review Archives - Time for a coffee

October 24, 2026October 24, 2026

Crab Sandwich at the Riverside Tearoom

I had spent much of the day exploring Orford Ness in Suffolk. What was once a secret military base was sold to the National Trust back in 1993.

After catching the boat back to the quayside, I decided I would have a cold drink from the Riverside Tearoom. However, upon reading the menu, I was tempted by the fresh crab sandwich that was on the specials board. I placed my order at the counter and took a seat outside.

It wasn’t long before my sandwich arrived, which had been made fresh to order. This was a round of sandwiches made with white bread and filled with a mix of fresh brown and white crab meat. Alongside was some salad and a bowl of crisps.

Regular readers will know I generally don’t do sandwiches. However, I am a fan of crab, so I wasn’t going to give up the opportunity for some fresh crab (even if it was in a sandwich).

This was a delicious sandwich, and you could really taste the freshness of the crab. The bread was soft and quite good. I also liked the salad and crisps.

When I was planning my trip to Suffolk I had originally thought about having lunch in Aldeburgh, but I was too late for that. Another idea I had was to visit the Butley Orford Oysterage but I was too late for lunch there as well. So, though I ended up at the Riverside Tearoom I was pleased with my lunch.

October 18, 2026

Portobello Mushrooms and a Bavette Steak

I had flown to Thessaloniki in Greece for five days for a conference. I was staying at the ONOMA Hotel. On my first evening I realised it was getting quite late, so initial idea of going out into the area for a meal was canned, and I headed to the hotel restaurant for a meal, I also had a 20% voucher for the restaurant as well.

I went for a starter of portobello mushrooms stuffed with trahana cream and metsovone cheese.

This was quite a rich starter, but was very tasty. I would have probably liked some bread to go with it. My memory of eating out in Greece back in the early 2000s was having bread with every meal.

For my main I went with the bavette steak with greek chimichurri, charred spring onions and smashed potatoes.

This was a nice steak, cooked to perfection. It was very tender and I liked the addition of the chimichurri. Though I liked the smashed potatoes, I wasn’t that enamoured with the charred spring onions.

Alongside I went with a local beer, Nymfi, which was nice. Overall it was a good meal and I enjoyed it.

September 9, 2026September 24, 2026

Time for a Mixed Grill

I was staying at the Premier Inn at Heathrow, cheap and next to the car parking I had booked.

I didn’t really have the time (or the transport) to go somewhere else, so I headed down the restaurant for dinner.

They do quite a good value meal deal with two courses and a drink for £19.99, you can throw in breakfast the following morning and it costs £29.99.

I went with a starter and had the bao buns.

For my main course I upgraded to the mixed grill.

This was a sirloin steak, gammon steak, half a chicken breast and pork sausages. Served with beer-battered onion rings, garden peas, a fried egg, half a grilled tomato and skin-on chips. I was given a choice of salad if I wanted to. I went with the chips.

The steak and gammon were really nice. The steak was cooked to my liking and was well seasoned. The chicken I am assuming was pre-cooked and was a little rubbery having been cooked on the chargrill. The sausages looked a little overcooked, but in fact were just right.

The chips were crisp on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside.

The only thing that let the plate down were the onion rings which were overcooked and just crunch. I was asked how my food was before I tried one, otherwise I would have probably complained, but even then maybe not, as it was just three onion rings.

I do like a mixed grill and I was quite impressed with this plate from Premier Inn, to be honest my expectations weren’t very high. Compared to the mixed grills I had last year from The Landing Light and the Railway Inn, this was much better. Though it was missing a lamb chop!

August 31, 2026

Dressed Crab and Grilled Sea Bream at Rockfish

In August when we had the partial solar eclipse I wrote about my visit to Brixham back in 1999 to see the total solar eclipse we had in the UK. Since that visit, I hadn’t actually been back to Brixham, though had visited many other places in that area. I made a plan to go back there, and hopefully get a nice lunch from one of the many fish restaurants that surround the harbour. Brixham has a large fishing fleet, and had the largest fish market in England.

I had looked online before I got to Brixham, and had seen Rockfish, I liked how as well as serving fish, they had a restaurant. I liked the look of the menu too, they had a nice looking set menu, which I thought I might go for.

I hadn’t booked, but they were able to find a table for me. I looked over the menu and had essentially chosen my two courses from the set menu.

Then the waiting staff came over and asked if I wanted to hear the fresh fish they had in, I went yes. They had an amazing selection of fresh fish choices. It was a little more than the set menu, well much higher!

I thought about it and decided I would go with the fresh fish choices. For my starter I went with the dressed crab, and for my main course I chose the grilled sea bream.

The dressed crab arrived, with both brown and white crab meat, along with some slices of bread.

This was delicious, lovely fresh crab, which I really enjoyed.

For my main course I had the grilled sea bream. This was described as succulent, sweet and gloriously meaty – a highly prized whole fish with clean, white flakes. It came with a tomato sauce and unlimited fries (I could have had salad or new potatoes).

This looked amazing and was beautifully cooked. It had great flavour and I really enjoyed eating it. Obviously it was a while fish, so I did have to fillet it, to eat it. I also had to turn other to get the other fillet.

The whole meal was delicious, I was pleased that I went with the fresh fish choices, I paid more, but it was worth it.

Service was excellent, warm and welcoming.

What was interesting was that you could buy fresh fish from the fish stall at Rockfish and for £6 they would cook it for you.

This was my first visit to Brixham in twenty seven years, after such a nice meal, I think I won’t leave it so long next time.

July 11, 2026

Remembering the Duck at the Hare and Tortoise

Sometimes when eating out, I don’t get a chance to write up the meal I had. Usually for another reason I am checking out that date or location and find photographs of a meal I had. This was the case here, when back in June 2024 I was staying in London at the The Hand & Flower in Olympia. One of the places I would go for dinner in the area was the Hare & Tortoise in Kensington. This is a London chain specialising in Japanese food.

For a start I had some Tori Katsu Maki. An inside-out seaweed roll filled with deep-fried chicken in panko breadcrumbs with cucumber, avocado, dressed with tonkatsu sauce, mayonnaise and tempura flakes on top.

These were excellent, really tasty, good mix of textures and flavour.

For a main I had the Roast Duck and Rice. Slices of roast duck, served on steamed rice with a homemade sauce mixed with cinnamon, aniseed powder and ginger, garnished with Chinese greens and spring onions.

This was a generous portion of duck and I thought it was just okay. It was interesting when I had this same dish a couple of months later, I felt similar about the dish. I have to remind myself sometimes that the purpose of this blog is in the main about reminding me what I have eaten, when eating out, and not to order stuff I didn’t like or was not impressed with. I can imagine that over a year or so I might forget, this was just a couple of months!

July 9, 2026

Pad Thai and Yasai Tempura at the Hare and Tortoise

For this meal I had gone for Pad Thai and some Yasai Tempura.

The Pad Thai was wok-fried flat rice noodles with king prawns, deep-fried tofu, peanuts, sweet radish, chives, egg, beansprouts and a hint of chilli.

This was a great tasting dish but did feel the portion size was quite small. I liked the fact they used tofu instead of chicken. I enjoyed the prawns in the dish too.

I was glad I ordered a side dish of Yasai Tempura.

This was a deep-fried selection of five seasonal vegetables in a light crispy batter, served with a dashi-based dipping sauce. Very tasty they were too.

July 7, 2026July 7, 2026

Remembering the Sushi at the Hare and Tortoise

I went with a selection of sushi. I had the Essential Sushi Box which came with ten pieces of sushi: salmon nigiri, tuna nigiri, octopus nigiri, prawn nigiri, 3 salmon maki and 3 tuna maki.

This was a lovely fresh selection of expertly made sushi. I enjoyed the fact it was (as it should be) made with raw fish. My favourite of the ten was the tuna nigiri.

I also had the California Maki which was an inside-out seaweed roll filled with omelette, avocado, crab stick, cucumber and mayonnaise, garnished with tobiko.

These were beautifully presented and I loved the flavour and textures of the maki.

That really should have been enough but I was intrigued and tempted by the Kani Gunkan or snow crab sushi.

I should have resisted temptation, the snow crab was very watery and lacked flavour. It was not quite what I was expecting.

Despite my (slight) disappointment with the snow crab, the sushi I had were delicious.

June 7, 2026

Wahaca Feasting Menu

Though Wahaca is one of my favourite places to eat, I hadn’t been there since December 2024, when I visited the branch at Paddington and had the Wahaca for One deal. They use to have a branch in Bristol, but that closed way back in August 2020.

My son and I were in Wimbledon, and there are lots of places to eat there, however it was during the recent heatwave, so I wasn’t in the mood for spicy Korean food. So, we went to Wahaca. It was a Friday evening, and they looked busy, it took while for us to be seated, we then looked over the menu.

They have an extensive choice of small plates on offer in their menu, and they recommend 2-3 plates per person. I also quite liked the idea of ordering some Mexico City Nachos as well. However, I did though like the sound of their feasting menu. This is six dishes, and one of those, the Yellowfin Tuna Tostadas was one I wanted to have. One thing I like about having a set menu like this is you get dishes you probably wouldn’t order if you were ordering separate plates. We ordered the feasting menu and two bottles of Corona.

The first four dishes to arrive were a Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito, Beef Gringa Tacos, Grilled Brindisa Chorizo Quesadilla and the Yellowfin Tuna Tostadas.

The Beef Gringa tacos were made from grass-fed, slow-cooked beef, with grilled cheese and salsa fresca, in two soft corn tortillas. A dash of lime added a nice sharpness and freshness to the rich beef filling.

Yes, you could eat these in your hands, but it could be messy. The beef was rich and tender with just the right amount of spice.

The Grilled Brindisa Chorizo Quesadilla is not the best looking dish, but this was tasty.

There was ample chorizo within the quesadilla to add heat and bite to the filling of grilled cheese and crunchy tortilla.

The Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito with caramelised onion, salsas and chipotle mayo in a crisp blue corn tortilla, was served on a bed of lettuce.

The sweetness of the sweet potato was offset by the saltiness of the feta and the spicy heat of the chipotle mayo. It was a lovely combination of flavours and textures.

One of my favourite dishes of the feasting menu was the Yellowfin Tuna Tostadas. This was raw line-caught tuna, marinated in soy and lime, with avocado, tomato salsa and salsa macha, on crispy tortillas.

I had enjoyed tuna tacos from Bills before, but these tostadas were very different approach and appearance. The crispy tostadas added a nice crunch to the fresh zingy tuna and the accompanying salsas added flavour and heat. Like the beef tacos, slightly messy to eat, but these were delicious.

As we were eating the final two dishes arrived, the Buttermilk Chicken Tacos, and the Chipotle Glazed Aubergine.

The Buttermilk Chicken tacos would probably have been a dish I would have ordered if I was ordering separate plates. These was crunchy fried buttermilk chicken with habanero mayo and pink pickled onions, in two soft flour tortillas.

This sounded great, and they were very nice, but out of all the six dishes I had these were probably my least favourite. I liked the habanero mayo and pink pickled onions, but I think the dish was let down by the chicken, which to be honest was a little dry (and possibly overcooked). They were okay, maybe I had higher expectations, but I was slightly disappointed.

I forgot to take a photograph of the Chipotle Glazed Aubergine: however, this was roasted slices of aubergine that had been brushed with a chipotle glaze and was served on top of macadamia mole, with jalapeño oil and crumbled feta. I doubt I would have ordered this dish if I was ordering separate plates, but this was one of the best dishes in the six. It was beautifully presented with a topping of crumbled feta. It had a lovely strong flavour, some heat, there was sweetness from the glaze which contrasted with the saltiness of the feta and the slight bitterness of the aubergine. Delicious.

Overall, we had six excellent plates of food. Obviously, I preferred some over others, but it was a nice variety and I was pleased we had made the choice to go with the feasting menu.

Service was excellent, warm, friendly and efficient. I would certainly visit again.

May 19, 2026May 18, 2026

Yasai yaki soba once more, with a mushroom hirata bun

When I get to Wagamama, part of me says, try something new, another part of me says, I like the yasai yaki soba, which is mushrooms, soba noodles cooked with egg, peppers, beansprouts, onion, pickled ginger, crispy fried onions and sesame seeds.

I was at the Designer Outlet East Midlands charging my car and I had time for some lunch. There is a food court, but Wagamama are one of the few places with table service. I like yasai yaki soba and as well as been very tasty, is one of the cheaper items on the menu. This was lunch, not dinner, so wasn’t wanting to spend lots of money. I decided I would have this and some mushroom bao, another dish I regularly order – it helped that I had a free side from the soul club app.

Though I didn’t think the place was that busy, it took a while for my food to arrive. This was a nice plate of food. There are contrasting textures and flavours within the dish. I like the addition of the crispy onions and pickled ginger. I always think the dish could have more mushrooms, but I am resigned that this is a noodle dish with mushrooms, and not a mushroom dish with noodles.

Alongside the tasty yasai yaki soba I also had a side dish of mushroom hirata buns. I enjoyed these buns, the contrasting textures of the bao bun, the panko aubergine and the mushrooms.

Overall it was a really nice meal and I enjoyed it all.

May 14, 2026May 14, 2026

Sherlock Holmes at Six by Nico

I have been intrigued by Six by Nico for a while now, mainly through posts on the Instagram. So, for my birthday meal I decided I would give them a go. I had booked us into the tasting menu, entitled Sherlock Holmes at Six by Nico. There were six courses and the cost was £49 per person. I have been wanting to try a tasting menu for a while now, but the cost has always been slightly prohibitive, even for a birthday meal.

We had to book a specific time and it looked like the place would be busy and popular. We were given a lovely warm welcome from the waiting staff and shown to our table. This was a set menu, so no choices to be made, however on the table was not so much a menu, more of a journal.

One of the waiting staff came over and explained that this was a mystery and we would (as assistants to Sherlock Holmes) have to solve the mystery. What I hadn’t envisaged was that there was also a Sherlock Holmes mystery to solve as the food was served. As we ate there were additional clues provided. I won’t go into the mystery, but it was very clever, and we did manage to guess the prime suspect before the final set of clues.

Less of the mystery and now onto the food. I should say at this point that the food was excellent, any criticism should be seen in the light of that, these weren’t negative aspects, just things that I wasn’t keen on, or I think could have been (slightly) better. Overall the food was amazing, delicious, and I really enjoyed the whole experience. Now for some of the detail.

We had some bread and chicken butter to set us up for the meal. I always like a bit of bread and butter, and this was nice bread, the butter didn’t really taste of chicken that much.

Course one was Sherlock’s Nightcap, a mushroom velouté, brioche soldier, pickled walnut, truffle emulsion, mushroom “pipe ash”.

The velouté was delicious, it was smooth and had a deep mushroom flavour; it was served in a small saucepan and alongside was the brioche soldier which was also really tasty. I liked the way the brioche soldier was dressed.

The second course was entitled, the Scene Of The Crime. This was Bubble & Squeak, which consisted of confit hispi cabbage, gnocchi, black garlic “ink”, aged cheddar.

I liked this dish, the cabbage was full of flavour, I liked the fried gnocchi, and the cheese bought it together. I did expect the aged cheddar to be more mature than it was.

Course three was A Haunting Meal, smoked ham hock, caramelized cauliflower, piccalilli, herb crumble.

This was a reversed sandwich with the bread sandwiched between two pieces of ham hock. The piccalilli enhanced the ham hock as did the pickles.

The fourth course was The Séance, sole ballotine, hazelnut ragù, burnt leek, sage, squid ink tuile.

This dish was the one I had been anticipating, and though it was nice, I was a little disappointed. I think my sole ballotine was a little overcooked. However the lemon gel did add some needed sharpness to the plate.

We had the extra add-on, Madame Seraphine’s Remedy, which was smoked pork, mustard & cheddar croquette, gherkin relish, served with avocado & cucumber gazpacho.

I had anticipated this coming as a separate course, but was an add-on the fifth course. I liked the avocado & cucumber gazpacho which was refreshing and interesting. The croquette was beautifully cooked, with a crips coating and a satisfying smooth interior.

The fifth course was The Smoke Room, which was lamb flank, salt baked celeriac, wild garlic, charcoal emulsion.

The celeriac puree was perfection, the lamb was nice, and I liked the different aspects of the dish.

The final course was The Atelier, ‘victorian sponge’, marmalade, toast crémeux, milk ice cream.

This was a rather tasty dessert, the toast crémeux was the highlight for me, and I liked the milk ice cream. The, what was essentially a marmalade sandwich made with cake, was nice, but the crémeux and ice cream pushed that part of the plate into the shade.

We left having solved the mystery and we had enjoyed our food.