Monday is Pho day

Cafe – takeaway: Chao, Whitecross Street, London.

A steaming brisket of beef pho, brimming with tons of beef, noodles, beansprouts, spring onions, coriander and what looks like thinly sliced white onion. That’s enough to wipe away the Monday blues!

This pho comes with a little parcel of condiments, including fresh chilli, mint and lemon, so you can dress it to taste. I also have the pot of hoisin sauce and use it as a dipping sauce for the beef and noodles.

As ever with the soups from Chao, the broth is delicate and flavoursome, literally a pot of goodness. There are lots of ingredients and this is filling enough to have for lunch during a working day and not need to be snacking again by mid-afternoon.

 

 

Words and pictures: @madgie

Carrot and cumin soup, with confit rabbit and walnut

Restaurant: Peartree Hotel, Church End, Purton, Wiltshire.

I’m not usually a fan of carrot soup but with one of my favourite spices, cumin, I thought I’d give this a go. I was also a bit intrigued by how the rabbit would come as part of the soup.

The soup arrived looking inviting in a lovely white bowl, the deep orange colour offset against it. The confit rabbit was a sliced ballotine, sitting plumply in the centre of the soup with the walnut. It certainly looked good and I couldn’t wait to try it.

There wasn’t, as is usually the case with carrot soup, an overwhelming taste of carrot. Instead the velvet texture had a subtle hint of cumin that went through the whole soup and balanced it nicely. The confit rabbit was very tasty, with the texture of a black pudding. It added richness to the flavour of the soup and went well with the crusty, warm brown bread served with it. Lastly the walnut added a soft crunch and balanced the whole soup out perfectly.

Very nice and would have happily eaten another bowl.

 

 

Words and pictures: @madgie

Best places for soup in London

In January this year The Evening Standard published their guide to the best places for soup in London.  Their soup gems included:

Mildreds

Veteren vegetarian restauarant serves wholesome veggie soups, with a daily changing menu.
Mildreds, 45 Lexington Street, W1F 9AN, mildreds.co.uk

Mon Plaisir

Supposedly the oldest French eaterie in London, dating back to the ‘40’s. The onion soup is supposedly fab – served gratinée, with a heap of hot, bubbling cheese piled on toast on top.
Mon Plaisir, 19-21 Monmouth Street, WC2, monplaisir.co.uk

Mishkin’s

Mishkin’s only does one soup, a traditional Jewish chicken matzo ball, with light fluffy dumplings.
Mishkin’s, 25 Catherine Street, WC2B 5JS, mishkins.co.uk

I’ve not tried any of these, though I plan to, and there’s definitely a few establishments I’d add to the list!

Spicy Chargrilled Chicken Hue

Cafe – takeaway: Chao, Whitecross Street, London.

I just ate a beautifully lovely spicy hot soup from Chao on Whitecross Street in London’s Old Street area. You will see that I will review quite a few soups from this cafe. It’s a small Vietnamese cafe that is always packed at lunchtime and there is a reason why, they serve damn good food.

The soup I chose today was the Spicy Chargrilled Chicken Hue, Hue being the soup with a spicy broth from the Imperial city of the same name. Deep in the pot there are lots of vermicelli rice noodles instead of the flat rice noodles in a Pho.  The soup is packed with yummy grilled chicken meat that has a smoky barbecue flavour. Then before they pour the Pho broth in you get a couple of small spoons of the spicy chilli oil. Once mixed together it does pack a punch that will take your breath away at first. However, an inch down the big pot and you’re used to it and are thinking about adding more chillies just to keep that spicy hit going.

I ate all of it, the lot. Absolutely yummy. This is my kind of food.

 

 

Words and pictures: @madgie

 

New Covent Garden British Chicken Soup (and fantastic fish burger)

Soup and a sandwich is one of my favourite Saturday lunches, and this week I chose to share a chicken soup with @ladylavish.  We bought the New Covent Garden British Chicken and made a fantastic fish burger to go with it.

The soup has butter and black pepper, along with wine and garlic. It’s thick and creamy with lots of chicken pieces – breast and dark meat. Confusingly the dark meat looks a bit like mushroom. Or that might just be me!

It was really nice tasting, and a turn of pepper livened it up nicely. Served with cod and lettuce burger in front of the World Superbike qualifying – lovely Saturday lunch.

 

Words and pictures: @madgie

Anytime Instant Noodle Soup

The basis of this soup is that it is easy to prepare at home and quick to cook, from ready-made ingredients. The base comes from Sapporo Ichiban, which is a ‘Japanese-style chicken flavoured noodle’ base. I get mine from the chinese supermarket in Brighton, but I don’t prepare it exactly as it says.

Chicken Sapporo Ichiban

Marks & Spencer Chili chicken

Washed Choi Sum

Cooking the noodles

For this version, I bought pre-marinated Chicken breasts with Chilli and Ginger, from M&S and some choi sum, which I washed and chopped in half. I put the choi sum in the colander, ready to steam above the bubbling broth. Remember to put the stalks in at the bottom as they take longer to cook.

Recipe:

• 1 chicken breast per person – oven cooked for 25 mins
• 1 pack of noodle per person
• 600ml of filtered water per person

Bring the water to the boil, and add the sachet of flavouring. Add the noodles and swirl them around a bit to loosen them up and put the steamer/colander with the choi sum on top. Cook for 3 minutes. While the soup is cooking, slice the chicken. Divide the noodles between bowls, add the broth and dress with chicken and choi sum.

Eat and enjoy.

The finished thing

 

 

Words and pictures: @madgie

London Soup

London Soup is a monthly dinner in London that microgrants funding for small community-lead projects. You pay £10 for a ticket on the door and for that you get delicious homemade soup, salad, bread and the chance to listen to 4 fantastic presentations for social projects.

Attendees eat together and listen to the presenters, then vote for the project they most want to fund. The proceeds of the evening are then awarded to that project. A really simple, yet effective idea for social good – fuelled by soup!

There is also a Detroit Soup and Soup meets all round the country.

Eat soup. Do good.

Baxters chicken & vegetable

I was off work feeling ill and more than a little sorry for myself, so I turned to the saviour of poorly people everywhere – chicken soup.

I only had a Baxters chicken & vegetable in the cupboard, but it did at least claim to be 1 of my 5 a day!

The broth was quite thin and to be honest, a bit bland. Which was OK as I wasn’t feeling well, but might have been a bit dull under other circumstances. There was plenty of veg, particularly peas and beans, but the chicken content was a bit light.

Not sure I’d rush to buy this one again, there are better ‘off school’ cupboard soups.

 

 

Words and pictures: @ladylavish

Wonton Soup

Restaurant: Wan Chai Corner, Chinatown London.

Wonton Soup

We’ve been coming to this restaurant for many years, back when it was still known as China China, and the soups have always been a favourite. I normally order a BBQ Pork noodle soup, but it can be a bit much when you also want a noodle dish for main course, so I went for the wonton soup today.

The broth is lovely, really pork-y in taste and not at all greasy. It’s clear and almost sweet in its taste, with just chopped spring onions floating on top. It’s full of flavor and is the perfect hangover soup as it must be at least a litre of stock. The wontons are made from minced pork and prawn, encased in a lovely buttery dumpling. We were really early, and everything tasted fresh and full of goodness. I like that the filling is every so slightly al dente in texture.

Wonton translates to ‘swallowing clouds’, which is the perfect description for these little balls of lovely.

 

 

Words and pictures: @ladylavish

Keema Mince Soup

Takeaway: Nusa Kitchen, Clerkenwell, London

I stupidly ordered the large pot. Unless you’re seriously hungry go for the normal size.

Keema suggests that this will be similar to a Keema curry, it certainly is. In fact, it’s dangerously close to not being soup at all and being a liquified meal. I’m generally not a fan of liquidising dishes and calling it soup, but this one works.

It’s lovely, thick and very slightly chilli hot. The other spices are deep and moreish. There are plenty of vegetables, potatoes, carrots and peas. It all merged together to produce a yummy soup with eastern influences. The flat bread served with it was a bit like it had just come out of the fridge and could have done with being warmed a bit.

Overall a pretty good lunchtime staple.

 

 

Words and pictures: @madgie