Author: jamesclay

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Rigatoni Carbonara from the Grano Pasta Bar

The other day when I was visiting the Bristol Harbour Festival I saw that there was a new food stall in St Nick’s market. It was a pasta stall; it replaced the Chilli Daddy stall. I thought to myself I wouldn’t mind trying that. I use to avoid pasta in restaurants as more often than not it was overcooked and too soft. However more recently I have had better experiences.

So, needing lunch a few days later I headed off to the Grano Pasta Bar to try out their pasta. I don’t think I have ever had pasta from a street food stall before, so this was a new experience for me. In the back of the stall, you could see them making and forming the fresh rigatoni pasta.

All the pasta was cooked to order and they had about six choices. I went with the carbonara, other choices included pesto and ragu.

You could watch them cook the food. After a short while my box of pasta was ready and I took a seat to eat it.

This was not a huge portion, but perfect for a light lunch. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and I have to say that the carbonara sauce looked and tasted authentic, no cream here.

My only criticism was that I thought it was a little too salty. I realise that the guanciale is cured and salty, but I think overall the dish was little over seasoned for me. However, would I go again, I think I probably will.

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Fillet Steak and Fries

The other day when I was visiting the Bristol Harbour Festival I was wondering if there were going to be some interesting food stalls. I have noticed at previous festivals that sometimes the food stalls can be a pile them high, sell them cheap type of festival food stall, and often local Bristol stalls can’t be seen.

If you take paella, on previous occasions there have been stalls with massive paella pans selling paella by the box, but compared to the paella from Riceminster, the festival stalls are selling a much inferior product and at a more expensive price. Having said that in the past, there have been some gems within the food stalls in the festival. This year it felt like there were a lot less food stalls at the festival. I did have a look around and one that did stick out for me and was tempting was the Flying Fillet stall in the heart of Queen’s Square.

They are Malvern based so not local, but they looked like they were selling a quality product. After wandering around the festival and seeing what else was available, I headed over to Queen’s Square and looked over the menu, as well as the fillet steak they also sold chicken wings as well. Though the beef fillet loaded fries sounded tasty, and I also quite liked the idea of some chicken wings, I went with the beef fillet and fries.

It as a popular stand so I had to wait a while for my food. What I got was a tin foil tray of seasoned fries topped with slices of medium rare fillet steak. The loaded version would have included asian slaw, chimichurri and chipotle mayo, but it was also another £3 on top.

The steak was very tender and easy to eat, which is ideal for street food where you only have a wooden fork. The chips were well seasoned, probably a little too well seasoned for me. The whole dish was quite salty and I think I would have preferred it to be made with less salt.

At £15 this was usually a lot more then I would normally pay for street food. The prices had been inflated by around £2 for this event, I suspect to pay for the high cost of the pitch. So, this was a dish I was happy with whilst attending the festival, I don’t think this would be something I would have for a lunch within the week.

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Honey Fried Chicken and Chicken Pho

After an appointment in Bristol we headed to Wagamama in Cabot Circus. Now I thought to myself I don’t think I have eaten at this branch before. However going through my photos using the Map feature in Apple Photos I discovered we had gone there in May 2022 and I hadn’t been impressed with the service back then.

As for the service, I was less than impressed. I know at Wagamama the food arrives when it is ready, so dishes won’t be served together. Normally I am alright with this, but this time the first two dishes arrived quite quickly, the other two took much longer to be served. By the time the final dish arrived, we had nearly finished our food. We ordered some more drinks, and they spent a lot of time on the bar, before they were brought to the table. There appeared to be a fair few staff. I think part of the issue was they were being inundated with online takeaway orders which was swamping the kitchen.

I have to say this time the service was so much better. My usual visits to Wagamama are when I am travelling or if eating locally, I find myself at the branch at Cribbs Causeway more so than Cabot Circus.   A lot of the places I would normally have eaten at when visiting Cabot have either closed down or have become something else. 

I went with a main course and a side dish. I decided I would definitely go with dishes I had not had before. I do like the food from Wagamama, but a lot of the time I order the same thing, I really like their yasai yaki soba and eat that a lot when I visit Wagamama. This time I wanted different things, also there were some new items on the menu.

For my side dish I went with the hot honey fried chicken with yuzu. This was chicken coated in hot honey + yuzu sauce, topped with mixed pickles and served with a zesty vegan mayo on the side.

hot honey fried chicken with yuzu

For my main dish I with the new pho – chicken thigh, a vietnamese-inspired noodle soup with a clear yuzu broth, red pepper, bean sprouts, spring onion, coriander, mint, lime; served over konjac noodles, a lighter alternative to rice noodles made from the root vegetable, konjac.

pho - chicken thigh

I usually avoid pho or ramen, only because they can be a bit messy to eat, being more of a soup. However I liked the sound of the dish, so against my usual behaviour, I ordered it.

The pho was really good, I really enjoyed the clear yuzu broth which had a real depth of flavour. I liked the konjac noodles too. I did think the chicken could have been better, but it was still nice. The mint was an interesting addition that I wasn’t expecting which added not just a different flavour, but also an interesting texture as well.

I have wanted to try the hot honey chicken for a while now. It was nice, but it was in the main crispy fried chicken with sauce and mayo on the side. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed it, but I am not sure I would order it again any time soon. I washed the meal down with an alcohol free beer.

My daughter had the duck donburi with some yuzu sauce. She didn’t enjoy it as much as she thought she would, probably would have been better with either no sauce, or some teriyaki sauce.

duck donburi

Overall the experience was so much better than it was in 2022, even though the place was busy (and they had online orders as well) the service was both speedy and efficient.

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Pie and Rump

I have been to the Landing Light quite a bit recently. It’s local so easy to get to, the menu is good, with special offers it’s good value for money. As a pub food place, it’s really nice.

On a previous visit to The Landing Light I had wanted to try the Roasted Lamb Rump & Mini Pie Duo but it wasn’t available that night.

This night it was still on the menu and available. The Roasted Lamb Rump & Mini Pie Duo is described as:

Roasted rump of lamb, recommended served pink, mini minted lamb pie, rosemary & garlic-roasted potatoes, honey-roasted carrots, kale, peas, green beans & mange-tout, and gravy.

Roasted Lamb Rump & Mini Pie Duo

When the plate of food arrived, I was both impressed and a little disappointed. I thought the plate looked great from a presentation perspective; I was disappointed though with the size of the portion of lamb.

I was expecting a portion of lamb rump, what I actually got was two quite small chunks of lamb. It was also a little overcooked and not served pink as recommended, which I think was probably down to the size of the portion.

I really liked the mini pie, which though small was for a mini pie, quite a good size, nice pastry and a tasty filling. I liked the variety of veg on the plate, from the crispy potatoes, the roasted carrots and green vegetables. I did appreciate the mini saucepan of gravy on the side as well.

Though disappointed with the size of the lamb portion (have I mentioned that), I did enjoy the plate of food. 

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M&S Heritage Gold Tomapork

I have really enjoyed cooking and eating the M&S Heritage Gold Tomapork with Cafe de Paris Butter that is currently available in the M&S Food Hall.

The cooking process on the pack is relatively simple, Add tomapork to the pan and cook on fat edge for 2 mins, before frying for 2 mins on each side. Transfer to foil lined baking tray then place on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 10 mins, turn, add butter to tomapork and cook for a further 10 mins. Leave to rest for 2 mins.

This results in a very tender large pork chop, which was delicious.

I served mine with some pasta in a cream and mushroom sauce.

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Self-Catering in France once more

One of the reasons I have this blog is to remind me of things I have eaten, cooking, but also experiences of cooking outside the home, for example on holiday.

This year we went on holiday to France staying at an Eurocamp in Guines in Nord, Northern France. We were staying in a caravan and I used my previous blog posts on self-catering in France to prepare for the trip.

The caravan did not have an oven, just a microwave, but unlike last year there was a gas barbecue outside. Maybe I was just lucky with other sites, but the last three Eurocamp caravans I have stayed in did not have ovens.

Keeping things simple, I mainly cooked meat and sausages on the barbecue, salad, and then cooked pommes rissoles on the hob. 

The barbecue needed cleaning before it’s use and this was quite a nasty job with lots of grease and old fat on it. The sink in the caravan was way too small for this job, so I took it to the (large) washing up sinks that the campers used.

We really enjoyed the French sausages we got from the local supermarket, they did have a relatively high fat content, so the barbecue needed a good clean after each use. One interesting thing I noticed when buying steaks from some supermarkets was that they came in covered packaging so you couldn’t see the steaks. Another nice meal we did was some chicken thighs, I really like barbecued chicken, and enjoyed eating it.

The salads were in the main lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. I really liked the variety of tomatoes we had and they were full of flavour. Some days we had avocado and we also had some olives as well.

Another key feature of our meals was fresh bread, and we bought bread daily from the campsite shop. The shop itself was a bit disappointing and I felt overpriced. However in Guines itself there was a Carrefour and a Lidl, and in the heart of the town were quite a few local shops. One of these was a Boulangerie and we had some  delicious patisserie from there during the week.

I did take some tools with me, knives, chopping board and a pair of tongs. In the end the knives in the caravan weren’t half bad,  I didn’t like the glass chopping board that was provided, however there was a set of barbecue tongs there, which made cooking on the barbecue much easier.

I didn’t have room to take my coffee machine, and I wish I had.

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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.