jamesclay, Author at Time for a coffee

February 6, 2024January 30, 2024

Time for some Tapas at the Brunello

We were out and about in Weston last April. Feeling peckish, we decided to head to the Brunello Lounge for a bite to eat. I did the tapas deal for three tapas dishes. They have a nice range of tapas dishes, I think they would work well if you spending an evening in the Lounge drinking (and chatting). They also work well for a light lunch.

I went with the hummus, crispy squid, and some chicken wings. The hummus was my favourite of the three little plates of food.

This was a nicely presented dish, the garnishes enhancing the hummus. I liked the flavours and there was enough flatbread to go with it.

The crispy squid was a little overcooked for my liking.

The coating was a little too crispy, more like crunchy.

I liked the chicken wings, but I wanted more of them.

Overall I enjoyed the three dishes, it was a nice snack for lunch.

February 5, 2024January 28, 2024

Time for scallops

Sometimes when staying away, I see a dish on a menu, and I think, oh that sounds nice, I want to try that. Regardless of what other starters are there, I find myself deciding to have that dish. This was certainly the experience I had when visiting Norfolk recently. I was in Norwich for a workshop and staying at The Georgian Townhouse on Unthank Road close to the city centre. I have no idea if I had been to Norwich before, I thought I had, possibly on a school trip, but if I had it was over forty years ago. I really don’t think I have been there. I did live in East Anglia in the 1970s and 1980s but moved to the South West in the early 1990s.

The Georgian Townhouse is a really nice hotel, part of small chain of boutique hotels with three hotels in Norfolk, one in Mumbles, Wales, and one in London. The rooms are a real nice mix of modern and old.

I went down to the restaurant, which has all the character of a lovely old pub, I had eaten a nice plate of food the day before, so was looking forward to my second visit to the restaurant.

I looked over the menu, for my starter I decided I would have the pan-fried scallop, crispy pork belly, sweetcorn salsa, burnt apple puree & samphire. I was very tempted by the Pumpkin ravioli, sage butter, roasted pumpkins, sauteed wild mushroom, crispy shallot & pumpkin seeds, however I didn’t want to have pasta for my starter and my main course. I did think about asking if they would do it as a main, but I didn’t want to make a fuss.

The pan-fried scallop and crispy pork belly starter sounded an interesting dish. I wouldn’t expect to have this combination of ingredients in a dish, and I certainly wouldn’t expect to see this kind of dish on the menu of this kind of hotel. However I have had scallops and bacon before, so the combination of pork and scallop isn’t unknown. I’ve not had samphire before so was looking forward to that as well.

The dish arrived and it looked very pretty.

There were two good looking scallops, two pieces of pork belly, the plate was dressed with the sweetcorn salsa and the samphire. Under the scallops and the pork was the burnt apple puree.

The scallops were cooked perfectly, just the right amount of caramelisation, but still fresh and not overcooked. The pork belly was tender, but had some crisp edges. The salsa was nice, and the samphire added contrast to the dish, whilst the burnt apple puree complemented the pork beautifully.

This was delicious, I really enjoyed eating it, and I certainly finished and cleared the plate.

February 4, 2024January 27, 2024

They didn’t have what I wanted

I have enjoyed the meals I have had at the Fullers’ hotels I have stayed at, Drayton Court, and the Fox and Goose. I was recently back in London and I chose to stay at The Queen’s Head in Kingston, which is another Fullers’ hotel. Smaller, and more like a pub with rooms, I found it a lovely place to stay. The staff were warm, friendly and welcoming. I liked the bar area, which felt nostalgic, but still smart and tidy. I liked the wooden furniture and fittings. The room I had was nice, it certainly had character. It had very tall ceilings and all the furniture you would expect in a hotel room and then some.

I went downstairs to the bar to eat, there was a similar menu available to the other Fullers’ hotels. I had eaten a delicious tiny pork cheek starter.

For my main course, well on the online menu they had roasted fillet of Owton’s beef with braised ox cheek coated in herb crumb, black garlic, brown butter celeriac purée, spinach and beef dripping emulsified sauce; so, I was going to have that. However, on the menu at the bar they didn’t have that, instead for the beef choices, they had a sirloin steak and a cote de boeuf.

Instead I chose the chicken ballotine , with tarragon, bacon, and mushroom stuffing. Alongside was an onion puree, cheddar potato cake and a jug of Marmite sauce.

This looked really great.

Though this was a good sized portion of ballotine , I had expected a bigger proportion of chicken to stuffing. However even so it was very nice. I really liked the cheddar potato cake, this was crisp on the outside, and soft and cheesy on the inside. I thought the onion puree needed a but more punch. I liked the addition of the roasted carrots as well. I was a little concerned about the Marmite sauce, but it was rather nice.

This was a really nice plate of food and I really enjoyed it.

February 3, 2024January 28, 2024

Gluten Free Fruit Pancakes

This is a quick and simple method to make small fruit fluffy pancakes.

I take a cup of self-raising gluten free flour, a cup of milk, one egg, a large spoon of sugar and some vanilla essence. For regular flat pancakes, I would normally use plain flour.

Whisk the ingredients together until you have a smooth batter.

Add some finely chopped strawberries and halved raspberries. I use about two to three strawberries and six raspberries for the batter.

I have a specialist small pancake pan which I can use for cooking these. I brush the pan with some sunflower oil and spoon (not too much) of the batter into the pan. They will spread and expand, so I try not to fill the gaps in the pan and let the batter expand to fill the space. Cook one side and then the other.

You have to take care to ensure that the pancakes cook all the way through, but isn’t overdone (or even burnt) on the surface. I do find turning them can be quite messy, so be careful. My method is two spoons, one to get under the edge of the pancake, and the other to ensure it stays in place. The second spoon usually gets quite messy.

Serve with syrup.

You can of course omit the fruit to have fluffy pancakes.

February 2, 2024January 27, 2024

Tiny little starter

The room I had was nice, it certainly had character. It had very tall ceilings and all the furniture you would expect in a hotel room and then some. I liked how it had an Nespresso machine and a fridge. Drayton Court had a Nespresso machine, but no fridge, whilst the Fox and Goose had a fridge, but didn’t have a coffee machine. I was pleased with my choice.

I went downstairs to the bar to eat, there was a similar menu available to the other Fullers’ hotels. I looked over the menu and for my starter I had the pig cheek, potato puree, shallots, chervil, with a white wine sauce. There were quite a few starters on the menu that I liked the idea of, but decided to go with this dish, as I’ve not had anything like it before. It arrived quite promptly.

This was definitely a starter sized portion. There was a deliciously tender pork cheek delicately placed on top of the potato puree. There was a great tasting sauce, and it was garnished with the shallots and chopped chervil. I really enjoyed the starter, it was a great start to my meal.

February 1, 2024January 26, 2024

Aldeburgh Fish and Chips

Aldeburgh is a small town on the Suffolk coast. In recent years it has become something of a fashionable place to live (or have a second home). Walking down the high street, there are many kinds of shops, cafes, and restaurants. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, when we use to visit Aldeburgh. My memories of back then was about the bookshop (which is still there), the toyshop (which isn’t). I also remember the newsagents which sold sweets and comics, and the sweetshops which sold sweets. There were probably other kinds of shops, but as a child, I don’t remember them!

We use to have fish and chips from the fish and chip shop. It is still there. The fish and chip shop in Aldeburgh is often recognised as one of the best fish and chip shops in the UK.

I did have some in 2008 and wasn’t that impressed.

Well was I really disappointed. These are suppose to be the best fish and chips in the country. Well sorry that may have been the best, but the portion of cod and chips I had on a Saturday night were terrible and very poor.

So when I was back in Aldeburgh in January 2024 I decided to have some fish and chips for my lunch, I would try them out again, so I got a cod and chips to go and headed to the beach to eat them.

This was not a huge portion, but it was lunch, so I was happy with that. I am pretty sure they advertised their fish as boneless and skinless, well mine wasn’t. There was skin and some bones. I found it challenging to eat from the bag with a wooden chip fork, but they were nice fish and chips. The nearby seagulls kept eyeing my food up, you can get a huge fine if you feed them. These were my chips not theirs.

I did enjoy the fish and chips, but I wasn’t blown away by them.

January 31, 2024January 21, 2024

Time for some wings

I was looking through some photographs of food, and realised that in April when I was up in Leeds I had a few meals which I hadn’t blogged about.

Sometimes I write up the dining experiences I have on the same day, in the same week, or quite soon after that. Now and then I have food and then never get around to writing a blog post about it.

In April I was at a conference and was staying in the heart of Leeds. The previous night I had visited Rosa’s Thai and was looking for something different.

I had back in 2020 an excellent experience at Reds in Leeds, though that was further out than I wanted to walk, I wondered if there was a similar place in the heart of Leeds. I was pleased to see that there was a branch of Reds. I looked at the menu online and saw they had some deals. You had to book though. After booking I headed out to the branch.

I arrived and took my place at the table and looked over the menu. I went with the Wednesday Wings deal. I believe it may have changed since I was there in April, but this was ten wings for £3. I was told I needed to have pre-booked. I had, so I said I had, so I was allowed to have it. I had a drink and waited for my food.

I was expecting whole wings, mine weren’t whole wings.

The wings were nothing special, and for the main part of my meal I was a little disappointed. As they were small, there was very little meat on them. Flavour wise they were okay.

Alongside I had some sides of burnt ends, mac and cheese and onion rings.

The onion rings were supplemented with some fries.

The mac and cheese was nice, whilst the burnt ends were very tasty.

I had quite high expectations about this meal, but the reality of what I had meant that I was a little disappointed, even though the food itself was just okay.

January 30, 2024January 23, 2024

The Coach House Pub Chicken

The Coach House is a pub in Locking Village close to Weston-super-Mare. I have been a few times for drinks, but this was the first time I had food there.

It’s lovely traditional pub, with a good range of beers, and as this is Somerset, a good range of ciders as well.

There is quite an extensive menu, with grills, burgers, salads, and traditional pub meals. They also have a wide variety of pie specials. I was quite tempted by the pies. In the end though I had the Chicken Forestiere. This was a flame grilled chicken breast, topped with smoked streaky bacon, and a garlic, mushroom, brandy, and Dijon mustard sauce. It was served with chips, homemade onion rings, and a dressed salad.

The dish was what I expected, this was a nice looking plate of what I would call pub food. The chicken was nice, slightly overdone, so a little dry, but the sauce was nice. I liked the chips and salad. The home-made onion rings were a delight, lovely crisp batter and tasty onion.

I do think that this dish might have been better if it had been served with potatoes and vegetables, rather than chips and salad. Another option was maybe I should have gone with another protein option.

Service was order and pay at the bar, and then sit down and wait for the food to arrive. The staff were all friendly and welcoming.

I did enjoy the plate of food, it was tasty and good value for money.

January 29, 2024January 21, 2024

Time for some Thai in Leeds

I was looking through some photographs of food, and realised that in April when I was up in Leeds I had a few meals which I hadn’t blogged about. Sometimes I write up the dining experiences I have on the same day, in the same week, or quite soon after that. Now and then I have food and then never get around to writing a blog post about it. In April I was at a conference and was staying in the heart of Leeds. The hotel I was staying at, did have a restaurant, and it looked really nice, but it was way too expensive and out of my budget. I knew I would need to eat at a place away from the restaurant.

On my first night I had a chance to explore the area, wasn’t quite sure what I wanted but happened to chance upon Rosa’s Thai in the Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre.

I had eaten at a branch of Rosa’s Thai in Liverpool’s Albert Dock the month before and that had been really nice, however I also had a disappointing experience in Ealing earlier in the month. However I think that disappointing experience was more down to me ordering a dish, thinking it was one thing, when in reality it was something very different. So despite that experience, and running out of time, I decided I would have a meal at Rosa’s Thai, as I do like Thai food.

The Leeds restaurant doesn’t have the same warm welcoming feel as the branches in Ealing and Liverpool. In Liverpool, being part of a historical building gave that restaurant a certain charm. Ealing was part of the high street. Rosa’s Thai in Leeds was in a shopping centre and lacked the ambiance and atmosphere. However I was there for the food, and it was okay, different, but not totally clinical.

They do change the menu now and then, but it is pretty similar over time.

For my starter I had the fresh summer rolls, these were soft sheets of rice paper stuffed with mixed veg, tangy-sweet tamarind sauce & fragrant herbs, served with traditional spicy fragrant chilli sauce & crushed peanuts.

They looked really nice when they arrived.

I had not had these before, so was a little surprised they were cold. I am not sure why I was surprised, but there you are. I thought they were just okay. Not sure I would order them again.

For my main I had the pork belly Pad metmamuang, a classic stir-fry with Rosa’s soy sauce, cashew nuts, spring onion & mushrooms.

This was a much better dish, and I really enjoyed it. Very tasty and alongside I had some Jasmine rice. Though I enjoyed it, I think the crispy pork dish I have had at Sais’s Thai in Oxford is better.

It was a nice meal, and so much better than the meal I had eaten in Ealing.

January 28, 2024January 26, 2024

Not quite a flat white

According to Wikipedia this is what is the accepted definition of a flat white coffee.

According to a survey of industry commentators, a flat white has a thin layer of microfoam (hence the ‘flat’ in flat white), as opposed to the significantly thicker layer of foam in a traditional cappuccino.

There is some dispute about the origin or creator of the flat white. However there is also a lot of dispute across the various places I visit about the best way to make a flat white.

I was over in Woodbridge in East Anglia, looking for a place for a coffee, and to crack on with some work. I went to Coffeelink in the new(ish) redevelopment on the riverside. It was a typical modern coffee place, similar to places I have been to in Portishead and Whapping Wharf in Bristol.

I ordered my coffee and took a seat. A little later my coffee arrived.

It was an interesting looking flat white, I felt it had a little too much foam. Despite that it was a nice coffee, which I enjoyed.