Time for a coffee

February 24, 2026February 26, 2026

Pasta from La Panza

I have been to La Panza a couple of times now. It is close to my office in Bristol and is an Italian restaurant. They have a £10 lunch deal which consists of pasta, focaccia, and a drink.

I hadn’t planned to go to La Panza, after enjoying the beef brisket from the Little Smoker recently I thought I would head to St Nick’s and get some beef brisket from Low & Slow. As it was a Monday there wasn’t any street food markets at Finzel Reach or Temple Quay, the only real choice for street food is St Nick’s. However upon arrival I found that though Low & Slow had their pulled pork and chicken, they had no beef brisket. I did think about getting some pasta from Grano Pasta Bar. Then I thought to myself, well for the same kind of money I can go to La Panza and have some pasta, but sit down, get served, have a glass of wine, and a slice of focaccia.

So, that’s when I found myself heading back to La Panza for lunch.

In the £10 lunch deal you get the pasta of the day, a slice of focaccia and a drink. There isn’t a choice when it comes to the pasta, but there is a wider menu if you want something different. Or, another choice is the sandwich, a pastry, and a drink for the same £10.

On the day I was there, the pasta of the day was bucatini with a puttanesca sauce. It wasn’t long before my plate of pasta arrived at the table, garnished with freshly grated parmesan.

If you are looking for a huge bowl of pasta, then this isn’t the place for that. This was a perfectly sized portion of pasta for lunch. The pasta was cooked well and the sauce was delicious. I don’t know if the sauce was homemade, but it did not taste as though it was out of a jar, it was fresh and tasty.

This was a lovely plate of pasta, which I enjoyed a lot.

February 23, 2026February 22, 2026

Charlie Bigham’s Thai Panang Chicken Curry

This curry was on special offer at my local Waitrose. It is tender chicken in an aromatic Panang curry sauce with coconut, lime, lemongrass & ginger. It is served with some fragrant rice.

I followed the instruction and cooked the dish in the over for 20-25 minutes.

This was a lovely and mild curry, you could taste the aromatic flavours in there. The chicken was tender and I really enjoyed the whole dish.

February 22, 2026

Little Smoker Beef Brisket

As I mentioned in a previous post, when I was in Bristol recently and I walked to Finzel Reach for some lunch. I was tempted by the Little Smoker who were there again, but when I saw them preparing their food, I was (initially) a little disappointed. So, I went to King Fin and ordered the Fritto Misto.

Now as I waited for my Fritto Misto two people walked past with their Little Smoker meals and they looked really good. So, much so, I will try them out next time they are at a street food market I am at. I realised what I saw, they hadn’t finished putting the dishes together.

So when I was in Bristol last week, I saw that Little Smoker was going to be at the Temple Quay street food market, I made the decision that this time I would got and try their food out.

You create your own dish choosing smoked beef brisket, smoked pulled pork, or they have a vegan option of crispy seitan. Feeling hungry or not sure what to choose they also have beef and pork combo. You can then choose a side of a bun, spiced fries or mac fritters.

You can top of your choice with more mac fritters, cheesy mac fritters, spiced fries or cheesy fries. You also have a choice of sauces to go with your smoked meat.

I went for the beef brisket and some mac fritters.

They did however get my order wrong, serving me fries, I did complain and they then created a bowl of food for me. I was a slightly disappointed to see they left the sliced brisket out, getting cold, but we got there in the end.

In my bowl I had two mac fritters, which was balls of mac and cheese, covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried, there was also shredded lettuce, red cabbage slaw, slices of cucumber, and of course the beef brisket, of which two thick slices were placed on top. I went for the chimichurri sauce to go with my brisket. I think if I had gone with fries I might have gone for bbq.

The beef was tender, not melt in your mouth tender, but certainly not as soft as some beef brisket I have had in the past. Though it had a good flavour, I felt it needed more smokiness. I really liked the mac fritters more so than I thought I would. I wasn’t in the mood for fries, so this was a good choice for me. The salad accompaniments were fresh, but lacked seasoning or dressing. I expected the slaw to really enhance the beef, but it was quite flat.

This was a nice bowl of food, the highlight for me was the mac fritters. I am not sure I would go again, might go and get some mac fritters as a side to something else. Having said that I did enjoy having something different.

February 19, 2026

Charlie Bigham’s Beef Short Rib Ragu with Rigatoni

I have been trying out a few of the Charlie Bigham’s meals. One I tried recently was the Beef Short Rib Ragu with Rigatoni. This was slow-cooked beef in a rich ragu with a fresh herb dressing, topped with Parmesan & served with rigatoni.

I followed the instructions on the packet, though I did cook for a shorter time than indicated, as my oven seems to work too well at times.

I did enjoy the beef ragu, which was intense and had a good flavour. Alas the pasta was slightly overcooked, I am not sure if it arrived like this, or whether my cooking had something to do with it.

I did like this meal, but I think it wouldn’t be one I would get again.

February 18, 2026

Hearty Farmer’s Breakfast

Recently, I pulled into Darts Farm Shop in Topsham, specifically to take advantage of their bank of Tesla chargers. I was heading off into Devon to visit some National Trust properties, but I knew if I got to Darts Farm before 8am I could get a cheaper rate on the Tesla chargers. Having plugged in with a minute or so to spare I headed into the farm shop to grab some coffee and breakfast. I had been up for a couple of hours and had only just had a coffee, before driving off from home towards Devon.

My original plan was for toast and coffee. However, thinking about the day ahead, I thought a good breakfast would be a good plan (and then I probably wouldn’t need to worry about lunch so much.

My first thought was to go for the classic farmer’s breakfast, however for £2 more I could go all hearty and get an extra rasher of bacon, another egg, and some black pudding.

So, I went with the hearty farmer’s breakfast, which was two rashers of bacon, two sausages, two fried eggs, tomato, mushrooms, black pudding & fried bread. I found it intriguing that baked beans was an extra £1.50. I actually prefer my breakfast without beans, so not a problem for me.

As I was one of the first people in the restaurant I didn’t have to wait too long for my breakfast to arrive.This was quite a substantial plate of food.

The eggs were perfectly cooked and freshly cooked too. One of the rashers of bacon was a little overcooked for my, but what I would say about the bacon was that these were quite thick rashers. I was impressed with the black pudding which was full of flavour, but cooked really well, so was still soft. Sometimes I find black pudding can be a little dry, this wasn’t, it was still nice and soft. I really liked the sausages, maybe I was expecting full size versions, and not chipolatas, but even so they were meant and full of flavour. I liked the mushrooms as well. The fried bread was a little disappointing in that it was a little soft, not sure if that was the eggs, but it was proper bread.

This isn’t a cheap breakfast, but the quality was excellent. It was cooked nicely and the flavours were all there. I certainly would have this again the next time I visit Dart’s in the morning.

February 16, 2026

Asian Lamb Stir Fry

One of the things I found at Sainsbury’s once was some thinly sliced lamb breast. It was described as Quick Cook Extra Thin British Lamb Steaks and was only £3. I used the lamb in a teriyaki lamb ramen and it worked well.

I got it again and cooked a simple noodle stir fry.

I cooked the lamb in the wok, when it was cooked I removed it from the wok. I then cooked the stir fried vegetables. I then added the cooked lamb, and some cooked noodles. I added some chow mein sauce. I served the lamb in a bowl and dressed it with some fresh pea shoots.

February 15, 2026

A Flat White at Darts

I’d made my way over to Darts Farm Shop in Topsham to use their bank of Tesla chargers. Once I’d figured out the best angle to get the Funky Cat plugged in, I headed inside to explore.

The shop itself is lovely, filled with so much local produce that I was very tempted to browse. Instead, I made a beeline for the cafe to grab a coffee and kill some time while the car charged up. A nice touch here is that, unlike many other farm shop cafes, they actually offer table service. I had been here before so was use to the process and service.

I ordered a flat white, and it wasn’t long before it arrived.

It was a well made coffee and I really enjoyed it.

February 12, 2026

More Fritto Misto

I went to the Temple Quay Street Food market where there was a lot of choice. However, I defaulted to one of my favourite boxes, the Fritto Misto from King Fin.

This was just as good as the previous boxes of Fritto Misto I have had from King Fin. Delicious fresh seafood cooked to order, with tasty fries on the side.

February 10, 2026February 10, 2026

Of course, I will have the Bento Box

Heading out for lunch on a rather wet Tuesday, myself and my colleagues headed off to the Temple Quay street food market. There are fewer stalls on a Tuesday, but one of my favourites was there, She Sells Streetfood.

I went for my favourite bento box containing the Beef Donburi and the Tan Tan Udon. This was the same combination I had a few times now. As this was a bento box, as well as the Beef Donburi, the Tan Tan Udon came in a smaller cardboard bowl than if you ordered the full size version.

The Tan Tan Udon was udon noodles in a creamy sesame broth with spicy ground pork, Asian greens, spring onions, and crispy chilli.

This was a delight, the creamy smooth broth was brought to life with the pork, the greens, and the chilli added heat. One day I think I will go for the full size version, one day.

The Beef Donburi was slow cooked beef in an oriental sauce on top of sticky rice.

The beef was melt in your mouth tender and was delicious.

I do like this bento box, and I am not surprised that when it comes to choosing lunch, I will more often than not, head for this tasty, delicious bento box.

February 8, 2026

Venetian Espresso

One of the unwritten rules when visiting Venice is that if you drink coffee, and order coffee in the busy tourist areas is you will (probably) get ripped off. Well, you will pay a lot for the coffee compared to other places in Venice.

Though if you are in Venice as a tourist there is something I guess about sitting at a table in the bustle of Piazza San Marco drinking a coffee.

Personally I wasn’t too fussed about that when I was in Venice for the day. What I wanted was a coffee. Having just walked around Campo San Barnaba looking at the Chiesa di San Barnaba where they filmed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I wanted a coffee.

Close by and near Campo Santa Margherita was a small cafe, Panini e Vini da Babbo. I ordered an espresso which was €2.50.

This was an excellent coffee and just what I needed. What was interesting was when I went back later that day I was only charged €1.50 for the same espresso.