street (I’m not quite sure how they put up with him!) I reckon the average diner is out of the place within 34 minutes (I’m good at this sort of thing).
The all-female staff here can be grumpy (otherwise it wouldn’t be Chinatown would it!) and don’t even dare chuck in a bit of small talk, these ladies have a life (albeit different to yours or mine) to get on with.

One goes for either of the following in Chinatown-
Chinese pastries from Kowloon restaurant, trolley extravaganza at New World, my kinda Dim Sum from Harbour City, most pampered service at Wong Kei and Jiaozi pork dumplings from Jen.
I too find it difficult to pronounce Jiaozi (the Cantonese Gau Jee is more bearable), however the folks at Jen have made it simple for everyone, they call it Beijing dumplings. There’re two ways of having this. The purist way (most original I would add) is to have them boiled or the easy eating option of shallow fried (yes they become pot stickers or ‘war tips’).
Two condiments are needed, copious amount of their homemade chilli oil and the sacrosanct black rice vinegar sauce. Eight dumplings (has to be that number, Chinese for wealth) per serving for £4.50 (might be enough for some but certainly not for me!) These dumplings are very good, they tasted bespoke and quite possibly deserve the tag of the best Jiaozis in town. Lest I forget they do have vegetarian dumplings as well, I can only imagine the filling is made from cabbage, Chinese chives, etc.
The wonton soup is a different to the Cantonese original. Here the dumplings are more delicate and smaller. The meat filling is essentially the same as the Jiaozi, but served in a bowl of broth. The inclusion of some kind of seaweed is a nice touch.
It’s strange that they won’t chuck some noodles in this dish, I did ask but they politely turn me down. ‘Not on menu’, said the alpha waitress. About a fiver for this hearty bowl.

Other dishes to consider include the northern Chinese staple Zha jiang mian, various bubble teas (bloody waste of space, whoever created them!) and strange but quaint things like luncheon meat (SPAM) and egg sandwich!

Two noodle dishes I managed to snap-
Fishball soup- I’m not quite sure what got me into ordering this. Fishballs are fishballs, they taste synthetic and with ‘a palm slapping on my forehead’ they’ve gone for some instant ramen as noodles!
It wasn’t actually that bad, it’s the sort of dish that makes you guilty eating it, plainly because you can knock one up at home all quite easily. You know if one were to accidentally knock a couple of tablespoons of chilli oil into this bowl, it’ll probably end up as another noodle dish they serve next door at Baozi Inn, except that it’s about £2.50 cheaper here.
Shredded pork with preserved cabbage- the soup stock was brilliant, spicy and delicious.
Damn those bloody noodles again! This time I asked alpha waitress about this, there’s apparently a choice of noodles available from hor fun to vermicelli, if one doesn’t specify they simply dish out the ramen! You’ve been tipped! £5 for this excellent dish.

This place is rather good, it doesn’t have any pretensions and nor does it bother with service charge either. Those two reasons alone are enough to knock the spots off the overrated Baozi Inn. If this place is good enough for its predominantly Chinese clientele, then it’s good enough for you and me. It’s plain Chinese grub at its best. Recommended.





4-8 Newport Place
Chinatown
London WC2H 7JP

The Nosh Bar

Six Feet Under

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I came here because I followed The Epicurean. Thanks Gastro 1.
I’ve always had a soft spot for simple and uncomplicated foods. By that I mean that it shouldn’t be bland tasting and it will always be pleasing to the heart, bit like what ‘Mama would knock up at home and you feel safe thereafter’. Jewish cuisine satisfies the two criteria perfectly.
Despite The Nosh Bar resurfacing only a fortnight ago, it is by and large*** an institution. I’m not going to bore you with the usual as it has its own Wiki entry here and I’ve also copied their brief history from their promotional flier. Back in the 80s my mate Jake* would drag me to Blooms in Whitechapel as his family thought The Nosh Bar then was barge pole material. So you could say this year is effectively a silver jubilee with respect to my first ever Salt Beef sandwich experience.
I came here for a late lunch today and only ¾s recovered from a dreaded lurgy. Yesterday I felt like death, a warm day I was told, but I had the heater on. This part of Soho (still seedy for the sake of the tourists and reeking of all sorts of evidences left by the intoxicated lot the night before) has thankfully been made ‘up’ a bit by Bocca di Lupo around the corner. The interiors live up to its name, it’s indeed done up like a deli bar with highish stools, unintimidated lighting and the chequered floor will ensure this place weather well over time. There was only one other diner when I came in and I strongly believe she was snapping away at her Salt Beef sandwich, must be another foodie blogger methinks; well hello blog buddy!

Do you know how we all hate social smokers, you know the type who's able to scrounge a fag off you and at the same time accompany you on a sneaky smoke. After that they can go on without a puff for months or years...arrgh! Well the same can be said for my once a month coke, no diet crap please. Coke's the best tipple for deli food, fact.

The old wives’ (in this case Jewish) tales that include the consumption of Chicken Soup is perfect for preventing the onslaught of a cold. If and when I’m about to catch a cold, I head straight to Harry Morgan for my flu ‘jab’. Served with some of the most wonderful rye bread I’ve tasted, the soup looks good. Oodles of the following- chicken meat (I wish restaurants are brave enough to serve chicken on the bone, but unlikely, as some careless fonebone would probably choke on a drumstick and perform the necessary in this crazy litigious generation of ours!), carrots and lovely noodles.
It tasted very good indeed and but it wasn’t as intense as HM’s. This observation is interesting as I’m prepared to state that the soup from HM comes from some central pre-prep kitchen**. The next time I come here I’m vying for the Bean & Barley.

By this time Cass has joined me. No food for Cass as a usual lunch of some seeds had already taken place an hour ago. Cass' lemon tea.

Here we go, Salt Beef on Rye. (to my Danish friend Hans Henrik, this salt beef is what they call corned beef in the States, and to confuse you even more, our corned beef is of the tinned variety which I personally call sodium nitrite beef)
Very good meat indeed, this is as good as the Selfridges’ but at nearly half the price! For central London, this is a major bargain. If you come here during the day, it’ll be likely that you’ll meet a lovely young lady by the name of Carly, she’s one of the partners here.
I told Carly they were too generous with that humongous piece of gherkin, especially so with people like me that don’t regard pickles as part of their last meal. Do let the guys know if you’re not partial to gherkins, I hate seeing food going to waste. All in, a near perfect sandwich.

What a comeback for The Nosh Bar, I hope for everybody's sake it succeeds well and stick around for many more years to come. Highly recommended, see you there soon.

*Jake, this place isn’t supervised! Sorry I can’t venture into Reubens because they give me funny stares and the impression I apparently give of touting illicit DVDs doesn’t help either.

**A well-informed link about central kitchens.

For the best value Salt Beef, you'll need to travel and it's here.




39 Great Windmill Street
London W1D 7LX

Canteen, Baker Street

17/07/09

Light lunch at what I would term as convenient and most definitely Plan B.
This place can be expensive for the food it serves up, don't overspend!

Good Iced Coffee

Passable Pea and Ham Soup, milled pepper needed to wake up an otherwise bland dish.

Good Treacle Tart with Jersey Cream

11/05/09

Nonsuch Monday morning in Marylebone

I asked for filter coffee (as it appears on the menu), but this tasted more like an Americano. Forgivable because the Monmouth beans were outstanding!

Bacon, fried eggs and bubble and squeak

Gooey loveliness

I know this is pointlessly trivial, but the Canteen has the best paper napkins in the business. Case of how to make paper look and feel like real cloth.

Now who would've thought! Oh well you heard it here first!

The 12.5% service was worth it, the staff from Walsall Warsaw were lovely.

I came here because of PalAtTable. Thanks Pal.

I’ve now been to all three branches of the Canteen. I’ve never felt inclined to write about this outfit, as there’s always something with the blogger’s block about it. I therefore state the applicable analogy of penning 1500 words on either Slough or Fowey poses little or no problem for me, but to even contemplate Sutton* would only invite the lack of inspiration or creativity to write. Canteen is my Sutton of eating places.
The half dozen meals I’ve had at the Royal Festival Hall and Spitafields branches were unmemorable, and to that I also mean they weren’t even poor enough to warrant any rants. I was resigned to the fact that Canteen promotes British food with a stereotypical approach that Brit cooking often projects- Plain Jane average. Their signature starter of Devilled kidneys on toast has a long way to go if it’s to emulate the one served at Hereford Road or indeed and likewise the Fish and Chips at The Chippy.
The location of Baker Street is not the sort of place that would make me proud as a Londoner. Like the other two branches, the dining space is spacious and it’s also one of the few places in London that cater for folks who either prefer to dine dans-le-noir (incandescent lovebirds) or happy shiny and bright dining (me! and with absolutely nothing to hide).
The service here is ‘if it needs be then it’ll have to be’ (goodish if you catch my drift) and I’ve also decided that all future snide comments regarding the European (we’re integrated now, so no mention of the East please) waiting staff are to be curbed. It’s also high time that we accept they speak hugely better English than our home-grown yoofs whose sentences are composed from a severely limited choice of words like ‘dem lot dey diss me, innit doh’.
Being the ant-social flake that I am, coming here for breakfast or tea is wonderful.
No crowds, no suits and minimal yakpackers (or mobile phone Frankensteins).
As soon as I sat down I ordered a Flat White, the Mediterranean-looking chap serving me thought I was swearing at him! I’ve become so accustomed to this wonderful Antipodal creation I’ve somehow left the cappuccino in the lurch. Wow, not bad at all, no latte art to speak of but still utterly drinkable. The blend of beans used is reminiscent of Monmouth. At least Grade B!
Bacon Butty. Not basement bargain material, but tasty nonetheless. For the price they’re charging for this sandwich the bread should’ve been the thickly sliced bloomer or farmhouse variety. The streaky bacon, crispy but not charred to death, was sweet and more than acceptable.

Based on this first visit alone I’m quite tempted to make this place my Monday morning hangout (sorry Apostrophe!). If I keeping posting pics every Monday morning from now on, then it comes highly recommended, well at least for breakfast alone.

*Suttonites or Suttonians would lead you to believe that if God chose to live in suburbia it would be their beloved Sutton. Believe me I wanted to pick Uxbridge first, but it was saved by the grace of Brunel University’s (half-decent and all) presence.



55 Baker Street
London W1U 8EW



www.canteen.co.uk

Cabbages & Frocks

I would love to say that my shop is in Marylebone, but it's not as it's technically in the Portman Village instead. But nobody knows where or what the Portman Village is, I just tell them it's near the busiest KFC in Britain or just plain Marble Arch. The folks residing or loitering in Marylebone Village are a lucky bunch, they're always a notch above their neighbours- true they might not have a KFC but they do have their famed Farmers' Market and the ever so quaint Cabbages & Frocks market. I came here for some cupcakes* but ended up having an accidental lunch.

Despite the close proximity to Mme T, this place was thankfully bereft of tourists.

The market is located within the parish grounds of St. Marylebone Church

The uniformity of the mini marquees sheltering each stall provides a picturesque discipline.

There was a long queue at an organic burger stall (the name escapes me) so I came here instead. Dapur Melayu sells Malay street food- to be honest most of their stuff have sold out by the time I got there.

Lemak with Sambal Terong- coconut rice with aubergine sambal. Rice tasted coconut-ty enough but unfortunately overcooked by sitting in the food warmer for hours. The sambal however was brilliant- no well-tempering here, judiciously spicy and take no prisoners. £2.50 for the above.

Excellent veggie curry puff but overpriced at £1 each.
Good value puffs are found here.

Cuddle me happy. Talk about fate and why you bleedin' never. Cwtch!

Yup, Jared and his Citroen H is a Saturday fixture here.
Someone is obviously shining a bit of light on me!

Another Square Mile advocate, triple shot Flat White. £2 and a bit. A lovely Saturday afternoon assured.

Tarts of Temptation

Just checking I got me cakes. £4 for the two.

The Lemon slice was ok-ish but a tad hard, a typical symptom of cakes and bakes being exposed to the air for too long a time. The coffee slice was astoundingly yummy- rich, flavourful and nearly world class.

cabbagesandfrocks.co.uk


*I only came today because Helen had mentioned Peggy's Cupcakes. True to form or was it just my luck, they weren't there.


NB I pronounce Marylebone as Marr-le-bone as opposed to Merror-le-bone, for the simple reason that I'm nigh on aloof.