What's kosher, where? Breakfast, brunch, Bagels and kosher food at SoYo restaurant, Golders Green. Compared and contrast with halal

 We were looking for a restaurant near Brent Cross Shopping centre for a meeting with friends in the near future. One of the group wanted a kosher restaurant. 

What do kosher and halal food have in common? No pork. Why? Because they both follow a rule from the book of Leviticus (Latin for laws) in the bible. Jews refer to the bible. Christians added the New Testament about the life of Jesus, and called the original bible, which Jesus followed, the Old Testament. 

Why no Pork?

The rules about eating kosher, not eating pork, were dropped by the ardent follower of Jesus, Paul, when preaching to non-Jews about the messages of Jesus and the Resurrection. 

Moslems came along. They followed Mohamad.  (His name is spelled in English various ways, depending on how you translate the Arabic letters into the Roman alphabet. Nowadays you might conform or to be different the different countries with different pronunciations.) The Moslems kept the old, traditional, rule about not eating pork. Some people say the Christianity is Judaism made easy, whilst Islam is Judaism made difficult. (One month of fasting for Ramadan, whereas the Jews have just one day at the Day of Atonement. Christians give up one food for lent. Jews give up all kinds of food for the period including and surrounding the seder.

On the other hand, in some ways Judaism has stricter or more extensive food restrictions. No shellfish. No milk eating at the same meal as when meat is served. This is either the word of God, or a humanitarian rule that you must not kill a milk feeding calf in front of its mother, using the milk to cook the calf. (Calf cooked in milk is a classic and popular dish in Jordan, still, nowadays, in many places in the Middle East, as I discovered to my amazement, on a press trip to Jordan on a Rolls Royce car rally. 

This rule accounts for the fact that SoYo restaurant has two branches side by side in Golders Green. One serves meat. The other serves only fish, eggs, and milk based dishes. 

How do kosher and halal differ in supermarkets? Both have no pork. The Jewish section has no shellfish. As I am allergic to shellfish, crustaceans and molluscs, this suits me very well. 

Where Are Kosher Restaurants?

You will find both kosher and halal food sections in supermarkets all over London but particularly in the East End of London and North west London. For kosher sections in supermarkets, bagels in supermarkets, and Jewish style or kosher food in delicatessens and restaurants you could look at (alphabetically) Edgware, the Finchley Road, Golders Green, Hendon, Stanmore, Temple Fortune. 

A relative suggested several places in the area. We vetoed a family favourite, the cafe in the Hendon park by Hendon Central station. Great for a sunny day in the park. 

We wanted something more formal, more exciting and filling, with a chance to sit and talk to friends at leisure. But not as luxurious and expensive as a Michelin restaurant, and the upmarket Chinese Kosher restaurants.

B & K

Our favourite for a big meal in an informal setting is B&K, Hatch End, and Edgware, is a salt beef, deli, take away and restaurant.

Bagels in Brick Lane

How about a bagel? London has two famous bagel shops in the East End, in Brick Lane. At least one of them is open very late, possibly all night. Before going anywhere, check the times. 

Sabbath and Sunset

Strictly kosher restaurants have to close dusk to dawn on the Jewish sabbath, which in the UK means dark falls early evening on Friday in winter. So the restaurants won't be open Friday evening, in winter.  However, they will be open Saturday. 

In summer, the sunset time is different. You can find out by a diary, the newspaper, or your watch, or mobile phone, or computer or kitchen or oven clock (or rather, when you can see three stars).

Bagels - Why The Hole?

I started researching bagels when I turned my family history into a novel (still yet to be printed and published - next job!) I was looking at the lifetime of an ancestor on my father's side who came to the UK from Ukraine, from Lemberg, as it was then called in the 1880s. At that time or earlier Bagels come from Poland, Ukraine which was at different times under different rulers and languages, and Western Europe. 

One story goes that bagel sellers would put bread on a stick and make a hole in the middle of the bread to thread bread onto the stick. 

Another story is that the hole was for the benefit of the buyer. Why? Going back a few centuries, houses did not have a cooking range or oven, which would have been a fire risk and required fuel. Every house head food buyer or cook went to the baker with their dough.  Or, if travelling, bought ready made food. 

Another theory goes that when the householders were shopping, housewives, men if women were not allowed out of the house, workers, or travellers, would buy bread to take home or eat later. The buyer would thread the bread on a string around their neck in order to leave their hands free and keep the bulky bread handy (or hidden?!).

So there you have the story to entertain yourself or tell your friend next time you eat a bagel or kosher food or halal food.

Two options in northwest London.

So Yo restaurant

They have more than one branch. You can book a table by phone.

Useful Websites

For both the Golders Green and Edgware branches:

https://soyo.co.uk/

Update on my visit in the next post.

American English - British English

take out - take away

Kosher crackers and kosher Ice Cream? What is kosher ice cream? With Pork Or Without Pork? Where do you get it? Who cares about it? UK, USA.

Baskin Robbins, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex, UK, sells kosher ice creams. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Next door is Tesco Express which sells kosher food and kosher wine.

Tesco Express branches, and larger branches of Tesco, as well as other supermarkets in the UK, sell items with kosher labels such as these crackers (matzos) by Rakusens. Photo by Angela Lansbury

Here is the kosher symbol from rakusens crackers. You can buy kosher goods in Tesco in Hatch End, for friends or family or yourself, or a gift. But many people don't realise that next door to Tesco in Baskin Robbins you can buy kosher ice cream.

 I was in Baskin Robbins when I saw a sign about kosher ice cream. Afterwards I went online and discovered that Tesco online also sold kosher ice cream.

Tesco online sells several brands, Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerry's, and Swedish (soy sorbet).

What could be non kosher in ice cream? Surely nobody uses pork in ice cream?

Yes, they do. In the USA. 

USA Ham Ice Cream

For example, Windy Brow Farms in New Jersey, USA makes a ham and French toast ice cream, salt with honey for sweetness, as well as vegan and other ice cream.

Pork in Ice Cream

Less obvious pork products can be ice cream. Stabilizers can contain gelatin from pigs or non-kosher cows.

Kosher & Halal

I looked up the differences between kosher and halal products. On both sides, kosher and halal, the strictly orthodox have different rules from more liberal groups. Among the differences, which were new to me, camel and rabbit appear to be halal but not kosher. The blood is removed from meat by Jews using water and salt, by Moslems by using vinegar.  

Shellfish & Alergies

Some people would be happy enough to buy a product which was not obviously containing shellfish. (Orthodox Jews and those with allergies.  I have allergies). 

Other might be concerned that the premises and production process should be check to ensure no cross-contamination of work surfaces and machinery. Or even handling by non Jews who might be idolators. 

Quite a few ideas which were totally new to me.

In addition to this there are the covid-19 regulations about how many in the shop, eating cones in the doorway.

We bought our ice creams, I chose pistachio, and we trotted home happily.

Useful Websites

KOSHER (& others not Kosher)

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/frozen-food/ice-cream-ice-lollies-and-frozen-desserts/ice-cream-tubs/all?dietary=Kosher

https://www.graeters.com/kosher-ice-cream (USA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Islamic_and_Jewish_dietary_laws

https://www.kashrut.com/consumer/ice_cream/

Ham, or vegan, or other ice cream from 

windybrowfarms.com

About the author of this travel blog

Angela Lansbury is British born and bred but has also lived in the USA, Spain and Spingapore and visited countries around the worl

She is a semi-retired teacher of English language and literature and a member of Toastmasters International and five clubs, Harrovians in the UK, three in Singapore (BHA and TCA and Senja-Cashew), a club coach for Nee Soon South, and a member of online only club, Singapore Online Dynamic. To find a club go to Toastmasters International Find a club or look on Facebook. BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, login 6.45 for 7 pm start Singapore time (SGT), which is noon in London UK, during British summer time, until clocks go back the last Sunday in October when the UK reverts to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Life in London - Picnic in the Park - or a Kosher Kiosk

 Photo from Facebook.

What is there to do in London? I ask relatives who live in Finchley, Hendon, and Northwood. 

The husband of one pair said, "Not much to do. Everything is closed. Except for the food shops."

I replied, "What about the parks?"

"Yes, we went for a walk in a park in Hendon. We bought some food from a restaurant, like a kiosk, order from outside. A kosher kiosk.  They bring the food out to you. We ate it sitting on a bench. They removed the tables and had four wooden benches like a pub. The benches are bolted down."

The park is near Hendon Central Station.

The park adjoins an area with a Remembrance arch. The words in Hebrew, reading from the right to left, are the consonants which spell out Le zeekderon.  

N R K Z L

A bit like speedwriting, or text messages, or acronyms

Anything more cheerful?

the kiddie playground is in use.

The park has grass and trees. Three tennis cours. A couple of basketball courts, one still in use. Nobody is playing tennis. "It's too wet for tennis."

I asked, 'What about the snow?'

' When it's snowing in Wales and up north, there's not much snow in London. It's too warm here. The snow just melts. We are quite glad of a change of seen. Since nobody is working away from home or going out to restaurants, snow does not make much difference to our lives. Just something to look at. Out of the window.'

Another couple in thei

Searching For Parks On Maps

I remember when as young marrieds we moved from a flat in Stanmore to a bungalow in Hatch End. We knew all the big parks along the main road. However, when we looked at a local map, we discovered lots of interesting open spaces.

The nearby park had two entrances, so you could do a circular walk

Another park had an exit which led to a footpath through the woods and out through a housing estate.

Cricket grounds and tennis courts were in fields which offered another chance for a walk.

Photos

The seasons provided a changing opportunity for new vistas and photos. A fountain in front of the Hatch End arts centre.

Snow in winter. Flowers planted in public places. Houses with Christmas lights. Balloons for birthdays. On gates.

Seasonal posters of offers outside restaurants. 

I researched. Every path, building, cemetery, had a story. 

Gifts in the supermarkets.

Useful Websites

https://www.facebook.com/Hendon-Park-

360 view of the area

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x487610dcac10a71b%3A0xcb4a0cde1bf29f87!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is teacher of English. (Advanced English and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, an aspiring polyglot.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs, and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

What's the difference between living in London and living in Singapore? A friend asked me.

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SINGAPORE?

 My friend wrote: 'Where would you rather be?

' I thought you would have been speeding back to the sunshine of Singapore. I’ve never been there and unlikely to now, but it looks very different from here and I am just wondering what you feel about the differences in the two places, and your two homes..... what do you miss about Singapore when you are over here, and what do you miss about London when you are over there? Which place are you happiest in?

'Nosey? Well, that’s a writer’s prerogative. '

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT LONDON?

 I love London. My family and many long term friends are in London. I like the semi-detached houses in the suburbs, the art deco, and grand Victorian buildings, the cultures.

British Food 

Yes, and the food.  

1 I miss British food. Potatoes. 

2 Proper porridge. The cheapest private label will do.

In Singapore porridge oats comes from Australia and most is precooked. The raw stuff is not milled as fine so we give it a few seconds whizz in the liquidizer. It took us a while to work that out. 

In London, Waitrose supermarket provides all the British favourites, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Other supermarket have Scottish shortbread, porridge oats, and all kinds of potato. Thick cut marmalade. You can also buy Thai soups and Indian food.  

4 Fish and Chip shops

5 B & K Salt beef bar and restaurant. Salt Beef - eat in or take away. Fried fish balls. Lokshen pudding. (Noodle pudding, like a cake, cold or hot, with lemon and sultanas.) 

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SINGAPORE?

Singapore Food and Drink

1 Chicken Rice/ Duck Rice

2 Indian food served on a green banana leaf.

# Durian Ice Cream and Durian Cakes and Durian Paste (like green toothpaste) on Desserts. 

Mandarin oranges and lanterns for Chinese New Year. Mooncakes in autumn for the harvest festival.

Singapore

Toastmasters Friends

 I have even more friends from Toastmasters in Singapore, 

The trains run on time. Above all, weather wise, in winter I would rather be in Singapore. Summer sun all year. Longer days, daylight. 7 pm all year. 

Christmas Lights

As for Christmas, yes Christmas in London means pantomime and outdoor ice skating. The must see lights are in Oxford Street, Regent Street, and the stores such as Selfridges, Harrods, and Hamleys toy store. Many suburban streets also have lights. The big Xmas tree in Trafalgar Square is the focus of many photos and activities. Hot chestnuts are sold from kiosks in the streets. 

America has the biggest and best decorations. Individual houses with scenes on the front lawn, rooftop displays. Blocks of flats and offices with a cross and bow of neon to make an oblong building look like a giant parcel.

Christmas is good in Singapore. Because the streets are full of shops and filled with seasonal lights, all along Orchard Road. With multi-cultural areas in addition, you have lights for Indian/Hindu festivals, as well and the Chinese and Malay communities - and Christmas. But the lights for Christmas come down on what in England is Boxing day, Dec 26, changing to a Chinese or other festival, whereas in the UK light often stay up until January 6th.

Religions in Singapore

Singapore is geared to shopping, like New York run by the Chinese (who are the majority, from nearby China. China has whole cities geared to providing goods. At least one city is like a huge industrial estate, supplying the UK Poundland type shops). Singapore shops employ multi-national and multi-racial shop assistants. Anything which can promote the buying of goods and services is promoted. As a result, every festival is a chance to attract shoppers with lights. 

Halloween in Singapore

Halloween is also big in Singapore. In shops and Toastmasters clubs.

However, in Singapore, the devout Christians may refuse to partake in Halloween. 

All Saints Day is a Catholic celebration, in France. (I learned from my Catholic French au pair girls who stayed with us in the UK when our now adult son was small). 

The Protestant countries and Church of England and Anglican groups do not have saints days or name children after saints. 

 Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a big event in decorations and meals at hotels and restaurants and shop windows and shops and online in Singapore.

But Muslims, especially those from neighbouring country Malaysia, are told that it is not a Muslim event and encourages promiscuity and fornication and they should not celebrate it or partake in it so they do not participate in table topics (impromptu speeches) on what did you do for Valentine's Day at toastmasters meetings. 

UK & Irish Names

So in the UK, you would find a Catholic Irish maid called Teresa, but from Northern Ireland an Irish, Northern Irish, girl called Elizabeth. (So I was told by an Irish friend at the Writers Circle in Harrow, NW London, when we were discussing choosing appropriate and popular names of heroines and major and minor characters in novels set in England and Ireland and worldwide. 

Jews and Hanukah in London

Jews and Jewish festivals are a feature of shops and restaurants in NW London (and New York and US cities). The best Jewish food, in my opinion, is from B & K in Edgware and Hatch End. Salt beef and , or Kosher Chinese Kuo Yan in Edgware. (In Edgware where Anne Franks father lived postwar, unknown even to local liberal and Reform Jews).

You see the orthodox Jews in the big black hats in Edgware and Golders Green, and on Saturday everybody in their fine clothes with ladies wearing smart hats going to synagogues.

At Hanukah a giant menorah has been lit outside Edgware station, in NW London.

Jews and Hanukah in Singapore

The synagogue in Singapore in heavily guarded and it is no longer easy to get in like it once was to admire the architecture, take a tour, pay in advance for a meal and look at the shop.

In Singapore in 2019, a giant menorah was lit in Orchard Road.

Valentines Day in England

Heart shaped everything in London. 

Valentine's Day in Singapore

Heart shaped everything in Singapore.

The government policy is for everybody to join in everything.

The devout Muslims may refuse to attend or decline to speak about Valentine's Day. I was once asked by a Chinese Singaporean (Christian?) why a Jewish man attending a meeting declined to join in Singing Christmas carols. I was unable to explain why. (Now I can see why. In Singapore the Muslims I know see Jesus as just another excellent prophet, who pre-dates their religion, but was not The Messiah. The orthodox Jews recognize carols as hymns, many of which refer to Jesus in the manger or the messiah being born,'the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head and so on) and in Europe, I think at the time of the Inquisition, maybe as late as WW2, Jews were forced to convert to Christianity and in some cases then promptly killed to ensure they went straight to heaven to prevent them recanting later.)

Shopping

Orchard Road has some expensive department stores. However, head to little India and the giant Mustapha's on two block has parts open 24 hours, and is a bargain store, crammed with foods and goods.  

SHOPPING IN LONDON

What's different to buy?

Cheese

In London, UK in late 2020, the bigger UK supermarkets have more of Marmalade and Cheddar cheese and English cheese and French cheese. Some Asians are milk intolerant and Singapore has a couple of expensive cheese shops and you can get Brie. But England has more English cheeses.

Toothpicks

I also look for the triangular toothpicks by Wisdom.

Pills

Chewable Vitamin D

Chewable vitamin D tablets.

Thyroxine

Only available from a doctor. In Singapore I had an online consultation, first time for me and her. I got a pack of 50 pills, twice the 25 a month quantity.

In the UK you get a pack of 28, and if travelling can ask for two packs.

Cheap Clothes

In the UK you can buy second hand clothes in charity shops. In Northwood the cancer research shop had a washing machine so all their clothes, although second hand, did not carry the germs of the sick and elderly who had died and whose widows or children had done house clearance by giving the clothes to charity.

SINGAPORE SHOPPING

In Singapore you would look for market stalls around the suburban railway stations, especially at any festival or national holiday.

In the UK you can buy clothes at large supermarkets, not just Marks, also Siansburys and so on.

In Singapore there is often a Tesco rack inside a convenience store, like the kosher section in some supermarkets in the UK, a tiny rack with wines and sweet biscuits and savoury crackers (in London the kosher section might have matzos) and chocolates.

SINGAPORE HOMES

Homes - in Singapore most people live in high rise government built blocks which are rented out, though they can be bought with a loan from your own CPF, government administered tax into your personal savings scheme of bought on you must stay here for five years before re-selling at a profit.

Flats in Singapore often have a scullery, tiny box room just big enough for a small single bod, like the third bedroom in some small semis in the UK, for the maid or nanny or to store your suitcases, or for a baby or small child, and a toilet. The flat we rented did not have the third toilet connected. It would be a good idea to connect it during Covid-19 for any visitors. However, there are proposals to charge a water rate depending on the number of wash basins, showers, and toilets. So, whether as owners or renter, we (and you) would be paying more for water.

In the UK more homes have baths, which are warming in winter. In Singapore our landlady had converted the bath into a shower. I have got used to this. Can't waste time filling a bath, waiting for it to fill and empty, taking a bath, cleaning a big bath.

In the UK I can buy in my Tesco express. Dr Beckmans carpet stain remover with attached brush. Very handy. Works a treat.

Insects

Singapore flats have cockroaches and termites. The are outside the building and get in.

In the UK, more spiders.

The UK has adders. Singapore has many kinds of snake. Call the authorities or the local workmen who will catch it and eat it. 

Covid-19

Going back to Singapore you pay a large amount of money covering your enforced quarantine in a hotel with meals delivered to the door.

If you are on homestay they can phone you and ask for a picture of your surroundings. No messing about. 

heat sensors at airports to take your temperature.

Most people are law abiding. They live in government run blocks of flats and won't risk upsetting the government. 

Singapore has a history of dengue fever, and according to a Singapore based Indian friend from Toastmasters, Singapore takes this more seriously than in India. We have huge banners near bus stops telling us the figues for the dengue cases in the area, with the five step mossie wipe out.

Every week you hear the noise and see the white smoke, and sometimes hear a siren, warning you to close your windows because at ground floor level workers with machines are spraying a mist of foul-smelling, choking mosquito killer spray and mist.

On my Singapore phone, in both the UK and Singapore I have opted to receive the mid-day and mid-night update on the cases of Covid-19 in Singapore.

UK Gardens

In the UK we enjoy seeing the birds, squirrels, foxes and cats.

Singapore

I enjoy the coconut palm trees.

Horrid Haze

I hate the haze, choking you with winds from fires in Indonesia when the cut down the jungle to plant palm forests, every other summer it seems to me. Our affluent friends, the really relatively rich, fly off to their second homes in Australia. You listen anxiously to the radio or TV or news online and read the reports. When it is at its worst all outdoor places close, and all those partly outdoors, the schools, the playgroups, universities. Even if the pupils could travel, without waiting at outdoor bus stops, the gardeners and gatekeepers and cleaners and car park operators and maintenance workers are not allowed to work and the buildings and outdoor food courts shut down. 

Although a small number of allotments exit, most people in Singapore would grow plants on balconies.  The government sent out seeds. Two packets per household, on request. One of mine was for pak choy which is a Chinese vegetable I don't like. I think it is stringy with no flavour. 

British cucumber is better.

Singapore has more mango, papaya, tropical fruits, durian. I like durian only when mixed into ice cream or cake. Then I love it. A cross between banana and chestnut. Fresh it smells of sulphur. 

Singapore is and and humid all year. Sometimes I look forward to returning. Not just family. Escaping the cockroaches. Singapore is hot and humid all year.

What Do I Like about London?

1 London is better in the summer, not so sticky.

In London I have a garden. In London you can grow apple trees, grapes on a vine, rosemary on a bush. 

The trains during Covid-19 are relatively empty, never a problem getting a seat. I am happy in London in summer. Transport is free in London for my age group. At the moment.

In England I have a dishwasher. Most homes in London have dishwashers. Most homes in Singapore don't.

There you have it. 

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

. Please see my other blogs and share links with your friends

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Keeping Kosher, Halal, Vegetarian, Vegan in Singapore, The Orient, The World

If you have any dietry restriction, whether you are a diabetic avoiding sugar (like my late father and my Indian friend in Singapore) or are entertaining multi-cultural groups, it is a good idea to check the menu in advance when visiting a restaurant, or ordering take away food for guests.

What to Watch For
Many people know that Moslems and Jews don't eat pork. It is forbidden in the bible, in the book of Leviticus which is a Greek word meaning laws.

Kosher
In addition Jews follow two extra rules:
No shellfish
Not eating milk and meat at the same meal

Kosher Milk
Not mxing meal and milk in the same meal. Hence kosher restaurants serve either meat or dairy foods. If you want milk in your coffee after a meal meal in a kosher restaurant, you might be offered non-siary creamer, soya milk, almond milk or another alternative.

Pork
If you like trying local food, watch out for pork in Chinese food. Pork can also appear as a centra in dumplings.

Meat
The word meat is used to indicate pork in restaurants which do not wish to offend nor attract objectors in areas of Muslims, and to disguise beef (non-kosher) in restaurants in Hindu areas, and lamb in Japanese and oriental restaurants and areas

Fish and Shellfish
Confusion can occur as many people don't understand the difference between fish and shellfish.

Halal Alternatives?
You can avoid pork and lard (pork fat) by eating in a halal restaurant. However, they frequently put shellfish, small prawns otherwise known as shrimps, in the rice.

Vegetarians And Vegans
Some vegetrians are vegetarians for dietary reasons. Others are vegetarian on humanitarian grounds.
Some vegetraians eat fish but not meal.
Some Hindus are vegetarians and others are vegans. Some will eat meat most of the time but not on certain days devoted to a particular god, rather like traditional christians not eating meat but only fish on Fridays, or giving up foods or drinks during the 40 days of lent.

Vegans
Vegans are a stricter form of vegetarians.
Vegans do  not eat antying from animals, fish, birds, insects.

Alternatives
Ask guest what they eat or don't eat. Ask restaurant staff to mark which boxes of food, even pizza, are meat, fish, or vegetarian.

Tip For Travellers
You can translate vital words into several languages and print them out to show restaurant and catering staff.

Allergies
I am allergic to shellfish. A kosher restaurant suits me because I know it will not serve shellfish.

Singapore Airlines Special Meal Advantages
Singapore Airlines allows you to select special meals. Usually you have to choose more than 24 hours in advance so that they can order the specail meal from another kitchen and get the delivery on time for the flight.

An advantage of the special meal is that you are given your meal first on take off. You also get your meal early before landing, so you have time to visti the toilet afterwards before the rush.

Unfortunately they do not distinguish betweeen fish and shellfish. So by selecting no fish you are also depriving yourself of the chance to be served salmon (or trout or plaice or any other fish).

Singapore Airlines Special Meal Disadvantages
Your food comes from a special kitchen preparing specail meals of the type you specified. So you miss out on the exclusive meals of your airline or your premium seat.

How To Find Kosher Food
Look online for:
kosher restaurants,
kosher delis
kosher brands
kosher goods in supermarkets (eg Tesco and major supermarkets in NW London)
Jewish tours often stop at kosher restaurants and the tour leaders can advise
Jewish tours - if you allow pop-ups you are likely to be sent ads for kosher restaurants and hotels if you search your holiday dstination for Jewish tours
Jewish newsapers and magazines, eg USA and London based, carry ads for kosher restaurants worldwide
Visit destinations with Jewish museums, such as Israel, Prague, London, New York, Warsaw

Useful Websites For Travellers
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com

UK Kosher Restaurant, called Tish
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-kosher-restaurant-open-on-sabbath-how.html

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

How To Eat Kosher In Singapore

Singapore flag.

I have had Friday night meals at a synagogue in Singapore. In Singapore security is tight. You have to book in advance, pay in advance, prove who you are and why you want to eat there.

The Synagogue is behind a huge barrier with a security guard on the door preventing you from taking photos of the outside.

They have a deli shop attached so you can buy kosher food for and before the Sabbath. Singapore also has an Israeli restaurant, which seems to open one year, close the next open again. This yo-yo of open and closed, now you see it, now you don't, has been going on for years.

More in later post.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a Singapore Resident.

How Israelis kept Kosher in Borovets, Bulgaria, and Saw Synagogues

Flag of Bulgaria.

Keeping Kosher in Bulgaria

In Sofia, capital of Bulgaria, we met Jews from Florida, USA, who were on their way to a a Chabad meal. Chabad who offer kosher food and are outreach, welcoming the irreligious as well as the Orthodox. Chabad offer food around the world, especially in capital cities.

Israelis were eating a picnic in the lobby of the Winter Palace hotel in Borovets, Bulgaria. We met them in the street nearby and said Shalom and after half an hour of chatting, walking to and fro, they invited us to share their food and wine in the hotel lobby. How did they get permission for that? 'Chutzpah!'

Their tour included the synagogue in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital, and another in Plovdiv.

We saw the synagogue in Sofia and took a free Jewish walking tour of Sofia.

Useful Websites
http://bulgariatravel.org/en
ryanair.com

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

A London Kosher Restaurant Open On The Sabbath - How Do You Pay Tish Which Won't Take Money?

As I sat sipping Prosecco in Tish kosher restaurant on a Sunday in London, we discussed kosher restaurants worldwide. 

Tish kosher restaurant, Belsize Park, London, England; interior. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright. 

You can find Jewish and Israeli style salads and fast food such as bagels and full meals in the UK and worldwide on a Saturday, often run by non-Jews, such as Christian Greeks, or Arab-Israeli partnerships; but the restaurant it won't have the kosher certification because the authorities such as the London Beth Din won't grant the certificate unless the restaurant closes on the Sabbath. So I thought.

Tish Restaurant, a swish Kosher restaurant in Belsize Park, North West London, near the centre, just near Belsize Park tube station, is open on Saturday, the Jewish sabbath.  Now, that is new, a real novelty.

But they won't handle money on the sabbath. So how do you pay?

Like many Jewish organizations which provide Friday night meals, or all weekend meals at conferences and hotels around the world, the method is simple. You pay in advance.

Travelling Jews often opt for kosher meals at private restaurants run by Chabad on Friday nights and Saturday lunch. They operate worldwide.

Singapore flag.

I have also had Friday night meals at a synagogue in Singapore. In Singapore security is tight. You have to book in advance, pay in advance, prove who you are and why you want to eat there. They have a deli shop attached so you can buy kosher food for and before the Sabbath. Singapore also has an Israeli restaurant, which seems to open one year, close the next open again. This yo-yo of open and closed, now you see it, now you don't, has been going on for years. London offers a good choice of kosher restaurants. You can be sure of several.





But what of real restaurants, in the high street, (which Americans call main street), in London, England, kosher, for you or your Orthodox friends who only eat kosher, or just for the novelty, open to the public?

In London's Golders Green you watch the hours of daylight which vary a lot according to the time of year. In Tish, like other restaurants in Golders Green, Orthodox Jews who don't travel on the Sabbath, can eat early on Friday night when it is light until about nine. By starting a meal at seven, finishing by eight, on a Friday night in summer, the diner can still travel and be home before the sabbath when you cannot travel.

But what about those who want to eat at Tish with pre-payment? Yes, I have heard of pre-payment, which works well for a set meal, a seasonal meal such as a Seder night (Passover) at a synagogue, a wedding or special occasion mass meal. But how does it work for individuals or small families choosing from an a la carte menu?

You can look at their menu online, order the main meal in advance, and pay in advance. If you have given them your credit card details, and you are a regular, then they can adjust and add any extras you order, such as drinks, later, like checking out of a hotel or hiring a car.

A Jewish restaurant open on Saturday is a real novelty in London.

Drinks
Choice of drinks by the bottle and glass is very good. I like sweet wines and had a choice of Prosecco or rose wine and a dessert wine and chose to start with the Prosecco. (We also asked for tap water.)

My companions, who included my husband who is a wine educator and writer, chose red wines by the glass, a Chardonnay (grape), a Cabernet Sauvignon (grape) and a sweet Riesling.  Quite a choice.

He had already read the wine menu on line, worked out which wines were much more expensive than the shop price for a bottle, and which were unusual or good value. Wines which aren't sold retail are chosen by restaurants so you cannot compare prices. But with very famous wines, you can compare.
To find the price of any wine use Wine Search. It might give you the price in another country but that is a good enough guide.

Drink choices also included cocktails, mocktails (non alcoholic cocktails but presented like cocktails with colours), juices and coffees.

Tish Bar And Restaurant
Now, back to the story of Tish, nowadays in London, England. Tish is Hebrew for table. the tables are very elegant, with 18/10 top quality, hard-wearing cutlery, gleaming in elegant shapes. The plates are a delight, the dessert plate a rounded triangle which reminded me of a pear or pearl.

The manager was sitting nearby at the central bar. He saw or heard immediately we wanted something. The air conditioning was on full (with a fault soon to be fixed) and when one of our member said he was too cold the manager brought us pretty fringed light weight blankets in pink for her and blue for him to act as large shawls and keep as warm.

I noticed that there were piles of dark blue kippot (skullcaps worn during meals by men, at all times by religious Jews). They are provided for use by customers on the Sabbath, especially if sitting near a rabbi to fit in.

Now, what of the food and prices?

Prices
Prices are high. You can see non-Jews stopping to look at the menu, their eyes widening in surprise at the prices. If you want a cheaper meal in trendy historic Hampstead, across the road is a Spanish restaurant whose outside board offers two courses for ten pounds and three courses for twelve. Of course you might be paying extra for coffee, drinks, service. Or there's always the old pubs.

But we were with somebody who eats kosher who wanted to show us Tish. we bypassed the outdoor terrace at the front for the interior.

We went without a starter and saved our money and our stomachs for dessert.

Fantastic Food
Food is excellent.

One of our group had the hamburger which she had had twice before, a huge hamburger, three times the thickness of fas food outlets.

Another choice was chicken. So large I don't now how the man who ordered it managed to eat it. But he did. With a little help.  We played 'Jewish ping-pong' which means sharing food.

I had the salt beef sandwich.

Salt beef at Tish. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.



Latkes with herbs at Tish. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

We shared an extra, a latke, or shredded potato pancake, a bit like the Swiss rosti or the American potato pancake hash brownies. It was totally unlike the fried potato pancakes at B & K, my favourite salt beef bar in Edgware and Hatch End. Tish adds herbs.

B & K is more basic. Big portions and affordable prices. Tish is grander for a special meal.

Herby Highlight - herby potato latkes
My salt beef disappeared fast. I did not remember it. What I remember well was the latkes.  Tish restaurant does diet-friendly small potato pancakes. I thought it was odd to serve three pancakes, when they knew we were sharing, to table of four diners. However, with two on a diet, halving one of the potato pancakes was no problem.

Leftovers Wrapped
We even had a spare leftover potato pancake and asked for our leftovers to be wrapped up. No problem. The leftovers were presented fast, in a proper foil tray, not just wrapping paper, in a pretty pink paper tote bag with the restaurant name, Tish.

Highlight - Dessert
The finale was another high point. We shared lokshen pudding. At B & K the lokshen pudding is flavoured with lemon and cinnamon, visible strands of noodles caked together, large and lovely and solid, enough for two meals or two eaters or one overweight always hungry person. Here at Tish the dessert was more dainty and delicate, more like a bread pudding, with a crunch of sugar. Delightful. Again, just the right size. Enough to fill you, and feel satisfied, yet not so much food that you felt over full.

Tish Bar and Restaurant in London, England. The dessert of lokshen pudding with ice cream on the side. Photo by Angela Lansbury Copyright.

Coffee With Milk But Without Cow's Milk
We ended our meal with coffee. A choice of several types, single or double espresso and cappuccino. The three things to remember about kosher food, in addition to the certification and license, are:
1 No pork, nor lard (pig fat)
2 No shellfish
3 No milk served with a meat meal.

Not mixing milk and meat means that your milk with coffee in many simple restaurants would just be a basic non-diary creamy in a sachet. But this is a gourmet restaurant. You can choose from soya milk, almond milk and other types of milk. I tried the almond milk. I could not taste almond, but the coffee tasted good, and I am not easy to please because I don't take sugar but often find coffee, especially espresso, is too bitter.

Toilets

Toilets at Tish bar and Restaurant. Gleaming gold. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.

Finally, toilets. Yes, perfection. All gleaming gold. I don't know if it was gold plated of gilt. They have been open about a year and everything is still in pristine condition. Go there now to enjoy it at it's brand new best.

So, full marks all around for the Tish restaurant. Belsize Park. London. England. UK.

We went for a birthday meal and were treated by somebody else who gave us a meal instead of a present, and we paid for the wines. What a good memory.

Shabbat Booking
I just checked on their website for summer 2019. It said they have a prix fixe, which includes several choices, about three or more for each course. You have to book by the Wednesday before.

Tish Bar and Restaurant
196 Haverstock Hill
London NW3 2AG
eat@tish.london
@tish_London
www.tish.london


Useful Websites For Travellers & Diners
Restaurant & Reviews
https://tish.london/
https://tish.london/uploads/2019/06/Shabbat_Summer-Menu-1.pdf
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d14918967-Reviews-Tish_Bar_Restaurant-London_England.html

Travel To The UK /Israel/ America / Bulgaria
 singaporeair.com

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See the next post on Hampstead and Belsize Park.

Bali's Beautiful Experiences - A Beginner's Guide

Indonesian flag.

Local food specialities:

The local basic rice meal, equivalent to Singapore’s nasi  goreng (fried rice), is nasi campur (“champur”).

Balinese satay, for which they use bamboo skewers.

Babi guling, roast suckling pig, which you will see everywhere. Remember babi like bay , and g as in pig, so you can avoid it, if you or your companions are following vegetarian, kosher or halal diets. It does tell you that Bali is not Muslim so pig is prevalent on the menus.

Restaurants

In Kuta, eat at Poppy’s – excellent, popular and longstanding authentic Balinese restaurant hidden in the heart of town – you can stay there too.

Another famous Balinese restaurant is Bumbu Bali in Benoa north of Nusa Dua. There is now Bumbu Bali 1 and 2.

The local wine available at Poppy’s and elsewhere is Hatten Wines. write to the winemaker if you want an guided tour.

Also see Métis below.

Attractions

Temples

Bali is called the island of the gods. Bali is not Muslim but animist/Hindu. Temples are everywhere, even up the volcanoes, and little offerings at every threshold.

Tanah Lot. Photo from Wiki.

Visit Tanah Lot, a temple on an offshore rock, at sunset, north of North Kuta. While up there, you could dine afterwards at Bali’s top French restaurant (in a very romantic setting) called Métis.

Water Sports

Benoa is also the place for water skiing.

Arts

The Arts Festival I have already mentioned in a previous post. Tickets at the door.

Mas, which means wood, is a wood carving area. Remember to bargain.

Carvings
We asked why some carvings were more expensive than others. The number of carvings, the details on the faces and leaves. How much of it is 3D? Is the carving just on the front surface or also up the sides?

Balinese carving. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Side of balinese carving. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Ubud is the arts and crafts centre though it has been a bit spoilt by over-development and traffic jams. 

Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall famously threw their wedding reception at Café Lotus, worth a coffee or lunch stop. 

UBUD Hotels
Absolute must.


Fabulous hotels.

If you can't afford to stay at one of the top hotels. pop in for a drink or a meal or have a look to plan to come back.



Rice terraces in the East with Mont Agung as background. Photo from wiki by

Ubud is also the place for white water rafting on the stunning Ayung river. My family have done it many times,  and say it is fab. Water is highest in January and will be calmer in July. E.g. 
http://www.baliraftingtours.com/ayung-rafting.php . 

Then eat at the cliff-top hotel Kupu-Kupu Barong (meaning giant butterfly) where we stayed for three days way back when.

Notice that repeated words mean plural.

North of Ubud are the Jatiluwih rice terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and other rice terraces. Worth taking a one day coach tour up North to see the scenery. Not vital to reach the North coast for an overnight, the beaches have volcanic black sand.

Kings Tombs

Kings' tombs, near Ubud. Photo author, Michael Gunther. Wikipedia article on Ubud.

I was not over-excited by the kings tombs. Nothing like the wonderful monuments in Cambodia.

Monkey Forest

Accommodation

No shortage of options naturally. Mentioned Poppy’s above. It’s also fun staying in homestays and they cost just a few dollars. My family use booking.com though I’m sure AirBnB works, too.

Travel Tips

1 Sunscreen

Keep sunscreen and insect repellent handy. If you have to put them in your checked luggage, get them out when you reach the airport. You don't want to get bitten whilst waiting for the hotel porters to deliver your luggage. Nor to dash off to eat or swim without unpacking and not having the vital protection. 

2 You could be told that you can buy sunscreen at local shops, which are a walk away. Meanwhile you want to go to swim or take a tour or have a massage.

3 Check timings. 

You may find the massage or tour or concert is booked tomorrow or having a day off.

4 Check availability of gym or pool

Is the pool accessible every day of your stay? It could closed one day a week for maintenance. It could be being re-built (happened to us on a ski weekend in the USA, when I picked a hotel with a pool because I was a non-skier. Or the steep staircase with sheer drop one side for access is without a handrail (happened to me at the start of this year in Siem Reap, Cambodia). 

Have a happy trip!

Useful Websites
https://www.balitourismboard.or.id/
http://www.baliraftingtours.com/ayung-rafting.php 

booking.com
https://www.duolingo.com/course/id/en/Learn-Indonesian

https://wikitravel.org/en/Balinese_phrasebook

https://wikitravel.org/en/Indonesian_phrasebook

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

How to cater for kosher guests and hosts

You will find Jewish and kosher places in America, the UK, Australia, Singapore. After I spoke about Jewish weddings on a radio station in London, I said that I was a travel writer and was asked to go back and talk about sites connected with Anne Frank. First Holland, then Germany, Poland, the USA. 

The USA has Jewish connections in history and modern times.

Then Jewish Prague. I discovered there were Jewish trails all over the world, with shops, and restaurants. 

I went to visit a family who were housewarming in Hendon, London, not London, Canada, but London, UK, who had guests who were kosher. I did not know what to take for tea but decided it was safer to take flowers rather than food or drink. I was right.

Guests and Kosher Food
The guests brought home made cakes and fruit as a gift. They also had a challah cover (bread cover for the Sabbath meal) embroidered with the names of the engaged couple. They must have ordered that earlier.

Guests and Kosher Drink
The hostess out of consideration for guestss had a bottle of kosher Prosecco.

I asked the hostess, "Where did you get that?"

She replied, "I don't know where it's from. But lots of shops around here sell kosher food and drinks. All over Hendon and Golders Green and Temple Fortune."

Even shops with non-Jewish owners and staff stock a large amount of kosher and Halal produce. In London, Tesco does.  You can also buy on line.

Another solution is to use paper plates and new or disposable cutlery for guest who are kosher or halal or vegetarian.

If you are looking for a gift, you can buy online or from shops in London, England (which may have restricted opening hours), and Israel.

Landlords And Tenants
As a landlady I was asked by Hindu residents to supply only new or unused plates. I just rushed along to the supermarket and bought a set of four of everything, brand new, cheaply, on offer.

In-Laws
You might have to visit in-laws with dietary restrictions, or cater to visitors from overseas. A friend of mine who was Christian (Catholic) married to a Hindu,

In Singapore I went to a Toastmasters International meeting at the annexe of a Hindu temple. Hindu temples are in many areas of Singapore.

Singapore flag. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

We had a discussion about what ingredients we could use for a cake. Not just vegetarian, banning meat, but the stricter vegan rules banning milk products such as milk and butter, as well as eggs.

Anything connected with lard from pork or beef fat, or meat products, was banned. But since the temple used milk in offerings, it was decided that milk would be permitted.

For many years I had been in a puzzle over this. Really, the simplest solution is to just ask. People are usually delighted to tell you whether they need something special, or if they are more liberal, that you need not bother.

Kosher Gifts
You can buy a tee-shirt with the slogan 100% kosher from Amazon.
I fell about laughing when I saw a shabbos toothbrush.

https://www.amazon.co.uk (slogan 100% kosher teeshirt)
https://www.lehmanns.co.uk/shabbos-toothbrush
http://www.contemporaryjudaica.co.uk


www.lonelyplanet.com/Australia
https://new.goisrael.com/
visitbritain.com
visitbritainshop.com
visittheusa.co.uk
visitsingapore.com
visitlondon.com

Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.