Hello hello! It’s Denise again. Yay!
This post will be something that I’ve been dying to do for a long time, but never actually got round to doing. Now that I’ve got a bit of free time, I decided that I’m going to do it. This post will be divided into 2 parts: Food and Groceries.
FOOOOOOOOOD.
There’s quite a lot of variety when it comes to Asian food. You probably won’t get like legit Singaporean food, but there’s a Malaysian cafe that is pretty okay. Keep in mind that it is mostly Malaysian food, so your Char Kway Teow and Laksa would probably be the Malaysian/Penang version.
There are several Chinese takeaways that are decent, but they are in a league of their own. It probably won’t be like anything you’re used to, but it is quite Hong Kong-American style food. Their food isn’t incredibly spicy, but it is VERY VERY SWEET. It’s the first time I’ve had non-spicy XO sauce (which basically tastes like diluted soya sauce) and sweet and sour sauce that was orange and just sweet.
Chinese restaurants differ. They mostly resemble Cantonese cuisine, so you might not be used to it. Regency has great dim sum and you get it discounted on Tuesdays and Sundays. Happy Valley (in the city centre) has half-decent XO udon stir fry. It’s special and definitely unique. Asian Gourmet and Sunrise are places that sadly I’ve yet to try, but they are also highly recommended. Asian Gourmet apparently has the best sashimi and sushi. There’s also Red Chili, which is located in the city centre and next to one of the Asian supermarkets, if you want a more familiar Chinese meal. This one more resembles the kind of Chinese food you can get in Singapore. However, it is more pricey.
And then there’s Wagamama, which is like this really expensive Asian-fusion thing that seems more ‘confusion’ than ‘fusion’. It’s bloody expensive, but the locals buy into this chain, so it must be doing something right. It was decent, but I got a yakiudon (that was supposed to be spicy) and wound up adding a crap ton of chili oil and shichimi togarashi chili flakes to it 😛
There’s a really nice Korean restaurant on Fossgate, which is sort of like outside the main city, but still considered the city centre. It has about 12 seats in total, so go there early. (Imagine opening up your living room for people to come and dine in. yeah, that’s the idea.) The kitchen is literally in the same room as the restaurant itself, so be prepared to come out smelling like a BBQ pit. Everything, even your hair and coat, WILL smell like a coal fire. However, the food is a solid 12 out of 10, so I loved it. They definitely catered to the Korean spicy-loving maniac in me.
There’s a really nice Indonesian restaurant further away from the main city centre. Krakatoa is pretty good Indo food, but it’s not Halal, so watch out. I highly recommend the Coconut rice (which I think is a bit like the yellow rice we have in Singapore).
Indian food… You need to be careful with this. The UK’s idea of Indian food is Northern Indian cuisine. It doesn’t involve the Biryani and Prata and Curry that we know and love, which are mostly Southern Indian-influenced. I’ll admit, the UK prides itself on Indian food, but remember, it’s Northern Indian, and they’ve got a million different types of curries, so trust your stomach and go with what you think you like. There’s no doubt it’s good. It’s REALLY GOOD. Just tastes different from the curry that we know from the heart of Singapore.
GROCERIESSSSSSS.
Of course, I don’t expect you to constantly eat out. You’ll be broke if you do. Sometimes it helps to cook your own. I recently had this huge Korean craving and bought tteokbokki, and made my own Korean-style jjajjangmyeon and japchae. So don’t expect to get the same stuff you can get in Singapore, but know that York isn’t some third-world country. You can get Asian food. There are 4 main Asian supermarkets that you will probably end up frequenting: Chi Yip, Oriental Express, Regency, and Freshways.
Chi Yip
Chi Yip is located in the city centre, near Pop World, if that helps 😛 You will definitely go past it on the bus from the Rail Station. Chi Yip is owned by a large group and it also operates the Chinese Restaurant next door called Red Chili. This one is more HK and China-oriented. They sell loads of Chinese dried herbs and snacks and of course other Chinese products like noodles, ramen, and sauces. They also have Thai sauces and instant noodles which helps you when you’re lazy. If you’re looking for plum sauce, oyster sauce, or some Chinese chili sauce, you’re likely to find it here. The instant noodle selection is also very wide.
The problem is that when it comes to Korean and Japanese food, the selection here isn’t so great. They’ve got soba and Japanese rice here, which is always nice, but there’s no soba sauce or anything.
Oriental Express
Oriental Express is located at the end of University Road. It’s just a 15 minute walk down University Hill, so if you’re living on campus, it might be more convenient. Oriental Express has the things that I prefer. They’ve got soba sauce (if you don’t know what soba sauce is called, it’s actually just soya sauce and bonito stock), mirin, gochujjang, Korean sweet potato noodles (for Japchae) and even instant tteokbokki! They also sell the Singapore Prima noodles at £2 a pack, which is REALLY EXPENSIVE, so bring some with you. Basically, if you’re looking for more specialty items and not just the generic China-HK stuff, Oriental Express is your best bet. The frozen section also has pau, which I also miss 😛
I recently found out that they also sell the nice tom yum instant noodles that I really like 😛
Freshways
Freshways is where you get Halal meat and other halal items. I don’t go there often because I usually buy meat from Morrisons. It is located near Oriental Express. They are literally just a few shops away from each other, so again, just a 15-minute stroll from campus. If you have any questions regarding Halal food and other things, you can either contact the International Office of the University, or email us and we’ll put you in touch with the right people. I clearly can’t give expert advice, but I do know people who can.
SO THERE IT IS!!
Nothing incredibly complicated, but you will have trouble navigating at first, so always go with someone, or with Google maps and stick to main roads. Alleyways can be dangerous if you’re alone, but York is still quite safe.
My advice is: ask your seniors to bring you there. I frequent Oriental Express, because of my dependency on udon, soba, jjajjangmyeon and soondubu jiggae. It’s good to go with someone in case you end up buying more than you can carry. Trust me.
~:Denise
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