UME

Summary

UME, offers fresh oriental dishes from their extensive menu. Hot cooked (noodles, rice, curry) and cold (sushi) dishes are served and can be eaten there or taken away. A very good addition to the City, that offers a taste of South East Asia.

Snapshot
Cuisine	Oriental – Malaysian, Singaporean, Chinese, Thai and Japanese
Price	£6-7 (Average).
Healthy	Relatively but depends on which dish. The dishes taste healthier than most as food is not oily. (Without all the science.)
Tasty	4/5
Address	1 Poultry, Bank, London, EC2R 8JR
Opening times	(TBC)
Eat in/Takeaway	Take-away and Eat in
Recommended dishes	Roast Duck Noodles, Singapore Noodles and Nasi Goreng

Lunch Analysis

UME has a fairly large lunch menu for a lunch eatery in the City. It may not be an obvious find since it is hidden under Bank tube station area (just below the Tescos).

It concentrates on providing a range of dishes from Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean, Chinese and Japanese.

I have to admit I have not tried the whole menu yet. However, my key favourites so far are the Roast Duck Noodles and the Singapore noodles. My first dish I tried was the Roast Duck Noodles and what struck me, was the large portion size! In the City, finding reasonable and generous portions sizes are rare, unless you are over paying more for it.  Looking around, there are a number of male city workers queuing up on a regular basis – so this must be filling.

I think general rule of thumb is that the fried noodles and rice dishes will be always more filling than the noodle soup dishes if you want to last all day till dinner.

I unfortunately do not have a picture of the Roast Duck Noodles to share with you all at the moment as I had forgot to take a picture at the time of eating as I was too absorbed that day! I do recall that there were was plenty of duck on the bed of noodles and the taste was fantastic.

However, I did managed to get a photo of the Wonton Ramen Soup and the Nasi Goreng on my last visit.

Wonton Ramen Soup

Nasi Goreng

I prefer the fried noodles dishes more and the Nasi Goreng compared with the Wonton Ramen noodle soup as the ramen noodles were rather soft. However, the Wontons were not bad and there were quite a lot of them floating around in my soup.

I can see the favourites appear to be the Nasi Goreng, and stir fried noodle dishes from my quick observation in what others have ordered.

It can be a longer wait than you may expect, however, this is because the dishes are fresh and made from each order. I would recommend getting here at 12pm on the dot to avoid large queues forming.

There are a few seats to eat in but most appear to be taking away and eating back in the office.

A further update may have to be given as there are more dishes to try from here and more pictures I promise to upload as well.

Glossary

Nasi Goreng  – Fried Rice with chillies, egg and shrimps.

Singapore Noodles – Vermicelli noodles stir fried in shrimps, curry powder, bean sprouts and other vegetables.

City Caphe

Summary

Hidden in a tiny lane near Bank station is where City Caphe a Vietnamese cafe lies. It serves a range of Vietnamese classics such as Pho, meat dishes with rice or vermicelli noodles and Bahn-Mi.

Snapshot
Cuisine	Vietnamese – noodles, rice and baguettes.
Price	£6-7 (Average). Please note, cash only for £15 and under.
Healthy	Yes. (Without all the science.)
Tasty	4/5
Address	17 Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8EY
Opening times	Mon-Fri 7:30am-4pm
Eat in/Takeaway	Both but mainly take-away as limited seats.
Recommended dishes	Pho noodles and the chargrilled pork bun (Vermicelli salad)/com (rice)

Lunch analysis

I am delighted that this has opened right at the heart of the City. As we all know, rent at the City of London is extremely high and therefore, the types of lunch eateries we see are the large chains offering the usual expensive sandwiches and soups found everywhere in the city. Yawn! So if you after something different then you have come to the right place.

City Caphe is tucked away on a narrow lane on Ironmonger Lane. Large queues form on a Monday-Friday lunchtime stretching to outside. I advise to come at 12pm on the dot or after 1pm if you want  to avoid the queues.

For those that have not tried these dishes before, it is worth giving up your sandwich to sample City Caphe’s menu. (Please read at the bottom of this page where I have included a summary of what some of these dishes are if you are new to Vietnamese cuisine.)

There are only a few seats in the cafe and so take-away is the most popular option. Queues start forming very early on from 12:15-1pm so get there early if possible. This place is all served by women, which clearly shows who is boss around here!

For a more filling lunch, I would recommend the rice dish box a combination of meat, salad and rice with the sweet and chilli sauce that comes with it. I really like this one as the pork has very nice caramelised taste.

Another, close favourite is the Pho. Especially now that the weather is very chilly, a Pho really goes down nicely. The broth is very clear and rich with stock flavour – making this a very comforting lunch. I would recommend this if you wanted something light but healthy. I tend to go for the chicken but the beef is equally tasty. There is the spicy lemongrass soup broth option for those that like it HOT!

Here is a picture of the Chicken Pho I had the other day.

Broadening the cuisine in the City, is certainly a positive step for City lunch consumers!

Quick guide to Vietnamese cuisine/ Glossary of words above:

Pho – bowl of rice noodles in clear soup broth.

Vermicelli noodles (Bun) - thin rice noodles and is served cold at City Caphe. This usually comes with a sweet and sour sauce like a salad vinaigrette that you can pour over the noodles.

Bahn-Mi – French-Vietnamese style baguettes.

Com – Rice.