My sister came to visit me in Birmingham where I'm studying, and obviously, it was inevitable that her visit meant fine dining, junk food and coffee pit stops. Despite being a student, I'm ignorant of proper 'student living' (aka. skipping meals to pay for alcohol / eating out of cardboard boxes / becoming vegetarian because the price of meat is extortionate...) What can I say - it's in the Chinese blood...?
Day 1.
Lunch at Nero, followed by dinner at a gorgeous little Korean restaurant on Hurst Street called Topokki. It's crazy cute there; so authentic it could pass off as a dainty Seoul coffee shop. Although their specialty lies in the bibimbap, I often find that it's too spicy for me. So I opted for the bulgogi dupbap - it was SO good, words can't even describe. And for two mains and two drinks, it came to less than £15 (with a one-off 10% discount because the card reader was broken - woo!)
Day 2.
Lunch at Pret A Manger - their hot wraps are heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I had lectures and classes from 9am till 1pm with no break - that, and the fact it was a Monday... Coffee was an obvious choice. Their love bar latte is a sweet, addictive fix, with chocolate, caramel and biscuit flavours.
Dinner was eaten at Mt. Fuji in the city center. For classic Japanese bento boxes, donburi and sides of sushi, this place is perf. They also do katsu currys, but nothing will ever beat Wagamamas... Unlike Wagamamas though, Mt. Fuji is much more authentic, albeit more expensive.
I ate the donburi set and my sister chose a prawn tempura bento box, which came with a bowl of rice AND four pieces of sushi. Best Japanese restaurant in Birmingham? It's highly possible!
Day 3.
Happy pancake day (yesterday)! In typical Shrove Tuesday fashion, me and my sister made pancakes (although she did most of the making...). We went for chocolate spread, bananas and whipped cream for a fulfilling breakfast, coupled with a green juice and a glass of milk...
Later on, we lunched at
Eat in Brindley Place. Brindley Place is like the business district of Birmingham and it has so many restaurants, bars and cafes. It's such a lovely place, but in the middle of the day, it's like entering a watering hole for all the hungry businessmen and women. You get sucked into their fast pace of life - enter a shop, pick the first thing you see, pay, leave, back to the office. It's unnerving, but at the same time motivating.
Of course, life is not complete without a box of Krispy Kremes. The two on the left are part of their coffee collections and the right is the Cookie Crunch.
Okay, despite being the first day of Lent, I had a KK doughnut for breakfast, which ultimately rules out giving up unhealthy snacks... I would say I would give up chocolate, but about 80% of my university diet consists of chocolate... Maybe I could try gluten or coffee? What is everyone else giving up?
Love x.
