Time for a coffee

May 23, 2011

Conference Dining

I don’t go to as many conferences as people often think, but I do probably photograph my food at most of them…

Recently I was attending a review meeting at Aston University and we had dinner the night before at the Aston Business School. Unlike a lot of conference dinners we had a choice, which is always nice. Also not only a choice, but we could choose on the night. Normally choice is either completely limited to a single choice, or if there is a choice you have to make that choice weeks in advance. I’m not a fan of that as often what tickles my fancy weeks ago, is not what I want to eat on the night! So having the choice on the evening I am eating is a real treat.

For my starter I went with the warm tartlet of chorizo, mushrooms and roasted shallots.

In other words a quiche! It was quite tasty and very nice. It was well presented too.

For the main dish, I went with the slow cooked blade of beef with a bourguignon sauce, served with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans.

The beef was very tender and was full of flavour. I would have liked more sauce, as in places the beef was a little dry. The potatoes were great and the beans were beans.

I was tempted by the other dishes on the menu, the slow braised shoulder of Moroccan lamb with North African cous cous when it arrived on the table looked really nice.

The cassoulet of beans with Gorgonzola polenta and roasted aubergine also looked great.

What was nice was that there were two vegetarian options, most times you have the single choice of a mushroom risotto.

So what about to finish with, well I am a sucker for cheese and biscuits and went with that.

Very nice, even with the large amount of celery, which I never eat. I did feel that if you provide four biscuits it would be nice to have at least four pieces of cheese. I felt short-changed with the cheese, it needed more cheese, or more different cheeses.

Must mention the excellent service, any place which has a table of twenty as we did and know who ordered what is a real bonus. The food came out and was served to the correct people. So much nicer than someone holding out a dish and calling out “who ordered the fish?”

Overall it was a really nice meal, nice to have a choice, cooked well, great service and nice surroundings.

May 21, 2011

Blast from the past

At a recent event I was at there was a jar full of sweeties for delegates consisting of Wham and Refreshers chews.

I don’t recall eating Wham chews when I was a kid, but did certainly eat Refreshers.

So grabbed a handful and ate them on the train journey home.

Thoughts?

Way too sweet… though the nostalgia of the sherbet was nice.

May 18, 2011

Told you Soho Coffee Co

Two years ago I wrote up about a visit to a branch of the Soho Coffee Co.

Back then I asked

Let me ask you a question, is it really so difficult in this day and age, for a coffee shop to take coffee orders and then make the coffee?

I also said

Recently I went to the Soho Coffee Co and was frankly appalled by the level of incompetency shown by the six staff behind the counter in undertaking the coffee making and serving process.

I finished off by stating

Anyway as a result it will be sometime (if ever) I go back to the Soho Coffee Co.

Well, here we are two years later and I have never gone back to that branch of the Soho Coffee Co.

Just shows the importance of decent customer service and efficient serving. I have visited many coffee places close to that branch, but have not been back.

So what of other Soho Coffee Co branches, well I did visit one once at a motorway services, but only the once. I do recall that service was okay, but not fantastic!

The thing is for me, I know the staff are poorly paid and overworked, but from what I can see the problem is not staff, but management and the management of systems. If some coffee places can get it right, why can’t all of them get the little things just right.

May 17, 2011January 6, 2020

Chicken Fajitas “made easy”

I will admit that though I normally much prefer to make stuff from fresh, I do use (and sometimes even like) the “easy” packs from the supermarkets. In the past I have talked about Waitrose’s Easy To Cook range and Marks and Spencer’s The Cook Menu. This was the first thing I have had from the Morrison’s version.

To be perfectly honest making chicken fajitas is not exactly difficult and usually I would make my own. The reason for using this pack was a) it’s a little cheaper and easier than buying all the other ingredients separately and having lots left over and b) I didn’t actually buy it, my better half did to save me some time.

It was a very easy dish to cook. Start to cook the chicken, I used my griddle, add the prepared onions and peppers. Heat the flour tortillas in the microwave server with the salsa and sour cream.

It was as it said on the packet, easy.

So what about the flavour?

Well very nice, as it used fresh ingredients, the peppers and onions still had crunch and flavour and the spiced chicken was tender and spicy.

You can buy pre-cooked fajitas from the cook-chill cabinet that you heat in the microwave and they are pretty awful, this in comparison is so much better.

Would I buy it again? Well we did enjoy it, but when I came to cook fajitas again, I bought all fresh ingredients and I made my own guacamole to go with it.

May 16, 2011

Whatever happened to…

On my way back from Birmingham recently I stopped off at the services to grab a coffee and stretch the legs.

As I walked around the services with WHSmith, Costa, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Burger King, KFC… it occurred to me how much motorway service stations have changed. You can also find Waitrose and Marks & Spencers at some too.

Motorway services have become mini malls and tiny high streets with familiar names. Obviously to entice drivers in and with a familiar name probably have the confidence to buy something… It would appear that the more you have heard of something, the more likely you are to buy from it.

It wasn’t that long ago that motorway services were brands in their own right, Granada (that became Moto), Welcome Break and so on… within their confined walls were unknown brands of coffee and fast foods as well as the main “canteen” style cafeteria.

Big brands started to make inroads into the services and these must have worked as now the services are awash with familiar names from the high street.

Of course the same is happening with our local shops, Tesco Metro, Sainsbury Local are now our corner shops and in many cases are on our local high streets (as well as their big edge of town stores).

When our local shopping centre expanded and a rank of smaller shops were made available next to the Morrisons, Boots and Matalan; I know i hoped for an independent baker, butcher and candlestick maker. What we got was Costa, Subway, Dominos and a Sue Ryder charity shop!

The sad thing is that, we in survey after survey, indicate how much we like our local shops and despair when they get “eaten up” by large chains. The reality is that as a society we say one thing and then go and do something else. We like the idea of local and independent store, but prefer to shop at the familiar.

May 15, 2011

An even better bargain!

After the last excellent offer in my local Sainsburys I was pleased to see another excellent offer….

I did see a similar ‘bargain” in Tesco, but too many staff around to take a photograph. Once got “told off” in Cabot Circus for taking photographs, so am always a little careful in retail outlets.

A Simple Salad

I made myself a simple salad, it consisted of some coleslaw. Now in the past I have made my own coleslaw and much prefer it. However this time it was from the shop!

I used some lettuce leaves with green beans, which I dressed with some olive oil and white wine vinegar. To finish off some Jersey Royal new potatoes with a spoonful of mayonnaise.

Simple and delicious.

May 12, 2011

Making Pancakes

Well it was pancake time again for breakfast on Sunday, one advantage I guess of getting woken up early.

I make a simple batter of flour, eggs and milk, with a spoonful of caster sugar and some vanilla extract; and then cook using a hot pan. I really should measure the batter, but I find that experience allows me to “guess: the flour and milk. The key is the ensure that the mixture is smooth and coats the back of a spoon.

I have one just for pancakes, well I sometimes use it for omelettes or when I need an extra frying pan… shouldn’t really, but like any good cook, I need more pans. As it is getting old, though non-stick I do use some sunflower oil. I use a pastry style brush, it was a free gift from Jack Daniels and was designed to baste barbecue food with a Jack Daniels sauce. It therefore works really well in brushing oil onto the pancake pan.

If I am making large pancakes then I have the pan hotter than if I am making small ones, partly as the smaller ones are thicker, whilst the larger ones are made by swirling the mixture across the pan (and therefore are thinner).

I serve them with proper maple syrup. Personally I can’t stand the maple flavoured syrups you can buy, and will only buy the proper stuff. Yes it is expensive, but I would rather have the good stuff now and again rather than the horrible stuff all the time.

May 11, 2011

Grazing at the Piano

Down on the canalside in Birmingham there are quite a few places to go and eat, all (I think) are chains. On this occasion on the recommendation of the friend I was with, we ventured into the Pitcher & Piano. I have never been there before, seeing it more as a bar rather than a place to go and eat.

Even though it was an early May evening it was nice enough to sit outside. I often prefer not to sit outside, not that I don’t like sitting outside, on the contrary I really like it. However since the 2007 smoking ban, most outside eating areas have become the place where the smokers go, and sorry smoking and eating is something that doesn’t work for me. However it wasn’t too bad and no smokers were close. So we decided to eat outside. Considering this was early May, I was impressed by how pleasant it was. Usually it can be quite cold in May in the evening, but we were lucky the weather was nice.

Persuing the menu there were some nice things, I was initially tempted by a burger, but after some deliberation I went with the grazing menu. Lots of nice things, but even with all that choice I went with two things I like, things that I cook at home, things I seem to always order; I went with chicken wings and calamari, to go with it a side order of skinny fries.

The Cajun chicken wings were whole wings and to be honest were some of the best wings I have had out to eat for a long time. Not over-cooked, tender and with the right amount of spice, well maybe a little too spicy, but the sour cream served with them helped to cool the heat.

The calamari in batter was in strips, very similar to calamari I have had as Pizza Express.

This though was better, a nice crispy batter with tender squid. Really nice.

I also enjoyed the skinny fries.

Overall I enjoyed my grazing experience.

May 9, 2011

Roast Pork Belly with Roasted Vegetables

Crispy crackling, tender pork and tasty roasted veg; yes it was a great lunch and delicious.

The pork was slow roasted in the oven, this I have found is always the best way to cook pork belly, it also renders out a lot of the fat, so ensuring that the final outcome is tender pork with minimal extra fat. The flavour is intense and compared to something like pork fillet, which can be cooked quickly, it does not compare to the flavour of roasted pork belly.

About 30-40 minutes before the end of cooking time, I added some onions, carrots and parsnips to the roasting tray. Twenty minutes later I added apple and mushrooms. These cook wonderfully with the pork and have a really intense flavour.

I served the pork alongside the roasted veg, roasted King Edward potatoes (they worked well) and some carrots and steamed broccoli.