For Suzy’s birthday last Friday, we went to Loch Fyne in Sheffield. I’d passed the restaurant a few weeks ago and liked the idea of having a good seafood restaurant in Sheffield but was worried they’d not know what they were doing. Little did I know – until visiting their website to get their number for booking a table – that Loch Fyne has 40 restaurants all over the country and they’re experts in oysters, shellfish and seafood!

The Sheffield restaurant only opened on 7th April this year but it’s already getting lots of good reviews. Luckily for us, we managed to catch the end of their Seafood Festival which had been going on all week to celebrate their 10th anniversary. This meant we got to enjoy a spectacular seafood platter from their specials board which included:

• 1 Whole Lobster
• 1 Whole Crab
• 6 Oysters
• 4 Langoustines
• 4 Crevettes
• 4 Queen Scallops
• 6 King Prawns
• 1 Razor Clam
• Squid Legs
• ...and a large bowl of hot cockles and mussels

Their standard menu offers a similar platter but you have to choose between either crab or lobster. (The kitchen actually forgot to include our scallops. I just assumed they’d none left, since everything is dependent on availability, but when I mentioned this to the duty manager during a chat after the meal, he sounded surprised and immediately brought us four to try.)

We washed all that down with a bottle of Pinot Blanc and followed it with a selection of cheeses with oatcakes, a crème brûlée to share and a coffee. The bill came to exactly £100, which isn’t super cheap but is more than reasonable and definitely worth it.

The staff at Loch Fyne are well trained, attentive and extremely polite, the quality of shellfish is excellent and the ambiance of the place is really relaxing. It’s quite easy to forget you’re still on Sheffield’s Glossop Road in what used to be a poorly lit kitsch Irish cocktail bar called Hanrahans (and then Casa, then Hanrahans again and then some American bar and grill).

They open for breakfast at 09:00 (I assume they serve more than just kippers) and their website says they do a two-course set lunch for £11 from 12:00 until 19:00 Monday to Saturday. Sunday lunch is £12 for two courses or £15 for three courses, although the site also says that’s not available at all restaurants, so check with them before visiting.

And there’s not much else I can say about the place except that if you like shellfish, get to Loch Fyne!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

The other weekend, I took Suzy to The Old Vicarage in Ridgeway Village as a treat to celebrate that we’d managed to put up with each other for seven years. The restaurant had come highly recommended by a few people, although each one had warned me about it being expensive but absolutely worth it for a special occasion. So with my credit card firmly in my hand, I booked a table...

We arrived at 18:20, about twenty-five minutes earlier than expected as our taxi was ten minutes early and I’d completely forgotten that we only live about five minutes away from the place anyway. This didn’t seem to bother TV-chef and Michelin-starred owner of the restaurant, Tessa Bramley, who met us at the door with a warm welcome and took our coats before taking us through to one of the lounges where we could read the menu while enjoying a glass of champagne.

Just as we were choosing what to eat, some canapés arrived. We had onion chutney samosas, mini burgers, mini cottage pies made with deer, olives and cheese straws, all of which were fabulous and prepared our appetites for what was to come. After choosing our starters and main courses, Tessa came and sat with us to help us decide which wine we would like to go with our meal. Even with our terribly inexperienced wine-talk, she managed to narrow down their hundreds of wines to just a few by asking what sort of wines we did and didn’t like. Little did she know I’ll drink anything and everything and have probably never had a bottle of red wine over ten quid! A few minutes later, a waiter came with the bottle for us to check before decanting it. It looked fine to me – the bottle had some guy’s signature on it and it wasn’t even in a plastic bottle...

Shortly after being seated at our table, our napkins were placed across our laps and our wine was poured. (By the way, we didn’t even have to carry our champagne to the table. Instead, one of the waitresses carried them on a silver tray for us and remembered whose was whose, if you can imagine that!)

The next choice we had to make was which bread we wanted. It wasn’t just a case of “white or brown” either; we could choose from white, wholemeal, walnut, onion (I think) or black pudding. Suzy was boring and went for wholemeal but I obviously had to try black pudding bread, which was amazing and would be absolutely perfect for breakfast sandwiches.

For our surprise appetiser course, we got a small fillet of sea bream in a Thai broth (or “Thai bride” as I heard one of the waitresses accidentally call it). As with everything so far, this was lovely, as were the starters. I’d chosen the scallops, which were the biggest, fattest, juiciest ones I've ever had, cooked perfectly and served with a cauliflower cream, and Suzy had goose liver and smoked goose liver in a kind of long slice of terrine.

For main course, I’d ordered beef and calves liver, which came served with a small, light, crispy-yet-melt-in-the-mouth Yorkshire pudding, mashed potato, vegetables and a horseradish foam. Suzy had fillet of deer with parsnip chips and mashed potato. These were both perfect examples of fairly simple food cooked excellently and presented in an exquisite manner.

After a short break to let our food go down, we then ordered a lemon tart and a selection of cheese and biscuits to share, followed by coffee and a selection of chocolates and petits fours to finish off the meal perfectly.

The Old Vicarage is perfect for special occasions or whenever you just want to splash out a couple of hundred hard-earned British pounds sterling of the realm on truly excellent food, with really good wine and special surroundings. Even though the place is very posh, you feel right at home, with friendly chatty staff that are really approachable so you don’t feel at all uncomfortable. They also usually offer a seven course tasting menu but had unfortunately taken it off the menu on the night we went as they were short staffed, so we’ll definitely be going back to try that one day.

Now get saving and get your table booked!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

Last Friday night, we went with The Rileys to Fahrenheit Restaurant in Wath-upon-Dearne. Chris and Dawn had been a couple of times before and had been wanting me and Suzy to try it for a while. Since little Baby Riley will be popping out in the new year, we decided to book a table for the four (and a half) of us before they get lost underneath a pile of nappies and toys! Having already heard and read what Chris thought of Fahrenheit back in September, I had quite high expectations. And I’m pleased to say that I wasn’t disappointed...

After we’d been shown to our table and our orders had been taken, our waiting staff brought us our complimentary rollmop pickled herring fillet appetisers, which was a nice touch. I don’t remember ever trying this before but it was very tasty and just enough for one mouthful. Shortly after finishing these, our starters arrived. I had the Thai Style Crab with Fine Noodles, Lemongrass, Ginger & Spicy Chilli Dressing (which was lovely and fresh tasting), Suzy had the Marbled Duck & Pork Terrine with Sage Infused, Orange & Hazelnut Dressing (the little bit I got to taste was really good) and The Rileys had Charantais Melon with Pear, Rocket and Parmesan Salad (Parmesan cheese apparently goes very well with melon but I didn’t get the chance to try it for myself). I don’t usually eat bread with my meals but the bread they served was really soft and fresh, so I gladly made an exception.

Something you don’t see much of in restaurants these days is an intermediate course. But with Fahrenheit being the perfect place it is, we had a choice of two! Dawn had the Lentil Soup and the rest of us chose the Passion Fruit Sorbet. Very pleasant.

After cleansing our palates, we tucked into our main courses. The Rileys had Braised Lamb Shank with Spring Onion Mash, Rosemary & Redcurrant Sauce (I tried a bit of Dawn’s and it was melt-in-the-mouth-good), Suzy had the Grilled 7oz Sirloin Steak with Oyster Mushroom, Red Pepper Infused Hollandaise, Balsamic Reduction (cooked exactly as she wanted and enough to satiate her appetite, despite thinking the steak wasn’t very big when she first saw it) and I had the Pave of Salmon with Curried Mussels & Deep Fried Leeks. All came served with a selection of mixed vegetables. It’s unusual for me to order salmon in a restaurant – not because I don’t like salmon, I just usually find something else I prefer – but the waitress quite literally sold it to me when she said the curried mussels were Thai-style rather than Indian-style. The salmon was cooked to perfection with nice crispy skin and served on three large mussels in a Thai green curry sauce with a scattering of deep fried thinly sliced leeks. Lovely!

As far as I’m concerned, everything about Fahrenheit is great. It’s in a brand new building which makes it look good from the outside, the decor is modern and elegant on the inside, the staff are smartly dressed and polite, the tables and chairs are comfortable and big enough to allow you to relax during your meal, the menu has just the right number of choices available, the food is well presented and excellently prepared, and the prices are quite reasonable.

Fahrenheit definitely gets the Tony Ruscoe seal of approval!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

Last month, Suzy and I spent 10 nights in Canada. I realise this post will probably be a bit long and boring for most people, but hopefully it will be of interest to anyone planning on going to Toronto, and will also help to remind us in years to come of what we actually did!

WARNING: Very long and potentially boring post coming up! If you’d prefer to look at pictures, you can just view my Toronto, Canada set on Flickr...

Day 1: Monday 8th October 2007

We checked in at Manchester Airport with Zoom Airlines, where we found all their staff to be smiling and unusually cheerful. By booking Premium Economy seats, we got more luggage allowance, more leg room, free alcoholic beverages, a choice of meals, free headphones and priority luggage. Not bad really for about £50-80 extra each way. After a quick stop in Glasgow to pick up some more passengers, we began our flight to Toronto Pearson International Airport.

For our in-flight meals, Suzy had chicken and vegetables and I had Shepherd’s pie, although it may have been Cottage Pie since I heard it called both and couldn’t tell whether it was beef or lamb. Both were served with melon and chocolate cake. Later, we got a ham and cheese sandwich for a snack. Not bad food really (although Suzy says her chicken was a bit grey). During the flight, we both watched Live Free or Die Hard and Shrek the Third which were good enough to keep us amused for a while. Suzy also watched some of Evan Almighty.

To get from the airport to the hotel once we’d landed and waited all of about two minutes for our priority luggage, we went with the TTC route, catching the 192 Airport Rocket bus to Kipling Subway station and then the subway for the rest of the way. When we surfaced from the subway, we got our first glimpse of Downtown Toronto and were quickly shown how polite and helpful the people of Toronto can be when a woman stopped her car in the middle of the road – despite the traffic lights being on green – to ask us if we were lost and needed directions! (I guess our luggage, maps and the ‘lost’ look on our faces gave us away as tourists.)

After finding the Metropolitan Hotel (booked via Expedia) and dumping everything in our room, we went for a quick wander around the area to get our bearings and then had a drink and bite to eat in the hotel bar.

Day 2: Tuesday 9th October 2007

Breakfast at Over Easy (56 Yonge Street) was good, although most things on the menu seem to come in large portions, mostly fried and served with home fries. After breakfast, we walked to the CN Tower (which we couldn’t really see due to the mist) and booked a table in the restaurant for Saturday night. We then walked up through Chinatown on our way to GreekTown on the Danforth. (Apparently I insisted on walking but once we realised how far it actually was, we eventually got the subway.)

GreekTown is an inconspicuous place; you’d never know that this is the largest Greek neighbourhood in North America. Some of the street signs are in Greek and there’s an occasional Greek restaurant, but apart from that it looks pretty normal. For lunch, we had really tasty authentic Greek gyros at Messini (445 Danforth Avenue) which each came served with a huge Greek salad.

After all the walking and eating, we headed back to the hotel for a power-nap and then went around the corner to Spring Rolls (40 Dundas Street West) for a Thai meal. The menu there has almost too much to choose from and everything we saw looked really good – and in keeping with what we had experienced so far, the portions were massive and really good!

Day 3: Wednesday 10th October 2007

After our McDonald’s breakfast in Atrium On Bay, we wandered down to see the old and new Toronto City Hall at Nathan Phillips Square where there was also a small farmers’ market. After taking a few photos and listening to Suzy read The Rough Guide to Toronto, we made our way back to Chinatown for lunch, going through Kensington Market on the way.

Since we were in Chinatown, we went for an authentic Chinese lunch at Bright Pearl Seafood Restaurant (346-348 Spadina Avenue) during Dim Sum Happy Hour. For anyone like us who’s never had Dim Sum served in the traditional way, the whole experience may seem a little strange.

The dishes are wheeled around on small trolleys by waitresses who sometimes sing what they’ve got (in Chinese) between stopping to offer you one. If you want whatever dish they’ve got, you simply take the plate (and not just one prawn, like I did) and let them mark it off on your sheet so that they know what you’ve had. We tried things like fried prawns, steamed beef balls, steamed pork in rice roll (I think) and steamed squid with curry sauce. Mmmm! If you’re ever in Toronto and like Chinese food, you must visit Bright Pearl. According to their website, Dim Sum Happy Hour is 09:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 16:00 (Monday to Friday) and you can get 15% off between 09:00 and 11:00 on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays.

I could’ve stayed there all afternoon and tried one of everything but Suzy wouldn’t let me because she wanted to take me on a Suzy Tour of the University of Toronto buildings. These all appeared to be well maintained, and the atmosphere around them felt pretty friendly and welcoming.

Again, after all the walking, we headed back to the hotel and I started to read my copy of the NOW magazine which I’d picked up earlier. While browsing the week’s live music listings, I read that Klaxons were playing in Toronto at The Opera House and that tickets were still available.

Having seen the extremely posh and impressive Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts – Toronto’s Opera House and home to the Canadian Opera Company – earlier that day, we went down to see if we could buy tickets on the door... only to find that we actually needed to be at The Opera House which is in a completely different class! (It’s basically like the Leadmill but in Toronto.) Anyway, we got a streetcar to near the venue and got some food from The Real Jerk (709 Queen Street East) where we had some really tasty homemade Caribbean cooking before the Klaxons gig. (I’ll be covering the gig in a later post...)

Day 4: Thursday 11th October 2007

For breakfast, we called in Subway across the road from our hotel for BLTs. Despite ordering two six inch BLTs on different bread, the shop assistant insisted on charging us for one foot long instead, explaining that it would be cheaper and that the customer is always right! After that, we got the subway uptown to Casa Loma.

Casa Loma is described as being “Canada’s Majestic Castle” when really it’s more like a mansion, or even just a big house, with one hundred rooms; old buildings and castles are something the Brits do much bigger and better than the Canadians! Casa Loma was a fascinating place with an intriguing history. More recently, it’s been used in various films, including Chicago, Cocktail, The Pacifier, The Tuxedo and X-Men. If you want to know more about it, I suggest you read the Wikipedia articles on Casa Loma and Sir Henry Pellat.

Since we hadn’t finished looking around by lunchtime, we had something to eat at Druxy's in the basement of Casa Loma. I got the best roast beef deli sandwich on an onion roll, complete with a proper helping of beef and some Dijon mustard that was so hot it came down my nose, and Suzy had a roast chicken and guacamole sandwich. Eating places like these, where they’re inside the attraction, are usually overpriced and poor quality but this place was pretty reasonable considering the freshness and quality of the excellent sandwiches.

After we’d finished at Casa Loma, we headed back Downtown and checked out a few restaurants we’d read about.

In the evening, we went to Hard Rock Cafe (279 Yonge Street) for some cocktails at the bar before being shown to our table. Oddly, the barman advised me not to have a Joe’s Bloody Mary – “a headbangin’ combination of rich & spicy Bloody Mary mix, Absolut Citron vodka and Joe Perry’s (of Aerosmith) mango tango hot sauce” – as they’re often returned because it’s not what people are expecting. But after a pint of boring lager, I had a couple of these anyway and they were fantastic! Naturally, we ordered and ate too much, especially considering we were already nearly full after sharing the Jumbo Combo starter!

Day 5: Friday 12th October 2007

We woke up and realised that for the past few days we’d been eating lots and lots of meat and not much fruit or vegetables, so went to Richtree Market in the Eaton Centre for a fruit salad and cup of fresh mango juice before walking down to the see the buildings on the waterfront. We had contemplated getting the ferry across to the Toronto Islands but as it was cold and windy (and, frankly, my feet were still aching from all the walking around we’d been doing) we decided to give it a miss.

Instead, we went on a tour around the Steam Whistle Brewing brewery, located in an old building shaped like a horseshoe which used to be home to a steam locomotive repair facility. (The similarity between the name and location is apparently a coincidence, as the owners had already decided they wanted a steam whistle like in the Flintstones before they found the premises.)

On the tour, we learnt all about the company and what makes them different, and I got to sample quite a bit of their premium pilsner lager which is nice and crisp and apparently won’t give you much of a hangover because it only uses just four natural ingredients.

We left before I had time to test that theory and I finally got to sample a hot dog from one of the carts we’d walked past every day since we arrived.

At night, we’d booked a table at Fisherman’s Wharf (69 Richmond Street West) which had won the WHERE Toronto Most Memorable Meal Award 2007 for the Seafood category. Once we were at our table, we were a little worried about what sort of meal we were going to have as I could hear an American man on a nearby table saying how the meal he was eating was the worst meal he’d ever had in his entire life and that they should have gone to the steakhouse like he’d apparently said in the first place. As it turns out, he was probably sulking because his friends didn’t want to go to the steakhouse.

Our starters here were pretty average, but the seafood platter for two which we had for our main course was great... but only if you like to eat prawns, mussels, scallops, crab, oysters and a full lobster, otherwise you may as well go to a steakhouse instead.

After our meal, we went for a walk and saw loads of teenagers running around the city wearing different coloured fluorescent necklaces. After trying and failing to figure out what was going on, we eventually stopped some of the kids and asked them. It turns out they were playing a huge game of urban capture the flag.

Those crazy kids!

Day 6: Saturday 13th October 2007

On our way to the Royal Ontario Museum, we stopped at Tim Hortons for a sausage, egg and cheese (they put cheese on everything) breakfast bagel and a coffee. The museum’s housed in a pretty impressive building where they’ve literally fused modern architecture with the original church-like building. When we went, a few of the rooms were empty as they were re-jigging their exhibits but what we did see was pretty interesting, particularly all the First Peoples artefacts.

For lunch, we went to Sushi Train (750 Yonge Street), our first proper sushi restaurant where all the dishes go round on a conveyor belt. The plates are all colour-coded according to price, ranging from $2.00 to $5.50, so you just take what you want and the waitress adds up how much you owe by counting your empty plates. I could have stuffed my face with sushi all afternoon but didn’t want to spoil my appetite too much as we’d got a table booked at the top of the CN Tower for early evening.

You obviously can’t go to Toronto without visiting the CN Tower. Although many people say it’s expensive to eat at the 360 Restaurant, it’s actually pretty good value because you get to go up in the lift and check out the lookout and glass floor levels for free providing you purchase a main course, saving around $25 each. We managed to book a table for 17:15 which meant that we would get to watch the sunset at 19:45 and see Toronto in daylight and by night.

After doing 15 MPH in the lift up to the restaurant, the first thing you notice is how fast the restaurant turns. It takes 72 minutes to do a complete revolution but when you see the room moving it does feel like it’s moving pretty quickly. And when you get to your table, you then realise how high up 351 metres actually is. Our table was right next to the window, so we had a fantastic view and were able to take lots of pictures in between each mouthful. The food was tasty, it was well presented, the service was excellent and the location was amazing. Definitely recommended.

Day 7: Sunday 14th October 2007

For our last full day in Toronto, we had a McDonald’s breakfast somewhere on Yonge Street and then walked down to St Lawrence Market, dodging all the people who were running The Toronto Marathon on the way. After that, we walked to the The Distillery District, a national historic site which represents the “largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America” formerly known as The Gooderham and Worts Distillery. Today, it’s basically a load of expensive boutiques, studios and coffee shops which is occasionally used as a backdrop for films. All we bought was a couple of drinks and two massive slices of cake from Café Uno.

After walking back Downtown, we went shopping in the Eaton Centre. Thankfully, neither of us are serious shoppers, so it only took a couple of hours before we’d finished and were having a hot dog from the usual place for a mid-afternoon snack.

In the evening, we had a nice meal at the Pickle Barrel (312 Yonge Street) – once again, good food and massive portions – and then we had an early night in preparation for leaving early the following day to go to Niagara Falls.

Day 8: Monday 15th October 2007

We woke up early, packed our suitcases and went to Starbucks across the road from our hotel for breakfast. Shortly after that, we checked out and waited for Auntie Wendy and her husband Vic to pick us up in their massive people carrier. (Auntie Wendy was a school friend of my mum’s who emigrated to Canada when she was about 13 years old. They kept in touch for years via airmail and more recently moved to email and the occasional phone call.)

After two or three hours on the road, we arrived in Niagara Falls, parked up near the SkyLon Tower (in a dodgy car park for $5 rather than the official one for $10) and had a few sandwiches before walking down to see the falls.

Before we went, I didn’t realise that “Niagara Falls” is actually the name for the set of waterfalls which includes the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and the smaller Bridal Veil Falls. (In fact, I only learnt that the falls were shared between America and Canada a few weeks before we went!) Nor did I really know how HUGE all the falls are. As you get nearer to the Horseshoe Falls, it suddenly feels like it’s raining, but then you realise that it’s just the spray! And it’s only when you stand right next to the top of the falls and can see the sheer volume of water throwing itself over the edge that you realise how amazing the waterfall actually is.

Of course, we went on the Journey Behind the Falls, where you “experience the awesome spectacle of one-fifth of the world’s fresh water crashing down 13 stories to the basin below” from both the side and behind the falls, and the Maid of the Mist, which takes you up close to all the falls on a boat ride. Visiting the falls in October when it was almost out of season meant we got a good, clear view all along the wall overlooking the falls and didn’t have to queue to do anything.

Also at Niagara Falls is a stretch of buildings which contains amusement arcades, souvenir shops, waxworks, museums and other attractions; it’s a bit like Blackpool only smaller and possibly cleaner. After seeing all this, Vic and Wendy took us back to their house in the quiet community called Port Elgin, called at a Swiss Chalet for some tea (or supper) on the way.

Day 9: Tuesday 16th October 2007

After a long and lazy lie in, we finally woke up and had breakfast, which was when I realised that bagels aren’t so bad after all (especially cinnamon and raisin ones toasted with butter) and Suzy realised that Canadians buy milk in bags rather than bottles! Imagine that! After getting over the shock, Vic and Wendy took us on a tour around Downtown Port Elgin (which is actually just a main road through the village) and to see the beach and their boat which they’d just pulled out of the water for the winter.

After soup and sandwiches for lunch, we then went on an educational trip to the visitor centre at Bruce Power Nuclear Generating Station where Vic used to work. Learning all about nuclear fuel and how a CANDU reactor generates electricity may sound like a dull thing to do on your holiday, but it was actually really interesting – and we got to see some Wild Turkeys walking down the road on the way there!

In the evening, Auntie Wendy made us a lovely steak pie for tea and then we just watched TV and relaxed.

Day 10: Wednesday 17th October 2007

After more bagels for breakfast, we took a ride out to the small community of St Jacobs, home to many Mennonites. On the way, we saw one of the few roundabouts in Canada and stopped at Picard Peanuts Ltd, where we saw the most varieties of nut-based products we’ve ever seen. You get to try before you buy, so after sampling almost every type of nut on display, I bought some Wasabi Peanuts and Blazin’ Hot Peanuts... and they are both MEGA HOT!

St Jacobs itself has quite a few tiny shops and museums. We went to The Maple Syrup Museum, Home Hardware Exhibit, Electricity Exhibit and Telling The Mennonite Story at the Visitor Centre, where we went on a “multi-media journey” to learn more about the Mennonites and their beliefs.

Later that afternoon, we went to At The Crossroads restaurant for an all-you-can-eat-buffet. There was an excellent variety of home-style cooking hot meals, salads and homemade desserts, and it was excellent value for money. Needless to say, I definitely got my money’s worth...

Day 11: Thursday 18th October 2007

In the morning, Vic kindly cooked us all bacon, egg and home fries for breakfast before we left Port Elgin and made our way to Wendy’s sister’s, who lives near Toronto airport. On the way, we stopped for a coffee and cookie at Starbucks and looked around the huge Chapters bookstore, Wal-Mart and Fortinos, where we bought a roast chicken and Caesar salad for dinner.

After dinner, we got dropped off at the airport, checked in and got on our flight home. We decided not to watch Mr. Bean’s Holiday or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban but did watch Wild Hogs which was pretty funny in the early hours of the morning.

For tea / supper / breakfast (what do you call that meal they give you on an overnight flight?) we had beef ‘something’ with vegetables and rice, served with a strange salad that wouldn’t have been out of place on a kebab and a weird chocolate brownie which didn’t seem to be cooked. I thought it was all pretty good. Suzy wasn’t convinced. Later on, we got a cheese and red onion sandwich for a mid-night snack (that hyphen’s there because it’s a snack you have in the middle of the night and not necessarily at midnight) and managed to get about 30 seconds of sleep before arriving back in England.

Any questions? Is there anything I’ve not covered?

Labels: food, personal, restaurants, travel

Over weekend, we went to “Leicestershire’s best kept secret” for a meal to celebrate Suzy’s brother’s 21st birthday. According to the menu, The Staff of Life Inn has been awarded the title of Best Country Pub of the Year 2007 and has also featured in the Good Pub Guide for the past few years, so we obviously had high expectations...

Originally coming from near Bury in Lancashire, I love black pudding – the best are from Bury Market – and if a restaurant has it on the menu, usually as a starter, I have to order it. However, I also love scallops and sometimes have to choose between the two. So, imagine my joy to find a starter which included both of these; king scallops served on tarragon black pudding with plum and black bean sauce. (I know... putting fruit and meat together is completely wrong, but I’m warming to the idea when it’s in small quantities.) The presentation was impressive and the different tastes and textures went really well together. The scallops were a little bit overcooked for my liking and certainly not as big as the ones I cooked the other week, but overall everything was really tasty.

For main course, I selected the fillet of John Dory from the specials board, served with baby capers, spinach, Italian plum tomatoes and fresh anchovies. We also ordered a bacon and cheese potato gratin side dish. Again, presentation was good and the size of the perfectly cooked John Dory fillet certainly made up for the smaller-than-expected-slightly-overcooked scallops. All washed down with a South African Chenin Blanc from Orange St, I wasn’t really sure whether I would be able to manage a dessert.

After a bit of a breather, I was just about able to manage an individual chocolate orange cheesecake served with burnt orange sauce and a fancy twirly biscuit thing, hand crafted by Linda O'Neill, joint owner of The Staff of Life Inn and apparently a former member of the Irish panel of chefs. Mmmm!

I can’t really comment on value for money because Suzy’s parents treated us, but I seem to remember everything being quite reasonable considering the quality.

Lovely surroundings. Classy interior. Outstanding food. Excellent service.

Highly recommended!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

It seems like everyone’s been to Prague, so Suzy and I felt it was about time we went too. Having booked four nights there a couple of months ago, here’s what we got up to after we arrived there on Monday. (And if you’d rather just look at some pictures instead of reading all this, you can view my Prague set on Flickr... although there are quite a lot of photos to get through!)

Monday

We flew with Thomsonfly from Robin Hood Airport for about £69 return each (including taxes and charges). We got extra leg room and the plane had leather seats. Other than that, the flight was the usual boring episode.

Having reached our destination, we bought two transfer tickets that allowed us to use both the bus and the Metro to reach the centre of Prague. One of the reasons we chose to visit Prague at this time of year was to visit the Easter markets in the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square which were taking place between 24th March and 15th April this year. So, after checking in at our hotel – Tulip Inn (Prague Terminus) – we walked to the Old Town Square market and had a pork baguette from one of the stalls before getting our bearings.

In the evening, we headed over to a restaurant that had been recommended by someone at work. We’d found it earlier in the day and decided to go back and eat there at night. By mistake, we ended up at a completely different restaurant, and the penny only dropped when I realised that all the food on the menu seemed to be French or Asian inspired rather than typically Czech... meaning we were in a nearby restaurant called Nostress which we’d also seen earlier in the day.

Described as being French Asian Fusion, most of the food on the menu was more Asian than French. For starters, I had Dim-Sum (a selection of Chinese steamed dumplings) and Suzy had Piquant Wonton Soup with Chicken Dumplings. For main course, I had Beef Peanut Curry with Jasmine Rice (since they had no Chinese noodles) and Suzy had Grilled Halibut Fillet with a Saffron Sauce and Roasted Vegetables. All dishes were excellently presented and cooked to perfection. Most Asian restaurants seem to be lacking good deserts, but I guess being a French Asian Fusion restaurant means you can serve whatever deserts you like, so Suzy had a Warm Pear Croustillant with a Chocolate Sauce and I had my trusty favourite Crème brûlée.

Three courses for two, including a bottle of wine and a bottle of still water cost 2115 Kc (about £50) – not so cheap for Prague but very reasonable by UK prices!

Tuesday

To get a better overview of Prague, we decided to take the 3½ hour Grand Walk (The Best of Prague) with Prague Walks which took us through the Jewish Quarter, Old Town, New Town, Wenceslas Square, Charles Bridge and up to Prague Castle. One of the advantages of going on a guided walk is that you’re shown things you probably would’ve missed otherwise and told what they are, like the hanging statue you can see here.

For lunch we tried to find a typical Czech meal and ended up at Hotel Cerný Slon. Mine consisted of pork knee, pork shoulder, pork sausage and bacon (and probably some more pork) with a selection of dumplings and cabbage. Suzy had roast duck with a similar selection of dumplings and cabbage.

In the afternoon, we went back to the Easter markets in the Old Town Square and after the meat overload at lunchtime, we decided to settle for pizza and pasta at a small Italian restaurant called La Scala.

Wednesday

In the morning, we visited Wenceslas Square again (managing to avoid Debenhams and Marks & Spencer) and went up the tower of the Prague Astronomical Clock and saw some amazing views.

Afterwards, we visited the Sex Machines Museum and saw some amazing... erm... mechanical erotic appliances dating back to the 1500s and watched a 1920s porno! (Some of the things in that museum are quite simply wrong and should not exist – but you absolutely have to go and see them if you ever visit Prague!)

Not quite in the mood for a huge bratwurst sausage from the market, we visited a small restaurant (which I think was called Bella Vita) where I got to sample 1kg of marinated pork ribs and Suzy tried a Prague cheese platter.

In the evening, we finally managed to eat at the restaurant we were meant to visit on Monday! Kolkovna describes itself as being “based on a combination of the tradition and uniqueness of the Pilsner Urquell brand and Czech cuisine fused with modern gastronomy.” The starters of Beef Tartar Steak and Beef Broth were both fair. Having had such a large Czech lunch, I wasn’t really in the mood for another large, meat-heavy Czech meal, so for main course I ordered the Rabbit in Garlic and Onion (roasted rabbit legs with spinach and roast potatoes with bacon) which was unfortunately accompanied by “garlic with spinach” rather than “spinach with garlic” and was far too salty, as was Suzy’s Moravian Sparrow (pieces of roast pork with garlic and onion, bread and bacon dumplings, white and red cabbage). The waiter wasn’t the most helpful and the service overall wasn’t great either. Sadly, both the food and service here was disappointing but 1222 Kc (about £30) for two courses, a bottle of wine and a beer seemed like a reasonable price to have paid.

Thursday

On our last full day in Prague, I spent the morning on another guided tour – this time with Suzy Tours (aided by her Lonely Planet guidebook) – which took us back up to see Charles Bridge again. For lunch, walked back to the Old Town Square and had a bratwurst in a baguette and a chicken panini from the Easter market before doing a bit of souvenir shopping.

Sick of meat, dumplings and cabbage (despite having only eaten Czech food for two or three meals) we luckily found a fantastic Thai, Burmese and Indian restaurant called Orange Moon for our last evening meal in Prague. They did a great Tom Yam Kung soup and Thai Fish Cakes for starters and equally delicious Thai-Green-Curry-like and Pad-Thai-like main courses (although I can’t remember exactly what they were).

Friday

After checking out of the hotel, we caught the Metro back to Zlicín and visited the Metropole shopping centre (and almost went to Ikea but it was a bit too far away) before making our way to the airport for our return flight home.

Despite this post being a little on the long side (please accept my apologies) we didn’t feel like we actually did that much whilst we were in Prague, meaning we not only had a brilliant, well-deserved break but also that we can definitely go back again in a few years and see some different sights. Having said that, four nights is probably too much for a short break unless you’re really going to cram in the sightseeing, but I’d definitely recommend visiting Prague if you get the chance!

Labels: food, personal, photos, restaurants, travel

Six years. That’s a long time. Think about what you were doing six years ago. Seems like a long time ago doesn’t it? Well, that’s how long Suzy and I have been going out with each other – and that’s obviously worth celebrating by going out and stuffing ourselves with some top-notch food!

Last year, we celebrated five years of togetherness by going to the excellent Supper Club (which has since changed owners but is apparently just as impressive). This year, I booked a table for two at Artisan of Sheffield on Sandygate Road in Crosspool, Sheffield.

If you’re from the area, you may know this place as being Thyme Restaurant. We’d both been to Thyme Cafe in Broomhill and thought it was great but had never managed to visit the restaurant. To be honest, I’d forgotten all about it until someone mentioned a few weeks ago that it had changed its name and was actually now known as two restaurants called Artisan and Catch. Catch describes itself as a “Modern & Lively Seafood Cafe” whereas Artisan is a “Bistrot De Lux” – and as much as we both love seafood, we decided to try out Artisan.

Artisan has some nice touches. Whilst perusing the menu, you can order some nibbles (like olives or nuts) or even a selection of oysters and a glass of champagne. We did neither and just enjoyed the complimentary bread selection instead, which included an odd one made with treacle. Not really my cup of tea but very nice nevertheless.

I don’t know too much about wine, but the wine list seemed pretty impressive and they even offered another list of cellar specials (which I can only assume would have been very expensive). We just settled for a South African Avondale Chenin Blanc.

Choosing anything else was tricky; I was totally spoilt for choice. Not being a fussy eater means that you always have a problem when it comes to deciding what to order from a decent menu. I quite literally couldn’t decide which starter I wanted. I had managed to narrow it down to either belly pork or a black and white pudding stack though, so I asked the waiter to recommend one. He said he’d just order one but not tell me which. Fine by me! When it arrived it was the belly pork, cooked perfectly so that it was really melt-in-the-mouth and came with a perfect strip of crackling. Suzy’s mussel soup (served with homemade garlic bread) tasted pretty good too.

For main course, I decided to choose something I’d probably never cook for myself; calves liver “bourgonnaise” (at least I think that’s what it said) served with bacon, shallots, some kind of vegetable parcel and mashed potato. Suzy ordered sea bass served with salt and pepper squid, razor clam, chorizo and chickpeas. Both were quite simply excellent.

We just about managed to squeeze in a dessert too; Suzy had an almond meringue with gingerbread ice-cream and toffee sauce (and some sort of cinnamon cream we think) and I had a trio of brûlées served with a Bakewell biscuit. Lovely.

This “chic restaurant inspired by New York and Paris” – shown here – is really well presented. (And those mirrors hung on the walls above each table at an angle let you have a nosy at what everyone else is eating!) The staff were all incredibly polite and offered a great service. The food was presented in some interesting ways and tasted amazing. The only bad thing? We were sat under a ceiling fan which helped to keep the room a nice temperature but meant my food was a little cold by the time I’d almost finished eating it. And the choice of music was sometimes a bit strange too – unless you think the Blues Brothers in the middle of easy-listening love songs is normal!

Anyway, the bill came to £77 for the two of us, which I think is very reasonable for such a good meal at quality establishment like this.

Artisan of Sheffield is highly recommended – and I can’t wait to try Catch!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

On the last Friday before New Year, we got together with a few friends and visited WasabiSabi on London Road, Sheffield for teppanyaki.

For those of you who’ve never had the pleasure of going to a teppanyaki restaurant, it’s a Japanese restaurant where you all sit around an iron griddle where your chef cooks your food in front of you while providing some entertainment by juggling, setting things on fire and generally doing crazy things with his utensils!

To get a better idea of the setup, take a look at our photos and watch this video of our chef juggling eggs, catching one in his hat and then getting each of us to try and catch pieces of egg in our mouth:


There are six menus to choose from but you can all choose whichever you prefer. Most of us chose the 2nd most expensive menu from the list, which for £28.50 included:



And that’s not a choice of main courses; you each get everything that’s shown! You can download the full menu from their website if you want to see the other options available.

I’ve heard people suggest that this place is a little expensive, but I think that £40 per head including plenty drinks and a 10% service charge is quite reasonable for a night of really good food and entertainment. (Our table was booked for 9:00 PM and we didn’t leave until gone midnight, so when you compare what you could spend on meal and a night in the pub, £40 isn’t bad at all.)

I’d definitely recommend trying teppanyaki at WasabiSabi for either a special occassion or any excuse you can think of! It’s probably best to book early as they only have three griddles, go in groups of six of more to fully appreciate the entertainment side of things and be prepared to share your griddle with others.

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

After being away from my computer on holiday for a week, I’ve finally read the 94 emails and 808 feed items that were waiting for me, uploaded 120 photos of the holiday and can now post about some of the things we learnt during our stay in Paphos, Cyprus...

Accommodation

We stayed in the self-catering apartments at the Mayfair Hotel. After reading a few mixed reviews on various websites, we weren’t expecting too much so we were pleasantly surprised with what we found!

For a start, the cleaners appeared to work around the clock, which is probably why this appeared to be the cleanest hotel we’ve ever stayed in. Both pool areas were also very well maintained. On the three occasions we had the breakfast buffet, we were impressed by the choice and quality of the food we got for CY£3 each too. (Whilst we didn’t take part in any of the daytime activities or see any of the evening entertainment, they did seem to have a good programme for all ages.)

The Mayfair is no five-star hotel, but it’s in a great location (just 15 minutes walk to either the harbour, the main town or the Tombs of the Kings Road area), has helpful friendly staff and offers all the facilities you would need.

Restaurants

All the restaurants we visited served good food and were very reasonably priced – between CY£30-38 (~GB£35-45) for three courses, a bottle of wine and bottled water – but the best restaurant was undoubtedly “Chex Alex” Stefanos Fish Restaurant which is owned by a local fisherman and situated on Constantias Street, Kato Paphos. Their fish meze allows you to taste 10-11 different fish dishes (including prawns, mussels, octopus, cuttlefish, sardines, red mullet and sea bream) as well as the usual dips, salad and chips. Their menu says, “If you have not tried CHEZ ALEX FISH MEZE, you can not say that you have eaten meze yet!” And I’d be inclined to agree! If you don’t go for the meze, you can choose your own freshly caught fish from the fridge. (This is what was left of ours.)

A close second was deep Blue Seafood Restaurant, which is a more modern restaurant on Pafias Afrodites Street, near the church of Agia Kyriaki. (You can see it in the background of one of our photos.) Since many of the restaurants in Kato Paphos have been in business for up to 30 years, their tables, chairs, plates, cutlery, etc. have seen better days. Whilst this enhances their authenticity, it made a pleasant change to go somewhere that felt a bit more modern – and clean! Their fish meze was quite different to the one at Chez Alex but was equally enjoyable, including mini crabs, and swordfish and salmon skewers.

Other restaurants that deserve a mention are Thessaloniki and Othellos Tavern, both of which are on Constantias Street, Kato Paphos.

Bars

Most nights, we ended up around the corner from our hotel in the Full Moon Bar on Agapinoros Street. Their English staff serve reasonably priced local draught lagers (namely Keo and Leon), imported beers (i.e. cans of John Smith’s) and a variety of cocktails. But when in Cyprus, do as the Cypriots do and drink a few brandy sours!

They also seem to have a good range of entertainment, including quiz nights and karaoke. You’ll know that you weren’t too good at singing Don’t Stop Movin’ by S Club 7 when the DJ says, “That’s what karaoke’s all about ladies and gentlemen!”

Their full English breakfast is also pretty good and for CY£1.90 is great value for money!

Entertainment

On the Wednesday evening, we went to the cabaret night organised by Thomas Cook / JMC / Sunset. Since all proceeds from the night were going to the Variety Club children’s charity and our holiday rep was the compere, we could hardly refuse. They promised a ‘night to remember’ and that’s exactly what we got... although perhaps not for the reasons they intended. The ‘professional’ Thomas Cook entertainment team were certainly entertaining and a couple of them had excellent voices. (I think the others were just making up the numbers though.) Whilst we had an enjoyable evening, the highlight of the night was an X-Factor contestant from a couple of year ago being sat at the end of our table. (Sorry, I can’t remember his name or find it on the Internet, but I’m sure he sang something by Anastacia.)

Something else I noticed is that almost all the bars in Kato Paphos have chipped X-Box consoles to keep the kids entertained. With all the latest games copied to their hard drives, it costs 50 cents to play for 15 minutes, after which it effectively disconnects the controller to stop the game.

Places of Interest

The entire town of Paphos is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, which means there’s lots of interesting sites to visit. These include the Tombs of the Kings, churches, baths, catacombs, mosaics and various other ruins dotted around Paphos without any plaques to tell you what they are. (View our photos.)

We also went on a Jeep Safari (in a Land Rover rather than a Jeep) into the Troodos Mountains, visited the Kykkos monastery and went to the highest point possible on Mount Olympus.

Miscellaneous

• They drive on the left with right-hand drive cars (like in the UK)
• Road signs all look like English road signs.
• Number plates on taxis all begin with the letter T
• Number plates on hire cars all begin with the letter Z (and usually have a red background)
• Make sure you apply plenty sun-tan lotion to avoid getting burnt – and if you use P20, it may stop working if you sweat too much
• If your suitcase gets damaged when you go on holiday, get a complaint form from the airport before you leave

And I think that’s just about everything. Any questions?

Labels: food, personal, photos, restaurants, travel

Being male, I realise that I shouldn't admit to liking Ikea. I should probably even have a stack of excuses already prepared just in case the missus suggests we go there, especially if the suggested day is a Sunday or – God forbid – a Bank Holiday. In fact, I even know someone who suggests that he and the wife should go to Ikea just to gain some bonus “husband points” when he's running low on them.

Anyway, I like Ikea, and since we needed some bits for the house (a blind for the bathroom, a light for the bedroom, etc.) I suggested we went there yesterday. It's not as bad as everyone makes out. I mean, you get a free pencil each time you visit, maybe even two or three if you're lucky! The furniture is also cheaper than most other places, so you actually save quite a bit of money. Also, the 10 meatballs meal (usually £3.25) was on a buy one get one free offer yesterday. This meant you could buy 20 meatballs for £3.25 – that's fifty whole English pence cheaper than the 15 meatballs meal (£3.75)! Naturally, I had two meals to myself, whereas Suzy preferred to pay 50p more for less food... I know, I don't understand women's logic either.

After eating some of that Ikea Dime bar cake stuff – which is more accurately known as ALMONDY Almond Cake with DAIM® – we decided to buy a couple of them from their Swedish shop. The sign said they were £2.75 each. We bought two. But when we got to the checkout, we were only charged £5.00! It turns out there was a special (secret) combo offer that nobody knew about – not even the checkout operator!

And just when you think it couldn't possibly get any better, we got home to find that they hadn't even charged us for that “Lunch and Brunch” recipe book that we didn't really need! If only they hadn't charged us for the rest of the stuff we didn't need either...

Now, if Ikea gave out Nectar points, I'd be there every weekend!!!

Labels: food, personal, rant, restaurants

As always, Chris is right. I'm a part time blogger! Admittedly, there are a few things that have grabbed my attention over the past couple of weeks that I probably should have blogged about, so I'm going to cover them all now to try and keep him (and you) happy.

1. Chris has already blogged about the stupid (or maybe clever) woman who was in front of me in HMV yesterday lunch time, so there's no need for me to cover that again. What he says is all true so just go and read it on his blog. What he doesn't mention (presumably because I never told him) is why I was in HMV in the first place...

2. I went to HMV to buy a copy of the St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) single by 80s rock legend John Parr which is being sold in aid of the Help A Hallam Child charity. He agreed to re-release the single after Hallam FM's Big John contacted him and persuaded him to do so. (At least that's what they'll have you believe.) Anyway, in order to make sure that as much money as possible goes to the charity and not to Columbia Pictures (who own the rights to the original recording that featured on the soundtrack to the St. Elmo's Fire film back in 1985), he re-recorded the track from scratch, promising to make it sound as close to the original as possible. And he did a pretty good job. (Even he struggles to tell the difference, apparently!)

3. At this point it's probably worth noting that despite what some people think, Help A Hallam Child doesn't raise money for the poor kids who can't afford to go to a proper university and have to put up with the nearby special needs uni; it's a real charity that helps children who are sick or live in situations of abuse, neglect or deprivation.

4. If you're ever near Torquay in Devon and want some good fish and chips, visit Hanburys Licensed Fish Restaurant & Seafood Takeaway. They are (or once were) one of the top three fish and chip shops in the UK! We ate in their characterful restaurant but I assume you still get the same high-quality food from their takeaway next door.

5. We've finally got a new bathroom (with a proper door so that you've no need to be paranoid about someone peeping through the gap at you).

6. And finally, if you're after a couple of funky gadgets, check out this grass chair and these crazy keyboards. [Via Boing Boing and Chris Chris.]

Labels: food, gadgets, links, music, personal, photos, rant, restaurants

On Friday, Suzy and I celebrated the fact that she's managed to put up with me for five whole years! To show my appreciation I bought her some red roses and two sprays of carnations from Sainsburys. They'd been reduced to 99p each as they were all on their last day.

You're probably thinking that I'm a real cheapskate. But I'm not. I also got Greenhouse to deliver a huge bouquet of flowers, which included five red roses – one for each year we'd been together. Despite Suzy claiming that I never buy her flowers, this is the third time I've got her some from Greenhouse! (I've tried other places in the past, like Interflora, but the quality of their flowers and bouquets simply don't come close to the ones that Greenhouse deliver.)

Anyway, the point of this post is to let you know about the fantastic restaurant that I took her to for a lovely posh meal last night...

I've really got Christian to thank for recommending The Supper Club (previously known as Carriages and Brown's). When I read his review in November, I immediately decided that I'd take Suzy there for our anniversary. After reading a few more reviews, I was still convinced that it would be something a bit special. We'd been to Cary Brown's Slammers seafood restaurant on Ecclesall Road a few years ago and that was excellent, although it's been closed for quite some time now, so I was really looking forward to trying another incarnation of his.

I'd booked our table a couple of weeks ago, so I was impressed when they called me on Friday to confirm my booking. However, this did make me a little sceptical. Were they calling me because they were so busy that they'd got people waiting for cancellations or were they checking that we'd still be going because they'd had some cancellations and were wondering if it would be worth opening? Well, they were certainly busy enough, so I had nothing to worry about at all.

We arrived early and had a drink at the bar. The staff were friendly and asked if we had any questions about the menu. As usual, I was spoilt for choice, so I asked them for their recommendations. For starters, Suzy decided on the Duck Breast with Pear and Walnut Salad whilst I went for the Chicken and Applewood Smoked Cheese Spring Rolls with Plum Chutney (although I was really tempted by the King Prawn ‘Pizza’). For main course, Suzy ordered the Seabass with Chorizo Gnocchi and I went for the Sirloin Steak with its own ‘Daube’ and Shallot Puree with some baby roasted vegetables to share. I had no idea what a Daube was, so I asked; it's basically cubed beef braised in red wine. We also chose a bottle of South African Chenin Blanc to wash it all down with.

Before the food came, we were brought a selection of bread. I'm not sure if it was homemade, but it was warm and tasted great. When the starters arrived, the presentation was excellent – and they definitely tasted as good as they looked. I generally don't approve of fruit being served with meat (with a few exceptions) but the flavours in each starter worked really well together. One of my garnishes tasted like a plant, but I'm not sure I should've eaten it!

The main courses were equally impressive. Having two different cuts of beef cooked in two totally different ways on the same plate really worked; the Daube melted in the mouth and the steak was perfect. I'd usually grab the horseradish sauce and mustard when I have a steak, so the shallot puree made a nice change and really complemented the flavours of the beef. I was worried that Suzy might have ordered the wrong main course as she doesn't really like gnocchi. However, instead of having the usual slimy texture, this gnocchi was pan-fried with the chorizo which gave it a slightly crispy coating. Even the gnocchi we tried in Italy wasn't this good!

For desert, I enjoyed the Lemon Tart and Lemon Sorbet whilst Suzy struggled to finish the Assiette of Chocolate with vanilla ice-cream. Both were served on the same triangular plates that my starter had been served on and both tasted great – the perfect end to a perfect meal.

Before we left work on Friday, I heard that someone had been to The Supper Club and said it had no atmosphere, small portions and they were in and out within an hour. Had I heard this a few weeks earlier, I might have considered cancelling our reservation. Needless to say, I'm very glad I didn't. If you decide to visit The Supper Club, I would recommend that you book your table for no earlier than 8:00 PM (otherwise you might be the only ones in there) and you definitely order some vegetables to accompany your meal (which aren't included). And be prepared to spend some money; we paid just over £90 for the two of us including a couple of drinks at the bar. Whilst expensive, it was definitely worth it for a special occasion.

In conclusion, my only criticisms of The Supper Club are that we didn't have any side plates for the bread, nor did we have a butter knife for the butter, and our tablecloth was plucked. (As you can see, I'm really struggling to find anything wrong at all!) They also failed to leave a saucer on our table for tips after I'd paid when they returned my credit card and receipt. Since I don't like to pay for tips on my credit card, as the staff often don't get to see them, and I don't like to leave money on the table. As a result, they didn't get any tips, which I do feel a little guilty about. Let's just say that you can't put a price on excellent food and excellent service...

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

On Saturday night we decided to try out Jabu on London Road in Sheffield for some Chinese dumplings and fondue with Jon and Amanda. I'd heard some good reports and read some great reviews of the restaurant on BBC South Yorkshire's Greedy Cow website and Sheffield Forum, which also helped to prepare me for what we were about to experience...

First of all, the place is small – there are only six or seven tables in there – but that wasn't a problem for us because we'd booked earlier that day. (There were quite a few disappointed groups arriving throughout the night that hadn't booked and had to be turned away though.) The next thing we noticed was how helpful and polite our waitress was. In today's world where hardly anybody in the catering and hospitality industry cares about their jobs, it makes a refreshing change to be served by someone who's willing to calmly talk you through the menu, explain how much you should order and answer any questions you might have. (Obviously, this is essential in a place like this as not many people have been to a Chinese fondue restaurant before!)

For starters, on our waitress's recommendation, we ordered just two portions of dumplings, which was easily enough for four people as there were twelve in each portion! There was a good selection, but we opted for one portion of chicken, mushroom & Chinese leaves dumplings and another of beef & chilli. Our waitress brought them to the table and even demonstrated how we should eat them by cutting each one in half with a fork and pouring some soy sauce/vinegar/sesame oil (or whatever it was) over them.

For main course our waitress had recommended that we should choose ten items, so we ordered: chicken (twice), beef balls, scallops (we got four in our portion), fresh tiger prawns in shells (we got twelve in our portion), pig skin (i.e. pork scratchings), Chinese mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean shoots, udon noodles and vermicelli noodles. We then had to select our soup bases in which we would be cooking everything – we could choose two out of the four – and our dipping sauces. We opted for the Chinese herb soup base, the hot soup base and one of each of the dipping sauces; garlic, sweet chilli, wasabi and sesame satay.

The next part was where all the fun started. The soup was brought in a huge stainless steel dish, split into two sections, and placed on a Chinese (really, really) hot plate in the middle of your table. (The temperature gauge said it went up to 400° – we assumed this was in Fahrenheit but the way the soup was boiling it could have been Celsius!) The waitress then came over and showed us what to do. Basically, she just divided our raw ingredients into two and threw half into each soup! She then explained that we had to wait until the soup was boiling again, at which point we could serve up the meal and drink the soup once we'd finished cooking.

Everything tasted fantastic! Despite throwing most things in together, you could taste each ingredient perfectly. However, I have a few pieces of advice:

1. DO NOT WEAR A WHITE SHIRT or a posh new top. Not unless you're an incredibly careful eater, a black-belt chopstick user and / or you take a bib with you!
2. If you order the hot soup, there are a few really small hot chillies in there and lots of black peppercorns which you need to look out for. I can handle hot food – and this wasn't too hot – but crunching on chillies and black peppercorns isn't everyone's idea of fun.
3. If you order the hot soup and the fresh prawns, make sure you count all your eyes after cooking the prawns and before drinking the soup! Prawn eyes look suspiciously like black peppercorns!
4. If you order the fresh tiger prawns in shells, you're going to get messy! Also refer to the first point, above.
5. Make sure that you visit Jabu!!! If you love Chinese food and want to try something a bit different, it's great!

Jabu doesn't currently have a license to sell alcohol, so you have to take your own, which helps keep the cost down, although all four of us ate plenty and it cost less than £50. (Whilst they charge £1 for using a credit or debit card to pay, you can't really grumble about that because everything else is perfect!)

Excellent service, excellent food, excellent atmosphere and excellent value.

Jabu is simply excellent!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

Last night I went with a few folks from work to The Polonium Restaurant on Abbeydale Road in Sheffield for some traditional Polish food. Since I've never had any Eastern European cuisine before, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Here's what I had...

Starter: Bigos (Huntsmans Stew)
This was essentially cabbage and sauerkraut with bits of pork and spicy sausage in it. This tasted better than it looked and much better than I've just described it! Suzy had the Kings' Herrings which were also very tasty - providing you like pickled fish, of course.

Main Course: Roast Hock (Pork) with Silesian Dumplings
After a few minutes of discussing the menu in Polish with the Polish waiter, the Polish guy from work also chose The Hock, so I assumed I'd made the right choice. The joint of pork I got was pretty big, with a huge bone running through it. Underneath the layer of fat was a good portion of slightly salty gammon-like pork, cooked to near-perfection. (Unfortunately, only some of the fat had turned crispy like crackling - otherwise it would have been perfect.) The dumplings were strange round slimy things, but they went well with my meal... and they went extremely well with the bit of Pork Goulash that I nicked off Suzy's plate!

Before we arrived at the restaurant, we'd been told that eating Polish food is a good way to gain weight - and after eating a few of those dumplings and a bit of the crackling, I can certainly see why! (There were desserts available, but most of us opted to give them a miss as we were too stuffed.)

So, if you've never tried any Eastern European cuisine and you're near Sheffield, I'd definitely recommend The Polonium Restaurant - and if you go on a Tuesday or Wednesday, you get a free shot of traditional Polish vodka (which has a piece of grass in the bottle)!

Labels: food, personal, restaurants

Well, not all the way around the world - but I have been travelling quite a lot recently... which I guess is my poor excuse for not having posted much recently. Anyway, here's what I've been up to:

Firenze (Florence), Italy  –  16th to 23rd June 2005
It had been three years since Suzy and I had been on a holiday abroad, so we decided to take advantage of the cheap flights to Pisa being offered at the nearby Doncaster-Sheffield Robin Hood Airport and book our accommodation via Venere.com.

Before we went, we'd been told by several people to visit a restaurant called Il Latini. If you're planning a trip to Florence, I'd definitely recommend trying to get a table there. And when I say try to get a table there, that's exactly what I mean! We'd been warned that this was a popular restaurant but we were still shocked to find a crowd of probably more than 50 people waiting outside at 19:00 - and they don't even open the doors until 19:30! Be prepared to share your table with other people as they really do cram their customers in; the food is well worth it though!

Another restaurant we'd highly recommend was Golden View Open Bar at Via dei Bardi 58r. (Their website's in Italian and the menu is crazy - but don't let that put you off!) Bored with the usual restaurants offering the same menus, we crossed over the Ponte Vecchio and stumbled across this place by accident - and we're glad we did! The atmosphere was perfect, the food was outstanding, the service was great and the prices were very reasonable (and it seems that many people on the Internet agree)!

You can view some of the more scenic photos on Flickr:

• Swiss Alps
• Florence
• Pisa

Some more personal photos are available on Blueyonder Photos.

Montréal, Québec, Canada  –  29th June to 6th July 2005
This was my first business trip abroad. I say "business" but perhaps that's a bit misleading as I managed to work it over a long weekend, as Canada Day was on the Friday. Not only that, but the International Montreal Jazz Festival was also in town for the week I was there!

Most of the signs are in French, people speak a mixture of French and English (or Franglais), they have an underground city of shops and restaurants for when it gets cold (i.e. -20°C to -30°C) and all prices are displayed without tax (which means you have to add on around 15% to get the "real" price of something)! Eating out is cheap, the bars are open until 3:00 in the morning and (as I kept being reliably informed by my colleagues over there) all the women are hot! :-) Montreal truly is a fascinating city.

Again, you can view some of my photos on Flickr:

• Canada Day 2005
• Montréal Carifiesta 2005
• Festival International de Jazz de Montréal

(As you can see, I was very busy in the office!)

Wetheral, Carlisle, England  –  9th July 2005
Not quite as impressive as Florence or Montreal, but a nice place nevertheless, we visited The Crown Hotel in Wetheral to attend the wedding of Mr Chris Riley and Miss Dawn Nelson. (If you want to see photos of the stag do, they're here.)

The weather was perfect, the hotel was picturesque, Dawn looked stunning, Chris looked stunned (© 2004 Andrew Stewart), there weren't any major disasters (as far as I'm aware) and all-in-all the day (and night) was a lot of fun!

My photos of the wedding are available on my website:

• Chris and Dawn's Wedding

For more photos, see The Best Man's blog.

Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Riley and thanks for a wonderful end to my trip around the world!

Labels: food, personal, photos, restaurants, travel