Last Wednesday Florek took us for lunch to Bar and Wok, a small Chinese restaurant on the dodgy end of High Street, that I wanted to visit in a long time. Pizia and I had random stuff, like calamari and spring rolls, while Florek took a bowl of udon noodles with beef. I had a taste, it was far too hot for me, but the other flavour, sort of smoky, deep one I loved. The chap who served us said it is done by heating up the wok to the very smoky point, which can’t be done at home, but it’s normal in a restaurant. I’d cry my eyes out if I had a bowl of Florek’s noodles, but I left the restaurant inspired and determined to try to make my stir fries better.

I looked up some recipes and made a little sauce, that covered the whole dish. It consisted of a generous of tsp of chili garlic sauce, 2 tbsps of rice vinegar, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil, 2 tbsps of brown sugar, 2 cloves of crushed garlic,  1 tbsp of  finely chopped ginger, plus just a splash of teriyaki sauce. My prawns were sitting in soy sauce most of the afternoon and I have to say I got them spot on this evening. They were crunchy and succulent. The veggies I first added to the hot work were a shallot, sping onion, mange tout, bean sprouts, green bell pepper and some cup mushrooms. Noodles- udon, the best I guess. Finishing touch was a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Easily one of the best stir fries to date.