Roka II

This is an already existing post, but I have updated some photos from last evening. Enjoy!

One of my favorite japanese restaurants in London is definitely Roka in Charlotte Street. The food is mouth watering and the venue is nice with its open kitchen.

If you are a fish and sushi lover I can more than recommend that place. The problem is, I can never decide what to eat, EVERYTHING sounds delicious. Better go there with many friends, so you can try everything on the menu ;) If you are more than two you should book a table in advance, otherwise it is hard to get a table, for two they usually have tables with a waiting time up to one hour, which can be spend in the cosy lounge downstairs...and some nice cocktails.

The rice hot pot with king crab and wasabi tobiko is the best dish if you ask me. It is comparable to the Italian risotto, with its creamy and oozy consistence and the mix between the spicy wasabi, the sour lemon, the crispy tobiko and the fresh crab give an amazing taste. While you are waiting order the salty edamame, but be careful: once you start you can't stop!

Address:  Roka
37 Charlotte Street
London W1T 1RR

yellow fin tuna tataki with apple mustard dressing

Lanka Green Tea Chocolate Cake

Is there something better than a lazy afternoon with girl's chit-chat and Lanka green tea chocolate cake?

Lanka Bakery is a small and super cute café close to Finchley Road.

Well, we enjoyed our delicious cake at home, thanks to a special beloved one who was so nice to surprise us with this lovely cake...in front of my door steps. Thanks!

That was an absolute perfect girls afternoon and the unexpected guest (green tea cake) made it even better!


Lanka
9 Goldhurst Terrace
London NW6 3HX

Guest post - The most wonderful time of the year

Well, Christmas comes closer and closer. And it’s snowing outside (in Munich anyway), the fire in the fireplace is burning and we listen to Christmas and winter songs on the radio. I love this season! I love baking cookies, I love strolling over the Christmas markets and I love watching Christmas movies. Yeah, this is the most wonderful time of the year! Oh, I forgot something: I love planning our dinner for Christmas. So this year I decided not to present a roasted duck as usually, but to cook an Asian Menu: Maybe Tom Yum Goong Soup as our starter, homemade spring rolls, an Indian Curry with Naan bread and Coconut Panna Cotta with Mango Pulp. My daughter and my son love Asian food as well - hot and spicy. And they die for Coconut Panna Cotta. So they always ask me to cook it for them. They will be very surprised to get it on Christmas evening. But....pssst.... don’t tell them.... it’s a secret...

And now I tell you my secret:

Coconut Panna Cotta with Mango Sauce

4    Sheets   gelatin
200  ml       coconut milk
250  ml       heavy cream
40   g        sugar   
1             vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds scraped out

For the sauce

200  ml       mango pulp
1    tsp      lime zest
1    tbsp     lime juice
3    tbsp     coconut flakes

1. Heat the cream and coconut milk, add the sugar and a lengthwise sliced vanilla bean (and the scraped out vanilla seeds). Let it simmer for about 10 minutes and stir every now and then. Remove from the heat.

2. Then remove vanilla pod.

Meanwhile soak the sheets of gelatin in cold water (for about 10 min). Take the sheets out, and put them in add it to the cream/coconut mixture and stir thoroughly until fully combined.

Chill for at least 5 hours, better over night.

4. Mix mango pulp, lime juice and zests.

Brown lightly coconut flakes in anon-stick frying pan.

5. To unmold the panna cotta, briefly dip the form in hot water and carefully flip it over on a plate. Decorate with mango sauce.

Enjoy!

Kirsten 

www.tabletalks.de 

www.secret-supper-club.com

Moist lemon and poppy cake

This is a really easy and quick cake recipe and it's soo delicious! I love the cracking sound of the poppy seeds, it makes the taste adventure of the cake more exciting. 
If you love the cake really, really moist add a dash of fresh orange juice.

All you need is

100g soft butter

140g flour
100g sugar

30 g poppy seeds

3 tablespoons of cream

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons of lemons zests

One dash of fresh lemon juice

For the glaze

4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

100 g icing sugar

First of all preheat the oven.

Now put butter, sugar, cream, the lemon zests and lemon juice in a bowl and mix well.

Stir in the eggs, flour and add the poppy seeds.

Pour the ready dough into a loaf tin. Bake at 180C for approximately 20 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the glaze: Just mix the icing sugar together with lemon juice until you get a creamy frosting.

As soon as the cake is ready, take it out of the oven and let it cool down. Once the cake is cooled down pour the glaze evenly over the top of the cake.

Give the glaze time to dry and add some more icing sugar as decoration..... ready is your cake!

mixing the ingredients

ready!

Cocochan

I always used to walk past this restaurant on my way to Oxford Street. It is located on James Street next to hundred of other restaurants, that is way I never really paid attention to it.

One evening, when it was raining, I didn’t want to go to far for dinner and thought about places nearby. We ended up at Cocochan as it looked welcoming. It stands a bit out compared to the other restaurants in James Street as it is less rustic and more fancy.

The interior is very nice, all in purple/red (depends on the light) and white. Very romantic.

The food was surprisingly good, we had grilled scallops on wasabi avocado and rice, Thai green curry with tiger prawns, sashimi and delicious dessert. The intense colour and flavour of the curry was amazing! Everything is a bit pricy, the scallops are for example ₤18. The cuisine is Thai, Chinese, Japanese and Indian. 

Cocochan

30-40, James Street

W1U 1EU London

edamame 

scallops and green Thai curry

good combi ;)

sashimi platter

coconut and mango parfait

chocolate fondant and vanilla ice cream

Roka

One of my favorite japanese restaurants in London is definitely Roka in Charlotte Street. The food is mouth watering and the venue is nice with its open kitchen.

If you are a fish and sushi lover I can more than recommend that place. The problem is, I can never decide what to eat, EVERYTHING sounds delicious. Better go there with many friends, so you can try everything on the menu ;) If you are more than two you should book a table in advance, otherwise it is hard to get a table, for two they usually have tables with a waiting time up to one hour, which can be spend in the cosy lounge downstairs...and some nice cocktails.

The rice hot pot with king crab and wasabi tobiko is the best dish if you ask me. It is comparable to the Italian risotto, with its creamy and oozy consistence and the mix between the spicy wasabi, the sour lemon, the crispy tobiko and the fresh crab give an amazing taste. While you are waiting order the salty edamame, but be careful: once you start you can't stop!

Address:  Roka
37 Charlotte Street
London W1T 1RR

yellow fin tuna tataki with apple mustard dressing

the open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant

spinach leaves in sesame dressing and black cod

the best dessert I have ever eaten: Matcha pancakes filled with raspberry and white chocolate cubes, I could die for it, unfortunately the menu changes often so last time I had to order something else

black sesame mochi ice cream with cherry blossom macaroons