Review: Crosstown Doughnuts

Here's another review I've been sitting on for a while, as I first went to Crosstown Doughnuts in April this year. I really must start putting pen to paper more frequently (or rather finger to keypad).

I first tried Crosstown doughnuts at their little coffee and doughnut nook in Piccadilly Station, which was a pop up store. I love doughnuts (obviously, who doesn't?) and was intrigued to hear about these unusual sourdough ones, so I swung by to try a couple. Since then they've opened a doughnut and coffee bar on Broadwick Street, Soho, and are about to open another location in Spitalfields market. As well as their own cafes, they also appear at various markets in London (such as Leather Lane) and are stocked in some shops too (I recently noticed them at Whole Foods Kensington). 

The difference with Crosstown doughhnuts, as I've mentioned, is that their dough is partly made with sourdough. This not only makes for a more substantial texture than your average doughnut (it feels more like eating a soft bread than a doughnut), it also makes them noticeably less greasy. Apparently this is because the closer crumb means less oil is absorbed in the deep fat frying process. I suppose that makes it ok to eat more than one then!

Crosstown have an interesting selection of doughnut flavours: some that you'd expect, and others that are more adventurous. Most recently I tried their Raspberry Jam doughnut. I hadn't tried it before as it's pretty vanilla as far as doughnut flavours go, but I was really surprised at how good it was. You can tell that the jam is homemade - it has a really nice, thick texture, with lots of fruit: far from the nondescript, sweet, red sauce that usually fills doughnuts. The jam was also reasonably tart which I liked - that worked well with the sweetness of the doughnut and stopped it from being sickly.

The jam could barely contain itself. Neither could I.

Other flavours I've tried include Sea Salt Caramel & Banana Cream. Now, I love both of those flavours separately but I was extremely sceptical about putting the two together. Turns out that they are in fact a match made in heaven. The doughnut itself is chocolate flavour, and it's filled with a smooth banana cream, and topped with the salted caramel, as well as some crunchy chocolate 'soil' - well, why not? It is very sweet though - make sure to have a coffee or glass of milk on standby when trying this one.

I've also tried the Lamnut, so called because it's inspired by the Australian Lamington cake (a chocolate and coconut sponge). It had a great flavour, but the cake doughnut was a bit dry for me. I suppose this is when that little bit of extra fat picked up in the cooking process would have helped. A thin layer of raspberry jam across the middle of the doughnut nicely lifts the particularly dense texture of this one.

So many flavours!

There are lots of flavours left for me to try... the Peanut Butter & Berry one is definitely calling my name. You can see the full list of flavours here.

As well as doughnuts, Crosstown Soho also serves coffee, with London-based roasting company Assembly providing the beans. They also sell Sandow's cold brew coffee.

If you have a sweet tooth, I'm sure you'll enjoy trying Crosstown's wares! And if you really, really like them, make sure you pick up one of their loyalty cards so you can get your seventh doughnut free.

What's your favourite type of doughnut?

What I Ate Wednesday: smoothies, slow cookers & spices

I love reading other bloggers' What I Ate Wednesday posts, mainly because I'm nosey about other people's habits and enjoy seeing the sort of thing people cook and eat on a day to day basis. So this week I'm writing a WIAW post myself, to give something back to all the other nosey foodies out there!

Today started with a session at my Crossfit box, so I had a pre-workout smoothie before heading out the door. I only started hitting the gym in the morning fairly recently, as I used to go after work. But I quickly realised that I was good for nothing if I hadn't had a little something to eat beforehand. I can run quite happily first thing without eating, but I definitely can't do a high intensity work out without some fuel in the engine! So this morning I had my usual banana, cashew nut butter and almond milk smoothie before a session of push jerks and pull ups. I regularly use Meridian nut butters in my pre-workout shakes, as a healthy fat like nut butter (Meridian use no palm oil and no added sugar) is a great way to get some serious energy, fast! 

After I'd scraped myself off the gym floor and made it back to my flat for a shower, I had breakfast. I definitely wanted some protein as I'd worked out, so I decided to have scrambled eggs on buttered toast. I also had some romaine lettuce with grapes - not a combination I've eaten before but they were both in my fridge, so I thought why not? I always try to have at least one portion of fruit or veg with my breakfast. It turns out that sweet grapes are actually pretty tasty with salad. To drink I had my favourite tea of the moment, redbush tea with a splash of almond milk. I always use Alpro unsweetened almond milk as it has really mild, creamy flavour, is low calorie and has no added sugar, so you don't have to worry about splashing it generously in smoothies, teas etc. As I also need a caffeine hit to get me going in the morning, I had a black coffee too.

Redbush tea with almond milk

Scrambled eggs, toast, salad, grapes

My mid-morning snack was another cup of redbush tea with a Trek berry burst bar. I got this in my Wholefoods goody bag at the end of Richmond Half Marathon last week. It tasted pretty good for a protein bar, but I prefer the Trek protein flapjacks, as the crumbly texture really does it for me.

Trek Berry Burst Protein Bar

For lunch I had a bowl of minestrone soup that I'd made in my slow cooker on Sunday. I'd had a leftover parmesan rind, and some bacon lardons, so minestrone seemed like the perfect way to use both of those things up easily by adding a few inexpensive ingredients, many of which I already had in my fridge or store cupboard (carrot, onion, celery, tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, spaghetti). I'm not usually a huge fan of soup but I think I'm going to be eating it more often going forwards, as I've just started a new job where I sometimes don't get home until after 9pm in the evening. At that time I definitely don't want a heavy meal and so a soup that I can simply re-heat fits the bill perfectly.

Slow-cooked Minestrone Soup

I was in Richmond this afternoon, and just couldn't help myself when I walked past the Hummingbird Bakery. So yeah, this happened:

Red velvet brownie

For tonight's dinner, I had a turkey steak which I seasoned with this amazing American BBQ seasoning by Steenbergs Organic. They're a Yorkshire, family-run company that make some really interesting spice blends using organic and fair trade spices. I had romaine lettuce and mange tout for veg. I also made a quick chipotle mayo for the steak by mixing mayonnaise with some of Cool Chile Co's chipotle ketchup - I love that stuff! Give it a go if you love chipotle!

Turkey, veg and chipotle mayo

Looking back on it, I ate quite a lot today! What did you eat? Did you have any smoothies, slow-cooked foods or spices today?

Richmond Half Marathon // Jackson + Rye

I like to think that training and eating go hand in hand. Which is just as well really, as they are the two things that I enjoy doing most. When I've got a race scheduled, my race-day prep not only includes running through a mental checklist of essentials (race number, face wipes, safety pins) but also involves taking into consideration post-race refueling (aka stuffing your face). Running a race is generally a pretty good way to justify having a slap up meal. Last Sunday, I ran Richmond Half Marathon and then headed to Jackson + Rye for a meal.

I arrived at Old Deer Park at around 8.15am to run the Salomon Citytrail Richmond Half Marathon. The race was much bigger than I expected, with hundreds of people already milling around the event village when I got there, and queuing for the substantial number of portaloos (one of the most important utilities at any race, as fellow runners will appreciate). I watched the 10k race set off at 8.30am, which was quite a small field. Then I went to drop my bag off (the bag drop was self-service so no queuing necessary - thumbs up!), after which I lined up for the half marathon, which was setting off in waves from 9am. I followed the 2 hour pacer into their pen as I was planning on taking it fairly easy. Then I noticed that the pacer went over to another pen and that the 1.50 pacer had appeared ahead of me. I knew I wouldn't be going at that pace but I couldn't be bothered to change pens at the last minute, so stayed put!

It was pretty chilly to start, but the sun decided to come out just as we headed across the starting line. After a quick loop around Old Deer Park we were off onto the streets of Richmond and followed a course that took us along mixed terrain including pavements, tow paths, and across fields, in a loop that passed Kew Gardens, Richmond bridge, Teddington lock and Ham. It's a lovely, scenic and flat route, parts of which will be familiar to those who have run races such as the Towpath 10, Cabbage Patch 10 and Richmond Running Festival. About 6.5 miles in, I saw the lead runner racing back, covering the last couple of miles to the finish. When I reached that point myself later on, I saw a girl running in the opposite direction, just about to reach the half way point. I felt fer her - she must have been the last person in the race. I hope she made it in the end!

Course map

About 2 hours and 7 minutes after crossing the start line, I made it to the finish. Finishers were awarded with a load of goodies - I could barely carry it all! The medal was pretty cool, the goody bag, sponsored by Whole Foods, was top notch, and we also got a finisher's t-shirt and a number of drinks to quench our thirst (water, Vita Coco and juice). 

Once I'd collected my bag, I walked (rather gingerly) towards Richmond town centre where I was meeting my parents, who were in London for the weekend. We had a booking at Jackson + Rye for lunch and, having run past it earlier, I knew exactly where it was: in a lovely spot right on the waterfront.

Jackson + Rye has an American diner-style menu with a Southern twist, and cool New York style interior decor to boot. When choosing this restaurant, I'd initially made my decision based on the brunch offerings on the menu, including American style pancakes and a number of appealing egg dishes. However, once I'd sat down and realised I quite fancied a post-race beer, the lunch options began to look more attractive. I ended up ordering crab cakes with radish slaw & chipotle mayo with a side of what was probably the most Southern-sounding dish on the menu, creamed corn grits & parmesan. And a Brooklyn lager to drink.

Will run for beer.

I really enjoyed the food - it was wholesome but had enough of a twist to ensure it steered clear of boring. The chipotle mayo really brought the crab cakes to life, and the radish slaw had a pleasantly surprising pickled tang to it. I loved the texture of the grits, they were beautifully creamy, with a handful of sweetcorn kernels thrown in for a textural contrast and extra sweetness. However, I couldn't really taste the parmesan and the grits were quite bland in flavour. I think with some extra seasoning and a generous sprinkling of parmesan these would have been divine.

Crab cakes & creamed corn grits

As it was a beautiful, sunny day, we decided to go for a wander on the hunt for dessert rather than stay in the restaurant (even though the dessert options looked tempting - peanut butter cookies with grape jelly, yum!). We went to the well-established Italian ice cream shop, Gelateria Danieli which is now in its tenth year. The ice cream is the great traditional Italian style you know and love - rich and creamy - but they also have some rather unusual and innovative flavours, including walnut & maple syrup, strawberry cheesecake and banana & salted peanut. I decided to go for one relatively traditional flavour (tiramisu) and one more unusual one (bakewell tart).

Beautifully thick, creamy ice cream!

The bakewell tart flavour was sensational - the perfect balance of sweet marzipan and tart cherries. I think the tiramisu flavour suffered next to these big flavours, as it tasted fairly bland in comparison. It probably would have been delicious on its own but it couldn't stand up to its bold partner. I should have chosen a more compatible pair of flavours! The prices here are incredibly reasonable given the location and the quality of the ice cream: 2 scoops cost £3.50. Gelatria Danieli also have a shop on Shaftesbury Avenue, and one in Kingston. Go and give them a try on a sunny day!

Having savoured the last bite of my ice cream, I realised that I was probably no longer in a calorie deficit and so called it a day.

What's your favourite post-race or post-workout indulgence?

Kingston's Riverside Edge // The Cereal Bar

The medieval market town of Kingston-upon-Thames has been experiencing a bit of a Renaissance in terms of restaurant options. First there was Five Guys. Then we got a Bill's (love that place!). Now we even have a Cereal Bar. I can only attribute this incredible upturn in the fortune of the town to my very own presence and influence, having started working here at the end of 2013. After all, Peckham experienced a similar explosion in new eateries when I worked there in 2012/13. I seem to be a harbinger of culinary gentrification *ahem*

Kingston's Riverside Walk has become quite the dining destination since its redevelopment, with some big names popping up along the waterfront including Cote Brasserie, Comptoir Libanais, Busaba Eathai and Cau. At the end of the walk, on the corner of Kingston bridge, there's a new concept called Riverside Edge, which describes itself as 'five new pocket kitchens' (how trendy!). As far as I'm aware the vendors have been the same since it opened, so as yet these pop-ups have popped up and stayed up, but perhaps we'll see some different restaurants in the future. Currently the eateries are Lorenzo's Pizza, champagne and macaroon bar Folie Macaron, mediterrenean fare from Cloud Kitchen, coffee from Local Hero and burgers by Le Bun. I feel like I've sampled hundreds of burgers in London over the last couple of years. But I'm still unable to turn the offer of one down. So fellow burger connoisseur Hannah (of Bow Dream Nation) and I decided to check out Le Bun, to celebrate/commiserate my last couple of weeks of working in Kingston.

Stomachs rumbling, we approached the kitchens. I noticed that the lights seemed rather dim inside... and then we got to the door and read the sign explaining that they were closed due to technical difficulties. The dismay! I was particularly annoyed as Hannah and I had been exchanging tweets with Le Bun, explaining that we would be visiting their Kingston branch on Wednesday - so it would have been nice if they could have given us a heads up earlier that day, letting us know they had been forced to close. But they hadn't. Oh well. Luckily Byron, located just down the river, could satisfy our burger cravings, and as ever, it didn't disappoint.

Happily, The Cereal Bar, which we had planned to visit for dessert, was open, and two very eager bar staff welcomed us in immediately. The bar staff looked like cartoon characters, talked like children's TV presenters, and acted a bit like kids who have had one too many bowls of sugary cereal. Maybe they had. But hey, if you're going to open a themed bar you may as well go all out.

Of course this venue follows in the footsteps of the similarly themed Cereal Killer Cafe which opened in Shoreditch recently, and got a fair bit of stick when it did. I'm not entirely sure why as it's just a bit of fun guys, lighten up! East London has been the subject of gentrification for some years now, and new businesses like this (that admittedly won't be to everyone's tastes) are products of gentrification rather than the root causes of it. If you want to blame someone, I suggest turning your attention to the successive governments who have failed to build sufficient affordable housing. I'm going to end my gentrification rant there before I write War and Peace (and property markets).

Cereal aficionados come in all sorts of guises, shapes and sizes, and not all of them live or work in East London, so I'm sure The Cereal Bar in Kingston will attract a certain clientele. It seems to attract the breakfast/commuter crowd in the morning, school kids in the afternoon, and students at night, remaining pretty busy all day (I walk past it every day on my way to and from work). We arrived during a quiet period, and had the place to ourselves for a bit as we pored over the extensive menu and stood mesmerized in front of the wall of cereal boxes. I felt very much like a kid in a sweet shop.

So. Much. Cereal.

The menu was a little bit too busy to be honest - this place does everything from milkshakes to crisp sandwiches and pop tarts. I just focused on the cereal. There were so many varieties that caught my eye... from Reese's Puffs to Cap'n Crunch and Cinnabon.... so eventually I decided to have the decision taken out of my hands by opting for one of the suggested mixes on the menu. I went for a peanut butter and chocolate one (obviously!) that consisted of Reese's Puffs, Hershey's Cookies and Cream cereal, with toppings of chocolate chips and a Reese's cup, and served with hazelnut milk. I asked them to substitute this for almond milk as that's my favourite milk. I was really impressed that they had such a range of dairy free milks actually (they also had soy and coconut). The milk was thoughtfully served in a separate container so that you could splash or drench the bowl to your desired consistency.

The result of this cereal cocktail was the sort of breakfast you always wanted as a kid but would never have been allowed. Rightly so because I quickly reached a dizzying sugar high and began to doubt that I would ever be able to get to sleep that night.

Chocolate and peanut butter cereal 'cocktail' with a side of almond milk.

This place is fun, not overly expensive (given how much you'd be charged for a whole box of one of these imported cereals in a specialist store), and I think makes cereal exactly what it should be: something that's a treat and a bit of a laugh, but not a kid's breakfast (of course kids will be attracted to the bar, but it seems more aimed at creating an environment of nostalgia for adults). Sadly, the producers (Kelloggs, Nestle et al) of these brightly coloured boxes of cereal with cartoon characters on them, directly target children. You don't even need to look at the nutritional information on the boxes to know they can't be good for you: a couple of bites are sufficient to make you wonder how on earth any government's nutritional advisory committee or advertising standards regulator could allow these to be marketed as an acceptable breakfast for children. You can only assume it's because governments are afraid to stand up to these big brands. I'm not for a ban on junk food - I think adults, who are responsible for their own actions and can make their own decisions - should have the opportunity to eat whatever they like. But of course, the rules are different when it comes to children.

On that note, responsible adults will experience an enjoyable sugar-spiked trip down memory lane in this new Kingston cafe.

The Cereal Bar
66 Fife Road
Kingston upon Thames
KT1 1SP

Sugar Swaps // Carrot Cake Pancakes

This year Change 4 Life, a public health campaign by the NHS, are running Sugar Swaps again, encouraging people to reduce their daily sugar intake by giving them the knowledge and tools to enable them to do so. Over the last few years, sugar has loomed large on the agenda in terms of public health, with the high sugar content of modern diets playing a critical part in the explosion of obesity and type 2 diabetes in populations. This month the World Health Organization (WHO) has published new guidelines advising an even lower sugar intake - now the official line is that sugar should ideally comprise no more than 5% of your caloric intake (that's roughly 6 teaspoons a day). 

So Sugar Swaps is a very timely campaign, and I signed up a few weeks ago. I generally eat a balanced diet, but unfortunately I do have a real sweet tooth which I find difficult to ignore at times! I thought getting some advice on finding satisfying substitutes for cake and chocolate could only be helpful.

Once you sign up, you get a pack in the post to help you on your way. It's aimed at families so there's some kid-friendly stuff in there like stickers and flashcards, but also some useful bits for the grown ups too, like a notepad for your shopping list, a booklet with recipes, and some money off vouchers for low sugar and sugar free items. The flashcards in the pack highlight how much sugar can be in the foods you eat, and how easily the amount of sugar you consume adds up over the course of a day. For example, a box of sweet cereal has, on average, an eye-watering 34 sugar cubes in it! 

Sugar Swaps pack

In terms of suggestions for getting my own sweet tooth under control, Sugar Swaps recommends swapping puddings for fresh or tinned fruit or fruit salad, sugar free jelly and low sugar yoghurt. Although I am a big fan of Total Greek with fruit, sometimes you just need something a bit more substantial to stave off the sweet cravings. Luckily the booklet also features recipes for some more filling lower-sugar puddings, breakfasts and snacks you can make yourself.

Although I think the campaign is a great way to motivate people to transition to a lower sugar diet, I think one of the main reasons for the high levels of sugar consumption in the Western diet is actually the prevalence of 'hidden' sugar in foods. It's fairly obvious that ice cream and muffins are high in sugar, but not everyone realises that even savoury items, everything from your chicken sandwich to your microwave ready meal potentially has had sugar added to it. This includes products that are marketed as 'healthy' or 'low fat': they may even use fancy sounding words like 'raw cane sugar' to make it sound healthier, when in reality it's still just another form of added sugar. The only way to eliminate excessive sugar from your diet is to read labels very carefully, avoid processed foods, and cook from scratch as often as you can.

Speaking of cooking from scratch, I had to give one of the recipes in the booklet a go. One that caught my eye straight away was Lorraine Pascale's Carrot Cake Cinnamon Pancakes, which sounded like a winner to me. I made these for breakfast but you could happily make them for dessert too. I amended the recipe slightly as I didn't add protein powder (I hadn't trained that morning and so didn't need the extra protein, plus the eggs and greek yoghurt contain protein anyway) or the honey (as I knew I'd add sweet toppings).

These were really easy to make and turned out very much like American style pancakes, which surprised me as there's no flour or baking powder in them. I think part of the reason for this is because I made the batter by throwing all the ingredients in my Nutribullet, which must have beat more air into it than a regular blender, making the pancakes really light and fluffy. The batter can easily make four large pancakes. I made one large one to eat straight away, and then four smaller ones to put in the fridge/freezer and have later. I ate mine topped with a banana and maple syrup (sssh don't tell the sugar police!). I think next time I'll throw some raisins into the batter after blending it, to make the pancakes even more carrot cake-y.

Carrot Cake Pancake with banana & maple syrup

What healthy alternatives do you reach for when you have a craving for something sweet?

Foods of the World: Japan

I've been so lucky to have had the opportunity to go to Japan twice in the last couple of years. I've been fascinated by the culture for a long time, and knew before I went that I really liked the food, but of course, the Japanese food I'd tried in London (even though there are some great Japanese restaurants here) didn't compare to the real thing. In Japan I was pretty adventurous and expanded on my previously rather limited knowledge of Japanese food. I was really surprised by the breadth of dishes on offer. From shabu shabu to yakitori, from chankonabe to gyoza, I soon realised how varied the cuisine was, and that I could quite possibly eat Japanese food every day for the rest of my life and never get bored. There were so many culinary highlights during my time in Japan, but I'll outline just a few below.

Fresh Seafood

One of the things that I enjoyed most about Japanese food was how incredibly fresh everything tasted. The seafood is some of the best I've ever eaten, and fresh fish is highly prized in Japanese culture: perhaps unsurprisingly given that the country is an archipelago comprised of more than 6,000 islands. I visited Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, and Otaru fish market in Hokkaido, where I saw an incredible array of fresh and live seafood. With both markets full of restaurants serving the markets' offerings, you could try it with hardly any time wasted in the journey from sea to plate.

My favourite seafood dish was definitely the seafood bowl I had at Otaru fish market. With a base of sticky rice, you could then choose a topping of whatever seafood you wanted. I chose crab, salmon roe and salmon. The flavour of the bowl somehow managed to completely encapsulate the sea, and it was a bit of a revelation to me. This should have been pretty similar to sushi as the components are essentially the same, but I think the proportion of seafood to rice took it to another level: I mean, just look at the amount of seafood in that bowl! Plus, being able to mix different types of seafood in the same mouthful was divine.

Seafood bowl at Otaru fish market

For me, the delicate sweetness of fresh seafood is really best enjoyed raw - and this, of course, is something you can eat in copious amounts in Japan with their incredible sushi and sashimi, which I also ate plenty of!

A selection of sushi at Hanayoshi restaurant, Niseko

Sweets

Boy, do the Japanese love their sweets! Be it Royce Chocolate, daifuku, or delicate langue de chat biscuits, there is a veritable feast available to the sweet-toothed traveler in Japan.

Although it would be impossible for me to dislike chocolate, the Japanese chocolate certainly doesn't come close to its European counterparts, like those of Swiss chocolatiers in my opinion. The Japanese sweets that really stood out for me, however, were the dairy-based desserts. I spent most of my time in Hokkaido, which is well-known for the delicious milk produced by its cows! I sampled a number of milk desserts, including ice cream, milk pudding, cream puffs and cheesecake.

Clockwise from top: Milk pudding from Takahashi Ranch Milk Kobo, Niseko; milk flavour ice cream from Yamanaka Dairy Farm; a selection of cheescakes from LeTAO cafe in Otaru.

Their dairy desserts make the milk the star - they're not overly-flavoured with other ingredients or sickly sweet, so you can taste the milk really well. It's weird that I like these so much because I don't actually like milk a great deal in the UK (I always buy almond milk instead), but this milk tastes really good, so fresh, and I imagine it is much higher quality than the milk you buy down your local corner shop in the UK. I particularly loved the LeTAO Double Fromage cheesecake (the bottom left piece on the above plate), which somehow manages to have quite a subtle flavour whilst still being incredibly rich, and the two layers made for a lovely contrast of textures. They sold these at New Chitose airport, and I was really tempted to buy a whole cake to take on the plane back. Maybe next time!

I also really love the Japanese melon jellies, and these are something I do always bring back with me. They're bite-sized jellies with a really strong melon flavour, that you suck out of their plastic tubs in a more or less inelegant manner. The Japanese Yubari King melons after which they are flavoured are really expensive - the one pictured below was selling for 2680 Yen, the equivalent of about £15!

Yubari King melons at Otaru market

Ramen

More or less everything in Japan comes with either rice or noodles, so if you don't like either, you may have a bit of a problem! Luckily I happily devour both. Although ramen was originally an import from China, this noodle soup is now considered to be a quintessentially Japanese dish.

I realise I have been talking about Hokkaido specialities a lot (I really need to go back and try cuisines of different provinces/islands!), but when given the choice, I would always go for a ramen served with a dollop of Hokkaido butter and corn. The butter gives the broth such a rich and creamy taste, and I love how the sweetness of the corn cuts through the savouriness of the miso broth. My all-time favourite ramen is undoubtedly the snow crab and corn version I had at The Lookout Cafe. It was exactly what I needed on my last day of skiing. This despite the fact that I'd probably consumed more crab than most people do in a lifetime over the course of my last trip. There's no such thing as too much crab!

Ramen with snow crab, Hokkaido butter and sweetcorn

Final Thoughts

I love the variety of Japanese dishes, how fresh and good quality the produce is, and how beautifully the dishes are presented. However, Japanese cuisine is a little low on vegetables for me! They do have some incredible salads (with beautiful miso dressings), delicate pickles and vegetable tempura, but when it comes to main dishes, almost everything is comprised of fish or meat with rice or noodles, which doesn't leave much space on the plate for your five a day. Also, as most dishes have added soy sauce, I think my daily consumption of sodium was quite high when I was there. However, I'm sure Japanese people don't eat at home exactly what I was eating in restaurants: if I ate out in London every day for two weeks I'd probably be complaining about the lack of vegetables and high salt content of the foods too. And as Japanese men and women live longer than any other population on earth, I can only come to the conclusion that they must be doing something right when it comes to their food.

You can follow Foods for Thought on Bloglovin'.