La Creperie de Josselin - Paris

Crepes are often associated with Brittany, North-west region of France. That is the reason why you can find so many creperies around Montparnasse station, where many trains travel between Paris and Brittany. Among these creperies, one that really stands out is La Creperie de Josselin - and you can't miss this with bustling atmosphere inside the restaurant and people crowding outside for their turn.

To be even more specific, crepe is made of wheat flour, which is also known as crepe de Forment. However, if it is made of buckwheat (or sarrasin), then it is actually called galette. Crepe is sweet and is usually eaten as dessert or snack. On the other hand, galette is typically served as lunch or dinner, and carries a savoury taste.

On the menu of La Creperie de Josselin, you will be able to find a long list of options for crepes on the left hand, and similarly for galettes on the right hand side. In addition to this, this place serves the crepes or galettes in "couples". This means the batter is spread, the fillings are added, another already made crepe is layered on top and the whole thing is then folded before served.

If you have decision paralysis, maybe what you should do is to choose the specialties here - la crepe josselin and la crepe maraichere. Enjoy the authentic, hearty, delicious crepes with rich fillings and crispy edges.

Budget: $

Rating : 7.75 / 10

L'As du Fallafel - Paris

Those who live or being to Paris before are likely to know L'As du Fallafel as this is one of the most popular cheap eats in Paris. For the rest, this may require some explanation.

L'As du Fallafel literally means The Ace of Falafel. Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern food, which is typically deep-fried balls made from chickpeas. Falafel can be eaten in the original ball form, or used as an ingredient in the sandwich. A pita (slightly leavened wheat bread) is usually used for the sandwich to hold falafel balls, together with salad and pickled vegetables, hot sauce and tahini-based sauce. Falafel sandwich is a vegetarian food, but different types of meat can be added as variants. At L'As du Fallafel, the falafel served is of Israeli type.

At Rue des Roisers area, there are a number of Falafel  restaurants, but you can't miss L'As du Fallafel, as it has the most human traffic with people moving in and out of the restaurant at one side and long queue at the takeaway counter on the other side. For a slightly higher cost, you can have the luxury of a seat in the crowded restaurant, enjoying the interestingly busy atmosphere and depending where you sit, understanding the steps of preparing of the food on TV. Alternatively, you can join the many others munching the falafel sandwich on the street.

The minimum you should order is the Special Fallefel sandwich. My favourite is the Sauteed Chicken in Curry sandwich. The falalel, curry chicken, vegetables and the sauces provide many layers of flavours, but amazingly combine to result in an enjoyable taste experience. A nice paring to this sandwich is the homemade lemonade.

Budget : $

Rating : 8.5 / 10

Cafe Constant - Paris

Cafe Constant does not accept reservation. Just before the opening hours, you will expect to see an anxious crowd lingering at the entrance trying to get the attention of the staff for a table. If you wish to eat there, it is advisable for you to arrive early to "position" yourself. There is a reason for this phenomenon. Owning this humble restaurant is Chef Christian Constant, a Michelin 1-star chef as well as a member of the jury for Top Chef TV show. Despite of his reputation and high quality of food he produces, the price is very reasonable. Together with Le Violon d'Ingres (Michelin 1-star restaurant) and Les Cocottes de Christian Constant, he has built his empire in rue St Dominique area.

The staff are friendly and speak good English (understand from them this is the restaurant hiring policy). Though we were ushered to our seats and have our orders taken about the same time as the rest of the customers, we did not have to wait long for the food to be served.

For appetizers, Lobster Ravioli is a hit as you can find this dish on many tables. You can find fresh lobster meat wrapped in ravioli which blends well with the tasty foamy shellfish sauce. But what I like better is the Sauteed Squid which is very flavourful.

The "Patte Blueue" chicken and the Free-range quail with foie gras are excellent main choices.

A must-try dessert is the Homemade profiteroles. The warm chocolate fudge was poured onto the pair of golden cream puffs and huge vanilla ice-cream in front of our eyes. Simply delicious! Another french dessert worth mentioning is Ile flottante. Also known as floating island, this consists of megrine floating on caramel sauce. We almost licked our dessert plates.

This bistro is within walking distance from Eiffel Tower. A highly recommended place if you are around that area!

Budget : $ $

Rating : 8.25 / 10

Q Verde - Surrey

Tucked away from the cluster of restaurants around Kew Gardens station, this does not prevent its loyal customers to take a 5-10min walk to reach this popular family-owned Italian restaurant situated along Sandycombe Road for the last 6 years. The owner Geraldo provides you a warm and welcoming feeling, offers good suggestions on the choice of food and is very attentive to your needs.

Good customer service alone does not buy the hearts of the customers. What is the exceptional here is the quality of food at very reasonable pricing.

We started off with Garlic Bread, Pan Fried Chicken Liver and Grilled Calamari as appetizers. Each of the dishes was well prepared and tasty.

The pasta are freshly homemade here. The Spaghetti With Bolognese Sauce and Rigatonic With Chicken, Tomato and Cream Sauce are very nice. But I like the Tagliatelle (long flat ribbon shape; usually made with 1 egg with every 100 gram of flour) With Mixed Seafood the most. The seafood used is very fresh with generous serving and the sauce blended perfectly well with tagliatelle.

After trying all these food, I can really feel the passion that went into the cooking - that is what I like!

If you are visiting Kew Gardens, which is also known as Royal Botanic Gardens and is one of the World Heritage Sites, this is a place you must go for a meal.

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Budget : $ $

Rating : 8.5 / 10

Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant - London

When traveling abroad, especially long trips to countries where Chinese are the minority, I will definitely hunger for Chinese food at some point of time. For this simple reason, I will strategically include some good Chinese food options as part of my itinerary. Based on my research before the trip, Four Seasons Chinese Restaurant certainly fits the bill, as it has been lauded by Financial Times for the best Roasted Duck in the world. Best in the world? I sometimes feel that the word "best:" has been used too loosely by many. What is the criteria to determine a certain food is the best? Who has experience and authority to say a certain food is the best. Well, it may not be the best in the world at the end, but I believe it must be good enough for someone to give such a title. Let's give it a try!

Four Seasons started at Baywater, London in 1990 and since then, it has opened two more branches in London Chinatown and one at Bangkok Siam Paragon. We arrived at the branch at Gerrard Street in Chinatown 15min before it opened for lunch and did not have to wait long before being ushered to our table.

Ordered the Roasted Peking duck, which came with the pancakes. The way this was being served here was different from Singapore. The whole duck was sliced with bones removed, but both the skin and the meat were being served together. The skin was very crispy and fragrant, while the meat was tender and has adequate moist level. Wrapped in pancake together with spring onions and hoisin sauce, this is delicious!

The three combination BBQ meats (Soya Chicken, Char Siu and Crispy Belly Pork) were nice, but I will say that I had better ones elsewhere. We also ordered the vegetables, toufu and noodles, and they were of pretty normal standard.

Wait, where is the Roasted Duck? I realized I have mistaken the Roasted Peking duck as the famous Roasted Duck that everyone is talking about, after I got back to Singapore. I cannot believe this. I already have this penned down and will definitely try the CORRECT Roast duck one of these days. Probably at the Bangkok Siam Paragon branch first. Having said this, I did enjoyed the Roasted Peking duck then.

No doubt this is a very popular restaurant, which I believe is just for the duck. By the time we were done, there was a long queue of people waiting eagerly for their turn.

Budget : $ $

Rating : 7.5 / 10 (To be reviewed again after I try the roast duck)

Burger and Lobster - London

The menu is simple - there are only 3 items, namely  burger, lobster and lobster roll. Sorry, these are not even listed on the menu itself, but rather on the board hanged on the wall. This is exactly what I like - straight to the specialty items, instead of making the customers ploughing through the long list of items on the menu.

Lobsters are what people are here for. Weighing about 1kg each, these lobsters are flown in from Nova Scotia, one of the Canada's three maritime provinces. The lobsters are generally dark bluish green to greenish brown, but will turn bright red when cooked. You can choose either grilled or steamed or roll with mayonnaise. I personally prefer the steamed version which retains much of the original sweetness of the lobster. Interestingly, the burger option comes with beef, instead of lobster meat.

Priced at £ 20 per set, it also comes with garlic lemon butter dipping which further enhance the taste, a salad with balsamic dressing and some nice fries (though a bit salty). It is really value for money, given the good quality and size of lobster. I am sure that it is difficult to find a competing alternative.

No wonder this Russian-owned chain (which also owns Goodman Steak restaurants) is opening more outlets in London - total of 6 branches at the point of writing. This place is definitely among my top recommended list. My advise is that either you make reservation or you turn up early, to avoid the long queue.

Budget : $ $

Rating : 8.75 / 10

Special Topic - Tipping in different countries

The tipping practices vary widely across the globe. Below is the summary that hopefully helps to decide how much to give as a tip when having a meal at an eating place.


France
The bill is all-inclusive, i.e. it includes 15% service charge and VAT tax (sales tax). Therefore, the price you see on the menu will be what you are paying eventually. It is a requirement by law to include service charge, as tips are assessed for taxation purposes. The 15% service charge is usually tabulated at the end of the day and depending on the owner, some or all the amount will be split among all waitors.

There is no obligation to give any extra tip. Any extra tip is purely a gesture of appreciation to the waitor for excellent or added services (e.g. offering assistance to children requiring special attention, particularly helpful in language translation, clearing up spillage or broken glass). In such cases, a 5% further tip may be appropriate. Note that you should offer cash as tip so that this can go to the pocket of the waitor direct.


United Kingdom
For restaurants, it is customary to give 10-15% of the bill as a tip. You will find it common for the restaurants to include a service charge (typically 12.5%) to the bill, so make sure you do not tip twice. You can give another two pound to the server if the service is excellent. However, if you are not happy with service, you should request that to be removed and explain your unhappiness (It is better to bring to the attention of the manager straightaway if the service is bad, than to wait until the bill arrives).

For cafes, if your food or drink is being served to your table and you find the service pleasant, you may give a pound as appreciation.

For fast food and causual restaurants where you collect the food at the counter, no tipping is expected. At coffee chains (e.g. Starbucks), there may be a tip jar at the counter.

For takeaway, no tips is expected if you collect the food at the restaurant. However, if it is a delivery to your place, then it may be nice to give a pound or loose change as tip.

Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee - MacPherson

The famous Restoran Kin Kin from Kuala Lumpur has opened a branch in Singapore. This branch at MacPherson Road has attracted queues as long as 2 hours when it initially opened, but the craze has since died down. When I visited it during one of the weekday lunchtime, the place was at most 75% filled at any moment of time.

This place offers two signature dishes. The first is the Signature Dry Chilli Pan Mee. The ingredients, such as the pork meatballs, poached egg, braised minced meat, fried shallots, crispy ikan bilis and pan mee (Singapore equivalent of ban mian), were served unmixed and without chilli. Depending on your preference or tolerance, you add the appropriate amount of dry chilli flakes. After mixing, the dry chilli flakes provide spicy fragrance to the otherwise normal bowl of pan mee. Overall, the pan mee tasted reasonably nice, but did not leave a deep impression.

The other signature dish is Handmade Fishball Soup. The fishballs are huge! From the uneven roundness of the fishballs, you can tell these are handmade. However, I found these fishball lacking firmness in texture and are rather plain. I like the soup though, which tasted quire refreshing.

Will I go back again? Maybe, but it definitely arouses my curiousity to try the authentic KL version.

Budget : $

Rating : 6.5 / 10

Rich & Good Cake Shop

If a shop is not that ideal in terms of location but still can attract many loyal fans, this speaks volumes about the quality of the food. Rich & Good Cake Shop sells one of the best swiss rolls in Singapore.

Unlike many swiss rolls that leave behind dryness after each bite, Rich & Good swiss rolls have that right level of moist. The layers of cake are denser than typical, but soft and spongy. The creamy fillings are really RICH and GOOD, and yet not too sweet.

Interestingly, the swiss rolls are sold uncut. It is up to you to decide the thickness of each slice when you cut. To me, it does not matter in the end. It is so additive that I end up eating everything.

There are as many as 10 different flavours. The best selling ones are the Kaya and Durian, and depends on your luck, they may not have enough stock in the shop. The Blueberry one is also quite nice.

Budget : $

Rating : 9 / 10