Uncle Lim's Kitchen

Oh look, an Asian restaurant whose name has nothing to do with the oriental nickname of table tennis, a bloody dragon, golden-something, and doesn't claim to be some royal moon legend king of Sichuan and dumpling village.

Me? A problem with unoriginal, stereotypical Chinese restaurant names? No...

I was, however, comforted by the fact that this Malaysian eating place had a name close to home: Uncle Lim's. In Southeast Asia, most particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, middle-aged to elderly men can be addressed as 'uncle', even if they are not a sibling of your parent. You can approach a 60-something year old man for $1 ice cream and greet him as 'uncle'.

When you go into a place with a name like 'Golden Dragon', you expect food which tastes unauthentic and mediocre, just like its unoriginal name. (Having said that, I've never eaten at Golden Dragon, so I can't judge just yet, but I'm already turned off anyway.) When you go to a Malaysian canteen-style eating place called 'Uncle Lim's', you are like, hey, I feel like I know this Uncle Lim guy already, and I'm going to see a balding, aproned Chinese man take my order with a smile and a familiar slang.

Maybe my expectations were a little high, as I had my order taken by one of two caucasian ladies who were standing behind the steaming trays of various meat and vegetable dishes, which were choices for meal deals which come with steamed rice or noodles.

I shared a plate of Hainanese Chicken Rice (£5) with a friend, as the portions are said to be huge, and they were indeed. The dish was served with steamed chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, and  fragrant rice cooked with chicken broth. For chicken rice so far from home, they really have managed to get the correct taste of both the rice and the tender chicken, plus the black sauce drizzled on top. Five more gold stars for the extra large portion as well. The only thing I was sceptical about was the fact that the skin on the chicken was yellow – quite a scary yellow. However, I did some research, and it appears that yellow-skinned chicken is corn-fed, and therefore extra tasty.

I'm definitely going to return to Uncle Lim's one day, to try their famed Char Kway Teow, (stir-fried, flat and broad rice noodles) and the mixed rice/noodle dishes. It is a good fix for a hometown-food-craving, with great value and a decent variety.

Uncle Lim's Kitchen (Croydon)
The Whitgift Centre (top floor)
Wellesley Rd
Surrey
Greater London
CR0 1UZ
020 8688 6378

Afters Ice Cream Parlour

I went to Croydon about a week ago to meet up with some friends. And by friends I mean fellow human beings, not just that ice cream shop I've always wanted to go to.

Afters Original Ice Cream Parlour has branches in Walthamstow, Leyton, Ilford, Green Street, Tooting and Croydon, and their menu boasts ice cream, milkshakes, cakes, waffles, juice, and is apparently the only ice cream franchise in London to utilize a cold stone to prepare ice cream.

When you first get through the tinted glass doors at the Croydon branch, you are hit with a blast of pink coming from all surfaces of the parlour. It was about 3 in the afternoon on a Sunday, and the place was almost empty, but several young families came in for sundaes towards the evening time.

The menu was a bit of a shocker for scrimping students like me, as sundaes each cost roughly £7, and my "waffle served with a sauce and one scoop of your choice" was £4.45. The dessert came occupying only half the plate, making the portion look smaller. My waffle was drizzled with maple syrup, and I chose a scoop of Kinder Bueno-flavoured ice cream to go with it.

The waffle was fragrant and yummy, especially with the maple syrup, but it could have been warmer. The ice cream had a nice, freshly-scooped-from-the-tub, creamy texture, but I would have liked the hazelnut flavour to have been more present throughout, and not only when I managed to bite on a piece of the crushed bar. When I didn't, all I got was a dairy, milky taste.

The waffle wasn't enough, and I contemplated between the array of tempting cakes and other ice cream flavours, before deciding to get a scoop of Ferrero Rocher-flavoured ice cream. Yes, I just got dessert for my dessert. Don't look at me like that.

It was better than the Kinder Bueno scoop in terms of consistent taste, and I really got the hazelnut taste all around.

Afters is a great place to go to when London finally decides to stop raining on us. The retro jukebox and pink booths make for a nice place to chill out over cakes, milkshakes, ice cream, waffles, juice – whatever you need when you have a guilty dessert craving and a Sunday afternoon to spare.


Afters Original Ice Cream Parlour
58 South End
South Croydon
Surrey
CR0 1DP
Tel: 0207 998 1643