PEARL CITY (MANCHESTER CHINESE FOOD)

Manchester has it's very own Chinatown in which it's populated with an array of chinese cuisine. It's hard to pick between the thai food, Japanese, vietnamese, nepali and even Malaysian but the most of abundance available is chinese food.

I wonder there almost every week. I have tried most restaurants but not all of them. This week I am covering the chinese restaurant called Pearl City. It's most popular ideals I think is the fact that it opens till 3pm and also the mention of being a Malaysian helps in the discount area. Wink. Wink.

We ordered I think the same every time we go there. Crispy duck with pancakes and sauce.
It's a different thing from beijing duck which uses the skin, instead with almost dried up skin and meat which I believe is probably fried.

We also got ourselves some japanese tofu, which compromises of minced meat, egg, egg tofu and leeks, peppers and then gravy. It's the same thing we usually order back at home too but this one is without the veggies.

There's a beef stew we like, which is spicy but very delicious. The chilli oil covering the top, with the innards(which i avoided) and broiled to perfection was the beef, all soft and broken apart once in your mouth.

We also got fried aubergines. We do need vegetables in all this food. They were salted and peppered well. Crunchy and soft.

Custard Buns for desserts. Havent had them even when I was in Malaysia. I've been craving them for some time now. Glad to cure that craving. Delicious egg yolk goodness. 

The service I think in there is moderate. But I usually just lower my standards for services in chinese restaurants.

They opened till three in the morning from eleven in the morning. The opening days varies and they are located in Chinatown.

This is Sharon, signing off this week's post. Tune in every week for more.

UMAMI THE NOODLE BAR : JAPANESE CUISINE

Umami according to the wikipedia page is the term used to describe the savory taste one experiences when eating good food. It's one of the many terms foodies use to explain the great flavor they are going through at the moment.

To start, I would like to say the japanese game here is very bad. It's been a long time since I had decent japanese cuisine in this country. I think there is very few japanese restaurants in Manchester which is probably why it's hard to find a good restaurant.

The restaurant I am talking about this week is the one on the Oxford Road in Manchester. It is a long stretch of road that many students find themselves walking through daily. There's definitely places to eat along this road, it is littered with affordable prices with meal plans.

This restaurant is located in basement. I've always like underground restaurants. It becomes an adventure to walk to the bottom, it's almost like discovering a hidden treasure.

It was during the lunch hour which is very busy. We came before the line started, which made me feel very lucky.

It wasn't very crowded at the time, but the tables were arranged so you had to share among st strangers. Which to be honest, is a fun way to eat.

My brother and I had a lunch meal. I ordered spring rolls, malaysian satay, and ramen for the both of us. My ramen was with dumplings, and his was chilli with slices of beef.

At first glance it was together a very pleasing looking meal. It was arranged nicely and placed properly on the plate.

The rolls were crunchy, not to oily. The malaysian satay as well, wasn't like the real thing but it was delicious either way. It had a bits of peanut in the sauce and was creamy but not to.

The real let down was the ramen. I always thought what makes a good bowl of noodles, especially in ramen, is the soup, the broth that enhances the noodles to a whole new level. Unfortunately this bowl of noodles, did not have such. The only thing it got going was the fact that it was that the noodles were cooked properly. The chilli was slightly better, with the spices helping the broth as well with the beef cooked with it. 

Overall I have to say that the food wasn't bad with the price given for it. It has a nice atmosphere with a good lunch plan. 

 Opening times : Monday to Saturday 12-11pm
                            Monday to Sunday   12-12pm

 Location : 127/153 Oxford Road, Manchester, M1
7EE

This is Sharon signing off this week's blog. Stay tune for more next week. 

THE KRO BAR: SCANDINAVIAN CUISINE (UK)

In the cafeterias of the university of manchester, it will be impossible to find any food that would be appetizing while it's hot. Most on the lunch menus, they would serve things that are cheap enough and ready to eat. It would mean sandwhiches, paninis, soup or noodles. There are some halls that would cater other varieties but it isn't exactly delicious.

Therefore to those who do not prefer anything of those ready made meals, there are numerous places on the oxford road. There is the infamous Curry Mile just down the street from the university buildings, with numerous delicious eateries. There are cafes and bars like the one where I frequent often called, The Kro Bar. 

It is a Scandinavian cafe as well as bar. It is located just opposite of the Student Union building, and next the to the international society building. The location itself is great, since hordes of student come by and go through this street. 

It has a little outside seating outside the cafe/bar, where when there is sunlight (which is rarely) will be taken over by customers.  The building itself is quite old like everything in Manchester. Something that you should find about Manchester is that they are quite proud of their old streets and buildings. A very charming trait of Manchester.

Kro Bar has stools lined up right in front of the bar, something you will see immediately as you enter. This restaurant prefers self service, so whenever you feel like ordering, you have to do so at the bar. 

The space inside is crammed when it's during lunch hours and dinnertime. The table are these long ones that you have to share with other customers, and in between these tables the spaces are quite narrow. 

There are more spaces upstairs and much more roomier. It does however have the old room smell, which isn't pleasant. 

I ordered chicken and chorizo risotto, bruschetta and homemade toffee pudding. 

The chicken and chorizo risotto, Chorizo is a spanish pork sausage. It can be salty because some chorizos are often cured or fermented which makes it very flavorsome. It can be spicy, depending on the amount of chili put in as well. The risotto was made sublimely, not dry, mixed with the chicken and chorizo, putting alot of taste into the dish. 

The bruschetta was on a thick slice of bread, with olive oil, some herbs I believe to be basil and cherry tomatoes. The bread was put in the oven to reheat, and therefore the crust had a bit of a crunch. Nothing ever goes wrong with bread and olive oil. 

My favourite dessert I think coming to the UK, is definitely toffee pudding. Toffee pudding is a traditional british dessert, served warm and with cream or ice cream. The cake is made of chopped up dates, baked or steamed. The one I had was served with the syrup of dark toffee, and ice cream. The cake was moist and warm, something that I really enjoyed, and the sweetness of the syrup is mixed with the cold vanilla ice-cream and the moist cake, had me with goosebumps. It is definitely a sweet dessert, something that should be considered when ordering it. I was barely able to finish the whole thing. 

I do really recommend this place. Though the seating arrangements could use some work and the price is a little steep. The location is ultimately ideal, since you're able to get to classes quick with a full stomach. 

Opening hours : 11.30 pm - 9.00pm

Location: 325 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PG

This is Sharon signing off this week's episode on The Makan Post. Stay tuned for more.

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The Makan Post brings to you weekly food adventures, so be sure to catch us every week for new episodes and dont forget to subscribe to us. Just click on the Follow button below. Also, check out our instagram page @themakanpost. Cheers.

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LEVENSHULME MARKET: FOOD ADVENTURES (UK)

The markets are what I really looked forward to when I came to the UK. I have been told stories of good food and excellent atmosphere and so far I haven't been disappointed. I've been to the ones in London but that was awhile ago before I started this food blog. But I've been to this one in Manchester.

It is called Levenshulme Market and it produces local sourced food and other commodities. My friend and I got lost on the way there and this elderly couple come to our need. They gave us a ride to the market and they told us that the place was well attended. Every Saturday night starting from the beginning of March when it's not as cold, but still cold.

The locals who live there as well visit every week, a person we met told us that he comes every Saturday after walking his dog. He recommends the freshly baked pizza which had a line, actually every stall in the market seemed to have a line. The food there caters to all sorts of diets, vegan, vegetarian, lactose intolerance but you have to asked them first if so. They usually have a sign that tells you whether or not they cater though.

I've been told of this market by friends who visited the place and they came back happy and full. Levenshulme is a little way outside the city of Manchester, it isn't very far, it would take half and hour or so by walking and less with the bus. My bus stops right near the market and I was glad of that, but somehow we managed to get lost even so.

When we arrived at the market, it starts at 10, it still was busy with people. The place was filled with families and grown up walking their dogs. The dogs were adorable, there were babies too but I'm more of a dog person. I can't handle babies.

So the first thing that caught our eye as we wandered, the market wasn't so big so it didn't take very long to get around, was the duck panini. It was a medium rare duck patty, melted blue cheese, with caramelised onions. The man serving it was a very friendly guy, talking to the customers as he cooked. The ingredients all complement each other and the duck meat was soft and not chewy and easily digestible. The blue cheese, salty and not overpowering.

Next door to him was the popular pizza stall, we ended up having a mushroom pizza, with truffle oil. Delicious might I add. The man freshly bakes it in front of us, and grated the Parmesan cheese on top of the pizza once it's done. It wasn't a very long wait, and it was baked in the stone oven in front of us which is impressive. The crust wasn't so thick but it was fluffy and had that slight brownness at the edges, which were crispy to the taste. The cheese stretched as we pulled at it and the truffle oil gave it some scent and taste.

The market was also a place for locals to sell their own products. There were stalls selling trinkets, antiques, old books, clothes, paintings, jewelry.

I bought two rings from a sweet old lady. She told me the ring's stones she found somewhere in another market and bought it so she could use it to make the ring I bought.

I had a green tea latte, which is a rarity here in the UK. If there is green tea latte here though, it wouldn't be a really good as matcha is expensive here. The green tea latte wasn't so bad, I could actually taste the matcha in it.

There was also vegan blueberry waffles, that we ordered. I didn't have the chance to take a picture of it. But it was made on the spot, the ingredients which is mixed in front of us.

The lady was very friendly, chatting with every one of her customers. The waffles were warm and had a good fresh and crisp texture. It doesn't need any maple syrup, it was sweet enough by itself. We finished it quite quickly.

I got ice cream from a woman in a cool ass van. I had a chocolate mocha ice cream. It had a thick concentrate of chocolate and coffee, but wasn't bitter but sweet. It hit the right spots and was delicious.

The day wasn't so bad, the weather was grey but it didn't rain. My friend and I had a really good time.

I really recommend, if you live in Manchester, to go visit Levenshulme Market.

Their website is http://www.levymarket.com/

Address: 
Farm Side Place, 
Off Stockport Road, 
Levenshulme, 
Manchester.

Opening hours: 
Everyday
10.00 am to 4.00pm





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This is Sharon signing off on this week's episode. Tune in next week for more.

EATING AMSTERDAM PART 1: FOOD ADVENTURES

Last weekend, I had the absolute best time in Amsterdam. My society in the university course I was doing hosted an event that led us all to be brought on a trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands. I could not have such a great time if it weren't for the people who organised it and the friends I've made on the trip and the friends that were on the trip with me. So I like to thank them in this post.

I would like to share some pictures of my trip as well as the restaurant we've been to. It was only two nights so we were only able to go to two restaurants.

The very first one was a total find. It was hidden in between streets as we were walking down the main road. First of all I have to say, the closer you get to the city centre, it gets even more enchanting as time passes. Most of the houses were centuries old, and the streets were made of cobbled stones and there were numerous bridges above the canals of water. I could literally feel being transported back in time as I walked along the stone pavements and the tall streetlights lining across the roads, brought a definite old feel to it.

 

As we walked into the small restaurant, the owner came to greet us warmly, exchanging friendly banter with us, asking about our day and how we were. I think he was very used to tourist as I realized the place was on tripadvisor. It also mean that we were very lucky to stumble across such an authentic and delightful place like this.

We, of course ordered dutch food. Mind you, it was pricey, around 12 euros and above for each dishes. So it would be probably less than ten pounds. We were served very quickly, and the food was in large quantity.

We had beef stew, pork sausage stew called stamppott.The food was sublime. The beef was cooked to where it was so easy to tear the meat apart and was sitting on pool of it's own sauce. The pork sausage stew was the same, cooked well with smashed potatoes and onion and carrots. This was the typical dutch cuisine. Meat mixed with boiled smashed potatoes and onions and vegetables.

Croquettes were also ordered, it's a small ball of minced meat fried in breadcrumbs. This was a dutch veal croquette, something I had never had before in my life. So it was an interesting dish. It had a creamy texture inside, like they had minced the meat along with some potatoes and spices. The outer layer was crunchy, but somehow not oily. Even though I had taken awhile to eat the fries and the croquettes, it was still crispy which tells me that it was freshly made and made well. Not unlike the staleness we get from other fried french fries over a period of time.

Overall I really like the authenticity of the restaurant. It was small but cozy. It had wooden walls as well as furniture. It also had a really cool looking bar, and the decor of the place was nicely done.

I really recommend this place if you ever want to take a visit to Amsterdam. I'll continue my accounts of the trip in another post.

This is a link to their tripadvisor page: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g188590-d1132828-Reviews-Restaurant_Tomaz-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html


Address:
Begijnensteeg 6-8, 
1012PN Amsterdam, 
The Netherlands

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This is Sharon, signing off this week post. Stay tune for more to check out our food adventures.

BAKCHICH LEBANESE STREET FOOD : LEBANESE CUISINE

I have never had Lebanese food before. It isn't something that I have much expertise in but I do believe it is a middle eastern cuisine, therefore it has meals like, sharwama, falafel, kofta, and so much more. The restaurant we had decided to go to is a chain restaurant, popular in Manchester and as well as Liverpool.

The decoration in the space was very stylish. The type that is modern and chic and incredibly spacious. The tables were made in this bronze colored metal, with visible stamps of nails across. The light was bright but the not the flashing in your face kind but the warm and inviting sort. They had food cans, condiments, jars of food, and utensils used for cookinf middle eastern cuisine, decorated around the place. There was a visible kitchen, and a bar where they would show how the food and drinks were made.

Not only is the decoration on point, the service staff was friendly and professional. They would often check up on us during our meal, asking us if we needed anything. The food also arrived quickly and was dressed up so nicely, it seemed to be a shame that it had to be eaten. The drinks were also nice, I had lemonade with rose syrup, which is refreshing, enough sweet and sour and fragrant with rose scent and taste. 

We ordered Kibeeh Shamiya, which is a grilled minced lamb meat wheat parcel with onions, pinenuts and served with yogurt sauce. As well as bourkhouri Halloumi, a type of cheese that has been harden to a point and grilled slightly, sliced and served with a salad. Kabsa blaham, a traditional rice meal served with stew lamb. 

Kibeeh Shamiya, the minced lamb was well seasoned, mixed with spices making it tasty. The salad was fresh and mixed with a simple vinaigrette. Bourkhouri Halloumi, the cheese is not to hard and easily broken apart, eaten with the salad and vinaigrette. Kabsa blaham, rice cooked with tomato puree with herbs and spices, the lamb stewed with the rice. It isn't dry, but it is definitely not wet like a risotto. Overall the food was made well and I felt the authenticity of it even though it is a food chain. 

For dessert we had upside down pineapple and almond cake. Which in the end looked more of a tart than anything, served with vanilla ice cream. It was warm and able to cut through easily with a fork, the pineapple giving sweetness as well as this tartness to the dish. I think the crust of the tart was crumbly but not too, well made and therefor did not fall apart immediately when cut through. 

Overall the food was made well and I felt the authenticity of it even though it is a food chain. The price isn't cheap but nor is it expensive. 

Bakchich Lebanese Street Food is located on Chester St, near Oxford road. It is very near the university. 

Bakchich Lebanese Restaurant,
4 Chester St,
Manchester,
United Kingdom.

Opening Hours:

Sunday — Thursday

11am–11pm

Friday - Saturday

11am-11.30pm

This is Sharon signing off this week's episode on The Makan Post. Stay tuned for more episodes coming your way.
The Makan Post brings to you weekly food adventures, so be sure to catch us every week for new episodes and dont forget to subscribe to us. Just click on the Follow button below. Also, check out our instagram page @themakanpost. Cheers.

themakanpost@gmail.com