Restaurants Archives - Page 6 of 8

The Orange Tree at Leicester

February 10, 2013 By All That I'm Eating 7 Comments

Whenever I go to Leicester I always contemplate the choice of places I will have to dine; there’s such variety and diversity it’s very hard to choose where to go. If I fancy a cocktail then I will almost always head straight for one of The Orange Tree bars. When I was up there most recently I thought I’d best give the menu a perusal, it would be rude not to.

The Orange Tree on the High Street seems to be where Life on Mars meets Bargain Hunt; an interesting place for the eyes to fall on anything from an old telephone sign to local art on the walls. None of the tables or chairs match, in the best way, and the lighting is such that everyone looks slightly yellow and romantic at the same time. Next to our table was a sign advertising the names of the local suppliers and farms used in their food, something they are clearly proud of. Full support is given to Hugh’s Fish Fight for all the fish on their menu. There is always a different cocktail of the week, soup of the day, pie of the week and several specials to choose from coarsely scribed on the blackboard. read more

The Vineyard at Stockcross

December 4, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 12 Comments

This was a gifted meal. I was invited to The Vineyard as part of a bloggers wine and food tasting evening. Having been before, indeed spending a wonderful four and a half hour lunch there on my birthday, I would have been a fool not to go. I have only ever been for lunch, not dinner, so I was looking forward to seeing what it was like. Turns out I was in for a treat. I’m not really a wine person, or I should say, I didn’t used to be a wine person.

The Vineyard has had a recent makeover and the addition of the glass floored cellar makes for a great entrance. It’s a little unnerving when you walk across a glass floor at any time but particularly when walking above a cellar that holds 5000 bottles of extremely fine wine. The picture at the end of the cellar has a story behind it and our sommelier for the evening, Yohann, was more than happy to explain it. It is based on a wine tasting that occurred in France in 1976 when French wine was considered the best in the world. The picture depicts a famous Parisian blind wine tasting between French and Californian wine. The upshot being that Californian came out on top every time, much to the shock of the tasters as the painting shows, and it was this tasting that was said to change the wine world forever. read more

Dining in the Dark at The Living Room in Oxford

November 25, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 20 Comments

All That I'm Eating - Dining in the Dark

This was a gifted meal. I was invited to a Dining in the Dark event at The Living Room in Oxford and I was very intrigued. The idea was to try some of the food from their menu, whilst blindfolded, and then to guess what it was you were eating! Three of us were there for the taste off; the lovely Jo from Comfort Bites, my other half (The Accidental Food Photographer) and myself. There was a trophy to win for the most organoleptically adept and so we donned our blindfolds for the first taste.

You can tell a lot by smell, I found, but the taste and texture were better indicators of what it was that you were eating. I thought it would be pretty easy and I was quite surprised at how hard it was to identify something like broccoli! The first thing was a butternut squash and dolcelatte tart; not something I would ever order but I really enjoyed it. Although I thought it was pear, walnut and blue cheese. Close I suppose.

There were two things that I tried that I was really surprised by: Moroccan lamb with giant couscous and the homemade vegetarian Glamorgan sausages. I would be unlikely to order either of these but after having tried them I was surprised how much I liked them. read more

The Bell at Boxford

September 17, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 15 Comments

We arrived at The Bell on a blissful September evening and thought we would sit outside and watch the world go by as we waited for the kitchens to open. I was sipping on a sweet, fruity cider called Apples and Pears. Also present and enjoyed by my other half was a pint of beer. There was the sound of a tractor in a nearby field, a few twittering birds and the occasional car. The thoroughly English countryside soundscape was only interrupted by an angry wasp.

I don’t like wasps very much and if they try to involve themselves in my food I swipe them away with whatever I have to hand: in this case, the pub menu. It all happened so slowly, to be honest we should have seen it coming as we were both sat on the same side of the park bench. There I was wafting the wasp away getting more and more ferocious with each swish and before I knew it I was harnessing my inner gymnast as I realised the bench was falling over. We were both desperately trying to stay afloat of the bench and at the same time stopping our drinks from tumbling to the floor. We must have looked ridiculous as somehow, when the bench was righted, it immediately fell over with us on it. I grabbed my cider as it flew towards my face but the beer, most unfortunately, covered us both. read more

Bluebird at Chelsea

July 19, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 15 Comments

This was a gifted meal. A few weeks ago there was an elusive warm day. I ventured to London to meet a friend for lunch and was getting rather overheated. I’d planned my attire for a cold, wet day you see. In order to rectify my perspiring situation I decided to be cultural and went to have a gander around the Saatchi Gallery. It was wonderfully chilled in there; in both temperature and atmosphere. Worth a meander if you’re in the area. After a rather confusing start to the lunch where I didn’t know if I was meant to be in the garden area or the restaurant I finally found my bearings and sat down for a relaxing lunch at Bluebird Chelsea.

The meal started with an amuse bouche of gazpacho. This is the second gazpacho I’ve ever had in a restaurant and was decidedly more flavourful than its predecessor. When it was brought to the table it had crab in; I cannot eat shellfish but it was whisked away and a replacement brought in no time. It had an intense tomato flavour, was chilled without being too cold and I really liked the chives instead of the parsley you’d normally have. A really refreshing, clean way to excite the palate before the rest of the meal. read more

A Trip to Brighton

May 27, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 15 Comments

I went to Brighton this week for a long weekend; considering the wonderful weather it was very well planned. It was lovely to see the sea and hear the seagulls and was also an excuse to eat plenty of ice cream. I do have some rather bright and embarrassing tan lines now but I had a great time. I’ll definitely be going back. As our hotel was in Hove, we had a pleasant 20 minute walk to Brighton in the mornings; along the beach front and the brilliantly painted beach huts. We didn’t have breakfast at the hotel preferring to have it by the sea or in a local cafe. I had a lovely Eggs Benedict at the Farm Cafe in the North Laines; all the food sounded great but I can’t resist Eggs Royale. One thing I can resist (with ease) is banana in smoothies; I’m not sure why but I can’t stand drinking blended banana. Fortunately the kind lady who served us omitted the banana so I could fearlessly enjoy my raspberry smoothie.

I remember reading a book a little while ago which talked about British smoke houses. The author was concentrated on the Norwich/Lowestoft area and there had once been something like 30 or 40 smoke houses and now, just one. I thought I would be lucky to ever see one but it turns out there is one in Brighton! Does it get much better than fresh fish smoked a few metres away from where it is sold? I didn’t manage to try the fish; for some stupid reason I couldn’t see the shop nearby. I blame the heat. I will absolutely be visiting them next time. read more

The Valle D’Oro at Newbury

April 29, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 12 Comments

Everyone has ‘that’ restaurant. For some ‘that’ restaurant can be a guilty pleasure, shrouded in memories or just because you love it and can’t quite put your finger on it. For me, The Valle D’Oro at Newbury is the restaurant I always call upon when I need something. Sometimes it’s to fill a hole with so much cheese I can barely walk, other times it’s just because I love it. Why do I love it? I cannot be specific as all the aspects of being there work together to ultimately provide an evening you cannot leave without feeling satisfied. read more

The Real Italian Pizza Company at Bath

April 8, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 11 Comments

As it’s the Easter weekend it would be rude not to do something interesting. We set off to Bath yesterday filled with anticipation. Bath is one of my favourite cities, there’s always something happening and I consistently find a new shop in which to poke around. The problem with going somewhere you don’t often frequent is finding somewhere to eat. Which continent do you choose? Italy, France, Spain, Greece, America, India all provide their own flavours but it’s hard to put your money somewhere that might end up being a letdown.

The last time we were in Bath there was a tiny little restaurant which had people queueing out of its doors; there wasn’t a hope of getting in. This time however The Real Italian Pizza Company had a few spare tables that we were grateful to sit at and get out of the rain.
The menu is unsurprisingly dominated by pizzas; without tomato, without cheese, with whatever you want. If you don’t fancy a pizza, there are a few other options but I would wonder why you would be in this restaurant if you didn’t want pizza. read more

What influences you to choose something from a menu?

February 17, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 13 Comments

I was having dinner the other day and found it very hard to decide what to order. It seems that choosing what to eat from a menu is something that takes a lot of consideration. Things that tick along in the back of your mind maybe without you even realising. But what is the deciding factor, the one thing above all others that will make you choose one thing over another?

What if when you’re out you decide this is the time you will try something new; salsify, heart or salted chocolate for example. It’s a strategy rife with risk. It can go one of two ways; revelation or regret. The first time I went out for a really nice meal I had a selection of vegetables, each vegetable prepared in a different way. At the time I was a carrots, parsnips and peas only girl. That particular dish and that meal changed my life; a world of vegetables was opened up to me.
However, what if you try something new and it’s awful? Trying something for the first time and it being badly prepared or if you personally don’t like it can really ruin an ingredient for life. Galangal is the one thing I cannot bear because I had far too much at once. I can’t even look at it now.

If you’re looking at a classic menu, do you choose something familiar or foreign? Sausage and Mash, Lasagne or Fish and Chips are familiar to most but would you choose it because you recognise it or because you feel like it won’t let you down? If it does let you down, you might feel so deflated and disappointed but if it’s the best one you’ve ever had the benchmark has been set.

Seasonality and locality can be an important influence when deciding what to eat. Local sausages or asparagus when it’s in season can be magnificent and what a great chance to try it. Equally, choosing something you would never buy or prepare at home is a great excuse. If you’ve never fancied battling with a celeriac or preparing a beef wellington, here’s your chance.

Perhaps it just come down to price. Is it ridiculous to spend £12.50 on a risotto you know you could make just as well yourself? Is it a good thing to be able to try something expensive that you’d never normally buy for yourself; caviar or foie gras maybe. I think it is always worth giving some consideration to price; if the ingredients themselves aren’t expensive but the dish is pricey, maybe the execution of it is fantastic.

What is the most important thing to you when choosing what to spend your money on? read more

The Carnarvon Arms at Burghclere

January 24, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 10 Comments

The Carnarvon Arms seems to have a bit of a reputation for being one of the best places to eat in the Newbury area. Are these rumours unfounded or based on exquisite experiences had by everyone who has been there? Before my most recent visit, I had been before and it was good. I wanted to try it again with a now more sophisticated, some might say picky, palate. We arrived with no booking on a week night, the staff behind the bar were lovely and friendly and we got a good table. Bread, oil and vinegar is a favourite of mine and I think the bread served can tell you a lot about a restaurant. This bread was a bit disappointing. The oil it came with was in what I can only assume is meant to be a ‘fun’ traffic light formation. It certainly wasn’t there to serve any taste purpose. I think that restaurant bread can take two forms; the first a really fantastic example of simple bread or secondly a selection of more unusual or flavoured breads. We had boring brown and wearisome white. They weren’t crusty, weren’t warm and worst of all they were stale. When we informed our waiter of this he said, “OK”.

My starter was also one of my most loved flavour combinations; mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. You can’t really go wrong although it was mighty hard to eat until the cutlery arrived.
For my main I opted for wild mushroom ragout with a deep fried duck egg. For a main course at £16 it was tiny. Yes wild mushrooms are expensive but bulk it out with something other than two wafer thin sheets of pasta. I did enjoy this; the mushrooms were in a wonderful sauce, the egg was oozing perfectly and the pasta was extremely delicate. The sauce that you can see under the pasta at the bottom was indescribable. I mean really indescribable. I spent the whole time wondering what it was meant to be and I concluded that it was either celeriac or Jerusalem artichoke neither of which had retained any flavour. This course proved even trickier to get from plate to mouth without any cutlery. read more