As the 2013 year drew to a close, there were many days and nights of eating, drinking and generally being merry. However it wasn't long before the kilos piled on and made us pledge to many more New Years resolutions to head to the gym (regularly) to fend off the seasonal plumpness.
The Christmas just passed was our first in London and we soon discovered how the City turns into a ghost town on the 25th - no trains or busses running and Christmas menus have to be meticulously planned as only off-license super-marts are open on the day.
Bringing in the Christmas Spirit
To get into the Christmas spirit, we decorated our house with a small tree and Santa ornament purchased at the Christmas markets in Belgium. The tree was made of Venetian glass. Similar to the fate of the glass jewellery bought in Venice the previous year; not long after putting the tree up for display we had managed to fracture a few branches. Note to self - Venetian glass is pretty but fragile and impractical.
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| Santa hiding the damaged branches |
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| Scary snowman at Canary Wharf |
Christmas Jumper Day
We embrace the Christmas jumper tradition in line with the 13th of December being christened Christmas Jumper Day for the benefit of a children's charity. And being expats from the Southern Hemisphere, we had never previously owned a piece of Christmas knitwear that had been gifted from endearing relatives. On that Friday in London there were many interesting Christmas jumper examples walking around Canary Wharf- no doubt a result of late night shopping at Primark and TopShop for the most visually offensive specimens.
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| Modelling a page from the NEXT Christmas jumper catalogue |
Christmas Dinner
We were lucky to be guests at a Christmas dinner hosted by our friends - Nara and Gav - a feast that included slow roasted pork shoulder, brussel sprouts and homemade cocktails. Courtesy of
Pauls Bakery, we brought along the traditional Yule Log cake that represents the medieval tradition of people gathering together in winter and bringing firewood to the party instead of a bottle of wine.
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| Celebrating Christmas dinner |
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| The pork shoulder - crispy but so nicely well done inside |
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| Yule log cake |
Christmas in London
Christmas in London is celebrated weeks before the big day with various pop up markets. Covent Garden hosted a giant snow globe of iconic London sights - Eye, Shard, O2 stadium etc built out of Lego.
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| The Gherkin in a snow-globe |
Christmas Markets at Southbank
The promenade near Waterloo Station was littered with German style huts selling mulled wine, currywurst and chimney cake.
Christmas party season in the office also kicks off from a few weeks before the 25th. This year, we returned to the
London Aquarium with Olie's colleages; whereas Mei and her workmates enjoyed an afternoon session at Jamie's at the Wharf with a round of Secret Santa (Kris Kringle) where Mei received a packet of bendy connector straws as her secret gift.
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| At the shark tank, London Aquarium |
Bouncing with friends
Throughout November and December, we had a number of catch-ups with friends - including a ping-pong Movember inspired birthday for our friend Lindy at
Bounce in Holborn
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| Supporting Movember |
L'Amina
Mei had a reunion with a few other expat friends from high school at the Sardinian restaurant, L'Amina in the City of London.
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| Battuta di Manzo (raw beef like a steak tartare) with anchovies sauce |
London Supper Club
Our first Supper Club experience was joined with friends Nara, Gav, Meei-Lin and Rob and hosted by Luiz Hara (
The London Foodie). We were lucky to sit at the Chef's table for a Japanese food banquet that included grilled scallops, cod fish roe spaghetti, tempura, beef sukiyaki and a flourless chocolate cake with green tea ice-cream.
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| Getting instructions from the chef |
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| Chicken in a thick broth |
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| A take on sushi using scallop and a richly flavoured sauce |
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| Flourless chocolate cake with green tea icecream |
The Prospect of Whitby
One Sunday afternoon we felt the urge to take a riverside walk from Canary Wharf to Lime House and then London Bridge when a flash of rain sprung us near Wapping and we took refuge in one of London's oldest pubs - The Prospect of Whitby where a public house/tavern has stood on its site since 1520.
As the weather didn't look to improve, we decided to burn up more time before attempting to get back home on the other bank of the Thames and ended up eating dinner at Il Bordello - a well recommended Italian restaurant where our meal started with a cold antipasto platter followed by a solid casserole dish sized lasagna.
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| Antipasto platter |
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| A big dish of lasagna is well received on a cold wet day |
Duffin
A trend of 2013 was to blend different types of desserts. A muffin plus a donut equals a duffin.
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| Food experience of Starbucks - the Duffin (jam doughnut muffin) |
Zucca, Bermondsey
Eating locally in Bermondsey St, we had dinner at Zucca - amazing service with attentive staff keeping a close eye on everything including the toddler in the next table reaching out to grab the tea candles only to be thwarted by a waiter at the last minute. Food was tasty and with an open style kitchen you can spend the moments waiting for your meal spying on the chefs cooking the food and the half a dozen attendants that then prep and plate it up.
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| Assortment of bread and extra virgin olive oil |
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| Cured sea bass |
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| Big hunks of pork steak |
Village East
Also on Bermondsey Street and the venue for Mei's birthday in 2012 - Village East was chosen as the restaurant for a dinner one night solely on the recommendation of the mashed potatoes - differentiated from any that we had eaten before by the inclusion of not only gravy but fried chunks of chicken skin. Such a heavenly combination.
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| Mashed potatoes and a duck pate |
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| Seared tuna salad with a nutty seed coating |
Hutong
A Sunday lunch booked at one of the restaurants renowned for its view over London - Hutong at the Shard was enhanced by clear blue skies, a well-positioned window facing table and a semi-sweet white wine that complemented the spicy Szechuan cuisine.
We started off eating a steamer of pretty looking dumplings, razor-clams steamed with lemongrass, followed by the signature 'red lantern' dish - soft shell crab swamped in fried szechuan chillies, slow roasted lamb with a crunchy fatty crackling, followed by a dessert that included three hedgehog shaped custard buns.
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| Hello St Pauls |
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| Dumplings with flavoured pastry |
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| Razor clams |
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| Slow roasted lamb |
Our foodie experiences continued and we visited the Michelin Star contemporary dim sum restaurant - Yauatcha in Soho. Food was well presented, service was great, decor looked like a nightclub but when it comes to the balance between presentation vs taste vs cost - a simple trolley service at the yum cha houses in Melbourne would still win out in our opinion.
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| The bar equipped with a funky fish tank |
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| Great dim sum but on the pricey side |
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| Cute duck and pumpkin balls |
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| Baba cake with green tea ice-cream |
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| Walnut and caramel cake |
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