Peas please!

And so continues my month without the bad stuff! Its been so hard surprisingly hard, not because I want to drink but because of my friends disappointment that I am not drinking. 


When out with friend we usually have some crisps, olives or nuts but obviously on the diet this is not an option so I have had a hunt about for something that could replace these naughty treats. Hisaki Wasabi Peas, yum yum two thumbs up for these for sure! Clearly a lot better than crisps and they have a great kick to them too. 

I even had some in the office too so all round a good healthy snack

Get yours £1.49 for 40g pack www.sushisushi.co.uk

detox Jan

ok so as I have mentioned a couple of times I have given up drink this January, partly because its good for your health and partly because it makes you fat! haha. Any way its always good to abstain for a little bit and it would seem that January is the only time in the year that I could possibly get away with it what with everyone and their mum doing it. 

So on the hunt for some enjoyable alternatives I came across a wonderful homegrown delight called Luscome. My drink of choice is usually Champagne or white wine. And the lovely people at Luscombe have a rather fabulous drink that they have labeled 'wild Elderflower Bubbly' - sounds right up my street. So on Saturday night when all around me were sipping on their G&T's i pored myself a flute of chilled Wild Elderflower Bubbles. It was truly lovely, it looked just like champagne in the glass, ok it didnt taste just like Champagne but it did taste very nice and was a welcomed change from soda and lime!

Apparently I am not the only one that thinks this stuff is rather good, They have won many awards for their drinks including two-star Gold Awards for Apple & Elderflower and a one-star award for Cool Ginger Beer, Sicilian Lemonade, Wild Elderflower Bubbly, Devon Apple, and Apple and Apricot. The Great Taste Awards are the acknowledged benchmark of speciality food and drink 2010. They also serve it at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck - well if its good enough for him its defiantly good enough for me!! 

I will be stocking up on this for sure, its very refreshing and so lovely to drink I should imagine it would be even better on a hot British summers afternoon. 

Sold at independent retailers nationwide and leading department stores including Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges, Luscombe Drinks are priced from £1.50 why not give them a shot, I did and i will be going back for more and more. 

I very much recommend these.

Dinner at Getti in the Villiage, thats Marylebone High Street, London to you and I

last night we went a long to Getti on Marylebone High Street. A lovely smart little Italian number. We arrived and was greeted immediately by a very friendly banterful host with a much anticipated thick Italian accent. Lovely just the way it should be in my opinion. Walking to our table the restaurant was buzzing, I think every table was taken and filled with happy faces enjoying their delicious smelling food. We arrived at our round candle lit table complete with fresh followers, there was such a warm welcoming atmosphere - it was lovely. 

We were introduce by our cheeky chapy host to our sweet baby-faced waiter who took our drinks order, we also ordered some bread and oil and some olives too. I know, I know olives for the third time in less and 24 hours and stll you hear me say - 'they were a little salty" so i can only conclude that it is in fact me, I have officially gone off olives? I do hope not, perhaps its just a passing phase, like a 24 hour bug or something. Any way, I digress, the bread however was very nice, warm and a mix of white and granary, and the oil was very good indeed, almost creamy - you could tell it was the good stuff it had great colour and flavour. 

So on to the main course, I went for the lamb cutlets, my friend went for the homemade ravioli and my other friend had the squid, prawns, and whitebait dish. I ordered my lamb medium rare, and without roast potatoes, when it came out they had very kindly given me extra roasted vegetables without me requesting them which I thought was very considerate and a great way to win your customers over. The lamb was very tender and cooked to perfection I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I tried a little of my friend ravioli and it was to die for, clearly home-made and packed full of flavour very very good indeed. 

And I even had dessert  too! I'm not normally a dessert person but our baby face waiter pointed out these three dishes which were 'bit size' ! perfect, just what i wanted a little taste of something sweet. I chose from the dolcetti, they are small bites of deserts, i had the Zuppa Inglesse a yummy trifle like arrangement toped with chocolate.  It came out in a shot glass of sorts and was a three layered affair, very tasting and just what I needed. 

Then as if that wasnt enough the host decided we should all have lemoncello - so we did, nice but not really for me. Then if that wasnt enough in true Italian style he brought out more... 'you must try these" he says - ok, little nutty biscuit called Cantuccini, home-made i was assured very quickly, hard and crunchy slim slices of biscuit packed with nuts. And then her tells us that really we should have it with this dessert wine Vin Santo is a nectar-like dessert wine and a Tuscan speciality which you dunk them in - this just sounded too good to miss so her bought a couple over for  us, and right he was the wine complimented the biscuit beautifully. 

It was a wonderful Italian evening through and through every detail and part of our meal was heartfelt and just lovely. From our greeting at the door to the endless passion and chat that the staff had for the food. It was great!

Cheap voucher lunch

Just got back form a little spot of lunch at strada, not the most glamorous of places but we wanted something cheap and they are local and voucher friendly. Buy 1 main get 1 main free... get your voucher here.

It was a tinny one in Covent Garden, really quite nice actually I was pleasantly surprised. The tables were all a little packed in but it was ok. We ordered, I had the chicken salad and my friend had the pizza, which looked amazing. My salad was very nice and large too, it came with a flat crispy bread thing with was tasty good. We order olives, which again were horrible, I wonder if its not the olives but me now as this is the second lot of olives I have near spat out in less that 24 hours!?!

Any way, safe to say it was very good and cheap which is always a combo I love to hear.

The total bill including service charge was just £15!! we only had tap water. Thats a great price for a nice lunch in nice restaurant. And as my friend said you'd spend at least £7 in pret.

Pizza Hut

Fancied a pizza, bored on sunday night in the country, so decided what the heck, we'll go to pizza hut. Now we've been to this one before and was so disappointed in it that I wrote a letter of complaint! But never the less we went along.

Surprise surprise it took the about 10minutes to seat us even though there was only one table in and about six staff!

We ordered quickly and we were served quickly. My boyfriend ordered a glass of Malbec which came in a filthy glass covered in water  marks, at this point we simply had to remind our selves of where we were.

All in all good pizza and that's it.  

Yala Yala for dinner with the girls

Yala Yala Lebanese not really my bag but we went under recommendation and because we were told it was cheap.  

Its very bright, light and vibrant, bright yellow and black are the colours I recall. We were sat at a long wooden bench next to the window and requested some tap water to which the waitress responded - it will be £1, that goes to a water charity. Nice touch I thought. 

The water arrived in a lovely glass poring jug, so nice that 2 of us felt the need to say so. 

We were also given pickles and olives, the olives were horrible, far too salty for me, and the pickles were chili's and some pinkish thing, which we debated wasnt even edible- it turn out to be turnip pickled? That was also horrible. 

So we order, 2 of the girls ordered mezze between them and I went for the mixed grill minus the rice. 

It was very tasty, marinated chicken, lamb and koftas with a very fresh herb salad, which the waitress told me was made just for me.

Our food was very good and very fresh, it was a nice restaurant good service and pleasant surroundings, but sadly just not my personal kind of place. 

 

Homemade Spotted Dick

Tonight I decided to make the Great British Spotted Dick. I searched the internet for a good old fashioned recipe and came across this link. A recipe from 1850! It didnt take long and was easy to make, but I didn't realise that it took 2.5 hours to steam. I had to do a really cool tinfoil/grease proof paper pleated lid with a cool string tie and handle which was new to me and looked terribly professional, even if i do say so myself.

Well hey say the proof is in the pudding and only 5 minutes ago I found out that i'm actually quite good and making spotted dick however after a rather large late dinner and a rather large helping of my spotted dick and the minatory glug of custard I am feeling somewhat over indulged and a little sick.

School dinners all the way with this little slice of delicious childhood pud...

cheap cheap cheap soho lunch

Popped out for a spot of Friday lunch this week at Profile. They are offering 2 courses for £10!! So we thought we'd give it a go. We walked in with minimal expectations. Once seated the waiter went away came back and then gave us the menu which was a little frustrating as we were short on time and, isnt it the norm to get given your menu when you sit???

Any way lets not split hairs over it. We bother ordered the burger. I know I seem to be eating a lot of burgers lately but they really are the easiest thing to order on this diet (loose the bun and the chips and its fine).

So two burgers and 1 pint, I had tap water. We were asked how we wanted they cooked which is always a good sign. Food arrived fast, large portion and tasty, it was actually a cheese bacon burger - I must not have read it properly - it was good.

Vert bright an gay which one must expect when in Soho from time to time. Vivid canary yellow leather booths laid out like a classic American diner style.

The bill was about £15 including service charge.

It was fine no complaints.

Dinner at fish! in London Bridge

We walked in for a bit to eat and were sat straight way. Outside there was a board showing 2 courses for £16.99 but when I asked I was told that it was not available tonight- a little annoying but not the end of the world. So we order - me still not drinking, I had a glass of water and my friend had the "fish!" white wine. I went for sardines and he went for squid, I chose the salsa verde and he, the red wine sauce. We also had the "rustic bread". Presentation was good service was good and the food was good. All in all nothing to complain about but unfortunately equally nothing to shout about. Dinner for two, mains only, one glass of house wine, one side and some bread, oh and a glass of sparkling water and still water was around £50 not too bad. The restaurant has a nice feel to it and a good layout.

Cooking what we shot

I was lucky enough you be kindly given two phesent from our shoot. So straight away searched for a good and simple recipe to do them justice. We let them hang for just a few days and cooked them with cider. Dad butchered them and showed me how to do it for the future- not too hard really, well not when your just going for the breast anyway. The one thing I will say at this point as I feel its a good and fair word of warning to anyone doing this for the forst time. When you cut them they often have feed in this case corn still in their gullet which pores out, rather grose really but good to note that it is infact just feed and not maggots which is the first thought that entered my mind. 

Any who on with the cooking ... pint of cinder 4 breasts wraped in streky bacon in a dish and cook for an hour and a half then a nice sholot and creme fresh sauce served with mash leeks and cabage- bloody lovely. 

No pic of this one i am afraid as only remembered after demolishing it. 

Shooting in the country

We went shooting during the Christmas break and after every good shoot is a bit of Great British pub grub. We all went down to The Coach and Horses in Newport, the regular post shoot pit stop. A usual sort of place really, a local booza but a nice one. They had a massive menu which does always put me off but its was all safe stuff. I ordered the cottage pie with peas. Lovely home made good food, nothing to really write home about but nice all the same. I think thats enough said really. 

Sunday Lunch with Friends

Met with friends this afternoon for lunch in a country pub; The Hare. I've been here before but it was before the make over, they must have spent a small fortune on it its almost unrecognisable. It was packed so we had to wait to get a table. We ordered drinks at the bar and waited for our table while studying the menu and deciding what to have.

Once seated we ordered straight away, it was 2 courses for £14.99. I went for the prawn and crayfish salad followed by roast pork. Now this is where my blog name comes in to play, deli2dinners - a roast for lunch and a roast for dinner haha.

We were brought a wooden platter with two warm large granary rolls for us all which I thought was very nice, makes a pleasant change to rolls in a basket.

Starters arrived, and I suddenly realised that mine would come drenched in sauce which i really didnt want, so quickly asked if it would be possible to have my sauce on the side to which our lovely waiter said would be fine. It came out just a couple of minutes behind the others with the sauce on the side. A small dish but lost of fish and tasty too.

Main course came with a massive yorkshire pud, roast tatties and a dish of mixed veg for us all to share. It was nice pretty standard but nice.

Good service, the bar girl was very helpful and very polite possibly the nicest I have come across in a long time. The interior was nice very standard pub chain style but nice enough.

I would go back but not in a hurry.

Eatings cheating

Friday night off the booze and hungry in the local pub The Nags Head. We did plan to eat n the restaurant but unfortunately for me the booze kicked in for my friend and boyfriend so I grabbed a bar snack and eat at the bar. I ordered ham egg and chips I requested poached eggs and they said it was fine much to my surprise and delight. Any way the food came and the ham was very good - big thick cuts of fresh ham two very well poached eggs and horrible chips which I of course left. Not bad for £8.50

Breakfast at Harvey Nicks

lovely spot of breakie at Harvey Nicks this week - up on the 5th floor with a client. I had the eggs Norwegian minus the hollandaise and minuns the muffin so it wasnt really eggs Norwegian at all but again I am on the silly diet so its fine. The eggs were delicious really creamy and cooked well, I would have preferred them to have been a little more runny but thats just me. Nice eating environment - I felt very posh and important actually which is silly as its just a canteen type lay out. Would defiantly go again 

Steak Tuesday at the Island NW10

A rather impromptu dinner at the Island with a friend on Tuesday night. She has been banging on about steak Tuesday for ages so we went. Steak and two side a tena, not bad, choose from a sirloin or Onglet - I have recently learnt that this is simply skirt. I went for plain cooked medium rare - cooked to perfection loads of its (came cut in stripes) I also had greens and not chips - very nice indeed! Thumbs up to Steak Tuesday 

Lovely little Dunmow

Quick bite to eat in the country one rainy afternoon this week landed us in the Musketeers.

We stopped in after it being recommend to us by two people, always a good sign. Again a massive menu - back on the diet so was rather limited to what I could have. I went for the burger (without a bun) with cheese and mushrooms, it arrived - massive portion two burger sitting on ciabatta bread toped with mushroom cheese and onions a very basic side salad and loads of chips. The burgers were very sadly poor quality and definitely of the frozen variety. It filled a hole but was vey disappointing. The people I was with enjoyed their food. 

would not go again 

Must go restaurant ....

We went to Bob Bob Ricard for our Christmas dinner, me and the girls. WOW! its amazing we loved it. The venue is stunning, the service is brilliant and the menu delicious. I would throughly recommend this to anyone that enjoys a little decadence in their life. 

I have been told that the interior is inspired by the Orient Express, that might give you more of an idea of how beautiful this place is. We were sitting in one of the tall booths, terribly personal and intimate. the waitress took our coats and hung them in our very own hanging space down the side of the soft leather seating between our booth and our neighbours. As soon as we were sat we all noticed, possibly the high light of the evening - the 'Champagne button' you push and the come and bring you Champagne - amazing! it kind of say it all really. 

So we ordered cocktails, well they did, I went for a simple glass of bubbles, Pol Roger I think on this occasion but when I order I was asked 'the vintage?" which lucky I checked as the vintage was a third of the price more expensive. it was a treat but not that much of  treat. 

Food- was amazing as expected. I had the eggs Royale followed by the O'Shea's Beef Onglet with caramelised onions and greens, it was cooked to perfection and super tender, the onions were deliciously sweet to compliment it. 

the champagne button 

glo with glo

This new year I must eat healthy, I must eat healthy...! Well the guys at glo have made it a tinny bit easier for me. They are offering a yummy dish of Manuka Rump Steak- Rump steak marinated in Manuka honey coated in black sesame seeds and chargrilled.

Not only extremely tasty but super super good for you too. The health benefits of Manuka honey are awesome. Manuka honey is a unique blend of honey that is made solely by bees that harvest their nectar from the Manuka bush in News Zealand. Its been said to be the king of all super foods. It is 100 times stronger than other honeys, with hundreds of healing results ranging from digestion to sunburn! Its also the most expenses type of honey - well thats what they tell me anyway.

Continuing on the health theme for January 2011 I have decided not to drink for one month, I know terribly boring and very predictable but I feel a must, so if like me you have decided to take a break from the hard stuff why not try one of their flower teas, choose from Jasmine Fairy, Red Blossom and Lilly Basket.

Also to note a little birdy at glo informed me that all their meat is all from a local butcher and prepare on site, doing their bit to support local businesses.

Healthy feel good food!

Why not pop down and try it out for your self, they are in Reading too... www.glohq.com.

Bill's in Covent Garden

So after a long cold day at Twickenham we headed in to London's West End for a spot of dinner. The choice was down to me, it was a family day out with partners, 8 of us in total, so no pressure then. Haha.

Bill's only opened 1 month ago and has had some great review one of which from a good foodie friend of mine, so with a good menu and decent prices I thought it would be a good place to keep everyone happy.

We booked a table just incase, but as it goes it was dead especially compared to Jamies Italian next door, but I must give it it's due it has only been open for a month and it was the day after boxing day, oh and it is a fairly new brand.

All 8 of us walk in and find our table waiting for us, our reserved table for 8 that was oddly set for 10??? Any who after a little musical chairs we sat and ordered our drinks. At each place was a large orange, which was nice but a little odd, just their kind of quirky way I guess. We were sat amongst all Bill's deli products stacked hight to the ceiling everywhere you looked, all of which of course was for sale. They very cleverly have a shopping tick list on your table too which I thought was a fantastic way of capitalising on your customers pockets. You simply tick what you would like to order and give it to a member of the team and they will have it ready for you when you leave. My boyfriends lovely parents were of course sucked in to this nifty bit of marketing and bought a few treats to take home with them.


Now one thing that really did bother me, is that there was nothing to tell me about Bill, who is he? whats his story? As soon as you walk in you are hit with a wonderful visual treat of goodies in cool retro packaging and blackboards with messages on but nothing, not a word, well that I could find anyway about this Bill bloke. I must have made quite a fuss as before long I was being updated but the boys - they had asked our waiter and he had told all, now do bare with me as at this point this is third hand information but it went something like this... Bill owned a greengrocers and then opened some restaurants. Sorry I do hope that isn't too much of a let down but then perhaps your not interested any way?? I have checked the site and there isn't anything on there either so I am afraid that will have to do.

Right on to the food!!

I have the mezze to start and shared it with my boyfriend - it was nice, nice and fresh nothing amazing just nice, but it was served on a slice of wood with its bark still on which I thought was lovely and it came with diagonally cut bread which had been splashed with olive oil-very nice.

Main course I went for the special which was the T-bone steak - bloody lovely - cooked to perfection! I also ordered a side salad which I didn't need and wouldn't have ordered if the waiter had told me everything the steak came with. I did ask and he said chips, but saying that the rocket that came along with the steak and chips was not a patch on the side salad I ordered, it was very very good indeed, and topped with seeds too.

All in all a nice place the type of place for a bite to eat nothing fancy maybe a lunch with a friend of a quick something on a impromptu meal out.

Lunch this afternoon with my boyfriend and dad in prep for Christmas. We popped along to my fav pub/ restaurant local to my mum and dad's called The Square and Compasses, in the village of Fuller Street Essex, which to get to we tackled crazy snow and sludge, its that good. Mostly local produce even down to their Ale its a really nice spot. We were offered a festive menu and a regular menu, all of us opted for the regular one. I had gammon, egg (poached) and chips, my boyfriend had homemade burger and chips and my dad had ham egg and chips. The boys also had local ales which needless to say went down very well indeed. The burger by the way was massive a very generous portion indeed.

We sat at our usual table, next to the wood burning stove where there is a cute little note to customers say "please feel free to lob a log on the fire" this place is full of lovely little things like that.

The menu features a lot of locally shot game, including pigeon, pheasant and partridge. True to their surroundings this to a lovely little local pub restaurant that serves great local food and drink.

live music over a steak and wine

Giuseppes Ristorante is tucked away down The Kings Yard off of Borough high street, London Bridge. I was taken there by a friend who has been going for years. Its brilliant as you walk do the steep steps you can hear the live Italian music blaring out. We turned up on a Thursday night before xmas without a booking, it was packed, but we were offered a table, possibly the worst table i have ever sat at, it was a table for to half tucked under the stairs we had just walked down. But we took it and ordered quickly, I had.... surprise, surprise - steak. And my friend had veal. 

The guy that sings cheesy Italian songs really interacts with the room and before you know it people are singing along with him and well everyone is just having a great time, it can be a little hard to hear each other but its not the kind of place you would go to for a quiet meal. 

Its such an enjoyable dinning experience, all a bit ruff around the edges - my potatoes looked tined then roasted and the other veg, boiled within an inch of their lives but its such fun and well worth going to, especially after drinks with friends.

Italian by Germans

Vapiano, is a great restaurant/ eatery siting on Great Portland Street, London. I've been a few times i think its been open for a couple of years now. Its a straight forward well designed pizza, pasta place set out over 2 levels. You walk in and are greeted by smiling face who asks if you have been before and if you haven't explains how the concept works. Its brilliant really. The idea is you are given a card like an oyster card/ swipe card which holds all your spending on each guest is give one so its great for large groups you simply pay for what you have. So you find a place to sit, choose from a long bench a high small bench or soft seating up stairs and everywhere you look there is fresh basil, pots and pots of it.  

The menu is very simple and easy to read, once you have decided what you would like you have to go to the food area and place your order, once you have ordered you swipe your card and either wait there till its ready - this is fine for pasta or salads but most of the time with a pizza you are given a flashing vibrating thing that you take back to your table and wait till it goes off, which is your green light to go and pickup your freshly made pizza. 

They have lots of jugs of tap water too that you can help your self to and they have a small bar area near the entrance where you can pick up a glass or bottle of wine. 

I love it there its good fresh food reasonable priced and great a quick spot of lunch or a bite to eat.

Go and check it out its well worth a trip. 

Carluccio's again

Lunch this time, for a work/pleasure thing. It was the one in Fenwick's Bond Street. We had a glass of wine each and i ordered the seafood salad with out the chilli. It was fine nothing special. The service was good and the bill was acceptable.

I'll keep it short and sweet as they seem to feature quick often on here.

New Indian in WC2

I popped a long to the Dishoom the other day with a friend. Its stunning the most stylist Indian restaurant I have been to. The service was brilliant we were served by this barrow boy type, turns out he's an actor too. The menu was straight forward enough with lots of choice and well priced. The way i experienced it was its very western for example they serve their version of cheese on toast and fish fingers. We were advised of the special curries of the day and ordered. We were recommended to order a couple of dishes and share, so we did and it was lovely.

They have a wonderful mix of excellent surroundings and great food. If I am honest I was more taken by the venue than the food, but either way they have done their job as i have already recommended it to many of my food loving friends.


I did request some images but have never received them so have sadly only screen grabs for you but, you will see what I mean by excellent venue.

lunch with mum and dad in the country

A cold snowy saturday in the country, we decide to drive out to an old favourite pub called "The Dog and Gun". I have never been but my parents have many years ago. It was dead we were the only people in the place. We were told that they had been shut all week due to the snow. 

Enough about the snow.

We sat down next to a window in the restaurant area, tall leather chairs with nateral wood tables. Food was to be expected - pub grab albeit posh pub grub. What they did do which i thought was a nice touch - they had a black board offering todays cut of beef. Sirloin was the cut de jour and you could choose what size you wanted, each oz was charged accordingly. 

My dad and I opted for the beef and veg stew with cheesey dumpling!!! amazing just what we needed on a cold day. The dumpling - which of course I was not allowed was so so good I have a little taste and then handed it over reluctantly to my dad. Mum went for the steak 6oz, she said it was a little tough but you would never guess as she polished the plate off including the mound of deep fried onion spaghetti that was pilled on top. 

I would go back for sure.