Time for a coffee

April 7, 2012

Liking Mackerel

Decided to cook some mackerel for the first time in years. I’ve not had a huge amount of success cooking mackerel in the past, so have avoided it and gone for other types of fish.

After eating out recently at Café Rouge and having a very nice piece of mackerel there, decided that I would get some myself at some point and cook it.

So having bought some salmon for the rest of the family I also bought a fillet of mackerel.

I prepared the mackerel, though it was almost prepared by the fishmonger, it still had some bones in, so I removed that. The mackerel was then coated in seasoned flour. In my heavy frying pan I heated up a splash of olive oil and a knob of butter. With the butter bubbling I added the floured mackerel fillets. Once they were nearly cooked I added pink peppercorns and chopped parsley. They were stirred through and cooked for another minute.

I placed the mackerel fillets onto a plate and poured the butter, peppercorns and parsley over the them.

They were really nice and I will certainly be cooking mackerel again.

The salmon by the way, I roasted in the oven.

March 29, 2012

Espresso in the car…

You just know that I want to get one of these…. Perfect for those long journeys, or when queuing for petrol when there’s a tanker strike on, or as happens way too often the M5 grinds to a halt.

Only €149

March 17, 2012

Yo! Sushi Takeaway

There is a huge difference between the sushi you can buy from the supermarket and the fresh stuff that you can buy at Yo Sushi!

Needing a quick meal I decided to get some Yo! Sushi takeout. I went for a Mixed Box and a Meaty Box.

In the Mixed Box, you get 3 sashimi: salmon, tuna, coriander seared tuna. 3 nigiri: salmon, prawn, tamago. 2 iso: crunchy prawn & avocado, YO! roll. 2 cucumber maki.

What I do like about Yo! Sushi is they use fresh raw fish. I really enjoyed the sashimi, fresh succulent and tasty. I sometimes add the pickled ginger and soy sauce. The nigiri were good, solid sticky rice with tasty toppings. Less confident about the tamago sweet omelette but the salmon was very good. I also quite like the small cucumber maki, when accompanied with the ginger and soy is a very tasty treat. Overall there is a really nice selection in the box and probably about right for one.

However as there were two of us we got two boxes, as well as the mixed box, I also picked up the Meaty Box. In this box, you get 2 crispy duck futomaki. 2 spicy chicken katsu iso. 2 seared beef nigiri. 1 spicy chicken salad.

I don’t usually have meat when I have sushi, favouring the fish, so this was a first for me. I though the seared beef nigiri was interesting, but lacked the depth of flavour I was expecting. Whereas the spicy chicken katsu iso was a wonderful combination of tastes and textures. There was also a lot of flavour in the crispy duck futomaki. Though I enjoyed the spicy chicken salad I do think we needed more of it.

Next time I think I might need to add more bulk, maybe some an extra rice or noodle dish. Possibly more salad too.

Overall, though not too expensive at £14 for two, it’s not the cheapest takeaway you can buy, it was delicious, fresh and tasty.

March 16, 2012

Hobgoblin

This is a very nice ruby beer. Dark in colour, strong in taste this is a beer to be savoured slowly. A perfect choice for dark winter evenings (even though it’s nearly spring, it is still very nice).

I do like the beers from the Wychwood Brewery and the imagery they use is also clever.

March 9, 2012

Black & Beyond

Those who know me, know that I only drink “real” coffee, I’ve recently changed my usual coffee from Percol’s Americano to Percol’s Black & Beyond. This is an increase in strength from 5 to 6.

It’s a strong coffee that is full of flavour. If you like the odd espresso then you’ll probably like a cup of this. However if you prefer a latte then you’ll no doubt find this coffee way too strong.

I generally use this coffee in my cafetiere and certainly gives a kick and is very nice.

You wouldn’t want to have too many cups of this coffee otherwise you’ll have to drag you off the ceiling!

March 7, 2012

“Chelsea” Bun

I would be the first person to make the call that what you see in the photograph above is not a true Chelsea Bun.

It was a “Chelsea” Bun from Morrisons. Made from bread it had dried fruit and cinnamon and was topped with a sugar glaze and sugar crystals.

As you can probably guess it wasn’t anything to write home about. It lacked freshness, it was too sugary and the cinnamon was somewhat misplaced and overpowering.

This wasn’t a delight, much more a cloying and unsatisfying experience, one not to be repeated.

March 4, 2012

Americano please…

Last week, having managed to catch an earlier train and arriving in Birmingham a little earlier than I needed to, I decided to venture to Caffé Nero for a coffee. (and they have free wifi so that’s useful too).

I ordered my usual for Caffé Nero, an americano with cold skimmed milk on the side.

As I have written before, I have found that the coffee at Caffé Nero is pretty consistent, and this one was no exception. A really nice strong, well flavoured coffee.

If can’t find a decent independent, then out of all the chains if I can find one, then I will go to Caffé Nero.

March 3, 2012

Cheese and Red Onion Scone

So there I was in John Lewis and decided to get a coffee from the Espresso Bar in the basement in their Bristol branch. Feeling a little peckish I had a look at what was on offer and went for their “special” scone, a cheese and red onion scone.

I do quite like a savoury scone, when I visit the restaurant at Cadbury Garden Centre I quite like their cheese scones. If it isn’t cheese than I might go with a sweet one with sultanas, which means I must also have butter, jam and clotted cream. When it comes to sweet scones, for me they much have fruit, and be served with butter, strawberry jam and clotted cream. Of course the other key thing is that the scone must be fresh. Nothing worse than eating a scone that was baked days ago… Most places seem to sell not-fresh scones, that more than likely they buy in bulk ready made. Whereas there are a few places that do bake and sell scones that taste fresh. You can easily tell the difference.

This scone from John Lewis was rather nice, not too heavy, fresh and full of flavour. Certainly if it is on sale again I will probably get one again.

February 19, 2012

Very nice indeed…

I have a kind of love hate relationship with Café Rouge. I really like the concept behind Café Rouge and like the menu, but then I am let down either by poor service or over seasoning.

However on my latest visit with the family, we had excellent service, great food and it was all, very nice indeed…

It was, how it should be, how I expect it to be, and what I want when I go out and pay for lunch.

My son, avoiding the children’s menu, he went for the Tartine Marocaine, an open sandwich of sautéed spicy Merguez sausages & caramelised onions with houmous and crisp chicory on grilled sourdough bread served with a minted crème fraîche.

I am a great fan of Merguez sausages and these, though slightly overdone for me, were very nice, and my son really enjoyed the dish. I was quite surprised how much he enjoyed the onions, the crisp chicory (which is quite bitter) and the salad. He wasn’t that impressed with the minted crème fraîche, but once he worked out that it helped cool the spiciness of the Merguez sausage he understood how it fitted into the dish. I have had this dish myself before and enjoyed it back then.

My wife went with the Salade de Chèvre, grilled goat’s cheese croutons on a bed of marinated red peppers, black olives and herb salad with a light vinaigrette.

She let me try the salad and I liked the freshness of the salad leaves with the marinated red peppers and black olives. The goat’s cheese had a subtle flavour, but was nice.

I went with the Tartine au Maquereau, an open sandwich of pan-fried mackerel fillets, baby plum tomatoes, horseradish mayonnaise and rocket on grilled sourdough bread.

I really enjoyed this dish, the mackerel was cooked really well and the tomatoes, rocket and horseradish mayonnaise complemented the fish. The dish was full of flavour and was delicious.

My two younger ones had meals from the children’s menu, they enjoyed their food, but the fries came with salt on them… personally I think they should come without salt, especially on the children’s dishes.

So what about the service? Despite the fact it was a busy Sunday, we got a table as soon as we walked in, and the waitress was friendly and efficient. The food came within a reasonable time frame and we weren’t rushed or anything. As a result it was a very relaxing and enjoyable meal out.

Very nice indeed…

February 18, 2012

Lunch at La Tasca

I do like tapas, but haven’t eaten at La Tasca for a while. It’s a great place to go in a group, but unlike a few other places I could mention, it’s not a place I often go to when eating on my own or needing a quick place for lunch. However needing a quick lunch, I did notice walking by that La Tasca had a lunch deal on, two tapas dishes and bread (or salad) as an accompaniment for £5.95, that to me seemed quite reasonable. I had considered going to Jamie’s Italian which was close by, but they don’t appear to do a lunch menu and the main menu was a little expensive for a quick lunch.

For my two dishes I went with Calamares Andaluza, crispy squid, served with a roasted garlic & paprika mayonnaise and Paella Valenciana, a paella with chicken breast and mixed seafood. Alongside I went with the bread, the Pan de Barra, freshly baked white baguette, olive bloomer and caramelised onion bread, served with an extra-virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip.

Not sure how freshly baked the bread was, but though it may have been freshly baked at some point it didn’t feel that freshly baked to me. Probably because I have been spoilt by going to the Royal Well Tavern where the bread is so fresh that it is still warm when it arrives at the table! However it was nice to have three different kinds of bread and my favourite out of the three was the olive bloomer.

The calamares and paella arrived together. The calamares was nicely cooked, crisp batter and tender in the middle. The mayonnaise complemented the squid well. I enjoyed the calamares and was certainly one of the better dishes of squid I have had from La Tasca, so was impressed.

On previous visits to La Tasca, when I have had paella, usually as part of a special offer, tapas for a tenner, it wasn’t that special. I thought it was a bit of a risk taking the paella, but I thought why not. I was quite pleased though, it was very pleasant and certainly much better than previous paella I have had at La Tasca.

Overall, good service, nice food and value for money, just what I wanted for lunch.