By Alice Burden

My week in food

When I’m at school, I’m usually so tired that I don’t go out on weeknights, and I rarely have the energy to cook something inspired. My friends and I used to go for dinner, or to the pub a few nights a week and I really miss that. This week we’ve had no class so I’ve indulged in some great meals.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, my partner came to mine to work on our book. I live just up the road from another classmate so we all decided to go for lunch together. We ended up at Eat Tokyo. This place is value for money. I got a bento box for £8.50, absolutely chock full of food. There was crispy tofu in broth, two bits of salmon sushi, a mountain of teriyaki chicken, salad and rice. And it tasted so so good. I had an Asahi beer and my dinner dates got some warm sake which was a bold move.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I went to the pub quiz at The Regent in Angel. They do incredible pizzas there. I love crispy bases and a smallish crust; none of this soggy Franco Manca business where the crust is 2 times the size of the pizza (and weirdly chewy). I got the Buffalo Mozzarella, which had some olives and cherry tomatoes on. It was really nice, but when I saw my boyfriend’s pizza, I knew I’d made a mistake. He had ordered the Cotto Ham, which was piled high with ham, salami and chorizo. I’m not normally one for super meaty pizzas, but my goodness it looked fantastic. And the bastard wouldn’t let me try any of it – unbelievable. I washed the pizza down with three pints of IPA. We are the reigning champs of The Regent quiz, and this time we did not disappoint. We won £500 between four of us, which was especially helpful as I had extravagant dinner plans with my sister the next day.

Thursday

Well. Thursday. Wow. What can I say? We (myself, my sister and our partners) start the night at the Wright Brothers, where oysters only cost £1 during happy hour. We each have six oysters and split two bottles of white wine. We then wander up the road to Casa Do Frango. It’s a recently opened Portuguese chicken place (think Posh Nandos), and my brother-in-law has a half price voucher for a meal there. I’m feeling flush, and we also have 50% off, so a lot of food gets ordered. We start with sharing plates of salt cod croquettes with spicy tapenade (drool), warm octopus, potato and olive salad, roasted cauliflower with spicy coriander dressing and homemade bread. The main is peri peri chicken. It’s far more flavoursome and moist than Nandos – absolutely worth the price increase. And we have that with slaw, rice and chips. For pudding, my sister and I have chocolate mousse, my boyfriend has fig cake and my brother-in-law has a pastel de nata. We have two more bottles of wine, and the bill comes to £25 each. Just amazing.

Friday

Today, I met my parents for lunch in London Bridge. We went to Yen Burger, a Japanese inspired burger joint with steamed buns instead of baked ones. I had a spicy burger which was juicy and delicious – I loved the way the steamed bun changed the texture as well. As we were on our way back to the station, my mum practically forced us to go into Doughnut Time, so I have a huge Kinder Bueno doughnut saved for later too.

What a delicious week I’ve had. Bon Appetit!