Hardware

 

Went for lunch today with Holly to Hardware on Renshaw Street which was the former Rapid Hardware shop. It's been open since the start of December and we've been wanting to try it as it looks good on Instagram.

I really like the interior, it's modern, clean and spacious. Bigger than I thought it would be as it has an upstairs. They don't do bookings walk ins only and luckily we didn't have to wait and got a table when we got there. It was busy and pretty full.

You have to go up to order at the counter.

Holly's Soy Cappuccino

Apprentices - Yoghurt Bowl, fruit, crunchola sprinkles - £2.50

Apprentices - Soufflé Pancake Stack - Mini Biscoff spread, Biscoff biscuits, cheesecake mouse, vanilla bean, strawberries - £4

I couldn't decide if I wanted the crunchola or the pancakes so decided to get both off the kids menu. The food took ages to come - took over 30 minutes for the tiny crunchola which we were so surprised at small it was when it came and didn't know what the pancakes were going to be like and that I probably should have ordered the full size pancakes and the mini crunchola. My pancakes turned up 5 minutes later and was not expecting it to look like that at all. The normal sized ones you get 3 soufflé pancakes stacked up. But mine just looked like it was trying to be a soufflé pancake/crepe. I started eating it and it was that burnt that it tasted bitter and horrible so I had to send it back and get a fresh one made. 

The second one looked a lot better and did look more like a soufflé pancake and had just come off the pan as it was still hot where as the previous one wasn't. It also came a lot quicker than the first one. It was like they just used whatever left over batter they had and just threw that in the pan and hoped for the best where as the second they used a fresh batch of batter. It did look quite burnt/caramelised at the top but it wasn't bitter and was fine.

Holly's Baked Eggs - Baked eggs and roasted vegetables in a spiced tomato sauce, feta. Served with toasted Plattsville sourdough and added chorizo - £8.50 + £2

This took ages to come, I get it gets baked but it took nearly 40 minutes... The yolk in the fried eggs were properly well done and not runny. But Holly ate it and didn't send it back - I would have because I don't like well done yolks.

It's nice in there but the food service was just rubbish and really slow which was disappointing as it took over 30 minutes for the food to arrive. I get the pancakes would take a bit of time to cook but not 35 minutes and then the tiniest little granola pot 30 minutes?? Don't think you can justify that.

A couple ended up sitting at the end of our table as they do big tables split into 2 groups - they ordered scrambled eggs on toast and fried egg on toast with sausages and that arrived pretty quick. They either need more staff in the kitchen or they need better chefs and could do with adding matcha lattes!

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Elk Bakery

For our last breakfast in Italy we went to a brunch place called Elk Bakery which Holly found on Instagram and was recommended by the hotel/villa we stayed at. It was about 20 minute walk from where we were saying.

It took me a while to order - they don't have menu's on the table you have to use the QR code to look at it on your phone then they come over to take your order. It was super busy and we got there just in time to get a table.

We both got a Matcha Cappuccino which I instantly regretted as I remembered that milk outside the UK is just not the same. No where else in the world has the same fresh cow's milk like we have! It wasn't nice but Holly's was alright as she got it with soy milk. 

Eggs California - Two poached eggs with homemade hollandaise sauce served on half toasted bagel, smoked Norwegian salmon, sliced avocado - €12,50

Avocado Toast - Three grain bread toast with sliced avocado, avocado cream, radishes, confit tomatoes and mixed seeds accompanied by vegan beet mayonnaise and microgreens - Extra fried egg - €9,50 + €1,50

Fluffy pancakes with maple syrup  and red fruit - €12,50

I couldn't decide if I wanted sweet or savoury so ended up getting savoury and we shared the pancakes. What I really wanted was a pistachio croissant or anything that had pistachio. It looked like they had a pistachio cheesecake on the counter but we didn't try it. It was the perfect Instagram brunch place. Food was just like anything else I've had back at home and the fluffy pancakes were like the soufflé pancakes we tried when we went to London last summer. 

And this is the last of the Italy travels post until the next holiday...

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London China Town

Saturday afternoon in China Town is busy!  So many people around. We were on the look out for Hefaure - they do soufflé pancakes Holly wanted to try. I wasn't a fan as it just tasted like Chinese sponge cake.

She got the Oreo - cookies and cream

I was on the look out for a bubble waffle with matcha ice cream. We found 2 bubble waffles places but they didn't do soft serve matcha ice cream. We asked them if they knew any places that did them and they said they didn't. We found places that did matcha soft serve ice cream in a cone or the taiyaki fish which I had in Toronto. I ended up getting a plain bubble waffle from bubblewrap waffle where they charged me £4.49 then I got a matcha ice cream from the shop across the road that ripped me off for the ice cream. We walked down the road under one of the arches and there was a bakery called "Bake" that sold bubble waffles with soft serve matcha ice cream which was cheaper than what I paid for it both separately! It was so annoying how we didn't just walk a bit further and when we asked in one of the shops that they didn't know. We weren't going to have any lunch but after our desserts were hungry and wanted to have some dim sum as seen everyone else and it smelt so good.

We went to Plum Valley we did sit outside then it started raining so we sat inside.

 I actually got Holly to try chicken feet which I never thought she would ever try.

Char siu churn fan - char siu meat wrapped in rice noodle

Dan tart - Chinese egg custard tarts

We char siu baos - char siu buns

Siu mai

Chicken feet

Har gaw - prawn wrapped in a rice noodle pastry

Holly actually liked it all and her favourite were the har gaw which I was actually surprised about as I didn't think she would like it and she chose the siu mai and char siu baos herself and I picked everything else unsure whether she would like them. She was surprised that chicken feet weren't crunchy. She ate it and didn't think it was that bad - she just wasn't really a fan as she said it was like chicken wing meat and she doesn't really like chicken on the bone but didn't think it was the worst thing so I would definitely recommend that everyone tries it. If you like black bean sauce and chicken wings then I think you will like it! If you want to find an authentic Chinese restaurant look out for chicken feet on the menu as you definitely won't get that in an English Chinese...

London China Town is so big. There's so many restaurants to choose from and just so many different supermarkets, dessert shops, bakeries, bubble tea just so much choice if you just want to try something new. This was the first time I proper walked through China Town and had food from there and it was good. Definitely a go to place to visit if you're in London!

 

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