lamb tagine (slow cooked lamb braised in a tomato, coriander, cumin, turmeric and parsley sauce)

I’ve been in Johannesburg a week and this trip has been ridiculously, magnanimously wayyyyyy more enjoyable than the last trip. One, because I’m not working 14 hour days this time and two, I’m not working 14 hour days this time! I’ve had the chance to go out and enjoy a little bit of J’burg 🙂

On Thursday night, a lurvely co-worker of mine took me to Moyo, a restaurant which had been recommended to me by Saffers in London way before I came. I was excited to have something African like springbok, but sadly they were all out that night 🙁 Instead I had a tagine, which by the way, I’ve come to love and then to hate and then to love again.

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hip hop roll – crab meat, avocado and lettuce, wrapped in seared salmon, topped with fried garlic

My time in London has come and gone! Waaahhhhhh BIG SAD FACE (T.T) … I didn’t actually feel particularly sad until the very last night when I lay in bed and thought about everything that I was going to miss. Aside from people, what I’ll miss most about London is Soho. I love the vibe of the place, the eclecticness, the randomness and the fact that no one really cares who you are or what you are. I loved living in Soho and being in it every day. I loved all the food in Soho.

Surprisingly I hadn’t planned any special eats for my very final weekend. I actually hadn’t planned anything at all, no parties, no farewells, nothing. But I ended up eating all the stuff I love anyway, like the best cheesecake and tiramisu in London.

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Sometimes I find a place so good in London that I can’t wait to tell y’all all about it. Because I’m nice like that. Right? WRONG. Because when I find the places I reaaaaaally love, I just want to keep them all to myself. I mean, damn if I’m gonna be sharing all my secrets! But since I’m leaving London in a little over 48 hours, I thought I’d share one of my best kept secrets with all of you.

There’s one place in London, just one, which makes the BEST cheesecake and tiramisu I’ve ever had. Truth.

Jak’s on Walton St, baby. You know it.

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oh ee kim chi (pickled cucumber seasoned in red chilli powder)

There’s been a lot of talk lately about one of my most beloved fruits, the durian. And let me tell you, it hasn’t been so kind, this talk about my durian. It seems that more and more people (even Asians, dammit, you call yourself Asians?) are starting to take offence to its smell, which by the way wikipedia so lovingly describes as “pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock”.

Ok but you know what? Love is blind anosmic, so bite me.

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Cumberland sausage and chive mash with caramelised onion gravy

It’s now officially 8 sleeps to go before I bid farewell to these gloomy shores. Days like today – Sunday, dumping rain, windy, scattered sunshine (kind of like Melbourne, really) – makes me think I won’t miss London at all but who am I kidding? As much as I crave the sun and surf of Sydney, there are certain things that make London London. Like sausages and mash, for example.

Not that we can’t get sausages and mash in Sydney, but you sure won’t get it within a stone’s throw of St Paul’s Cathedral and Fleet Street, where it really does hit home that London is one of the most incredible and historic cities in the world.

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I’ve been on a whirlwind of farewell dinners this week, my diary packed from last Saturday all the way through to this coming Sunday. For a wee little homebody like myself, this is tiring. Luckily, with the barrage of dinners, I’ve also had a huge array of gastronomic delights to power me on.

Monday night I caught up with my friend, Michael, who towers over me but thankfully the theme of the night was all about smallness. I’d picked Opera Tavern for dinner because I couldn’t leave these shores without trying one of their mini Ibérico pork & foie gras burgers… mini? Yes. Awesome? Definitely.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, awesomeness comes in small packages.

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