jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

January 26, 2026

Slightly happier

I recently blogged about my experience of the set menu at Côte in Marlow. At the end of the day was I happy? Well I wasn’t unhappy. It was a pity there was limited choice for the starter, I had my heart set on the potted crab, and I also liked the sound of the charcuterie. However with the set menu choices it was restricted to the soup and the beetroot. I did enjoy the meal and it was nice to sit down, be served.

It wasn’t an amazing experience, but the food I did have I enjoyed. I thought I might try and give that Côte menu another go. This time though my experience would be at the Côte branch in Ealing. My last experience eating in that branch was very positive.

Overall I did enjoy my food at Côte, the service was excellent, and I had a lovely dining experience. It wasn’t perfect, but it was nice, and with the fixed price menu, I thought it was value for money.

I did write in that blog post about how I feel about the chain.

I kind of have a love hate relationship with the Côte chain of restaurants. I really like French style cooking and the Côte menu has an extensive choice of French inspired dishes. The service at the Ealing branch of Côte has always been excellent. Welcoming, warm and friendly. The food arrives in ample time, and I have never felt rushed. The waiting staff are attentive, but not intrusive. What’s not to like? However, though the food is good, it isn’t excellent, and so I always have to temper my expectations. I like the food, but I wouldn’t say I love the food. I am not entirely sure what they could do to make things better, but I am confident that they could.

Since I wrote that, I did visit Petit Pois in Brighton, which is an amazing little French restaurant where I had some excellent food including a delicious cassoulet, a wonderfully tasty bouillabaisse, and a exquisite skate wing.

So, I kind of know what a great French bistro in the UK can be, Côte is not quite there, but despite that I do enjoy the food and the cooking.

I booked a table through the app and headed off to the restaurant. I was given a friendly and warm welcome and was shown to my table.

On this visit to Côte in Ealing, it was back to the set menu, unlike Marlow, they did have all the starters. This meant I could have the potted crab. The simple basic presentation to me worked well. There was some fresh seeded bread. The potted crab was topped with lobster butter.

The crab was delicious. You really taste the crab in the pot. Sometimes when I have crab based dishes in restaurants, you struggle to taste the crab. When I had the Crab Maison at Côte back in 2023 I said of that dish:

I was hoping for an intense crab flavour, which I felt was missing, and what crab there was, was overpowered by the mayonnaise.

This time you really knew it was crab. I forgot that the butter was a lobster based butter and avoided it. So, not really able to remember what is did taste like. At Marlow they did bring some bread to the table, this time, no bread. Actually I could have done with some more bread, as there was quite a bit of crab in the potted crab.

Having had the steak and frites at Marlow, this time I went with something different and had the sea bream. This was grilled Sea Bream with a sun-dried tomato butter, olive salsa vierge, and sautéed tarragon new potatoes.

This was well presented and was absolutely delicious. There was a real combination of French Mediterranean flavours in the plate of food, from the tomatoes olives and the sun-dried tomato butter. The fish was perfectly cooked, full of flavour and the skin was nice and crispy. I really enjoyed that dish.

Now for the third course. I did think about going down a different road for this course, as I had done for the starter and the main, but I am a sucker for cheese and biscuits, so yes I ordered the cheese and biscuits.

I wasn’t given a choice and my plate arrived with just three cheeses, three different cheeses though. The quince jelly was there, but not crackers. However a portion of bread was provided.

I did feel that the plate looked a little sad and certainly needed something else there, the crackers perhaps would have enhanced the presentation. As it was I prefer bread with my cheese to crackers, though the bread I did get was a little stale.

Overall this experience at Côte Ealing with the set menu was so much better than that at Marlow. They had all the dishes, and the starter and main course were excellent. The cheese like Marlow was disappointing and I must remember in the future to avoid it. Service was warm and friendly.

January 22, 2026

Another Awesome Fritto Misto

The street food scene around where I work in Bristol, is delightful. There are twice weekly markets at Temple Quay and Finzel Reach as well as all the stalls at St Nicks. The organisers of weekly markets always try and have a mix of stalls and types of cuisine.

On a recent visit I had eaten some delicious Fritto Misto from King Fin.

It was awesome. This was a delicious box of food. The freshly cooked squid rings, prawns and (small) fish were really tasty and it was a generous portion. The deep fried sage and courgette was a nice addition. I thought this was an amazing dish and I was well impressed.

However I like to choose different things. Well I say I like to choose different things.

So, when I was recently in Bristol, I went out at lunchtime to the Finzel Reach street food market. I had read who was there and I was really tempted by the brisket at The Little Smoker. They were a new guest addition to the line up. I even looked at their menu, but in the end I actually went with the Fritto Misto from King Fin.

The wonderful box of food I got from King Fin was slightly different to my previous Fritto Misto. It still had the calamari, the prawns, the fish and courgettes, however this time there were some chunks of battered white fish as well.

As before it was awesome, this was all cooked to order, so was hot, fresh, crisp and full of flavour. Every bite was a delight, well nearly I did find eating the prawns a little messy, but they were tasty. I was really pleased that I had gone again with this box of awesome food.

January 20, 2026January 20, 2026

Pasta Bolognaise

I do have a go to recipe when making bolognaise. It has an intense flavours of beef and tomato. One thing I have found is that when using tinned tomatoes and tomato purée that not all are equal and some have better flavour than others. I have to say that my experience with own brand versions haven’t passed the taste test. I usually now use Mutti finely chopped tomatoes when cooking this dish. It has the consistency and intensity of flavour I like when cooking bolognaise.

This version was trying something different, and it wasn’t just the different pasta.

This serves four people.

500g minced beef, I try and get 5% fat mince, otherwise the end result can be a bit greasy. If you do buy the mince with the higher fat content, I would suggest after browning the mince to drain some of the excess fat or oil from the pan before adding the vegetables.

Pancetta

Splash of olive oil

One onion, diced

Handful of mushrooms, chopped

Splash of red wine

Knorr chicken stock pot

Beef stock cube

Tin of Mutti finely chopped tomatoes

Mutti tomato purée

Garlic purée

I usually use a large pan with a lid, for cooking this dish. I heat the pan add the splash of olive oil and then the pancetta. Add the beef mince, and brown off the mince until it is all done. If you have excess fat in the pan then drain the cooked mince and discard the excess oil and fat, then add the mince back to the pan.

Add the onion. After a few minutes add the mushrooms.

Once the onion is soft and cooked, add the tin of tomatoes, the stock pot and stock cube, the garlic purée, tomato purée and the red wine.

Cook for at least 30 minutes on a low heat. The plan is for all the flavours to infuse and for the beef mince to be cooked and tender.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. Add freshly grated Parmesan to taste.

January 19, 2026

The Happiest Menu (well not that happy)

It was a little too early to get to the hotel in London, so decided to stop in Marlow for lunch, planning to eat at the Côte, which had a special January price on their set menu, or as the advert said “The Happiest Menu”. I set the sat nav to get me to Marlow, I had seen they had a branch of Côte and was pretty much on the route to my hotel in London.

Having arrived in Marlow, I drove to a car park. They had a BP Pulse fast charger (read 11 Kw), so after paying for my parking, I put the Funky Cat on charge. It took me a while as though I thought I had a BP Pulse account, I had to set one up. It was priced at 65p kWh, so more expensive than a Tesla charger, but cheaper than most public chargers. I then needed to find the Côte restaurant and discovered on Google Maps it was actually next door to the car park. So, not too far to walk.

I went in and as it was after the lunchtime rush they had plenty of free tables, even so it was still quite busy. So when it came to choose from the menu, I was told they had no potted crab or charcuterie. That left soup or beetroot salad. I decided to go without a starter, well it was lunch, and they did have cheese as a dessert. While I was waiting I was brought some complimentary bread and butter, which I did appreciate.

For my main course I went with the minute steak which came with fries. The steak looked a little anaemic, but the fries looked good.

The steak did in fact have quite a bit of flavour and the fries were hot and crisp. The steak came with a sun dried tomato butter. They did have a special offer of free flowing fries, so they went and brought me another portion of fries as I was close to finishing mine. Overall for steak and frites, it was tasty, and for the special price menu, I thought it was good value for money.

I could have had a dessert, but I went with the cheese, which the menu said came with a choice of four cheeses, but I was told I could only have three. Which I didn’t quibble with. I gave my choice of three, but in the end though I had three portions of cheese, they doubled up as they were out of one of my choices.

I did check the menu later, and I should have had four cheeses. I wasn’t too enamoured with the charcoal crackers so was pleased that they I was given some more bread to have with my cheese. Cheese is cheese and apart from the lack of variety I enjoyed the cheeses I had on the plate, along with the quince jelly.

At the end of the day was I happy? Well I wasn’t unhappy. It was a pity there was limited choice for the starter, I had my heart set on the potted crab, and I also liked the sound of the charcuterie. However with the set menu choices it was restricted to the soup and the beetroot. I did enjoy the meal and it was nice to sit down, be served. Service was good, friendly and efficient.

January 18, 2026

Orecchiette pasta with mushrooms and spinach

I like eating Orecchiette pasta since eating it in London a few years back at the now sadly closed Paesan restaurant close to Exmouth Market. Orecchiette are a pasta typical of the Apulia region of Italy.

I cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. I then in a large frying pan cooked off some pancetta. To this I added some finely chopped red onion (would have probably used brown onion, but I didn’t have any). Once the onion was soft I added some chopped mushrooms.

Once the mushrooms were cooked, I added a splash of white wine. I reduced the wine and then mixed in some crème fraîche. I added the cooked pasta and served with some freshly grated parmesan and toasted pine nuts.

January 4, 2026January 4, 2026

Waitrose No.1 Free Range Turkey Bauble

I generally post what we had for Christmas lunch in the main for me, so I can recall for next year (and the years ahead).

This year I had gone down a different strategy about what to buy and cook and went out on Christmas Eve to see what had been reduced. My plan had been to go to Aldi, but my local branch had almost nothing left. There was a goose, but it hadn’t been reduced.

So, later I went to Waitrose to see if they had anything I could get. They actually had a large quantity of reduced turkey roasts, turkeys, and some goose as well.

The Waitrose No.1 Free Range Turkey Bauble was reduced from £50 down to £25.

Fresh class A free range skin-on turkey breast, with a pork, mixed dried fruit and rum stuffing, wrapped with dry cured smoked streaky bacon, topped with a candied orange slice, rosemary and bay leaves, with a sachet of honey and orange glaze and salted butter.

This was actually the cheapest of the turkey options, so I went with that.

On the big day, I followed the cooking instructions and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t that impressed. The turkey was a little dry, and the shape wasn’t quite a bauble. Due to the nature of the presentation, there was quite a bit of string around the bauble. I wasn’t exactly sure how to carve the bauble; from the box it looked like you cut it like a cake. I did not think a chunk of turkey was a nice as a decent slice. The stuffing was interesting, but I couldn’t really taste the rum, didn’t actually realise there was rum until I started writing this. I liked the idea of the honey and orange glaze, but not sure if it worked.

Overall, I really wasn’t that happy with the turkey bauble. I really liked the concept, and I thought it would make an impressive centre piece of our Christmas Day lunch. In reality I carved it on the side of the kitchen, and it didn’t actually make it to the table. It didn’t look anything like the picture on the side of the box. I certainly would not have paid £50 for it. Even at £25 I think I felt cheated. So much so that I nearly took advantage of Waitrose’s money back guarantee.

Would I get it again, no.

January 3, 2026

Mokoko Mortadella Sandwich

It was a nice sunny day, so I headed to Portishead to have a walk around the marina and I also stopped for coffee.

I went for a coffee and a sandwich at the Mokoko Bakery. I went for a flat white and an interesting mortadella, pistachio, and mozzarella focaccia sandwich.

Though I have had cakes and pastries from the Mokoko Bakery, however this was my first sandwich from the bakery.

It was an interesting sandwich, with thin slices of mortadella, fresh mozzarella, and some chopped pistachio. The bread was quite oily, so much so, I needed more napkins to wipe my hands with. The sandwich was nice and fresh and you could tell it had been made that morning.

I enjoyed the sandwich and the coffee was great as well.

January 1, 2026January 2, 2026

Time for a Coffee: Top Ten Blog Posts 2025

In 2025 I published 147 posts, sightly less than in 2024. In 2024 I wrote 153 blog posts. In 2023 I wrote and published 187 blog posts. Less than in 2022 when I wrote 236 blog posts. In 2021 I wrote 107 blog posts, in 2020 it was 120. In 2019 it was 58 blog posts, 2018 just 36.

My post about when it was Lidl French Week back in 2020 was the tenth most popular blog post.

The ninth most popular blog post in 2025 was a review of the Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages that Lidl sold.

My post on the Schwartz seasoning was the post at eight, Citrus Brazilian BBQ is back!

My seventh most popular post, was my review of some Lidl Sol Mar Cod Croquettes.

The post at number six was about Retro Ice Cream from the 1970s and 1980s.

The fifth most popular blog post in 2025 was about the time I had the Pollo Cacciatore at Bella Italia.

The post at four was news this year that Bunsik was coming to Bristol.

I enjoy coffee and people enjoyed the third most popular blog post, which was Well I enjoyed that coffee.

In second was a post on the Shiitake Mushroom Donburi I had at Wagamama.

The most popular blog post in 2025 was about the festive Slow Cooked Rolled Pork Belly Porchetta from Aldi I had last Christmas.

I nearly bought it again this year after Christmas when Aldi reduced it to just £7.99.

December 29, 2025December 27, 2025

How much for a flat white?

I walked to Caffé Nero in Weston-super-Mare and had a skinny flat white. Thanks to the 3+ app I was able to get my coffee for £1. I realised that the full price would be £4.05. I do feel that coffee shop coffee seems to have risen quite a bit in recent years. It use to be a £2 coffee from what I can remember, okay maybe £2.75. I recently complained about the £4.25 I paid for a crap flat white from Starbucks at the NEC, I would say that this flat white from Caffé Nero was in a different league. It was well made and had the right texture and a great coffee flavour. I do have to remember that complaining about high prices and how much better things were in the past, is an old person type behaviour. I am getting older, but I also think that I if I am spending money on coffee, I want value for money. I did wonder if I would pay £4.05 for the flat white I had, I think I would, but I wouldn’t do it very often.

December 28, 2025December 27, 2025

Ribeye Steak

I was in Birmingham for a conference and I was staying at the Novotel, a hotel I have stayed at before. They have a restaurant and there is menu, of what most people would call typical hotel food.

I went with the ribeye steak, which came with fries, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, and a peppercorn sauce.

It was well presented, though I think I needed something green on the plate, watercress perhaps. The accompaniments were nice, I liked the sauce. The steak was cooked to my liking, but I was hoping for more flavour, it certainly needed more seasoning. I guess I was expecting more of a chargrill flavour to the steak. Overall I guess I was a little disappointed with the plate.

Service was excellent though, friendly and efficient.