This may have been the smartest suggestion of the week: as we homesick pups are starting to miss our Asian fare, we’ve decided to head over to London’s Chinatown for some “authentic” (cough, cough) Chinese food.

Chinatown or Soho is a mere 5 minute walk from Picadilly Circus. From what Karen told me, it’s around 2 long streets that’s filled with delicious Asian fare. We shouted for glee when we spotted a Vietnamese restaurant. Ooooh, those spring rolls look delish!

Chinatown is right smack between two tube stations: Leichester and Picadilly Circus.

I was so glad to go to PC first because so many things to be seen. Right outside the tube, there’s a beautiful water fountain as above, and so many stalls selling discounted theatre tickets. Why, I even bought my own ticket to Jersey Boys this Tuesday for GBP 43 (instead of the usual GBP60+). Not bad lo…

It’s also crowded with people, which reminds me of sweet ol’ Hong Kong. I loved the fact that PC looked so much like New York’s Time Square! 🙂

Anyway, the trip was excited. Not only was it with good friends from HKUST, but we were happy to spot a large Asian grocery where we bought a — wait for it — large bottle of dark soy sauce!

For some reason, Tesco only sells teeny tiny bottles of soy sauce. That’s because the Brits don’t use soy sauce for cooking, but rather for garnishing. My landlady for example used it to garnish her chicken.

The horror: you should use Maggi Seasoning instead!!!

I was also happy to see rice also being sold but opted out because heck, I do NOT have a rice cooker. How can I cook rice without it? Any suggestions?

However, I did buy some instant noodles for emergencies (smart eh?), some bak choy (greens) and of course, Mang Thomas Lechon Sauce which is terrific for anything chicken.

Afterwards, we went and dined on Sichuan food which only cost us GBP 9 per pax — way beter than our pricier GBP 35 meal at Gordon Ramsey’s Maze. 🙂

Lastly, we stopped on M&M World in London which is three-storeys of delicious chocolate-y goodness! They even have a wall which you can pick different colored/flavored M&Ms of your choice. The color selections are mind-boggling — my fave were the deep shades of blue and purple! Eric liked the gray one. “I’ve never seen silver M&Ms” he said.

Good trip: this is what life is about, and for a moment, I forgot my troubles.

A big shoutout to my mom, whose birthday is today. I love you mommy!