aubergine Archives - Time for a coffee

June 7, 2026

Wahaca Feasting Menu

Though Wahaca is one of my favourite places to eat, I hadn’t been there since December 2024, when I visited the branch at Paddington and had the Wahaca for One deal. They use to have a branch in Bristol, but that closed way back in August 2020.

My son and I were in Wimbledon, and there are lots of places to eat there, however it was during the recent heatwave, so I wasn’t in the mood for spicy Korean food. So, we went to Wahaca. It was a Friday evening, and they looked busy, it took while for us to be seated, we then looked over the menu.

They have an extensive choice of small plates on offer in their menu, and they recommend 2-3 plates per person. I also quite liked the idea of ordering some Mexico City Nachos as well. However, I did though like the sound of their feasting menu. This is six dishes, and one of those, the Yellowfin Tuna Tostadas was one I wanted to have. One thing I like about having a set menu like this is you get dishes you probably wouldn’t order if you were ordering separate plates. We ordered the feasting menu and two bottles of Corona.

The first four dishes to arrive were a Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito, Beef Gringa Tacos, Grilled Brindisa Chorizo Quesadilla and the Yellowfin Tuna Tostadas.

The Beef Gringa tacos were made from grass-fed, slow-cooked beef, with grilled cheese and salsa fresca, in two soft corn tortillas. A dash of lime added a nice sharpness and freshness to the rich beef filling.

Yes, you could eat these in your hands, but it could be messy. The beef was rich and tender with just the right amount of spice.

The Grilled Brindisa Chorizo Quesadilla is not the best looking dish, but this was tasty.

There was ample chorizo within the quesadilla to add heat and bite to the filling of grilled cheese and crunchy tortilla.

The Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito with caramelised onion, salsas and chipotle mayo in a crisp blue corn tortilla, was served on a bed of lettuce.

The sweetness of the sweet potato was offset by the saltiness of the feta and the spicy heat of the chipotle mayo. It was a lovely combination of flavours and textures.

One of my favourite dishes of the feasting menu was the Yellowfin Tuna Tostadas. This was raw line-caught tuna, marinated in soy and lime, with avocado, tomato salsa and salsa macha, on crispy tortillas.

I had enjoyed tuna tacos from Bills before, but these tostadas were very different approach and appearance. The crispy tostadas added a nice crunch to the fresh zingy tuna and the accompanying salsas added flavour and heat. Like the beef tacos, slightly messy to eat, but these were delicious.

As we were eating the final two dishes arrived, the Buttermilk Chicken Tacos, and the Chipotle Glazed Aubergine.

The Buttermilk Chicken tacos would probably have been a dish I would have ordered if I was ordering separate plates. These was crunchy fried buttermilk chicken with habanero mayo and pink pickled onions, in two soft flour tortillas.

This sounded great, and they were very nice, but out of all the six dishes I had these were probably my least favourite. I liked the habanero mayo and pink pickled onions, but I think the dish was let down by the chicken, which to be honest was a little dry (and possibly overcooked). They were okay, maybe I had higher expectations, but I was slightly disappointed.

I forgot to take a photograph of the Chipotle Glazed Aubergine: however, this was roasted slices of aubergine that had been brushed with a chipotle glaze and was served on top of macadamia mole, with jalapeño oil and crumbled feta. I doubt I would have ordered this dish if I was ordering separate plates, but this was one of the best dishes in the six. It was beautifully presented with a topping of crumbled feta. It had a lovely strong flavour, some heat, there was sweetness from the glaze which contrasted with the saltiness of the feta and the slight bitterness of the aubergine. Delicious.

Overall, we had six excellent plates of food. Obviously, I preferred some over others, but it was a nice variety and I was pleased we had made the choice to go with the feasting menu.

Service was excellent, warm, friendly and efficient. I would certainly visit again.

November 17, 2025November 17, 2025

A Walking Conference Dinner

In my current work I have attended a number of conferences across the years, around the UK and internationally as well. Virtually all the time you are sitting at a table being served three courses and coffee. There have been some exceptions, some of these are better some are worse. I remember one conference dinner in Leeds where we had to get up from our tables and head to the servery to pick up our food, in the “day” it was a canteen, but it didn’t feel very much like a formal conference dinner. Earlier this year I was at a conference in Brighton and for the conference dinner we had fish and chips in a box on the pier, which doesn’t exactly sound like a conference dinner, but it was awesome. Another nice conference dinner was when we had our dinner under the wings of the BOAC Comet at RAF Cosford. I can’t recall what we ate, but the atmosphere was very different and special. Back in 2006 I was in Helsinki for a conference, and I was expecting that the conference dinner would involve some local cuisine, well the reality was that we ended up in an Italian restaurant for the conference dinner, though the food was excellent, it wasn’t really very Finnish. The best conference dinner I remember was in Athlone in Ireland, where the dinner was in a restaurant and we could choose from the menu. I thought this was incredible, as most conference dinners had a fixed menu. I didn’t fancy anything sweet for dessert, so I cheekily asked if they could do me cheese and biscuits, and they did. It was a lovely meal.

So, attending a conference in Delft in the Netherlands, I was intrigued by the notion of a walking conference dinner, which is a Dutch thing. The meal was at the Vakwerkhuis which has a garden, as well as a range of interesting rooms. The concept was quite simple waiters would bring the food out and you could eat standing up, sitting down, or even walking around (not really advisable that last one). This was a lovely way of engaging with fellow delegates at a conference dinner, you wouldn’t be stuck on one table for all three courses. It certainly helped the food was excellent as well.

The first dish I had was an aubergine dish, I think it was the vegetarian alternative. Regardless it was rather tasty.

A little later the second dish arrived, and this was burrata with pickled tomato, wild peach, and crispy Parmesan. This was another tasty dish. Burrata and tomato is something I do, however here I did enjoy the addition of the peach and crispy Parmesan. There was a nice freshness to the dish.

The main course was entrecôte steak with corn cream, green asparagus, and chimichurri. I did wonder how they would serve the steak, but it came sliced. The steak was delicious, tender and full of flavour. The accompaniments worked well in enhancing the dish.

The final plate was the dessert, and this was a passion fruit mousse with chocolate crumble and coffee ice cream. It was nice, but I thought it was a little too busy.

I liked the format of the conference and the food was delicious.

November 14, 2021November 8, 2021

In the end we ended up at Amarone

I have been to Edinburgh many times for work and have eaten out there when staying overnight. I had an excellent French meal back in November 2019. However though I have been there for work I have never been there for a personal visit. So when planning a short holiday for the summer we decide we would visit Edinburgh in August for a short city break.

On our first night we decided that we would go to Bella Italia, but they were full, so we then decided we would visit Wagamama which was just around the corner from the hotel. You can’t book a table for Wagamama, you just have to turn up and hope for the best. Alas there was a long queue for Wagamama so we needed so go somewhere else, and of course we hadn’t booked anywhere else either.

I was looking at booking a place on my phone when we checked across the road from Wagamama and there was an Italian restaurant called Amarone which was open and had free tables.

So in we went and were shown to a comfortable booth. The decor was nice if a little over the top really, however as the place had once been a bank you realised that explained the high ceilings. It reminded my of Harrods with the lights and pillars and use of brass.

There was quite a good menu, however it was a limited menu due to Covid restrictions in the kitchen.

I chose a pasta dish, the rest of the table, one had a vegan pizza, the other two had gluten free pizza.

Linguine ai Frutti di Mare, this was mixed seasonal fish and shellfish with olive oil, garlic & parsley. I was given a choice of rich tomato or bianco sauce, I had the bianco sauce.

This wasn’t a huge dish of food, but there was a generous serving of fish and shellfish. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious. I really enjoyed this plate of food.

The vegan pizza was interesting and tasty. The Ortolana Vegana was a hand-stretched & stone-baked sourdough pizza base, vegan mozzarella, marinated and grilled courgettes, aubergine, mixed peppers, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil.

I had a slice and it was interesting and tasty, not so sure about the vegan mozzarella.

The gluten free pizza were simplistic but tasty.

The service was warm, friendly and efficient. We had a lovely welcome and given time to both order and eat despite the busyness of the place. Certainly somewhere I would go again if I was back in Edinburgh.

October 23, 2011

Roasted Vegetables

I really do enjoy roasted vegetables either as a meal in itself or as an accompaniment to another dish.

On this platter I have roasted squash, red onions, red pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, courgettes, aubergine, parsnips and sweet potato.

The method I used for this was in the roasting pan I placed the squash, the parsnips, red onion and sweet potato with a good splash of olive oil. This was then roasted in the oven for about 15 minutes. I then added the mushrooms, tomatoes, aubergine, courgette, red pepper and another splash of the olive oil. This was then roasted for about 15-20 minutes.

Simple and delicious.

November 10, 2008September 3, 2020

Alba Ristorante Part Three

I was recently lucky enough to go to dinner at the Alba Ristorante in London with some friends., not just once, but enjoyed it enough the first time to go for a second meal. Unlike a lot of Italian restaurants I have been too, the menu here was not full of pasta and pizza, on the contrary it was very different and as a result much more interesting and refreshing.

Misto di Verdure alla Griglia Condite al Balsamico

On my second visit for my starter I had the Misto di Verdure alla Griglia Condite al Balsamico or in English, Mixed grilled Italian vegetables balsamic & extra virgin olive oil.

This was very nice, a simple dish which worked very well. There were courgettes, pepper, tomato and aubergine.

Out of the two starters I had, I think I preferred the duck.