Time for a coffee

December 20, 2023December 19, 2023

Very Crispy Squid

I was in London and staying at The Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel part is now a new build at the back.

The menu changes every so often, and they always seem to have a range of choices, that means it can be difficult to choose what to have.

One dish I have a lot, at a lot of different places is crispy squid. So seeing it on the menu this, I decided I would try this version.

This was a nice sized portion for a starter, the squid was in a crispy batter and was garnished with coriander, sliced red chilli, a wedge of lime, and some sriracha aioli.

The batter was very crispy, probably too crispy. When I tried to cut the squid, the batter more often than not fell off the squid. The squid was tender though. I wasn’t totally enamoured with the sriracha aioli, I think I would have preferred to have some good old plain aioli.

I did enjoy the starter, wasn’t the best crispy squid I have had, but certainly it was better than most.

December 19, 2023

Time for a Roast Beef Dinner

I was in London and staying at The Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel part is now a new build at the back.

The Fox and Goose is part of the Fullers’ chain of hotels and pubs. I have stayed before at Drayton Court in West Ealing, and have had their Sunday Roast before and enjoyed it. I have though not had the chance to try the Sunday Roast at The Fox and Goose.

The plate arrived and it was a huge pile of delicious goodness.

There were roast potatoes, roasted parsnips, roasted (heritage) carrots, buttered kale, peas, cauliflower cheese, a good portion of pink roast beef, and topped with a huge Yorkshire pudding.

It looked very impressive and I was glad I was hungry. It was just as good as I remember it, possibly a little better.

The star of then plate was the roast beef, there was plenty of it and it was tender and tasty. The roasted vegetables were delicious, well seasoned, with the potatoes being crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. I liked the kale and peas. The Yorkshire Pudding was really nice as well.

It can’t be easy serving a roast dinner to order over an evening, but I think that the time did a really good job and I enjoyed my food.

December 15, 2023December 14, 2023

Calamari and Fries

I was in Bristol and on my lunchtime walk I headed off to the Finzel Reach street food market. There were lots of stalls to choose from, I got a portion of calamari from King Fin along with some rosemary fries. The calamari (as usual) was cooked fresh to order.

Last time I said “Must remember next time to ask for less salt though.” This time I did remember to ask for less salt, they did say that the batter for the calamari has salt in, but it was only the extra salt I wanted to avoid. I was pleased I did, as the calamari was well seasoned and didn’t really need extra salt.

I enjoyed my food and would certainly get it again in the future.

December 14, 2023

Open Turkey Sandwich

A few weeks ago I had a delicious open sandwich from the Portwall Tavern.

This was a substantial open sandwich. There was a slice of ciabatta with salad and a good sized portion of the slow cooked (pulled) lamb. The lamb was garnished with some mint yoghurt.

When it comes to lunch, I generally don’t do sandwiches. I understand why people like eating sandwiches. I actually do like eating sandwiches, when I say I don’t do sandwiches, what I really mean is that I am not a fan of retail sandwich packs.

The sandwich I had at Portwall Tavern was so much more than a sandwich. So it wasn’t much surprise when deciding what to have for lunch, I headed back to Portwall Tavern.

Having had the lamb, I chose to have the second sandwich on the menu, which was described as slow cooked turkey, stuffing, pigs in blankets, roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce and a jug of gravy.

I didn’t get the roasted potatoes or the jug of gravy. I did though get potato wedges and the whole dish was covered in gravy.

This was a nice piece of turkey and I liked the pigs in blankets. The gravy obviously made the bread soggy. I think it needed some greenery, some sprouts perhaps, or some coleslaw. Despite that I enjoyed the sandwich and generally I don’t do sandwiches.

December 13, 2023December 13, 2023

A Flat White at Bistrot Pierre

I was watching the Christmas Cracker 10K on Weston beach and as the runners headed off to Uphill I headed off for coffee.

I went to the Brunello Lounge first. However, they were packed, so I went to Bistrot Pierre instead. They were busy, so popped out to see the runners run pass the pier again. I then headed back to Bistrot Pierre for a flat white.

The rush had calmed down, so I ordered a flat white and took a seat. I always like it when that happens, makes the coffee a little more special.

This was a nice looking flat white and tasted great. Just what I needed after standing out in the cold on the beach.

December 12, 2023

Italian Stallion Pizza

I hadn’t planned on eating at the Raddison Red Hotel in Glasgow when I was staying there, but after having drinks and chat, it was getting late. So rather then head out to the restaurants on Argyle Street up the road I decided to eat at the hotel restaurant, the OUIBar + KTCHN.

The menu reminds me of the type of menu you would find at Frankie and Benny’s.

I had the Italian Stallion pizza, which was a white pizza with Italian sausage, cubes of roasted potato, and parmesan crisps.

It came promptly. It certainly was a different kind of pizza, I do like a white pizza and the mix of sausage and potato was interestingly different. Wasn’t so sure on the green parmesan crisps.

I did enjoy the pizza, and the service was excellent.

December 11, 2023

Time for a rustica pizza

I was out in Bristol thinking about something for lunch. I had a voucher for free main course at Zizzi, so I headed over to their branch in Cabot Circus to get something for lunch. I haven’t been to Zizzi for a while, so it was nice to look over the menu. There were some nice choices, but in the end I went with the Rustica Pizza with Black Truffle Salami & Mushroom.

This was a white base with truffle salami, mushrooms, crispy prosciutto, Bufala mozzarella, riserva cheese, truffle-infused oil and crispy sage.

I do like a white base pizza, and this was a nice pizza, with generous toppings, but not over the top toppings. The fresh mozzarella was a nice touch. I liked the rustica base which was crisp. This was a nice pizza and I am glad I chose it from the menu.

Alongside I had the Courgetti Fritti which were crispy courgette chips.

These were interesting and I enjoyed them.

Came to pay the bill and there was an issue with the staff saying I could only have used the offer with the purchase of two main courses, it didn’t say that in the T&Cs, so in the end they did accept the voucher.

Apart from the voucher issue, the service was excellent.

December 7, 2023

Dinner at the Castle

I had never intended to stay in a castle when I recently travelled up to York, but it was a cheaper option than staying in the centre of York.

Hazlewood Castle Hotel & Spa is nestled in 77 acres of woodland in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside between Leeds and York. It is in the main, or appears to be, in the main a wedding venue. As it was a Monday night, it was considerably cheaper than if I was staying there later in the week.

It is a splendid looking place, though my room was quite plain in comparison to the elegance of the main building. However, I wasn’t complaining as I was there in the main to stay one night, have breakfast the next morning and then head off to York.

It is in the countryside, so rather than venture out into that countryside, I chose to eat in the hotel restaurant.

This is down in the basement, and not that easily accessed from the main hotel area, you do have to go outside to get there, and it was raining.

I sat down and looked over the menu. For my starter I went with the cheddar cheese soufflé. For my main course I decided to have the venison haunch, garlic & thyme crushed new potatoes, roasted banana shallot, honey glazed carrots, cranberry jus.

I had anticipated that my soufflé would be freshly made, and I was expecting something like I had seen on Masterchef. What I actually got was this.

This was a reheated frozen soufflé on a bed of leaves, dressed with balsamic glaze. To be honest it wasn’t that bad, but for the price I was paying I was expecting something better than what I got.

The main course arrived and this was slices of venison haunch with vegetables.

This was a much better dish than the soufflé. The venison was lovely and tender, and full of flavour. I enjoyed the vegetables, though I think I would have enjoyed having some more jus with the meal.

The service was friendly and efficient.

I did enjoy my meal, and it was all rather nice. Maybe a little overpriced for what I got, but I was in many ways expecting that. The meal was certainly a lot better than the conference dinner I had the following day at the hotel in York.

December 2, 2023December 2, 2023

Calamari

I fancied a snack and the Temple Quay market was running in Bristol, so headed down to see what was on offer.

I got a portion of calamari from King Fin. They (as usual) were cooked fresh to order.

This was a lovely generous portion of calamari. The batter was nice and crispy, but not too thick to overpower the squid. It was cooked just right, as well as light batter, the squid was nice and tender. Sometimes when I have squid it can be overcooked, so the batter is more crunchy than crispy, and the squid can be somewhat chewy. This squid though was cooked really nicely. Must remember next time to ask for less salt though.

November 29, 2023

Tapas at Brunello

We went for lunch in Weston and decided to head to the Brunello Lounge.

We weren’t really that hungry, so decided against a full size main course, and we ordered three tapas dishes, some fries and onion rings. Service was quick and efficient, which is always nice when you don’t have a huge amount of time for lunch.

We had some chicken wings, the salt & pepper squid, and the hummus.

The chicken wings were fried crispy chicken wings, which had been coated in a sticky sauce and dressed with sesame seeds.

For me the chicken was overcooked. Probably a result of being cooked twice more than anything else. I do like chicken wings, but these weren’t my favourite.

The squid was nice and crispy and there was a large dollop of aioli in the middle.

My favourite of the trio of dishes was the hummus. This was beautifully presented little dish of hummus with fried chickpeas, chilli and parsley. This was served with some flatbread.

The fries were nice and crispy, as was the batter on the onion rings.

Overall a nice snack for a quick lunch.