Category: pork

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Grilled Pork Cutlet

Milton Hill House

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my main course I went with the grilled pork cutlet. This was served with salad and chips.

Grilled Pork Cutlet

The plate was served, so I dug in. The pork cutlet was cooked well, it was nice and tender. Wasn’t too sure about the butter it was dressed with, I am guessing it was a garlic and herb butter. For another £3 I could have had a sauce, I always think this is a bit of a scam. If your cutlet (or steak) needs a sauce, then serve a sauce with it. The rind on the cutlet was just chewy and not really edible. I am not sure if the cooking method would actually make it crispy. I would have removed it to be honest.

The dressed salad was nothing to write home about, but it was fresh and zingy. These were described as chips, and these were chips. Crispy on the outside and, for and fluffy on the inside.

In summary it was a nice plate of food. Though it did get me thinking about other pork chops I have had in the past.

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A disappointing Roast Pork Fillet

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my starter I had the pork and black pudding scotch egg with homemade brown sauce.

For my main course I had the roast pork fillet that came with a potato terrine, braised pig cheek, bacon jam, red cabbage, and pan jus. 

Overall it was quite a disappointment, it wasn’t bad, it was just disappointing.

The plate looked interesting, but the individual components didn’t really make for a great eating experience.

The focus of the dish should be the roasted pork fillet, which comprised of two chunks of pork fillet. Pork fillet with its lack of fat, can be quite difficult to cook well, and in this case the pork was tough and lacked flavour. I also think the way it was served exacerbated the dryness of the pork. These triangular blocks of pork weren’t that easy to cut and eat either. I think serving it either as medallions, or as a proper chunk of pork fillet would have been a better choice. The braised pig cheek was much better, it was tender and was quite tasty though it was quite a small portion, more a taste of pork cheek. I did think there was too much red cabbage, it did dominate the dish. I was not impressed with the potato terrine which felt like a rather dried out potato dauphinoise. I am guessing it was reheated from some prepared potato. I think if it had been cooked in butter, it would have been better. I also wasn’t too keen on the bacon jam, which I felt didn’t add to the dish. Finally it needed more jus, a jug would have been nice.

It was one of those times where I was inspired by the description on the menu, but the reality of the dish failed to meet my expectations.

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Pork & Black Pudding Scotch Egg

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my starter I had the pork and black pudding scotch egg with homemade brown sauce.

Pork & Black Pudding Scotch Egg

The scotch egg was well presented, sliced in half, with a spread of the homemade brown sauce. The egg had a soft yolk. The pork and black pudding was nice, not overpowered by the black pudding. The crispy coating was a little too crispy I thought. Overall though I did enjoy the plate. 

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Roast Pork Smørrebrød

Visiting Copenhagen I was looking for somewhere for a snack. There are lots of choices of places to eat. I had gone to the fifth floor of Magasin du Nord where I planned to get some coffee. They had a wonderful food department in the basement, which reminded me of Selfridges in London. While I was up there I noticed Hallernes Smørrebrød which sold some amazing looking Smørrebrød (open faced sandwiches). 

They had a lovely looking variety, egg and prawn, beef tartare, chicken, roast beef, potato and roasted pork.

I was tempted by virtually all of them, but I chose the roast pork version. This was roast pork, crackling, pickles, on traditional rye bread. 

Roast Pork Smørrebrød

You do need to use a knife and fork to eat this kind of sandwich and it was delicious. I really liked the flavour, the pickles offsetting the richness of the pork. I also enjoyed the rye bread as well.

I thought to myself, if I am hungry later, I am coming back for another sandwich.

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Tau Yew Bak (again)

I was working in Bristol and popped down to the Finzel Reach street food market. 

My usual challenge though when visiting is that I usually default to stalls I’ve been to before, and don’t necessarily try something new. So on this visit, though I was tempted by the Fritto Misto from King Fin, I knew I had only had it not that long ago.

So, there was quite a bit of choice, I decided I would go for Fat Rice, which sells Malaysian comfort food, and try their Tau Yew Bak, which is pork belly slow-cooked in soy sauce and spices. Served with basmati rice, fried onions and pickled salad.

Tau Yew Bak

Looking at the dish, I realised, this wasn’t new I had eaten this before, just under three years ago. So, it wasn’t new, back then I wrote:

This was a good sized meal and there was a decent portion of the main part of the dish, the pork belly. The pork itself was nice and tender and full of flavour. I liked the chilli sauce that was served with the pork. The salad added zing to the dish and the rice was nice. Overall a delicious bowl of food.

I can say it was just as good this time, the pork was succulent and tender, I liked the chilli sauce, and the rice and salads completed the dish.

One tasty bowl of food.

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Of course, I will have the Bento Box

Castle Park View in the rain with a rainbow

Heading out for lunch on a rather wet Tuesday, myself and my colleagues headed off to the Temple Quay street food market. There are fewer stalls on a Tuesday, but one of my favourites was there, She Sells Streetfood.

I went for my favourite bento box containing the Beef Donburi and the Tan Tan Udon. This was the same combination I had a few times now. As this was a bento box, as well as the Beef Donburi, the Tan Tan Udon came in a smaller cardboard bowl than if you ordered the full size version.

The Tan Tan Udon was udon noodles in a creamy sesame broth with spicy ground pork, Asian greens, spring onions, and crispy chilli.

Tan Tan Udon

This was a delight, the creamy smooth broth was brought to life with the pork, the greens, and the chilli added heat. One day I think I will go for the full size version, one day.

The Beef Donburi was slow cooked beef in an oriental sauce on top of sticky rice.

beef donburi

The beef was melt in your mouth tender and was delicious.

I do like this bento box, and I am not surprised that when it comes to choosing lunch, I will more often than not, head for this tasty, delicious bento box.

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A slice of Sri Lanka

Nadu brings a slice of Sri Lanka to the epicentre of Bristol’s cultural quarter, Stokes Croft. 

Myself and colleagues from work headed to Nadu for a festive meal, well I say festive, as it was that time of year, the menu very much from Sri Lanka.

There was lots of lovely stuff on the menu and I found it quite challenging to choose something. I decided would have a small plate as a starter and then something else as a main.

Across the small plates one dish did stick out to me, which was the Tawa Fish, though there were some others there I would have been happy with. I was quite intrigued by the Mojo Cutlets as well as the Miris Bhaji.

The Tawa Fish was simply a seasonal fish grilled in bell pepper & ginger sauce.

This was not the best looking dish I have seen, and they had tried with the peppers and other garnishes. However, the food was delicious. The fish was perfectly cooked, and the sauce, spicy but not overpowering. I really enjoyed eating this portion of fish.

For my main course, again lots of choice. I liked the idea of the roasted beef bone marrow in the Aeta Midulu, across the different karis, I was tempted by the Era Kulumba, a mild shrimp curry, or the Thora Malu, a fish curry. The Ceylonese Lamb Kari also sounded delicious. In the end though after much thinking I went with the Black Pork Kari, which was slow cooked pork belly with smoked coconut & cinnamon. Alongside I had some coconut rice.

Though not black, this was a very dark looking curry. I was expecting that though. This was also delicious, the pork were very tender, and the sauce was delicious. Not sure I could taste the smoked coconut, but I am sure it was in there somewhere. I really liked this pot and it was really tasty. There was a good level of spice, so you could say spicy, but wasn’t hot and fiery. All rather good and I did finish off this dish.

We also shared a Tear & Share Dosa, 48 hour fermented crispy rice pancake served with chutneys and sambar. Literally tear bits off, dip them in the chutneys and enjoy.

The service was excellent, well informed and friendly waiting staff offering advice and recommendations. 

I can’t wait until I can go again.

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Conference dinner at the Marriott

Back in October I was at a conference at the Marriott in Glasgow and there was a nice conference dinner.

For the starter we had a confit pork and apple terrine. I wasn’t a fan to be honest, the terrine was rather plain and I don’t really like oatcakes.

The main was a roast chicken supreme stuffed with haggis. It was served with dauphinoise potatoes and vegetables. This was rather nice, not spectacular, but tasty.

The salted caramel tart was very rich, it really needed some ice cream to offset the richness.

Overall I did enjoy the meal, certainly better than some conference dinners I’ve had, but not one of the best.

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Bento Box

It’s no wonder sometimes when I go to Bristol and there is a street food market if She Sells Streetfood (was She Sells Sushi) is there I will go with a bento box. I enjoy the food and I think one of the reasons I like it is that it’s not a sandwich or a wrap.

This time, I went with a bento box containing the Beef Donburi and the Tan Tan Udon. This was the same combination I had before. As this was a bento box the Tan Tan Udon came in a smaller cardboard bowl than if you ordered the full size version, alongside was the Beef Donburi.

I’ve always enjoyed the Beef Donburi and this was delicious as usual. The beef was beautifully tender, full of flavour. It goes so well with the sticky rice. I do like the addition of the (new) cucumber salad. 

Last time I really enjoyed the Tan Tan Udon, so was looking forward to eating that again. The Tan Tan Udon was udon noodles in a creamy sesame broth with spicy ground pork, Asian greens and spring onions. It was excellent and delicious. The creamy broth was superb, full of flavour, thicker than a normal broth (hence the creamy). Nice noodles and the spicy ground pork just added to this one tasty bowl of food.

I do like this food.

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Braised pork ribs with Pedro Ximenez bbq glaze

When I’m in London, I often choose the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. I find it offers great value, as it’s always significantly cheaper than hotels in the city, yet still provides an easy and quick commute from West Ealing station.

Their restaurant menu changes on a regular basis and when I do stay I do like to try new things. The braised pork ribs with Pedro Ximenez bbq glaze were something I hadn’t seen before and I did like the sound of them.

The plate consisted of three large ribs.

Braised pork ribs with Pedro Ximenez bbq glaze

Though the ribs were tasty, they weren’t very meaty. The glaze was delicious, however the ribs were mainly bone and what felt like minimal meat. The pork was also a little chewy as well. So, though they were tasty, I did feel that they were a little bit unimpressive. Not something I would order again.