Time for truffle chicken, no, a burger, no, okay bang bang chicken then

I was attending a belated Christmas meal at the Brunello Lounge on the seafront at Weston-super-Mare.

I planned to park in Carlton Street. There was a long queue due to roadworks by the Town Hall, I popped by the station and managed to bypass the queue. However, upon entering the car par, I found the council had closed the upper levels and the rest of the spaces were filled. A conversation later I found out that there had been some anti-social behaviour on the upper levels of the car park, so as a result the council had closed them. Not sure how that encourages people to go out in the evening in Weston, if it’s challenging to park

I headed to the Sovereign Centre and parked there instead, which cost me three times as much.

We had booked a table, which was great as the place was super busy.

As it was January, we didn’t have access to the festive menu, so we had to make do with the regular menu. There is a wide choice on the menu, but if you exclude the brunch and breakfast items, and the sandwiches, there are a few main course items and a range of burgers.

I wanted the Rose’s Truffle Chicken, pulled chicken breast in a creamy truffle & mushroom sauce, with crispy bacon, fried potatoes, veggie parmesan and parsley, served with tenderstem broccoli. However, that wasn’t available. My second choice was the beef brisket burger, but that also wasn’t available. So, in the end I went with the Bang Bang Chicken. This was buttermilk fried chicken with noodles, pak choi, tenderstem broccoli, mushrooms and sugar snap peas topped with bang bang coconut sauce, sesame seeds and chilli.

It was busy, and we were a large group, but I didn’t think it took too long for the food to arrive, I certainly wasn’t made to feel I was waiting. The dish actually looked rather good.

However, I had anticipated that the fried chicken element would be fried chicken pieces. What I got was sliced buttermilk chicken steak on the bed of noodles and vegetables.

There was a fair amount of chilli in the dish as well, I don’t mind some heat, but there was a little too much for me, luckily it had been sliced quite thinly and not chopped, so was easy to remove some of the chilli from the dish.

I did enjoy the food, but it wasn’t amazing, and I felt it could be much better. Looking over the menu, it would appear that there are quite a few menu items there that are based on the buttermilk chicken. Would I have the dish again, probably not.

What we had for Christmas Dinner

Every year I post what we had for our Christmas Dinner, partly as a note to my future self. This year we had less people around, so didn’t go too crazy.

I did notice that across the supermarkets there was a lot less game based roasts about. Aldi for example didn’t do their excellent game box they did last year. That box came with two pheasants, partridges in puff pastry, partridge breasts, and some cranberry stuffing. M&S didn’t have their three bird game roast which we have had before, nor did they have their stuffed partridges or pheasant. I still wish Sainsbury’s did their four bird roast, a goose stuffed with duck, turkey and guinea fowl. However they’ve not done this roast for over ten years now… which is a pity.

In the end we had a Two Bone Rib of Beef from Aldi and the Slow Cooked Three Bird Roast from M&S.

We had the Slow Cooked Three Bird Roast from M&S last year and though initially I thought I had made a mistake in buying this roast, we really enjoyed it in the end.

This is the picture from the box.

This year, though I cooked it according to the instructions I don’t think it was a good as it was last year. Last year it was very easy to carve and didn’t fall apart, this year not so easy.

Last year we had a M&S salt dry-aged  British sirloin of beef roast. It was nice, but it was also expensive. We didn’t eat that much on the day, so it lasted for a few days cold. I decided that I would save some money and buy a cheaper beef joint this year and was impressed with the Two Bone Rib of Beef from Aldi, which was less than half the price of the M&S beef roast.

Though I cooked this medium, I had planned to cook it rare, was really good. Lovely and tender, and very tasty. I was really impressed with the end result.

We did have a range of stuffings and pigs in blankets, I mange to do crispy roast potatoes, and we had a nice selection of vegetables. I didn’t do any festive red cabbage this year, I also didn’t do my festive carrots.

Overall we had a delicious meal, which everyone enjoyed.

We have a tradition of having our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We’ve done this for ten years now. We do this for a few reasons. On Christmas Day itself, the children are often too excited to sit down for a long meal, so don’t eat or enjoy the meal or the occasion. It also usually means I spend a fair few hours in the kitchen, which means I miss them opening and playing with their presents. I also find it quite demanding to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, whilst creating a wonderful dining experience.

Having the meal on Christmas Eve means that we can both spend a bit more time preparing the meal (less stressful in itself) and enjoy eating the meal (as do the children). As a result for them it helps pass the time on one of the more exciting days of the year as they anticipate the arrival of a sleigh full of presents being pulled by eight tiny reindeer! Even though they are older now, we still maintain the tradition.

As to what we eat on Christmas day itself, well we have lots of lovely leftovers, cheeses, pickles, hot bread, etc…. quick and easy to prepare and delicious.

Tapas at Brunello

We went for lunch in Weston and decided to head to the Brunello Lounge.

We weren’t really that hungry, so decided against a full size main course, and we ordered three tapas dishes, some fries and onion rings. Service was quick and efficient, which is always nice when you don’t have a huge amount of time for lunch.

We had some chicken wings, the salt & pepper squid, and the hummus.

The chicken wings were fried crispy chicken wings, which had been coated in a sticky sauce and dressed with sesame seeds.

For me the chicken was overcooked. Probably a result of being cooked twice more than anything else. I do like chicken wings, but these weren’t my favourite.

The squid was nice and crispy and there was a large dollop of aioli in the middle.

My favourite of the trio of dishes was the hummus. This was beautifully presented little dish of hummus with fried chickpeas, chilli and parsley. This was served with some flatbread.

The fries were nice and crispy, as was the batter on the onion rings.

Overall a nice snack for a quick lunch.

Kokodoo Korean Fried Chicken

Kokodoo Korean Fried Chicken Van

The Kokodoo van is always busy when I have seen it before at both the Finzel Street and Temple Quay street food markets. So much so, that I have usually gone somewhere else to get something to eat.

So when I arrived early one time and there wasn’t much of a queue I grabbed my chance to try out the chicken from Kokodoo.

The menu consists of fried chicken bites with a choice of four glazes. There is sweet & spicy, honey glazed, sticky soy, or fiery chilli. The chicken is served with a  choice of chips or rice and a side of coleslaw. There is a vegan option  with fried cauliflower.

I went with the chicken in a honey glaze with rice. I placed my order and paid, I was given a number.

As there wasn’t much of a queue, so it wasn’t too long before my food was ready.

Kokodoo Korean Fried Chicken

This was a good sized portion of crispy chicken, in a sweet honey glaze, with a sprinkling of sesame seeds. There was some rice, and a rather disappointedly small portion of coleslaw.

I enjoyed the chicken, it was crisp and tasty. Though a nice dish, I am not sure if I would have it again. It was nice, but not inspiring or outstanding.

Mixed Grill at the Gardens

Entrance to a hotel

We were on holiday at the Cerro Mar Gardens in Albufeira in Portugal we made a couple of visits to the hotel restaurant. On my first visit I had an excellent swordfish dish.

On our second visit, I was tempted by the cataplana, but it was for two, and everyone else was choosing different dishes. I even considered just having the cataplana to myself.

Cataplana is a traditional Algarvian dish cooked in a special copper pot of the same name. The ingredients typically include onion, red and green peppers, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, tarragon, parsley, white wine, and a variety of meat or seafood, such as cubed pork, chouriço sausage, chicken, fish, prawns, clams, or other shellfish.

In the end I went with the mixed grill. This was steak, lamb, chicken, sausage, and two kinds of pork. It was served with fries and a tiny salad.

I thought the swordfish was excellent, this dish, not so much. I was rather disappointed. Maybe it was too simple, but the cuts of meat were rather thin and were overcooked and slightly dry. I would like to have had more salad. The fries were okay. That really though sums up the whole dish, it was okay, nothing special.

I wish now I had ordered the cataplana.

Time for the Chicken Shawarma

Tower of London

Having spent the day in London and having made our way back to the Westfield Shopping Centre (to collect the car) we decided to have a bite to eat before heading home.

At Westfield there are plenty of choices available to suit a range of pricing envelopes. In the end we headed to Bills, in the main for the range of choices available.

Most times I eat at Bills I go for quite traditional dishes, usually French or English in style. So going for the Chicken Shawarma was a change of direction for me and an interesting choice.

The chicken was served with garlic flatbread, chopped salad, house pickles, chillies, mint yoghurt & hummus.

plate of food

This was a nicely presented plate of food. I think I should have had the halloumi rather than the chicken, though at the time I did not fancy the red chilli that it was marinated in. The chicken was just okay, nothing special. The pickles and salads were nice. The flatbread was warm and fresh.

Overall I did enjoy the dish. The rest of the table enjoyed their food. The chicken burger was demolished, and the Caesar Salad was also said to be delicious. As for service, well it could have been better. It took about three attempts to get some tap water.




Bento Box Time

It’s been a while since I have had a Bento Box from See Sells Sushi, but as it was Friday, and the Finzle Reach market was on, I headed off in the heavy rain to see what was around, but thinking I would probably have the Bento Box.

It was raining quite heavily, I did think earlier in the day that the market might be cancelled because of the rain and wind. However, it was open, though the weather did mean it wasn’t very busy. There was though still a queue for the See Sells Sushi stall. I did have a look around to see what was around. In the end, I went back and queued up for my Bento Box.

I had my usual choice of been donburi and crispy chicken hirata bun. Service was quick and friendly.

The beef was as usual, excellent. It is tasty tender beef rib on a bed of sushi rice and served with pickle and spring onions.

I’ve always enjoyed the hirata buns from the stall, this crispy chicken hirata bun was tasty. It was a charcoal bao bun with two pieces of crispy chicken, lettuce, pickles and sauce.

Overall a delicious box of food, which I really enjoyed.

Nice chicken, shame about the squid!

I was in London I was staying at the Crowne Plaza in Ealing and I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. They have an extensive menu with some interesting choices.

I always think that the way in which a restaurant cooks and serves calamari gives you an insight into what kind of cooking they do, and food they serve.

So seeing Spiced Squid Rings on the menu I thought I would give them a try. They were described as battered calamari dusted with paprika served with garlic and lemon aioli.

Now I will say at this point that I didn’t think that these would be any good, the description of the squid as battered calamari said to me that these was not going to be freshly cooked squid. This would be frozen calamari rings cooked off in the deep fat fryer.

When it arrived, it was as expected.

calamari

The batter was thick and doughy. The squid wasn’t tender, but then it wasn’t chewy either.

Sometimes I think does a dish need a salad garnish, this one did.

I was expecting to me disappointed, and yes I was disappointed.

For my main course I went with the Garlic Butterfly Chicken. Normally this is something I wouldn’t choose, but decided I would go with something different. The hot weather also meant I did actually fancy a salad.

This was marinated chicken served with Panzanella Salad & grated parmesan cheese.

This was a much more impressive looking dish.

marinated chicken served with Panzanella Salad & grated parmesan cheese

The chicken was cooked well, it had been cooked on the griddle, but was still moist and tender and full of flavour.

Now as for the Panzanella Salad. Well if you search online you can find a description of Panzanella Salad.

Panzanella or panmolle is a Tuscan and Umbrian chopped salad of soaked stale bread, onions and tomatoes that is popular in the summer. It often includes cucumbers, sometimes basil and is dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

The salad I got wasn’t quite that, but it was a nice salad. There was stale bread, tomatoes, onions, but it also had quite a bit of sweet peppers as well. I liked the use of grated parmesan cheese. The bread was a little too stale, but did add crunch to the salad.

I liked it, but I think that Florentine traditionalists would disapprove.

So despite the disappointing starter, I did enjoy my main course.

Back to Master Bao

It had been a while since I had eaten at Master Bao. I really do enjoy a good bao bun and my first encounter with the Master Bao eatery at Westfield was back in December 2019 and a return visit in January 2020. I then made a visit back in September 2021.

So on a recent trip to London and needing some lunch I headed to the Westfield Shopping Centre. I did look around, but in the end headed to Master Bao.

I went with the meal deal of two bao buns and a side. I ordered the Prawn Bao and the Shiitake Mushroom Bao. The side I chose was fried vegetable dumplings.

The Prawn Bao contained marinated king prawns, fried, pickled mooli, spiced spring onions.

The prawns were nice and crispy, I liked the additions, and the bun was soft and fluffy. A really lovely bao bun.

Whilst the Shiitake Mushroom Bao had teriyaki shiitake mushrooms, pickled onions, miso.

Really nice mushrooms, with a strong savoury flavour, which contrasted with the soft fluffy bao.

I’ve had both these bao before and these were just as good, nice and tasty.

The vegetable dumplings had been fried.

I think they would have been better steamed, and then potentially fried in a pan. They were a little too crispy for me, I mainly prefer my dumplings steamed.

Nice lunch.

Pad Kra Prow at Rosa’s Thai

Royal Albert Dock

I was attending a conference in Liverpool, and arrived in the evening. I was quite hungry after a long journey to Liverpool, so after looking at (and dismissing) the hotel menu I headed out to the Royal Albert Docks for a bite to eat. There is quite a bit of choice across the docks, and knowing I was short of time, I realised I had to choose quickly. After looking at a few choices I decided that I would go for Thai and went into the branch of Rosa’s Thai they have on the docks.

They described themselves as:

A family of foodies dedicated to serving up perfected Thai dishes. You’ll find us in unfussy cafes at the heart of neighbourhoods, cooking up fresh dishes from our kitchens straight to your table.

The menu looked interesting and I could see quite a few things I liked the look of. So in I went. It was quite busy, but I was given a warm welcome and I took a seat and l looked around. The environment was informal and inviting. They have different kinds of seating and they used lots of wood and wooden furniture. The staff looked busy, but friendly and efficient.

I looked over the menu, which has quite a few options. My first choice for the starter would have been the crispy squid, but I always have that, so looked over the choices. In the end I went with the Gai satay. Described on the menu as succulent, lemongrass-scented grilled chicken thigh skewers with Rosa’s peanut dipping sauce.

Gai satay

These were three large skewers of marinated chicken thighs, nothing like the satay skewers you find in the deli counters of most supermarkets. The satay sauce was delicious and really enhanced the chicken. I was pleased with that choice.

For my main course I did think about getting the Pad metmamuang, the cashew stir fry, but in the end I went with the Seafood Pad Kra Prow. This was the Chilli & Basil Stir Fry with seafood. The menu called this a spicy and fragrant favourite with Thai basil, onions and green beans. This is something of a national dish, a real classic.

Seafood Pad Kra Prow

I wasn’t sure about the presentation and look of the dish. However the spiciness was just right, there was a good portion of seafood in the dish, though it was dominated by the squid. Not that I minded as I prefer squid. I suspect if you like prawns you might be a little disappointed, though there are prawn dishes elsewhere on the menu.

The squid was nice and tender, and I enjoyed the green beans and Thai basil. Overall I really tasty dish.

Alongside I had some sticky rice. 

sticky rice

The sticky rice came wrapped in banana leaf. It was really a large lump of sticky rice, which I had to break apart with my spoon. However it did add to the overall dish.

Alongside the food I had a Thai beer (in a can).

beer

This was a lovely meal, excellent service, tasty food, and nice environment. It was my first experience of Rosa Thai and I certainly would go again.