New Ladurée branch in Covent Garden

Recently opened on a prime corner of the Covent Garden Market, 

Ladurée is making an important début with a proper sit -in Café.  

Really excited about this new opening, a visit was imminent to happen.

One sunny day was all we needed! 

The little café was already quite busy when my foodie friends and I arrived 

AND we were happy that we did not have to wait too long. 

We were lucky ...  the waiter readily seated us on the first floor on the balcony 

to make the most of the beautiful day!

We like Ladurée. We do. But after the good first impression of the well decorated premises, 

all was let down by the service we received that day.  

Not only did the waiter failed to set the covers again even after we were seated 

but the whole service was a tragedy: our waiter had difficulty taking our orders - drinks and food took ages to come ( which they blamed on the service lift being down) 

with some items we believe were forgotten until we reminded them...

For the prices charged here, I think impeccable service should be a given and not optional ... 

It was very unfortunate that our experience was not as we expected ...  

( and I swear , we are not difficult customers!). 

All we wanted were : two sets of afternoon tea, a Club Sandwich and lovely delicious Ladurée Cakes.

On a positive note though, the food (when it arrived) was lovely and this kept us happy.  ^.^

First to arrive, the Club Sandwich. I couldn't even have a decent picture without a quick bite being taken from the sandwich! Still looked yummy though!! :)

Chicken Club Sandwich served with Chunky Chips

Then the Afternon Tea set for Two arrived ...
On top tier, the selection of sandwiches : we selected the smoked salmon and the ham option.

Afternoon Tea Set for two

On the middle tier, our pastry all soft and golden. We had the pain au chocolat which hardly had any chocolat in it and the walnut croissant which was very nice.

Finally on the bottom tier, deux Ispahan, a Carré Chocolat and a Plaisir Sucré.

The Traditional Tea Set 

Not that the Afternoon Tea Set wasn't enough ... but we also ordered : 

Millefeuilles Pralines

A Close Up picture of a Beauty of a Cake - The Ispahan 

A Favourite of many : The Ispahan with raspberry and lychee

A very disappointing first visit we all concluded {especially after paying the bill}  but the 

Cakes and Patisserie @ Ladurée never lets anyone down, so we all left still content. 

We will not be running back very quickly but for the Love of Cake ... 

we might decide to give it another try.

Ladurée 

1 Market Place

Covent Garden 

( Impossible to miss)

WC2 E 8RA

    

ORA - Passion for Thai Cuisine

ORA.  I have not heard of this restaurant until this visit with some friends.
Set off Regent Street on Little Portland Street, away from the constant hustle and bustle of
Oxford Street, ORA says it brings authentic Thai Food to London...

As we entered Ora, it had a very contemporary feel and I was very excited to try their dishes.
Since we had a group booking through Toptable, we had a set menu to choose our courses from.
I was impressed that they offered a good variety of dishes to choose from for each course although
I was pretty surprised that some of the dishes were not really Thai!

Once, we made our choice, while waiting for the food to arrive, I sipped through my cute little
jug of Thai Ice Milk Tea, beautifully presented and enjoyed a good catching up session with
my friends.

ORA Thai Ice Tea 

Soon after, our starters arrived. The popular choices were the crispy king prawn tempura
and the Deep Fried Baby Squid. Quite disappointing I thought as a start to our meal ...

The Prawn Tempura was not a real tempura with the batter being rather thick to my taste.
It was more like a Fried King Prawns in batter! The portion served was big though for a starter
and could not complain about the texture of the prawns which were nice to the taste.

The other starter, the crispy squid was reasonable I guess with an innovative sauce which had chopped herbs.

Not the best crispy squid I've had ...

As the time came for our mains to arrive, it all looked very tasty. 

As I had a closer look at the dishes as they were being served to us individually, 

I will have to admit that my expectations were not met.

The Duck Breast served with tamarind sauce looked nice. As well as the curry.

I had ordered the Sirloin Beef in oyster sauce and mange-tout. 

(Not very Thai I thought ... but still decided to give it a chance.) ... Shouldn't have! 

The dish was served in a square plate trying to make it look stylish and modern 

but as soon as I saw my dish ... it had failed my standards ... 

not boasting but I definitely make better beef in oyster sauce in my own kitchen!

Another chosen Main dish was the Pork in Sweet Pineapple, lychee and vegetable in sauce.

The Lychee ingredient was the interesting one which had to be tried. 

This dish was different but at the same time, it was very close to the regular sweet 

and sour available in Chinese Take away shops ... again not very impressed ...

Last but not least, we had dessert which was just ok. 

The Chocolate Cheesecake proved to be the most popular.

The Pineapple Pie served with custard was not too bad to the taste either.

Overall, the experience was saved by good company ... but on the food side ... 

I won't be running back soon to be honest!!  

It was not an unpleasant food experience but it definitely did not give me any hint of the 

Passion for Thai Cuisine.

I eventually learned that the chef's background was from Busaba Eathai, and 

the manager was the former manager at Mango Tree. I guess the professionalism of the 

waiting staff came from the standards brought from Mango Tree, while for the Chef ... 

what happened?? ...  but I would rather go to Busaba Eathai!!

If you want to try ORA, the best is to book through Toptable for this Restaurant where instead 

of the set menu, I would recommend to go for the 50% off food where you will

 still be able to choose from the a la carte menu where the true Thai Cuisine is.

ORA Restaurant 

6 Little Portland Street 

Fitzgrovia, London W1W 7JE

Royal China - Queensway

I usually am not too keen on travelling all the way to Queensway for Chinese food but for 

a special visit from abroad, I was glad I did.

Royal China has a great reputation for serving one of the best dim sum in London and

 I must say that even for dinner, the food was pretty good. 

Set in a stylish and contemporary decor, Royal China was as asual, busy that night!

For starters, we had my favourite: the seafood wrap served with lettuce.

This is how it's served:

FIRST : The Seafood Mix 

Wrap it up on a leaf of Lettuce and yummmm !!! 

Our second starter was the salt and chilli baby squid.

Crispy Golden Squid 

For Mains, to ensure everyone would be happy with the choices, we had a great variety coming to us!
Just speaking about it makes me hungry as the dishes were all so delicious!

Beautiful Crispy Roast Duck

Fukien Rice 

Chilli Glazed Prawns 

Sirloin Beef with Bamboo Shoot & Oyster Sauce 

Mapo Tofu with minced beef 

Pork and Preserved Vegetable Hot Pot 

My oh my, that was a beautiful meal! 

The Mapo Tofu was my favourite of all. 

The Tofu was so soft and the sauce with it really tasty. 

The flavour of the fried minced beef, the vegetables and the spicy sauce 

was just perfect with the tofu.

If you're looking for an alternative to the regular Chinese Restaurant in Chinatown, 

definitely think of Royal China. It might be a little dearer on the cost side 

but you will be satisfied with the quality of the food.

ROYAL CHINA - Bayswater 

13 Queensway 

London W2 4QJ