thekua.com@rest

I went along today to the Nordic Bakery to escape from the hustle and bustle of Regent street and it did not at all disappoint. Its interior is spacious with tall ceilings and large wooden panels lining the walls around you. Small warehouse down lights brighten up the space, bringing focus to the nine dark stained tables you sit at. Continuing on in this clean cut, Scandinavian style, only two hanging features adorn the walls, on one side, two green canvas bags also for sale, and a large rug hanging opposite it.

Their menu is simple, with a combination between some fresh foods based around cakes and sandwiches, and other items that you might think about stocking in the pantry. The focus for their food is quality food although you may be expecting larger portions for sandwiches that cost up to £4. Amongst their offerings is a serious of traditional Nordic ingredients presented atop a heavy, dark and flavoursome rye bread.

Their "fillings" include smoked salmon, gravadlax, egg and achovy, pickled herring and something more for local taste, cheese and pickle. Each sandwich is pretty satisfying as mentioned before, you may be expecting something more. My server offered me the other piece of bred to turn the open sandwich into a more proper one. My lunch, the gravadlax at £3.75, was extremely tasty and it seemed like they used high quality ingredients, with most of the sandwiches freshly made.

I tried their coffee (a latte at £2.20) with my lunch, who’s only fault was that it had far too much milk for my liking. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite cut my "Where’s the best coffee?" series of places although I would probably drink it again if I returned to this place.

I also couldn’t resist trying one of their pastry/cake desserts, trying out one of their cinnamon buns (£2). It was surprisingly heavy, and the warmth gave away that it had been freshly baked. Although not as excessively sweet as I had been expecting, it was slightly doughy and really only half would have been enough.

The Nordic Bakery is quite a treat, and unlike many of the other upmarket establishments, somehow keeps an air of serenity without feeling excessively bland or boring.

It’s strange to find a Chinese restaurant in the middle of a shopping centre, particularly one in England yet that’s exactly where you’ll find this one (actually in the O2 Centre). True to their name, this place apparently serves dim sum on the weekend, and other Cantonese and Peking dishes the rest of the time.

At first, their prices surprised me, with most main dishes being £2-£3 above many other restaurants. Part of it probably comes from the fine plates and dishes they serve it on as well as their large spacious dining room. The other part probably comes with the small little things that come out of the ordinary like the plate of coated peanuts while you peruse the menu, the small plate of char xiu while you wait and the fruit plate at the end of the night. Fortunately they still only charge 10% unlike many other places who would either use it as an excuse to bump up their service charge, or automatically add it as side dishes to the final bill.

My meal was simple, with a small bowl of wonton soup followed by prawn chow mein. The soup had three or four large meaty dumplings in a salty, flavourful broth. It was a good start to the meal although the noodle dish really disappointed. It looked impressive, with six large prawns nestled on top of a bed of crispy noodles and accompanied by brightly coloured Chinese greens. Unfortunately the crispy noodle was just too crispy and the sauce that came with it was too watery to the point it was just disappointly flavourless.

Although this restaurant sits on the pricey side of London Chinese places, I’d be tempted to return to the lobster and crab special they have right now (£14 and £10 respectively) on Monday through to Thursday evenings.