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flesh & buns, covent garden.


this is somewhere that almost became my favourite restaurant before i'd even been. you know that feeling? where you just know as soon as you get there that you're going to want the whole menu? i'm absolutely enamored by japanese and chinese inspired cuisine, so as soon as i saw these steamed buns all over instagram i instantly knew i needed to try them. i realise these have probably been all over the place in the big smoke but coming from a little leicestershire town it's a real treat for me. 

i was down in london this week, luckily a couple of days before my birthday, and so it was the perfect excuse for grace and i to go wild on salmon, soya beans and steamed buns at flesh & buns ! 



a cosy, fairy light lit, autumn walk through covent garden and we were there in a couple of minutes. the evening began with an early birthday present and sake on ice. mine was yuzu as since trying out yuzu sake at hyper japan i've always wanted to track it down again as part of a meal. in my opinion, the yuzi fruit has a fresh, grapefruit-come-lemon taste which makes my sweet tooth very happy. grace had a plum wine which was fragrant and lightly sparkling.


to start, we shared edamame beans, salmon kimchi rolls and spicy calamari.


my favourite here was easily the salmon maki. beautifully presented and oozing flavour; i would hazard a guess there was lemon in there somewhere too which i've never had before but unsurprisingly worked well with the fish. i always have to remind myself to savour sushi rolls as i could quite happily munch one after the other. the calamari was quite spicy for me but light and tasty in small doses. i think this could have done with a mayo style sauce - is that really midlands of me?

the flesh and buns part works exactly how it sounds. you choose your flesh, you choose your buns. i went for crispy piglet whilst grace chose lemon sole.


wow. the pork was fall-apart stunning with a perfect crisp. just how it should be. it came with a mustard miso and clever little apple slices - a winning combination in any cuisine. the lemon sole was really well battered and the dip is came with is exactly what would have gone well with the squid. we ordered two buns each and actually had too much meat. however, i just ended up eating the pork on its own as i think i'd have been far too full eating it all in a bun. they are surprisingly filling! i was content and full :)

then, in a moment of madness. grace suggested dessert. "oh okay then.. let's share the smores..."

and, oh my, did we have a (fantastic) shock? cue an actual flame to the table...


so the idea is, you toast your own marshmallow, sandwich it together with a slither of green tea chocolate and then die with happiness and go to smore heaven. i can't believe we nearly missed out on this!


it's funny how after a massive meal you still have room for that little bit more isn't it? :)

Square Meal

2 comments:

  1. This place looks stunning. I am always on the hunt for new restaurants to visit when in London so I will have to check this place out as I love Japanese food.
    N xo

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    1. Ooh yes definitely do! They have a ramen bar too which I'm going to try next. You might also like Koya or Rosa's Thai Cafe :) xx

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