food, reviews and of course coffee
I had enjoyed the Capo Triestino I had had at the Illy Cafe up in Clifton. So on a recent visit to the area, I visited the Illy Cafe and this time I ordered a Cortado.
It probably wasn’t a Cortado, as this is a Spanish drink, and it wasn’t on the menu, when I looked. However the staff said they could make a Cortado. I took a seat and they brought the coffee over to my table.
It was a very nice coffee.
I was in London and looking for lunch, it was raining, so the Leather Lane street food market was struck off my list of possible places as I didn’t want to get too wet. In the end I went to K10 and looked over their menu of hot food.
I decided I would have the chicken karaage. Chicken karaage is inspired by Chinese fried chicken recipes, karaage is a delicious izakaya or bento box favourite, comprised of crunchy, deep fried pieces of marinated chicken.
My food arrived promptly and I took it back to the office.
The box was a bed of rice with chunks of deep fried chicken, chunks of cooked onion and pepper with spring onion and sliced chilli. This is then covered in a sticky sauce.
Alas, though I was looking forward to the dish, I was somewhat disappointed. The chicken was over-cooked and had dried out as a result of probably hanging around for a while.
The accompanying onions and pepper were better, though I think they should have been cut up into smaller pieces.
I also ordered a side dish of prawn katsu. What I got was panko prawns, on shredded cabbage and carrot, with a sweet chilli sauce.
Overall I was quite disappointed with the food and I think I would have preferred to have got wet and got much better food from Leather Lane.
I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.
I diced an onion and a pointed red pepper. In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off bacon lardons, and some diced chorizo. I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added some sliced mushroom. Once this was stirred in I added 250g of paella rice.
To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.
This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.
I ensured that the rice was coated I added a splash of sherry. I then added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.
I added some more water as it cooked.
Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo, freshly chopped parsley, and some chunks of lemon.
I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.
I was staying in Ealing and having been disappointed that Reineta was closed I went to Côte. Reality was I did walk around Ealing to see what else was there and looking at various menus. So, in the end I ended up at Côte.
I had the Crab Maison for my starter. I stayed with seafood and I had the Breton Fish Stew for my main course.
This is a traditional coastal stew from Brittany with mussels, prawns, squid, seabream, in a tomato, white wine and chilli sauce. It was served with some French baguette.
There was a lot of seafood in this dish, yes it was mainly mussels, and there was only a single piece of seabream. There were plenty of prawns and squid rings.
I enjoyed the sauce, it was though similar to a soup rather than a sauce. The seafood was cooked well and wasn’t overcooked, which I did think it might be.
The bread was two slices of sourdough baguette. I think I would have preferred a more traditional French flute type baguette over the sourdough slices.
I had wanted to try this dish for a while, and I enjoyed it. However it wasn’t amazing, so it probably wouldn’t be a dish I would order again.
To accompany my meal, rather than wine, I had a bottle of Meteor lager, which was crisp and refreshing.
I was staying in Ealing and having been disappointed that Reineta was closed I went to Côte. Reality was I did walk around Ealing to see what else was there and looking at various menus. So, in the end I ended up at Côte.
I had seen the Crab Maison dish on the menu before, so was likely to be my first choice. I did consider the Steak Tartare, which was hand-cut raw beef, cornichons, mustard dressing, toasted sourdough baguette.
However I decided to go with the Crab Maison.
This was crab, avocado, cucumber, capers, shallots, mayonnaise, toasted sourdough baguette.
I thought the dish was beautifully presented, even if the crab was a little hidden away under the salad and sliced radish.
It was nice, but I was hoping for an intense crab flavour, which I felt was missing, and what crab there was, was overpowered by the mayonnaise. It was nice with the toasted sourdough baguette, which provided a nice crunchy texture to the dish.
I did enjoy the dish, but it probably isn’t something I would order again.
I was staying in London and thinking about going out to eat, I was reminded of a conversation with a colleague a few weeks back who had recommended Reineta in Dickens Yard in Ealing.
Reineta is a Spanish cafe and restaurant.I looked at the dinner menu on their website and the different tapas that were on offer.
I had already made my choice of tapas.
I liked the sound of the mushrooms casserole, made from wild mushrooms with shallots, parsley and mushroom cream and manchego cheese.
I also decided I would have the burned butternut squash with fresh cheese and black truffle.
I thought I would also have the mixed peppers, sliced potatoes and marinated octopus with “choricero” pepper.
You can imagine my disappointment when I went there to find it was in fact closed. It was only open for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I wasn’t in London on any of those days…
So no tapas for me.
I made this homemade ramen.
For the base stock, I cheated slightly, and used a carton of Itsu ramen broth.
In the bowl I added some cooked rice noodles, pak choi, spinach leaves, baby corn, and some spring onion.
I used the itsu brillant broth which I heated up in a pan before filling the bowls.
After adding the broth I added a slice of slow cooked pork belly.
I was in Bristol and went out for a walk. It was quite cold, so I only made it a short walk. I did though make a trip to the Finzel Reach street food market. One of my favourite stalls was there, She Sells Sushi.
Virtually all the time I have food from She Sells Sushi, as I did on a recent visit, I have a bento box with the beef donburi and a hirata bao bun. This time, after promising myself every time on previous visits, I did have something different.
I had a bento box with crispy tofu in a Katsu sauce, along with a portion of beef donburi.
The beef donburi was slow cooked teriyaki beef rib on a bed of rice, topped with crispy onions and pickles.
This a street food dish I have had many times, as this was just as nice as I’ve had on previous visits. The beef was delicious and full of flavour. I also enjoyed the garnishes that enhanced the dish. Overall a really tasty dish.
I was in Bristol and went out for a walk. It was quite cold, so I only made it a short walk. I did though make a trip to the Finzel Reach street food market. One of my favourite stalls was there, She Sells Sushi.
Virtually all the time I have food from She Sells Sushi, as I did on a recent visit, I have a bento box with the beef donburi and a hirata bao bun. This time, after promising myself every time on previous visits, I did have something different.
I had a bento box with crispy tofu in a Katsu sauce, along with a portion of beef donburi.
The tofu was served on a bed of rice with Katsu sauce, pickled carrot and crispy onions.
It was rather nice. I did enjoy the tofu, but felt that it could have been crispier. The sauce was tasty and I liked the carrot. Overall it was a good dish of food.
I made a visit to the National Trust’s Chirk Castle close to Wrexham. Partly to have a coffee, but also to see the castle.
A 13th-century Marcher castle, that from 1595 became the home of the Myddelton family for over 400 years.
The castle was an English castle (now in Wales) that became a family home. Swapping sides during the English Civil War, it sustained serious structural damage from a parliamentary force in 1659 and underwent a major rebuild.
Chirk remained in the Myddelton family until it was transferred to the National Trust in 1981.
The cafe is located in the castle’s historic kitchens, and when I headed to the additional seating I really liked the environment. The additional seating room was in one of the towers.
The flat white was expertly made, and really good. It was a lovely place to sit and drink coffee.
It was nice that the cafe was in the heart of the castle, many time when visiting National Trust properties the cafe is more often than not, in one of the outbuildings, usually the stable.