The Dining Room

This week I was lucky enough to go to a nearby restaurant for dinner with the WI. I’d heard many things about The Dining Room, and I was really looking forward to it. For the evening we had a set menu with a set price for three courses, which I thought was pretty reasonable. Here’s the menu:

I chose the roasted Mediterranean vegetable start, followed by fresh asparagus risotto and then finished with sticky toffee pudding. I had hoped for a slightly more exciting and unusual menu, as these were the sorts of things you could probably get in a lot of gastro pubs, let alone a ‘posh’ restaurant run by a TV chef. Anyway, I digress. To drink P, S and I shared a bottle of merlot which went down pretty easily!

My starter arrived and I was impressed with the presentation, it looked beautiful. However, when I cut into it I was expecting something with a few more whole veggies, this kind of reminded me a little of a mousse quiche which was hot. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I wouldn’t have it again.

Plates cleared and wine topped up it was time to head onto the next course. I ummed and ahhhed about what to have for my main, but I ultimately decided the confit of duck would be a little too rich for me and the creamed potatoes may be a bit risky, whilst I’ve eaten so much fish this week that posh fish and chips didn’t seem too appealing. The asparagus risotto seemed nice and seasonal, and I haven’t had a risotto in ages, so I went for that. Again, whilst it was good, it wasn’t outstanding, and on the way home I said to my Mum I thought I could probably rustle up something not too dissimilar!

Savoury belly’s full and wine glasses empty we were soon served dessert. I haven’t had sticky toffee for ages so it wasn’t too hard to make a choice, although the thought of chocolate and pistachio was pretty tempting! P said she thought the sticky toffee was a little dry, but I quite enjoyed it, although a little more sauce would never go amiss!

I left the restaurant having had a good meal with good company as always, but I’m going to wait a while before going back to see if they have a different menu to try.

Côte Brassiere

A couple of weeks ago a few of the girls and I headed to the newest restaurant on the block to celebrate Pip’s birthday at Côte Brassiere. I didn’t really know much about the Côte chain before I went, but it’s a French inspired chain around the country.

To drink we enjoyed a bottle of côtes du rhone, which was lovely.

For my starter I chose the calamari. It was so tasty, and a nice change to have them in breadcrumbs instead of a batter, it made it feel a little healthier!!! It was a big portion too, so good job I was hungry, but could have easily been shared.

I’m on a real seafood kick at the moment, so my choice for my main was a no brainer, linguine with seafood. Everyone else’s food looked really good, but I was so pleased with my choice. It was exactly what I fancied, with lots of varied seafood and big juicy prawns, yum. I really loved the sauce it was served in, and definitely want to try making something like that at home. It was light, fresh, but kind of silky, but full of flavour and the chilli gave it a great kick. Man, now I’m hungry again!

After all my indulgence working away in January I questioned whether or not to have dessert, but after seeing the menu and hearing everyone else pick, I couldn’t resist. I chose the chocolate fondant, and it was just as a fondant should be, with an ooey gooey centre. Yum.

All in all, I had a lovely meal at Côte Brassiere, and I would definitely go again, there was plenty of other things on the menu I want to try, not to mention their delicious looking breakfast menu – I’ve got my eyes on the french toast. Yum!

Have you ever eaten at Côte Brassiere? Which is your favourite chain restaurant?

Dinner with the bestest

I don’t get to see my best friend as much as I’d like, but I make sure to make plans to see her every time I go home. Christmas was no different, and we made plans to go for dinner at Wagamama. T picked me up promptly at 6, and we made our way down to Royal William’s Yard, a firm favourite, for T’s first Wagamama experience.

If you’re ever down in Plymouth and looking for somewhere nice to go for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, head to Royal William’s Yard, it’s been recently redeveloped and is all trendy with plenty of food spots and beautiful views over the sound.

For drinks T and I decided to go for non alcoholic cocktails. I had the virgin mule, and T had the grape sparkle. My virgin mule was, lychees, fresh mint and ginger syrup with lime juice and
ginger ale, garnished with a sprig of mint and a wedge of lime. It was delicious, and I’d definitely try to make it at home I think!

For starters T and I shared two, I’m lucky that apart from her strong hate of chicken, we pretty much like the same foods, which makes sharing easy! We shared the pulled pork dumplings, and the chilli squid. I loved the chilli squid, something I hadn’t had before, but I’ll definitely have it again.

For my main I had my usual, number 44, ginger chicken udon. I’m always tempted to have something different, but I love it so much, I’ve yet to be tempted! Once again, it didn’t disappoint. Does anyone know where I can get hold of pickled ginger, I just can’t get enough of the stuff!

If you know me, you’ll know I have a super sweet tooth, so there’s always room for pudding! Again, another favourite of mine, white chocolate and ginger cheesecake. It was more mousse-y than I’ve had it previously, but still pretty tasty.

Do you normally have the same thing when you go to restaurants, or are you brave and try new things? What’s your favourite in Wagamama?

Review | The Northcote, Clapham

For my Christmas party with work, we headed for lunch at The Northcote, in Clapham. It’s really close to Clapham Junction station which made it perfect for everyone to get to. I’d been to The Northcote once before, around February, and had a lovely Sunday roast there so I had high hopes. Our Christmas meal consisted of a starter, main, and mince pie. Plus plenty of drinks!

I started off the day with a gorgeous glass of Château Le Gardera, Bordeaux Superior 2009  (posting full details so I can remember to buy some more if I see it for sale!). I love a really marmitey wine, if that makes sense? and this definitely was. And, because it’s Christmas, we had some bubbles.

For my starter I had ‘lightly spiced parsnip soup, onion bhajis and mint yogurt’.  The presentation of the dish was fantastic, I’d love to get some little kilner jars like this when I entertain at my place and make soup. Which is pretty much never. Maybe in the future… The soup was really tasty, albeit a little spicy, it was a good job they had the yogurt dip on the side! Other starters gave me a little food envy, including tart tartan, quail, and the seafood cocktail.

For my main I chose the ‘cassoulet of cured salt marsh lamb, pearl barley and celery’ and it was so delicious. I wouldn’t normally chose lamb, but I figured you have so much turkey at this time of year it would be nice to have something different. The lamb was really flavourful, and I loved the pearl barley underneath. Plus, it wasn’t a stingey portion which definitely helps! On the side there were some really delicious veggies. I particularly liked the potatoes, and very often I’m not a big potato eater! Again, some of the other mains looks really good too, I wouldn’t have been disappointed to have any of them served up to me.

Unfortunately I forgot to snap a photo of the mince pie, but they were served warm and homemade, much nicer than a standard shop bought.

I would definitely recommend The Northcote as a venue for a function, I had a really fun Christmas party there. They had a great private room upstairs, although the noise from the street outside was a little distracting at times, but you can’t help that. I hope to go back again in the future for another Sunday roast, or maybe some Saturday night drinks!

Where did you go and what did you do for your Christmas party? I’ve done pubs, Greek restaurants, Italian restaurants, and theatre trips, all out big parties, but this was a top favourite!

Annual birthday trip to Birmingham

Every year since we’ve left Uni my muffins and I have congregated to celebrate my birthday and my wifey’s birthday Fi. For the past two years we’ve celebrated in Birmingham, so I think it’s ok to call it annual now, right?!

I travelled up Friday evening after my work Christmas do, and was so excited to be greeted at Fi’s house with the rest of the girls. Friday night we tucked into lots of pizza and caught up on all the goss, which made me realise how much I miss these muffins when I don’t get to see them.

Saturday morning was a lazy one, watching back-to-back cooking shows, gotta love a bit of James Martin on Saturday Kitchen. By the time we were all ready it was probably nearer 2pm, and we bundled ourselves into taxis to head into town, sample the delights of the market, and have dinner at our favourite restaurant.

Town was busy as predicted, but I just love the Birmingham Christmas markets, way better than the winter wonderland in my opinion. Once we got into the market we headed straight for the mulled cider stall, a firm favourite!

Of course I sampled all the different mulled ciders they had to offer, including apple (which tasted like curry), raspberry, and strawberry and lime. My favourite was the raspberry. Yum!

Lots of yummy cider was consumed, and lots of giggles were head reminiscing about funny stories!

The very best friends a girl could ask for!

After plenty of cider we headed off to Bodega for a late lunch. The girls and I stumbled across Bodega a couple of years ago, and ended up having an incredibly boozy lunch. Since then it’s been a firm favourite of ours and we head back every time we all meet in Birmingham. The food was delicious as always, and was of course consumed with plenty of cocktails, and more cider!

Mojito for me

Starters of chorizo, halloumi, and cheesy potatoes.

Fi and I shared nachos and chilli. Sorry for the blurred chilli photo, I think I’d had too many mojitos by this point!

After dinner we made our way through the market back to Fi’s place for X Factor and the promise of a nap. Post nap we decided that rather than go to the pub we’d prefer to just stay in and chat, which was probably a good idea in hindsight as we were all asleep pretty early. That’s what early drinking and getting old will do for you I suppose .

I had a lovely weekend celebrating mine and the wife’s birthday up in my old Uni stomping ground, and I can’t wait for us to all meet up again in February! I’ll be counting down the days!

Under the Tuscan sun | Siena

It’s no surprise to anyone who has read my blog for any length of time how much I love Siena. Having spent a year living and studying in the city, it definitely holds a special place in my heart.

After leaving Elba early on Monday morning, Ryan and I travelled up to Siena to get ready for three days of Palio. It was a long train journey up there, and whilst I slept for the majority of it thanks to some excellent travel sick tablets, they completely knock me out!

When we eventually got to Siena, many hours later, we made our way to our hotel, on the perimeter of the city. Pretty much every time we go to Siena we stay at Hotel Alma Domus. It’s in a fantastic location just inside the city walls, an excellent price and includes breakfast. A walk into the centre and Piazza del Campo takes just 10 minutes, I really couldn’t recommend it more. I think from the last time we stayed there they have done the rooms up, so it was really nice inside.

Once we unpacked and got freshened up we walked down into to Piazza del Campo to grab a massive slice of pizza, a beer and meet up with two of my friends who were also in Siena for the Palio. I honestly had forgotten just how good the piazza in Siena is – wow! So, so, so, delicious.

We stayed in Piazza catching up on what we’d all been up to and waiting for the prova. The prova is a practice horse race round Piazza, to get the horses and the jockeys used to what to expect on the day, and to see how the horses run. Some people say that it can be a good indicator of who may win on the day, but I really don’t think so.

After the prova we walked down to one of my all time favourite bars in Siena, Bella Vista. Bella Vista is famous for one thing, their mojitos. It was great to see the same barmen working there as when I used to go a couple of years ago, and although the location has changed, the atmosphere and drinks most definitely have not. We enjoyed a couple of mojitos, some crisps, chatted a lot and had a great evening.

After a lie in Tuesday morning, we got ready for arguably the most exciting day of the holiday, for me at least – Il Palio!!! We went for breakfast at one of my favourite little cafes tucked down a little side street off the high street. A fruit juice and pastry later, Ryan and I set off to do some sight seeing. I took him around all my favourite places and interesting sights, we did an awful lot of walking!

After a long shady pit stop for lunch and a bit more of a wonder Ryan and I made our way back to Piazza to get a good spot ready for the race. We stocked up on some delicious refreshing granita and got ready for the long haul. It was a hot day, and it felt like it took hours for the shade to come down over us. The atmosphere in Piazza was contagious, everyone getting excited about what was to come of the three round 90 second race. Mid afternoon the parade started and the excitement in Piazza raised a notch.

Having sat on the edge last year with a proper seat with my Grandma, it was different again to watch the parade from within the Piazza. You definitely get to appreciate more of the costumes and effort that goes into the long parade a bit more sat on the edge, unless you’re super tall to see over the crowd from the centre. Even so I really enjoyed seeing the flag throwing, which is very impressive. I’m always impressed by the costumes and how the men manage in them all day, they look so hot and sweaty!

Once the horses got onto the course it felt like forever for them to be lined up properly in the order for the race to start. Everyone was getting hot, tired and impatient. However, as soon as the horses took off for the race, the atmosphere became electric. The crowd were going crazy cheering these horses round the course, and as long as it took to start was as quick as it took to finish. 90 sweet, short, exciting seconds for the Oca to be crowned winner.

The Oca winning was particularly special for me, because that’s the contrada I used to live in. Our hotel was above the Oca contrada centre too, so I warned Ryan that with the excitement of them winning, it was unlikely we’d get a good nights sleep – I was right!!

Dinner on Tuesday night I took Ryan to my another one of my favourites – Pomodorino. Arguably the best pizza in Siena, I have been telling Ryan about this place for years, so I couldn’t wait to take him there! I think Ryan agreed at just how good the pizza there is. Wine and pizza later, Ryan and I took a long walk around the city soaking up the atmosphere of the city and the winning contrada celebrating.

On the Wednesday Ryan and I woke up early and tired from the little sleep we had from all the celebrating. We had a mooch around the city and then went back to the hotel for a long nap and some relaxing book reading. The holiday felt like such a whirlwind the break to just do nothing that day was definitely needed!

On Wednesday evening we went to another one of my favourite restaurants, which again I had been raving about to Ryan – Nonna Gina. I have been going on to Ryan for forever about the stuffed gnocchi that Nonna Gina does, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Neither did the fantastically priced caraffes of red wine, which we kept ordering more and more of, and neither did the plate of meats and cheeses we had for our antipasti.

Bellies full and a long walk back to the hotel later, we hoped for a good nights sleep before the next stop on our holiday  – Florence.

Under the Tuscan sun | Isola d’Elba

You may remember back at the end of June I jetted off to Italy for a week with Ryan. We spent the week travelling around Tuscany, and after a night in Pisa after we landed, our first stop was the island of Elba.

When I lived in Italy during Uni I remember some friends going to Elba, their photos made it look beautiful, and I knew one day I wanted to go. The journey to Elba was long with an early train journey followed by a ferry ride and then a bus trip along winding, narrow, coastal roads.

Once the ferry crossed the sea from Piombino towards Elba Ryan and I were greeted with a picturesque view of Napoleon’s former home, and some beautiful idyllic fishing villages. We couldn’t wait to get off the ferry! Once we disembarked from the ferry we found the coach required to take us to our destination for the next two nights, Mariciana Marina.

The coach journey to Mariciana Marina was beautiful albeit treacherous, with our bus driver journeying through the winding narrow roads with an expertise of someone who had done it hundreds of times over, and even managing to have a good chat with someone on his mobile when it rang. Only in Italy!

Once we arrived in Mariciana Marina we made our way up a steep hill towards our hotel, Isola Verde, which we booked through hotels.com. The hotel room itself was basic, but it had a lovely pool, which was what we were after. After checking in we headed back down the hill towards the harbour to explore and find something to fill our rumbling bellies. The harbour was filled with quaint one off shops and coffee shops, a nice place to spend a few days. We settled on a cafe’ right by the harbour and got ourselves a beer each and a little sandwich. A perfect light snack to keep us going until the evening and dinner!

An ice cream later we wondered up and down the harbour taking in the sights and absorbing the Italian atmosphere, and of course, take in a Spritz! After a couple of hours we made a slow walk back up to the hotel for a nap and to freshen up for dinner. Having not really settled on anywhere to eat during the afternoon, we decided to have an apertivo and see where seemed busiest!

Another Spritz later we chanced upon a bustling restaurant in a buzzing piazza full of tourists and Italians. Ryan decided upon a pizza bianca, which meant no tomato puree on the base as is typical in so many pizzas in England. Trying to be good and not relive the last time I was in Italy with Ryan, I stuck to a delicious dish of fresh tuna steak and with a cherry tomato sauce. It was delicious, and arguably one of my favourite dishes of the holiday. For pudding we had another ice cream, I mean, what more do you expect??? I stuck with the same flavours most of the holiday – amerena (cherry) and pistachio, while Ryan was much more adventurous than me.

The next day Ryan and I made the decision to take things really easy. We woke up late,  had a leisurely breakfast and then headed out to the pool to relax, soak up the sun and catch up on some reading. It was wonderfully relaxing.

Mid afternoon our tummies started to rumble again and so we went back down to the harbour to get a big salad, something we were both craving. We found a cool little bar right at the end of the harbour which met our needs, and was exactly what we both wanted. Full of salad we headed back up to the hotel and enjoyed a few more hours relaxing by the pool. Both Ryan and I had been super busy at work before our holiday, so enjoying the hours lounging by the pool was exactly what we both needed.

Dinner that night we headed back down to the harbour and our little square, which perhaps because it was a Sunday, wasn’t as buzzing as the night previously but after an almost obligatory aperitivo Spritz, we decided upon the restaurant next door to where we dined the night previous. Again I decided to have the special, which was fresh swordfish and Ryan had swordfish pasta. It was a small portion, but looked delicious. I had definite food envy! Ice cream for dessert followed again, as became typical on our week long stay, and we enjoyed a long walk up and down the harbour with the moon above us and lights twinkling in the distance. It was beautiful.

Monday morning we woke very early, too early!!, to get the bus back to the main port and take the ferry back to Piombino and make a very long journey up to Siena, for the start of the holiday’s main festivities, Il Palio.

Afternoon tea, 140 Park Lane

As you all know, I’m a massive fan of Groupon! I recently saw a deal for an afternoon tea Groupon that involved gin. Sounds like my kind of deal!

I went a couple of weeks ago with Ryan and we had a great time. It was my first afternoon tea so I wasn’t 100% what to expect, but I’ll definitely go to another one.

The afternoon tea was at 140 Park Lane, as part of the Marriott hotel.

Gin cocktails to start, served in a tea pot.

Regular tea, served in a regular tea pot.

Excited at the arrival of the food! Cakes on the top shelf, scones and crumpets in the middle and sandwiches on the bottom.

A hot, buttery scone, with clotted cream and jam. Served the Devon way, of course!

I was actually surprised at how filling all the food was. I couldn’t finish my amount, I was so full!

Ryan and I spent the rest of the afternoon going round London, enjoying the M&M world, cocktails at Dirty Martini and to top off the day – tickets to Wicked!

Have you ever been to an afternoon tea?

Wine tasting evening at La Gourmandina

A few weeks ago Ryan and I headed into the city for an Italian wine tasting at a little deli come cafe come restaurant, La Gourmandina. I first heard of the place through my daily Emerald Street newsletter, brought to you by the same people who do The Stylist magazine. If you live in or around the city and don’t currently receive Emerald Street emails, I recommend you sign up. They send out a daily email that’s always pretty interesting and they always recommend a new bar or restaurant for you to try. Which, if you’re like me, makes you want to eat out every night!

After a little snooping around La Gourmandina’s website, I decided it was the kind of place I needed to go to, and then I saw they were holding a wine tasting and decided it was the kind of place I had to go to. One Thursday evening Ryan and I made the trip up there, and it was definitely worth it.

We arrived a bit early, so we decided to have a cocktail and some olives. We both went for my favourite ever cocktail, an Aperol Spritz.

Once ready, we were led into a back room which had been reserved for the wine tasting. I think there must have been about 30 people in attendance, which seemed like a good amount. We were introduced to the main speaker, a wine merchant from Italy, and our host, one of the waiters, who happened to be from the same region as the wines.

Both were absolutely brilliant, and so knowledgeable about the wines and the region and why the Piedmont in particular is unique for the way they produce their wines. It was quite a relaxed atmosphere which enabled people to chat and ask questions throughout which I thought was really good. We also got taught how to taste the wines, how to smell them, how to sip them at first, how wines age, and how to tell the alcohol content. All important stuff!

We tried five wines in total, one white and four reds. I am not a massive fan of white wines, so this was a-ok with me! Although, the white wine we tried was pretty good. As we progressed through the evening the wines got more expensive and older. My favourite was the Babera d’Asti Superiore and the Barolo, but I also really liked the Dolcetto d’Alba, which suprised me. Dolce means sweet in Italian, and I’m not normally a fan of sweet wines, but this was nice.

After the wine tasting the venue offered a discount to anyone staying on for dinner, so Ryan and I decided to stay! Definitely a good decision. We decided to go for an antipasti platter with cheeses, meats and pates. It was incredible, and just like being back in Italy!

Ryan and I had a great evening out at La Gourmandina and I will definitely consider going to any more wine tasting events they do. Brilliant value for money!

Roast, Borough Market

A couple of weeks ago I met up with an old school friend I haven’t seen for a few years and we went for dinner together. I’d come straight from work and printed off a couple of vouchers around the Borough Market area to get some cheap food and have good conversation. When I met my friend at London Bridge I was pleasantly surprised to find out he had booked us a table somewhere…Roast.

I had never heard of Roast, in fact, I don’t even think I realised it was there. Perched above Borough Market, with a doorway almost hidden, walking upstairs you are transported from the hustle and bustle of Borough Market and people having after work drinks to a place very different. The atmosphere is chatty yet calm, bright and airy yet intimate, with a live pianist tinkling the ivories in the corner.

Once shown to our table we were given some time to select our drinks and food. Both my friend and I both went for a cocktail for our aperitivo. Unfortunately I can’t remember which cocktail I had, I think it was a special. But, it had aperol in it, which was why I chose it! The cocktail was really good, and I was looking forward to my meal.

The menu was quite typically British, but with a few twists and a bit of modern flair. To be honest, I struggled a little to chose a starter, half because I tend to avoid dairy, and half because it was a bit ‘fussy’ for me. In the end I went with a safe option, smoked salmon and asparagus. When it arrived it was absolutely delicious, the asparagus was so fresh and I loved the salmon. My friend had the scotch egg, and I have to say, I had serious food envy when his arrived!!

For my main I chose the honey glazed leg of ham with bubble and squeak and grain mustard sauce. Oh my – it was delicious! The ham leg was so perfectly cooked and tender, and the bubble and squeak was like no other. My only criticism was it could have done with a portion of veg. My friend had the steak for his main, which also looked pretty damn good.

After my starter and main I was stuffed. My friend went for the soft centred chocolate pudding and salted caramel ice cream, whilst I went for a mint tea. His dessert looked really tasty, I was pretty jealous!

All in all, it was a lovely meal and I’m really glad I got to catch up with my friend. Although we haven’t seen each other for years we slipped back into conversation easily, catching up over lost time and then gossiping over mutual friends, like old times!

If you’re ever in the Borough Market area with some £££ to flash I would recommend Roast. However, for the price and the atmosphere, I’d rather go to somewhere like The Ivy. I don’t quite see how the food we had justified the £175 price bill, but what do I know?

 

On a side note – a few days after meeting up with my friend I found out he was in a very serious car accident and has broken his jaw, lost teeth and fractured his skull. I’ll spare you the photos and just remind you all to wear a seat belt. It could happen to anyone.