July 2026 Favourites list

Hello my foodie friends! Summer is continuing to surprise us, and here in London there have been 20 plus days without rain. The heat this summer has meant some days of cooking, and others of working out how not to work over a steamy stove or pull things out of a burning hot oven. So this month I am sharing some ideas for salads, dips, and cool dishes.

My photos this month are from a visit to Yi-Ban restaurant situated at the Royal Docks. Across the river is London City Airport, so if you or someone you go out with loves plane watching, this is a sound pick (there are floor to ceiling window views of the airport which is just across the river). The restaurant itself is one of the biggest in London, I would guess. This is for good reason, as it is enormously popular for its dim sum, which is served from 12pm (opening time) to 5pm (when the dinner menu comes in). In fact, the dim sum lunch is so popular, there are queues at peak time, and a deli counter style numbered ticket system to ensure no pushing in.

 

I had read about this restaurant on the Evening Standard website, in an article about Hidden London, and I was ready to feed my dim sum obsession. When I arrived to see the queue of ticket holding punters eagerly waiting their turn, I wondered why I had only heard of this place a couple of months ago. Especially since it opened in 2003!

I visited in the weekend, which means I saw tables of 8 to 10 people, often with three generations sitting together enjoying the delightful steamed dumplings and savouring the crispy fried treats. It always gives me an uplifting feeling to see this sharing of food, of love, of life experience. Yi-Ban gave me an authentic Cantonese dim sum experience, as I tucked into some of my favourites, along with a couple of dishes which were new to me. It was something of a far cry from my home in South East London, but well worth the journey.

Food articles

Mieke, who lives in south west France, shares her Things to buy at the French supermarket just in time for the summer holidays. The Brets chips (crisps) are one purchase I can vouch for. Have a read before you travel! https://www.dorothy-porker.com/things-to-buy-at-the-french-supermarket/

 

Cheung fun

 

Kavey has put another new cookbook through its paces. Read her review of Mushroom: 80 Recipes Celebrating Remarkable Mushrooms by Claire Thomson with her impressions about the structure and usefulness of the book, plus recipe testing: https://www.kaveyeats.com/mushroom-claire-thomson

So many people from the Indian diaspora have felt embarrassed about the smell of our food. We didn’t want neighbours to smell it, or to go to work or school with clothes smelling of it the next day. But the smell of spices cooking is also one of the best aromas in the world. Hearing successful restauranteur Nisha Katona express her previous embarrassment about curry smells reminded me of my own experience: https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/nisha-katona-curry-bible-cookbook-indian-food-recipes-mowgli-restaurant-b3006555.html

 

A depressing but useful read (mainly for US people) about how cookware has gotten worse quality wise and intentionally so, with a helpful list of makes you can still trust. It seems that ensh*ttification has made it into the kitchen too: https://www.worseonpurpose.com/p/your-cookware-got-worse-on-purpose

Food and culture

British fishermen, whose catches go to South Korea, eat Korean seafood dishes for the first time. Heartwarming to see them embrace the Korean food culture. https://youtu.be/kAaQafKGF7U?is=N-hB-8Oq4VzaJInM

 

Kitchen tips

If you prefer no-recipe cooking, this from Anna Jones, is on how to build a salad, breaks it down into layers. A liberating way to think about weekday dinners. https://observer.co.uk/food/recipes/article/how-to-build-a-perfect-salad

Six tinned foods nutritionists say deserve a comeback; sardines, lentils, cannellini beans, mackerel, corn, and crab: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/health/tinned-foods

Recipes

Some ideas of what to cook when it is too hot. Who wants to be stood over the hob in the heat? https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/heatwave-recipes-quick-dinners-too-hot-to-cook-b3010344.html

Eight delicious weekend lunch recipes using chicken: Brick roast chicken and braised chipotle cabbage, Blackened chicken with caramel and clementine dressing, Romanian Pilaf cu Pui – chicken pilaf with potatoes and garlic courgettes, Malaysian/Singaporean Curry leaf chicken legs with salted egg yolk sauce, Harissa and lemon roasted chicken thighs, Herby chicken, leek and mushroom casserole, Crunchy chicken Caesar dip, Chicken with pineapple and ‘nduja: https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/chicken-recipes-spring-roast-salad-ottolenghi-b2932542.html  Archived here: https://archive.is/9yZBB

 

I enjoy sprouting seeds, particularly pulses and beans, primarily to use in chaat dishes. But I stumbled on this mung bean recipe which is from Henry Chung's cookbook from his Hunan Restaurant in San Francisco. There are a lot of ingredients, but unused dressing can be kept in the fridge for a few days, and you can make the salad more substantial by adding shredded cooked chicken and noodles: https://sproutpeople.org/blogs/recipes/hunan-mung-beans-in-outrageous-dressing-1

Across east Asia, cool noodle salads are a way of keeping your internal temperature down and avoiding spending a long time in a hot kitchen. Here is a sesame noodle recipe New York Chinese restaurant style which you could add and fill out to a full meal very easily: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chilled-sesame-noodles

 

Dips and sauces are life savers when you don’t want to cook and just want to assemble a salad or light meal. Here is a Courgette and feta dip for when you get bored of supermarket houmous: https://theweek.com/culture-life/food-drink/courgette-feta-dip-recipe And here is a Dill mayonnaise for summer salads: https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/entertain/dilly-mayonnaise/

Please note: as with every monthly Favourites List, all of these items have been selected by me simply because I love them. I do not receive any money, benefits in kind or other incentive for posting these links or recommendations.