Lamb Burger at the Railway Inn

burger and chips

Having just visited Cheddar Gorge, we headed over to Sandford for a meal at The Railway Inn. Sandford is on the A368 between Weston and Churchill. The Railway Inn  is owned by the Thatchers cider company who are also based in the village. 

It was busy and there was a band playing outside, however we went inside where it was cooler and less busy. We sat in the bar and pursued the menu. I quite like the fact that there are just five choices on the menu, makes me think that they care about the food they prepare.

I decided I would go for the 6oz Lamb Burger. This was described in the menu as topped with pulled minted lamb shoulder, mozzarella, gem lettuce, pickles and tomato mayo in a pretzel bun. Served with chips, slaw & onion ring.

Our food arrived. My (rather tall) burger looked rather impressive. I enjoyed the flavour of the lamb burger, didn’t think too much of the pulled minted lamb shoulder, it needed more depth of flavour. I liked the additions to the burger. The slaw was nice, as were the chips. The onion rings (I got two) were crispy, but that was about all they tasted of, a little over fried methinks.

I did enjoy the burger and the plate of food was rather filling.

Charlie Bigham’s Spanish Chicken and Roast Potatoes

This has become of my favourite Charlie Bigham ready meals. The chicken is in a tomato sauce with peppers and chorizo. The roasted potatoes have a patatas bravas feel to them. I usually heat the potatoes out of the wooden tray on a foiled baking tray which aids them crisping up.

Delicious bento box

Delicious bento box

I was working in Bristol on Friday and headed off to get some lunch. I had this delicious bento box with beef donburi and tan tan udon noodles from the amazing She Sells Streetfood at the amazing Finzels Reach Market.

The beef donburi is tender, full of flavour. The crispy onions add texture and the pickles and cucumbers salad add the necessary sharpness to cut through that rich tasty beef. The combination of ingredients in the tan tan udon noodles are wonderful. The minced pork, pak choi, and soft noodles are served in a creamy broth. There is always something in every spoonful. Don’t forget the chilli if offered, it adds warmth to the the whole experience. 

So tasty, so nice, so delicious.

On a previous visit I had swapped the noodles for the katsu fries, but this time I went back to the noodles.

Selection of British Cheeses

benches and a field

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my main course I had the grilled pork cutlet, and then after that I had the selection of British cheeses which came with chutney, grapes, celery and water biscuits.

cheese and biscuits

I had three cheeses cheddar, stilton, and brie. I did wonder if this was Somerset brie, but brie is not really a British cheese, much more a French one really. I didn’t worry and I didn’t ask, as I like brie anyhow.

Compared to other times I have had cheese and biscuits, these were quite generous portions of cheese. I enjoyed the chutney and I even ate the grapes. I don’t eat celery, so that was left. I also found the water biscuits unappetising. They looked strange, guessing they were some kind of artisan water biscuit. Personally I would have preferred some Carr’s water biscuits, or some bread. So I ate all the cheese, the grapes, most of there chutney, but left the celery and the biscuits. Nice plate of cheese though.

Back to Sasi’s Thai

Sasi’s Thai

I have mentioned this before, but when in Oxford, I usually visit the Covered Market and have a delicious plate of Thai food from Sasi’s Thai. 

My first experience of Sasi’s Thai was back in 2013 when I started working in Oxford and would go out for lunch. It was one of the many food outlets in the market and always served excellent delicious food. Even after I changed jobs, and stopped working in Oxford, if I was back in Oxford (or even passing through) I would stop for lunch and seek out Sasi’s Thai for some spicy food.

This was case in March 2026 when I was in Oxford about to head off to Milton Park I stopped at Sasi’s Thai for lunch. It has been a while since I have eaten there, back in December 2023 if my photographic record is correct. As I expected it was busy, but it has always been busy.  I had the two choices with rice, and had the Crispy Pork with Basil and the Garlic Pork.

Thai food with rice

Both dishes were delicious, quite spicy, but still full of flavour. The food is always fresh and tasty. They don’t cook to order, but the serving pans are regularly refilled with freshly cooked food as they progress through the lunch service.

Unlimited Tapas

Down in Ealing there is a branch of Las Iguanas. It took over the site occupied by Bills four years ago. I remember been saddened, as I had some excellent food from Bills, and my experience with Las Iguanas (in Birmingham) was somewhat disappointing. Though I have eaten many times in Ealing, I had never got around to visiting Las Iguanas. The main reason for this is that there are plenty of other choices in the area.

Looking for somewhere to eat, in the end we went to Las Iguanas as they had an unlimited tapas deal for £17 each. Having seen the adverts for this offer, I have been meaning to try it for a while. We did think it might be a bit sketchy, but for £17, it sounded like good value for money.

Save you reading to the end of the blog post, we had a lovely meal and enjoyed ourselves.

You have to pre-book, which to be honest, we did outside on the app and then walked in. It was a quiet Tuesday so it wasn’t busy, and we were offered a table by the window. We were given a menu, but mentioned we were here for the unlimited tapas deal, so we were given the menu for that.

There are 13 choices on the menu, well there are really only 12 as the tacos have a £5 supplement. There is a nice mix of dishes including salads. Alongside you can purchase additional sides such as fries, mac & cheese, and different kinds of salad.

You can’t just order everything all at once, they place a limit. We could only order three dishes (per two people), and we could only order food for 90 minutes.

Out first order was for the loaded nachos with fresh guacamole, fresh salsa, cheese, jalapeños, spring onions, pickled red onions, chipotle cheese sauce, sour cream, a portion of popcorn squid with garlic aioli, and some buttermilk fried chicken with agave aioli.

The nachos were nicely loaded, though some of the nacho chips were soft and chewy, the rest of the plate was delicious.

The popcorn squid was interesting, similar to popcorn chicken, these were small portions of squid covered in a crispy batter. They were interesting, but tasty. The buttermilk chicken was a portion of fried buttermilk chicken sliced and served with the agave aioli.

After finishing off those dish we ordered three more plates of food. We had calamares with garlic aioli, some hot honey fried halloumi with chilli flakes, and a plate of patatas bravas, fried potatoes, chipotle sauce and garlic aioli.

The calamares were excellent, crunchy on the outside, tender and soft in the inside. I really liked the hot honey fried halloumi which were salty and sweet, but not too squeaky. The  patatas bravas was very tasty, a nice spicy sauce offset by the aioli.

Our final order of food was some hot honey chicken wings, the roasted red pepper salad fresh red pepper salsa, cherry tomatoes, rocket, pumpkin seeds and pineapple dressing.

These were excellent chicken wings, moist and tender and full of flavour. I have found with other places chicken wings can be somewhat dried and overcooked, these were really nice, and I was impressed. The salad was lovely and refreshing and the fresh red pepper salsa had a real zing to it.

We also had some extra portions of the hot honey fried halloumi and the calamares.

Overall the food was good, much better than my previous experience of Las Iguanas. I could not fault the service which was excellent. 

Was this an Ibérico pork cutlet?

I was reflecting on the pork cutlet that I had the Milton Hill House hotel and remembered I had a similar experience at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow. Checking back through the blog I realised I hadn’t written up that meal, though I did write up the conference dinner at the same hotel.

The menu described the pork as an Ibérico pork cutlet.

pork chops

What I actually got was two pork chops, a grilled tomato and some chips. I am not confident that what I got was Ibérico pork. It was tasty and did have a good flavour. I wasn’t that impressed with the slightly chewy rind, I would have probably removed it before cooking.

I think it would have been good to have something green on the plate, but I guess I could have ordered an additional side.

The chips were nice, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

It was okay, but I think it could have been so much better.

Another new Bento Box

It was a Friday in Bristol, wanting lunch I headed off to Finzel Reach street food market.

I went to She Sells Streetfood and went with a bento box and went with the same choice I had last time I was there. This was the Beef Donburi and the Katsu Fries. 

The beef donburi was delicious as always. It’s a fantastic dish with flavourful tender beef in a teriyaki sauce, not overpowering served on rice with pickles, cucumber salad and spring onion garnish.

beef donburi

The Katsu fries are dressed with katsu sauce and furikake seasoning. On top are two crispy pieces of fried chicken.

Katsu fries

This time the chips were hotter than previously, though the chicken was better last time, I think last time it was chicken thigh whereas this time it was chicken breast. I personally prefer chicken thigh for this kind of dish.

As I have written many times, this is one of my favourite street food vendors and the food that Lisa serves is always very tasty.

Grilled Pork Cutlet

Milton Hill House

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my main course I went with the grilled pork cutlet. This was served with salad and chips.

Grilled Pork Cutlet

The plate was served, so I dug in. The pork cutlet was cooked well, it was nice and tender. Wasn’t too sure about the butter it was dressed with, I am guessing it was a garlic and herb butter. For another £3 I could have had a sauce, I always think this is a bit of a scam. If your cutlet (or steak) needs a sauce, then serve a sauce with it. The rind on the cutlet was just chewy and not really edible. I am not sure if the cooking method would actually make it crispy. I would have removed it to be honest.

The dressed salad was nothing to write home about, but it was fresh and zingy. These were described as chips, and these were chips. Crispy on the outside and, for and fluffy on the inside.

In summary it was a nice plate of food. Though it did get me thinking about other pork chops I have had in the past.

Homemade Kung Pao Chicken

Homemade Kung Pao Chicken

I took half a pack of chicken drum fillets and sliced into strips. I then coated the chicken with some gluten free flour.

I fried off the chicken in a wok until crisp and brown.

I removed the chicken from the wok and removed the excess oil from the wok.

To the hot wok I added some stir fry vegetables. When the vegetables were cooked I added a pack of Lee Kum Kee Kung Pao Chicken Stir-Fry Sauce and the cooked chicken.

I served the chicken with some sticky rice.