food, reviews and of course coffee
I was in Belfast for a conference and staying at the Ramada by Wyndham in Belfast City Centre (well the Cathedral Quarter). I needed a late dinner, so I went with a burger and fries.
It was a well constructed and quite tasty burger. The fries were a little too crunchy for me. Actually for hotel food it was better than expected.
Recently tried the Iberian Chorizo & Pork burgers from The Young Bulls. I think the name of these is slightly misleading as only the chorizo is made from Iberian pork. Also they didn’t look like the burgers on the packet either.
I thought they were okay, but I wasn’t really taken with them. Not something I would buy again.
I was staying at the Quy Mill Hotel & Spa just outside Cambridge. I had chosen Quy Mill Hotel as not only was it within budget, but also had a really interesting restaurant with an intriguing menu. I was a little disappointed to find out, when I arrived, that it had closed the day before.
We would like to inform you that The Waterwheel Restaurant will be temporarily closing as we embark on some exciting plans for the future.
If I had known that I probably would have chosen a different hotel. As a result I was limited by the bar menu, which was not as exciting as the restaurant menu. The day before I had the chicken and the soup. This time I decided I would have the burger and a salad.
If you wanted cheese and bacon they were extras, and I thought somewhat overpriced at £2.50 each. I also ordered a small caesar salad on the side.
The burger wasn’t that impressive, I did think they had overdone the lettuce inside the burger. The burger itself was nice, and had a good flavour.
The caesar salad was a little overdressed for me, I also would have preferred shavings of parmesan over the grated parmesan.
The croutons were crunchy and there was a good proportion of anchovies. It was also quite substantial, much larger than I thought it was going to be.
I am never a fan of hotel bar food, it’s often uninspiring and for what you get usually quite expensive. That was certainly the case here, where the burger was just okay and the caesar salad could have been better.
Avoiding a hotel meal in Leeds, myself and a colleague headed out for something to eat. We didn’t go to far and went to the Editor’s Draught, a pub that sells food on Wellington Street.
I was hungry, having missed lunch, so I went with their big burger, The Triple Threat.
It’s the biggest and baddest of the stacks, and it’s piled up with triple beef patties, triple bacon, triple burger cheese slices and triple onion rings drizzled with cheese sauce, in a toasted bun with ketchup, burger sauce, iceberg lettuce, chopped onion and gherkin, with skin-on fries and BBQ sauce.
It was only a couple of pounds more than a standard burger and came with onion rings.
For a starter, well probably a side dish I had the chicken tacos which came with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.
I enjoyed both dishes, they weren’t out of this world, but I wasn’t expecting an out of this world experience. The burger was a nice burger, good flavours and if anything impractical to eat with your hands, as it was so tall.
The chicken tacos were a nice snack.
Overall a quick tasty meal, just what I needed.
I was staying in the Headingley area of Leeds, and as a location close to the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett University, there are quite a few places to eat. As you might expect though, they are catering for the relatively large local student population in the area. The last time I was staying in this area, back in January 2020, I went out to eat at Reds and had some barbecue. I probably would have gone there again, but since that visit it has closed down.
When I was out, I happened to walk past Fat Hippo when some customers received their food, and I did think it looked quite good. So I made the decision to try it out, and they had a happy hour deal which looked like good value for money.
Having arrived I looked over the menu. I did think about having their early evening deal, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything I wanted from the starters or even the desserts.
I would have had chicken wings, but they were not part of the deal. They only had three (very similar) dessert choices, so in the end I decided I would just have the burger.
I went for the Swiss-Tony, double beef patties smothered in gooey Swiss cheese, smoked bacon, juicy mushrooms, crispy Cajun onion strings and creamy truffle mayo. You get a free side, so I had fries.
The burger looked very food, and the photograph doesn’t really do it justice. It was a tasty burger.
Service was friendly and efficient.
I enjoyed the mixed grill I had eaten at the Landing Light in Weston-super-Mare.
The Landing Light is a Marston pub. Though very close to where we live, prior to my previous visit, I think I had been there only once before, for a meal, and even then I am not sure I actually had. The Landing Light is not an old pub, it opened ten years ago, it has a modern retro feel to it.
I was tempted to have the mixed grill again, but in the end decided I would have something from the specials menu. Sometimes the specials at places are dishes to be avoided, but I was confident here that these were not what was left over, but extra dishes added to the menu.
I went with the Glazed Pork Belly Burger, two 3oz charred beef patties, maple glazed pork belly, Monterey jack cheese, smoked streaky bacon, burger sauce, pickled red onions, and seasoned skinny fries. Though I was tempted by the other two specials, the oven baked cod loin and the pan roasted chicken.
My burger arrived, it was huge and nicely presented.
This was an interesting combination. The pork belly was very tender, but not as flavourful as I thought it would be. The beef patties were nice, and had a good flavour.
There was a side portion of coleslaw, which though obviously not homemade, added crunch and freshness to the dish.
I did enjoy the burger and it was very tasty.
Service was excellent and everyone else around the table enjoyed their food.
Did I have pudding, in the end I did. I had the chocolate brownie sundae. Warm brownie, ice cream, fresh cream, and a flake, what’s not to like!
Decadent and indulgent, but also very nice.
I was back in London and staying at one of my regular haunts, the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. I have been staying here for a fair few years now. It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast. West Ealing Station is a few minutes walk from the hotel, from there you can catch a train to central London in less than twenty minutes. The hotel has an Ealing comedies theme, there are rooms named after films, and there are numerous photographs from the films framed on the walls.
Going down for dinner, I had the fish tacos for my starter, I had considered the whitebait which was on their specials menu, but after thinking about it, I went with the tacos. What they did have on the specials menu was a Crispy Crab Burger with triple cooked chips as a main course, so I went with that. I do enjoy crispy soft shell crab, and have liked it when I have had it before, however I do remember saying back then:
…the deep fried soft shell crab was crispy, but didn’t have the crab taste intensity I was expecting. So overall I did enjoy the food, but was a little disappointed with the soul of the dish, the crab.
Even so, I did have quite high expectations. The burger arrived with a side of triple cooked chips in one of those mini metal buckets.
As well as the crispy crab, there was avocado, lettuce, tomato, and sauce.
The crab was wonderfully crispy, some parts tasted of crab, some did not.
I liked it, but I wasn’t blown away.
I was listening to some live music at The Windsor Castle and decided to have a burger from their barbecue.
The chef heated up the (recently) cooked burger on the plancha on the barbecue. This was then served in a roll with cooked onions. I then had to add my own cheese, lettuce, tomato and sauce.
It was quite a tasty burger, lots of nice flavours.
I do think it was a little pricey at £5.50 for what I got (and what I had to do).
I occasionally find myself at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, where we have an office, and on a recent visit was looking for lunch.
Pre-pandemic I would usually find lunch at the RAL Restaurant, which was pretty good.
On this recent visit I decided to try out the DiSH pop-up dining experience. This had opened in September 2021, but this was my first visit.
There are quite a few vendors to choose from, I decided to go for a burger from 1885 Burgers.
1885 burgers serves delicious, juicy burgers including veggie options inspired from when the burger was first created, in 1885! Buns are made fresh daily from a local baker, and the meat is sourced locally too.
The 1885 was two beef patties, American cheese, smoked bacon, in a toasted brioche bun.
This was a rather nice burger, full of flavour.
Sometimes I cook and sometimes I just buy stuff I can heat from chilled or frozen. Often it’s time, sometimes convenience, othertimes it’s because I like it.
I really quite like the Buttermilk Chicken Thigh Burgers from Aldi. You get two in a box.
These are baked the oven. I served mine in a brioche roll with cheese. The chicken is moist and tender and the seasoned breadcrumb is nice crunchy and tasty.
They are quite large so will fill the bun easily. I have noticed that they are a little inconsistent in size when I have bought them, but in some ways that I quite like, it feels a more natural product.