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Merguez and Baguette Rouge at Café Rouge

Needing a quick lunch in Bristol, I popped into Café Rouge.

LunchI have always preferred having a starter over a desert so I went with one of their Petits Plats, Merguez, spicy beef & lamb sausage with harissa mayonnaise.

I was a little surprised as I was expecting to get a whole sausage, not a sliced one. However I guess it was presented in this way, as the Petits Plats are designed to be shared.

I felt however that as the sausage was cooked (or possibly re-heated) sliced it lost a lot of what makes a decent merguez sausage. I’ve certainly had better at Café Rouge was a little disappointed. It should be noted that the flavour was good, but the cooking process and presentation let the dish down.

LunchFor my main course I went with the chargrilled rump steak baguette with Dijon mustard & oregano mayonnaise, French fries and a salad garnish.

I asked for the steak to be rare, and it was delivered medium! Apart from that the steak was okay, there was no depth of flavour, but I kind of expect that, this isn’t a steak house, it’s a chain! I think I would have preferred the Bavette I have had before.

The fries were crisp and were not overseasoned which is normally my experience, and the salad was fresh.

Overall I enjoyed my lunch and the service was excellent, which made for a nice change and I hope is the norm rather than the exception.

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Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients

5oz plain flour
1oz unsweetened good-quality cocoa powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2¼oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
8oz castor sugar
2 large free-range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5½fl oz milk (the recipe actually calls for buttermilk, but I keep forgetting to buy it).

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a medium bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until smoothly blended – about two minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter.

Add the vanilla and beat for another minute. On a low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing to incorporate it, then mix in the milk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture just until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill the cupcake liners half full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops feel firm and a metal skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove the cupcakes from the pan onto the wire rack and leave to cool completely.

They can be topped with buttercream if so desired.

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Tea Monkey

Okay this may surprise a few people, but when I was in Bath the other day I went to Tea Monkey and had a pot of tea.

Tea Monkey #366photos

I went for a pot of Darjeeling.

Darjeeling (Margarets Hope*) – From one of Darjeelings best known estates…a lovely muscatel flavour with delicious astringency

They used a glass pot and loose leaves, no tea bags in this place.

It was a lovely cup of tea and I really enjoyed drinking it. There is something very different about drinking proper tea (in the same way I guess about how I feel about drinking proper coffee). The tea was very refreshing and certainly perked me up for the rest of the day.

There is plenty of choice at Tea Monkey and, yes if you want one, you can get coffee, but I think the real reason to go to Tea Monkey is to try the tea. Next time I may be adventerous and try one of their flowering teas.

I also liked the fact that they serve toast, even when it isn’t breakfast! If you want toast for lunch, then you can have toast for lunch. You could also have crumpets or a teacake. As well as the toasted stuff they have a range of sandwiches and cakes too.

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BBQ Chicken

BBQ Chicken

Needing lunch and has I had just done a small shop, decided to go to the Sainsburys Cafe. They had a special offer on some of their meals reduced to £2.50 so I went with the BBQ Chicken, even though I think they should spell it barbecue rather than BBQ!

Lunch

It consisted of half a “roast” chicken, BBQ sauce, in my serving a smattering of coleslaw and a choice of chips or seasoned wedges. It wasn’t bad, and certainly not bad value at £2.50. The chicken was well cooked, so the leg meat was quite moist and tender, but the breast meat felt a little dry. I did think that there was too much BBQ sauce and not enough coleslaw. The chips were crisp and fluffy on the inside. Overall for a supermarket cafe meal, not too bad, but certainly nothing to write home about.

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Kabanos

When I do a roast dinner I usually roast vegetables alongside the main course. I have also been known to add sausages. I have also been known to add sliced cooking chorizo. The other day I decided to try kabanos. I have used them before in long slow cooked dishes, however I wasn’t sure how well they would roast.

They looked really good, however I don’t think it worked. They were a little too chewy and rather too salty. When I have used chorizo you usually get a nice crisp edge, but tender inside.

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Christmas Dinner

It is traditional in our house to have the Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve. For the last few years we have had our big Christmas dinner (with all the trimmings) on the day before. That way I can relax and enjoy the cooking, the children will enjoy helping and eating the meal and there will be no rushing off to play with new toys…

On the big day itself we ate cold roast and we had a game pie in the fridge.

Tradition? Well it’s now our tradition and it’s perfect if you have children in the house.

For Christmas (Eve) Dinner we had a three bird roast, a small joint of beef and a boneless rolled shoulder of lamb. Though I think I may have overcooked them all slightly, the beef and lamb were very tender, however the three bird roast, though very nice, felt a little dry. The vegetable accompaniments worked well and the meal was enjoyed by all.

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Peas

I quite like peas. Cooked very simply, perfect. I do prefer petis pois over the bigger garden peas.

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Caffè Paradiso

On a recent visit to London, I was on Store Street in Camden when I decided I wanted to get a coffee and do some work. The Caffè Paradiso was one of many coffee shops close by, but I chose it, partly as it had free wifi, but mainly as it looked like it served decent coffee.

Well the wifi was free and reasonably fast. The coffee was also really good. I also had a plain croissant and it took a while to get some butter. Though the croissant was fresh, it tasted a little too much of almond as though it had been stored too close to the almond croissants.

What I like about these independent coffee shops is they have character and soul. They have a personality which is missing from the high street chains. Of course the reason why high street chains are successful is that they appear to offer consistency and reliability. Though generally I have had excellent coffee from most independent places I have been to, I have on the odd occasion been disappointed. I think this is the reason why people sometimes are a little bit wary of independence and go with a chain. Of course in some places you have no choice and you can only go to a chain. Regular readers of this blog will know from my posts on coffee that chains, which should be consistent can sometimes disappoint. So the next time I am in the area I will hopefully have a repeat visit to Caffè Paradiso for some excellent coffee.

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Bloomsbury Cafe

CoffeeSo there I was slightly early for a meeting in Gordon Square in the heart of London, I had time for a coffee, however the only place close by and I could find was the Bloomsbury Cafe on Gordon Street. It’s part of UCL and from what I could see it served coffee in cardboard cups. Without any choice I decided that I did want a coffee and went in.

I had a large Americano which cost a very reasonable £1.30 and really enjoyed it, it was a great coffee. Felt old sitting amongst the students, but I think that’s just life!