Chotto Matte

I went for lunch at Chotto Matte with my good friend this weekend in Soho. The restaurant serves a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian food. The combination works very well. Both cultures serve delicious seafood dishes (sushi and ceviche) and great grilled meats (teriyaki and anticuchos) - and so the fusion lends itself to the two cuisines.

Edinburgh Eating, pt 1

To celebrate my brother's 21st birthday, we went on a little trip to Edinburgh. We were only there for 2 nights, so I took it upon myself to map out the entire food itinerary for the trip - no easy task given the number of cool restaurants there.

Vanilla Black

A while ago my boyfriend wanted to treat me, so he (rather spontaneously!) booked a table at Vanilla Black for lunch. I'm vegetarian, and he'd researched the best vegetarian restaurants in London and this one was deemed the best of the bunch! Michelin recommended, the cuisine at Vanilla Black is contemporary and experimental - I doubt you'll have seen the flavour combinations anywhere else.

A Chocoholic's Dream

I am a self-proclaimed chocoholic. I am also a cake-lover. When it comes to combining the two, I've got a fair bit of experience. So I thought I'd share my pretty fail-safe recipe with you - and a quick and easy way of making it a bit of a showstopper.

Weekend Brunchin' in KL - Part 1: Yellow Brick Road

Hi guys!  So, welcome to the "Weekend Brunchin' in KL" series :)  I'm super excited to do this because it's the first series we've done here at fEasToWest, and, well, I just adore brunch!!  So, every couple of weeks (or weekly, if I have the time!) I'll blog about a brunch place (or two) I've been to recently, and today I'll start with Yellow Brick Road. 

Yellow Brick Road (or Jalan Batu Kuning, as a friend of mine likes to call it) is a new all-day dining outlet in Damansara Heights owned and run by the same team in charge of Red Bean Bag.  As such, I had pretty high expectations when I first went, and I'm pleased to say that it's become one of my favourite brunch places.  

Here are some of the dishes I've tried:

The Big Breakfast Bash

Franco Manca

My friend Emily said this was 'the pizza place everyone is talking about'. And so naturally as a pizza lover I felt it was my duty to give it a go.

We organised to go to the newly opened branch on Tottenham Court Road. The first thing to note is they don't take bookings - we went straight from work at around 6.30pm so we were able to get a table, but when we left an hour later there was a queue of about 50 people.

Why would anyone queue for a pizza in London, you ask? Well on paper this place has several things going for it: it's cheap, it's quick, and they use sourdough. But if that doesn't persuade you, just look at these pizzas.

Jackson + Rye

I went for brunch with some good friends I hadn't seen in a while. I decided on Jackson + Rye because the menu was wide enough to appeal to everyone and brunch is served until 4.30pm on weekends! The restaurant is elegantly decorated and reminded me of a luxe French brasserie, despite its American diner menu. The low lighting made for a nice relaxed ambiance, but not so great photographs (apologies in advance)!

We ordered and shared arancini while we pondered over the wide menu. They went down a treat. The arancini were flavoured with truffle, rather than truffle oil and were not overpoweringly cheesy or overwhelming doused in truffle. They were crisp and light and were accompanied with a light Parmesan sauce. The sauce was slightly tangy which balanced well with the decadent and cheesy rice balls.