food, reviews and of course coffee
Having missed out on lunch, I headed out for a walk and possibly coffee. I ended up at Spicer & Cole and ordered a flat white to drink in.
I was asked to take a seat and when my coffee was done they brought it over to me.
This was an excellently made coffee and I really enjoyed sitting down, doing some working, watching the world go by and drinking coffee.
I was in Bristol and went for a walk at lunchtime. Went to the Finzel Reach market intending to have something from Big Nath’s BBQ stall, but they weren’t there, so went to King Fin instead.
Was torn between the calamari and the new monkfish tempura. Whatever I chose I was going to have chips anyhow. In the end I went without the chips and went with both the monkfish and the calamari.
The calamari was excellent as usual (maybe a little too salty), but they were cooked to order, so the squid was nice and tender, and the coating was nice and crispy. The and cider vinegar slaw was a nice accompaniment.
The special, monkfish tempura was new to me.
The pieces of monkfish were deep fried in a tempura batter, and served with a lime and coriander yoghurt, tamarind, crispy sweet shallots and curry leaves.
The monkfish was cooked perfectly, and the batter (on top) was nice and crisp. Alas by the time I got back from the market to the office, the batter on the underside of the fish had got a little soggy from the yoghurt. I think if I had eaten the dish as soon as I was served it, it would have been fine. If I was to offer one piece of advice, I would probably say serve the yoghurt on the side, rather than on the bottom of the box. Or have something to separate the crispy fish from the yoghurt. Even so I liked the lime and coriander yoghurt which added a sharpness to the fish. I also enjoyed the tamarind, crispy sweet shallots and curry leaves.
Overall it was a little extravagant to have two mains, and no fries, however I really enjoyed having the calamari instead of fries.
I was charging my car when I walked over to my local Starbucks. This branch has a drive through, but also space to sit down. As I was waiting, I decided to drink in. I was going to have an iced drink, but they had no ice.
I ordered a flat white.
I thought it was well overpriced at £3.74. I know we have excessive inflation, but I think £3 for a coffee in London is expensive. I suspect that they use the same pricing structure as Starbuck branches on motorway services. This Starbucks is next to a petrol station but is in Weston-super-Mare and not on the motorway.
It did look nice, but it wasn’t in my opinion a really good coffee. I remembered I am not really a fan of Starbucks coffee.
Over the summer we eat a lot of salad, what goes into the salad often depends on what we have in the fridge.
One salad dish I remember from my childhood was tinned green beans with mayonnaise. Though I haven’t’ had that for years, I have been added cooked fresh trimmed green beans to my salads.
I cook them for about six to seven minutes and then let them cool before adding them to the salad. Sometimes I serve them on their own with a vinaigrette dressing.
Close to the Adagio Aparthotel in Brentford, one of the regular places I stay in London is the Rada Cafe. Though I have been staying at the Adagio for a few years now, I have never been to the Rada Cafe. The main reason was that either I arrived late at the hotel or left early to catch a train. Usually though I would have coffee in the apartment, as they have an Nespresso coffee machine.
The other week I arrived at the Adagio early afternoon and my room wasn’t ready. So I popped over to the Rada Cafe across the road and ordered a cortado. I do like it when ordering coffee in a cafe, they let you sit down and bring it over. Not quite table service, but so much better than hanging around a counter waiting (and in some cases it feels like fighting) for your coffee.
This was a lovely coffee, well made, and delicious.
When I left the Adagio later that week, I had some time before my train home, so I went for another coffee, and another excellent experience.
I think next time I stay at the Adagio I will make the time to pop to the Rada for another coffee.
I was up around the Gloucester Road and needing to kill some time, decided to go for coffee. There are plenty of places to get coffee on the Gloucester Road around the Zetland Road area. One place I had been meaning to try for a while was Future Leap. The Future Leap Hub was opened on Gloucester Road, Bristol, in 2019, using the site of the old Tandy shop, and was the first carbon neutral co-working space of its kind in the UK.
The place looks very different to when I remember it as Tandy, it has been completely refurbished. There is now a welcoming sustainable feel to the space, lots of wood and plants.
I was given a warm welcome and I ordered a cortado. I took a seat and the coffee was delivered to my table.
I had intended to take a photograph of it before I drank it, but my phone was playing up, so had to restart it.
I really liked the smooth coffee taste and enjoyed it.
The food menu looked interesting and tempting, I nearly had some soup. Certainly a place I would go again.
There are lots of places from which to choose from when eating out in Ealing. Some would say too much choice. There are a number of Vietnamese restaurants in the area and they all look inviting and interesting. Looking around all the different places I did like the look of the menu at TânVân.
After walking around a couple of times I went back to TânVân.
We are a family-run Vietnamese eatery and Cocktail Bar based in the heart of Ealing Broadway. We serve the Vietnamese classics such as phỏ ̉ noodle soups, bún noodle salads and bánh mì as well as having lots of vegan options!
We are more than just a place to eat. We are a place to share, not just food, but love, memories, laughter. A place for your first date, a place to celebrate, a place to catch up with an old friend, a place for after-work drinks with your co-workers. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, we can assure that this is the place for you.
They have an intriguing menu, but the choice of starters or side dishes felt quite limited. However there were five dishes to choose from, maybe I am just being a little picky with that. Tempted by the chicken wings, in the end I wanted to try something new, so, I went with the beef wrapped in betel leaf topped with roasted peanuts.
This was not the most delicately presented dish of food, it did look a little thrown together. There was a plate of (cold) noodles, the beef wrapped in betel leaf, and it was topped with chopped peanuts. It was served with a chilli dipping sauce. This to me was quite a substantial starter, it probably didn’t need the noodles. The beef was tasty and I enjoyed eating all the food on the plate.
There are lots of choices on the menu for mains. As well as rice bowls, there is wide choice of Phở noodle soup, Bún bowls of noodle salad, and if you prefer you can have a bánh mi sandwich. For my main course I went with the Saigon pork belly stew.
This is on the specials on the menu, and is described as melt-in-your-mouth tender pork belly braised in a light and delicately sweet and sticky sauce. It came with a hard boiled egg, a side of rice and pickled vegetables.
The pork was melt-in-your-mouth tender and the sauce was not too sweet. It worked well with the rice and pickled vegetables.
I enjoyed this dish, it was delicious and tasty, and I was a little disappointed I had finished it, as I wanted more.
Alongside my meal I had a bottle of Bia Saigon beer, which was crisp and refreshing.
The service was excellent, I was given a warm and friendly welcome.
This is certainly a place I would visit again.
I hadn’t actually planned to have lunch in Bristol, but I was shopping in Broadmead and was feeling a little peckish. It was getting past the lunchtime, so wasn’t sure what would be available. I did quite fancy something from La Lola in the end, also I could sit down as well.
I decided not to have the paella, as it was near the end of lunchtime so probably might be not so fresh. In the end I went with the calamari.
This was cooked to order so was nice and fresh. It came with salad and deep fried potato slices.
The squid was delicious. It was nice and tender with a crisp coating. I felt though that the potatoes were like thick crisps. I wasn’t too enamoured with them and preferred the fried sliced potatoes that they use to serve. The salad was nice though.
Overall I enjoyed the food and it was a nice place to sit, eat and take in the atmosphere of the street food market.
I was in London for a meeting and the plan was that we would go out for dinner. The place had been chosen, the Bleeding Heart Bistro. The Bleeding Heart Bistro, is situated in the Bleeding Heart Yard just off Greville St in the heart of the City of London. It is a French style bistro with pavement cafe seating. There is no traffic in the yard and the enclosed space is free from traffic. We sat outside and it really felt like we were somewhere in France. The tables, the canopy over the tables; along with the red and white theme, really set the scene for a French dining experience.
The service was excellent, efficient, friendly, and we never felt rushed or hurried.
Originally, when the dinner was planned, we had been provided with a fixed set menu, which was rather limited and to be honest disappointing. So I was quite pleased when the decision was made to go with the full a la carte menu. Lots more choice of lovely sounding food.
For my starter I went with the stuffed courgette flower filled with lemon ricotta.
I have never had a stuffed courgette flower before, though I have seen them on cooking programmes many times. In many ways this was a no-brainer for me to try this dish. However there were lots of other dishes in the menu that sounded delicious. It was hard to make a choice.
It was a really nice plate of food. The stuffing was light and fresh, the flower in the light batter was nice and crisp. I was pleased I had tried it. Would I have it again, I would probably choose something else from the menu. It was nice, but I wasn’t blown away by the dish.
For my main course, I went with the lobster and fries. I have cooked lobster myself and I did wonder how it would be if it was cooked in a top restaurant like the Bleeding Heart. I got half a lobster, a portion of fries, and some herb butter.
The lobster was delicious, full of flavour. Though I enjoyed the dish, I think though if I was to repeat the experience I would have chosen something else. It wasn’t as special as I thought it was going to be.
We didn’t have dessert, though I wasn’t tempted by the cheese board on offer.
Would I go again, yes I would, it was a lovely place to eat and we had a fantastic meal.
This was a meal I threw together from what we had in the fridge. We had a couple of the Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages from Lidl. These I cooked and served with a salad and some French fries.
The tomatoes were homegrown. I also used lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, and pomegranate. I also had some olives and pulses, which I added to the salad.
The French fries were from M&S, these are easy to cook, crispy, and importantly gluten free.
We enjoyed the meal.