London Film Museum and Italian Food

In December my friend and I celebrated our birthdays by visiting the London Film Museum and eating Italian food afterwards!

The London Film Museum is a hidden gem in South Bank, found in the County Hall building. I myself can't remember how I found out about it but once I did I was literally buzzing to visit (particularly as I am a massive Star Wars fan and was very excited to see the Star Wars section!)

We bought our tickets at the entrance, £13.50 each and definitely worth the price!



The dinosaur featured in Night at the Museum 2

Thunderbirds are Go

Costume from Batman Begins

Superman Newspaper Props - I love the original Superman films (1-3) with Christopher Reeves 

We really enjoyed the Myths & Legends exhibition! The original 1981 Clash of the Titans film is one of my favourite films. I remember watching it and being terrified of Medusa. She is still pretty scary as a movie prop! (See below)

Medusa....don't look directly at her

Facehuggers from Alien

Props from the Alien films

I'll be back.....Terminator 2

I love Star Trek and I got very excited when I saw this Klingon Bridge Chair featured in the Star Trek movies. I took photo after photo, from all angles...

I have loved the Simpsons since as long as I can remember. I used to come home after school and just watch episodes, one after the other.

I saw the Borrower's movie in school and so was very excited when I saw these giant versions of everyday products and objects (I felt a bit like a borrower myself). The film was also playing on a mini screen so I caught a couple of minutes of it when I was sat on the Simpsons chair.

We went to the museum on a Saturday and surprisingly it wasn't very full but this worked to our advantage. We got to spend as much time as we wanted in each section.

One thing I was disappointed with was that the Harry Potter section had gone! I had heard that there was a room with Harry Potter props and costumes and was very excited to see this, but when I checked it wasn't there anymore! Still, despite this, I would definitely recommend a visit to the London Film Museum!

After spending a good couple of hours exploring the museum we had worked up an appetite and decided to go for Italian food. We stayed in Waterloo and had an Italian Dinner at Azzuro Restaurant.

Starter
Bruschetta topped with crumbled goats cheese, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar
£5.95

The one time I tried goat's cheese it literally tasted like feet to me but I have to say this starter was delicious!! I could easily have eaten 2 helpings! In fact I actually don't think that there was enough goat's cheese on the bruschetta! I did find that the bruschetta was a little bit overcooked but this didn't matter as the tomatoes and goat's cheese were so tasty I quickly forgot about this.

Pizza - Danielle
Pizza with roasted peppers, goat's cheese, balsamic caramelised red onions and rocket
£9.95

Pizza - Margherita
£7.95

I found the main wasn't as tasty as the starter...I had liked the goat's cheese so much in the starter that I went for Pizza Danielle (my friend had the Margherita Pizza). However, I found that the pizza had too much goat's cheese in it which overpowered the other flavour's, making the pizza very sweet. The caramelised onions didn't help either...so in hindsight I probably won't be getting this pizza again.

Atmosphere                       7/10

Service                                7/10

Food                                    8/10

Chocolatesushi Rating    7/10

Blog Post written by Nabs

Bubble Tea in Wandsworth

I crave Bubble Tea all the time but in the past I've only had bubble tea when I've been in Central London and have been able to make a visit to the Bubbleology store in Soho. I have seen a lot of new Bubble Tea places that have opened in Chinatown but nowhere that I know of in South London, until recently! 

A new bubble tea stand 'Bubble Tino' has opened in Southside Shopping Centre in Wandsworth! They offer a range of bubble teas from the classic Original Milk Tea (my favourite) to a variety of fruit teas and green teas.

The seating area



The range of teas offered!!

The teas come in two sizes: Small (£2.50) and Regular (£2.99)

Original milk tea!!!

Strawberry Delight Fruit Tea-Smoothie

So far, as well as the original milk tea, I've tried a milky Mango Tea with popping mango bubbles and a fruit tea-smoothie (Strawberry Delight flavour) with popping strawberry bubbles, both of which were delicious! I sometimes find that the milky teas can be on the heavy side so I loved the fruit-tea smoothie, which was juicy and refreshing.

They offer free samples which is a perfect way to sample the different teas before making a decision on which one to buy. Last time I went, I was offered a sample of the Jasmine Green Tea with Passion Fruit which I loved!! I am definitely going to be getting a regular sized cup of this next time I go to Southside as it tasted amazing (I am not exaggerating here). It was refreshing and fruity and very light as well so it won't be too filling.

Adding the chewy tapioca pearls or the popping bubbles to the tea is 50p extra but definitely worth it as they are not only an essential ingredient in the tea but look so beautiful. The popping bubbles literally pop in the mouth, releasing fruity juices.

Atmosphere                       9/10

Service                               10/10

Food                                   10/10

Chocolatesushi Rating    9/10

Blog Post written by Nabs

CAMDEN: Deep Fried Candy Bars!

As we entered Camden Market on a rainy Saturday last month we were greeted by rows and rows of food stalls, selling delicious smelling food of all cuisines: Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Brazilian, Turkish, Mexican, you name it! Benches were packed with people seated, eating, talking and generally enjoying themselves despite the rain (it lasted all day...)

A mini poster that caught our attention

We were at a loss as to which cuisine or food stall to go for (they all looked so good!) so we worked our way from the beginning of the market, stall by stall, to the middle of the market, and then all the way round.

At each stall we were greeted by hello's, free samples of tasty food and shouts to come and buy the food. Most of the Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Indian stalls that we walked past were offering boxes of mixed dishes, small at £4 a box and large at £5 a box. The other cuisine food stalls were similarly priced and most of them were Halal as well which was an added bonus!

Before we filled up on all the free samples we were getting we knew that we had to decide on a stall, which we finally did. The stall we chose was on the other side of the bridge, in Camden Canal Market.

This Chinese food stall was selling a range of tasty dishes, mixed in a box, small for £4 and large for £5. Some of the dishes they had to offer included sweet and sour chicken, fried chicken, beef teriyaki, egg fried rice and chow mein.

As you can see from the above photos we chose a mixture of the dishes, along with a spring roll and enjoyed our food seated near the canal, enjoying the beautiful view which can be seen in the photo below.

Now onto our highlight of the day: Eating deep fried candy bars we bought at The Original Original Crispy Candy Co, a stall in Camden Canal Market :D

After hearing stories about the deep fried Mars bar being a popular dish in Scotland, we were keen to try it out for ourselves. Lets face it, chocolate, you just gotta love, and anything that's been deep fried has that melt in your mouth crispness to it. When you add deep fried AND chocolate together....surely it has to be a hit?!

We weren't going to travel all the way up to Scotland to try these wonders out: why would we when we could have it right on our doorstep in London (well as close to our doorstep as it gets :) )

The Original Crispy Candy Co. not only does deep fried Mars bars but a selection of other chocolate bars, all deep fried with their own special buttermilk batter, and all their ingredients are imported from the USA! 

As you can see from the above photo there are 8 variations of deep fried candy bars to choose from: Bounty, Rolo, Oreo, Toffee Crisp, Creme Egg, Mars, Snickers and Lion. After choosing a chocolate bar, it is fried in their secret buttermilk recipe and you are then given the option of eating it coated in sugar (£3) or eating it with whipped cream, sauce and toppings (£4).

When we got to the stall we couldn't decide which chocolate bar to get as they all looked so good deep fried! In the end we decided to try the Lion Bar coated in vanilla and cinnamon sugar.

Here are some of the other things they do at The Original Crispy Candy Co. That oreo milkshake definitely sounds appetizing....mmm

Deep Fried Lion Bar in all its glory!

This close up photo of the deep fried lion bar was definitely needed! It oozes all sorts of happiness :D

Some people may find the thought of a deep fried chocolate bar a bit odd but rest assured when you bite into this, all your doubts will disappear! The crispness of the batter hits you first... Then comes the second layer...a gorgeous layer of chocolate melting into the inner layer of the batter...

...Next, all the other ingredients in the lion bar: the nuts, the chunky wafer biscuit in the middle, are mixed in with the melted chocolate!

It was an incredible journey for our taste buds, one we would make again and again!

One thing we would recommend is to try the deep fried chocolate bar then and there, as Nabs bought a deep fried Mars bar to eat at home later on that day and even though she heated it in the oven it just didn't have the same texture and taste as a freshly fried chocolate bar does.

We will definitely be visiting this place again! Though the next time we visit it might be in Convent Garden...the lady who served us said they may be moving to a shop in Covent garden... Keep an eye out on their website for up to date information! 

We finished off our day with a cup of refreshing mango Taiwanese bubble tea from this small Taiwanese stall just a couple of stalls away from The Original Crispy Candy Co :)

All in all it was a lovely day out in Camden...minus the heavy downpour of rain!

Atmosphere                       9/10

Service                              10/10

Food                                   9/10

Chocolatesushi Rating    9/10

Tea and Cake at Rosie's Deli Cafe, Brixton Market

Brixton Market is one of my favourite places to go to in South London. It is vibrant, full of delicious smelling cafe's, restaurants and food stalls as well as many other stalls and shops, selling everything from fruit, veg and fish to clothes and bags.

The Foxes and Cherries sculpture, Electric Avenue

 I've eaten dumplings, noodles and Jamaican patties at Brixton Market in the past but there are so many places to eat that I haven't tried yet. I was planning to meet a friend in Brixton today and so prior to meeting her I researched the best places to eat in Brixton Market, and Rosie's Deli Cafe came up a couple of times in blogs and reviews.

Rosie's Deli Cafe is a small, comfy looking cafe at the corner of Market Row in Brixton Market.

 
We got to Rosie's Deli Cafe at around 11.30 this morning and aside from two other customers we were the only ones there. This was a good thing though as we got to pick where we wanted to sit. The cafe itself isn't very big inside, the seating area probably extends to 4 or 5 tables, but there are more tables directly outside and to the opposite side of the cafe. We chose a table on the opposite side and within a couple of minutes Rosie came out to take our order.

We started off by ordering a pot of tea with milk to share between the two of us.

Pot of tea - £3

Cup of tea before I added milk

Tea with milk

  I like my tea milky and when the milk wasn't brought out with the pot of tea I waited a couple of minutes then went back into the cafe to ask for it again.

After our tea arrived, my friend ordered scrambled eggs with toast and chilli jam, which looked so delicious that next time I go I might order it!

I went into the cafe to have a look at the cakes and what a selection! There was lemon drizzle cake, carrot cake, fig cake, as well as many others that I would have paid more attention to had I not been distracted by the cakes I just mentioned. The carrot cake in particular looked tasty with a generous layer of cream frosting at the top and it took me a couple of minutes to decide what to get. In the end I decided to go with the fig cake. 

Toasted Fig Cake with Yogurt

  What can I say about this cake? I am still thinking about it, 4 hours after I ate it. I initially ordered just the fig cake but Rosie came out and recommended I eat it toasted with yogurt so I agreed, waiting in anticipation for her to bring out the cake. Rosie knew what she was talking about when she suggested eating it toasted with yogurt because it was delicious!! The slice in the picture may look small but it was extremely filling, in the end I couldn't finish it. The cake was moist even after being toasted and the fresh yogurt added a tanginess to the sweetness of the cake. I would definitely get this again! 

Atmosphere  9/10

Service           8/10

Food               9/10

Chocolatesushi Rating 9/10

Nabs 15/08/13