A parade of Russian dolls are peering out the window of this shop in Elephant and Castle shopping centre waiting for someone to buy them. There´s a childrens TV programme to be made out of this somehow - maybe they run around the empty shopping centre at night and have adventures.
The guy working in this South American shop in Elephant and Castle shopping centre was very patient with me practising Spanish with him. When I told him I wanted to learn more about the kind of products they sold he went round some of the shelves explaining which countries things were from.
Tiroler Hut is an Austrian restaurant over in Bayswater has been runnning since 1967.
If I had to sum up Tiroler Hut in a few words they would be:
Wienerschnitzel von schweim
Kassler/smoked port with sauteed potatoes and mild sauerkraut (how it should be in my non-German opinion)
A wide range of live music including (but not limited to) schlager and yodelling music. The best part of the evening was when one of the guys came over and did a saxophone solo to 'La Vie en Rose' for the birthday girl at the table next to us. There was also cowbell music scheduled for later that evening, although I didn't stay late enough to see it.
Kitch! There were lots of photos all over the walls of people who have visited the restaurant in the past, including some celebrities.
I am now a little bit of a fan of very romantic schlager music from the 1970s. And it's all thanks to the Tiroler Hut that I now have stuff like this on my playlist:
And the whole evening was rounded off by a shot of strong obstler.
I have been eating out a lot again recently and this evening was no exception. Rasa Sayang is a restaurant that serves Singaporean and Malaysian food. I was very excited to see Cendol Ice on their menu. They very helpfully had a photo otherwise I wouldn't have recognised it as the snack that I had with my Couchsurfing tour guide Hong when I was visiting Georgetown in Malaysia back in 2009.
Nasi Lamak
Cendol Ice
It's a shame that the restaurant has a minimum spend of £6 per person as it's the first place I've been to that serves Teh Tarik. I did try to make some myself last year but it turned into a bit of a disaster.
I tried going to Slemani back in the summer, but when we got there at about 9pm on a Saturday there was quite a queue. I can now say from experience that you've got a much better chance of getting a table if you go on a Wednesday at 7.30pm.
The food was really tasty and there was a nice, relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant. Both Slemani and the Queen of Sheba were playing Arabic pop music and had TVs so you could also see the music videos. I don't currently know that much Arabic pop but I am sure this is something that I can work on :)
Well after visiting so many different restaurants it was bound to happen at some point that I would end up with a stomach ache after a meal out. And this was that time. About an hour and a half after eating at the Queen of Sheba in Paddington I had quite a bit of pain in my stomach. It could have just been a coincidence though.
Oh well.
It took a long time for the waiters to take our order so at least the food arrived quickly.
Mixed starter
Mandi Laham (lamb)
Yemen's version of Vimto (or you could say Vimto is the UK's version of Shani)
I arrived at Kaieteur Kitchen in Elephant and Castle in a bit of a state: hungry, shivery and generally hungover from way too much partying at Momo's the night before. So I went up to the Guyanan food stall and stood there generally looking a bit pale and pathetic until the lady behind the counter took pity on me.
She asked me if I wanted a snack or a meal to which I replied 'A meal, I'M SO HUNGRYYYY!' She told me about all the food I could choose from and I decided on chicken curry. She served a big portion of spinach rice and then showed me and asked if I wanted a bit more. And then asked if I was sure when I said the portion size looked ok which resulted in a Oliver Twist style moment and a big portion of lunch which perked me right up.
I also bought a coconut bun to take home as a snack.
I have to be honest, a lot of the clothes in Medellin Y Su Moda look to me like the clothes in all the other shops in Elephant and Castle shopping centre. They also look like a lot of the clothes in the Queensmere shopping centre in Slough.
Our company Christmas party took place on Friday in Momos on Hedden Street. I arrived at 7pm so had plenty of time to explore the venue much more fully than I had when I went back in 2008.
The staff were all very friendly/cheeky and a great time was had by all!
Sign on the door of the ladies toilets
There were loads of lamps all over the venue, especially in the cafe area
