Tag: egg

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Spinach Rarebit

Spinach Rarebit

Having some time to kill at Bristol airport, combined with missing breakfast, and a reasonably early flight, I decided that once I got through security I would find somewhere and get something to eat. I didn’t want to go down the takeaway coffee and pastry, I was more in the mood to have a seat at a table, and get served that way.

On a previous visit to Bristol Airport I had enjoyed my experience at Alembic, and as they weren’t too busy, I decided I would have something there. In addition they have a lovely intriguing menu with a range of choice of different kinds of breakfast. If you are looking for the traditional full English breakfast, then you won’t find it here.

Across the range of twelve choices, I narrowed my choice down to the Chorizo, Feta & Egg Croissant Roll, then there was the Mushrooms & Chargrilled Artichokes on Sourdough. I did like the sound of Scrambled Eggs on Schiacciata Romana (a traditional Italian bread). In the end I went with the Spinach Rarebit& Baked Egg.

I did think it was a bit early for mushrooms and artichokes which was my second choice and was an interesting choice for breakfast anyhow. 

In the end I went with the Spinach Rarebit & Baked Egg was wilted spinach, baked free-range egg, served over a rich mustard rarebit, finished with smoked sea salt.

Though you can order with a member of the waiting staff, I went with using the QR code on the table. Alongside my dish I also ordered a flat white. The coffee arrived promptly. The food arrived a little later.

I thought it might be too hot to eat initially, but I think it had been under the hot lamp for a while, as it was at an eatable temperature. I found the rarebit delicious and a great dish to start the day. I think it was slightly overcooked, but not by much. Certainly I would have it again.

The coffee was excellent as well.

What I really liked was that this was rather relaxing, I wasn’t rushed and was a perfect way to prepare for the flight.

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Crispy Duck Stir Fry

Crispy Duck Stir Fry

I was going to call this dish Crispy Duck Donburi and then I realised I had no real idea what make a donburi a donburi?

Anyhow onto how I cooked this dish. I took my sliced duck breast pieces and coated them in some plain flour. I use gluten free flour, but I would have thought wheat flour would work just as well. These pieces I cooked in the wok in some oil. The idea being to both cook the duck, but also with the floured coating make them a little crispy. After the duck was cooked I put them to one side. I then stir fried some mushrooms and when nearly cooked added some soya sauce. These were put to one side as well. In the wok I then added the vegetables and these were stir fried for a while before adding back the duck. I added a pouch of Wagamama Korean BBQ sauce.

I served the duck with the mushrooms, some sticky rice dressed with crispy onions and a soft boiled egg.

Was really nice.

Now to discover what makes  a donburi a donburi.

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itsu Chicken Ramen

I hadn’t anticipated making a ramen, but I had popped to Waitrose to, essentially get some bread, but had a browse and in their stir fry meal deal they had itsu Chicken Gyoza Dumplings,  itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth, and itsu Restaurant Ramen Original Noodles.

I decided I would have ramen for tea.

So, what I did was first chargrill the chicken in a frying pan and kept this warm to one side. I stir fried some vegetables in the pan I had cooked the chicken. After they were cooked, I did some mushrooms.

While this was cooking I cooked the noodles in boiling water. The gyoza dumplings were heated up in the microwave. I also heated up the itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth in another pan.

In a large bowl, I placed the cooked noodles, the vegetables, and the chicken gyoza dumplings. I added the itsu Chicken Ramen Brilliant Broth, before topping with sliced chargrilled chicken. I garnished the dish with the cooked mushrooms and a boiled egg.

I was really pleased with the end result. So much so, that I did a version with a roasted duck breast.

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Caesar Salad

I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing, it is  of the regular places I stay when in London It is significantly cheaper than central London, and with the Elizabeth Line, hitting central London is really fast.

When staying away I don’t usually have salad in the evenings, as partly I want something more substantial and filling, and partly as I probably would have had a s salad for lunch as I generally don’t do sandwiches. However this time I was quite hungry (as I had missed out on lunch) so I went with a pizza and the Caesar salad alongside.

The pizza was excellent, fresh base, freshly cooked in a proper pizza oven. The Caesar salad was described as coming with cos lettuce, pickled anchovies, confit egg yolk, sourdough croutons and Parmesan.

Caesar salad

Well there were some overlarge sourdough croutons, there were anchovies, Parmesan and lettuce. However the described confit egg yolk had been replaced with a halved boiled egg. Didn’t mind that replacement that much.

The salad was delicious and I really enjoyed it, so much so, that I have recreated the dish a few times since at home.

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Time for another Fiorentina

I was up in York for a few days and I was looking for a place for lunch, where I could sit down for a while and check work stuff and do emails and the suchlike.

I had a notification from the Pizza Express app that they had a £7.99 deal for a classic pizza, so I thought, that’s good value and I will be able to sit for a while. I’ve done this deal before at the Pizza Express in Ealing.

I headed to the branch of Pizza Express in York by the River Ouse. There was lots of room, so I chose a table by the window. I looked over the menu and looked at the classic pizza, as this what was on offer with the app. I went with the Classic Fiorentina Pizza.

The one with the ‘egg and spinach’, plus mozzarella, tomato, Gran Milano cheese, black olives and garlic oil. 

The egg was slightly overdone for my liking, but not by much. I’ve had this pizza many times and this was a nice pizza. It’s quite a simple pizza, but I like it.

I did feel that the service was a little over-attentive, but it wasn’t that intrusive.

This was a nice place to eat, the offer made it good value, and I had a tasty pizza.

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Time for a Fiorentina

Fiorentina Pizza

I had arrived in Ealing early and had some time before I could check into my hotel. I did quite fancy pizza and I had enjoyed my pizza from Franco Manca when I last had pizza for lunch in Ealing.

I went for a walk, despite thinking I would have pizza for lunch, I did walk around first. I did wonder if the La Rueda Spanish Tapas Bar had a lunch offer, having enjoyed my tapas dinner there the previous week. They didn’t.

I decided I would go to Rosa’s Thai for lunch, but when I got there, it was empty. Decided, that was a no, I don’t really like eating in an empty restaurant.

So, what was I going to have for lunch, decided I would have a pizza at Franca Manca. I went in and there didn’t appear to be any staff, I waited, and then I waited some more. I then walked out.

I headed to Reineta for lunch, this time their lunch menu matched their online lunch menu. However, I didn’t really fancy a toastie or a sandwich. I left and went back to Franca Manca. Again, I waited, I waited some more, then I walked out again. 

So, I headed to Pizza Express, this time I was given a warm welcome, so I took a seat and looked over the menu. I had a special offer on the app, so I used them to have a Classic Fiorentina Pizza.

The one with the ‘egg and spinach’, plus mozzarella, tomato, Gran Milano cheese, black olives and garlic oil.

It arrived in good time. It looked really nice.  I’ve had this pizza quite a few times and it is one of my favourite pizza from Pizza Express. I like the spinach, olives and egg. I was a little disappointed that the egg was cooked solid, but overall, I did enjoy the pizza. It was good value for money, I had good service and I didn’t need to wait!

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Excellent Eggs

Up in Manchester I joined a colleague for breakfast at the Federal Cafe Bar.

I really liked the atmosphere. We found a table and I went to the counter to order a coffee. Having had some toast at my hotel I only wanted the coffee.

My colleague with the Turkish Eggs. Two free range poached eggs on whipped garlic yoghurt with hot chilli butter and za’atar and served with sourdough toast.

Excellent Eggs

It looked amazing and my colleague said the eggs were excellent.

I had a great flat white.

Later I decided to go back there for a coffee, only to find the place full and no free seats. Well maybe next time I am in Manchester I will return for a coffee or even breakfast.

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Waiting for Wagamama

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 evening we had decided to visit Wagamama but the queue was horrendous so we then ended up at the Italian restaurant, Amarone. On our second evening, as it was late we ate in the hotel, what a mistake that was!

On our final night we decided we would go for Wagamama, though there was a queue it was shorter. We had to wait for a while, but once we were in, we were in. We were shown to a table and we looked over the menu.

I liked the idea of a rice dish so I went with the grilled duck donburi. This was tender, shredded duck in a spicy teriyaki sauce. mixed with carrots, mangetout, sweet potato and red onion on a bed of sticky white rice and topped with a crispy fried egg, cucumber and spring onions. served with a side of kimchee.

I have had this dish before (I think) and I really enjoyed it. The combination of sauce, duck, vegetables with rice and egg was delicious. The kimchee adds some nice spice and heat to the dish.

Also served to the table was a  chicken katsu curry. This is chicken coated in crispy panko breadcrumbs, covered in an aromatic curry sauce served with sticky rice and a side salad. 

I have to say I never like the look of this dish, but I was informed that it was delicious and the plate of food was polished off.

Another dish served to the table was a glass noodle salmon salad which was really enjoyed.

Overall we had a nice meal, the place was busy, but the service was attentive. It was noticeable though how the number of takeaway and delivery orders were impacting on the service to the customers who were actually sitting down in the restaurant. We know that there has been a huge growth in the demand for these services during the pandemic, but I am not so sure that restaurants have worked out how to manage the whole process, especially now that there are more people going out to eat in the actual restaurant.

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Time for some Portuguese Tastes

Over the last year I have missed going to street food markets, so have been reflecting on nice meals I have had in the past. Whilst going through photographs of my food I realised I had never mentioned Portuguese Taste in all my blog posts on food from St Nicholas Market.

This was quite interesting as I realised that I had eaten there many times over the years I have been working in Bristol. It is one of my favourite stalls in the market. They have a real mix of dishes and every day there are different choices.

I had a delicious Portuguese Chicken meal back in December 2017 which consisted of chicken in a cream sauce served with rice, potatoes and salad.

It is a weird thing I find to have rice and potatoes, but that’s how they serve a fair few of their dishes. The menu has some quite inspiring choices and fish makes a regular appearance as does lamb and pork.

One dish I have had a few times is Portuguese Pork Steaks with Egg.

This was the plate I had in April 2016.

Whilst here is the same dish from a visit in July 2017.

The pork can be a little chewy, but the slow cooked onions and egg really add to the dish.

In May 2016 I had this dish.

I think this was also pork and egg dish, but came with a spicy tomato sauce and no salad!

Though the stall is somewhat small, they do have tables and chairs and I would usually eat my lunch inside the stall. Mainly as it was hot, and it came on a proper plate, but was a nice change from eating in the office out of a cardboard box!

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Pizza at The Old Leadworks

Having spent the afternoon in Bristol last November, we had  choice, did we go home and cook, or did we go out and eat first in Bristol. We did venture first to Bella Italia, but it was fully booked. To be honest I wasn’t sure if it was as there was plenty of free tables. However I wasn’t willing to argue with the staff. We didn’t want to spend ages walking around to find somewhere to eat. The challenge was that we needed to find somewhere which had a good choice of gluten free items as well.

I recalled that over by at-Bristol or now as it was called We The Curious in the old Leadworks was a branch of Prezzo. So we decided that we would try there, if unsuccessful we would go home. So we headed towards Prezzo on the Harbourside.

Back in 2000 I actually worked at at-Bristol and my desk was in the offices on the first floor in the old Leadworks. At that time the restaurant was a Firehouse Rotisserie, which sold chicken. I did think about going there a few times, but never did. It was too expensive for lunch and it was somewhere we ever went in the evening either. I am not sure when it became a Prezzo, but it was now a Prezzo.

We were given a lovely warm friendly welcome. I looked over the menu, and wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. In the end I went with the Fiorentina Pizza, a classic pizza with spinach, olives, mozzarella and egg.

I have had this pizza a few times before and enjoyed it each time. This time it was just as nice.

There was a lot of pizza but I did manage to finish it.

It was a lovely relaxing meal and we all really enjoyed our food.