Disney's The Lion King

The Lion King show brought us to London, and London is where you can find good food!

Disney presents The Lion King

 Day 1-

After a 3 hours long coach journey from Cardiff to London, we were absolutely starving. Hence we 'rushed' to London's Chinatown in Leicester Square in search of food.  Because I was too hungry, I did not take any photos of the food in that restaurant. My point for this is that we had lunch at 14:30 and set off to our pre-booked dinner at 16:30!!

Belgo Central, Covent Garden - One of the few Belgo restaurant branches in London. Self acclaimed best Belgian restaurant! Indeed, it deserves to be called that!

Apple Beer

Mussels in Mariniere sauce

Pawel Kwak Beer - paired with pork belly

Roast duck breast

Slow cooked shank of lamb

Bouchee of wild mushrooms

Pork Belly cooked in Brugs beer

Vanilla Creme Brulee with Tuile Biscuit

As a starter, we all shared a pot of fresh Marineire mussels (house special) where the mussels were steamed with cream, white wine, garlic, celery and onion. Verdict - absolutely 10/10 for seafood lovers! I could have asked for a plate of linguine or some nice italian bread to dip into the sauce.

For main course, I had the slow cooked shank of lamb 'served with roasted winter vegetables, creamed mash and a DeKoninck beer and balsamic juice. The lamb was roasted till very tender that the meat just falls off the bone is you cut into it. The meat has fully absorbed the aromatic sauce made with beer and balsamic juice. It was so good that I finished the dish even after having lunch about 2 hours ago!

The roast duck breast was 'served with light spring onion mash and plum beer jus'. The duck was cooked to a perfect pink and ooze with sweet and aromatic plum flavour. The meat was soft as it was cooked to the right colour (as we often find over-cooked duck meat very hard and tasteless).

The autumn special - Pork belly cooked in Brugs beer 'with spinach and butternut squash served with Rodenbach Grand Cru cream sauce. Paired with Pawel Kwak Beer. The Rodenbach Grand Cru cream is a 'rich winey beer' brewed in a brewery noted for its production of barrel-aged sour beer in Flemish tradition. The pork belly meat was juicy and tender as this part of the pork is made of layers of fat and meat. While the top part of the meat -skin, was fried into crispy crackling. The different textures of each layer of the meat give different dimensions of taste which creates an excellent dish complimented by the Belgium style sauce.

Bouchee of wild mushrooms 'cooked in orval beer and tarragon cream sauce with asparagus and button onions. A good choice if you would like a vegetarian dish. The wild mushrooms were cooked in nicely baked pastry, served in a rich sauce.

Day 2 - Lunch at Leong's Legends, Taiwanese restaurant in Leicester Square.

Warm Soya Bean milk

Sticky rice with shredded pork

Braised pork belly with rice

Taiwanese 'mini kebab' with pork

'3 cup chicken'

Shanghai Buns

When they say pictures say a thousand words, it works for these photos of food we had in the Taiwanese restaurant.

To start the day with a nice warm  bowl of soya bean milk just warms your stomach ready for the day!

The braised pork belly was delicious, even though not as nice as the ones I had in Taipei, Taiwan, last month, but still one of the best I tried in UK so far. Again, the layers of fat and lean meat blends well with the sauce, and served with rice. A very appetising dish indeed! If it weren't that nice I wouldn't normally think of eating that layer of fat pork skin. NB one should not have this dish too often as it is not so good for the diet and blood vessels!

The 'Taiwanese mini kebab with pork' is actually made of braised pork, slices of vinegar pickled vegetable and crushed peanuts, wrapped in bun. It's quite a unique dish with slight sour taste from the pickled vegetable and crunchiness from the peanuts.

The '3 cup' chicken is stir fried chicken cooked with rice wine, soya sauce and sesame oil then shimmered in clay pot. This dish is full of spice and is best served with rice.

Last but not least, the Shanghai Bun, is one of many famous Shanghai delicacies. It is made flour dough stuffed with minced pork, and as you bite into it, soup flows out of the bun into your mouth. Dipping the little buns into black vinegar with shredded ginger is a must to accentuate the bag of flavours in the bun!