food, reviews and of course coffee
One of the regular dishes in out home is cavelo nero. My usual process for using this vegetable is to take the leaf and cut the stem out. I then cut it into bite size pieces.
Using a large frying pan or a wok, I heat a little olive oil and then add some pancetta. Once the pancetta has cooked off I had the cavelo nero leaves.
These are cooked until softened.
Looking for gluten free versions of wheat based dishes was always challenging, but becoming less so.
We have always enjoyed the prepared salads from M&S, but alas most of them contain gluten.
I had been looking for a pack of gluten free couscous for a while, so when I saw a pack of Clearspring Organic Corn Couscous this looked like a solution.
It was really easy to prepare I added 100ml of stock to 65g of the dried couscous and left for five minutes. I then used a fork to fluff the couscous. I added some diced cooked Mediterranean vegetables and seasoned with olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
I was really impressed, it had the texture of couscous and worked really well.
I was staying at the Doubletree Hilton in Ealing and was eating in the hotel restaurant.
I recently had fish and chips in a different hotel which I had enjoyed. So I decided to order it at the Doubletree.
It was described as traditional fish and chips with garden peas, chunky chips and tartare sauce. I received an excellent looking plate of food.
I wouldn’t have said the chips were that chunky! However it was nice to have the lemon as well. The fish was well cooked, the batter was excellent, lovely, light, and crispy. The chips were nice as well. Overall I really enjoyed the dish.
Made myself a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch the other day. I took two slices of sourdough bread, to which I added slices of Emmental and Mozzarella cheese.
I put my frying pan on a low to medium heat. I added some sunflower oil, I placed the sandwich in the frying pan, then put a lid on the pan.
The plan is that you melt the cheese before the sandwich finishes browning on both sides. When I first tried to do this, I had a lovely crust on the bread, but the cheese hadn’t melted. I found a lower cooking heat and a lid, would melt the cheese and you would have a lovely crust.
Back in 2018 I had some nice lunches from Carbon in Covent Garden.
I was passing by today and decided that I would see what they had on their menu. I was a little saddened to see that it had closed down and had been replaced by something else.
I was staying at the Doubletree Hilton in Ealing and was eating in the hotel restaurant.
I decided to go for a starter, choosing the nachos. I quite like nachos and have had them back home. These nachos were described on the menu as tortilla chips with sour cream, tomato salsa, guacamole, jalapenos and cheese.
I was quite surprised by the size of the dish, it was a large plate of nachos and I was unable to finish all the nachos!
The nachos had been toasted, so the cheese was melted. The sour cream, tomato salsa, guacamole, was all fine. I didn’t eat too many of the jalapenos though.
Overall a simple dish, which was quite tasty.
I was working in London and wanting a coffee so headed out to one of my usual haunts, Coco di Mama on New Square.
I ordered a double espresso and took a seat, always like it when they bring the coffee to you rather than hanging around by the counter until they’ve made it.
The coffee arrived in a real china cup with a square of delicious dark chocolate on the side.
This was an excellent double espresso and I enjoyed the chocolate too.
Great tasting coffee and friendly staff.
I was staying at the Doubletree Hilton in Ealing and was eating in the hotel restaurant. I had a look over their menu. There is something about hotel menus that can be rather depressing. Sometimes you find places that inspire and bring joy. Other times you think, I should have gone out to eat!
Now I will say having had steak and chips a fair few times recently at hotels, this dish was just a little disappointing in comparison.
The menu didn’t indicate the weight or the size of the steak, but I got what I felt was a rather thin piece of sirloin steak. The chips came in a small metal fryer basket. Alongside were some roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine, a roasted field mushroom and some watercress.
Having said it was a little disappointing, the accompaniments were all rather good, I think the dish was just let down by the main act. The steak was rather bland and lacked flavour. It was rather thin as well. It was cooked medium rare as ordered, but apart from that I was not impressed.
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 stayed at for a few times now. When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities.
Looking over the menu there was a lamb dish, pan-roasted Dorset texel rack of lamb with pine nut pesto crust, Jersey Royal potatoes, crushed minted peas and anchovy & caper butter.
I did like the sound of that, so I ordered it.
The dish a bit of a mix of good and not so good. The lamb was lovely and tender and had a great flavour. I wasn’t enamoured with the pine nut pesto crust, which I think could have had a stronger flavour and a firmer crust. I enjoyed the Jersey Royal potatoes and the peas. I wasn’t sure about the anchovy & caper butter, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.
Overall it was a nice dish and I enjoyed it. It’s not the best lamb dish I have had, but it was a good plate of 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 stayed at for a few times now. When I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I had some excellent meals. The Fox and Goose had a slightly different menu than the Drayton Court, but there were similarities.
That evening I really fancied the idea of fish and chips after my excellent steak starter.
The menu described this as Fuller’s Frontier battered haddock, triple cooked chips, crushed minted peas, tartare sauce, lemon.
The plate had a large portion of fish, the batter was nice and crisp and it was cooked well. I quite enjoy the crushed minted peas and it was a nice accompaniment to the dish.
Well, I was looking forward to the triple cooked chips, but what I got was fries. They were nice, but they weren’t triple cooked chips! Sometimes when I order a dish I want fries, but other times I want triple cooked chips. Having said that, these were nice fries.
Overall a great plate of food and filled that craving for fish and chips.