Bi Bim Bap time

I like nothing better than finding a new cheap eat in London. Tired of venturing to the usual cheap eat haunts on a weekday night (GBK, Sagar, Fire & Stone, a Thai place or Burrito Bar), I googled 'cheap eats London' to see if anything new came up. And it did!! Time Out had a good review of a Korean restaurant called Bi Bim Bap.

The name alone intrigued me and after reading the review I knew I wanted to eat their. However I had to make sure that they had good veggie options. So I checked out their website and menu and was over the moon when I discovered what a Bi Bim Bap is.

At Bi Bim Bap, they serve Bi Bim Bap's. Bi Bim Baps is a Korean dish served in a very hot stone bowl. It consists of vegetables like cucumber, beansprouts, spinach, carrots, daikon and mushrooms, and these sit on top of a bed of sticky white rice (you can swap this for brown rice for an additional cost). On top of this is the vegetable or meat of your choice. The traditional one comes with a fried egg on top. I had this one and the American Vegetarian chose the tofu. They advise you that the best way to eat a Bi Bim Bap, is to mix everything up really well. That way all the well balanced flavours infuse really well together giving you a fantastic meal.

The thing I loved most was that the food cooked and stayed piping hot as you ate it. In fact I would say the food became more hot because it actually was cooking while we ate. They also give you chilli paste and miso paste to add as you wish. I loved the Bi Bim Bap. It was tasty, healthy, warming and something completely different. Oh and at £5.95 a bowl, you really can't go wrong.

Now we went on a Tuesday night, and there was a regular stream of customers coming in but it wasn't overly busy. Our service was fine but could have been better. There was a couple next to us who had been waiting a while for their order. They kept looking at their watch, and asked more than once where their food was. Our starter came within 15 minutes. I then had to remind the waiter of our drinks, which he swiftly brought immediately, but then our Bi Bim Bap's were brought before we had a chance to finish our starter. Usually I would have said something, but seeing as the table next to us had waited far longer for their mains then we had, I let this one go.  Also I think I was still experiencing an endorphin rush from the spin class I took before going to dinner. My work out schedule hasn't been very healthy lately due to a star jump that went wrong (my lower back decided to have a spasm mid jump).

I needed some no impact hard core exercise. So spin it was. It was a great class, and is made all the better as it is taught by a guy I went to infant school with. (Elementary for my US readers..I think I have some!).

So I highly recommend Bi Bim Bap for all vegetarians and non vegetarians out there. They have five options of each and some very nice Korean beer. The service could be better but I'm puting this down to teething problems and not going to hold this against them. I will definatley be going back, with friends in tow.

http://www.bibimbapuk.com/ for the food.
http://www.jubileehalltrust.org/ for the spin class (Simon; Tuesday @ 6pm).

Sweetcorn Salsa

I went to an impromptu barbecue on Sunday at my brother's house. My cousin from Canada visited the UK with his family. His wife Carol, is French Canadian, and therefore their three children are a beautiful mix of Gujarati, French, Canadian-ness. So that means they eat onion soup with their fingers! Only kidding!! So while my brother was making his infamous kebabs my cousin (a different one; Raj from North London) and I made a sweetcorn salsa. Now he makes it slightly differently to me but the essence is the same. This salsa is great at barbecues as a side with vegetable kebabs, on some lightly toasted sourdough bread or just with some tortilla crisps and a beer. 

So here is our sweetcorn salsa.

Ingredients

Sweetcorn (Either kernels cut from a cob, or straight from a can; drained)

2 vine ripened tomatoes

1 small red onion diced
1 green chilli de-seeded and finely chopped

Big handful of fresh coriander
Fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 clove of garlic (Raj's option)

Sourdough bread
Olive Oil

Method

If using kernels form a cob, then after you have cut them off, spread them on a baking tray and dry roast for about 20 minutes. You can prepare the rest of the salsa whilst they are roasting. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and de-seed them and then cut the flesh of the tomatoes into cubes. Peel the onion and dice. Wash and chop the fresh coriander and de-seed and chop the green chilli. Once the sweetcorn has roasted mix them with the tomatoes, onion, green chilli, coriander, and lemon juice and garlic (if using) together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Toast the bread and drizzle some Olive oil on it and serve with the salsa. Delicious!!

Scene & Heard Summer Time Shakes

Sorry!!! I know I haven't been updating my blog as much as I'd like to but I hope to try and change that. Meanwhile let me tell you about a project I have been involved with called Scene & Heard.

Scene & Heard is a fantastic mentoring project for children who live in the Somers Town area of London. Its a play making and play writing course for children aged between 9 - 15. Over a period of about 8 weeks the children have a mentor in the shape of a theatre professional and they are taught basic drama and playwright skills. They then over a weekend wright a 8 minute play which is then put on by 2 professional actors and a director. Its then performed over a  4 nights at Theatro Technis. I've volunteered for them as an actor on 3 occasions, and I've played a skittle and rose.

The plays are totally out of this world. They are so imaginative and contain everything from comedy, tragedy, love, hate, revenge, envy, and loss. You really have to see it to believe it. So if you haven't seen a Scene & Heard play, go check out their website to see when the next event is on. You'll have the best night out at the theatre you've ever had.

So in honor if my time at Scene & Heard I thought I'd whizz up some Scene & Heard summertime shakes. There's nothing better, then grabbing some juice, fruit, yoghurt and ice. Whizzing it up in a blender and making yourself a little smoothie. I love them, and its a fab way of getting some of your 5 a day. Below you will find the base of my summertime shakes and then a list of ingredients that you can play with to make your own shake depending on what you fancy!


Base Ingredients

1 banana
yoghurt
OJ
Crushed ice

Extra ingredients that makes smoothie fab;

 Any fruit possible; apple, plums, grapes, oats, nuts, berries, honey, granola, melon, ginger, peanut butter, frozen grapes, frozen bananas, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, mango's, pomegranate, pineapple, kiwi, nectarine, peaches..the list can go on. But I think you get the idea.

Method

Cut up the fruit into chunks and place all the ingredients that you want into a blender then whizz away!!

Grab a friend make a smoothie and enjoy the summertime.