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Nachos Queso

Easyjet A320

When I usually go to Tortilla, I usually go with the tres tacos. However when I was recently at Bristol Airport waiting for my flight, and feeling peckish, I decided I would visit Tortilla, but this time have something different and ordered a portion of Nachos Queso.

These are tortilla chips, cheese sauce, guacamole, and salsa. Though I did ask for some sour cream on mine as well.

I wasn’t excepting anything special, as this was Tortilla, and this was fast food. Having said that I did wonder if they were a little mean with the toppings and I would end up with a bowl of dry tortilla chips! However, I was pleasantly surprised that the provided toppings were ample for the portion of tortilla chips. I was also pleasantly surprised of how nice the food was. The combination of the cheese sauce, guacamole, and the salsa worked well, and was rather tasty, zingy, but not too spicy. You can have added jalapeños if you want more heat.

Overall it was just what I wanted, a nice snack, something different, something that wasn’t a sandwich and something tasty. I got all that and was pleased with the food.

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What is tteokbokki?

pack of tteokbokki

Having seen tteokbokki as part of the M&S stir fry deal, I did wonder what they were having never seen (or heard of) them before.

Looking online I saw that tteokbokki (떡볶이) are a popular Korean dish made primarily from soft, chewy, cylindrical rice cakes (called garae-tteok or tteokbokki-tteok) simmered in a rich, flavourful sauce. It’s one of Korea’s most beloved street foods, known for its addictive sweet, savoury, and often spicy taste.

I was intrigued. So the next time I bought the stir fry deal I got the tteokbokki as that part of the deal.

I cooked them separately before adding them to the veg and protein. They were a nice change from rice or noodles, somewhat chewy in texture, but I liked them.

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Back to Nuova Italia

veal chop

Having had a really nice meal at Nuova Italia in Ilchester, we had already decided if and when we got the chance, we would visit again. What was nice, was a week later after spending the day in Plymouth, on our trip home, we made a detour via Ilchester to make a second visit to Nuova Italia.

There are so many tasty items on the menu, I was tempted by the risotto, and the pasta. I also thought about having another pizza again. However, I decided I would try something different and went for the veal chop, which was cooked with garlic butter and white wine.

It’s not something I have had before, so was intrigued what it would be like. My daughter, went with the gluten free Pizza Boss. She enjoyed it last time and wanted to have it again.

The chop looked amazing, and was served with an order of fries. I think salad might have been a better option. The veal was tender and delicious and I really enjoyed it. I’ve not had a veal chop before and so was intrigued by what it would be like. It wasn’t as deep as flavour as you get with a steak, more like a pork chop. It was really nice, but I don’t think it would be something I would order again.

It was a really nice meal and as before we had excellent service. Looking forward to a future visit.

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Wagamama at Nottingham

It was one of those times when I thought to myself, what do I want to eat, I will go with something I know and like, it’s getting late and all that. I was staying in Nottingham for a conference and having arrived the day before, I headed out to get something to eat. I chose Wagamama as I do like the food and the restaurant was relatively close to my hotel as well. I had looked on Google Maps before heading to Nottingham to see what was around, but the few places I looked at were not open on a Monday night.

Wagamama was heaving and I had to wait for a table, normally I prefer not to wait, but I did think all I probably would do would be walk around a bit and then end up back at Wagamama. I was a little surprised on how busy it was, this was the end of June on a Monday. All the students would have “gone home” and I would be surprised there would be that many visitors around compared to July or August.

After waiting for a short while I was shown to my table. I had missed out on lunch so was quite hungry, so I ordered the chilli squid, pork + panko apple bao buns, and yasai yaki soba. Despite the busyness or the place, it wasn’t too long before my food arrived.

The chilli squid, is Wagamama’s iconic crispy fried squid tossed in shichimi spice, and served with a chilli + coriander dipping sauce. 

squid

This was lovely generous portion of crispy squid. They’ve stopped doing the crispy chilli mushrooms which I may have ordered as an alternative. I did think about having the hot honey fried chicken, but went with the squid; I do like the squid and it was nice and tasty.

The next dish to arrive was the pork + panko apple bao buns, which was two buns, that contained slow-cooked pork belly with crispy panko-coated apple, sriracha and vegan mayo, topped with coriander.

I would usually have the mixed mushroom bao buns, I also thought about trying out the korean barbecue beef, but I liked the sound of the pork and apple buns. The pork was tender and soft, which contrasted well with the crispy apple.

My main dish was a regular choice of mine, the yasai yaki soba. This is mushrooms,  soba noodles cooked with egg, peppers, beansprouts, onion, pickled ginger, crispy fried onions and sesame seeds.

I think it needed more mushrooms. The amount of mushroom in this dish is rather inconsistent when I have this dish, which surprises me. Despite the lack of mushrooms, it was a very tasty dish and I enjoyed it.

Overall the food I had was very tasty and rather filling. I don’t think I really should have two side dishes with my main course, but it is hard then to choose just one. Maybe next time I will just have side dishes instead.

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Pizza in Ilchester

So, we went for a walk in Ilchester and ended up eating pizza. I’ve never been there before and we hadn’t planned to stop in Ilchester, it was merely an act of convenient desperation.

We were travelling back from Bournemouth and my electric car was running low on charge, I had planned to stop at a charger in Yeovil but couldn’t find a charger using the in-built navigation in the car. My daughter got her phone out and on Google Maps found one in Ilchester ten miles further up the road. We drove there. I did expect that there would be more chargers in Yeovil, but was frustrated that there didn’t seem to be many. There was a single charger in the car park. We stopped there and put the car on charge. We went for a walk. We found the Nuova Italia restaurant, they have a outside patio and people seemed to be enjoying themselves. They also have a table out the front with food and drinks on show.

My daughter liked the sound of the menu, and they did a good range of gluten free stuff, all their pizzas could be made with a gluten free base, and gluten free pasta was also an option.

We walked in and were given a lovely warm welcome. We sat down and looked at the menu. My daughter went with a gluten free Pizza Boss, this was a gluten free base with San Marzano tomato sauce, Fior Di Latte mozzarella cheese, roasted chicken and pancetta from Valtellina.

I had the Pizza Napoli. This was a white base mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, Fior Di Latte mozzarella cheese, Tuscan Italian sausage and friarielli spicy vegetables from Naples.

They have a wood fired pizza oven and our pizza were cooked to order. It wasn’t long before our pizzas arrived. My daughter’s pizza looked wonderful. I have to say I didn’t think mine looked as nice.

My daughter said of her pizza, it was one of the best she ever tasted, the gluten free base was different to others she has had at other restaurants. 

Mine, despite the appearance was in fact rather tasty. I have a preference for the white base pizza, the sausage was delicious and the friarielli, a kind of broccoli added to the pizza.

Overall the meal was delicious, the service was excellent, it was good value for money and I think we would certainly visit again.

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Portobello at Rudy’s Pizza

I was up in Nottingham and myself and some colleagues went out for dinner. We went to Rudy’s Pizza. They have branches across the country, but despite this, I hadn’t come across them before.

They cook authentic Neapolitan Pizza and there were quite a few choices on the menu. I do like a white pizza so I had the Portobello pizza as a white pizza, which is portobello mushroom, oregano, sea salt, and garlic oil. 

It was cooked in a proper pizza oven and was delicious.

Looking over the menu I think I might have added some fresh mozzarella and truffle oil to my pizza as extras, but even so what I got I really liked.

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Duck with lentils and sausages

Duck and lentils

When I was in France back in March I stocked up with some cans of what I would call cassoulet but actually were a variety of tins with duck or sausages, some with lentils, some with beans. One of these was a tin of Saucisses de Montbéliard et lentilles cuisinées.

Saucisses de Montbéliard  is a traditional French smoked sausage, which I suspect tastes even better if it was cooked from fresh, and didn’t come from a tin! However, I just had the tin, so didn’t really have a choice.

The duck legs I had cooked earlier that week, so was just heating them up in the oven. I think the “proper” way to cook these would be to confit them, but I didn’t have the time, and more importantly I am not actually sure how to confit. Must look that up at some point. I heated up the contents of the can in a pan for around five minutes.

I put the lentils in a large bowl and added the duck legs.

The duck was not as tender as I would have liked, but they were still tasty. I really enjoyed the lentils, and the sausages were actually quite good. I think, when I go back to France, I will get some more of these.

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Bao Buns at Paddington

Paddington Station

Having arrived at Paddington, I headed to Market Halls for lunch. This is a new place in the Paddington Square development. There are various places now to find somewhere to eat. Market Halls at Paddington is one of four halls across London, but this was my first visit to any of them. They consist of a range of street food stalls with common tables. A great place to go and eat if no one know what they want, or people want different things. Lots of choice including bao buns, tacos, curry, and burgers. On a previous visit when I was there, I went to From The Ashes Parrilla, which is an Argentinian grill place. I had the grilled picanha steak with fries.

This time I went to Bao and had two bao buns. I placed my order, took at seat and waited for the buzzer to go off. It wasn’t long

I had the Beef BAO, beef short rib, gherkin, and Sichuan mayo.

The beef was rich and deeply flavoured, and the gherkin and mayo added a nice contrast. The bao bun was soft and fluffy.

My second was the Fried Chicken BAO, soy milk marinated chicken, golden kimchi, coriander, hot sauce, and Sichuan mayo.

The bao bun was different, halved and toasted. The fried chicken was moist and tender with a nice crispy coating. I liked the golden kimchi.

These weren’t the best bao buns I have had, but they were tasty and I thought reasonable for £9 for the pair of them.

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Belgian Fish and Chips

I have visited Belgium quite a few times over the years, we went to Ostend a lot when I was a child.  When I did some college trips to Amsterdam in the 1990s we obviously travelled by coach through Belgium, we also stopped at Bruges, which I am planning to visit again in the future.  Last year on the way back from Germany we stopped for a flying visit to Ghent. We had thought about visiting Brussels, but time was against us.

This week I was in Brussels for a couple of in-person meetings. I had caught the Eurostar from St Pancras, having travelled up to London from Weston to Paddington. I find it quite amazing that the train from London to Brussels takes just two hours. Having made my way across Brussels using the metro I checked into my hotel, the Marriott Courtyard EU.

My plan was to walk into the centre of Brussels, find a bistro and have a nice meal. The reality was that it was pouring with rain and I didn’t really want to get soaked for the sake of a meal. So, that was why I ended up in the hotel restaurant. There isn’t a huge choice on the menu, but I think that’s a good thing, for me it meant that the food was freshly prepared and cooked to order.

I did consider the steak, but at €39 was a little on the expensive side. I did consider the octopus dish, but wasn’t really in the mood for it. So, I went with the fish and chips. I know I can hear you saying, but you were in Brussels and you went with that English staple of fish and chips. Well, the menu did say Belgian fries, so maybe something different.

I was a little surprised, but pleased to be presented with a complimentary starter of a potato rosti topped with salmon.

I also was provided with a bread roll and butter. The plate arrived and I thought it was very cleverly presented.

An open paper parcel was filled with chips, three pieces of battered fish, peas, and a scattering of deep fried herbs. On the side was a portion of tartare sauce.

The chips was nice, crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy inside. The batter on the fish was crisp, and the fish was cooked just right. I really enjoyed the dish and it was all very tasty. It would have been probably more interesting to go with the octopus or one of the other dishes, but in the end I was pleased with my choice and it was all rather tasty.