jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

November 8, 2013

Eat beautiful?

I hadn’t heard or seen an itsu restaurant or shop before, but I was out in Oxford and found their branch on Cornmarket Street. They have been in London for a while, since 1999 according to the website.

The blurb says

The early pioneers of Pret are the creative force behind itsu.

Years of listening and reacting to customers encouraged us to build a new type of food place dedicated to skinny but delicious food; sixty two dishes- light, green and good for you.

Apparently the secret to Pink Floyd’s breathtaking music is as much about what they left out as what they put in; a bit like itsu, less fat, more bounce.

There was a lot of choice and within the different types of food on offer lots of variation. It was quite difficult to decide on what to choose.

The salads looked great, well presented, as did the sushi. The food looked fresh and inviting. The shelves were well stocked and there was a lot of choice.

I was tempted by a box of sushi, but as the weather outside was cold and wet, I went with the chicken and rice “potsu”. It is described as chargrilled chicken, ithai sauce, kombu relish, brown + wild rice & seven veg.

It was rather nice, filling and tasty. The chargrilled chicken was full of flavour, and the vegetables were fresh and had a nice crunch. The sauce was very spicy and in some ways I could see how some people might find it overpowering, but I did like it. It was nice to eat something very different for lunch, something that wasn’t a sandwich or the ubiquitous panini.

It was an interesting environment in which to eat, there were raised communal tables with high stools. It certainly is a good place to go if you are in a group, and I am sure in a place like Oxford with lots of students they are trying to attract that market. The decor and colours are best described as bright and colourful, very different from the dark and wood you find in coffee shops.

I enjoyed the food, quite liked the environment and was inspired by the menu. I will certainly go again.

October 15, 2013

I rarely go with the chicken

When I go out to eat I rarely go with the chicken, not that I don’t like chicken, on the contrary I cook it a lot when I am at home, as you can see I have written a lot about it on the blog. The main reason I don’t choose chicken is that, it is something I do cook at home and where possible when eating out I prefer to go with something I don’t normally cook at home. I also don’t choose chicken is that often the dish is chicken in some kind of sauce, or topped with stuff. In these dishes, the chicken is not the star of the dish, merely playing a bit part to the sauce. Another reason I don’t choose the chicken, is that generally the chicken used in restaurants is bland and lacks flavour, at home I usually go with thighs and legs as they have more flavour.

So even I was little surprised with myself when I recently had dinner at the Brasenose Arms in Cropredy and I chose the chicken.

I will say it wasn’t my first choice, I did in fact want to have the roasted pork belly that was on the specials board, but that had sold out. So I chose the chicken, pan fried with lemon and oregano and served with crushed rosemary new potatoes and green beans, it was priced at £9.95.

The chicken was delicious, beautifully cooked and full of flavour, I liked the combination of lemon and oregano. I have to admit I was less impressed with the potatoes, they were nice, but were a little dry for me. I enjoyed the green beans. Overall I was really pleased with the dish, it was tasty, fresh and cooked with style and flair.

I liked the ambinance and friendly service that I had, I will certainly go again if I have the chance.

October 7, 2013

Crab Cake Salad

Taking lunch at Frankie and Benny’s and wanting something rather light, I went with the Crab Salad.

The menu describes it as “Our large oven baked crab cake served on a bed of mixed leaves with tomato, roasted red pepper and onion, tossed in our sweet chilli dressing with half a chargrilled lemon on the side.”

I was really interested to see how this was going look and taste, I did initially expect a heavy crab cake, with more potato than crab. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the crab cake was made in the main with crab. There was a good flavour and texture, I liked the subtle crispness on the outside, the soft textured inside.

I did enjoy the salad, though I think if I was going to have this again I would ask for no dressing. The sweet chilli dressing was a little too sticky and sweet for me. I think I would have preferred olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I was slightly disappointed with the salad when writing this review as the menu description talks about roasted red peppers, and there were no red peppers. I hadn’t noticed when I was eating it, so didn’t complain at the time. I didn’t see the point of the chargrilled lemon, why chargrill it, it didn’t add anything and it didn’t really need it.

I liked the crab cake, and enjoyed the dish, I would order it again.

September 23, 2013

So what about the food?

In one of my previous blog posts I talked about the quality of the service at a recent visit to Bell Italia, so what about the food?

Well my wife had ordered the Formaggio di Capra, which is described on the menu as melting goat’s cheese and red pepper tapenade on giant ciabatta croutons, with baby spinach, rocket, green beans, caramelised onions, roasted red peppers, olives and fresh basil in a rosemary balsamic dressing.

This she really enjoyed, it was a really nice dish. She let me try one of the ciabatta croutons, It had lots of flavour and I liked the combination of flavours and textures. The salad was fresh and colourful.

I had ordered the Double Americano this was two chargrilled Aberdeen Angus beef burgers with baby gem, tomatoes, red onion and mayonnaise.

The last time I had a burger at Bella Italia it was really good, to tasted great, so my expectations were quite high. Alas it was slightly overdone, not so much to send it back (what with the service we had been getting, I didn’t really see the point) but enough to slightly mar the enjoyment of the dish.

My son went with a dish he had before, Gamberoni, described on the menu as eight succulent king prawns sautéed with spaghetti, garlic and chilli in a spicy pomodoro sauce.

He really enjoyed the dish, the pasta was cooked well, still al dente and not overcooked, the sauce was tomatoey and nice and spicy. He also got a lot more than eight prawns, however they were pre-cooked and not done as described in the menu, or how he had them before. As before it wasn’t reason enough to send the dish back, he also really enjoyed eating it.

Overall the food was okay, it could have been better, but as I mentioned in my previous blog post, the real issue for us with the meal was the service.

September 15, 2013January 6, 2020

Pret A Manger Italian Chicken Salad

I’ve not really frequented Pret A Manger in the past, when I have been looking for coffee or somewhere to eat, I usually eliminated the chain as it was more of a sandwich shop and less a place to while away a hour over lunch, or before a meeting. Also if I am going to a coffee place, I like a real cup, not cardboard. As Pret seems to be more suited to the takeaway market this didn’t match my needs. Also in the places I have worked or visited there hasn’t been a Pret, so then it wasn’t even an option.

Now I am working in a different city and quite liking the idea of a salad for lunch, as I ventured down one of the main shopping streets I saw Pret A Manger and went hmmm, I wonder if they do some nice salads. They had a really nice selection, all looking very fresh, well presented and with a good choice of ingredients in each salad. After looking over the choice, I went with the Italian Chicken Salad.

This consisted of “grilled” chicken, selection of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, pistachio nuts, red pepper and a small tub of dressing. It tasted fresh, had flavour and the overall experience was very nice and tasty. I thought it was good value at £4.25 and would certainly have it again.

September 12, 2013

Now that’s not what I call service!

Maybe I am just getting old, or maybe I am getting more demanding, or maybe I just expect politeness and respect. We recently made a visit to Bella Italia at Cribbs, it’s somewhere we go quite often and in the past have had really nice meals and excellent service.

Our most recent visit though the lack of service, has really put us off visiting again. I did complain to head office and they did send a response, which I was satisfied with.

The main thrust of my complaint was that we as customers were seen as an inconvenience and were getting in the way of people doing their jobs. One example was that we weren’t shown to the table we had booked, but told it “was over there”. It wasn’t as though the place was busy, in fact quite the opposite it was virtually empty. It would have taken less than 30 seconds to escort us to our table, not much effort, but as a result a much nicer experience for us.

Here’s another example, as we waited for our food, by this time there were more people in the restaurant, the place started to fill with smoke from the grill. It wasn’t very pleasant as you might imagine.

As there was more smoke, people who hadn’t ordered started to get up and leave.One of the waiting staff did come and give us an explanation, what she said was “they had to leave the back door open as they were having a delivery, and this was blowing smoke through the restaurant”.

For me this isn’t good enough. The explanation implies that to happens often, so why not schedule deliveries earlier in the day, rather than over the peak lunchtime period? Also rather than leave the door open, why not have a member of staff at the door, who will open as and when needed to reduce the amount of smoke. You know why that didn’t happen? As it was easier to prop the door open!

Sometimes it is the little things that can make a big difference. I should point out that there were other things that we weren’t happy with during our visit including some quite dangerous serving of hot drinks, that culminated with me filling in the web feedback form when we got home.

More importantly it has made us decide that we probably won’t go there again, which says a lot.

September 5, 2013

Sunday Lunch at the Summerhouse

The Summerhouse

The Summerhouse in Weston-super-Mare is probably the place I visit most often, the reasons for this are geographical, historical and habit. It is currently owned by the Marstons chain so uses a corporate menu, though they also usually have a range of specials available too.

Though the quality of the food has fluctuated over the years, however the service has always been really good, friendly and genuine. The food is typical pub grub, nothing awful, but nothing really special, just good food, cooked well, served with a smile. They also, as they are a pub, usually have a nice range of beers on tap.

A last minute decision meant that we decided to go out for Sunday lunch and after a little hesitation and decision making, we chose the Summerhouse. The decor and furniture is quite stereotypically pub like, dark wood, dark carpets, brass fittings. You know that the place is a pub, but the internal layout means that the “actual” pub bit is on the ground floor, whilst there is a nearly separate restaurant area on the first floor (and on a mezzanine).

The menu is full of typical pub menu choices, stuff that is placed on the grill, dropped into a deep fat fryer or bunged into a microwave! Not that I expect much moe than that with this kind of place. My wife went with the pie, my son chose fish and chips, I perused the menu and plumped for the Sunday lunch which was a reasonable £7.15.

As we were quite early, for a Sunday, the food arrived promptly, I had a huge plate, covered in vegetables, a portion of cauliflower cheese in its own little dish, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, a small jug of gravy and a large Yorkshire Pudding. It took me a while to find the roast beef that was on the bottom of the plate. I did initially feel that the portion of beef was a little on the small side, but when you consider the price and the large quantities of vegetables perhaps it wasn’t so small after all.

I was hoping that this was going to be fresh hand carved beef, alas I was to be disappointed, it had been sliced on an electric slicer! The beef itself was tender and had some flavour, but nothing special. Certainly a lot better than a lot of the beef, you usually find in “cheap” roast beef dinners. The vegetables were nice, the cauliflower cheese was a nice touch. According to the menu, you can have “unlimited” roasties and vegetables, however it wasn’t very clear about how you would get more veg and roasties. Having said that, and as pointed out to me by my wife, the portions you get to start with are quite large and generous, so you would need to be really hungry to actually want more veg. When you consider that a roast beef dinner at a supermarket cafe, where y queue up to order is usually in the £4.95 price bracket, I do think that the Summerhouse meal was good value for money.

We did enjoy our meal, my son polished off the fish and chips, and my wife really enjoyed her pie. The service was excellent and friendly.

September 4, 2013

Down at the Portivo Lounge

The last time I went to the Portivo Lounge on the quayside at Gloucester I sat outside, on a more recent visit, we sat inside and I was able to appreciate the internal decor. Every Lounge branch is different, unlike other chains where they work hard to ensure that all their branches look alike. The concept behind the interior is to reflect the location in the decor. As the Portivo Lounge is by the docks, they have gone with a maritime theme, which works quite well. The lighting for example appears to be have been taken from the corridors of a large ship (or a submarine). The furniture across the Lounge is all very different, reclaimed probably, but comfortable. I did like the look, it was calm and comfortable and it is certainly somewhere, where you could sit for a while chatting with friends, or working on something.

As for the food and the coffee, I did enjoy my coffee and though you order at the bar, they at least bring it to your table, rather than waiting around for it to be made and then spilt as you try and find somewhere to sit. I’ve not eaten at Portivo Lounge, and I probably won’t have the chance now, but the food did look good as it was taken out to other people.

The place appears quite popular, very full at lunchtimes, and even mid afternoon, when we were there it was buzzing, so it must be doing something right.

August 20, 2013

Siam Angel Cafe, Bristol

Down on St George’s Road in Bristol, next to Brunel House is an old house containing an interesting fusion of a cafe, a coffee shop and a Thai restaurant. Is this a coffee shop or a Thai cafe? I’m not sure, and I wonder if even if the owners are sure.

The menu combines a range of coffee, all day breakfasts and some delicious sounding Thai food. So alongside the Pad Thai you can have fried eggs on toast with a bacon roll? The coffee, even with the regular choice of latte, espresso and so on, was not tempting at all, as it all appeared to come out of a vending style machine. On the counter was a wide selection of pre-packaged biscuits, chocolate and cakes. I didn’t notice any homemade or fresh cakes, but I may have missed them.

We were though coming for dinner, so we went for the Thai food and ordered a mixed platter starter. For our mains I went for the Prawn Pad Thai, my wife had the Prawn Kaeng Kari and my son went with the Sweet and Sour Chicken. My two youngest children decided they wanted sausages and chips!

The mixed platter consisted of prawn toast, filo wrapped prawns, spring rolls, sweetcorn fritter with a salad garnish. This wasn’t particularly inspiring. The food was deep fried and rather greasy, the individual parts lacked flavour.

The children’s food arrived first and looked really good, the sausages looked like proper sausages, the chips were properly cooked. Alas though I thought the sausages were fine, the children didn’t really enjoy their food, which was a pity.

My son’s Sweet and Sour Chicken looked very nice, he really enjoyed it, though I didn’t try it, I did think it looked a little too sugary and sticky. It was beautifully presented and was made using fresh ingredients, nicely cut up and presented.

My Pad Thai was also well presented with a good portion of prawns, I liked the touch of a slice of lime and chilli flakes on the side. It was cooked well, nice noodles, fresh prawns, crunchy carrot and beansprouts. It was full of flavour and was really nice.

The Prawn Kaeng Kari came in a bowl complete with jasmine rice on the side (in the shape of a star) and looked very nice. It was really fresh and tasty and full of flavour. The only downside was that I thought it was more soup than a curry, as it lacked substance.

The Thai chicken dishes are all priced at £4.99, whilst the prawn dishes are £5.99. I think this is really good value for freshly cooked and well presented food. There are vegetarian versions of some of the dishes, in the main using tofu.

If you are thinking about going there for dinner, you should note that it closes at 7pm and as for the weekends, it closes at 4pm on Saturdays and isn’t open on Sundays. There is no licence, so you can bring your own wine, or buy a beer from the pub next door!

Overall I liked the Siam Angel Cafe, the food was great, the decor was nice, it was a nice place to go out and eat Thai food. I am not so sure though if it works as a coffee place.

August 12, 2013

Grilled Beef Skirt

I bought some beef skirt a while ago, in the main to make a pie or a stew. In the end it went into the freezer.

With the recent warm weather and using the barbecue a lot more I decided to try something different.

I took the beef skirt and placed it on a bed of root vegetables in a roasting tray and put it in a medium oven for about 80-90 minutes. The plan was that as this cut of beef wasn’t suitable for quick cooking on the barbecue, I would slow roast it first, before finishing it off on the barbecue.

The beef was cooked for about ten minutes on each side on the barbecue. The end result was then left to rest for a further ten minutes.

I then sliced it thinly and served it with salad and pitta bread.

I was pleasantly surprised, some great flavours and as I hoped it was also very tender and delicious.