SUGAR JUNCTION: VINTAGE TEA ROOMS (UK)

It's a favourite past time for macunions to congregate on a sunny Sunday at a local eatery. The town especially a buzzin' with the day's weather. The tea rooms were filled, especially by the windows where the sunlight is streaming in and you can people watch the pedestrians walking by.

We have selected a prime location for lunch this week. Teehee. It's a place I've been eyeing for weeks past now. It's at Northern Quarter, yes, the great Northern Quarter, with food and much more food. As I've said from my last post, the northern quarter is pot brimming with eccentricities and oddities of the grungy kind. Always something happening in those streets, this week a market of arts and crafts.

It was too full upstairs, so here we are, below deck. 

I really like that lamp. I like the wallpaper a little too much.

They use books for menus. Novel idea. Geddit?

Waitress was top notch. Had our meals come in less than fifteen minutes. It was the lunch menu, so here are our orders.

Red Wine Beef Brisket with onion pickles and I think rocket salad inside, oh and before I forget, monterey jack cheese, melted! on the brioche. Yums. It was a messy meal, I tell you that, also, juicy beef, my hand was dripping from it. Had a side of cole slaw and some potato and sweet potato fries.

Halloumi toast with basil, a side dish of potatoes fries and sweet potato fries and some slaw.

Delicious mocktail, English County Garden, fresh mint, cloudy apple juice, elderflower syrup and lemon juice, with fresh blueberries. Very refreshing on a nice day out.


Sugar Junction. It was spacious, lots of interesting decor inside, and the food was delicious.

Opening times are Monday and Sunday, 9am-6pm. Tuesday to Thursday 9am-8pm. Friday and Saturday 9am to 11pm.

Breakfast menu till 12 pm. Also they have a afternoon tea menu, which looked scrumptious, and would try next time I'm there.

Address:Sugar Junction, 60 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LG. 

Visit their website for more information. http://www.sugarjunction.co.uk/index.html

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

LUNYA : SPANISH CUISINE (UK)

Spanish Cuisine isn't something I know very much about. I've only had it once in my life and this would be the second time trying spanish cuisine. I know about the cheeses, the cured meats and paella. I definitely have tried paella before. Anyway, we decided to head down to a renown famous restaurant by the name of Lunya. It is in a popular district for good food and great atmosphere.

The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated. They have many sculptures on sale there inside the restaurant. There is a bar at the bottom which has spanish ham hanging from the ceiling. We were seated upstairs near the window which has a very nice view. 

The place was already crowded and filled with noise and chatter. 

We decided to order jointly. All of us wanted to try the paella. I know typical, but we didn't know what else to eat. But the paella here in Lunya is well known, so we figured why not. We also had a platter of goat's cheese, with grapes and very thin crackers. We also had several cured meats. Different slices of pork, chorizo being one of them. We then were finally served paella which takes at least forty five minutes to cook. 

The cheese was absolutely delicious. Monte Enebro, which is made out of goat's milk and have won some awards. It had the usual sour taste from the goat's milk and was creamy. It paired well with crackers of which I had for the first time ever and grapes. 

The meat platter was delicious with several slices of different cured meats. It had the oily and nutty taste to it. The slices were thin as it was overpowering if eaten in large quantities since when cured, the flavour is concentrated like how dried fruits are especially sweet. 

Finally we had the paella, which is something almost like a risotto. It is rice cooked with some moisture still retained, like congee but with less watery substance and less thick. It is mixed with many different spices and ingredients like seafood or chorizo. It has this orange near red colour. The paella was really good, rice cooked well and not crunchy, as this is the mistake often made with paella and risotto. 

I have to say eating in Lunya was a good experience. The servers were friendly and the food and atmosphere was a delight. For the price of the food wasn't half bad. I really recommend coming here. It is a good experience. 

Location: Manchester M3 2BB Barton Square Manchester

Opening times:

Monday – Wednesday   10.00am – 9.30pm

Thursday                          10.00am – 10.00pm
Friday                               10.00am – 10.30pm
Saturday                           9.00am – 11.00pm
Sunday                             10.00am – 9.00pm

This is Sharon, signing off this week's post. Stay tune every week for more. 

SIAM SMILES : THAI CUISINE (UK)

There's a Thai supermarket underground in China Town, hidden admist the other supermarkets on the street.  It's normally a supermarket but they have also a small restaurant inside. The space inside is very limiting, restricting to only a couple of tables.

This place isn't as famous as the other thai counterparts in Manchester. It's definitely considered a hidden gem. Only spotted by a those who read newspaper food columns or deferred there by a friend.

We ordered a few meals including a dish that is similar to hainan chicken rice. The rice is herb infused and with steamed chicken. It was a little hard on the top but either wise it was delicious to eat. The chicken was soft and not overcooked or undercooked.

We also have ordered papaya salad, which have crunchy peanuts adding to the texture. The young papaya was sliced into thin pieces along with carrots, cabbage, and tossed with a light salad sauce. I tasted connotations of chilli as well as fish sauce and lime juice. But that's as many as I guess.

There was egg noodles with crispy skin duck broth. The broth I think was the highlight of the evening. It was sweet from the duck and I nearly fainted from eating the duck meat slices with the egg noodles. The noodles were sublime, it was tangy not too soft and have the right texture to chew on. It was cooked to al dente.

There was also pork knuckles that were braised for hours, marinated with a good sauce. It was sweet and soft to eat with the herb infused rice. The soup that came along with the dishes was a good palate cleanser. I assumed it was chicken broth.

There was also crispy pork belly with rice. I hadn't crispy pork belly in a very long time, and it was so good to finally enjoy one. It came along with the rice and like the description it was crispy and crunches between your teeth.

Overall the meal was enjoyable, with a good drink of ice milk tea on a hot weather that was surprising in Manchester.

 Address: 48A George St, City Centre, Manchester M1 4HF

Opening times:Sunday       9:30am–7:30pm
                        Monday       9:30am–7:30pm
                        Tuesday      9:30am–7:30pm
                        Wednesday 9:30am–7:30pm
                        Thursday     9:30am–7:30pm
                        Friday          9:30am–9:30pm
                        Saturday      9:30am–9:30pm

This is Sharon signing off this week's food blog. Stay tune 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. 

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





-





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

EATING IN AMSTERDAM PART 2: FOOD ADVENTURES

Amsterdam is well known for a lot of things. Scenery, food, people. Red Light District. Of course we cannot leave out the fact of the legal use of marijuana in Amsterdam. The places known for smoking weed and selling them were nicknamed coffee houses, some of them actually selling coffee as well. Though their joints are infamous, it cannot be overlooked on the fact that their coffee should also deserve the praise. Most of the coffee I tried in Amsterdam is delicious. Smooth to the taste, rich and creamy, aromatic. The most notable place I've been was The Coffee company. I never had such good coffee in my life, and I don't think I'll have any better.

I've also had the chance to eat cold cut sandwiches from a local shop in Amsterdam. It was serve on freshly baked brown bread, with slices of pastrami, sauerkraut, mustard, and pickles. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the coffee or the deli sandwiches but I do however have a picture of the shop. I also have no idea where this place is located. I was happily following the group and eating the sandwiches before I remembered to take a picture of it, same with the coffee. Forgive me, I was hungry.

Well we spent the day, going about the city. The weather was great, visited cute antique shops, and the flower market as well. We visited the Rijks Musuem, which was wonderful. My feet ached by the time I finished.

For dinner, we dined at this Argentinian Restaurant, ordered a tenderloin steak, and believe me it's been months since I had a steak. I'm a student and I live on a budget. So I rarely have expensive meals, and steak is most definitely one of them.

It was tender, lean. The meat melts in your mouth almost, you don't have to chew very much. It was eaten with bearnaise sauce, a rich buttery sauce, emulsified by egg yolks, white vinegar and herbs. I had baked potato with mine, and a turnip salad dressed with vinaigrette.

I don't know where it is. We were just walking about and we found it in the city. We really like how it looked and went in. It was a spontaneous action and by the time the food came I really didn't care anymore.

If you're ever in Amsterdam, you should really try their coffee. It's absolutely is delicious. And bring back some stroopwaffles for friends and family. It's caramel filling between two waffle crusts. I cannot stop eating it.


This is Sharon posting this week's food adventure. Tune in week after week for more of our posts.