Inamo - Part 3

The last group arrived a week later and as a welcome dinner, we went back to Inamo. I admit some of the novelty had worn off, but it was still kind of cool to play games with your dining partner! We had several appetizers to share, before I had my main of the Tamarind Duck Breast.

This time, the service was terrible. While I understand we had a large group, but getting a drink you ordered at the beginning of the meal at the end of the meal is just ridiculous. We called on the servers several times, but were ignored, and the food was extremely late for several members of our party, including a sizzling beef dish brought to the table that wasn't cooked.  The rest of the restaurant wasn't terribly busy, and the service was inexcusable. Everyone was in a poor mood after, which was really sad, as it was supposed to be a celebratory welcome dinner!

Baby pork ribs.

Chicken satay with peanut sauce.

Again, we had the sashimi nigiri dish. The salmon is best!

Tuna sashimi with tobiko.

Tamarind duck breast with tomato and mazuna salad and tamarind sauce.

Pandan macaroon & yuzu flavoured white chocolate mousse with lemongrass & coconut sorbet. It was not presented as beautifully as last time.

Close up of the yumminess. I actually wasn't a fan of the filling.

Inamo - Part 2

A week later, we returned to Inamo with a new group. I decided to try the Sizzling Beef dish that others had last time and looked good. I was actually a little disappointed with it, though it was presented very nicely. This time, we made sure to stay for dessert! They were all created beautifully! I had the sorbet myself (very sour!!).

The bar.

A living wall.

Edamame beans with rock salt for an appetizer.

The sashimi nigiri set again. One of my favorite appetizers!

I think this was battered squid? It was spicy!

Sizzling beef - filet of beef with ginger and garlic sauce.

Homemade sorbet.

Vanilla crème brulee with strawberry and lemongrass coulis.

Coconut cheesecake with cherry sorbet and sour cherries.

Pandan macaroon & Yuzu flavoured white chocolate mousse with lemongrass & coconut sorbet.

Inamo - Part 1

Located in Soho, London, Inamo serves pan-asian fusion food. The cool thing about this restaurant is the interactive ordering system. There are projectors above your table that makes your table into the menu. You place your orders through here, can check the bill, watch chefs prepare your meal with the kitchen camera, and even play games like battleship with the person you're sitting across from! Other fun things to do is change the image projected on the table, so you can sweeping landscapes to fun shapes and colours. It was a very cool experience to dine here, and the food was not too bad. We had appetizers to share, which were delicious. For the main, I tried a Beijing style roasted duck with hoi sin sauce and a salad. While it was pretty good, it doesn't nearly come close to the delicious duck wraps I have had in Vancouver restaurants. Plus the salad seemed to be made only of parsley, so I didn't eat it.  We all ordered dessert, but had to leave before it even arrived at our table! Definitely check out Inamo, just to experience this in-your-hands dining experience!

The tables are white, but the projected images make it very colourful.

This is the touch pad you use to scroll and order your food.

Tropical Storm - an interesting combination of passion fruit, lime, guava and cinnamon.

Salmon sashimi roll.

Hamachi, salmon and tuna nigiri.

Duck with Pancakes - Beijing style dish of roasted duck served with hoi sin sauce and a side of salad (I think it was just parsley).

Dinner at Nando's Chicken

Nando's is found in Canada too, but I have never tried it before, even though I've been meaning to. We were taken to Nando's one night in London (they like to bring us to an eclectic mix of restaurants!) and of course, I had to try something with chicken. I opted for a chicken pita wrap with no hot sauce (because I'm weak), which was humongous. I could only finish half (especially all the pita and hummus I ate for the appy) but it was very good! The garlic bread was delicious too! Others order the peri-peri chicken, which Nando's is known for, but it was too spicy for me. For dessert, there was a selection of ice cream, and I got a toffee one. Delicious!

Double chicken breast fillet in a pita with a side of garlic bread.

Peri-peri chicken with mashed potatoes and chips.

Toffee ice cream for dessert.

Pizza Express - Authentic Italian Pizza in London

On our second full day, we went for a quick lunch at Pizza Express after training. We were in a rush to head to Hyde Park to see the end of the Torch Relay. Though a chain restaurant, the pizzas had an authentic Italian feel to it. Even the menus choices were listed in Italian names. We started off with a few appetizers, including dough balls (no picture, sorry!) and garlic bread. Yum, carbs! I opted for a thin crust chicken pizza, Il Padrino. All the pizza's came with a pizza cutter, which was very cool. My pizza was pretty tasty!

Garlic bread.

Il Padrino - chicken, roasted tomatoes, chargrilled vegetables, tomato & pesto base.

Asadal Korean Restaurant - Korean in England

We went to many restaurants from different cultures during our stay in London, and one was at Asadal Korean Restaurant. Korean BBQ is always a lot of fun, because you have the grill at the centre of the table and you cook your own meats! Like all Korean restaurants, there are many starter dishes that come with your meal. Usually it consists of kimchee, a spicy pickled cabbage. We also had a Jap Che, which has beef and vegetables mixed with clear noodles. We had pork and beef to cook ourselves. The meats are brought to the table raw, and either you or the staff place them on the grill. There are tongs for the raw meat and chopsticks for the cooked. The BBQ aroma from the grill makes the meats delicious! For dessert, I opted for vanilla ice cream with lychee. It wasn't worth it though. I think it was £6 for one scoop of ice cream with a few canned lychees. It was a yummy meal, but I wish we had a larger variety of dishes to try!

An assortment of side dishes, kimchee, white radishes, spicy cucumber, veggies.

A side dish of bean sprouts, spinach and white radish.

Jap Che - clear noodles with beef and vegetables.

Raw pork read to be cooked!

Pork on the grill.

Pork and beef cooking.

Caution - hot beef on the grill!

Vanilla ice cream with lychee.

Ping Pong - Dim Sum for Dinner

I was told that Chinese food was very popular in London and Ping Pong was only a few blocks from our hotel. Ping Pong serves dim sum exclusively all day, as well as many cocktails and teas. I've never had dim sum for dinner before! As we had a large party, we were taken to a seating area upstairs that felt more like a lounge area - the tables were very low (and a bit uncomfortable - where do you put your legs?). We had a pre-ordered set menu, which started with an appetizer of sesame seed prawn crackers - one of my favorite snacks! The dim sum came out on individual plates and steamers for each person with one of each type of food, which was very odd to me because I'm accustomed to each steamer containing four of the same item and everyone just shares.

The seating area downstairs.

Sesame seed prawn crackers

Mixed vegetable spring roll, crispy duck spring roll, fried Vietnamese rice paper prawn rolls and roast pork puff.

Vegetable bun, chicken sui mai, shrimp dumpling, chicken and cashew nut dumpling, chive dumpling, spinach and mushroom dumpling

An extra order of steamed sticky rice.

I ordered ice cream for dessert - but it took so long it had melted. Very sad!

Chinese chocolate brownie with ice cream - also melted.

Frozen fruit

Banana and chocolate spring roll with ice cream

I forget what this drink is, but they had an assortment of very cool looking teas!

The spring rolls were very good, though the dim sum left something to be desired. There are a lot of excellent dim sum restaurants in Vancouver, so comparing the dim sum from Ping Pong to the places I've been to, it was subpar. It was also a little disappointing that the ice cream was all melted for all the desserts too. I'm not sure if it was because we had such a large party that it took them a long time to make. Ping Pong is a nice place to go for a quick lunch, as there is a nice vibe to the restaurant, but may not be filling enough for dinner.