Just off of Regents Street is a small Chinese restaurant that specializes in noodles, Cha Cha Moon. Having read mixed some reviews on this place, I wasn’t expecting much, but I reserved my judgement until I had actually eaten there myself.

In a party of 3, we were quickly greeted and seated in a benched restaurant not too dissimilar to a Wagamamas. It’s a fairly popular place but due to the January lull, it was a little quieter than I expected.

After 5 minutes or so, we were able to order. I went for the Crispy noodle with shredded chicken and a side dish called the Cha Cha Mooli.

The first thing we noticed was the uneven timings of the food, my friend’s Singapore noodle arrived almost immediately without her side. Followed 5 minutes by my crispy noodles and mooli. Then my other friend’s beef udon in black bean sauce and a side of spring rolls, another minute later and finally her gouti another 10 minutes afterwards. I can understand food coming out at different times when they’re busy, but there seems to be zero coordination between the 4 or 5 different chefs I could see in the kitchen. It’s not hard to communicate with each other but unfortunately I think this is the norm for Cha Cha Moon.

The food was average. Not bad, but it wasn’t amazing. It felt a little bit like eating a take away but they sat you down and served it on a plate instead.

The interesting part was the Cha Cha Mooli. I had no idea what to expect, only that it contained turnip cake, which I just adore. What arrived was something that was larger than your average side dish, that consisted of rectangular slices of turnip cake, stir fried with beansprouts, eggs and some dried shrimp and meat. It was nice, but it just had too many beansprouts. In fact, so did my noodles.

Overall I wasn’t too impressed with Cha Cha Moon. The food wasn’t great and the timing of the food was badly organised. It felt like a Wagamamas with a different menu. I don’t think I’ll be going back there any time soon, which is a shame. I was hoping for so much more.

Said Naan bread from last night. Work said it was very nice.

I made Naan bread for the first time last night and they were lovely. The problem however, is that it took about 2 hours of measuring; mixing; waiting; more mixing; kneading; proving and rolling, for essentially 5 minutes of cooking time. All this for side dish? I’m not really sure whether its worth it in the end. Maybe if it was for a special occasion or a themed dinner party, but I won’t be making them every time I have a curry. Buying them in is much easier…

I think I’ll try a garlic and coriander naan tonight. And maybe a peshwari naan too!

I made some Chilli Con Carne last night. Well, when I say some I mean a whole vat of the stuff. I used a Jamie Oliver recipe which was really easy to do, even if it did take 2 hours from start to finish!

I think everyone that wants to learn to cook should start with a Jamie Oliver book. He may get a lot of stick for his early work and his style of presenting, but anyone who has done any cooking using one of his books has got to admit, he knows his stuff. What Jamie Oliver does that no other chef has done is make cooking easy…er. Recipes aren’t over complicated with techniques and ingredients that only few have encountered, instead they teach you the basic flavours and textures of what a lot of dishes should be. It may be rustic, but refined cuisine comes from experience and practise and Jamie’s recipes give you the confidence to try more and learn more.

OK, back to my chilli. It was a lot less spicy than my flatmates and I were used to, but it was tasty nonetheless. Leftovers are great for lunch (which I’ve just eaten) and I’m even thinking of using as a pasta sauce tonight…. Versatile stuff.