Capital Boy
The weekend was very meaningfully spent in London.
After leaving late from work at 5.30pm, we were quickly on the road to the capital, arriving just before 8pm. However the tube took 45mins to get across London to Wood Green where I met JFK who had designs on a Greek meal for dinner. We reached the restaurant/takeaway but their entire one and a half tubs of moussaka had already been reserved by some diners so we had to settle for some grilled lamb-on-the-bone (which was not bad but I felt it was too little) and rice dumplings (again, forgot the terms).
Saturday lunch time was spent touring the Camden Town area, somewhere I had wanted to cover since I arrived in the UK. It's full of all sorts of market stalls - t-shirts, memorabilia, tattoo-parlours, food, arts and crafts... etc etc. And probably also drug-taking gays as we saw someone on the balcony looking high on magic mushrooms or something similar. The shops are very unique with their 3D art fronting them acting as an auxiliary signboard. Next time I will go there with a camera in tow...
Post-lunch I took JFK and his two friends to find a comfortable pub along Tottenham Court Road so that they could watch England vs Australia in peace but I had better plans. I headed off to the Royal Haymarket Theatre for a play. The Country Wife (1697) is a comedy written with slight R(A) tendencies. But no nudity, just some jokes which must have only been rude two hundred years ago. The performance was not bad, although I though the humour wasn't flowing as much as it should. However it only set me back by ten quid so I would have been content even if it had been worse!
I'd actually also wanted to catch the Woman in Black but did not want to overload my Saturday, since the main plan was to catch Aaron for a farewell meal. And so I did, although I managed to meet TY in the meantime. I shivered in the breezy evening putting heaps of frozen yoghurt into my mouth while she had a nice warm cup of english tea. We caught up with stuff from all over the place - will be good to continue the banter next time.
Aaron arrived with his mum (whom I'd met one and a half years ago) and we decided on Four Seasons, a sister of the famous roast duck makers in Bayswater. However I found out that it was more like a poor cousin because the layer of fat under the skin was definitely not fashionable, and the skin wasn't crispy at all. Still we had to queue for a while (but got a table ahead of others - must be giving face to Aaron). We nearly decided to hijack tongue-in-cheek someone else's position in the queue e.g. when the guy asked for "Mr. Leong, two persons?" we'd wanted to raise our hands and say "yes, and can add one more also?"
Another good catch-up session ensued, and in the end I had to battle for the right to pay the bill. But Auntie was understanding enough to see that I was adamant to foot the bill given that Aaron had done so last time she was there, and I guess it would be fitting since he had come out to entertain me. Would have been my way of putting the stamp on the farewell I guess.
Chang Yate's place was amazing. (Come to think of it I still haven't thanked him properly for that excellent accommodation plus digital freeview!) Met up with Yih Yeong and their housemate Yueping for dim sum at the Imperial City, ahem, China (a slightly wrong name can results in a different restaurant in busy Chinatown!) where a wedding reception was being held downstairs. After that I accompanied Chang Yate to find a thick waterproof jacket for his upcoming expedition (I wanna go too!) and then back to Chinatown for my shopping.
I returned to Cardiff with a mass of food - mooncakes (yeeeeah!), chan pei mui, glutinous rice dumpling, even a box of wantan noodles (the famous 生面王)!!!
Today I was in Cardiff Millennium Centre for a free evening concert with Deng Hui, Chetan and Eefu who was a bit tight with his budget. So the three of us went for a meal later at Zushi, a slightly classy place serving sushi on the conveyor belt - but expensive! It came up to around fifteen quid per person but I wasn't really full (and was mostly filled by the lousy yaki soba). Boo. Tenkaichi is still the best in Cardiff. Hands down, I say.
Still, the butterfish sashimi was excellent (but I read now that it can have a laxative effect on some people)...
After leaving late from work at 5.30pm, we were quickly on the road to the capital, arriving just before 8pm. However the tube took 45mins to get across London to Wood Green where I met JFK who had designs on a Greek meal for dinner. We reached the restaurant/takeaway but their entire one and a half tubs of moussaka had already been reserved by some diners so we had to settle for some grilled lamb-on-the-bone (which was not bad but I felt it was too little) and rice dumplings (again, forgot the terms).
Saturday lunch time was spent touring the Camden Town area, somewhere I had wanted to cover since I arrived in the UK. It's full of all sorts of market stalls - t-shirts, memorabilia, tattoo-parlours, food, arts and crafts... etc etc. And probably also drug-taking gays as we saw someone on the balcony looking high on magic mushrooms or something similar. The shops are very unique with their 3D art fronting them acting as an auxiliary signboard. Next time I will go there with a camera in tow...
Post-lunch I took JFK and his two friends to find a comfortable pub along Tottenham Court Road so that they could watch England vs Australia in peace but I had better plans. I headed off to the Royal Haymarket Theatre for a play. The Country Wife (1697) is a comedy written with slight R(A) tendencies. But no nudity, just some jokes which must have only been rude two hundred years ago. The performance was not bad, although I though the humour wasn't flowing as much as it should. However it only set me back by ten quid so I would have been content even if it had been worse!
I'd actually also wanted to catch the Woman in Black but did not want to overload my Saturday, since the main plan was to catch Aaron for a farewell meal. And so I did, although I managed to meet TY in the meantime. I shivered in the breezy evening putting heaps of frozen yoghurt into my mouth while she had a nice warm cup of english tea. We caught up with stuff from all over the place - will be good to continue the banter next time.
Aaron arrived with his mum (whom I'd met one and a half years ago) and we decided on Four Seasons, a sister of the famous roast duck makers in Bayswater. However I found out that it was more like a poor cousin because the layer of fat under the skin was definitely not fashionable, and the skin wasn't crispy at all. Still we had to queue for a while (but got a table ahead of others - must be giving face to Aaron). We nearly decided to hijack tongue-in-cheek someone else's position in the queue e.g. when the guy asked for "Mr. Leong, two persons?" we'd wanted to raise our hands and say "yes, and can add one more also?"
Another good catch-up session ensued, and in the end I had to battle for the right to pay the bill. But Auntie was understanding enough to see that I was adamant to foot the bill given that Aaron had done so last time she was there, and I guess it would be fitting since he had come out to entertain me. Would have been my way of putting the stamp on the farewell I guess.
Chang Yate's place was amazing. (Come to think of it I still haven't thanked him properly for that excellent accommodation plus digital freeview!) Met up with Yih Yeong and their housemate Yueping for dim sum at the Imperial City, ahem, China (a slightly wrong name can results in a different restaurant in busy Chinatown!) where a wedding reception was being held downstairs. After that I accompanied Chang Yate to find a thick waterproof jacket for his upcoming expedition (I wanna go too!) and then back to Chinatown for my shopping.
I returned to Cardiff with a mass of food - mooncakes (yeeeeah!), chan pei mui, glutinous rice dumpling, even a box of wantan noodles (the famous 生面王)!!!
Today I was in Cardiff Millennium Centre for a free evening concert with Deng Hui, Chetan and Eefu who was a bit tight with his budget. So the three of us went for a meal later at Zushi, a slightly classy place serving sushi on the conveyor belt - but expensive! It came up to around fifteen quid per person but I wasn't really full (and was mostly filled by the lousy yaki soba). Boo. Tenkaichi is still the best in Cardiff. Hands down, I say.
Still, the butterfish sashimi was excellent (but I read now that it can have a laxative effect on some people)...
posted by cheez~ at
10:57 pm
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