food, reviews and of course coffee
I went to the Temple Quay Street Food market where there was a lot of choice. However, I defaulted to one of my favourite boxes, the Fritto Misto from King Fin.
This was just as good as the previous boxes of Fritto Misto I have had from King Fin. Delicious fresh seafood cooked to order, with tasty fries on the side.
I was in Bristol and I walked to Finzel Reach for some lunch. I was tempted by the Little Smoker who were there again, but when I saw them preparing their food, I was (initially) a little disappointed. So, I went to King Fin and ordered the Fritto Misto.
Now as I waited for my Fritto Misto two people walked past with their Little Smoker meals and they looked really good. So, much so, I will try them out next time they are at a street food market I am at. I realised what I saw, they hadn’t finished putting the dishes together.
My Fritto Misto was freshly cooked to order, but it wasn’t long before it was ready. There wasn’t much of a queue, so little delay.
The box was brimming with freshly cooked deep fried crispy seafood, with calamari, fresh anchovies (whitebait), whole prawns, chunks of battered haddock, courgette slices, and sage. Alongside I had a side of rosemary fries and sauce.
Like previous boxes, this was delicious. The freshness of the box was amazing. I still found the prawns a little messy and fiddly to eat, but it was all really tasty.
The street food scene around where I work in Bristol, is delightful. There are twice weekly markets at Temple Quay and Finzel Reach as well as all the stalls at St Nicks. The organisers of weekly markets always try and have a mix of stalls and types of cuisine.
On a recent visit I had eaten some delicious Fritto Misto from King Fin.
It was awesome. This was a delicious box of food. The freshly cooked squid rings, prawns and (small) fish were really tasty and it was a generous portion. The deep fried sage and courgette was a nice addition. I thought this was an amazing dish and I was well impressed.
However I like to choose different things. Well I say I like to choose different things.
So, when I was recently in Bristol, I went out at lunchtime to the Finzel Reach street food market. I had read who was there and I was really tempted by the brisket at The Little Smoker. They were a new guest addition to the line up. I even looked at their menu, but in the end I actually went with the Fritto Misto from King Fin.
The wonderful box of food I got from King Fin was slightly different to my previous Fritto Misto. It still had the calamari, the prawns, the fish and courgettes, however this time there were some chunks of battered white fish as well.
As before it was awesome, this was all cooked to order, so was hot, fresh, crisp and full of flavour. Every bite was a delight, well nearly I did find eating the prawns a little messy, but they were tasty. I was really pleased that I had gone again with this box of awesome food.
Bristol has a decent street food scene, around where I work in Bristol, as well as all the stalls at St Nicks, there are twice weekly markets at Temple Quay and Finzel Reach. The organisers of those markets always try and have a mix of stalls and types of cuisine. There aren’t that many traders selling fish, one that stands out is King Fin. If I am at a market and they are trading, it is usually one I go for. So, when I went to the Finzel Reach street food market, I headed towards King Fin to try their new(ish) Fritto Misto dish. The Fritto Misto replaces the tempura monkfish on the menu. I remember when they had Fritto Misto on the menu before, and tried it back in 2022. I wasn’t that enamoured with what I had then, I wrote:
Overall, if I am honest, though I enjoyed the dish, I was a little disappointed. The calamari was great, but the rest of the fish was a little soggy, despite having just being deep fried. There were two prawns in the dish, one peeled prawn and one whole prawn. The courgette was floppy and was quite greasy.
When I heard that King Fin were bringing back the Fritto Misto onto their menu, I was eager to try it again, despite my reservations from my previous experience.
I must go to King Fin quite a bit as I got recognised as a regular, which was nice. I placed my order and waited. As with all their menu items, the food was cooked to order. After a short while I was handed my box of food and I think it looked amazing. I took it back to my office to eat.
It was awesome. This was a delicious box of food. The freshly cooked squid rings, prawns and (small) fish were really tasty and it was a generous portion. The deep fried sage and courgette was a nice addition. I thought this was an amazing dish and I was well impressed. It certainly was much better than my previous experience. The batter was nice and crispy. As per usual the fries were great.
Looking forward to having this again soon.
I like eating Orecchiette pasta since eating it in London a few years back at the now sadly closed Paesan restaurant close to Exmouth Market. Orecchiette are a pasta typical of the Apulia region of Italy.
I cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. I then in a large frying pan cooked off some pancetta before adding some sliced baby courgette and sliced mushrooms. When the pasta was virtually cooked I added some crème fraîche to the pan. The pasta was drained and then added to the pan and mixed in with the sauce. I plated the pasta before garnishing with freshly chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.
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.
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.
I was in London and staying at the Fox and Goose close to Hangar Lane. This is a Fullers Hotel and is part of the same chain at Drayton Court, which I have also stayed at. The restaurant is in the older part of the hotel, as the hotel part is now a new build at the back. Despite being part of the same chain, they do have different menus. Their version of chicken was different to Drayton Court. So after having had my prawn cocktail starter I had the lemon and thyme roast chicken.
This was lemon and thyme roast chicken served on chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans.
The chicken was really good, full of flavour, moist and tender. You could taste the chicken, and the lemon and thyme enhanced the flavour.
The chicken was served on a bed of chorizo, courgettes, red onion and cannellini beans. The beans were a little overcooked, but the chorizo was excellent, large chunks of soft spicy chorizo.
Overall I really enjoyed this dish and would certainly order it again.
I was at a conference in London at the Shaw Theatre. In the afternoon break we had something I have never had before at an afternoon tea break.
Usually at this time, in virtually all conferences I have been to, you can get tea, coffee, and usually a cake, or biscuits. Sometimes it is merely a packet of biscuits, other times it can be a proper slice of cake.
At this event, yes there was cake, but they also had deep fried battered slices of courgette with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.
Now that was different!
What was it like, to be honest no idea, as I just had some coffee.
I was staying in Wimbledon at the Hotel du Vin and had dinner a couple of times in their Italian themed restaurant. I had a nice starter of Ministrone Soup. I even surprised myself and went for a pizza for my main course, the Porchetta Bianca Pizza.
This was a white pizza topped with slow roasted pork belly with rosemary, mozzarella, mascarpone, white truffle oil and pecorino.
The base was really nice, as this was a white pizza there was no tomato on the base. There was ample toppings, and I did like the flavour of the pork belly, which contrasted well with the mascarpone cheese.
This was an excellent pizza, I would have liked more truffle oil though.
Alongside my Pizza I went with the Zucchini Fritti, which was thin strips (or shoestrings) of courgette deep fried. They were rather moreish.
