fuzzy nibbles

Homemade Oreo Cheesecake Cookies - My Kitchen, London.

Piggy Meringues - Au Pied de Cochon, Paris, France.

Just realised that all of my favourite foods can (and should) be eaten with chopsticks.

Albacore, Salmon and Yellowtail - Sugarfish by Sushi Nozawa, Downtown Los Angeles, California.

Part of the "Trust Me" set menu. Hands down one of the best sushi spots in Southern California. I love the simple menu and the quality of their fish is unbeatable and therefore good value for money in my opinion. 

LA is not lacking in amazing sushi spots, but Nozawa is one of the very best at his craft. 

Dim Sum and then some - Seafood Paradise, Westminster, California.

My favourite meal on a Sunday has to be dim sum.  Going out for it is a tradition that has been running in my family since I was born. The location has changed over the years, but this is definitely one of my favourite spots when I'm back in Cali. 

Their har gau (my favourite) is one of the best and you can really judge a dim sum restaurant by the basics - har gau, shumai, char siu bao and also their (free) tea. 

This place is ridiculously busy, loud, crowded and with exactly the right type of fiery and pushy non-English speaking Chinese women shoving carts of steamed and fried delicacies against your table almost forcing you to overeat and leave looking like the Buddha statue that's by the slightly dirty fish tank full of lobsters.

Spicy beef ramen with handmade noodles and fried pork dumplings - Some hole in the wall - South Street, Cerritos, California.

I've been going to this place since I was a kid, usually on Sundays after church as an alternative to the usual dim sum with my family. I recently went here again with my dad, after almost a decade (from what I can remember) and it's still one of the best bowls of spicy beef ramen that I've ever had.

You can see the man in the back pulling on the handmade noodles which makes it feel special, even in a tiny, somewhat dirty hole in the wall joint where none of the servers (or customers) speak English.

Xiao Long Bao - Din Tai Fung, Arcadia, California 

My all time favourite place for xiao long bao aka juicy pork dumplings that when bit ooze out a tasty mouthful of soup. 

Ham, mushroom, chantilly cream crepe topped with a perfectly runny egg - Creperie Saint Sauveur, Auray, France.

Shackburger + Cheese Fries + Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie Concrete + Fifty/Fifty - Shake Shack, London.

London is obsessed with burgers which is fine by me. When I first arrived in 2005, Lucky Seven, Electric Brasserie and GBK were really the only decent burger spots in the capital in my opinion. Now Shake Shack has set up shop in London around the corner from Five Guys around the corner from Meat Liquor/Market around the corner from Honest Burger, Patty & Bun, Tommi's, Burger & Lobster and countless Byron's galore etc etc etc.

I'm no longer starved for choice. Literally.