Burger and Lobster

Spent the evening with 2 dear friends of mine, one of whom has been living in Brazil for the past couple of years.

Decided to go to burger and lobster (compromise as Amo doesn't eat fish and I'm off the carbs) and I've wanted to go there for ages

The atmosphere was much more informal than I expected, but I really like it. Literally there are only 3 things on the menu:

1) lobster - grilled or steamed, with lemon butter or plain butter
2) lobster roll
3) burger - with bacon and/or cheese, or plain

- all served with salad and chips (double salad for me)

There was also a chalkboard with some obscenely large lobsters which could be picked from the tank and ordered, very pricey but I'm sure some people love it!

we ordered 2 grilled lobsters and a burger. I think I've probably only ordered lobster in a restaurant a couple of times, and to be honest have never really been quite sure on how to each it and make sure I got the most meat out of it!

The food came very quickly - I guess that's a given when there's only 2 items to prepare.

Both the lobster and the burger looked great. I didn't taste the burger, but was assured it was delicious. The lobster was gorgeous! It was so tasty, and there's something really satisfying about pulling the chunks of meat from the claws. The lemon butter was super yummy and added lovely flavour to the lobster meat.

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the menu and the taste and service of the food. Definitely great value for money at £20 for lobster - look forward to going back!

Baked by Me - Making baking simple

My sister is fast becoming the queen of all baking. Her cakes are amazing, and she obsessed with baking, pastry and anything Great British Bake Off related. It makes me very proud and excited about what the future holds.

So when she messaged me to tell me she had bought me a 'cookies in a bag' mix, I was slightly disappointed. Even I, a baking novice, avoided cake mixes and always try to make my cakes from scratch and a recipe (more often than not, failing miserably).

Bear (Beckie or @beeslovesteas to the rest of the world) had discovered Baked By Me, an online company who specialise is baking mixes. I always thought it was cheating. If only I knew how wrong I could be!

After Bear first mentioned them to me, I started following them on twitter and got really excited by the pictures and the amazing following that they have. Then I went on the website - wow! So many different mixes, and they have even got gluten-free mixes, which definitely helps with the no-carbs diet.

So I finally got my toblerone cookie mix yesterday. In a really sweet package with very simple instructions.

So I followed them, adding 2 large eggs and 70ml of oil to the mix. From opening the pack to having lovely warm cookies on a plate - 30 minutes. And they were soft, delicious and my kitchen smelled heavenly, even this morning when I woke up. I took them to work (after leaving a few for hubby) and they were an absolute hit!

I am an absolute convert - Baked by Me have identified a way to make home baking easy, enjoyable and with some amazing mixes and flavours, there's so much variety to choose from.

Follow them on twitter @bakedbymeuk or visit their website http://www.bakedbyme.net/

Choc chip gluten-free cookies for me next, will let you know how they go!

The Fat Duck = Mindblowing!

Mairi and I have been the best of friends for 12 years. One thing that we've always been good at is celebrating our birthdays, which are only 15 days apart (I'm younger). After years of many great parties, we thought it would be good to do something really special for our big 3-0. I suggested London Marathon, climbing Kilimanjaro or the Inca Trail. Mairi, who wasn't really a fan of the physical challenges, suggested something so genius that I couldn't believe that I didn't think of it - A meal at Fat Duck.

After weeks of trying to book a table, we found out that it was easier to book a table for 4 then 2. So we booked our table of 4, twisted Pete and Mike's arms to come with us (didn't take much) and our birthday treat was planned - 18th August was the date.

The excitment had been building for a few weeks, and we arrived in Bray not knowing what to expect! Our first surprise came when the taxi driver dropped us off and pointed to the restaurant, which looked like a little cottage. It was very cute and unassuming (great description Mairi).

We were greeted by really lovely staff, and were one of the first groups to arrive for lunch, which actually proved to be really good as it meant that none of the surprises were ruined. All throughout our meal, the staff were amazing. Attentive without being intrusive, witty and willing to answer any of our silly questions, of which we had lots.

We decided to start of our meal with a bottle of English sparkling rose, which was delicious. Before we had even received our drinks, we received our first taste was to come. Each of us was given an aerated beetroot and horseradish 'bomb' - it lieterally melted in the mouth!

We had decided before we even arrived that we would get the wine pairing to go with the meal, which was good after once we'd seen the wine bible, there was no way that we could have chosen wine ourselves, so decided to leave it in the expert hands from the sommelier.

And then the meal began, and I'm not sure any of us were ready for it! All I can say is that it is definitely the meal that kept on giving!

The first course was a nitro poached aperitif. The waiter put egg whites infused with gin and tonic (the boys chose Campari) in a bowl of liquid nitrogen, and it became like a ice bomb. He added a twist of lemon and lemon spray, and then we had downed it in one. It was the most refreshing thing ever, and really tasted like a cold ice shot of G&T delicious.



Next came red cabbage gapacho with mustard icecream and pickled cucumber. Delicious, and wierd to have a savoury icecream.

Then we went on to probably to our first theatrical experience. The menu described it as Jelly of Quail with Crayfish cream. However, what we got was the most beautiful lookjing plate, with lots of different components, none of resembled anything that looked like the name. Then, another waiter came out with a wooden block covered in moss. On top of the block where little plastic cases, with brown tabs that we had to put on our tongues (like the breath freshener tabs you can get). Once we had done this, which btw tasted like wood, the waiter poured water on the block and it suddenly filled our table with mist.

This, combined with the delicious jelly, cream and truffle toast was so amazing! And the smell of the moss and the woods lingered all throughout the course, very clever.

Next was the course that I've always been intrigued to try and probably one of the most famous on the menu - Snail Porridge. Firstly, we didn't expect it to be green. The snails were so soft and seemed to melt in the mouth. There was shaved fennel on the top, which I don't normally like, but this complimented the dish so well.

Following the snail porridge came the Roast Foie Gras. This was the dish I was least looking forward to on the menu. I have tried foie gras twice before and whilst I can taste that it is good, I can't get my head round how it is made, and have always felt a bit uncomfortable about it. Well, all I can say is I completely forgot about any moral grounds when I tasted this. Simply accomanpied with a Barberry sauce (never heard of this before, but its a bit like bitter blackberry) and crab biscuits, I think this was my favourite course. It was so so so so yum! The Foie gras was creamy and so soft.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party was the next course, and Mad it definitely was. Toast sandwich (seriously, toast with bread), self made consomme (by melted a 'gold watch' in hot water) poured over turnip and swede jelly. It was really fun to eat and the teapot and mug was really novel! I just need to also to add that we were really impressed with how accomodating Fat Duck were. Mairi has a fish allergy and can't eat fin fish, which can be quite difficult as this also includes anything with fish stock or sauce. They replaced everything that would include any fish with food of the same standard, and Mairi barely noticed that she was eating somethings that were different to us.

Probably the most unusual course was Sound of the Sea. This started with each of us being given a big shell with headphones coming out of it. Out of the headphones came the lovely calming sounds of crashing waves and seagulls, reminded me of my last trip to Skeggie :-)

Then came a block of foam, sand and fish, all edible. So we ate, and listened to the sea. So calming!  Mairi obviously couldn't have this course, but she was given an excellent braised pork belly, which i think was as good as the fish. The wine accompanying this was sake, pretty strong sake, and probably the start of us all beginning to feel pretty drunk (we had already had 2 glasses of fizz and 3 glasses of wine at this point!).

The next course, whilst still tasty was probably my least favourite, was salmon poached in a liquorice gel. The salmon was cooked amazingly, it was somewhere between sushi and poached, so soft, and the liquorice didn't actually taste too aniseedy. There was lovely vanilla mayonnaise and trout roe which added a lovely salty taste. I guess after all the spectacles we had so far, I found this course to be slightly on the boring side, but that doesn't take away from the lovely flavours.

The next course was probably the most substantial course of the meal. Lamb with cucumber. Literally the best lamb I think I've ever tasted. It had onion and dill gel on the side, and was so wonderful. Accompanying the lamb was a minty lamb consomme jelly, and some sweetbread with lamb crisps. All I can say is wow. The lamb consomme was to clear the palate and it really worked. The lamb crisps with the sweetbread - divine!

That being the end of our our savoury courses, we then were moving on to the desserts. To start of us was the hot and iced tea. I tell no lie, it was hot and cold in the mouth, 72 degrees of difference in temperature to be exact!

The next course was also interesting - Macerated strawberries. Make of that what you will. What came out was a gorgeous white chocolate gingham blanket, aerated strawberry puffs, strawberries (macerated!) and strawberry sauce, yum and very pretty!

The final proper dessert course was my second favourite course, and I'm not even a pudding person! But the BFG changed me! Beautifully presented, and then when you dived in, there was delicious icecream, cherries, aerated cherried, almond crisp, crumble - it was definitely the dish that kept on giving. Very rich, but surprisingly light. And accompanied with a sweet red dessert wine, which I didn't know existed, and was also my favourite wine of the meal!

Then came the cheese - an extra course, but we had to have one to share, just to see the cheese board! Mike doesn't like cheese, very strange, but he even tried a couple. Well put a tiny speck on the tip of his tongue, and then gagged, but at least he tried them. Really impressed that the majority were British cheeses, and all the ones we tasted were excellent!

I haven't talked much about the wine yet, but it was so wonderful. The sommelier was so fantastic, really knowledgeable and interesting, and took the time to really explain the wines to us, as well as telling us some good stories about his favourite wine. Every wine tasted completely really different once it was drank with the food, and for someone who doesn't know a lot about wine, I was amazed about how the wine tasted, and how it actually seemed to make the food taste better.

I will say that by this point we were getting suitably drunk, after all the wine, sake, fizz and general merriment, that is enough to make anyone giddy! Then to add to it, the next course was whisky gums, that were really strong, and tasted like pure whisky. Very novel way of presenting as well!



The final treat was a sweet shop bag, which lots of sweet treats in. To be honest, I was done in at this point and decided to save something to take home for the hubby (which he loved btw). All the others ate their sweets and by the looks on their faces, I would say they enjoyed them!



So there it was! The best meal ever, literally, fact! There were points where I literally had tears in my eyes, it was that good! Very lucky to have experienced it and shared with such wonderful friends. Maybe turning 30 wasn't so bad after all!!



The Broad Chare

As the whole country have been getting into the Olympics, so have I. My third live Olympic event, I've just spent a fab weekend in Newcastle to watch the men's quarter final football. The game was brilliant, even if Honduras didn't win (always root for the underdog).

I've really started embracing twitter. It's only taken me about 2 years to understand the hashtags and following, but now I've got it. And also have realised how useful it is to find out information, like getting recommendations for places to eat!

Thanks to @jayrayner1 and @nellyscupcakes, we are some delicious food over the weekend.

For dinner last night, we went to the Broad Chare, on recommendation from Jay. From arrival, we were really happy to find a cosy and warm pub, with a buzzing atmosphere. The upstairs dining room was great and full of people when we arrived. This was also the perfect place for hubby, as they served real ales.

The menu was impressive. Decent British food, but with style. We both decided that this would be a good place to have fish, so both opted for fish dishes. I ordered Whole baked plaice with bacon and mussels, whilst hubby went for homemade fish fingers with chips and mushy peas.

And boy was it tasty! My fish was so well cooked and juicy, and the saltiness of the bacon with the mussels worked a treat.

To be honest, everything on the menu looked great. As we were finishing our food, another table had ordered the 7hr lamb. Wow! It looked amazing and the smell was wonderful. It serves 5-6 people, so would have been very greedy for us to order for ourselves, but definitely a reason to go back with friends. They also do a rib of beef for 2 people, which we decided not to order this time, but our waitress told us how good it was, so another reason to come back!

Now, I'm definitely much more of a savoury girl and would choose a starter over a pudding, or have the cheese board. However, all the puddings on the menu sounded so good, I had to try one. We ordered Eton mess to share and weren't disappointed. It was like an ice-cream sundae but with chewy meringue and lovely strawberries. Perfect to be eating while watching Mo Farah win his gold
Medal on the iPhone.

Big thumbs up @_thebroadchare. Thanks for having us and look forward to coming again!

The Deadly Cs

I know it's boring and doesn't go hand in hand with loving food (or writing a food blog), but I'm officially on a diet.

The last time I was on a diet was in 2003 - it lasted two months, I lost lots of weight, but was utterly miserable. So I've avoided them ever since.

However, whilst most people diet and watch what they eat before a wedding, I did the opposite. I drank and ate more than ever. The food was just because I love food, and always manage to find any excuse to eat more (such as planning a wedding)

But the drinking was tactical. The run up to a wedding often leads to excessive boozing, hen does (multiple), celebratory nights out and also the drinking in the quiet of home, trying to drown away the stresses of planning the biggest day ever.

For me, it was the hen do. I was determined to be the last girl standing and therefore decided I needed to get my alcohol tolerance up. I do not advocate excessive drinking, or think its big or clever, but I have become a lightweight in my older years. That, along with the combination of my boozy mates, student siblings and bridesmaid who is obsessed with shots, meant that I was more worried about being drunk and asleep by 8pm than walking down the aisle.

So I trained up. And drank. Every night. For a month. Hubby also jumped on the bandwagon. We weren't drunk every night, but I had at least 1 glass of wine (sometimes 3!). And you know what. It worked. They tried, but whatever they gave me to drink, I managed and more. And I was the last one standing - YES!! However, you can imagine what this did to my waistline.

Then came the honeymoon, which was wonderful, but spending a week in new York is not conducive to healthy eating. Couple this with a week in an all-inclusive resort where champagne and cocktails were free-flowing 24 hours a day!

So after 2 months of half-hearted going to the gym and trying to avoid chocolate, I signed up to a personal trainer. Who took one look at me and said 'sweetheart, your problem is the carbs'. As if I didn't know that - the girl whose favourite meal is lasagne, chips and garlic bread, it was always going to be the carbs.

So my diet consists of avoiding the 3 deadly Cs - carbs, cheese and chocolate. I mean, that is pretty depressing. But I've been doing it for 2 weeks and you know what, it's not been that bad. Eating out is a bit more challenging (but Bincho last week was fine!) and I'm already a bit bored of chicken and salad, but I am feeling fresher and more lively so must be doing something!

So I'm determined to eat well and great food, and find great places to eat where I can avoid the Cs. I will find them, and talk about them and maybe help some other miserable people on diets find a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Who knows if it will work, or how log it will last, but I will keep you posted!

Opening ceremony and Bincho

Had an awesome fun packed weekend with my sisters, which involved lots of laughter and lots of cocktails!

We went to Las Iguanas in Westfield Stratford on Friday night to watch the opening ceremony and fireworks which was fab. The staff were great, food was delicious and they even hid some chairs out back for us so that we could sit in the prime spot by the window and watch the fireworks!

We went to see Chicago on Saturday, which was good as always. Then went went for dinner at Bincho in Exmouth Market, stopping at Cottons on the way for rum punch!

I discovered Bincho about a year ago with my friend Katie, who suggested going there as we could get 50% off food with her Taste card. As always, I loved trying new places and I'm do pleased that we went.

There are 2 restaurants, 1 in Soho and 1 in Exmouth market. They serve all their food on skewers. On sat night we had:
- tiger prawns
- pork belly
- lamb
- asparagus and bacon
- beef ribs
- chicken wings
- chicken and spring onions

All marinated with different sauces and flavours, really delicious! They also have a great specials board - we tried kimchee boiled ribs which were yum!

It was the first time that I had been to Bincho in Exmouth Market, as I'd previously been to the one in Soho. Both equally good, although one in Exmouth Market has outdoor tables and feels much bigger and lighter - guess it depends what night you're up for!

We had a fab time and got suitably merry (which included taking some wierd pictures with chopsticks - niuff said!). I can say that we weren't feeling that fresh when we had to get up at 7am the following morning for Olympic beach volleyball!

The Prince Rupert, Newark

The Prince Rupert is probably our favourite pub in Newark. Hubby loves it because they are CAMRA supporters and do lots of real ale, I like it cause it's quite cute and cosy and the food is delicious. The staff are also really great (particularly the gentleman behind the bar yesterday who was mega friendly and helpful!)

Whenever we have friends come and stay, we always end up coming there for food!

Last night, we decided to treat ourselves to a few drinks on a schools night (wild!) and found ourselves at prince Rupert as it also has a nice beer garden to sit and enjoy the sunshine, and we could also get some tea whilst we were out.

Their menu is great. They do homemade pizzas, with lots of toppings to pick and choose. The pizzas are huge, thin and crispy crusts, and really really yummy! Hubby chose to have a meatball pizza!

They also have lots of lovely comfort food, lasagne, burgers, fish and chips, but all is done deliciously. I chose to have fish cakes (I'm off the carbs, although forgot there's actually quite a lot of potato in fish cakes!)

All washed down with a rose spritzer, lovely! For all those who want to visit, see http://www.theprincerupert.co.uk/

The walk home saw a diversion into another pub so that we could play a few goes on a quiz machine, which is our guilty pleasure. We didn't win anything, this time!

I made pasta!

Taking the lessons I learnt last weekend, and my new pasta machine (thanks to our wedding gift vouchers), I decided to try making pasta on my own.

Guess what - it was really easy. I found a recipe in my favourite cookbook - Marcus Wareing's 'how to make the perfect.....' - and it took about 15 minutes to make the dough. 225g '00' pasta flour, 2 eggs, 3 egg yolks, 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp oil. Mix all in a food processor until crumbly and knead into a dough (add more flour if it's a bit sticky). Then wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least an hour. Easy!

The most fun part was rolling it out through the pasta machine. I decided to make tagliatelle, which was a bit tricky as you need to make sure the pasta consistency is right, otherwise all the strands stick together. After a few attempts, and the help of hubby, I had my tagliatelle ready to cook.

Whilst the pasta has been resting in the fridge, I had also made some pesto (also from Marcus' book), and after boiling the pasta for about 2 minutes, we had tagliatelle with pesto, topped with roasted chicken breast. Delish!

Now off to see Batman!

Caramelised onion tarts - the joy of pastry

Pastry and I have a very difficult relationship. It's actually non-existent. I even manage to ruin shop-bought pastry. It's ridiculous really - but even the idea of opening a packet of jus-rol brings me out in a cold sweat.

So maybe now that I've been on a pasta making course, I'm suddenly feeling adventurous, but I decide to make some tarts. Caramelised onion and creme fraiche tarts to be exact.

I found a recipe in a James Martin cookbook (I don't want to like the man, but I really do!) and it seemed easy enough. He only cooked his onions for 15 minutes, so I decided to find a separate recipe for the onions, as I wanted to make sure they were really caramelised. I cooked them for an hour in the end, just in butter and oil, with garlic, thyme and salt.

I think I cracked it. I mean, I didn't make the pastry from scratch - that's for another day - but I manage to make the pastry cases with relatively little drama. Cooked them in the oven for 15 minutes and then added the Creme fraiche and onions, and cooked them for another 10. Very easy and extremely delicious. Even the hubby enjoyed and he vows to never eat a meal that doesn't include meat (apart from breakfast, and even then, I'm not sure he enjoys it!).

Served with rocket salad, asparagus and new potatoes. Can't wait to try again - maybe with homemade pastry next time.....

Les Atelier des Chefs

What a day! My wonderful friends, Hazel, Jess and Katie bought me a cookery class for my birthday. There was a range of classes that I could have taken but I chose to take the pasta making class, as I've always wanted to make pasta, but have been particularly scared of it!

The class was at Les Atelier des Chefs on Wigmore, by Oxford circus. As soon as I walked in, I had a good feeling. In front of me was a group of people (the class before) sat round a big table eating and drinking. There was lots of laughter and the gorgeous desserts they were eating looked and smelt wonderful!

Whilst waiting for the class to start, I was given a glass of wine and spent some time looking through their shop, where they stock amazing, but very pricey, kitchen equipment. My hubby and I both have an obsession with ceramic knives, which is strange because hubby doesn't care about anything in the kitchen. However, he does like his knives. They had a wonderful range of ceramic knives, but they were quite expensive so was very restrained and didn't purchase.

There were 12 of us in the class, and everyone was really nice and friendly. Our chef teacher, Andrew, immediately started talking us through the ingredients. We're going to make fresh tagliatelle, smoked haddock ravioli and 2 sauces to accompany: wild mushroom cream sauce and a pesto sauce.

It was a 2 hour class, so we weren't all going to make every component ourselves, but we all shared out the jobs. Our chef teacher was great and talked us though everything and was really patient!

Best thing I learnt - how to take the fish fillet off the skin with the sweep of the nice!

Next weekend, one of my tasks will be to go get a pasta machine - i couldn't believe how easy pasta actually into make. I mean, I know that I haven't done it myself yet and it will be very difficult, and messy, but I can't wait!

For anyone who wants to learn any new skills, I would recommend Les Atelier des Chefs. For anyone that works near Oxford circus or St Paul's, they also do lunchtime and evening dinner class! Genius!

Ode to Lasagne

Since I was a young child, I have loved two foods: lasagne and custard. Not together, well I might, just never tried it!

It seems fitting then to write an entry about my favourite foods. I love them so equally that they deserve an entry of their own. So today I write an ode to lasagne. Lasagne with salad. Lasagne with chips. Lasagne with garlic bread. Lasagne with coleslaw. Lasagne with salad, chips, garlic bread and coleslaw. Proper pub grub!

It would be my final meal if I was on death row and I genuinely believe that I could eat it for dinner every day for the rest of my life and not get bored of it. Now that's a statement.

My mum makes a killer lasagne. It has been a family staple my whole life and always on the table whenever I go home. I used to try and replicate it the best I could, but I always used to be disappointed as I couldn't make it taste quite right.

So I decided to make it 'my own way'. My grandma puts spinach in her meat sauce, so I always do that. I now add cheese to the white sauce. Put a couple of chillies in it for a kick. And you know what, after years of perfecting, it tastes good!

Served with tomatoes in balsamic vinegar is how we enjoyed it this weekend, what a treat!

Enchiladas and Banana rum cake

Had the unexpected surprise of an impromptu visit from 2 of my sisters this weekend (don't worry Bear, we didn't have too much fun without you!). Working all day on Friday meant I needed to make something quick, yet tasty.

Enchiladas! Having lived in Arizona for 3 years when I was younger, I developed a taste for Mexican food and was really excited when I found an easy recipe for enchiladas.

Blend 1tsp cumin, 2tsp chili powders, 1tbsp jalapeños and 1 can black beans into a paste and spread over 6 tortillas. Then add chicken (cooked and I also add cooked onions and peppers), roll up and put in a roasting tin. Cover in salsa and cheese, and bake in the oven at 200c, for 20 minutes covered in foil. Then remove foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Simples and delicious - serve with sour cream and extra jalapeños if you like it spicy. The girls loved it!

We had a lovely week - few drinks out on Friday night and then wandered round the shops on Saturday.

They also helped, or observed, me making my first banana bread. I slightly adapted from a Lorraine Pascale recipe (basically added 2 tbsp of rum to the cake mixture!!) but it is so lovely, big triumph!

Thierry's Meat Pie

So I finally understand twitter. It's only taken me 2 years, but now I get it. And love it! Excitement of new followers, being able to follow all my favourite chefs and restaurants, amazing! And so many people put links to recipes, it's brilliant and I will be baking Nigella's banana bread this weekend!

Going straight to work after the gym means that we normally have quite a rubbish dinner when we get home. But luckily for us, mum brought us one of Thierry's meat pies at the weekend.

Thierry and his family run a cafe (TC Patisserie) in Beverley, the town nearest to my parents house. They have been talking about it for ages and seem to spend most Saturday mornings there. I just assumed it was probably a normal cafe, and mum and dad were just excited about somewhere new and different. But after going there for breakfast, I do understand. It's quite a small cafe with a real homely atmosphere and from the moment you walk in, you feel at home. It can be hard to get a table sometimes as it is very popular, but definitely worth the wait. I had poached eggs for breakfast and they were so delicious.

However, the actual best thing about TC Patisserie (or Thierry's as my parents call it) is the meat pies which my mum has been serving us at home for ages. Any occasion is good enough for a meat pie, birthdays, xmas, meeting my hubby's parents!!

The steak pie is out of this world! Somehow he manages to get them to taste savoury but sweet, crunchy but soft, filling but surprisingly light. They are full of chunks of steak, delicious gravy and for someone who doesn't love pies, I'm a convert. Everyone should try one.

And he's a nice man too. He gives my mum big pots of leftover gravy from making the pies, which she makes good use of at home - she always gets in with right people!

If you're ever in Beverley, make sure to pop to TC Patisserie. They has a bakery as well as cafe, serving meals all day.

http://www.beverleypeople.co.uk/cafes/cafes-snack-shops-and-tearooms/t-c-patisserie/business-10942271-detail/business.html

Lunch at the Berkeley

Annually (well I say annually, but this is only the second year we've done it) my good friend Carole and I take an afternoon off work and treat ourselves to a nice long lunch. One of the great things about London is that some of best restaurants do amazing lunch menus which are also very affordable, and many of them include some drinks which a bonus.

Last year we went to Le Gavroche, which fulfilled a longstanding dream of mine and didn't disappoint.

This year, we decided to try Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley in Mayfair. I've been a fan of MW for a while, as he's a regular feature on MasterChef and Great British menu, 2 of my favourite shows. His 'how to cook the perfect.....' cookbook is one of my staples, and is how I've perfected my risotto, scallops and scones!

From the moment we entered, it was lush. The staff were attentive, but not annoyingly so (and one of the hosts had the most gorgeous scottish accent!)

We decided to start to a glass of champagne to add to the treat, which was lovely. I learnt that the Ruinart bottle (which is shorter and fatter than conventional champagne bottles) was the original shape of champagne bottles and all other suppliers moved to the now conventional bottle shape apart from Ruinart. Always good to learn something new! We were then greeted with a fish croquette which was really yummy. Following that we were given some homemade bread and butter, yum yum!

It was at this point that I remembered I was supposed to be taking pics of everything - so there will be visual aids for the rest of the blog.

We ordered off the set lunch menu, with the matching wines. Our Amuse Bouche was a cold Watermelon soup with ginger cubes. Now before today I would said that I didn't really like ginger, and would not have chosen to eat a cube of it, but who knew how much I'd like it!

Starters for us both were Dorset snails with garlic and a cream sauce. Wow. Neither of us were sure about snails but through we should try something new. So pleased we tried them - literally melt in the mouth, deliciously garlicky! And the charred brioche - beautiful!

Then we both ordered the sole. It came on a bed of pomme purée, fried capers and spring greens. Like ginger, I've never been a fan of capers. I've always found the taste quite harsh, but fried they taste so different. The fish was so moist and soft, and they were by far the best potatoes I've had in a while -I'm guessing you get them that smooth by adding lots of butter and cream!

During this time, we'd polished off our fizz and wine, 2 nice glasses of white wine, not too dry.

Our dessert orders taken (Carole - popcorn, yoghurt, caramel. Me - raspberry, chocolate caramel). We weren't really sure what we were getting but if the other courses were anything to go by, we knew it would be good. Then in front of us appeared 2 slices, generous slices, of custard tart and passion fruit sorbet. Compliments of the chef. This is the place where you get pre-dessert. Brilliant.

(I will add here - MW is famous for his custard tart, and I made this from his recipe a few months ago. And failed miserably. It was gross).

Custard tart devoured, we were both starting to feel very full. And then the real puddings arrived. Mine was just pure indulgence. Lots of chocolate with crumble and raspberries. Devilishly naughty!

We orders mint teas - somehow it has the power to make you feel clean and fresh when you have full tummy. And with our tea arrived the chocolate trolley. Unbelievable. Choices of chocolate - madasgacan or Ecuadorean salted caramel. Salted caramel it was! Perfect scrummy end to an amazing meal. And if that wasn't enough, we each got a gorgeous bag of chocs when we left. Suppose I'll have to give those to the hubby, to save my waistline if anything else.

The atmosphere was quite formal (anywhere with tablecloths is posh to me), but still managed to feel relaxed and the service from the staff was amazing. I knew it would be good, but lunch at the Berkeley definitely exceeded my expectations and we had a lovely time. Before we knew it, we'd been there 3 hours - sign of a good time! Thanks Marcus!

WD50 - reliving the best meal ever!

We went to NYC for our honeymoon. From the moment we made the decision, I started lobbying the hubby to take me to WD50 for dinner. Ever since seeing Wylie Dufresne on Top Chef (brilliant US cookery competition, basically Masterchef on speed!), I had been desperate to taste his food.

After asking for the 100th time, and threatening to call off the wedding, hubby agreed and we booked a table. And I can honestly say I was as excited about going there for dinner as I was about the whole honeymoon. Fact.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we realised what the name meant. We'd had lots of ideas - was it a play on WD40? Who knows. Anyway it became clear that WD were the chefs initials and 50 was the street number. Simples

We were greeted by really friendly staff and on request, they gave us a lovely table. The restaurant has a real relaxed atmosphere, and felt like a place where people just dropped in for a bite to eat. Really cool. We decided to just go for it, 12 course tasting menu with wine pairing. And what followed was mindblowing! Course after course of amazing food! Words really can't do it justice. The staff were amazing, the wine kept flowing and every course was so different.

We talked about our favourite course. I couldn't decide on one, so I picked two:

1) Poached egg in shell, pumpernickel, Caesar dressing, lily bulb - perfectly poached egg in an edible shell, and gorgeous Caesar dressing.

2) Lamb loin, 'red beans and rice', chayote squash - I have never tasted lamb like it, and doubt I ever will again!

Hubby picked Everything Bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese - which was basically what looked like a bagel but turned out to be frozen cream cheese - amazing! Definitely my third favourite.

To top off an amazing meal, we were invited into the kitchen to meet the Chef. I had it all worked out, would get him to sign my menu and ask him how he gets his lamb so tender. But as usual, when in the presence of celebrity or cooking god, I just managed 'You cook good'. At least we got our picture with him (currently twitter profile pic!)

We both loved it, and even when the bill came, hubby paid it happily with a big tip, which in unheard of, so Mr Dufresne must have done something right.

It's not a cheap night, but for anyone going to New York and looking for a fantastic experience, and also great food, WD50 is a must!

Celebrating Father's day with Dad!

With family living all over the country, it isn't always easy for us all to get together. With one sister working in Ghana and one helping mum in London navigate her way to Olympic training, it was down to me and the youngest to entertain Dad today.

Living in Newark, we're lucky enough to live near to some lovely villages with some gorgeous pubs which I'm sure you'll hear about in future blogs. Today we went for a lovely Sunday lunch in Farndon.

Farndon Boathouse is part of the same group who owns Tom Browns in Gunthorpe and the Riverbank on Trent Bridge. All are great pubs, serving great food in an atmosphere that feels nice but not too formal. If you live in or about Nottingham, you have to try one of these!

http://www.farndonboathouse.co.uk/

We have been to Farndon Boathouse once before for dinner. We went to one of their Sunday sessions, as the band playing at our wedding (The Herb Birds) were playing so we wanted to have a sneak preview of some of their songs. So we decided to take Dad there again today. And it was a big hit.

We had a great table by the window overlooking the river. The menu was a good mix of Sunday lunch and other dishes, but we all opted for Sunday lunch.

We ate:
Dad: roast chicken terrine, roast leg of lamb, Cromwell bishop Stilton wrapped in Parma ham
Ellie: Deep fried whitebait, roast sirloin of beef, lemon tart with raspberry sorbet
Chris: Broccoli soup with goats cheese ravioli, roast leg of lamb, chocolate parfait
Me: Broccoli soup with goats cheese ravioli, roast sirloin of beef, lemon tart with raspberry sorbet

All delicious, Dad was happy and a lovely lunch all round. For anyone who lives nearby or is passing through, the Farndon Boathouse is a definite must for a lovely lunch by the river. Perfect way to celebrate having such a wonderful dad!

We will be there again soon - maybe for a boozy Friday brunch where they have live music - cant wait!

Back with chocolate cake

Well it's been a while for the blog. In between there's been an engagement and a wedding, and now that's all done with, I can finally get back on with everything.

The two areas of my focus for this year:
1) pass stage 1 of my tax exams
2) have 100 followers on twitter and 100 readers of the blog

This morning, my sister was here and I'm always inspired to bake when around her. Follow @beesloveteas on twitter for great recipes and baking tips, as well as fab blog entries

One of the great things about getting married is all the lovely gifts and we have been so lucky, as we were really spoilt. I couldn't resist adding lots of baking and cooking things on our registry and by far my favourite item has been my glass cake stand, with cloche! May sound wierd to many but I've wanted one of these for ages and I love it!

So what better way to start back on the blog but to bake something worthy of the cloche. I was given Lorraine Pascale's 'Baking Made Easy' book a couple of xmases ago and its so good. Today I decided to make the 'I don't give a damn choc cake'. Wow - easiest cake I've ever baked and hubby proclaimed it as the best cake ever. Just throw everything in a bowl, no faffing with creaming or sifting, and it is so moist and delicious. A definite must for any keen but novice bakers!