food, reviews and of course coffee
This salad was a real mix of stuff, which though made from various leftover aspects of salad worked really well.
There were some mixed beans, radish, sweetcorn, red pepper, cucumber, tomato, and cubed feta cheese.
The salad was seasoned and dressed with some white wine vinegar and olive oil.
Nice and fresh.
I was at a conference in March in Liverpool and before the conference started I went for a walk around the docks area.
On my way back to the hotel. I stopped off in the Royal Albert Docks for a coffee. I went to Rough Hand Made which is one of a few places to eat and drink in the docks.
I ordered a coffee and a marvellous looking Dulce de Leche croissant, well I should say a rather large marvellous looking Dulce de Leche croissant.
I was a little disappointed that the coffee came in a paper cup. I have mentioned before that when drinking coffee in a coffee place, I much prefer having coffee in a proper cup. Having said that, it was a nice coffee.
The Dulce de Leche croissant, was a delicious fresh croissant, flaky and buttery, it was filled with smooth sweet dulce de leche. A little extravagant and rich, a bit of a guilty pleasure, but it was delicious.
Back in March I was staying in Liverpool and one evening I headed out to Wagamama for a meal.
Despite always thinking about ordering stuff I’ve not had before, this time I went with two favourites, the yasai yaki soba, and mushroom bao buns.
The yasai yaki soba looked really nice.
This is a teppanyaki dish of soba noodles with mushroom and vegetables, egg, peppers, beansprouts, white and spring onions, garnished with fried shallots, pickled ginger and sesame seeds.
I did enjoy the dish, I always think it could do with more mushroom, but it is a tasty dish.
The mushroom bao buns are another favourite regular dish of mine.
The soft bao buns work well with the mushrooms.
Overall I enjoyed the food.
We made our way to Bristol for a meal, and as we had enjoyed our last visit to the Coal Kitchen, we headed there again.
They have quite an extensive menu, but also a set menu. I went with the set menu again, but planned to have something different for my starter and my main course. This time for my starter I had the Beef Koftas. For my main course I looked over the menu. I had the minute steak, this time I wanted something different. I decided I didn’t want a wrap or a burger. I did think about the Caesar salad, but there was a £4.50 supplement to add halloumi. In the end I went with the Chicken Schnitzel. This was a chicken breast in golden crispy breadcrumbs, fried egg, and salad. I recently had a chicken schnitzel at Drayton Court which was a little dry, so was slightly hesitant, but in the end I did plump for the chicken.
The dish arrived, the chicken, was a chicken breast in golden crispy breadcrumbs. This was served on top of a salad which consisted of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and red onion. On top of the chicken was a fried egg.
The chicken schnitzel was a lot better than the last one I had, the chicken was still moist and tender, the breadcrumb coating was crispy and golden. The salad was nice and fresh. The fried egg was a nice addition. I quite like having a freshly cooked egg with a salad. I remember once watching a cooking programme where the chef had placed a freshly poached duck egg on top of a salad.
I did enjoy this plate of food. The waiter had asked if I wanted fries with my food, I think if I was just having a main course, then you might want some fries with it. However having had a starter I decided not to have the fries. I don’t think it needed the fries.
The service was friendly and warm.
We enjoyed our meal and it certainly was a place I would visit again.
I had been staying at Drayton Court and had wanted the pan-fried lemon pepper chicken breast, but they had run out, so had gone with the Norfolk chicken schnitzel with Caesar salad.
So on a later visit it was nice to see the pan-fried lemon pepper chicken breast still on the menu and it was available, so I ordered this as my main course. It was described on the menu as pan-fried lemon pepper chicken breast with courgette Parmesan fritters, prosciutto crisps and warm garlic slaw.
It was a beautifully presented plate of food and I was really impressed.
The chicken was cooked perfectly and was full of flavour. I liked the warm garlic slaw. The prosciutto crisps were interesting and added texture and an element of saltiness to the food. I have to say though I was less impressed with the courgette Parmesan fritter. Mine was not crisp and felt laden with grease, so much so I didn’t actually finish it. However, apart from the fritter, I did enjoy the dish.
We made our way to Bristol for a meal, and as we had enjoyed our last visit to the Coal Kitchen, we headed there again.
They have quite an extensive menu, but also a set menu. I went with the set menu again, but planned to have something different for my starter and my main course.
This time for my starter I had the Beef Koftas – four beef koftas, spicy tomato and red pepper sauce, fresh mint, toasted ciabatta.
This was a nice sized starter. The tomato sauce was rich and complimented the beef. The beef koftas were nice, not as tender as I think they could have been. The toasted ciabatta added some nice texture to the dish, I probably could have done with a third piece.
I liked the dish.
I was working in Bristol and headed to the Temple Quay Market. I spent time procrastinating about what to have. It was a Tuesday so there was less stalls than there is on the Thursdays. I did think about Korean fried chicken. I then thought about a Vietnamese rice bowl. In the end I went to The Street Taverna and had a chicken souvlaki wrap.
They had barbecued chicken thighs served in a Greek flat bread, with red onion, yoghurt, and chips.
The chicken was tasty and tender, the chips were nice and crispy. I also enjoyed the flat bread as well. Not sure if the chips added anything to the wrap.
Having said that though I liked the wrap, I think if I wanted a chicken wrap in the future I would head to Matina at the St Nicholas Market. Though they don’t have chips in their wraps, they have a better range of salads.
I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel part is now a new build at the back.
The menu changes every so often, and they always seem to have a range of choices, that means it can be difficult to choose what to have. Having looked over the menu I went with the South Coast pork chop, served with smoked mushroom, grilled tomato, onion rings and triple cooked chips.
The pork chop was cooked well, it was seasoned, and grilled to my liking. It was tender and moist. I couldn’t taste any smoke on the mushroom, but that and the tomato were nice. The chips were crispy on the outside and fluffy in the inside. The batter on the onion rings was nice crispy, but I felt they were a little on the greasy side. The pork was served with a small saucepan of gravy (or was it a sauce). Not sure it added much to the dish.
I enjoyed the food.
I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have also stayed at. The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel part is now a new build at the back. Despite being part of the same chain, they do have different menus. Their version of chicken was different to Drayton Court. So after having had my prawn cocktail starter I had the lemon and thyme roast chicken.
This was lemon and thyme roast chicken served on chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans.
The chicken was really good, full of flavour, moist and tender. You could taste the chicken, and the lemon and thyme enhanced the flavour.
The chicken was served on a bed of chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans. The beans were a little overcooked, but the chorizo was excellent, large chunks of soft spicy chorizo.
Overall I really enjoyed this dish and would certainly order it again.
I was at John Lewis getting a coffee I had a quick look at what they were selling
They did have a nice salad on the counter. It looked like a Panzanella style salad. On a bed of salad rocket leaves there was torn bread, dressed in what I would guess would be olive oil, parmesan, chicken, pancetta, red peppers, and pine nuts.
Something I would order and eat.