The period of financial tense

The UK encountered its first bank run in more than a century in September 2007 when it became clear to the regulators that Northern Rock was in trouble. By February 2008, the bank was nationalised as a temporary measure.

Whilst some argue that tax payers’ money is at stake, Chancellor Alistair Darling explained "It is better for the Government to hold on to Northern Rock for a temporary period and as and when market conditions improve the value of Northern Rock will grow and therefore the taxpayer will gain."

But did the market improve?

A year has moved on since Northern Rock and the global financial market continues to face severe meltdown:

• Bear Sterns disappeared from the scene as the US investment bank being snapped-up by JP Morgan.
• Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, the two firms which own or guarantee about $5.3 trillion (£2.7 trillion) worth of home loans - more than half the outstanding mortgages in the US was rescued by the US government.
• By mid-September 2008, Lehman Brothers, the 158-years old Wall Street institution filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving thousands of job losses.
• At the same time, Merrill Lynch, worried being the next bank losing the confidence of investors, was acquired by Bank of America.
• US regulators moved in and shut down Washington Mutual (WaMu), one of the largest savings and loan institutions in the US. The bank was immediately sold to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9bn.

This morning, the headline dropped another ‘shocking’ news, sending the next wave of financial tense to the global market: Bradford and Bingley, UK mortgage lender is expected to be nationalised.

At the point of writing this entry, US is still making significant progress in negotiating for a $700bn rescue plan – a tentative deal which authorised the government to buy up to $700bn of troubled assets from financial institutions.

But is this the end of the problem?

Le Gavroche: A taste of excellent

Le Gavroche
43 Upper Brook Street
London W1K 7QR



Le Gavroche, a French restaurant in Mayfair, London (currently under Michel Roux Jr. stewardship) is one of London most influential and respectable restaurant. It was the first UK restaurant to receive a Michelin star in 1974, a second in 1977 and a third in 1982. The name Le Gavroche comes from the fictional character Gavroche in Les Misérables.



In 2008, Le Gavroche ranks number 22 in Restaurant (a British magazine) Top 50 restaurants in the world, based on the votes of 600 respected chefs, restaurateurs, critics and fun-loving gourmands.



The restaurant offers classical French food, although some dishes come with something of a modern twist. The Food is a work of art. Here are some of the excellent taste of food we recently had the opportunity to indulge in… (apologies for the poor photography skills this time)

Lobster mousse



The escargot



Watercress soup and duck egg wrapped with bacon.



Roast pork




Roast rabbit



Selection of French and British Farmhouse Cheese



Review:
1) Service is excellent!
2) Food is fantastic!
3) Best value set lunch in town!



Verdict: 9 out of 10 points.

Beachcomber Seafood Restaurant – Fresh fish but bad attitude

Kay and I were around Cutty Sark/ Greenwich, London recently and had fish and chips at Beachcomber Seafood Restaurant per our friend’s recommendation. The restaurant is a small but served fresh fish. I would have given the restaurant 9 out of 10 points for the great food. Unfortunately, it has people with ‘shitty’ attitude serving the customers.

Upon seated, we were asked to order our drinks, but no drinks menu was available for our selection. So Kay asked for ice-lemon tea and the waitress says “Sorry, we don’t serve that”. That doesn’t impress us – how would the customers know what drinks is available if we are not given a menu or a list?

Anyway, that was just half the story. The ‘shocking’ event came when the owner or manager or (basically someone that looks in charge) came over to our table filled with ‘wrath’ and ‘sarcasm’. Here is a simple sketch of what happened…














So, my verdict is 4 points out of 10 for the very reason of ‘no matter how good the food is, you will lose your appetite when the people who serve you has attitude problem’. That is unless you don’t mind the attitude – the food is ok.

Notting Hill Festival 2008

Sorry for the prolonged ‘Coming Soon’. I was held back by work.

Anyway, I was referring the ‘Street Party’ to Notting Hill Carnival which took place between 31 August 08 and 1 September 08.

Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which takes place on the streets of Notting Hill, London, UK each August, over two days. It is led by members of the Caribbean population, many of whom have lived in the area. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it one of the few largest street festival in the world.

The carnival parades start on Sunday with Children's Day while the main Notting Hill Carnival parade takes place on Monday. Here are some of the snapshot of the main events:

There is the fashion parade...

The is the band to give the carnival the music....

Then there are fancy customers as well...

The carnival even attracted Sun Wukong - the Monkey God!

Street party...

A snapshot of dancers taking the streets in London recently. Update to come...

Cantonese roast duck @ Gold Mine

Succulent roast duck on wanton noodle

Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster. It is one of London's most cosmopolitan areas and well-known for its concentration of great restaurant serving Cantonese roast duck. Here, you will find rows of roast duck hanging on the window of Chinese restaurant wanting a share of your money in exchange for delicious roast duck.

Rather than throwing out all the names of restaurant of the entire Cantonese roast duck industry, I will just focus with Gold Mine in this entry.

Gold Mine

Address: 102 Queensway W2 3RR

Tel: 020 7792 8331

Opening Hours: Mon-Sun 12N-11pm

Average price per person: £7 to £15

As what I’ve heard from friends, the head barbecue chef at Four Seasons (one of the few best rated places for roast duck) left and formed Gold Mine in 2007 and brought many of his regular customers with him. It has regular customers of mostly Singaporean and Malaysians. Whilst I don’t think the flow of business is as good as Four Seasons, the food quality is up to the excellent standard.

The restaurant’s Cantonese roast duck is succulent and the skin is crispy. The meat has a layer of fat under a crisp envelope of shiny skin – which makes the roast duck so juicy. Among my friends view, Gold Mine is rated as one of the best place to get roast duck.

On a personal note, its roast pork is also excellent, though at times it could be a little too salty.

On top of that, Gold Mine has a relatively standard selection of Chinese dishes and has notably my personally favorite, kangkong belacan (as of the date of this entry, Gold Mine is one of the few restaurant in London that serves a decent kangkong belacan that suits Malaysian’s taste).

Service is good and friendly. But don’t expect to sit and chat for long at the restaurant because the turnover is fairly high, so you are expected to pay and leave the table the soonest you’ve finished your meal.

Crispy roast pork

The score: 9 out of 10

A very angry doggie...

I was out recently and ran into this tiny little dog glaring at me as if I owe the dog a million doggie biscuit. Couldn't help it but to snap a photo of the 'Very Angry Doggie' as it looked at me.

Fresh Prawns with Baked Tomato

Another Bob's Kitchen recipe for lazy people...

An appetizer for two to share.









Ingredients:
1) One large tomato - as big as a small Chinese bowl
2) few cloves of garlic (forget peeling the skin or cutting - we are lazy people)
3) 5 to 6 pieces of fresh prawn - quantity depends on the size of the prawn. The prawns got to fit into the tomato.
4) Olive oil
5) Salt

Time to prepare: 10 to 15 minutes

How do we do it?
1) Slice to top part of the tomato.
2) Dig out the content of the tomato leaving the skin which mirror a bowl - while digging the contents, careful not to destroy to outer part of the tomato. (Don't throw the content! - we need it later)
3) Pinch of salt on the heated frying pan.
4) Add olive oil to mix the salt.
5) Add a few clove of garlic and lower down the fire/ heat.
6) Put the tomato 'bowl' in the oven and baked it for 7 to 8 minutes (180 degrees Celsius).
7) Once the garlic turn golden brown add the contents of the tomato onto the frying pan.
8) Stir fry it for a while until it turned into puree like and then add the fresh prawn.
9) Once the prawn is cooked, place the tomato puree and the prawn (with the garlic) into the just baked tomato 'bowl'.
10) Serve it to hot. - DONE!

Fresh Scallops with Garlic Sauce

Bob's Kitchen - recipe for lazy people...

If you want to impress but just too lazy, here are some way out for you.









Appetizer for two

Ingredients:

6 fresh scallops.
few cloves of garlic (maybe 5 or so) - forget chopping, it's just too much work!
olive oil
lettuce
balsamic vinegar
salt

Time to prepare: Should not take more than 15 minute.

How do you do it?

1) Throw a pinch of salt into the heated frying pan.
2) As the salt began to melt, pour some olive oil and let the salt mix with the olive oil
3) Throw in the cloves of garlic (if you are too lazy it is totally acceptable not to peel the skin of the garlic because the skin will give fragrance to the oil) - the garlic, olive oil and salt will season the scallops to taste.
4) As the garlic began to turn to golden brown, lower the fire/ heat.
6) Put the 6 scallops on to the frying plan, and occasionally turn to the other side until it is golden brown.
7) Meantime, cut some lettuces and mix it with balsamic vinegar (add a little sugar if it is too sour for you).
8) Garnish the the dish with your lettuces and place the freshly cooked scallops onto the plate

- DONE!

Michael Buble

‘Michael who…?’ one of my friends asked.

‘Michael Buble, the singer!’ Kay answered.

In case you are not the those who are familiar with Jazz music like one of my misinformed friend, this is Michael Buble. He is responsible for hit songs like ‘Home’ and ‘Everything’.

He was in London recently for a two day concert and I managed to get the tickets (sometime in February this year).

I am not a concert person, but I would have to admit Michael is good. We enjoyed ourselves during the entire concert. No fancy dress or dance. Just good entertainment and songs from Michael Buble.

Fans awaiting for Michael Buble...

We’ve managed to get pretty good seats.

Fantastic seats...

Unfortunately, we’ve got some tall audience sitting right in front of us, which block some of the view.

Unfortunately, I've got at 'botak' who blocked my view...

Anyway, here’s a video of the concert, although I have to warn you, it’s not in fantastic quality.

Borough Market

I love Borough Market. If you like, it reminds me of ‘Pasar Malam’ – the only difference is it takes place during the day and minus the Ah Beng.

At Borough Market, there are people with real blond hair..not the fake wannabe blondie Si Ham Chai (Cockle Boy)

Borough Market is London’s oldest food market and located at the south bank of the Thames with the nearest tube station at London Bridge. Despite being a wholesale market, tourist like you and me are always welcomed. The market is opened between Thursday and Saturday.

Here’s some of my favourite stalls

Monmouth Coffee Company

If I dare say – it is one of the best coffee joints in town. There is always a long queue but the wait is worth it.

My favorite choice... ice capacino

You can either enjoy a coffee to go or simply bring home some fresh coffee beans. However coffee beans sold at the stall is limited If you want more selection, just visit the shop located just around the corner of Borough Market.

Raclette Cheese

Another personal favorite of mine is the Raclette Cheese stall. At the price of £5.00, you can get the taste of melted cheese with pickles and potatoes. Like Monmouth Coffee, there is always a long queue at the raclette cheese stalls.

The cheese is subject to intense heat...

Then the melted cheese are 'scrapped' into a plate of potatoes and pickles.

There are other food to go as well –

Enjoy smoked salmon with champagne

Or maybe some fresh oysters?

Wild boar sausages

There are other goodies as well you can indulge in.

Cheese

More cheese

Spices

Sea salt – great for cooking

Freshly baked bread

Stacks of chocolates

Fresh seafood anyone?

I have no idea what this is...

Or quench your thirst with some drinks

Other food available includes Bratwurst, roast pork sandwich, chicken wrap, venison sandwich and may more…

Need I say more?