REVIEW: Zima Russian Street Food and Bar

Sammii here!

So update on my life.. 

I have finished my exams recently, so these two weeks have involved me catching up with people I haven't seen since I declared myself a hermit during exam season. 

On Sunday I met up with my cousin and usually we like to eat some place cheap and easy but on odd days I say we have to venture out and go some place random. We were wandering around Soho and stumbled across Zima, a Russian restaurant. We both have never tried Russian food before so we decided to give it a go! It's always interesting to try food from different countries. 

The waitress explained to us that it was a tapas style menu where people would usually order 2/3 plates each to share together. So me n my cuz got ordering and ordered 4 plates together to share. 

'Pelmeni'- Beef and Venison Dumplings- Cep consomme, sour cream sauce (£9)

Dumplings! :D Is it me or you just can't go wrong with dumplings? These were like the Chinese ones, but not as nice.. though I am slightly biased :P 

The dumplings were filled with some soup and a dry piece of meat on the inside, the sour cream dipping sauce really went nicely with the dumplings. Yuuuum. 

Don Uka Fish Soup- Fish stock, chicken stock, salmon, cod, potatoes, roasted cherry tomatoes (£6.50)

The soup we ordered came with a side of dense bread. the soup was very fishy and it was quite light, nice for an autumn day. 

Short Rib Beef Stroganoff- ceps, sauteed new potatoes (£10.90)

 This was my favourite dish that we ordered, the beef was fall-off-the-fork soft, the sauce was slightly mustardy and the potatoes well roasted. 

Slow Cooked Lamb Tongue- Buckwheat, oyster mushrooms, horseradish and garlic tomato sauce (£8.50)

This was an interesting one for me, my cousin loves ordering dishes with animal insides i've noticed! Haha. I thought that the tongue was quite hard and the taste- like gut, I wasn't too keen on the tongue. The buckwheat had a pickled flavour and was soft. 

And seeing as we were doing all things Russian today, we washed down our meal with a vodka apple cocktail, it was a summer specials cocktail priced at £5. They had an extensive list of vodkas on the drinks menu, which I am very keen to try some more of :) Fun fact: Sammii's drink of choice- VODKA :D (not including tea of course!)

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my first Russian foodie experience- especially the stroganoff and vodka :))

Atmosphere- 8/10

Service- 8/10

Food- 7/10

Chocolate Sushi Rating- 7/10

Pretty Matcha Dessert at Oliver Maki, Soho.

Hello Sammii here! Sorry everyone, we have had a case of the lazy blogger and have not posted for a while, not to say we haven't been eating or taking pics of food, cause the foodie within us will not let that stop! Haha. The place I am going to blog about today, I actually went to it with a friend over a year ago and just never got round to blogging about it. 

This place I ventured to is in the heart of Soho. The place: Oliver Maki. 

The reason why I wanted to come here is because of their dessert ha ha and you will see why later :)

I went on a rainy day, the interior of the place is very dark, and dimly lit, I was taken to the upstairs seating area, the place is quite small, and the tables quite close together. 

Here is what we ordered:

Filo Shrimp Tempura Shots £13

The look of this coming out would excite you enough, but I would say that this looked a lot better than it tasted, I don't remember anything special about this and I didn't get the side plate of the little plum (can't remember what exactly it was- sorry XD) 

 Ebi Choco Maki £12

Another fabulous looking dish, and just look at the name! In other words this is chocolate sushi! Haha I had to try this out for the name alone! You could barely taste the chocolate on the dish, and I felt as though the dish was trying to be too trendy, which had consequences on the taste. I also thought that the outer sheet was much too tough. 

Ebi Choco Maki did not do our Chocolate Sushi name any justice. Let's just stick to having the two foods seperate shall we? ;D

Ok so now, the DESSERT! :) And the reason why I wanted to come in here in the first place, just to take a snap of this beaut! 

Terrarium Matcha Tiramisu £8

 You can see why I wanted to come here now, just look at how pretty the dessert looks! and even better that it's matcha! The rocks on the surface were made from milk chocolate. The tiramisu was very soft and had a hint of matcha taste and not much else, which made it quite bland. 

All in all, I would say that Oliver Maki is great for taking pictures of the food- you will get alot of instagram-able pictures here, but for quality of food it doesn't do it for me. Plus with the relatively high price tag, you would expect the taste to be on point!

The best part of the meal was actually that they gave us a free umbrella when we left, one of those long sturdy ones!

Atmosphere- 8/10

Service- 8/10

Food- 4/10

Chocolate Sushi Rating- 5/10

Taro

Me and Nabs stepped into Taro - A Japanese noodle and sushi bar in Soho London, on a particular rainy and windy Sunday. Glad to get away from the oncoming rain. It just happened to be the Chinese New Year weekend and celebrations were running just in the next street in Chinatown, but as you know rather than joining in the upbeat drumming and following the lion as it went from shop to shop, me n Nabs will choose to eat anyday! 

As I (Sammii) had previously eaten here before, I was dying to get my chopsticks around The Spider Roll again! We opted to order a range of sushi from the menu to share between us rather than the noodle and rice dishes the restaurant also had to offer. 

Green Tea £1.50

Vegetable Gyoza £4.70 

The Dumplings were mediocre, can't complain about them really, just what you expect from a vegetable dumpling, soy seasoning on the inside. Compared to the sushi we ordered, the dumplings were a stage prop to the main attraction. 

Nabs "I definitely agree. I've eaten better dumplings at other restaurants so I won't be getting these again. They weren't bad, they tasted fresh but the sushi was the real star of the show here. Taro is all about the sushi so in my opinion when visiting this amazing restuarant don't waste any time, just order their sushi, you won't regret it!"

Spider Roll £7.90

Rolled 'Futomaki' sushi ('big roll') of soft shell crab. 

Mayonnaise on top. 

Sammii "I loooooove this dish so much! I went here two weeks ago and had the exact same dish. Today it certainly wowed me again! The tempura was crisp and the crab was soft but firm. I definitely will order this everytime I visit here!"

Nabs "I've not eaten crab before, it has been on my to eat list (I keep one in my head and am forever adding food to the list) so I was really excited to try crab. Today was the first time trying it and as Sammi had recommended the Spider Roll I couldn't wait to taste both the crab and the actual sushi roll! All in all I was not disappointed. The Spider Roll was amazing! The mayonnaise sauce (I love mayonnaise!) was an incredible edition to the sushi. I would never have thought the two (sushi and mayonnaise) would go together but they do, so well! I don't think this was normal mayonnaise though, more a garlic mayonnaise I think. Even better! In terms of my first attempt at eating crab I was very satisfied with the taste and will definitely be getting the Spider Roll again as well as eating crab again!"

[Left] Prawn Tenpura Roll £5.90

Nabs "I LOVE prawns, literally my favourite sushi alongside salmon so it was a no brainer that I was going to get a prawn sushi roll!"

[Right] Eel Avocado Roll £3.50 

Nabs "I've not eaten Eel before either (I know I know, there is a lot of fish I still have to try). I must admit I was a little afraid at trying this one because Eel aren't the most attractive looking fish. They actually look pretty frightening so I didn't try this one straight away. However once I did, I ended up liking it though I told Sammi that the Eel was nice, a little chewy but she said it wasn't chewy so I don't know if I actually even tasted any Eel or just swallowed it without tasting it...hmm."

 Wonder Roll £7.90

(Avocado, cucumber, salmon, crab stick, with mayonnaise) 

Sammii "I didn't know that the tempura sushi roll existed! I have tried the sushi roll where the seaweed is on the outside and the california types where the rice is on the outside, but never knew about the tempura batter on the outside! I really loved this sushi roll too, the tempura really gave the sushi an added dimension. You could tell that it was freshly made as the sushi was warm when it was served. I also like the filling of the cooked salmon on the inside (as usually the salmon is raw)"

Nabs "This was definitely my favourite sushi roll, I loved it! The batter was so tasty and as Sammii said, it was very fresh! I could easily have eaten another portion of these. It's a week later since we went to Taro and I can honestly still taste this roll."

The other tempura style rolls on the menu is definitely something we would like to work through!

Nabs "Isn't this photo of all the sushi so beautiful! I want to go back and eat all of this again!"

Nabs "We were both still gushing over the amazing sushi we had eaten for hours afterwards, we just couldn't forget the taste! The atmosphere in the restaurant was really nice, it got busier towards the end but for the most part of our being there it wasn't too bad. The service was friendly and I really enjoyed myself. I'm talking like I was at a convention or something, not a restaurant but eating is an experience for me :) "

Atmosphere - 8/10

Service- 8/10

Food- 10/10

BunnyChow- Nothing to do with eating Rabbits!

BunnyChow! Nothing to do with eating rabbits!

To be honest when my friend first invited me to try a bunnychow out I (Sammii) had no idea what it was! She described it to me as a bread box filled with a stuffing, with a cute little lid! Cute name, cute lid! I was sold! BunnyChow first started off as a pop up van in June 2013, since then, it has opened a permanent residence in Shorditch BOXPARK and more recently its new Bunny Bar on Wardour Street, Soho. 

Yesterday I visited its newest branch on Wardour Street, opened in September 2014. 

A little bit of history behind BunnyChow

The food bunnychow is a South African street food, it consists of a hollowed out piece of loaf of bread filled with curry. Stories say that the bunnychow originated when workers from India were brought over to South Africa to work the sugar cane plantations. They needed a way to transport their lunch. 

#no-dish-washing-required

I chose the Bangcluck Bunny "Chicken, squash, beansprouts & Thai ginger sauce"- £6.50

I loved the subtle ginger kick in the sauce, it tasted just like a Thai green curry minus the fire. The sauce was a bit too thick for my liking but I liked the generous helping of veggies on top. The chicken meat on the other hand... I thought this dish was meant to come with chicken??

The way the sauce soaked into the walls of the bread loaf, was one of the little joys while eating this. It reminded me of dunking bread into a bowl of soup on a sick Winter's day in front of a open fire. BunnyChow is one of the be-all's of comfort food. 

Monkey Gland Bunny-"Meatballs, peppers & Monkey Glad BBQ Sauce"- £6.50

I enjoyed the Monkey Gland Bunny more than the Bangcluck Bunny! The sauce was a nicer consistency- one which soaked into the walls better.

For me, once the novelty of eating your food from an edible bread box wears out, I would find no reason to eat this again. 

The staff of this branch were on top form, they were very friendly and helpful, even gave us a few samples to help us choose which Bunny to buy, and an extra sample during our meal! One way to get on the good side of me- free stuff! Especially free food! A friend who gives you food is a friend for life I say! 

There were alot of BunnyChow branded goods to choose from as well!

        

Atmosphere- 7/10
Service- 10/10
Food- 6/10
Chocolate Sushi Rating- 6/10