food, reviews and of course coffee
I will say I am not a fan of coffee at motorway services, but sometimes needs must. So, it was with a little trepidation that I stopped at the Reading services on the M4 for a coffee.
I had a cortado from costa and to be honest it wasn’t too bad, quite nice all in.
Having enjoyed my cortado at Artisan Ealing, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when I was back in Ealing, having some time to, and needing a place to check some work stuff, and I wanted a coffee, that I found myself back at Artisan Ealing.
Another friendly welcome, the service was quick and efficient. Once more I was tempted by the cakes, but I resisted temptation. So I went with a cortado.
Took a seat and enjoyed my coffee.
I was in Ealing and decided to have a coffee. There are quite a few places to get a coffee, both the big chains and independents. I had originally gone to Caffe Nero, but there was a big queue and only one barista making coffee. I then remembered across the road was an independent coffee place, Artisan Ealing.
It was quite busy, but there wasn’t much of a queue, so I didn’t have long to wait. I was quite tempted by the cakes, but in the end I went with a cortado.
After getting my coffee I took a seat. I liked the environment with the wooden floors and furniture. The paintings added to the ambience, and I liked the paper bag lights.
The coffee was excellent.
This was a really nice place for coffee. Good service, great coffee, relaxing environment, and a nice selection of cakes.
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.
We were visiting Dyrham Park, a National Trust propety, and after walking the grounds and visiting the house, we made our way to the stables for a cup of tea and something to eat.
It was half term, so the place was quite busy, and there was something of a queue. It would appear it was busier than expected, as they had sold out of a lot of their menu items, and it was only approaching one o’clock.
In the end the only items left were a vegan sausage roll, and a spicy cauliflower pasty. So we had one of each, mine was the cauliflower pasty. I also ordered for myself an espresso and a can of 7Up.
The pasty was served to our table, on its own on a plate. I wonder if they use to serve a salad garnish with it? I think it would have been enhance with a little salad on the plate. To be honest I might have even paid extra for some salad.
Well the pasty was nice and hot, the wholemeal pasty was excellent, and I really liked the spicy filling, the spices did somewhat overpower the flavour of the cauliflower, but I could still taste the cauliflower in there.
The coffee was nice.
This wasn’t a meal, more of a snack. Having visited a lot of National Trust properties this year (the benefits of membership) I have been wondering why the menu at these places are quite limited. As well as scones and cakes (naturally) the main menu items are pasties, baked potatoes, and soup. They sometimes have meals, but often the choice is only one or two. At Dyrham Park they did have a nice sounding Italian sausage casserole on the menu, but yes, you guessed, it had sold out.
I suspect that the menu has been derived from what sells, what was popular, and what makes money. Cooking a pasty and keeping it warm is much easier than cooking a meal. People are probably more likely to pay £4.55 for a pasty, then say £9.95 for a meal when visiting a property. I suspect the profit margin on the pasty would be much higher than the meal as well. Of course the profits from the cafe does support the property as well.
Overall I did enjoy our snack and drinks.
It’s back, that delicious Lidl coffee ice cream.
As part of their Flavours of Italy week Lidl are back selling their small tubs of coffee ice cream
When I first started buying these tubs, they were selling them at 99p per tub. The cost of living and inflation has obviously hit, as they are now £1.49 per tub.
They are not huge tubs, but what you get is a tasty creamy coffee ice cream, with a little chocolate in there as well.
We also like the amaretto tub and the lemon sorbet one is nice too
It was a nice sunny day, so we headed to Portishead to have a walk around the marina (and probably stop for a coffee).
We ended up at Cafe Mokoko which has a few branches across the West.
I had a cortado and an almond croissant.
They were served in weird cups; I think they were bamboo. Despite that the coffee was excellent.
I really liked the almond croissant. Usually when I have an almond croissant it consists of a croissant stuffed with almond paste and almonds on top. Though this croissant had almonds on top, the croissant itself had a delicious almond taste as though the paste was incorporated into the dough before baking.
Really delicious.
Certainly a place I would try again.
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 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.
I was in London and had a meeting in the afternoon, so I walked up to City, University of London.
I arrived earlier than planned, so I went to Jimmy and the Bee, which is close by, and ordered a flat white. They took my order and I took a seat.
Jimmy and the Bee looks to be an independent cafe, which predominantly sells tea and coffee. There were some cakes and pastries on the counter, and I saw board with some breakfast items (avocado on toast). The furniture is distressed wood, but there are also some comfortable looking sofas as well.
My flat white arrived.
In some other places this may have been described as a Cortado. It was a really nice coffee and I enjoyed it.
I also got a 10% discount; I think they thought I was City staff as I was wearing my work lanyard.