food, reviews and of course coffee
We went to the Summerhouse for a meal. I had a chicken curry, which was just okay. Felt like it was something that I would have microwaved from a supermarket, but then what did I expect ordering a curry in a pub restaurant.
I don’t think I would order it again.
Intriguing story from France and the mystery of the blue honey.
I really don’t like the sound of blue honey, it may be peculiar to the British about this dislike of blue food, older people may recall the “missing” blue smarties that could be found in tubes of European smarties, but were not to be found in the tubes sold in the UK. Eventually blue smarties did find their way to the UK.
When I first saw this board next to the pasty outlet at Bristol Temple Meads my initial thought was that it was some kind of joke.
It wasn’t!
Yes this was a pasty containing fish, mushy peas and yes chips. I know that lots of people out there love eating fish and chips (and a fair few of those like it with a portion of mushy peas). There are also a lot of people who like eating pasties, the reaction to the pasty tax showed that. However how many people out there really want to fuse those two classic foods into this pasty?
I know after posting the image on Twitter via Instagram that the reaction was quite mixed, some went “no thank you” and some went “yes please”. My reaction was, sorry no thank you. I think it was a combination of the green of the peas (and it is a very bright green) and the quantity of potato in the photograph. I can’t see the attraction of taking a reasonably nice meal and wrapping it in pastry?
I like lemons and really find them an useful ingredient for many different recipes. For example I really like to make a Lemon and Rocket Risotto which adds a great sharp taste to the creamy cheesy rice.
I also use it often as a way of marinading chicken to add flavour and tenderise it. I will often add the lemon to the roasting tray or add them to the barbecue coals.
They also work well as a garnish adding flavour to dishes such as paella. Placing quartered lemons on top of the paella as you serve allows the diners to add some lemon juice if they want to.
I prefer to buy unwaxed lemons as the zest is essential for many dishes to add additional flavour.
I’ve always tried to take a proper lunch break when working. I think it provides me with a good break from the routine of work, doing something different and I also try and get some fresh air.
Working in Gloucester I can walk around the town or the docks, however at our Forest of Dean Campus in Coleford, there isn’t much to do around the site, and the lunch options on site are quite depressing as well, okay if you like sandwiches or burgers. Even Coleford doesn’t have too many choices either.
So this time I went off to Monmouth, which is a twenty minute drive away. Looking at the options available I decided to go to Coffee #1. This was my first visit to a branch of Coffee #1.
I really liked the look and feel of the place with assorted bits of wooden furniture and leather sofas and chairs. I had a delicious panini and a flat white.
I also treated myself to a summer fruits cheesecake.
While I was finishing off my coffee, I checked my e-mail before heading back to the college and my office.
How many of these do you remember?
Have to say I didn’t know you could get a strawberry Aero.
A recent birthday treat was to go to the new Frankie and Benny’s in Weston-super-Mare. As it was lunchtime, I went for the lunchtime menu special, which seemed reasonable value. For my starter I went with the Bruschetta, a homemade mix of fresh tomato, red onion, basil, olive oil and cracked black pepper served over toasted garlic ciabatta bread, finished with a balsamic glaze. I was not that impressed with this, I found the red onion very harsh and astringent. Normally red onion can be very sweet when raw, however I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would.
The Calamari Caesar Salad came next, which consisted of (according to the menu) lightly fried and seasoned calamari, crispy Cos lettuce leaves, white anchovy, tomato and fresh garlic ciabatta croutons drizzled with our Caesar dressing, topped with Grana Padano and served with a wedge of lemon.
I would probably take exception to the phrase “lightly fried” as the squid had been overcooked to the point where the calamari was crunchy on the outside and quite rubbery on the inside. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I do think that Frankie and Benny’s could do a much better job of cooking the squid. It’s not difficult to cook squid well, however I think that the squid at Frankie and Benny’s is double cooked, it is cooked already and then cooked again when it is ordered. I of course don’t know that for sure. The chef has used the larger outside leaves of the Cos lettuce for the dish, which meant they were more limp than crispy. Overall I did enjoy the salad and it was a good sized portion and value for money.
There is something classic and very British about having fish and chips at a seaside resort. Down in Weymouth for the day and wanting a late lunch (or was it an early tea) made the decision to have fish and chips.
After walking around for a while decided to go to the Seagull Cafe on the harbourside which had tables and chairs outside. This was a really nice place to sit, watching the world go by, enjoying (that rare thing) a sunny summer afternoon.
Looking over the traditional menu, I found that they did deep fried mackerel and chip, so I went with that. After a short wait it arrived. The fish was wonderful, you could tell it had just been cooked to order, fresh crispy batter and perfectly done fish. Really lovely. The chips were okay, but they tasted as though they had been cooked a bit of time before and kept warm. Still nice though.
Bottelino’s is an independent chain of Italian restaurants in the South West, they also have a branch in Swindon next to the shopping outlet. I do enjoy the pizza at Bottellino’s, so on a recent visit to the STEAM Museum we decided to take advantage of their lunchtime offer, of any pizza or pasta for £5.95.
We shared a Piccante, with spicy sausage, bacon, mushroom, chilli and mozzarella cheese. It was nice and fresh, but probably a little too spicy from what we actually wanted, but it was very tasty.
Alongside, as it was only £2.50 as part of the offer I went for the Calamari Fritti, squid coated in seasoned flour and deep-fried. This was a nice sized portion, interestingly portioned as sticks of calamari rather than actual sliced squid or the rings one usually finds. Slightly rubbery in texture they did taste nice and the accompanying salad was good too. Very different to the dish when I have had it previously.
My son went with the Spaghetti alla Vongole, spaghetti with clams and garlic, in a white wine, fresh basil and tomato sauce. I think initially he was disappointed with the look of a dish expecting fresh clams, however he really enjoyed the dish once he started to eat it.
My two younger children went with the children’s menu, one had a cheese and tomato pizza and the other Spaghetti alla Bolognese. Both enjoyed their meals. These were good sized portions on proper plates. I remember when I first visited Bottelino’s they didn’t have a children’s menu, they do now, which is quite good value for money, at £4.96, as alongside their pizza or pasta they get a drink and for desert a scoop of proper ice cream.
On previous visits to Swindon, we usually went for lunch at the National Trust Heelis Cafe, however back in April 2010 we had a very poor experience and as a result we’ve not gone back. I think on any future visit to Swindon, we are probably more likely to get to eat at Bottelino’s now.
If you are looking for a cheap hotel, that isn’t Travelodge, then I am usually quite pleased with Premier Inn. I’ve felt that Premier Inn, which is generally not that much more expensive than the Travelodge have nicer rooms and definitely much nicer breakfasts. On a recent trip to Cambridge I stayed at the Premier Inn near to the A14. Knowing that I was arriving late on a Sunday, I decided to take advantage of their £22 meal deal.
Enjoy a delicious three course evening meal from our Meal Deal menu featuring specially selected dishes, plus a drink of your choice. Then the next day, eat as much as you like of our freshly prepared Premier breakfast, all for just £22.
As breakfast on its own costs £8.25 I thought that wasn’t such a bad deal.
Having arrived ordered a pint of bitter (part of the deal) and looked over the menu.
For the starter I went with the classic Prawn Cocktail, served on crisp salad leaves with tomato, cucumber, a classic Marie Rose sauce and buttered brown bread.
Interestingly the menu you download from the web site says that this can’t be chosen as part of the meal deal, whereas the menu at the hotel says it can be. There were similar inconsistencies across other items too. As for the prawn cocktail, well I was surprised to see large prawns, I was expecting the smaller prawns you normally find in prawn cocktails. It was apparent that the Marie Rose sauce was from a bottle and there was slightly too much paprika! Alas the prawns lacked flavour and were too chilled and so were overpowered by the sauce. The salad was fresh and crisp and the lemon was a nice touch.
For my main I went with the 10oz rump steak that according to the menu, came with a grilled tomato, peas, a flat mushoom and chips, which was described on the menu as firm, meaty and flavoursome. I think they meant to say tough, chewy and bland! Okay it’s a rump steak and in terms of cuts of meat that is not a tender melt in the mouth option, it normally is firm and chewy. I thought it lacked flavour, which is normally the reason for chewing, sorry choosing the rump cut.
As you can see from the photograph I didn’t get a grilled flat mushroom, I guess the kitchen had run out.
For desert I made a mistake and went with the Caramel Apple Crumble. This was an apple crumble smothered with sweet, sticky caramel served with custard.
This was way too sweet and the sticky caramel sauce was horrible, it clung to the top of my mouth and stayed there. I didn’t finish the dish and left most of it.
So as the blog title says this was not premier dining and for the price I don’t think you can expect it to be. However in terms of value for money and convenience it wasn’t too bad, but I wouldn’t have the crumble again…