Good foods hunting never stops wherever whenever. Proudly claim that these foods discoveries completed without researching was done in prior. I used to do research for recommended foods in advance before travelling but not for England nor any other country that I will be travelling in next.
Reason being, the food/restaurant recommendation for tourist in Google is always not authentic, with crowd of tourists, long queue and higher price. You will never feel local even when you are in other people country. Change your travel style, check in your Hotel and browse around that area for better food places. Got the name of restaurant and then Google it for review checking.
Let's see these discoveries I had completed in both London and York, they were with almost/totally no tourist over there, much lesser crowd!
↑ Kennington Lane Cafe, Vauxhall, London:
Builders breakfast served in a large portion, the half cooked egg yolks were awesome. Bubble here was well pan fried, large sausages and most important is their toasts. Swear that I had never ate such a delicious plain toast before that. I reached there at 7:30am, the shop size is small, warm, only a few locals seated individually and having their breakfast before work, probably. The woman (maybe the boss) was very friendly and I was definitely feeling that is the best breakfast experience in the world.
↑ Queens Head, Lambeth/Vauxhall, London:
Yup, an obvious comparison with the breakfast from Kennington Lane above straightly made. But if I will need to choose again, I will not left either one. Both of them were different but individually nice. First thing to say for this is their toast, I actually believe all the bread/toast in the whole England are same delicious. Soft texture but a bit crispy, toasted with butter and so it smelled very good. And the mushroom, very fresh with no fishy taste. The only thing was bad is their bubble, too thick and starchy, not like a well pan fried bubble but like a smashed potato texture.
↑ Best Western Pavilion Hotel, York:
Breakfast buffet in hotel. Was having it in early 7am, before dawn. Obviously bread toast again. No doubt, that was a breakfast from heaven. Noticed that the breakfast buffet in England is about the same, basically with bread toast, omelette, English breakfast, ham, fruits, coffee and tea. Although it sounds very simple, but trust me you will have no regret by having them. In this breakfast buffet, the croissant was ready baked, the white bread was self toasted when need, the English breakfast (I didn't order), scrambled eggs and omelettes were on order-to-cook basis. You can choose the favourite ingredients for your omelette, and I would say my choice of mushroom plus cheese was heavenly great! Besides, I took 2 large toasts and 1 croissant in the breakfast, with used up 4 pieces of butter cube. Remember that the butter couldn't be missed out in your English breakfast buffet.
↑ Michael's Brasserie, York:
Very sorry to say that I forgot the name of cafe for this breakfast. But I still got it when I browsed through my album. We choose this was because it opens early in 7:30am and we were rushing to the train station soon. Unluckily, we had a worse breakfast that day. The bread was not well toasted, the butter was oily, the egg looks half cooked but raw, the mushroom was not fresh which seem like overnight cooked, the hash brown was full with onion and oily, and so on.
↑ Plaza On The River, London:
Yeah, you should be impressed by seeing this view with good breakfast served. But firstly, please take note this breakfast room view is only available in their Exclusive Lounge at 12 floor (12 or 14, I've forgotten) instead of the normal breakfast lounge at 3rd floor.
The breakfast buffet served varieties of bakery, ready baked and self-baking bar, coffee tea juices station, and some ready cooked scrambles eggs, mushroom, ham bacon, salmon and fruits. Seemingly not much options like international buffet but it was more than enough for me. Having your breakfast with a well decorated dining table and fabulous Thames river view is an utmost enjoyable thing in London. (2 photos taken on different days)
↑ Nandos, Vauxhall, London:
↑ Nandos, York
↑ Nandos, Wembley Designer Outlet, London:
Do not think to have Nandos in England is kind of waste just because you think that you can have it in your own country. They are different. Also when you may fed up with common fish and chips or burger, it is a good option to try Nandos over there. And I noticed locals like it too. I had it three times in England.
↑ Olle Korean Barbecue, Leicester Square (Chinatown), London:
2 similar photos above with same table and same foods, but they were taken on different days as well. I dined in three times here within 8 days, 2 for lunch (as photos) and 1 for dinner (no photo taken). I randomly walked in, and I love it. However, my sister told me afterward that this Olle Korean is actually a very famous Korean food shop in London because the Korean Kpop stars visited them.
Very honest to say, their barbecue meats tasted super delicious, and even more delicious than all I had in both Singapore & Korea, seriously. However, the pancake, soup and army stew were just ok, normally passed. So your must try is only their barbecue, no regret.
↑ Simya Korean Restaurant, 345 North End Rd, Fulham, London:
Randomly walked in, a very small size of shop, its signboard is not obvious to be seen, perhaps you need navigation to get there. You will not see the shop outside the shop row, this small shop is located inside, you have to step in and pass by a few small stall to see it. Try to avoid peak lunch and dinner hours because there is only 3-4 small tables for dining.
The foods overall were good enough, will not say that is super delicious but indeed satisfied at all.
↑ The Plough, Fulford Main Road, York:
First thing first, call to check availability and make reservation before going.
This hotel just located apposite of our Best Western Pavilion York. In Fulford Main Road area, there is no much dining options, only a few homestyle cafe/restaurant in the Hotel. We got no available table there in the first night, but we successfully booked the lunch for the next day.
Can see the table decoration and atmosphere were very good, I felt it was so 80s style. But unfortunately we may have chose the wrong foods. I've forgotten the name of food for hubby but it tasted weird, my fish and chip was tasteless. But should highlight that may be we chose the wrong one, because the Google reviews were positive and what I saw from other table that their steak and pasta were look quite nice.
↑ Great British Fish and Chips, London eye:
No, the restaurant looks bad by seeing from the outside, this is just located right in front of the London Eye. But we were feeling too cold and to find a place to settle our dinner. So as what we expected, the level of food was indeed very low. First, all given the plastic fork and knife, it was totally unable to cut the fried fish from the hard crisp surface. Second, the fish was with bones! It might be we less in experience to having fish and chips, and it might very common to have bones in fish and chips in London? But we cannot accept it, I nearly swallow it and it will stuck! The whole fish was with full of thin bones which difficult to pick out. And if I not remembered wrongly, this meal costed about 31 pound.
↑ Little Italy, York:
Was suddenly craving for pasta when in the York. This was our first Italian meal in England trip, and grad that we found this in York city center. We were the second customer since they opened at 12pm, I noticed there will have a bit crowd if you be there late, especially during peak hour around 1pm.
Beautifully that we got to seated at window sided table, with a view of the York street.
Seemingly their signature pasta, the so called must-order is the seafood pasta that I ordered. It was huge, with plenty of mussels, scallops, prawn, small lobster, squid and flavoured with traditional tomato sauce. If I not remembered wrongly, this seafood pasta costed 20.90 pound. It definitely worth the price.
↑ Best Westen Pavilion Hotel, York:
Yes, this is from the Best Western Pavilion York Hotel again, is their in-house restaurant. This was our first meal in York. It was about 3pm when we were in the restaurant, the lunch-menu was closed. We thought to only order some simple sandwich from the afternoon-tea menu, but, I must say this is the best sandwich that I had never ate in my life, the best and the best. (I have mentioned several times of "the best" in this post but indeed, food in England was keep surprising me)
Very simple, just a toasted white bread with ham and cheese, served with some chips, salad and coleslaw. During our 2 nights stay, we ordered this sandwich twice. Swear that this will be the first food I will take when I be in the York again.
↑ Plaza On The River, London:
Room service experience completed, with full glass window and view of Thames River. Never expect too much for the level of room service foods, these cannot be compared with the restaurant foods but all passed. And I will order them again when I be there next time.
For this haddock and chips, I like the chips more, unlike those tasteless thick wedges, his thin chips were salted. The cheese pizza was just a cheese pizza, nothing special.
The cream cheese garlic pasta was my favourite, enough fragrance of garlic, most important is it was not greasy at all though with full of cream cheese.
Am thinking which part to visit when travel to England again. Can please comment if you have any good suggestion,
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