British Food in my poem, Tea For Three by Angela Lansbury

 We travel around the world at our supermarkets. Lild is German, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose are British. We eat porridge, British style, English style with sugar rather than the Scottish custom of adding salt. 

For lunch, we have smoked salmon from Scotland. Or sardines from Portugal. Or sushi, a Japanese dish.  

Breakfast

Traditional English breakfast

Porridge oats, sugar or honey

Then baked beans, egg and bacon grill

Hotels give this thrill, for money

For daily grub go to the pub

Avoiding big hotels' big bills

Choose sausages and black pudding

Fried potato, and tomato

Lunch

For lunch you could choose a Scotch egg

Sardines on toast, a healthy fish

Fish and chips is what we like most

Sundays Yorkshire pud with beef roast

If you're adding roast potatoes

Careful. You'd better keep quiet

Please don't spoil my good gourmet day

By reminding me to diet

For weekday lunch we have salad

And smoked salmon in a bagel

Supermarket sushi, garlic

We buy half price when we're able

Tea

Each afternoon we stop at four

Or four thirty, or even five

By which time we're yawning and tired

Need food and drink to stay alive

Tea time in London's any time

No longer always Earl Grey tea

We drink hot coffee, apple juice

Lemon, ginger or mint for me

 If you've never had hot crumpets

Your gourmet life has not begun

If you're offered two with butter

Please don't stick to half or just one

Scones feature in Cornish cream tea

Spread thick cream, then strawberry jam

Some say you should put jam on first

Avoid arguing, if you can

We sometimes choose a restaurant

But most of our food's home made

We make brown bread with seeds and nuts

Seville oranges marmalade

We clear the table, wash the dishes

And load the dishwashing machine

It does a very good job

Of keeping our plates sparkling clean

Dinner

Then it's time to lay the table

And get ready for dinner

For me, it's brussels sprouts

Chicken and chips is a winner.

Plates of steak, add English mustard

Chocolate pudding, with custard

Christmas pudding, then easter eggs

Build balloon tums and tree trunk legs

Tea Tomorrow

I hope you'll come to tea with me

But I must tell you with sorrow

I ate the last baklava and chocolate

My fruit diet starts tomorrow.

-Ends-

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All You Can Eat at Ai Sushi restaurant in Finchley: I loved it

Ai means love in Japanese. So the restaurant name does not mean A1, but love. However, if you want to think of it as A1, the best, or prefer to use this as a memory aid, you are welcome to do so. 

Their website says that good food is made with love. 

Everything about the restaurant is Japanese. They have 

1 Japanese designs on the walls, and 

Japanese hanging over the Ladies toilet door. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

2 Japanese hangings over the toilets

3 Japanese style low tables with floor seating for those who like it, as well as normal banquettes and dining chairs if that is your preference.

We were able to get a booking for four on a Saturday night at 7.30, (July 2023) when the newly opened Japanese sushi in Hatch End was fully booked until 9 pm.

What is special about this restaurant. The one in Hatch End is one of a group. 

1 This one was easier to get into at the time we wanted. The bonus was

2 Ai has an all you can eat option.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

This is good if you have one hearty eater, or are afraid of  wasting talking time and the waiter's or waitresses time trying to decide what to order.

The system works like this. For a table of four you tick four items on the menu. (One choice each.) They deliver the platter, usually four pieces of sushi, maybe only two of something huge such as the aubergine.

We ordered sushi, aubergine, fried rice (not necessary in my opinion as rice is in the sushi).

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

We did not see or order any desserts.

We did not order drinks. I like sake. 

Our bill was about twenty five pounds to thirty pounds sterling per person, for the set meal. You can enquire about the current set price for all you can eat.

Highly recommended. Unusual. Authentic style of food and decor. Helpful staff and fast service.  

Unfortunately there is only one branch. If they had more, I would visit them.

Highly recommended.

Useful Websites

https://aisushi.co.uk/

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New Sushi Restaurant, Kiyoto, In Hatch End

The new sushi restaurant in Hatch End may be new to Hatch End but their restaurants are not new to London. They have other branches in Mill Hill, Boreham Wood, West Hampstead and Cockfosters.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The restaurant may have only been open less than a month (in July 2023) but is already so popular that it is hard to get a table at busy times. My family were interested in booking for Friday or Saturday night, but they were so busy that they could offer us only after 9 pm, or 5 pm. We could have had a table on Sunday.

I looked at the name of the restaurant and wondered if it was a variant on Kyoto, a city in Japan. According to Wikipedia, it is also a masculine boy's name, which they call a given name and I would call a first name.

Their menu is printed white on black which can be hard to read in a poor light. To make a quick decision, it help to know the ingredients in advance.

Apporo

Asahi

carpaccio

edamame

futomaki

gyoza

katsu

Kirin

scallop - a type of shellfish, round and rubbery

inari

mayo - short for mayonnaise

miso - soup

nigiri

Ozeki

poke

ramen - noodle

rock shrimp

Sashinim

sriracha sauce

sushi

tataki

tempura

teriyaki

tofu

udon

wakame

to make a quick decision

Useful Websites

www.kiyotosushi.co.uk

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

 More photos and text on later post

.

Places to go and things to try in Japan, or from Japan, from simple sushi to Dinosaur Robot Reception At Hotel Henn Na

Japanese flag

Let us start with what is widely available, worldwide. In Singapore the local supermarkets such as cold storage have a whole counter of sushi, whilst in the UK you might get just one or two choices.  

Sushi from Fairprice supermarket in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Secrets of Sushi

When I first tried sushi, I used to opt for the ones with pink fish. I thought it was smoked salmon, which in England often comes from Scotland. I thought the Japanese sushi followed their principle of bland food, 'very subtle flavour', which means that the Japanese don't have bad breath and don't need deodorant. (Contrast bland Japanese food with delicious, flavoursome, spicy Indian food, which can be overwhelming to or from some diners.)

Only when a guest from Indonesia refused to eat what I thought was a treat, did I discover what my sushi was another fish, not smoked, but raw fish. My friend recoiled and said, 'I never eat raw fish!'

Varieties of sushi readily available from supermarkets in Singapore are those with egg topping. Or eel. Or shellfish. Or mock shellfish. Since I am allergic to shellfish, I stick to the fish which looks like smoked salmon. 

If you are okay with shellfish, and actually enjoy it, you can buy what looks like a cone  of snack food. We have found the secret of sticking to a diet whilst still eating rice. Choose sushi. We eat three pieces of sushi with salad. Portion control. Quite filling. You are less likely to overdo the rice, as you would if you cooked it yourself or went to an Indian restaurant where they generously dole out unlimited amounts. 

At lunch time you might want to go without alcohol, like the Americans, because it sends you to sleep. Spirits have a high alcoholic content. I used to think that those tiny bottles of Saki, with the tiny cups, were a bit mean. Then, later in my life, I discovered that sake is rice wine and highly alcoholic. You don't want to drink a lot because it would quickly make you drunk and send you to sleep.

Bargains

Sometimes, towards the end of the day, the prices of sushi in supermarkets are reduced. 

HENN Na HOTELS

Henn na means weird in Japanese. These hotels are highly automated with robots in the shape of dinosaurs operating the front desks and real staff hidden behind the scenes if the technology goes wrong. You can find them in Tokyo, Osaka in Japan, as well as other countries such as Turkey. Read the reviews on Tripadvisor and elsewhere.They are all automated budget hotels, and , to my mind best suited to families with children who like dinosaurs.

Toilets

If you are out and about in Tokyo look for transparent toilets. You can see if they are unoccupied, and clean. When you go inside, they stop being transparent. You hope!

In hotels and homes you will possibly find bidet toilets. I have seen these in Changi airport and some hotels and museums in Singapore.

Another idea is basins for hand washing agove toilets, or insdet in the toilet lid.

From Wikipedia

Funny Fridges

 Homes in Japan might have other gadgets, such as a walking fridge, from Panasonic.

Useful Websites

 https://za.investing.com/magazine/brilliant-inventions-that-only-exist-in-japan/

https://knaviation.net/henn-na-hotel-tokyo-haneda-review/

What We Liked At Sushi Tei Japanese Restaurant in Holland Village

 The first good thing about Sushi Tei is the location. Go to Holland Village which is on the yellow circle line. To find the new (in 2022) Raffles mall you take the first, nearest exit to the ticket office (and platforms), exit A. You come out facing the Raffles mall which is across the car park. 

Raffles Holland Village. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

A few steps and you are at the front entrance. The mall is small and easy to find your way around. You are on the ground floor. The upmarket supermarket is in the basement. On the ground floor you have a Japanese cafe and a bakery (and toilets up four stairs.) The escalators are in the centre. 

Escalators

A narrow one up and beside it a narrow one down. Up one level on the escalator and there's an expensive dress shop. Up a second escalator and you have the Japanese Sushi Tei restaurant.

You have a choice of window seat tables or secluded inside tables. We had a bright, light window seat table.

We were offered two printed laminated menus. One was the larger regular multi-page hard cover picture menu including some more expensive items. The shorter but large one-fold menu showed a few seasonal dishes and one drink and two desserts on the back.

We ordered

Salmon sushi

Chicken in a bowl of rice with sauce

Chicken on rice bowl. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Salmon (with mayonnaise served on the side)

Vegetables

Tempura deep fried vegetables.  The orange was sweet potato. Very nice. 

Except that I got two of them. I would have liked smaller pieces. That way two, three, or four people would get some of each vegetable. 

The dark grey was mushroom. The white was another kind of mushroom. 

I got the stringy white mushroom which I didn't like. Somebody else got the solid grey mushroom which I would have preferred.

To my mind deep frying vegetables ruins their health qualities. But it makes a change. 

 Made a change from salad.

Delights

1 The ice cream was walnut. Nutty. 

2 Being given two spoons to share the dessert.

In retrospect, it should have had a decoration. But at the time I did not notice. You could buy the same or similar in the supermarket downstairs. (I suppose you might say the same of the cold sushi.)

I would have liked to have tried the matcha (green tea) ice cream. I had that at another restaurant and liked it. The matcha would have been more Japanese. 

Summary

1 Location - mall near MRT, restaurant near escalators

2 The chicken on rice bowl in a great sauce.

3 The novelty of deep fried tempura vegetables.  Lots of salads on the menu. 

4  The walnut ice cream was the less expensive of two options and all four of us liked it.

5 Water, warm or cold, provided fast and replenished.

Disappointments

1 Price charge for water. 50 cents.

2 Canned drinks instead of fresh. The grape juice was a Coca Cola brand drink, not freshly squeezed. It was pleasant enough, according to the ingredients list on the can, grape mixed with apple. I didn't mind. The more types of juice the better. I like mixed juice.

3 All the grills were unavailable because, they said, they were short-staffed. Our Singaporean dining companions told us that since the ease of travel restrictions a few days earlier many workers had returned to their homes in Malaysia.

4 Nobody smiled or welcomed us. Nobody smiled or asked if everything was okay or did we want anything extra. (I wanted a spoon. A knife to divide the vegetables. Or knife and fork.)

Toilets

The public toilets outside the restaurant were lovely and modern. Best of all, the shower attachment at knee level behind the toilet. Anything missing? No way to dry your hands after washing them. Those on the ground floor were up four steps, if you have mobility problems, use the ones on the upper floor.

Their other branches include 12 in Singapore. (At Changi Jewel, Nex and more.) Also in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam.

Useful Websites

https://sushitei.com/

https://www.facebook.com/raffleshollandv/

Sushi, Sushi Tei Japanese Restaurant and Recipes

We looked at Sushi Thai or Sushi Tei in Holland Village for a Singaporean Indian friend in Singapore.  As far as I can see Sushi Thai is two spelling of the same place. Some branches are franchises. They may or may not have a conveyor belt. The Holland Road branch does not have bookings and you may have to queue to get a table, according to some accounts on Tripadvisor. (However, we went there on a Thursday in April just before noon and had no trouble.)

Earlier this year, 2022, we went for lunch in Holland Village and there were queues (Americans say line-ups) in half a dozen restaurants where because of Covid restrictions, several of the small tables only allowed two at a table instead of four. Now that may change, however, after Tuesday April 26, when restrictions were lifted, we expect crowds all week. 

I looked at the Suchi Tei websites and read about the membership. Currently, 27 April 2022, the website told me that you had to pay 68 dollars for membership, but received an 85 dollar credit, which is usable immediately. You might not find that profitable if you are a single or couple or threesome and only paying one visit. But if you add up a bill for three persons, with about 5 dollars each for a main course, about 4 for a shared dessert, three dollars or five each, add 15 for drinks, and you reach at least 30, so it pays for itself if you live locally and make a second visit, or if there are 4 of you ordering lavishly.

What do I mean by lavishly? Lemon tea or grape juice is economical, mango juice a bit more. If you want to stay home, you can order online. 

A recipe for taking orange salmon roe, adding a marinade of soy sauce and sake and let stand for half a day, serving on a bowl or rice with some contrast colour and texture green leaves or vegetables.

Useful Websites

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294265-d11946985-Reviews-Sushi_Tei_Holland_Village-Singapore.html

https://supafreshjapan.com/blogs/supa-recipes/ikura-shoyu-salmon-roe

For information on Holland village, see next post. For more on the restaurant, see the post after that. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.

Useful Websites

https://sushitei.com/

https://www.facebook.com/raffleshollandv/

Do you know these loan words from French, German, Japanese, Korean? (+Museums in Israel and Florida)

Dear readers, friends and friends I have yet to meet
Thinking of foreign words, loan words used in English, borrowed from teh French, Japanese, Germans and Koreans. I hope you have a day full of joie de vivre. Add to your wishlist or bucket list (things to do before you kick the bucket ie die):
1 Visit a Bauhaus Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel or
2 See Bauhaus buildings in Germany, and
3 Visit the
Finish your day with a class of Judo or taekwando, or enjoy karaoke. Meanwhile, enjoy reading this article while munching a lunch of sushi and soy sauce from supermarkets worldwide.

French
joie de vivre - the joy(s) of life

Korean
taekwando (martial art)

Bauhaus Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel.

English: Bauhaus Museum, Tel Aviv This is a photo of a heritage building in Israel. Its ID is 3-5000-353
Date	23 November 2010, 09:04:14
Source	Own work
Author	BergA

Camera location	32° 04′ 23.09″ N, 34° 46′ 14.59″ E	View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap - Google Earth

German
alphorn (musical instrument you see in orchestras)
Bauhaus (architecture style from German, also in Tel Aviv, like Art deco, angular, flat rooftops)
geist - ghost
gestalt (meaning the whole is more than the sum of the parts)
glockenspeil - clock which makes a sound of chime. Spiel is game. See Glockenspiel museum in Salzberg, Austria, or a glockenspiel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
hinterland - back country
kaput - broken, not functioning
kitsch - tacky but popular
leitmotiv (a recurring theme in music)
quartz

(That's ten German words!)

umlaut (meaning double dot above letters)
Zeppelin, airship containing hydrogen, first for delivering post (mail), then military, used by German in WWI, later in the USA for both military, and popular with passengers, but that ended with the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 when one caught fire horrifically. You can still see the video and hear the shocked commentator.

(That's twelve German words you know already!)

Japanese
bonsai (small trees)
geisha (female entertainer)
haiku (poetry style with syllable counts)
judo (martial art)
jujitsu (martial art)

kamikaze (suicidal pilot in wartime)
karaoke (singing)
kimono (Long Japanese lady's wrap-around dress with wide sleeves)
rickshaw - hand-pulled passenger cart / seat, often three-wheeled, nowadays revived for tourists
samurai (Japanese knight)

(That's ten Japanese words you know already!)

shiitake mushrooms (long thin stems and small heads)
soy
Sumo wrestler (large fat men on weight-increasing diets)
sushi (snack)
tofu (vegetarian)

(That's fifteen!)
tsunami (harbour wave)
yukata (light summer kimono)
(That's 17 Japanese words you know already!)

 Original: Nicke L Vector: DoktorMandrake - Sushi.png

Description: Sushi Source : Rinaldum Statut : GPL ou fr:GFDL

• CC BY-SA 3.0
• File:Sushi.svg
• Created: 1 February 2009

USEFUL WEBSITES ON LANGUAGES


INFO / WEBSITES ON TRAVEL

AUSTRIA
Glockenspiel Museum in Salzberg, Austria. (See their website or Tripadvisor.)
GERMANY
Several Bauhaus buildings and museums.
ISRAEL
Bauhaus Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel.
For tourism info contact IGTO Israel Government Tourist Office in London, England.
USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - see glockenspiel.
Learn about kimonos, see bonsai and eat Japanese food in the Cornell Café at:
morikami.org
Morikami Japanese Museum and Gardens
Florida
USA
For admission charges and times see their website

MY OTHER POSTS YOU WILL LIKE

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

Fun Photos, and Food At the Esplanade - Where To Eat And Drink

Problem
I had imaged the esplanade as a huge Stadium, not worth visiting unless you are going to a major event, but it's definitely worth visiting, to eat, photograph views, see statues and murals, and free concerts. We also passed happenings such as informal breakdancing in empty spaces. The Esplanade reminded me of the South Bank in London, England. The Esplanade has with concert halls on two levels, and outside restaurants along the waterfront. The Recital Studio is the smaller theatre, seating 'only' two hundred plus patrons - bigger than many modern theatres in London.

The walkway along from Esplanade MRT station to The Esplanade is through a very pleasant wide, light, white underground corridor. The food kiosks are varied, bakeries and sushi. The shops are entertaining and funky, paperwork, amusing handbags.

So you can arrive by MRT train. We changed at Promenade for the Esplanade which is only one stop.

But there are also car parks alongside, with access from the basement which is convenient if it's raining. I also noticed the map on the website shows drop off and pick up points for taxis - and / or cars?

You don't have to book high price events. In addition to regular events in the major concert hall there are cheaper events in the smaller halls and free events in the central indoor area. (We saw an excellent amateur children's choirs) Where do you eat and drink before and after a performance at the Esplanade in Singapore?

Upstairs Shop
On level two we found several amusing shops. My favourite was the violin shop advertising music lessons. Such unusual and colourful violins.

A poster shop would be worth browsing.

Answers
Pre-Performance Food
Simple Sushi
Assuming you want a simple snack before the performance, the Sushi Express bar in the basement below the Recital Studio is the most economical place. The dishes glide along at eye level above the counters, like miniature trains at a children's theme park. We'd seen this before many times, yet the novelty still entrances, long enough to get you to sit down.

It's actually a very quick way to serve. The staff with the gloves on behind the counter top are filling the conveyor. Another waiter waits to rush forward to help when you turn around with a query or to ask for the bill.
We paid only five Singapore dollars for a bowl of miso (Japanese) soup and two plates of sushi - each with two little rolls of rice and fish. We had chose one set of rice with egg on top, the other rice with smoked salmon.

At the till the bill was easy to understand and quick to add up. By the till was a small stand showing items you can buy, all novelties to us. The options included fruit vinegars.

Harry's Bar For Pre-Performance Drinks
I liked everything about Harry's Bar.
1 The amusing quotations.
2 The murals.
3 The welcoming staff, all smiles, instant service.
4 Displays of glassware and bottles.

Anything missing? Maybe nibbles. Many upmarket bars in London, England, and events in Singapore, have free bowls of nuts or olives to tempt you to linger.

From the original single Harry's Bar in Singapore, the brand has expanded to 30 bars in Singapore, their literature told me.

A Interval For Bakery and Brownie
During the interval we bought a chocolate brownie from a bread shop by the theatre. About two dollars, just enough to keep you going.

Esplanade Seafront Restaurant Closing Times
Afterwards, if you hang around to take photos with the cast, as we did, you might find everywhere shutting up, at least all the inexpensive places and some of the dearer ones which seem to be open. Although they were still serving drinks, and apparently food to customers, the last orders for food had already finished whilst we spent time strolling around reading menus and taking photos.

Upmarket Restaurants
We thought the restaurants on the waterfront were pricey. So were the ones upstairs alongside the Recital studio.
Art and Sculpture
A mural in the lower level corridor by the car park leading to the Esplanade complex.
A mural above the Recital Theatre on floor two. (Ground floor is called floor one or level one in Singapore).
Murals and quotations in Harry's Bar.
Sculptures by the waterside.

Sushi Express
The board outside Sushi Express said that the dishes were all $1.50 each. They simply calculate the cost by counting the plates and adding the cost of the soup.

I came away wondering what I had done with the bill and where could I find the address. When I looked at my photo of the board outside showing the dishes I could see the numbers B1-23.
Looking at their website, I learned that they have other branches in Singapore in the centre on Orchard Road and out East towards the airport at Tampines.

The company started in Taiwan in 1996 and has expanded to China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and in the USA on the west coast to San Francisco and Los Angeles. They have 300 outlets worldwide. You can have a fast food snack lunch or early supper. They also supply a take away (Americans say take out). The board outside the branch I tried suggested party platters.
sushi express.com.sg


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Please label buffet dinner dishes to help those with diets and allergies

I am looking forward to attending a buffet dinner but will it contain things I should not eat? Many people need to know, anybody who is vegetarian, seeking kosher or halal food. Also anybody likely to get stressed mentally by certain foods, such as sheep's eyeballs, frog's legs, horsemeat, brains, testicles, haggis, dog, monkey! 

Others have intolerance (feel nauseous) or a full blown allergy (ranging from a rash to trouble breathing and fainting) to dairy food, tannin in red wine, gluten, nuts, strawberries and shellfish.

I'm sure your food will be delicious so I hope to taste as much variety as possible.

But I have previously ended up in hospital after a bad experience eating what I thought was pink salmon but it turned out to be crab.

I can happily eat smoked salmon, whitefish such as trout and cod and plaice, but if I accidentally eat shellfish I am likely to develop a rash like chickenpox. My face swells up. I have trouble breathing. I vomit for 24 hours - I want to prevent this!

If you are running a restaurant, hotel or club buffet, including a pot luck dinner in a private home, please could you label any dish containing shellfish, crustaceans (crawling things with shells), molluscs (things with wavy arms): eg crab, Pacific prawns, shrimps, oysters, octopus. 

I am allergic to crustaceans and shellfish.

I can recognise a large crab and a plate of pacific prawns.

But I don't want to eat: rice containing hidden prawns/shrimps; nor meat in oyster/fish sauce. Other worries are unidentifed contents of sushi; surf and turf; prawn crackers; canapes and vol au vents with white sauce which looks like mushrooms but contains shellfish, crab sticks.

It will save your serving staff a lot of time if they don't have to keep dashing to the kitchen to ask the chefs what's in the food.

Shellfish is the most common allergy so in a large group I will not be the only one.

If your main dishes are normally decorated with shellfish, it would be an advantage to some of your guests to have another plate without the garnish. 

Many thanks. I hope to give your hotel, restaurant or club dinner a glowing report on the internet.

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